Statewide PA

  • | | | |

    PA DEP Seeks Public Comment on Regs for Methane, Compressor Stns

    In December the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) unveiled new regulations to clamp down on methane emissions and other other air pollution that allegedly comes from shale drilling sites (see PA DEP Releases New Regs re Methane & Air Pollution at Drill Sites). The onerous new regulations, not in effect yet (to be published “soon”) were originally prompted by bullying from the federal Environmental Protection Agency. Even though EPA pressure is likely to disappear under President Trump, PA Gov. Wolf still intends to push forward with these regulations. According to the DEP, the proposed General Permit 5A (GP-5A) and the revised General Permit 5 (GP-5), “establish updated Best Available Technology (BAT) requirements for the industry regarding air emission limits, source testing, leak detection and repair, recordkeeping, and reporting requirements for the applicable air pollution sources.” After some final tweaks, the DEP has just released draft versions of the new permits (i.e. regulations), opening them up for public comment over the next 45 days. At the end of that time, we expect it will take a month or so and then the DEP will publish the revised permits and they will become (in essence) the law. Below we have the DEP’s announcement in releasing the draft permits, along with copies of the draft permits and associated documentation…
    Read More “PA DEP Seeks Public Comment on Regs for Methane, Compressor Stns”

  • | | |

    NARUC President Powelson: Obama’s Energy Mandates are Toast

    Robert Powelson

    Rob Powelson 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. As we reported in November, Rob’s stature and reputation dramatically increased, yet again. He was elected as the next president of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners, or NARUC (see PA PUC Commissioner Rob Powelson Elected as President of NARUC). He is serving a one-year term. It is not a full-time gig–he remains a commissioner with the PA PUC. NARUC is about to hold it’s annual winter meeting–the first big meet since Powelson began serving as president. Ahead of that meeting, Powelson was interviewed by the Washington Examiner. His comments are enlightening. Essentially, Powelson says Obama’s climate regulations (including the odious Clean Power Plan) are toast. Here’s what a common sense, shale-supporting intelligent person had to say about the end of Obama’s reign of environmental terror…
    Read More “NARUC President Powelson: Obama’s Energy Mandates are Toast”

  • | | | | | | | | |

    Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline Gets Final Approval by FERC

    Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline map – click for larger version

    Friday saw a flurry of activity at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)–the federal agency in charge of evaluating and authorizing interstate pipeline projects. Today is FERC-day on MDN, because there was so much news from Friday! Perhaps the most important news coming out of a list of approvals was FERC’s final blessing on Williams’ $3 billion Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline project–a 198-mile pipeline project running through 10 Pennsylvania counties to connect Marcellus Shale natural gas from PA with the Williams’ Transco pipeline in southern Lancaster County. In addition to the pipeline, two new compressor stations will get built, and when the whole thing is done, an extra 1.7 billion cubic feet per day of northeast PA Marcellus Shale gas (from Cabot Oil & Gas and Seneca Resources) will flow south. On Friday, FERC issued a final certificate for the project, allowing Williams to build it. We can’t wait until Williams goes through and knocks down the magic tree house built by environmental wackos in an attempt to stop the project (see PA Antis Build 2nd Magic Tree House to Stop Atlantic Sunrise Pipe). That’ll make for some great headlines when it happens. However, Williams isn’t starting up the bulldozers just yet. Before they can begin, Williams still needs permits from the PA Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. However, permits from PA & the Army Corps is perfunctory. It’s now over. The antis have lost and the good guys have finally scored a victory! Construction will begin on the main portion of the pipeline in mid-2017…
    Read More “Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline Gets Final Approval by FERC”

  • | | | | | | | | |

    Mariner East 2 Permits May Come Today – Antis Foment Civil Unrest

    According to rumors floating around the Pennsylvania environmental wacko movement, today is the day the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) will issue the final permits needed by Sunoco Logistic Partners to begin construction of the Mariner East 2 NGL pipeline that will stretch across the entire state. Neither Sunoco nor the DEP would confirm the rumor, but the wackos are agitated and saying their “inside sources” (of which they appear to have many) are telling them it’s today. And what if it happens? According to Maya van Rossum (THE Delaware Riverkeeper), the antis will employ their two favorite tactics: Sue in court, and whip up the more radical folks in the movement into a frenzy so they “rise up in protest.” You know, like the “protesters” (i.e. criminals) did in North Dakota–the ones who fired shots at police officers, burned tires, and engaged in illegal actions to stop work on the Dakota Access Pipeline (see Police Remove Pipeline Protesting THUGS from Private Land in ND). Here’s the latest from the rumor mill about the permits coming possibly today…
    Read More “Mariner East 2 Permits May Come Today – Antis Foment Civil Unrest”

  • | |

    New Driller is Born in PA Marcellus, Buys 8K Acres of Leases (More Coming)

    It’s not often these days we get to witness the birth of a new driller in the Marcellus/Utica, so it’s with great pleasure we announce the birth of S.T.L. Resources. According to an announcement, S.T.L. recently closed on the acquisition of 8,000 acres in the “core of the Marcellus Fairway” in north central PA. Along with the acreage comes “significant in-place infrastructure, current Marcellus production and is prospective for the Marcellus and Utica Shale as well as the Upper Devonian.” The privately-held S.T.L. declined to say exactly where the acreage is located, who they purchased it from and for how much. Why? They continue to try and lease more acreage in the same area and would rather keep competitive information close to the vest. S.T.L. was founded and is run by three veterans in the O&G industry with deep experience in the Marcellus/Utica: William Dressel, Founder and Managing Partner; William Hayward, Chairman & Senior Geological Advisor; and Clinton Coldren, CEO. When you look at a map you find that north central PA includes counties like Potter, Tioga and Lycoming. Which got us to thinking–who might have sold some acreage there? We have a guess…
    Read More “New Driller is Born in PA Marcellus, Buys 8K Acres of Leases (More Coming)”

  • | | | |

    PA Senator Makes the Case: PA Air Getting Cleaner Thx to Shale

    Recently a biased editorial ran in the biased Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, taking aim at methane. The editorial, penned by Brian O’Neill, misrepresented the facts about methane in PA, in an attempt to garner support for onerous new regulations put forward by Gov. Wolf’s Dept. of Environmental Protection. State Sen. Guy Reschenthaler, R-Jefferson Hills (representing parts of Allegheny County and Washington County), responded with his own editorial. To their credit, the Post-Gazette published it. Reschenthaler said the air is actually getting cleaner in PA, not dirtier, thanks to Marcellus Shale gas. And the new regulations being pedaled by Wolf will not make things better environmentally. The only thing the new regs will do is kill jobs…
    Read More “PA Senator Makes the Case: PA Air Getting Cleaner Thx to Shale”

  • | | | | | | |

    Industry Survey Predicts: PA Drilling Up 29%, OH Up 19%, WV Up 22%

    World Oil calls itself “the premier trade publication for the international upstream industry.” Perhaps it is–who are we to say otherwise? The folks at World Oil have done us all a favor. They surveyed the upstream (i.e. drilling) oil and gas industry to find out what drillers are planning for 2017. Overall, they find drillers plan to drill 18,552 wells in North America this year–a big 26.8% jump from last year. In releasing a summary of the results, Wold Oil outlines region by region in the U.S. what they predict will happen this year, based on survey results. The northeast section caught our eye. World Oil predicts Pennsylvania will see a 29% increase in new well drilling this year (total of 774 new wells drilled). Ohio will see an increase of 19.1% in new well drilling (380 new wells). And West Virginia will see a big 21.9% increase (245 new wells). Here’s the full summary from World Oil…
    Read More “Industry Survey Predicts: PA Drilling Up 29%, OH Up 19%, WV Up 22%”

  • | | | | | | | | | |

    Exclusive: MSC’s Dave Spigelmyer Goes On the Record with MDN

    Dave Spigelmyer

    Last Friday MDN editor Jim Willis had the pleasure of speaking (via phone) with the president of the Marcellus Shale Coalition, David Spigelmyer. Some 300 companies make up the membership of the organization–including all of the top exploration & production (E&P) companies and midstream (pipeline) companies operating in our region. Dave himself used to work for Chesapeake Energy once upon a time. He is a Pennsylvania boy, born and bred, and knows the industry inside and out. Dave made time to speak with MDN about a wide range of issues. We should note nothing was “off limits”–Jim asked some tough questions. Below is a transcript of that interview. We tackle topics including the Marcellus industry outlook for 2017, the commodity price of natural gas in our region vs. other locations, the proposed severance tax in PA, various pipeline projects, the Shell cracker, MSC’s lawsuit against DEP Chapter 78a regulations, and the “civil war” between drillers and landowners over the royalty issue. It’s all in there…
    Read More “Exclusive: MSC’s Dave Spigelmyer Goes On the Record with MDN”

  • | | | | | | |

    PA Report Says Marcellus/Utica Can Support Up to 4 More Crackers

    Pennsylvania hired research firm IHSMarkit to study the Marcellus and Utica and how many ethane cracker plants the region can comfortably support. Denise Brinley, a special assistant to the Secretary of the state Department of Community and Economic Development, offered a preview of that report at this week’s Hart Energy Marcellus Utica Midstream conference in Pittsburgh. Although the report is due to be published “in the next few weeks,” Brinley spilled the beans on what it concludes: The PA Marcellus can support another two cracker plants, and the Utica can support two crackers. That’s another four cracker plants, theoretically, that our region can support, in addition to Shell’s ethane cracker. However, the study will also show we need more infrastructure (i.e. pipelines) in order to support such projects. Here’s a glimpse into some very exciting news…
    Read More “PA Report Says Marcellus/Utica Can Support Up to 4 More Crackers”

  • | | |

    PA Counties Say Keep Impact Fee, Even if There’s a Severance Tax

    The organization that represents county governments in Pennsylvania, the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania (CCAP), has a message for Gov. Wolf and state legislators: Even if you pass a severance tax, keep the impact fee in place. It has, over the past five years, become critically important for all counties across the state–not just counties where drilling takes place (those “impacted”). Not only do counties want to maintain the impact fee in general, they specifically want to keep it as it is currently structured–how much drillers are taxed and how the revenue is split. The message loud and clear coming from CCAP: don’t screw with the impact fee, even if you want to (boneheadedly) add a severance tax…
    Read More “PA Counties Say Keep Impact Fee, Even if There’s a Severance Tax”

  • | | |

    William Penn Foundation at Center of $100M Dela. Basin Collusion

    One of the worst of the worst non-profit organizations that continues to fund anti-shale activities in the Marcellus/Utica is the William Penn Foundation. By all rights their non-profit (i.e. tax-free) status issued by the IRS should be revoked because of their overt support of anti-fracking initiatives. But we’re not holding our breath. MDN friend Tom Shepstone has written extensively about this odious organization and the many puppet groups it supports (see Tom’s article No Pipeline Capacity? No Jobs? Blame William Penn Foundation.). Here’s just some of the money issued by William Penn to radical anti groups: Sierra Club Foundation – $350,000; Penn Future – $275,000; Clean Air Council – $200,000; Delaware Riverkeeper Network – $290,000; New Jersey Conservation Foundation – $205,000; PennEnvironment – $110,000; EarthJustice – $200,000. Millions of dollars buys a lot of influence (and a lot of people). Another organization supported in part by William Penn is the taxpayer-funded StateImpact Pennsylvania, a PBS train wreck. StateImpact is a mouthpiece for William Penn. So we found it interesting that they ran an article (no doubt commissioned by William Penn) that admits William Penn and nearly $100 million (from William Penn and other sources) is at the nexus of some 40 “conservation” groups colluding in their attempt to keep development out of the Delaware River Basin. That development includes farming and shale drilling…
    Read More “William Penn Foundation at Center of $100M Dela. Basin Collusion”

  • | | |

    PA IFO Predicts 2016 Impact Fee Revenue Will Drop Another 7%

    Click for larger version

    Each year since 2012 Pennsylvania has assessed and collected their version of a severance tax–called an impact fee. As you can see from the chart, the first three years’ worth of collections were over $200 million per year. But starting in 2015 and the collapse of oil and natural gas prices, drillers laid down many of their rigs, and the gas slowed down–resulting in lower tax (whoops, fee) collections. Which is to be expected. In PA, the impact fee is collected and disbursed by the Public Utility Commission (PUC). However, a different state agency, the Independent Fiscal Office (IFO), analyzes production and does a pretty fair job of estimating what the collections will show. Last July the IFO made predictions for 2016 collections that range from $5 million to $56 million below what was collected in 2015 (see PA Independent Fiscal Office Predicts Impact Fee Revenue for 2016). With production numbers now updated by the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection, the IFO has re-run the numbers and now has a much better idea of what collections, which occur in April, will show. The IFO says the state will collect $174.6 million in impact fees, which is $13.1 million (~7%) less than last year. Perhaps most interesting is a number calculated by the IFO called the “Effective Tax Rate” (or ETR). The ETR is what the impact fee would be if it were called a severance tax. Last year the ETR was 6.9%. This year it will be 5%. When you add corporate income taxes paid by drillers to the ETR, you get a “severance tax” rate that is higher than any other oil and gas producing state! And still RINOs and Democrats want to tack on an extra severance tax. Blithering idiots…
    Read More “PA IFO Predicts 2016 Impact Fee Revenue Will Drop Another 7%”

  • | | | |

    PA Royalty Bills Approved by Senate Panel, Sponsor Chides House

    Yesterday a Pennsylvania State Senate panel met to discuss two bills that would help landowners in their quest for more visibility into how royalties are calculated–and what kinds of expenses are deducted (see 2 Royalty Bills Focus of PA Senate Hearing Today). As we said yesterday, Senate Bill (SB) 138 will allow landowners the right to review drilling company records to verify proper royalty payment. It also requires drillers to pay royalties within 90 days of production. SB 139 prohibits drillers from “retaliating” against a landowner who questions royalty payments by canceling the lease or stopping drilling activity. Both bills were unanimously approved by the Senate panel and will go to the full Senate for a vote. However, as the bill’s prime sponsor Sen. Gene Yaw indicated, the Senate is not the problem. Last session the same thing happened–speedy passage by the Senate. Then the bills got bogged down in the PA House because they were attached to another bill that guarantees a minimum royalty of 12.5% regardless of post-production costs. That bill has proven toxic–vigorously opposed by the drilling industry. Sen. Yaw’s not-so-subtle message to the House: Don’t repeat the same mistake this year. Let these bills stand on their own…
    Read More “PA Royalty Bills Approved by Senate Panel, Sponsor Chides House”

  • | | | | | |

    FERC Delays PennEast Pipe 3rd Time, PennEast Spins as ‘Good News’

    PennEast Pipeline is a very important $1 billion, 118-mile, primarily 36-inch pipeline that will get built from Dallas (Luzerne County), PA to Transco’s pipeline interconnection near Pennington (Mercer County), NJ. It will feed local utilities and power generation plants along its route. In April 2016 the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), which oversees permitting for the pipeline, told PennEast the agency would extend the amount of time they are taking until December 2016, rather than the original target of August, to complete their environmental review (see PennEast Spins FERC Delay as a Good Thing – Optimism or Denial?). It was (for us) a small red flag. Hey, it happens. Projects get delayed because regulatory agencies get bogged down. But then it happened again: FERC told PennEast they would once again move the goal posts and delay the final environmental review from December 2016 to February 2017 (see FERC Delays PennEast Pipeline Final Review – Again). Hmmm. Bigger red flag. Now FERC is doing it for a third time, which is a huge red flag in our book. FERC issued a statement on Friday to say the final environmental review now won’t happen until April. What’s going on? And why is PennEast once again spinning this as some sort of “good news”?…
    Read More “FERC Delays PennEast Pipe 3rd Time, PennEast Spins as ‘Good News’”

  • | | | |

    2 Royalty Bills Focus of PA Senate Hearing Today

    PA Sen. Gene Yaw

    Last week MDN brought you the news that several northeastern Pennsylvania counties are investigating an alliance to push for passage of a bill like last session’s House Bill (HB) 1391 to guarantee landowners receive a minimum 12.5% royalty regardless of post-production costs (see Northeastern PA Counties Explore Alliance to Pass Royalty Reform). However, landowners and those who support them in the PA legislature are not pinning all hopes on a guaranteed minimum royalty bill. Also proposed in the last session (2015/2016) were two bills meant to greatly assist landowners in their quest to monitor royalty payments and how they are calculated. In January 2015 (almost exactly two years ago) PA Senator Gene Yaw, who represents several counties in northeast PA, re-introduced Senate Bills (SB) 147 & 148 (see PA Senate Reintroduces Two Marcellus Royalty Bills, SB 147 & 148). “Re-introduced” in 2015 means both bills were introduced in the previous session (in 2013/2014). SB 147 would have allowed landowners the right to review drilling company records to verify proper royalty payment. It would also have required drillers to pay royalties within 90 days of production. SB 148 prohibits drillers from “retaliating” against a landowner who questions royalty payments by canceling the lease or stopping drilling activity. Both bills were embraced by the Pennsylvania chapter of the National Association of Royalty Owners (NARO). They both passed the Senate and stalled in the House. Now, for the third time (going on the sixth year) Sen. Yaw has re-introduced both bills again. This time they are called SB 138 & 139 (full copies below). Sen. Yaw isn’t wasting any time–he’s holding a hearing today to discuss both bills. Will this time be successful?…
    Read More “2 Royalty Bills Focus of PA Senate Hearing Today”

  • | | |

    RINOs and Dems Ramp Up Severance Tax Bills in PA Legislature

    “As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly.” (Proverbs 26:11, King James Version) We could think of no better way to convey the news that no less than three so-called Republicans from the Philadelphia area, and a plethora of Democrats, are in the process of introducing severance tax bills in the Pennsylvania State Legislature, once again. The bills range from assessing a 3.5% tax all the way up to 9%. We won’t repeat our many MANY arguments for why such a tax is just plain stupid. We’ll just share with you who (in the PA legislature) wants to steal money from landowners and drillers and give it to teachers’ unions…
    Read More “RINOs and Dems Ramp Up Severance Tax Bills in PA Legislature”