PA DEP Extends Deadline to Comment on Potter Injection Well Plan
Earlier this year, Roulette Oil & Gas LLC received approval from the federal EPA to build a shale wastewater injection well in Clara Township in Potter County, PA (see EPA Approves Potter County, PA Injection Well, Waiting Now for DEP). On March 31, the Clara Town Board passed an amended version of its 1987 ordinance governing injection wells (see Clara Township Adopts Modified Ordinance Banning Injection Wells). The newly amended ordinance bans all injection wells in the township–something that is (according to our understanding) illegal under Pennsylvania state law. However, before Roulette can begin drilling, the state Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) also needs to approve the well. The DEP held a public hearing on July 25 in Coudersport, PA.
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On July 11, the federal EPA held an online hearing to accept comments on a draft permit it intended to issue allowing G2 STEM to drill a proposed new wastewater injection well in Fayette County, PA (see 
The League of [Liberal Democrat] Women Voters of Pennsylvania is “teaming up” with the leftist fanatics at Food & Water Watch to launch a zombie (i.e., form) letter-writing campaign, hoping to convince the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) NOT to award a $1 billion hydrogen hub contract for any application that includes the Keystone State (there are three such applications). Cause, you know, it would involve building more fossil fuel infrastructure in the state, and *everybody* knows that fossil fuels are Satanic. The Lib Dem groups are hoping if they can’t dazzle the DOE with brilliance, they can baffle them with mountains of Barbara Streisand form letters.
The so-called Center for Climate Integrity (CCI) is behind most of the lawsuits filed by municipalities around the country (cities, counties, states) against Big Oil & Gas companies, claiming fossil energy companies know and have known for years that using their products is toasting Mom Earth into oblivion. It is the most outrageous abuse of the justice system we know of. The lawsuits are instigated (and funded) by CCI and a litany of colluding nonprofits. Get ready in the Keystone State. CCI has partnered up with the Philadelphia-based Clean Air Council (CAC) and, by all appearances, is trying to convince government officials in PA to sue PA energy companies.
For the fourth week in a row and the 13th time in the last 14 weeks, the U.S. active rig count lost rigs. It’s grueling. Last week the number decreased by five rigs after falling five rigs the week before–now down to 659 active rigs across both oil and gas. The Marcellus dropped one rig (in Pennsylvania) for a combined M-U rig count of 45–the lowest this year. Some 14 weeks ago, the M-U lost four rigs (going from 53 down to 49). Seven weeks ago, we lost another rig, down to 48. Last week we lost two more down to 46, and this week another. The trend is not our friend.
Equitrans Midstream owns two natural gas storage wells in the Swarts Complex and Hunters Cave Storage Fields area of Greene County, PA–in Center, Franklin, Morris, and Washington Townships. CONSOL Energy, which used to be part of CNX Resources but is now a standalone company focusing on the coal industry, plans to mine coal above and around the Equitrans Hunters Cave and Swarts Natural Gas Storage Fields over the next several decades. So Equitrans is proposing to abandon its two existing storage wells (near where CONSOL needs to work) and drill two new wells in the same vicinity–just not near CONSOL’s coal mining activities.
National Fuel Gas Company (NFG), headquartered in Buffalo, NY, is the parent company for Marcellus/Utica driller Seneca Resources and the parent of midstream company Empire Pipeline. Yesterday, NFG issued its latest quarterly update. NFG operates on a weird fiscal year system. This latest update is for the company’s third quarter, which would be everybody else’s second quarter update. NFG said it plans to “further moderate” its Seneca drilling activity as it shifts to slower production growth in the “low single-digit” range.
New shale permits issued for Jul 24-30 in the Marcellus/Utica were down just a couple, but still a nice number. There were 29 new permits issued last week, down from the 31 issued the previous week. Last week’s permit tally included 22 new permits in Pennsylvania, 7 new permits in Ohio, and no new permits in West Virginia. The top permittee for the week was EQT Corporation, receiving a whopping 16 permits in Greene County, PA.
Newly-elected Gov. Josh Shapiro, who appears to be completely ineffective since taking office (which is not necessarily a bad thing), appointed a working group in April to help guide him on what he should do concerning the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) carbon tax and the broader issue of global warming (see 
In February 2022, Equitrans Midstream announced it had filed a new pipeline expansion project with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (see 
In July, the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) announced that it had appointed a 17-member committee to figure out how to dole out $5 million to fund local community projects located near the Shell cracker plant in Beaver County, PA, following a $10 million fine against the plant for violating air emissions standards (see 
Permitting in Pennsylvania, especially those overseen by the Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP), has been broken for years. A Chapter 102 Erosion and Sedimentation permit sometimes takes two, three, even six to eight months for approval–instead of the law-mandated 14 days. It got so bad that in the fall of 2019, PA State Sen. Gene Yaw introduced a bill to allow third-party reviews of these permits (see 
For the third week in a row and the 12th time in the last 13 weeks, the U.S. active rig count lost rigs. Last week the number decreased by five rigs after falling six rigs the week before (see 
This is a cautionary tale of choosing your joint venture partner carefully. The Pennsylvania Superior Court threw out a $2.4 million arbitration award against Marcellus driller PennEnergy in a business dispute in a precedential ruling last week. The Superior Court judges overruled an award by an arbitrator. PennEnergy maintained the case should never have been in arbitration in the first place. The intended recipient of the award, MDS Energy, says the Superiors weren’t so superior after all and got it wrong. The case is complicated…