Statewide PA

Anadarko | Bradford County | Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

PA AG Files Motion to Keep Chesapeake Lawsuit in State Court
June 22, 2016June 21, 2016

Last December Pennsylvania’s felony-indicted Attorney General, Kathleen Kane, brought a lawsuit against Chesapeake Energy, Anadarko and Williams accusing them of, among other things, royalty fraud (see PA Atty General Sues Chesapeake Energy, Williams for Royalty Fraud). In May MDN reported that Chesapeake and Anadarko had filed to dismiss Kane’s complaints against them, accusing Kane of attempting to litigate federal antitrust claims in state court (see Chesapeake, Anadarko Try to Wiggle Out of PA Royalty Lawsuit). Kane is now pushing back, filing a brief to respond to Chesapeake/Andarko, claiming she DOES have the right to pursue anti-trust matters that affect the state and its residents. As with many legal cases, this one is complicated. We’ll try and break it down into understandable form…
Read More “PA AG Files Motion to Keep Chesapeake Lawsuit in State Court”
Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Westmoreland County

The Very Real (and Human) Cost of Layoffs in PA’s Gas Fields
June 21, 2016June 20, 2016

An issue we’ve highlighted before and one we’d rather not talk about–but must–is the issue of layoffs in the Marcellus/Utica industry. A recent article in the Pittsburgh Times-Tribune paints a heart-wrenching picture of how layoffs are affecting places like Westmoreland County, where personal bankruptcies and home foreclosures are spiking due to energy industry layoffs…
Read More “The Very Real (and Human) Cost of Layoffs in PA’s Gas Fields”
Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA’s GOP Senate Unanimously Approves Wolf Appt to PUC
June 21, 2016June 20, 2016

David Sweet

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf has appointed yet another left-wing Democrat to the PA Public Utility Commission (PUC). The PUC “balances the needs of consumers and utilities; ensures safe and reliable utility service at reasonable rates; protects the public interest; educates consumers to make independent and informed utility choices; furthers economic development; and fosters new technologies and competitive markets in an environmentally sound manner.” The PUC also greatly affects the state’s shale drilling industry (see Major Milestone: PA PUC Rules Mariner East IS a Public Utility and PA PUC Says Impact Fee Payment Calculations Still “Off”). In May 2015 Wolf appointed a new head of the PUC, Gladys Brown, a true believer in man-made global warming and someone who advocates for so-called energy efficiency (i.e. lock down your thermostat) and reducing carbon emissions (i.e. tax industry into oblivion). Big Green groups were delighted with her appointment (see Anti-Drillers Cheer PA Gov Wolf’s New Appointment to Head PUC). Wolf has just appointed who was his energy advisor, David Sweet, to fill a vacancy on the PUC when the terrific Commissioner, Pam Witmer, left at the end of her term (see UGI Hires PA PUC Commissioner in Brilliant Move for PennEast Pipe). We wrote about Sweet last year (see Wolf Appoints Energy “Advisor”; Says Natgas Should Stay in PA). Sweet’s greatest claim to fame: He was the campaign manager for Ed “fast Eddie” Rendell from 2001-2003, helping fast Eddie win the PA governorship. That about says it all. The sometimes confoundingly docile Republican-controlled State Senate confirmed Sweet’s appointment 49-0…
Read More “PA’s GOP Senate Unanimously Approves Wolf Appt to PUC”
Industrywide Issues | Lease & Royalty Payments | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

Rift Continues Between Drillers & Landowners re Royalty Bill
June 20, 2016June 20, 2016

Rep. Garth Everett

Last year yet another new bill was introduced by State Rep. Garth Everett to guarantee landowners get a minimum of 12.5% royalties–regardless of post-production deductions (see New Bill HB 1391 Will Guarantee PA Landowners 12.5% Royalties). Organizations like the PA chapter of the National Association of Royalty Owners (NARO) fully support the bill. However, drillers make the counterargument that duly signed contracts which allow for certain deductions should not be swept away with the stroke of a pen. The industry is steadfast against this and other bills like it. This spring HB 1391 got a brief hearing in the House (see Landowners vs Drillers: PA Minimum Royalty Bill Gets a Hearing). But since then–nothing. That is, until Rep. Everett attached HB 1391 as an amendment to another bill. Everett quickly withdrew his amendment–the purpose was to “call attention” to it and reignite the discussion. Everett was quickly smacked on the knuckles by the drilling industry who is not happy with him for his action…
Read More “Rift Continues Between Drillers & Landowners re Royalty Bill”
Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Luzerne County | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Regulation | Statewide PA | Transco | Williams

More Support for Atlantic Sunrise at FERC Hearings in PA
June 17, 2016June 17, 2016

Last night concluded a round of four public hearings held by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) regarding approval for Williams’ Atlantic Sunrise pipeline project. The first hearing, in Lancaster, PA, was largely a circus freak show of anti-drilling babblers (see Lancaster Antis Try to Bully Pipeline Supporters, FERC Reps). A session held in Lebanon County, PA was dominated by supporters of the pipeline (see Supporters Dominate 2nd FERC Hearing for Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline). Last night’s hearing, held in Dallas, PA (near Wilkes-Barre) also saw many supporters. One of the supporters who spoke in favor was MDN friend Kevin Lynn. MDN editor Jim Willis has appeared on Kevin’s weekend talk radio show a few times in the past (“The Shale Gas News,” heard every Saturday at 10 am on 94.3 FM in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre area). Here’s how things went down last night in Dallas…
Read More “More Support for Atlantic Sunrise at FERC Hearings in PA”
Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Taxation

PA PUC Releases Impact Fee Numbers: Revenue Down $36M in 2015
June 16, 2016June 16, 2016

Yesterday the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC), the agency charged with keeping tabs on impact fee revenue from shale drillers, announced that impact fee revenue (PA’s version of a severance tax) is going down by $36 million from fees levied in the previous year–to $188 million. That’s the lowest yearly impact fee revenue in the past five years–since the beginning of impact fees in PA. As an aside, we find it interesting that last year when impact revenue was the highest it’s been in five years, the PUC had to be forced to release the numbers, with Republicans leaking the numbers first to force the PUC to give it up (see PA 2014 Impact Fee Payments: List of Drillers & What They Paid). This year, when impact fee revenues are at their (current) lowest levels, the PUC is only too happy to trumpet the news. Tell us again how politics, and lib Dem appointments, don’t play a role at the PUC. Anywho, below we have the johnny-on-the-spot-let’s-get-the-news-out-quickly press release from the PUC, followed by some pretty, colored charts detailing who paid, and where the money will go, for PA’s 2015 impact fees…
Read More “PA PUC Releases Impact Fee Numbers: Revenue Down $36M in 2015”
Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA Gov Wolf “Eager” to Sign Drilling Law Forced Down His Throat
June 16, 2016July 29, 2016

PA Gov. Tom Wolf

7/29/16 Update: Please see the note on this article for clarification on when/if new shale drilling regulations (known as Article 78a) will take effect.

We can’t stop laughing. PA’s very liberal Governor, Tom Wolf, has been obstinate in demanding onerous new drilling rules for the conventional, as well as unconventional (shale) drilling industry since he took office. Reworked drilling rules were done and ready to go under previous Governor, Tom Corbett. Then Corbett lost to Wolf, and Wolf demanded to change common sense rules everyone had already agreed to (see New Draft Drilling Regulations in PA: Wastewater Impoundments Out). It became obvious that Democrats were trying to run PA’s traditional, small conventional drillers out of business by applying the same regulations to them that will apply to shale drillers. The Pennsylvania Independent Oil & Gas Association (PIOGA) represents many of those small conventional drillers and vigorously fought back (see PIOGA Turns Up the Heat on Wolf/Quigley Over TAB/Article 78 and PA Board Adopts New Drilling Regs, PIOGA Blasts DEP “Deceptive”). In the end, Wolf’s own Democrat Party legislators in the House and Senate abandoned him and the writing was on the wall: The entire package of drilling rules, for both conventional (Article 78) and shale (Article 78a) was headed for defeat. The legislature was about to repeal both sets of newly-minted DEP rules–so Wolf pivoted and decided to accept half a loaf–passage of the shale rules, Article 78a (see Wolf Really Didn’t Wise Up, He Just Took Half a Loaf re Drilling Regs). Yesterday the the PA House voted 141-46 to require the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to start from scratch with proposed rules for the state’s conventional drilling industry. The Senate later agreed, voting 37-12 in favor of Senate Bill (SB) 279. The bill will now be signed by Wolf. Why are we laughing? Because Wolf’s office issued a press release yesterday essentially taking credit for getting SB 279 passed–like it was somehow his idea all along, when in fact he was forced into it…
Read More “PA Gov Wolf “Eager” to Sign Drilling Law Forced Down His Throat”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

Radical Enviros Mad at PA Gov Wolf over Compromises with Repubs
June 16, 2016June 16, 2016

Pennsylvania State Rep. Greg Vitali, a far-left Democrat from the Philadelphia area, is a good soldier who knows how to take orders. When Big Green says “Salute!” Greg snaps his arm around faster than you can say “global warming.” A few weeks ago PA’s radical Secretary of the Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP), John Quigley, got fired over an email he unethically sent from a private email account to his close buddies in the Big Green movement, asking them to out so-called “apostate” Democrats who refuse to support his (Quigley’s) radical, anti-drilling agenda (see Smoking Gun: Copy of the Email that Got John Quigley Fired). Apparently one of the apostates is none other than Gov. Wolf himself–according to soldier Vitali who is the designated verbal grenade thrower–tossing some pretty mean-spirited jabs in Wolf’s direction for Wolf’s willingness to accept half a loaf and adopt new drilling regulations for shale/unconventional, while letting rules for conventional drilling slide (see PA Gov Wolf “Eager” to Sign Drilling Law Forced Down His Throat). Vitali and his media enablers (StateImpact Pennsylvania, funded by taxpayer dollars) are savaging Wolf, throwing him under the bus. Not only for exempting conventional drillers from new rules, but also for Wolf’s willingness to bend and compromise with Republicans on other environmental issues. Apostate! (As Quigley calls it in his profane email.) As we previously commented, we enjoy watching the Dems eat their own…
Read More “Radical Enviros Mad at PA Gov Wolf over Compromises with Repubs”
Housing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

PHFA Seeks Requests to Fund Housing Projects in PA Marcellus
June 14, 2016June 14, 2016

Listen up Pennsylvania communities with shale drilling: The PA Housing Finance Agency (PHFA) wants to hear from you with proposals for improving the “availability and affordability of housing in the Marcellus Shale region of the state.” The PHFA is back for a second year in a row with $5 million from impact fee revenue to spread around in communities affected by shale drilling (see last year’s story: PHFA Looking to Build Low Income Housing in Marcellus Region). We sometimes read stories complaining that housing is scarce and rents for apartments in shale areas are driving local welfare recipients to other regions of the state where it’s cheaper to pay rent. Here’s your chance to keep the slugs–er, a–low income folks in your own area…
Read More “PHFA Seeks Requests to Fund Housing Projects in PA Marcellus”
Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

4 Common Sense Energy Bills Advance in PA Legislature
June 13, 2016June 13, 2016

Pennsylvania State Capitol

As the fiscal year in Pennsylvania draws to an end, PA legislators in both the House and Senate are working on a number of proposed new laws that will make the Keystone State less onerous for energy producers and more business-friendly in general to drillers and those in the Marcellus Shale industry. Four such bills are actively making their way through the legislative process and look promising: Senate Bill (SB) 1195 extends the review period for legislators to review Wolf’s idiotic plan to comply with Obama’s onerous Clean Power Plan; SB 279 establishes a council to help the Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) to get its head straight when it comes to crafting new drilling regulations for conventional (non-shale) drillers; SB 562 provides for more transparency and timely communication, preventing Big Green organizations from pushing through new regulations with the DEP in the dead of night as they do now; and SB 805 will allow large energy users to opt out of state-sponsored energy efficiency programs–because those users are already more efficient that the state-run programs. Here’s the run down on where each bill sits, along with a copy of the latest versions for each bill…
Read More “4 Common Sense Energy Bills Advance in PA Legislature”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

Time to Fire Cindy Dunn, Last of Wolf Admin’s PennFuture Radicals
June 13, 2016October 6, 2017

PA Sec of DCNR Cindy Dunn

When the disastrous Tom Wolf set up his administration upon winning the governorship, three members of his cabinet were all from the same radical, Big Green group: PennFuture. There was Wolf’s Secretary of Policy, John Hanger (now gone, supposedly to spend more time with his wife and daughter in Massachusetts); Wolf’s Secretary of the Dept. of Environmental Protection, John Quigley (fired for conspiring with Big Green groups and getting caught doing it); and Wolf’s Secretary of the Dept. of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR), Cindy Dunn. She’s still around, but as MDN friend Tom Shepstone writes, it’s now time to fire her too. Dunn has been caught using taxpayer money to send her staff to Big Green reeducation events–to properly indoctrinate them and send a little coin to her comrades in the movement…
Read More “Time to Fire Cindy Dunn, Last of Wolf Admin’s PennFuture Radicals”
Economic Impact | Energy Companies | Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Processing Plants | Shell | Statewide OH | Statewide PA | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Shell Cracker Plant Will Spur Real Estate Deals 150 Miles Away
June 10, 2016June 10, 2016

Gentlemen, start your engines! Your economic engines, that is. The news earlier this week that Shell has made the commitment to move ahead and build an ethane cracker plant in Monaca, PA has, as we knew it would, set the region buzzing (see Breaking: Shell Pulls the Trigger, PA Ethane Cracker is a Go! and Shell PA Cracker Plant Project a Lot Bigger Than First Thought). With the decision now made, those in the real estate community are salivating over how that decision will reverberate throughout the region. There is now an effort underway to lure manufacturers in Texas and along the Gulf Coast area to consider setting up in the western PA (and eastern OH and northern WV) area instead–to take advantage of being that much closer to the biggest market in the country–the East Coast. One real estate pro says commercial real estate for up to 150 miles away is likely to be impacted by the decision to build the cracker plant in Monaca…
Read More “Shell Cracker Plant Will Spur Real Estate Deals 150 Miles Away”
Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

Wolf Really Didn’t Wise Up, He Just Took Half a Loaf re Drilling Regs
June 10, 2016June 10, 2016

PA Gov Tom “half a loaf” Wolf

Yesterday MDN held out hope that PA’s far-left Governor, Tom Wolf, had actually wised up with respect to blocking new drilling regulations for conventional drillers in the state (see Wolf Wises Up – Agrees to Block/Rework Conventional Drilling Regs). We thought perhaps the Wolf was learning to moderate his hard-left stances and work with the more reasonable Republican Party to advance the state. Ha ha ha. We should have known better. How very Pollyanna of us. We spotted an article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that gives us the real reason Wolf agreed to sign off on a deal to block new Article 78 regulations for conventional drillers: Because if he didn’t, Republicans AND Democrats were waiting to block ALL of the new drilling regs–including regs for shale drillers. Members of his own party told him they would vote to override his veto, if it came to that. Wolf knew he had lost the fight and rather than go down to defeat, he grabbed onto a half a loaf–allowing shale regs to advance–to salvage what little reputation he has left…
Read More “Wolf Really Didn’t Wise Up, He Just Took Half a Loaf re Drilling Regs”
Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

Wolf Wises Up – Agrees to Block/Rework Conventional Drilling Regs
June 9, 2016June 9, 2016

PA Gov Tom Wolf – finally wising up?

While not wanting to look he’s caved, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf caved and in a deal with PA legislators agreed to support amended legislation that will allow some new Article 78 drilling regulations to go forward (for shale drillers) while other Article 78 regs will not (for conventional drillers). Yesterday the PA House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee approved amendments to Senate Bill 279 that prohibit the state Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) from implementing new Article 78 rules for conventional drillers. Committee Chairm John Maher (Republican) let it leak that Wolf has cut a deal to support the amended bill, much to the consternation of Rep. Greg Vitali and his buddies in the Big Green movement. Will they now brand Wolf as an environmental “apostate”–using John Quigley’s language? Perhaps! For more than a year Wolf has been recalcitrant when it comes to the budget and just about every other initiative where the Executive and Legislative branches must cooperate. Could it be Wolf is finally wising up?…
Read More “Wolf Wises Up – Agrees to Block/Rework Conventional Drilling Regs”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Statewide PA

New $2.5 Million Penn State Initiative Aims to Stop Pipelines
June 9, 2016June 9, 2016

This is the story of wasting $2.5 million of taxpayer’s money. Penn State has given us some of the best research (and personnel) we’ve ever seen when it comes to the Marcellus Shale. In particular we’re thinking of Penn State’s Marcellus Center for Outreach and Research (MCOR). Great people. Super research. But then there are others at Penn State who don’t like shale energy and concoct some pretty creative ways to stop it. We recently came across something called Marcellus by Design from Penn State’s Department of Landscape Architecture. This new initiative from Penn State received $2.5 million from the National Science Foundation (funded by your tax dollars and mine) to travel around the state and use a website to “educate” people about the aesthetics of the Marcellus. In other words, where should you put a pipeline? And how will it look? They’ve designed online “games” to help in this mission. Yes, it’s as stupid as it sounds. The aim is, of course, to not install a pipeline at all. It’s an elaborate anti-drilling hoax cloaked to look like something it is not. After a pipeline is in the ground for a few years, you can’t even tell it’s there. We think the $2.5 million grant would have been better spent on where to site windmills in PA. We’ve traveled through northeast and southeast PA quite a bit, and it never ceases to amaze us (going down the PA Turnpike from Wilkes-Barre to Philadelphia, for example) to spot entire hillsides covered with ugly, imposing windmills–destroying the natural beauty of the area–not to mention being huge bird killers. Why didn’t the Dept. of Landscape Architecture study that, instead of Marcellus pipelines?…
Read More “New $2.5 Million Penn State Initiative Aims to Stop Pipelines”
Beaver County | Economic Impact | Energy Companies | Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Pennsylvania | Processing Plants | Shell | Statewide PA

Shell PA Cracker Plant Project a Lot Bigger Than First Thought
June 8, 2016June 8, 2016

Artist’s rendering of Shell Monaca Ethane Complex – click for larger version

Yesterday MDN was one of the first to bring you the fantastic news that Shell has decided to move forward with building their multi-billion dollar ethane cracker plant (see Breaking: Shell Pulls the Trigger, PA Ethane Cracker is a Go!). Shell mentioned their positive final investment decision (FID) as part of a larger, wide-ranging announcement on their plans for the next few years and beyond. They were slow off the mark, but Shell finally issued a separate press release about the FID for the Monaca, PA ethane cracker plant complex. As usually happens with a story this big, more details have come out after the initial announcement. For example: Shell’s initial estimate for the cost of the project, more than four years ago, was “$2-$3 billion.” Now? They won’t say. But some news sources are reporting it will be closer to a $6 billion investment. One even goes as high as $11 billion! What Shell *is* saying is that construction on the main part of the facility will begin in 18 months, with production expected to flow beginning “early in the next decade”–which we take to mean sometime around 2020 or 2021. Shell says the project will provide work for 6,000 temporary construction workers while it’s being built, and 600 permanent, full-time employees to operate the facility once it is built. Needless to say, local economic and government leaders in the Pittsburgh region are ecstatic with the news. Here’s more details about the Shell ethane cracker coming to PA, along with select reaction and comments…
Read More “Shell PA Cracker Plant Project a Lot Bigger Than First Thought”