RINO PA Sen. Tomlinson Introducing 5% Severance Tax Bill
We expect liberal Democrats like the far-left PA Gov. Tom Wolf to keep harping on a Marcellus-killing severance tax on natgas production in PA, even though the state already taxes production via an impact fee (i.e. tax). That’s what lib Dems do! They take money from economic producers and give it away to economic parasites who vote them into office–like teachers’ unions. But we don’t expect Republicans to sponsor such dumb initiatives.
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Did the Pennsylvania Supreme Court err in its judgment declaring so-called “stripper wells” can be taxed under the 2012 Act 13 law, slapped with an impact fee assessment, if those wells produce more than 90 thousand cubic feet per day (Mcf/d) of gas in a single month (see 
Bureaucracies move about as fast as the glaciers in Antarctica. It doesn’t matter where the bureaucracy is located–federal, local, or in this case, state government.
In typical lib Dem thinking, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf thinks he can wave his magic Executive Order wand and lower so-called greenhouse gas emissions (carbon dioxide and fugitive methane) to help save Mom Earth.
It’s that time of year when the prognosticators haul out the ole crystal ball and make predictions about what’s ahead for the coming year.
The bureaucrats at the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) are rubbing their hands together, eagerly anticipating millions of dollars to roll through the door and into the agency’s pockets following a recent PA Supreme Court ruling on strippers (see 
Pennsylvania strippers are back in the news. Hold on, this is a family-friendly site! We’re talking about stripper wells.
Two separate cases before U.S. District Judge David S. Cercone (in Pennsylvania) were settled yesterday by EQT. One of class action cases, brought against EQT, alleged the company had intentionally misclassified employees as independent contractors to avoid paying overtime. The settlement awards “more than 100” workers back wages totaling $2.8 million. The other class action case is similar, except it was filed against Rice Energy before Rice was bought out by EQT. Now that Rice is part of EQT, it is EQT paying the bills. In the Rice Energy lawsuit, some 90 workers are being paid $2.9 million for unpaid overtime. Wednesday was an expensive day for EQT.
Last week MDN told you about onerous new regulations being proposed by the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) to cut down on supposed methane and volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions coming from *existing* oil and gas wells and pipelines (see 
Last week MDN told you that Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf, liberal Democrat, is seriously considering a bizarre cap-and-trade greenhouse gas emission reduction program to eliminate carbon emissions from major sources by 2052 (see 
We told you that yesterday the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) was meeting to unveil proposed new regulations to cut down on so-called fugitive methane emissions from existing well pads and pipelines (see 
An analysis by Argus Media shows the number of new permits issued to drill in the Pennsylvania Marcellus Shale was down 42% in November 2018 over the same time a year ago. Drilling in Ohio’s Utica Shale was down 26% in November vs. a year ago. Yet one overpowering fact remains: Production in both states is UP over a year ago! How do you explain it? Each year drillers get better at what they do–they get more gas from drilling fewer wells. Longer laterals, more sand, improved fracking techniques–it all adds up to more production with less drilling. Our region is also still working down our DUC (drilled but uncompleted) wells inventory, which means less drilling. And winter cold has set in, early. Yeah, less drilling means fewer jobs and fewer opportunities to sell goods and services to drilling companies. But watch for the permit numbers to start going up again (our prediction). Why? Because with pipelines which recently went online and new pipes due to go online, the price our gas is fetching has dramatically increased–and that means the willingness of M-U drillers to drill new wells will increase too.