Statewide PA

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    Nicetown Claims “Environmental Racism” re Gas-Fired Plant

    Bet you didn’t know that the environment has become racist. That’s the outrageous claim being made about Nicetown, PA (near Philadelphia). Big Green supporters in Nicetown are opposed to SEPTA (Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority) plans to build a Marcellus gas-powered electric plant that would provide electricity to SEPTA’s northern Regional Rail lines and a bus garage (see Antis Plan to Shut Down Philly Transit Meeting re NatGas Powergen). The stated reason for their opposition is because the plant will burn an evil, nasty, vile “fossil fuel.” Yep, fossil fuel hatred syndrome. When the antis weren’t looking, Philadelphia Air Management Services (AMS) went ahead and issued the permit that allows SEPTA to move forward with the proposed natgas power plant, which will get built in Nicetown (see Antis “Shocked” Philly Approved Marcellus Power Plant for SEPTA). Nice. The AMS vote “came as a surprise” to the antis. It was their “last hope” to stop the plant. But they haven’t given up hope. Not yet. Antis are not only litigating to stop the plant, now they’re making wild accusations of “environmental racism.” Because the majority of residents are black, the accusation is that SEPTA is sticking the plant there, where it doesn’t matter if black people get polluted. Which is all nonsense. The reason SEPTA wants the plant in Nicetown is because that’s where they own a large bus garage/facility–the same facility they want to power with electricity from the plant! But “environmental racism” has such a great ring, and looks so good in a headline, it’s just irresistible for sycophantic media…
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    PA Superior Court Rejects Southwestern “Briggs” Trespass Appeal

    An unwelcome and troubling development in the Southwestern Energy “Briggs” court case. MDN brought you important news in April that the Pennsylvania Superior Court had handed down a decision (known as the “Briggs” case) that has the power to greatly restrict, perhaps even stop, Marcellus drilling in PA (see PA Superior Court Overturns “Rule of Capture” for Marcellus Well and PA “Rule of Capture” Case has Power to Limit Marcellus Drilling). The issue, in brief, is that the Superior Court decision disallows using an age-old principle called the “rule of capture” when it comes to shale drilling and fracking. It opens the door to a myriad of frivolous lawsuits claiming that a fracture, a crack created during fracking, is draining gas from a neighbor’s property without justly compensating the neighbor for the gas. Southwestern successfully argued in a lower court that the odd crack here and there that may slip under a neighbor’s property is permissible. The landowner appealed to Superior Court and three judges heard the case. Two of the three overturned the lower court and sided with the landowner. Southwestern, following the decision, petitioned the Superior Court to have all of the sitting justices (called en banc) hear the case (see Southwestern Appeals “Trespass” Case to Entire PA Superior Court). Sadly, on Friday, the Superiors declined to rehear the case. The next step? Southwestern has appealed the case directly to the PA Supreme Court…
    Read More “PA Superior Court Rejects Southwestern “Briggs” Trespass Appeal”

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    Antis Rally Near Philly to Permanently Shut Down ME1/ME2 Pipes

    PA State Sen. Andy Dinniman

    In May, anti-fossil fuel pipeline opponents finally found a single, liberal administrative judge to shut down the Mariner East 1 (ME1) NGL pipeline–a pipeline that’s been operating without any problems for more than a year (see Antis Get Lib Judge to Shut Down All Mariner East Pipes, Dems Rejoice). Sunoco Logistics Partners, the owner of ME1, and the builder of the Mariner East 2 (ME2) Pipeline project, appealed the judge’s decision to the full Public Utility Commission (PUC). A decision about the shutdown (whether to lift is) is due any time. In an attempt to pressure the PUC and Gov. Tom Wolf to *permanently* shut down ME1 and ME2, a group of 150 or so rallied near Philadelphia on Saturday. Something you should know: A total shutdown of ME1 and ME2 is not going to happen. But that doesn’t stop self-deluding nutters from trying. Inevitably the protesters are disappointed. They talk themselves into the fictional fantasy that a pipeline that has been fully permissioned and 98% done (ME2) will simply stop and not be allowed to finish construction and begin operations. They tell themselves they can get a pipeline with a perfect safety record (running for more than a year) permanently shut down. Ain’t gonna happen. But they tell themselves these things, over and over, convincing themselves. People like PA State Sen. Andy “Tony Soprano” Dinniman, recklessly feeds his kook nutbase these fantasies. Totally irresponsible. So they gather, as they did this past weekend, to protest and “demand” that the PUC shut down these projects. What will happen when the full PUC overturns the liberal judge’s biased decision? How will the protesters handle the defeat?…
    Read More “Antis Rally Near Philly to Permanently Shut Down ME1/ME2 Pipes”

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    PA Democrats Float Free College – Paid for by Marcellus Tax

    PA State Sen. Vincent Hughes

    Another mind-blowingly dumb Socialist/Communist plan is being floated by Democrats in PA (what’s new?). PA Dem state legislators yesterday announced new bills that would give families living in PA the right to send their kids to one of PA’s 14 state-run colleges for free–lock, stock and barrel. Free tuition. Free room and board. Free condoms. Free everything. IF the family makes less than $48,000 per year. Families making between $48,000-$110,000 per year get free tuition and fees only (they have to pay for Junior and Missy’s room and board). The “free” plan, according to Philadelphia area State Sen. Vincent Hughes, would cost around $800 million–and he thinks the Marcellus Shale industry should pay for it. That’s Hughes’ answer for everything–just tax the Marcellus industry. But Hughes has a little problem–he’s already promised Marcellus severance tax revenue to Philadelphia teachers’ unions–unions from which he has received $635,000 in campaign contributions (see PA Dem Senator from Philly Intros Bill to Steal Marcellus Money). In the unlikely event a severance tax is enacted in PA, it certainly won’t be enough to fund both K-12 education and pay for “free” college. How about this Sen. Hughes: We think the money for free college should come from taxes on government-paid workers instead. People like YOU. Why don’t we use YOUR money to pay for this “wonderful” plan?…
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    PA DEP Releasing Onerous New GP-5 & 5A Methane Regs June 8

    Last December the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) issued “draft final language” for the proposed General Permit 5A (GP-5A) and the revised General Permit 5 (GP-5)–regulations that supposedly will cut down on fugitive methane from escaping from drill pads and pipelines (see PA DEP Signals Onerous New GP-5 & 5A Methane Regs Coming 1Q18). The onerous regulations, which for now only apply to *new* sources (not existing) were originally prompted by bullying from the Obama Environmental Protection Agency. Even though EPA pressure disappeared under President Trump, PA Gov. Wolf is still pushing these onerous new regs. GP-5 applies to pipelines and compressor stations, while GP-5A applies to well pads and drilling. Following a flood of comments, the DEP tweaked the onerous regs yet again (for the third or fourth time), and in late March published yet another revised final final final final final version of the regs (see PA DEP Releases Draft Final GP-5 & 5A Methane Regulations). The DEP just announced they will issue the final final final final version of the revised regs on June 8, and two months later, on August 8, the new rules will officially go into effect–unless they delay it again…
    Read More “PA DEP Releasing Onerous New GP-5 & 5A Methane Regs June 8”

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    PIOGA Consultant Remarks (Mis)Used to Promote 250% Shale Fee Hike

    We spotted a rather strange story (for us) on a major energy news service (Platts) that says, in so many words, that “the industry” says hiking the permit fee to drill a new Marcellus well in Pennsylvania by 250%–to $12,500–is no big deal. Which made our eyebrows go up. According to a long-time regulatory consultant for the Pennsylvania Independent Oil & Gas Association (PIOGA) quoted by Platts, “I don’t think it’s [the 250% fee hike] going to make or break people’s decisions” as to whether or not to drill. Hmmm. That’s not the feedback we’ve heard others, like the Marcellus Shale Coalition, say on the record. The same article quotes PIOGA President Dan Weaver saying, “We haven’t developed an official statement, but we definitely don’t agree with it [the fee hike]. We feel that we pay enough fees as it is.” So what’s going on here? Does the industry, as represented by PIOGA, think this fee hike is nuts (as we do)? Or does PIOGA think the fee hike is okey dokey? We contacted Dan to ask about the consultant’s comments and got an interesting response…
    Read More “PIOGA Consultant Remarks (Mis)Used to Promote 250% Shale Fee Hike”

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    PA House Passes Bill Exempting Conventional Drillers from Shale Regs

    In March, two identical bills were introduced, one in the PA Senate, the other in the PA House, that would “roll back” (more like “lock in”) regulations that govern conventional PA drilling to the Oil and Gas Act of 1984 (see 2 PA Bills Would Roll Back Conventional Drilling Regs to 1984). The bills are in response to coming changes proposed by leftist Gov. Tom Wolf to over-regulate conventional drillers. Big Green didn’t waste any time opposing the bills, spinning them as a lessening of environmental protections in a letter to legislators (see Big Green Opposes Bill to Relax Regs for PA Conventional Drillers). The big news is that the House’s version of the bill, HB 2154, passed yesterday by a vote of 111-84. The issue now swings to the Senate (SB 1088), where its future is more uncertain. Let’s assume the Senate passes SB 1088 (a really big assumption). Lefty Gov. Tom Wolf is vehemently against it and will veto the bill when it hits his desk–so says one of his top lieutenants. It’s not clear if there would be enough votes in the Senate (or House) to override a Wolf veto. Hey, we’re still hopeful, but in all honesty, this legislation faces an uphill battle…
    Read More “PA House Passes Bill Exempting Conventional Drillers from Shale Regs”

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    PA House Speaker Turzai Nukes Wolf’s Severance Tax Proposal

    Speaker of the PA House, Mike Turzai – credit: Wikipedia

    A few weeks ago Secretary of the Pennsylvania Dept. of Community and Economic Development (DCED), Dennis Davin, wrote an embarrassing editorial published in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (see Once Again Wolf Pushes DCED Sec. to Support Severance Tax). Davin knows that a high severance tax will drive Marcellus drillers out of the state–but (we conclude) he wants to keep his job for another four years, so he goes out as the spear-catcher for his boss, lefty Gov. Tom Wolf. PA House Speaker Mike Turzai is an impressive guy. He’s always stood, steadfast, with the Marcellus industry, against Wolf’s insane plan to tax the industry out of existence. Turzai sent the Post-Gazette a column of his own, to counter the inanities of Davin’s column–and wonder of wonders, they published it! Turzai does a masterful job with his response to Davin. Our favorite part is where Turzai obliterate’s Davin’s claims about the “minimal” revenue raised by PA’s impact fee. In PA, instead of a severance tax, the legislature passed an impact fee (i.e., tax) in 2012, which has raised far more than the severance tax in neighboring states. For example, in 2017, Ohio raised $36.7 million via its severance tax. In 2017, West Virginia raised $69 million from its severance tax. In 2017, PA raised a whopping $173.3 million from its impact fee. Tell us again, Mr. Davin, about the “superiority” of a severance tax!…
    Read More “PA House Speaker Turzai Nukes Wolf’s Severance Tax Proposal”

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    U.S. Supreme Court Lets Stand Eminent Domain for ME2 Pipeline

    It’s been a long, tough fight to get the Mariner East 2 Pipeline (ME2) project built. In fact, it’s still not 100% built (it is about 98% done). Construction on a tiny section near Philadelphia is currently being stopped by a liberal judge (see Antis Get Lib Judge to Shut Down All Mariner East Pipes, Dems Rejoice). We expect that to be resolved soon. However, the project has been sued multiple times in different courts. One of the favored legal arguments was/is to say the project does not have the right to use the power of eminent domain to force recalcitrant landowners from accepting it. One such case, brought by a Lebanon County, PA landowner, was appealed all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. On Monday the Supremes declined to review the case, a challenge to ME2’s ability to use eminent domain, thereby cementing a ruling by the PA Commonwealth Court that ME2 can indeed use eminent domain. Period. End of sentence. The Supreme Court ruling is just the latest in a string of rulings favoring the ME2 project. Last summer, a three-judge Commonwealth Court panel ruled in favor of ME2, upholding its status as a public utility because it will provide increased public access to energy resources like propane. Huntingdon County Common Pleas Court Judge George Zanic ruled against efforts to delay construction of ME2 after Commonwealth Court validated the utility status by dismissing an appeal. None of this is new. The court have repeatedly ruled against challenges to the state Public Utility Commission’s designation of ME2 as a public utility with  public benefits. And now, the Supremes have rendered the final word: ME2 is a public utility…
    Read More “U.S. Supreme Court Lets Stand Eminent Domain for ME2 Pipeline”

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    PA Supreme Court Upholds Block on DEP Chapter 78a Drilling Regs

    In October 2016, after five years in the making, Pennsylvania adopted new shale drilling regulations (see PA’s New Chapter 78a Drilling Regs Go into Effect Oct 8). Although the regs were ready at the end of the Gov. Tom Corbett Administration, Corbett fumbled the ball and the regs didn’t get adopted, which left them vulnerable to the incoming left-leaning Tom Wolf Administration. Wolf’s people mangled the regulations under the Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) Dictator/Secretary John Quigley, who got fired over unethical collusion with Big Green groups. Some of the good stuff remained, but onerous new elements were introduced. The Marcellus Shale Coalition (MSC), which represents PA’s biggest shale drillers, filed an appeal in Commonwealth Court to block the most onerous aspects of the new regulations (see Marc. Shale Coalition Files Lawsuit to Block PA Chapter 78a Regs). The judge agreed to “temporarily” block some of the items in the MSC list (see PA Judge Temporarily Blocks Some DEP Chapter 78a Drilling Regs). In December 2016, the DEP escalated the case by asking the PA Supreme Court to undo the block on those regulations imposed by the lower Commonwealth Court (see PA DEP Asks Supreme Court to Overturn Stay on New Regs). Last October the Supremes heard oral arguments in the case (see PA Supreme Court Hears Arguments on DEP Request to Unblock Regs), and on Friday the Supremes ruled to not undo the block on DEP’s onerous regs–but instead bumped the case back down to Commonwealth Court to let the matter play out there…
    Read More “PA Supreme Court Upholds Block on DEP Chapter 78a Drilling Regs”

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    PA Senator Intros Bill Declaring DRBC Frack Ban ‘Taking’ of Property

    PA State Sen. Lisa Baker

    Three cheers for PA Senator Lisa Baker (Republican from Luzerne County). Rather than wait around for the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) to move forward with adopting a threatened ban on fracking within their jurisdiction–a patently illegal move–Baker isn’t waiting. She’s taking a different approach to defeating the DRBC ban. Her approach is to bankrupt the DRBC if they decide to move forward with it. How? By introducing a bill which, if it becomes law, would make a DRBC ban officially a government “taking” under eminent domain. If the government “takes” (or seizes) a citizen’s property, that citizen is, under law, owed money from the government entity seizing the property. There is no way on God’s green earth the DRBC would/could have enough money to pay all of the landowners it’s shafting with a frack ban. Affected landowners live primarily in Wayne and Pike counties in northeastern PA. This is a brilliant move on Baker’s part–IF she can get the bill passed and signed into law by the feckless Tom Wolf…
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    PA Dems & RINOs Intro Bill Creating Commission to Stop New Pipes

    On Friday, a small group of anti-drilling Democrats and RINOs introduced a “bi-partisan” resolution that would create yet another black hole to dump taxpayer money into–a so-called Commission to Study Pipeline Construction and Operations that would “recommend improvements for the safe transport of oil, natural gas and other hazardous liquids through pipelines.” The “bi-partisan” (meaning TOTALLY partisan and anti-pipeline) members include Republicans in Name Only from the Philadelphia area coupled with virulent antis from the Democrat party. They do their best, with the help of sycophantic supporters in the media, to make it sound like an unbiased, impartial look at how to make pipelines safer and better. It’s nothing of the sort. It’s a commission aimed at shutting down any more pipeline development in the Keystone State. The good news, if there can be said to be good news, is that resolutions and in this case the commission it would create have zero ability to impose laws or regulations. It is an exercise in bloviating, giving a bunch of windbags a forum from which to bash fossil fuels and the methods used to extract and transport them. We predict this resolution is going nowhere fast…
    Read More “PA Dems & RINOs Intro Bill Creating Commission to Stop New Pipes”

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    PA Natural Gas Production Hits New All-Time High in 1Q18

    Yesterday, the PA Independent Fiscal Office (IFO) released their latest quarterly Natural Gas Production Report for Jan-Mar 2018 (full copy below). It shows natgas production rose 9.9% compared to the same period last year. It also shows the number of producing wells is up 9.1% from last year. Total natural gas production volume was 1,441.2 billion cubic feet (Bcf), and the number of producing wells in 1Q18 was 8,402 (of which 7,913 were shale wells). The biggest news is that once again 1Q18 saw the highest quarterly production of natural gas in the state–ever. The previous quarterly report had been the highest ever until this report (see PA Natural Gas Production Hits Another All-Time High in 4Q17). Two-thirds of the state’s natural gas production comes from four counties: Susquehanna, Washington, Bradford and Greene. The #1 county for natgas production in 1Q18 was, as it was in each quarter of 2017, Susquehanna County, in the northeastern corner of the state. The #1 producing driller in Susquehanna County is Cabot Oil & Gas. Here’s the full 1Q18 natural gas production report from the IFO…
    Read More “PA Natural Gas Production Hits New All-Time High in 1Q18”

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    PA DEP Hellbent to Ram Through 250% Hike in Shale Permit Fee

    Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf’s Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP), the agency charged with overseeing oil and gas drilling in the state, “blindsided” the shale industry in February with a proposal to hike the fee required when submitting an application to drill a new shale well (see PA DEP Plans to Raise Marcellus Well Permit Fee by 250%). The current fee is $5,000. The proposed new fee is $12,500–or 2.5 times (250%) higher. We understand…the DEP has fewer people working there than it once did and needs to hire more help. However, the DEP wants to slap this insanely high fee on shale drillers to (in part) cover the expenses associated with non-shale activities! According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the shale permit fees will, “fund the broad scope of the [DEP] office’s operations, including its oversight of traditional [i.e. conventional] oil and gas wells, gas storage wells, abandoned wells and earthmoving activities.” How is it, in any sense, fair to hike the fees of shale drillers so DEP agents can better keep an eye on non-shale wells? The DEP plans to steamroller this increase through. Last week the DEP’s own Environmental Quality Board approved the increase. The next step is to publish a notice about the increase in the Pennsylvania Bulletin. That will trigger a 30-day public comment period. However, don’t look for the fee increase to happen right away. It appears DEP thinks they’ll have a royal fight on their hands (which they will), because they said the fee increase won’t happen until 2019 or maybe even 2020…
    Read More “PA DEP Hellbent to Ram Through 250% Hike in Shale Permit Fee”

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    Towns Compete in PA DEP Hunger Games to Grab $12.6M of ME2 Cash

    Que the music with dramatic drums, cymbals and trumpets. Camera A, zoom in on Secretary McDonnell. The whole state is watching. It’s time for the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) Hunger Games to begin! In February Sunoco Logistics Partners agreed to pay a massive (historically high) $12.6 million fine to the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) for “permit violations related to the construction of the Mariner East 2 pipeline project” (see Sunoco LP Pays PA DEP $12.6M to Resume ME2 Pipeline Construction). Sunoco’s ME2 construction activities caused a few erosion issues here and some drilling mud leaks there–so-called “harms” to the environment. Surely some of the massive, historically high $12.6 million fine will be used to “fix” those problems, right? Wrong. Sunoco had to pay twice–pay to clean up the problems AND pay the fine. The fine was essentially a shakedown, Sunoco had to pay it or they would not be allowed to resume construction work on ME2. In April the DEP announced a new program to distribute the $12.6 million of fine money (see PA DEP Hunger Games Competition to Distribute $12.6M in ME2 Money). In Hunger Games tradition, the DEP is conducting a lottery for the 85 municipalities along ME2’s path, allowing those “districts” to submit begging proposals to request some of the money for programs in their district. The contestants have 45 days, from May 7 to June 20, to make a grab for the cash (i.e. submit a grant application). Here’s how one town in Lebanon County is preparing what they hope is a winning entry–their chance to grab some of ME2’s money…
    Read More “Towns Compete in PA DEP Hunger Games to Grab $12.6M of ME2 Cash”

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    Faux “Conservative” PA Energy Group Launches Promoting Solar/Wind

    Last week at a press conference an organization calling itself the Pennsylvania Conservative Energy Forum (PennCEF) officially launched. The group says it, “seeks to provide a conservative voice in the state energy policy debate, supporting common-sense, all-of-the-above energy solutions that are good for the economy, grid and national security, and the conservation of our state’s natural resources.” PBS’ StateImpact Pennsylvania, a mouthpiece for Big Green groups, opens its glowing article of the new “conservative” organization this way: “A group of political conservatives wants a voice in the state’s energy future.” Big red flag when StateImpact writes positively about a “conservative” group. We read the StateImpact article, located the PennCEF press release from last week, and looked over their website in detail. It appears PennCEF promotes an “all of the above” energy philosophy–EXCEPT fossil fuels, which are THE major source of energy today and for the next several generations. The use of the phrase “all of the above” used by PennCEF sounds eerily like what Lord Obama used to say. He said “all of the above” but meant he would pick the winners and losers. Solar and wind are the winners, fossil fuels the losers. Which is not truly an “all of the above” philosophy. We scoured the PennCEF website and a single reference (on an infographic) to natural gas. Nothing else about shale gas and its role in a clean energy future. We reviewed the Executive Leadership Council bios, the people who run the organization, and found Big Green, Big Solar, Big Wind, and Big Libs among those steering the organization. Our conclusion? There’s nothing “conservative” about PennCEF–other than a misappropriation of the word conservative…
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