Statewide PA

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    PA DEP Tries to Convince Landowners/Drillers to Plug Orphan Wells

    Earlier this week MDN told you about a new bill that passed the Ohio legislature and now awaits Gov. John Kasich’s signature called House Bill 225, which triples the amount of money set aside to cap orphan wells in the Buckeye State (see OH Orphan Well Bill Wins Praise from Both Drillers & Enviros). The bill also “creates a more streamlined and efficient process for identifying and plugging” orphan wells. The amazing thing about the bill is this: both Big Green groups and the drilling industry support it! So-called orphan wells are old conventional oil and gas wells that have been abandoned (for decades). They are hazards for shale drillers who stumble across them when drilling new wells. If you drill horizontally and clip an old/abandoned well, it becomes like an elevator pumping fluids and gas to the surface. Ohio has an estimated 600 orphan wells. In Pennsylvania, it’s a whole other story. PA has some 200,000 orphan wells! The main issue in PA has been who will pay to cap them? Most of PA’s orphan wells are not mapped or known. Yet some of them are known–by the landowners on whose land they sit. A second (very important) issue in PA is that if a landowner or driller tries to cap an orphan well they come across, the party doing the work may be liable if there are any environmental impacts from the effort. Let’s see, nobody to pay for it–and if you assume all the legal risk. It’s a recipe for “Don’t touch that orphan well with a 10 foot pole!” In what is too coincidental to be a coincidence, the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection has just launched a program “encouraging private-sector partners to become Good Samaritans, by participating in a program that helps cap dangerous abandoned oil and gas wells statewide.” Was the DEP goaded into doing something about orphan wells after seeing the success Ohio is having? Whether coincidence or not, the DEP is telling landowners and drillers: If you pay for it and plug it yourself, first getting the DEP’s “mother may I?” permission, you will not be on the hook legally (i.e. can’t be sued) later on if “this old well” ends up harming the environment…
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    PA Senate Ctte Sends “Study Slow DEP” Resolution for Full Vote

    You have to understand something about politicians–a lesson we learned long ago when working in Washington, D.C. If a politician floats a plan to “study” something, that really means “we’re not going to do a single thing about it.” Over the past couple of years the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) has gotten slower and slower in issuing permits for shale drilling–for simple things, like erosion permits a driller needs to push dirt around to create a well pad. The DEP has a policy of issuing erosion and sedimentation permits 14 days from the date of application. These types of permits are common and necessary when building roads, well pads, etc. As of last summer it was taking the DEP 250 days to issue those permits (see More Pushback on PA Senate Plan to Fix Slow DEP Permit Reviews). The drilling industry has been loudly pushing for a change. The DEP says it has fewer people on staff and that’s the reason for the slowdown. The thing is, the number of requests for permits has gone down too–so that particular argument doesn’t hold a lot of water. PA House Republicans have introduced a number of bills to “fix” the DEP, not least of which is a bill introduced that allows certified third parties to assist the DEP in reviewing permit applications (see Bill Introduced to Fix PA DEP’s Extreme Delays Issuing Permits). The House bill got Gov. Wolf’s attention. Last week he introduced his own plan to fix the DEP–by hiring more people and hiking fees on the drilling industry to pay for it (see PA Gov Wolf Floats Plan to Fix DEP Slow Drilling Permits: Hike Fees). Not to be outdone, the PA Senate now wants to weigh in. Last fall a Democrat Senator from Wilkes-Barre, John Yudichak, floated a “let’s study the problem” resolution (see PA Dem Senator Calls for “Study” to Address DEP Permit Delays). That resolution was just reported out of the Senate Energy Committee (of which Yudichak is the Minority Chair). Yep, both the swamp-dwelling Republicans and Democrats on the committee voted to “study” the DEP slowness problem, meaning they plan to do NOTHING about it…
    Read More “PA Senate Ctte Sends “Study Slow DEP” Resolution for Full Vote”

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    Marcellus Industry AWOL at Philadelphia DRBC Frack Ban Hearings

    Last week the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) held two public hearings in Philadelphia about its proposed plan to ban fracking in the Delaware River Basin (see Low Turnout for Philly DRBC Frack Ban Hearing, Antis Dominate). As we pointed out in our post, you would think a city with 1.5 million residents would turn out more than 120 people on a topic that is sold as “threat to everyone’s drinking water.” But no. Just a relative handful. However, the handful was almost exclusively in favor of the ban. One of two speaker who spoke against the ban was Dan Markind, an attorney in Philly. We’ve highlighted Dan’s comments here on MDN a few times over the years. Smart guy. We don’t always agree with his take, but we do this time. Dan circulated his thoughts after the DRBC hearing. His words are humbling. Dan makes the point that although many who spoke in favor of the frack ban have made up their minds and won’t change, some in the audience were open to being persuaded otherwise. Problem is, nobody from “our side” was there! One rep from the API spoke and left. And that’s it, beside Dan. We fielded nobody to present our side of the argument. As hard as it is to attend these types of events, attend we must. Here’s Dan’s take–that we missed a big opportunity by being AWOL at the DRBC hearings in Philly…
    Read More “Marcellus Industry AWOL at Philadelphia DRBC Frack Ban Hearings”

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    Landowners Who Negotiate with Shell Ethane Pipeline Get More $

    In February 2016, MDN exclusively broke the news that Shell had begun to sign leases with landowners for a 97-mile ethane pipeline (two branches) to feed their mighty cracker plant (see Exclusive: Shell Leasing Land for 2 Pipelines to PA Cracker Plant). Since that time we’ve tracked any news we could find that reveals what Shell is paying landowners in Beaver County (and elsewhere) for the right to run the ethane pipeline (called the Falcon Ethane Pipeline) across their land. So far, we’ve seen rates as high as $75 per foot, and as low as $43 per foot. We just spotted another mention. An extensive (and well written) article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette interviews a number of landowners who have dealt with Shell, signing leases to allow the ethane pipeline across their land. The article opens with the story of a couple and their attempt to negotiate with Shell. If you play too hard to catch, Shell might route the pipeline around your land, onto your neighbor’s land instead. But sign too early, and maybe you’re leaving money on the table. It’s a fine line–causing stress and strain. In reading the article we really perked up when we read about Ed Bilik, founder of Greensburg-based Western Pennsylvania Gas Leasing Consultants. Ed was the first guy to sniff out the eventual path of the pipeline–which he did by knocking on doors to see where Shell landmen had already visited. Bilik eventually got 41 landowners to sign with him, allowing Bilik to help them with negotiations. According to Bilik, “Shell started out offering $40 per foot for the right to lay two pipelines.” Bilik would not say how much his clients eventually got from Shell, but he did say this: “We exceeded that [amount] multiple times,” meaning his clients got a whole lot more than $40/foot when they signed. Here’s a portion of this enlightening article…
    Read More “Landowners Who Negotiate with Shell Ethane Pipeline Get More $”

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    PA Gov Wolf Floats Plan to Fix DEP Slow Drilling Permits: Hike Fees

    As part of the Pennsylvania Senate’s misguided and mangled budget bill last year, Republicans managed to slip in fixes to the state Dept. of Environmental Protection’s (DEP) chronic delays in issuing permits related to shale drilling (see PA Senate’s “Olive Branch” of “Relaxed Regulations” for Drillers). Unfortunately the fixes came out before the final budget passed. Problems remain for Marcellus drillers. Delays are long in the Keystone State when it comes to permits for shale wells. The problems NEED to get fixed, now. House Republicans recently introduced a series of five different bills to help address DEP’s chronic delays (see PA House Advances “Fix DEP & Other Agencies” Plan with 5 Bills). No doubt feeling the pressure from the legislature, PA Gov. Tom Wolf on Friday introduced his own plan. Whereas the plan floated by legislators would allow third parties to assist with the backlog, Wolf’s plan is different. In a nutshell, Wolf wants to allocate more money to the DEP so they can hire more help–not third parties. Yeah, that’s the answer! More government. (Yes, we’re being sarcastic.) And what magic pocket will Wolf pull the money from to pay for an increase in head count at DEP, especially since Wolf can’t balance a budget to save his life? Why, from the pockets of the shale industry, of course. Wolf proposes boosting the $5,000 fee drillers now pay when filing to drill a new shale well to $12,500–a 250% (2.5x) increase. You want that permit on time for a change? It’ll cost you, buddy…
    Read More “PA Gov Wolf Floats Plan to Fix DEP Slow Drilling Permits: Hike Fees”

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    PA DEP, DCNR on Hot Seat to Defend Budget Surpluses

    Last September, amidst a heated state budget battle in Pennsylvania (where the phrase “severance tax” was on the lips of every Democrat and RINO in Harrisburg), a group of PA House Republicans did the hard work Gov. Tom Wolf and his cronies in the legislature refused to do: They figured out how to fund a wildly overspent budget without raising a single tax (see PA House Introduces Balanced Budget with NO Severance Tax). How did House Republicans do it? They looked at state agencies hording money, with a plan to relieve them of their surplus. When Republicans went looking, they found even the Dept. of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) and Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) have been squirreling money away, unused in some of their programs. The House Republican plan from last September was not adopted, but elements of it were included in the final budget. The final budget, passed in October, instructs Gov. Wolf to reallocate $300 million from surpluses at various state agencies–from the agencies of his own choosing–as part of the “funding” for this year’s budget. The House Appropriations Committee held a meeting yesterday to question DCNR Sec. Cindy Dunn and DEP Sec. Pat McDonnell about the use and operation of special funds under their purview–to see if there’s a bit of surplus there that can be used for the state budget. Here’s how it went…
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    Low Turnout for Philly DRBC Frack Ban Hearing, Antis Dominate

    Philadelphia is the sixth most populous city in the United States, with over 1.5 million residents. And yet *maybe* 120 people turned out yesterday for a Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) hearing on their proposed plan to permanently ban fracking in the Delaware River Basin. A pair of hearings were held earlier this week in rural northeast PA–in Waymart–where the turnout was upward of 150 people! Judging from the wild claims by green groups like THE Delaware Riverkeeper that thousands (millions!) of people don’t want fracking in the river basin, you’d think more than maybe 120 people would turn up for a hearing in a city like Philly. Could it be not all that many people in southeast PA give a hoot about fracking in two northeastern PA counties? That thought crossed our minds as we read the accounts of those who showed up at yesterday’s meetings in Philly. Yes, antis outnumbered those in favor of fracking, but that’s to be expected in Philly. Here’s a recap of yesterday’s meetings…
    Read More “Low Turnout for Philly DRBC Frack Ban Hearing, Antis Dominate”

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    Range Res. 2018 Budget & 5 Yr Outlook: Focus on SWPA Marcellus

    Yesterday Range Resources released a pair of press releases. One outlines a high level overview for what the company will spend in 2018 and beyond, for the next five years. The other release trumpets Range’s “proved reserves.” As for 2018, Range says they are reducing the amount of money they will spend to drill this year versus what they spent last year. Range previously said they would spend $1.15 billion this year. That’s now been reduced to $941 million. Last year Range spent $1.27 billion, so this year’s spending is down 26% over last year. That’s a pretty hefty decrease. The good news is that Range will spend 80% of this year’s budget on drilling in the Marcellus, mainly in southwestern Pennsylvania. Even though Range will spend and drill less this year, they predict production will grow another 25%. As for the 5-year outlook, Range says almost all growth will come in the Marcellus (not the Louisiana Haynesville, their other drilling location). Range still has some 3,200 locations where they can drill new wells. Range CEO Jeff Ventura says shale has entered a “new era” of shale development where companies (like Range) have “captured the most prolific resources” and will now switch to focus on returns for shareholders. Translation: We won’t be drilling as much as we did in the past so we can concentrate on bottom line profitability. Which explains why Range is spending less this year than last. In the release Range calls the Marcellus its “flagship asset” and clearly signals the company will keep its focus here, in our region. As for proved reserves (how much gas and oil is in the ground, retrievable with today’s technology and at today’s costs), Range says proved reserves as of December 31 increased by 26% from the prior-year, now at 15.3 trillion cubic feet equivalent (Tcfe). That’s alotta gas! We have the Range announcements below, along with an updated PowerPoint slide deck chocked full of useful information…
    Read More “Range Res. 2018 Budget & 5 Yr Outlook: Focus on SWPA Marcellus”

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    PA AG Not Backing Down re Chesapeake Energy Royalty Lawsuit

    At the end of last year Chesapeake Energy offered a $30 million olive branch to Pennsylvania landowners to settle claims the company had screwed them out of royalty money by artificially inflating post-production costs in an elaborate scheme to pocket more money at landowners’ expense (see Chesapeake Agrees to $30M Royalty Settlement for PA Landowners). Chesapeake’s proffered deal would give the average PA leaseholder (some 14,000 of them) a one-time $2,140 payment–adjusted up or down for the size of their acreage. Frankly, it’s chump change. The big concession by Chesapeake in the proposed deal is that it gives landowners the right to reset the terms of their leases going forward. The catch is that Chesapeake won’t pull the trigger on the deal unless/until PA’s Attorney General, who has an ongoing, separate lawsuit filed against Chesapeake over the same issue, settles as well. PA AG Josh Shapiro has fired back saying he will not cave to Chesapeake’s “pressure tactic” and settle. PA landowners are caught in the middle. Some of them want the Chesapeake $30M chump change deal saying a bird in the hand is better than two in the bush. That is, the AG may eventually lose his case–and it will take years to play out. Why not take the money and run now, especially if we can reset the lease terms to prevent any more gouging by Chesapeake? But other landowners, including National Association of Royalty Owners (PA Chapter) President Jackie Root say PA landowners “deserve better” than the deal offered by Chesapeake. Here’s the latest in the royalty wars…
    Read More “PA AG Not Backing Down re Chesapeake Energy Royalty Lawsuit”

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    Riverkeeper Gears Up to Fight PennEast in Court via FERC Requests

    That didn’t take long. We knew it wouldn’t. Last Friday the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) gave its full, final approval for the PennEast Pipeline project, a $1 billion, 120-mile primarily 36-inch natural gas pipeline that will stretch from Dallas (Luzerne County), PA to Transco’s pipeline interconnection near Pennington (Mercer County), NJ. (see FERC Grants Final Approval for PennEast Pipe – Real Battle Begins). Yesterday THE Delaware Riverkeeper, a radicalized Big Green group, filed two requests with FERC: (1) a motion to “rehear” (i.e. reconsider) their decision to approve PennEast, and (2) a motion to block any construction on PennEast until the motion to rehear has been decided. As Riverkeeper plainly states on their website, “A Rehearing Request must be submitted and denied before a legal challenge in court can be pursued.” A court challenge is, of course, the strategy. Asking FERC to rehear the decision is nothing more than going through the motions, jumping through the necessary hoops. A huge side benefit for Riverkeeper with FERC’s decision to approve PennEast is that the opposition to the project can be leveraged as a big fundraiser for Riverkeeper: “Help us stop the big, bad pipeline. Donate here!” Below is Riverkeeper’s press release (i.e. fundraiser) about their plan to challenge FERC approval, along with their FERC filings from yesterday…
    Read More “Riverkeeper Gears Up to Fight PennEast in Court via FERC Requests”

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    PA Groups Want to Steal Marcellus $ to Fund “Free” College Educ

    On Tuesday, two left-leaning, Harrisburg-based Democrat groups with innocent sounding names–the Keystone Research Center and the Pennsylvania Budget and Policy Center–introduced what they labeled as “The Pennsylvania Promise” during a presentation in the Capitol Rotunda. We call it “The Pennsylvania Grand Theft.” No doubt inspired by autocrat Andrew Cuomo in the state next door and his “free college tuition” program, the groups want to give away a “free” college education to PA residents who go to a PA state college or university. Of course nothing is free. The program would cost $1 billion a year and would be funded in part by (you guessed it), a Marcellus Shale severance tax. The personal state income tax would also go up in order to help pay for this “free” program. How is this not theft? Transferring money from those who work hard to earn it–to those who don’t. Government theft, plain and simple. We have such a program here in New York State and people are leaving our state in DROVES. Year in and year out NY loses population, particularly in the Upstate region. Socialism, the transference of wealth from those who earn it to those who don’t (or won’t), eventually breaks down when the earners get tired of being shaken down by their government and move away. That’s what will happen in PA if a cockamamie plan like “The Pennsylvania Promise” is adopted…
    Read More “PA Groups Want to Steal Marcellus $ to Fund “Free” College Educ”

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    Marcellus Methane Emissions Study has Fatal Errors; Retracted

    Last year a peer reviewed study published by researchers from the University of Maryland in the American Geological Union’s (AGU) Journal of Geophysical Research Atmospheres claimed methane was leaking from the Marcellus Shale at a rate of 3.9% based on three flight measurements in September and August 2015. That’s a lot. Using that rate of 3.9%, the authors boldly concluded that shale gas development is a “climate detriment.” They actually said, “the use of natural gas rather than coal for combustion will result in a relatively greater climate impact over the next few decades.” Yeah, burning natgas is worse than burning coal for the environment. Just one teeny, tiny problem. The research is wrong. In a huge “oops we screwed up”–the study has now been retracted. Why? Due to an “error in wind measurements” that led to wildly wrong emissions estimates. And will you read about that in mainstream news–the same news that carried the original “shale gas is worse for the environmental than coal” stories? Nope. Crickets. Silence. Here’s the news from our friends at Energy in Depth about the yet another so-called research study exposed as fraudulent…
    Read More “Marcellus Methane Emissions Study has Fatal Errors; Retracted”

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    New “Marcellus Workers Cause STDs” So-Called Research Study

    Those evil, nasty frackers just LOVE having sex. Sex, sex, sex, all the time. Everybody knows it. When shale workers arrive in town, the incidence of gonorrhea (i.e. “the clap”) goes up. So says a laughable, totally made up “research study” recently published in the so-called Journal of Public Health Policy. This is not the first time we’ve heard this particular anti-fossil fuel argument–that shale causes sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). We’ve highlighted this anti lie a number of times over the years (see our stories here). Just like all lies pedaled by antis, they recycle this one again and again–it comes around every year or two. If you tell a lie often enough… This most recent permutation uses, in the exact words of the authors themselves, “a quasi-natural experiment within the Marcellus shale region plus panel data estimation techniques to quantify the impact of fracking activity on local gonorrhea incidences.” In other words, they just made it up. Spit-balled. Guessed. Lied. There is no real science here…
    Read More “New “Marcellus Workers Cause STDs” So-Called Research Study”

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    FERC Grants Final Approval for PennEast Pipe – Real Battle Begins

    PennEast Pipeline Route – click for larger version

    It took over three years, but finally (finally!) PennEast Pipeline received a full, final kiss of approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on Friday. One of the five FERC commissioners–Democrat Richard Glick (wind lobbyist, hand-picked by Chuck Schumer), voted against approving the project. Why are we not surprised? PennEast is a $1 billion, 120-mile primarily 36-inch natural gas pipeline that will stretch from Dallas (Luzerne County), PA to Transco’s pipeline interconnection near Pennington (Mercer County), NJ. The pipeline is an important conduit to move gas from the prolific gas fields of northeastern PA to markets in southeast PA and New Jersey. From the beginning of the project there have been a collection of so-called environmental organizations opposing it–including THE Delaware Riverkeeper, NJ Sierra Club, and the NJ Conservation Foundation. All radical groups, far far out of the mainstream. Unfortunately NJ elected an authoritarian Democrat as governor–Phil Murphy (see Dem Candidate for NJ Gov Opposes PennEast, After He $upported It). Murphy (a tool of Big Green) intends to obstruct PennEast any way he can (he said so during the campaign). So the fight for PennEast is far from over. The real battle is just beginning. However, with FERC on their side, PennEast can begin construction this year, in 2018. The more pipeline laid in the ground, the harder it becomes for Murphy and his radical supporters to stop it…
    Read More “FERC Grants Final Approval for PennEast Pipe – Real Battle Begins”

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    PA DEP Invites Public Comment on Shell 60-Mile Ethane Pipeline

    Falcon Ethane Pipeline proposed route – click for larger version

    The Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) is taking a close look at Shell’s proposal to build an ethane pipeline to feed the $6 billion cracker plant now under construction in Beaver County, PA. In fact, the DEP wants public input on the ethane pipeline–by Feb. 20th. Brief history: In February 2016, MDN brought you exclusive news that Shell had begun approaching landowners in Beaver County to get them to sign easements for two ethane pipelines to feed the mighty cracker plant they plan to build in the county (see Exclusive: Shell Leasing Land for 2 Pipelines to PA Cracker Plant). At that time Shell had still not fully committed to building the cracker–something they finally did in June 2016 (see Breaking: Shell Pulls the Trigger, PA Ethane Cracker is a Go!). NGI’s Shale Daily broke a story in August 2016 that shed new light on the project–news that Shell is working on an ethane “pipeline system” with two “legs” to feed the cracker, confirming the tip we received in February (see Shell Working on 94-Mile Ethane Pipeline to Feed PA Cracker). Last October Shell filed an application with the PA DEP for the PA portions of the pipeline (see Shell Files PA Application for Ethane Pipe to Feed Cracker Plant). The DEP is now considering those portions–some 60 miles running through the state. Here’s how you can comment on/support the project…
    Read More “PA DEP Invites Public Comment on Shell 60-Mile Ethane Pipeline”

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    New Park Foundation “Study” Targets PA Conventional O&G Wastewater

    For years now the radical Park Park Foundation has been buying its research from a few select professors at a few select universities. One of the scientists for sale is Avner Vengosh, professor of geochemistry and water quality at Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment (see Duke Hit Piece on Shale Water Usage from Same Park-Sponsored Prof and Latest Case of Duke U Bought & Paid “Research” by Park Foundation). Here’s how it works: Park funds Dr. Vengosh’s “research,” and he conveniently “discovers” all sorts of nasty things about shale fracking, publishing his “research” in obscure, peer reviewed journals. Mainstream media picks it up and runs it. Readers who only scan headlines get the impression fracking is evil. Mission accomplished for Park (another hit on fracking) and for Vengosh (another buck in his pocket). That’s how it works in the world of bought-and-paid-for fractivism. We though Vengosh had reformed. In October 2016 he published a fracking wastewater study, funded by the National Science Foundation (NOT the Park Foundation) that found there’s really nothing to worry about after all when it comes to Marcellus Shale wastewater (see Duke U Researcher Tries to Repair Reputation with Wastewater Study). But Vengosh has had a relapse–perhaps he needs more money? Vengosh, with funding from the Park Foundation, has just published a new study that blames conventional (not shale) oil and gas development in Pennsylvania for an increase in radioactivity in streams/rivers where conventional (not shale) wastewater has been treated and released by local sewage treatment plants…
    Read More “New Park Foundation “Study” Targets PA Conventional O&G Wastewater”