DC Court Forces “Emergency Stop” of Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline Work
The arrogance of Big Green was on full display yesterday as they rushed to stop the Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline project project and silence lawfully permitted work. In response to a lawsuit filed by the worst of the worst (the Sierra Club) on Oct. 30th, a liberal court in the District of Columbia yesterday slapped the Atlantic Sunrise project with an emergency stop work order–for the entire project. Work had already begun to lay pipe on the property of Catholic nuns in Lancaster County, PA. The nuns call themselves Adorers of the Blood of Christ. We call them Sisters of the Corn (you can read why here). The Sisters have allowed themselves to be used to oppose the Atlantic Sunrise project by a radical professor from Lancaster County, Mark Clatterbuck, someone who engaged in the North Dakota Access Pipeline protests (protests that turned violent). Clatterbuck enlisted the help of his Big Green buddies in the Sierra Club to try and litigate to stop the federally and legally approved project last week (see Sierra Club Asks Fed Court to Stop Atlantic Sunrise Construction). Yesterday we told you that Williams, the builder, was building at the site of the Sisters first because of the involvement of Clattberbuck and Big Green interference–get the hard part done first (see First Atlantic Sunrise Pipe Gets Buried on Nun Property). We were grinning that pipeline on the Sisters’ property would be the first to be laid and buried in the ground, likely done this week. Today the grin is wiped off our face, we must confess. It’s so sad to see egregious abuses of our legal system like this. We expect the stop work order for the project will be temporary–perhaps a few weeks. But one never knows. The DC Circuit Court of Appeals is looking at the question of whether the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission was correct in approving the project in the first place last February…
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MDN is pleased to bring you another guest post from our very good friend Chris Acker. Chris is MDN editor Jim Willis’ right arm when it comes to scanning for stories, something Jim is profoundly grateful for. Chris is a geological engineer with an MBA. He grew up in the oil fields of Venezuela where his father, a petroleum engineer, was a drilling contractor for all the major players, onshore and off. Chris’ interest in energy economics and policy found him working for Exxon, Petroleum Industry Research Associates and Petroleos de Venezuela. He bought a parcel of land in the PA countryside twenty-five years ago and later semi-retired to work on antique pianos (see 
Today is election day across the U.S. It is an “off-year” election, meaning no national elections on the ticket–only state and local elections. Last week, in advance of today, the Consumer Energy Alliance (CEA) launched a non-partisan “Campaign for America’s Energy” across 12 key states, including Pennsylvania. The campaign aims to educate families, businesses, and state and local lawmakers about the benefits of energy production and delivery, without getting bogged down in contentious politics–IF that’s even possible! CEA is making a good-faith effort at it. MDN editor Jim Willis interviewed CEA’s president, David Holt, back in 2014. You can 
An off-hand comment by a Pennsylvania Gov. Wolf staffer has landowners in northeast PA hopping mad–and with good reason. Speaking on the topic of PA landowners getting screwed out of royalty payments by drillers deducting inflated post-production costs (sometimes sending royalty statements where landowners OWE the drillers money!), Wolf deputy policy director Sam Robinson said this: “I think there was a crescendo of that kind of claim in 2015 to 2016…There’s been real movement in a positive direction on that issue.” Really? Not according to Bradford County Commissioner Doug McLinko and National Association of Royalty Owners (NARO) PA president Jackie Root. Not only is the issue not resolved, but the industry, under the prompting of EQT, snuck through an “environmental rider” in the recently passed-and-signed-into-law Fiscal Code bill (called Section 1610) that gives drillers a back door to reactivate old, non-producing wells after they have not been producing (and the lease considered terminated) under certain conditions (see 
Although there is still quite a bit less drilling than there was in 2014-2015, for a number of reasons, there are plenty of jobs to be had in the Marcellus/Utica Shale–especially in southwest PA. Companies that do work in the industry held a job fair last Thursday night at the Deer Lakes High School, looking for truck drivers, roustabouts and construction workers. Seems like a week doesn’t go by now that we don’t read about a job fair somewhere in the Pittsburgh region. Yes, there may be less drilling, but there’s still plenty of jobs to be filled, especially with Shell’s cracker plant construction ramping up. Below is news about last week’s job fair–who was looking, and what they’re willing to pay…
The odious Sierra Club is at it again. Using what appears to be endless supplies of money from people like the Rockefellers, the Sierra Club, along with a mishmash of other radical environmental groups, filed an emergency motion in federal court on Monday, asking the court to stop any further work on the Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline. Atlantic Sunrise is a $3 billion, 198-mile natural gas pipeline project running through 10 Pennsylvania counties to connect Marcellus Shale natural gas from northeastern PA with the Williams’ Transco pipeline in southern Lancaster County. Williams, the company building/owning the project, broke ground in September (see 
A cabal of three, rabid, radical so-called environmental groups are once again trying to obstruct the legally-permitted Mariner East 2 (ME2) natural gas liquids pipeline project in Pennsylvania. Clean Air Council, THE Delaware Riverkeeper and the Mountain Watershed Association filed a motion with the PA Environmental Hearing Board, a special court set up to hear appeals of decisions made by the Dept. of Environmental Protection, to revoke permits previously issued by the DEP for the ME2 project–WITHOUT holding a trial. The groups are attempting to rush through a decision to block work on the pipeline by claiming there are “facts” in the case “not in dispute” and that the judge can simply take the reigns of justice into his own hands and rule by fiat. The heart of their case is that DEP granted federal water crossing permits for ME2 for “exceptional value” swamps, er, a, wetlands–and ya know, that just ain’t right. Even the attorney for the odious (and odoriferous) Clean Air Council says the judge won’t rule on the motion for at least two months–which is about the time the pipeline will be done anyway. So we’re not quite sure what these rabid groups hope to accomplish with their latest stunt. Perhaps it’s yet another fundraiser? The holidays are fast approaching…
An extensive article in the Pittsburgh Business Times calls attention to the developing shortage of qualified construction workers in southwest Pennsylvania. So far the need for workers has been met, but it’s not hard to predict that as Shell ramps up its “vertical construction” (building the buildings to house the cracker) this fall, that shortages will happen–not only for Shell’s project, but for other expansion projects in the area as well. Shell is the anchor. There are dozens (perhaps hundreds) of other businesses that will launch, relocate or expand to take advantage of Shell’s forthcoming supply of cheap plastics. All of those projects will create thousands of jobs in the construction industry. Various colleges and unions have launched training programs to meet the need for electricians, carpenters, iron workers, steamfitters, insulators and sheet metal workers. Question is, will it be enough?…
For some reason Tom Wolf has successfully cultivated a public persona of a genteel, non-partisan businessman–from the very beginning of his race for the governor’s chair even through today. We weren’t fooled, but many were. He’s proven to be just what we thought he was: a vicious partisan liberal, a spoiled rich kid who grew up to be a spoiled rich adult. Someone who throws a fit when he doesn’t get his own way. The severance tax is a perfect example. From his first day in office, Wolf lobbied hard for a severance tax. Such a tax was thought to be an easy way to pour billions of dollars into “education.” It was Wolf’s quid pro quo with Philadelphia teacher’s unions. They voted him into office, and he would repay them with big money–getting it from an “easy mark”–the Marcellus industry. Turns out the industry wasn’t such an easy mark after all. It has been a long, bloody fight, but the fight (for this year) is now over and Wolf has lost, third year in a row, to get a severance tax passed. His anger bubbled over last week and Wolf revealed his true character. When asked about the budget process, Wolf’s office issued this statement about House Republicans, attributed to Wolf: their opposition to a severance tax “has revealed the worst of Harrisburg.” In other words, Wolf just called House Republicans, his principled opponents, “the worst of Harrisburg.” His comment is the political equivalent of a five year-old stomping his feet and throwing himself on the floor when he doesn’t get his own way. Thank God for House Republicans who held the line against this insane severance tax, and shame on Senate Republicans who turned traitor. Hopefully they’ve learned a lesson from their courageous House colleagues about holding the line…
Last week the University of Pennsylvania published “Pennsylvania’s Gas Decade,” a study looking at the impact of the Marcellus Shale on the state’s utility customers over a ten-year period, from 2007-2016 (full copy below). The study shows that on average, PA customers now pay 40% less for natural gas than they did ten years ago. The study also shows electricity customers are paying less–thanks to the Marcellus. Before Marcellus drilling began, PA produced 1% of the nation’s natural gas supplies. Today? PA produces 16% of our country’s natgas supplies. Thank you Marcellus! The study’s author predicts the trend toward lower natgas prices for PA residents will reverse–eventually. Why? The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has approved a staggering 53 interstate pipeline projects that cross PA (more than twice that of any other state). Once/if those projects are built, more gas will flow out of the state, meaning prices for gas will rise. Hey, drillers aren’t sticking around in PA just to break even or lose money. They are in the state to make money, and part of making money is getting the gas to other markets. In the meantime, before the plethora of pipelines are built, PA residents should enjoy the low prices they’re paying…
This is the perfect illustration of how parts of state government, like the so-called Environmental Justice division of the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP), get co-opted by Big Green groups. In 2015 then-Secretary of the DEP, John Quigley, “reactivated” the Office of Environmental Justice at the DEP to give poor folks and minorities an important new weapon to oppose shale drilling (see 
The Pennsylvania legislature has spoken. The PA Senate and House have now sent all three budget-related bills to liberal Gov. Tom Wolf for his signature. In the end, severance tax proponents, including traitorous Republicans in the Senate (and House), could not ramrod through a new, punishing tax on the Marcellus industry–on top of the many taxes the industry already pays. RINOsaur Gene DiGirolamo could not get his 3.2% severance tax bill passed in time for this year’s budget–but it hangs out there like a zombie, not quite ready to die, just yet (see 
While Pennsylvania legislators and PA Gov. Tom Wolf work to finish up the four-month-late state budget, the issue of whether or not to enact a severance tax to help pay for Harrisburg’s wild overspending is still alive. We think it’s mostly dead, but the severance tax keeps coming back to life like a zombie in a B horror flick. The latest incarnation comes from a Republican in Name Only (RINO), Gene DiGirolamo, a Philadelphia area member of the PA House. As we previously reported, DiGirolamo’s House Bill (HB) 1401 would slap a 3.2% severance tax on top of the existing impact tax, which is the equivalent of a 5%+ severance tax already (see 
Yesterday MDN told you about two different environmental “riders” snuck into the Pennsylvania Fiscal Code bill that is part of the annual state budget (now four months late). The riders have nothing to do with the budget or raising revenue. It’s a sleazy political ploy to pass unpopular measures that wouldn’t get passed on a standalone vote. One of the riders changes the terms of existing leases by allowing drillers to reactivate old/expired leases, either by restarting production or by drilling a new well if the landowner doesn’t object within 90 days of notification (see 
In August Energy Transfer’s Sunoco Logisitics unit struck a deal with the devil–the devil being the Philadelphia-based Clean Air Council, THE Delaware Riverkeeper and Mountain Watershed Association–in a move to lift a ban on underground horizontal directional drilling (HDD) for the Mariner East 2 NGL pipeline project (see