Statewide PA

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    Powelson Under Fire for Calling Enviro Jihadists, “Jihadists”

    Two days ago MDN reported on comments delivered by Rob Powelson, currently a member of Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) and via that role, currently the president of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC). Powelson gave a talk at the Upstream PA conference in State College earlier this week–in which he said, “The jihad has begun…At the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission groups actually show up at commissioners’ homes to make sure we don’t get this gas to market. How irresponsible is that?” (see Potential FERC Com. Powleson Calls Anti-Fossil Fuelers “Jihadists”). We applauded Powelson for speaking the truth about the nature of environmental radicalism that has morphed into a religious war against fossil fuels. Groups like Food & Water Watch, THE Delaware Riverkeeper, the Clean Air Council and others are similar to radical Islamists who perpetuate jihad and terrorism. For radical Islam, the object is to forcibly convert non-Muslims to their religion–Islam. Or kill them if they won’t convert. For radical environmentalists, the object is to forcibly convert American residents into abandoning the use of fossil fuels–the green “religion.” Or politically “kill” them if they don’t follow the green philosophy. Powelson’s comments were spot-on. When bullies show up at FERC Commissioners’ homes and menace them, that’s WAY over the line. Now those same radical environmentalists are in a religious fit over Powelson’s remarks, demanding that he resign from the PA PUC for his “racist” remarks. Earth to eco-nuts: Powelson soon will resign from the PUC, when Trump nominates him as a FERC Commissioner! In the meantime, Powelson has had to “walk back” his remarks, apologizing (never apologize!!!) for using the term “jihad.” Why? That’s EXACTLY what these people are!…
    Read More “Powelson Under Fire for Calling Enviro Jihadists, “Jihadists””

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    Fed Judge Dismisses Dela. Riverkeeper Lawsuit Against FERC

    It took a whole year, but a federal court has just thrown out a frivolous lawsuit filed by Maya van Rossum, THE Delaware Riverkeeper, which attempted to defund the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). Last year MDN reported on the lawsuit filed by Maya and company–a lawsuit which aimed to shut down the entire agency by defunding it (see THE Delaware Riverkeeper Sues FERC, Tries to Close it Down). Delaware Riverkeeper filed their lawsuit against FERC in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia–one of the most liberal jurisdictions in the country. The lawsuit claimed FERC can’t objectively make decisions about projects like the Penn East Pipeline (running from the Wilkes-Barre area to New Jersey) because FERC derives some of its operating revenue from the projects it either approves or does not approve. Liberal U.S. District Justice Tanya Chutkan found Riverkeeper’s arguments don’t hold water (pun intended). In her 20-page opinion (copy below), Chutkan doesn’t buy Maya’s BS line that FERC is hopelessly biased. Although Maya tried to spin the bad news as good (because Riverkeeper achieved “standing” in the case), the decision is, in fact, a crushing blow for Maya and her merry band of eco-nuts…
    Read More “Fed Judge Dismisses Dela. Riverkeeper Lawsuit Against FERC”

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    Williams Launches PA Media Campaign to Promote Atlantic Sunrise

    Williams is in the years-long (and almost impossible) process of building the Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline project–a $3 billion, 198-mile pipeline running through 10 Pennsylvania counties to connect Marcellus Shale natural gas from PA with the Williams’ Transco pipeline in southern Lancaster County. On Feb. 3, 2017, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) gave its final approval for the project (see FERC Approves Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline! Cabot Grabs More Capacity). From FERC’s perspective, Atlantic Sunrise can start the bulldozers any time–except the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) has not yet granted some necessary permits. As we reported earlier this month, Williams is keeping up the gentle pressure (see Williams Keeps Pressure on PA DEP to Issue Atlantic Sunrise Permits). That pressure continues. Williams has just launched an “expanded” media campaign, complete with on-air commercials, which aim to “educate the community about these benefits and the importance of designing, constructing and operating critical natural gas infrastructure projects in Pennsylvania.” The new media effort is also meant to ratchet up the pressure on the DEP another notch…
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    PA Study Finds Marcellus/Utica Can Support 4 More Ethane Crackers

    Back in January MDN reported that Denise Brinley, a special assistant to the Secretary of the state Department of Community and Economic Development, spilled the beans on an upcoming report PA had commissioned. Brinley said the report would be released “in the coming weeks” and it would show that Pennsylvania can easily handle another two ethane cracker plants (aside from the already under construction Shell cracker), and that Ohio or West Virginia could also handle another two cracker plants (see PA Report Says Marcellus/Utica Can Support Up to 4 More Crackers). In other words, there’s enough ethane in the Marcellus/Utica to support a minimum of five ethane cracker plants. It’s been more than a few weeks, but finally the report is out. On Monday, Team Pennsylvania Foundation co-chairs Gov. Tom Wolf and Stephen Tang, President and CEO of Philadelphia’s University City Science Center, released “Prospects to Enhance Pennsylvania’s Opportunities in Petrochemical Manufacturing” (full copy below). The report comes from a comprehensive study conducted by powerhouse oil & gas consulting firm IHS Markit. According to the study, natural gas from the Marcellus/Utica accounted for 25% of all natural gas produced in the U.S. in 2015, and is expected to account for more than 40% by 2030. Wow! Additionally, 40% of Marcellus/Utica natural gas produced is rich in natural gas liquids (NGLs). Most of the NGLs produced (70%) are ethane and propane, used by petrochemical plants and plastics manufacturers. You can see why our region can handle a lot of crackers. Here’s the announcement and a copy of the full (exciting) report…
    Read More “PA Study Finds Marcellus/Utica Can Support 4 More Ethane Crackers”

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    Potential FERC Com. Powleson Calls Anti-Fossil Fuelers “Jihadists”

    Rob Powelson

    We can’t speak highly enough of Rob Powelson, member of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) and currently the president of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC). As we recently reported, Powelson is one of three names being rumored as a nominee to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (see Names Mentioned for 3rd FERC Post, Incl. PA’s Powelson). It can’t happen soon enough! Yesterday Rob spoke at the Upstream PA conference in State College. He didn’t beat around the bush. In a very frank talk, Rob said equated fossil fuel nutters with Islamic terrorists when he said, “The jihad has begun…At the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission groups actually show up at commissioners’ homes to make sure we don’t get this gas to market. How irresponsible is that?” So true. These anti wackos have more in common with anti-American terrorists than they do with common, decent, ordinary Americans. They are so hyped-up and amped-up on global warming hysteria, they’re willing to use extreme tactics–even violence–to force their will on everyone else. It’s about time we started calling it like it is, and that’s just what Rob did yesterday. He also called Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (who just announced his support for a permanent frack ban) an ignoramus, in so many words…
    Read More “Potential FERC Com. Powleson Calls Anti-Fossil Fuelers “Jihadists””

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    PA DEP Launches Online Access to Shale Driller Documents

    The Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) yesterday released a new online search tool for the public which enables anyone to search through electronic documents filed by Marcellus Shale drillers. Last year the DEP created new regulations for shale drillers called Chapter 78a (see PA’s New Chapter 78a Drilling Regs Go into Effect Oct 8). Some of the new regulations were challenged in court by the Marcellus Shale Coalition in a lawsuit that is not yet resolved (see Marc. Shale Coalition Files Lawsuit to Block PA Chapter 78a Regs). However, a portion of 78a that requires drillers to file paperwork electronically was not challenged and has gone into effect. The DEP wants to share that information with the public via a new website (found here). While more information faster is generally a good thing, in this case we expect antis to use the information to try and spin and lie about the industry. Perhaps that’s the cost of free speech? Here’s the announcement about the new tool, along with a screenshot…
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    Thai Company Banpu Invests Another $16M in PA Marcellus Wells

    Last May, Range Resources sold its portion of a joint venture in northeast Pennsylvania (see Thai Company Buys Out Range Resources’ JV in NEPA for $112M). Banpu Pcl, Thailand’s largest coal producer, invested $112 million to purchase Range’s Marcellus non-operated JV operations in Bradford County, PA. The “Chaffee Corners Joint Exploration Agreement” gave Banpu an ownership share in 62 producing wells and another 14 wells waiting on completion, and a share in 170+ more drilling locations. Talisman is the operator of the wells and the company that does the drilling (Banpu is just an investor). Banpu liked it so much, they did it again in January of this year (see Thai Company Banpu Makes 2nd Investment in Northeast Marcellus). The January deal gave Banpu a 10.24% stake in 10,000 acres of Marcellus leases, once again in northeastern PA, for $63 million. Chief Oil & Gas is the driller on the acreage in the second deal. We have a three-peat. Banpu, via its American agent Kalnin Ventures, has just signed an agreement to invest $16 million into a venture with Tug Hill Marcellus. The new deal does not identify the exact counties, but does say the acreage is located in northeastern PA. Once the deal closes, when you add all three deals together, Banpu says it will own partial interests in 215 operating wells producing 40 million cubic feet of gas per day. And Banpu says it’s not over yet. They plan to invest more in the Marcellus in 2017…
    Read More “Thai Company Banpu Invests Another $16M in PA Marcellus Wells”

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    PA Marcellus Production Flies by 5 Trillion Cubic Feet in 2016

    Pennsylvania moved to the head of Marcellus pack when it comes to production reporting back in 2015. Until January 2015, drillers in PA were required to file production numbers with the Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) every six months, in October 2014 the Republican state legislature passed a bill that then-Gov. Tom Corbett signed into law moving reporting from every six months to every month (see 2 Bills on PA Gov’s Desk: Monthly Production #s, Lease Termination). The first monthly production report, for January 2015, was made available in April of 2015 (see PA’s First Monthly O&G Production Report Goes Live). Earlier this week the DEP posted production reporting numbers for December 2016, the latest monthly report to be released. When you aggregate all of the production numbers for 2016, you find that the Keystone State produced a new record high in 2016, even though new drilling slowed down for most of the year. PA produced 5.1 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of natural gas last year–an astonishing number! That’s up from 4.6 Tcf in 2015. We thought it would be interesting to compare the monthly numbers from 2015 to 2016, now that we have all of the data. Here’s a series of charts we created, showing production for natural gas, condensate, and oil…
    Read More “PA Marcellus Production Flies by 5 Trillion Cubic Feet in 2016”

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    DRBC Secretly Deliberating on Rules to Lift Shale Drilling Ban

    The Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) held a regularly scheduled business meeting yesterday in Washington Crossing, PA. As predicted, a number of anti-fossil fuel zealots turned up to make noise about the PennEast Pipeline project–and about the prospect of the DRBC allowing shale drilling. As we disclosed yesterday, the zealots all read from the same document prepared by Her Eminence, THE Delaware Riverkeeper, Maya van Rossum (see THE Dela. Riverkeeper Issues Final Orders to Minions re DRBC Mtg). It’s tiresome reporting on the same, predictable behavior by children in adult bodies who never learned manners from their parents. So we’re not going to comment on the circus freak show that was the public comment period yesterday. However, there was an interesting development to report. Lt. Col. Michael Bliss of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (the Army Corps is one of the standing members of the DRBC Commission) read a statement about the history and possible future of DRBC regulations that may allow shale drilling in the basin. You read that right. According to Bliss, since 2010 the staff of the DRBC has actively been engaged in private (i.e. secret) discussions with various state agencies (we’re assuming the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection) in an effort to, at some point, release regulations that will allow shale drilling in the Delaware River Basin. He said those discussions are ongoing and that before any kind of regs are released, there will be plenty of notice and public hearings…
    Read More “DRBC Secretly Deliberating on Rules to Lift Shale Drilling Ban”

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    DRBC has No Power to Stop Shale Drilling in Delaware River Basin

    You’ve heard the phrase, “The Emperor has no clothes.” A lawsuit against the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) by a Wayne County, PA landowner over the DRBC’s ongoing moratorium of shale gas drilling, is exposing the DRBC as having “no clothes” when it comes to their authority over shale drilling (see Wayne County, PA Landowner Sues DRBC Over Fracking Ban). In fact, the DRBC has no authority to stop shale drilling, as they are now being forced to admit in response to the lawsuit. That fact has the DRBC, and radical environmentalists like THE Delaware Riverkeeper, petrified. MDN friend Tom Shepstone, author of the always-excellent Natural Gas Now website, writes about the DRBC’s lack of authority and the need for Pennsylvania to immediately defund the DRBC–until the agency stops their sham pretense of blocking shale drilling…
    Read More “DRBC has No Power to Stop Shale Drilling in Delaware River Basin”

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    MSC Responds to Sec DCED’s Call for High Severance Tax

    Last week MDN published a letter to the editor (Philadelphia Inquirer) from Dennis Davin, Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED), supporting his boss’ desire for a new, very high Marcellus Shale severance tax (see PA DCED Sec. Promotes Wolf’s Marcellus-Killing Severance Tax). As we said at the time, we prefer to think the letter was written by someone in the governor’s office and pushed in front of Davin for his signature. The column smacks of socialistic crap about how the severance tax is PA’s “fair share” of the Marcellus Shale boom. It’s nothing of the sort. The severance tax is a political payback to teachers’ unions for backing Wolf, which Davin surely knows. He and his excellent staff have been tireless promoters of the Shell ethane cracker–we have a favorable opinion of the DCED. MDN friend Dave Spigelmyer, president of the Marcellus Shale Coalition, noticed Davin’s letter too. So Dave wrote his own letter to the editor, to respond…
    Read More “MSC Responds to Sec DCED’s Call for High Severance Tax”

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    How to Do Business with the Shell Ethane Cracker Plant

    Some 400 business, education and government officials attended a sold-out forum last week in Titusville, PA to hear about doing business with the $6 billion Shell ethane cracker project in Beaver County, PA. The stakes are high. One PA official said, “This is the greatest generational economic development we’ve seen in Pennsylvania, maybe ever.” According to a Louisiana resident involved with crackers in his state, for ever job the Shell cracker creates there will be 8.3 jobs somewhere else–at other companies in the region–to support the plant. It is an incredible opportunity. The question, for businesses in the region, is: How do we get a piece of the cracker pie? We now have an answer–at least in part. If you want to supply goods and services for the construction of the plant, the key is in working with the main contractor building the plant–Bechtel. Below we have details on how to plug in to the Bechtel supply chain system, along with advice for job seekers who want to work at the cracker plant once it’s built…
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    PA Now Producing 20% of Nation’s Natural Gas

    A few fun facts for this festive Friday. In 2016, the state of Pennsylvania produced 5.26 trillion (with a “t”) cubic feet of natural gas–roughly 20% of all natural gas produced in the U.S. last year. Amazing! What’s even more amazing is that 10 years ago, prior to the Marcellus, PA produced 176 billion cubic feet of natgas–or just 3% of the natgas PA produced last year. Behold the miracle of the Marcellus Shale! Here’s some more details about PA’s natgas production history…
    Read More “PA Now Producing 20% of Nation’s Natural Gas”

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    PA DEP Cries the Blues: Getting $728M, “We Need More Money”

    The Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) says 2,400 staffers and $728 million (proposed for 2017-2018) isn’t enough. More! Feed me! I need more!! Appearing at a budget hearing yesterday with state legislators, Acting Secretary of the DEP Pat McDonnell cried the blues. The DEP is authorized, according to last year’s budget, to have 2,700 employees, but McDonnell says the agency currently has 2,400. Not sure what the 300 difference is about. But, whatever. He also says the federal EPA is about to whack the money it hands out to state agencies, including the DEP, and that has McDonnell concerned…
    Read More “PA DEP Cries the Blues: Getting $728M, “We Need More Money””

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    Names Mentioned for 3rd FERC Post, Incl. PA’s Powelson

    Rob Powelson

    Yesterday MDN brought you the exciting news that President Trump plans to nominate Jones Day attorney Kevin McIntyre as chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), and nominate Neil Chatterjee, senior energy adviser to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, as a Commission member (see Breaking: Kevin McIntyre, Neil Chatterjee are Trump Picks for FERC). However, there is a third open position on FERC. Lips are flapping around Washington and several names are being circulated as potential nominees. One of them REALLY excites us: Rob Powelson. Rob is a member of the Pennsylvania Public Utilities Commission (PUC). At one point, under then-Gov. Tom Corbett, Powelson was the PUC Chairman (see PA’s PUC Pro-Drilling Chairman Powelson Leads Mid-Atlantic Group). After Democrat Tom Wolf was elected as governor, he replaced Powelson with Gladys Brown as Chairwoman (see Anti-Drillers Cheer PA Gov Wolf’s New Appointment to Head PUC). However, Powelson remains on the PUC as a member. He’s one of the good guys–someone who supports shale energy. Rob’s stature and reputation went up again late last year when he elected as the new president of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC). He’s serving a one-year term with NARUC. It’s not a full-time gig–he remains a commissioner with the PA PUC. Wouldn’t it be terrific if this Marcellus-loving regulator were the third new FERC commissioner appointed by Trump?…
    Read More “Names Mentioned for 3rd FERC Post, Incl. PA’s Powelson”

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    Gorsline Zoning Case Argued Before PA Supreme Court Justices

    Not long after the Pennsylvania legislature passed the Act 13 Marcellus Shale drilling law in 2012, signed into law by then-Gov. Tom Corbett, seven selfish towns sued, claiming they should have the right (via zoning laws) to determine just where an oil and gas well can be located within their borders. The challenge was brought by rabid anti-drillers and appealed all the way to the PA Supreme Court, where unfortunately the antis won (see PA Supreme Court Rules Against State/Drillers in Act 13 Case). What the antis didn’t think about was the fact some towns may decide to exercise their newly-won rights–to allow wells, instead of prohibit them. Whoops. Guess they didn’t see that one coming. A town in Lycoming County decided to allow a shale well on property zoned residential/agricultural (i.e. farming country). Anti-drilling Big Green groups, including PennFuture, THE (arrogant) Delaware Riverkeeper, and the Peters Township gang (none of which are from mid-PA where the town is located) sued to deny the town the right to exercise its Act 13 authority to allow a shale well. A sham county judge granted a victory to the antis. But it was temporary. On appeal, the higher PA Commonwealth Court obliterated the faulty reasoning of the lower court and, significantly, redefined how courts should interpret the results of the Act 13 zoning lawsuit that allows local municipalities the right to restrict, or allow, shale drilling (see Major Victory for PA Landowners/Drillers in Lycoming County Case). The case, Brian Gorsline v. Board of Supervisors of Fairfield Township (Gorsline is an avowed anti-driller), was appealed to the PA Supreme Court and yesterday in Philadelphia the Supremes heard oral arguments. Can we determine anything from the tone of the questions?…
    Read More “Gorsline Zoning Case Argued Before PA Supreme Court Justices”