Statewide PA

Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Taxation

PA Senator Predicts Chesapeake Energy Goes Bankrupt Within a Year
December 8, 2015December 8, 2015

The failed Governor of Pennsylvania, Tom Wolf, “100 percent guarantees” an oil and gas severance tax will be part of next year’s state budget. That’s the claim made by Wolf’s inept Policy Secretary, John Hanger, last Friday. What hubris. Wolf and Hanger can’t even get THIS YEAR’S budget done! Nearly six months late!! And already they’re trying to grab money for next year. Democrats have a heroin-like addiction to OPM–Other People’s Money. (Coincidentally, when John Hanger ran for governor himself, he ran on a platform of legalizing marijuana, see Pass One Last Joint for John Hanger.) The problem (for Wolf and Hanger) is this: the shale industry in PA is in retrograde. It’s receding, not expanding. Drilled wells are either not being hooked up in the first place, or they’re being turned off, called being shut-in. When that happens, less gas flows–less gas to tax. Another lesson Dems never learn: You ALWAYS get less of what you tax, not more. It’s simple economics. A Republican State Senator from York, PA (Wolf’s home town) wrote Wolf a little love letter to school him in the economic realities of his bogus claim that “next year” he’ll get a severance tax. State Sen. Scott Wagner predicts, among other things, that Chesapeake Energy, PA’s largest natural gas producer, will file for bankruptcy within a year…
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Bradford County | Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Lease & Royalty Payments | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

Decision-time for Landowners in Demchak/Chesapeake Royalty Case
December 1, 2015December 1, 2015

Is the long, sordid affair over Chesapeake Energy screwing Pennsylvania landowners out of royalties finally near an end? Chesapeake and some landowners, part of the “Demchak” class action lawsuit–certainly want you to think so. A year ago MDN told you about a settlement between “several thousand” Pennsylvania landowners and Chesapeake over the royalty issue–Chessy deducting post-production payments by pipeline companies in what some call a scam that leaves landowners signed with Chesapeake receiving royalty checks that are pennies on the dollar compared to what they should receive. The new settlement for those “several thousand” would be 2/3 of $11 million, after the lawyers get their 1/3 cut (see Chesapeake & PA Landowners Settle Royalty Lawsuit…Again). Many PA landowners who are leased with Chesapeake now face a decision–and doing nothing is not an option. The lawyers and the court are about to close the door on what is called the Demchak class action lawsuit. PA landowners with a “market enhancement clause” in their lease should have already received a form letter announcing that unless they opt out of the settlement, they will be included. Below we have an excellent outline of what your options are according to the PA National Association of Royalty Owners (NARO), along with the opinion of one Bradford County landowner who is less than thrilled with the Demchak settlement…
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Crime | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

PA Senate Committee Votes to Recommend AG Kane’s Removal
December 1, 2015December 1, 2015

Last Wednesday, the Pennsylvania State Senate committee investigating PA Attorney General Kathleen Kane recommended to the full Senate that she be removed from office. Now. Before any more damage is done to the office of the AG. We’ve long covered the scandal that is about to bring down Kathleen Kane (see our Kane stories here). The scandal bringing her down has nothing to do with the Marcellus Shale, other than it will rid us of a liberal Democrat who illegally targets the drilling industry. No–she has herself to thank when she finally walks (or is dragged) through the exit door. She is a mean, vindictive person who sought to discredit a political enemy by leaking privileged grand jury testimony to a reporter (a felony), and then lying under oath about it (which is perjury, another felony). In fact she’s been indicted on a number of crimes. Last week the PA Senate said “enough is enough, it’s time for her to go.” And what did Kane do? Once again, like a broken record, she said a bunch of dirty old men who work for the state and who swapped porn using their state email accounts are out to get her because she discovered their dirty little secret…
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Lease & Royalty Payments | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

PA Game Commission Keeps on Leasing, Not Subject to Wolf’s Ban
November 30, 2015November 30, 2015

In a companion story today, MDN brings you news that anti-drillers are taking a case to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court that could potentially require the state to consider “environmental rights” when considering whether or not to allow drilling on state-owned land. That is, a requirement that drilling be banned on state-owned land. One state agency that owns state land–the Pennsylvania Game Commission–continues to lease land for drilling even though there is currently an executive order by Gov. Tom Wolf that prohibits drilling in state-owned parks and forests. The Game Commission is outside of the executive branch and therefore autonomous and continues to lease land. Here’s an update on who drills the most on and under Game Commission land, and the latest leases (signing bonus and royalties) the Game Commission most recently negotiated…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

PA Supreme Court to Hear Case on Banning Drilling on State Lands
November 30, 2015November 30, 2015

Pennsylvania’s Democrat Supreme Court will take up the issue of whether or not private property rights still exist in the Keystone State. That’s the clear legal issue before the court over whether or not the State of Pennsylvania can continue to allow oil and gas drilling on state lands and use the revenues it receives as part of the general fund. Lower courts have all ruled that yes, the state can legally lease its own property, and allow drilling under public land for which it doesn’t, in some cases, own the mineral rights. But radical environmentalists are attempting to abuse the state’s highest court–now packed with liberal Democrats–to achieve what they can’t achieve by any other means. They’re hoping the high court will find a new cockamamie “right” to protect the environment that trumps public and even private property rights in the process. That is, they’re hoping the Supremes will rule that the state MUST ban drilling on state-owned land, in order to protect Mother Earth…
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Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

State Official Calls Shale Impact “Profound” on PA Agriculture
November 30, 2015November 30, 2015

Recently the Pennsylvania Agriculture Department Executive Deputy Secretary, Michael Smith, addressed the Natural Gas Task Force for the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania (CCAP) in Hershey. He had some interesting things to say about shale development in the state. Among them: Shale’s impact on agriculture in the state will be “profound” and “transformative.” Did he mean that in a good way, or a bad way? Yes…
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Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Supply Chain

Success Story: Welder Starts Pre-Fab Company in PA Shale Country
November 30, 2015November 30, 2015

MDN has previously marveled and talked about the amount of money welders can command in the shale industry–upward of $1,000 per day (VERY long, 12-hour days). It’s hard work out in the elements–not for the faint of heart. Today there are fewer welding jobs simply because there’s less drilling going on and therefore less wells that need pipelines connected to them. However, this is a story about a welder who didn’t just settle for welding pipelines and equipment at drill pads. This is the story of a welder who have the guts to start his own pre-fab business in the heart of Pennsylvania shale country–and hit it big. Make no mistake, this is not like hitting the lottery. Starting and running a business is HARD work. But if you have what it takes, it can pay off in spades, as it has for our latest Hero of the Marcellus, welder Bill Emick…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Statewide PA

Natural Gas is Killing City Trees! Tree Whisperer Tells All
November 30, 2015November 30, 2015

Here’s one more reason to dump evil, nasty, rotten fossil fuels–like natural gas. It kills trees. Yes, methane is a TREE KILLER. Who knew? In yet another laughable “all fossil fuels are evil” meme from the usual suspects at the Democrat house organ called StateImpact Pennsylvania, we get the latest anti-fossil fuel story about how methane leaks in cities are killing poor, defenseless trees that can’t stand up to that nasty bully, fugitive methane. Seems there’s a good business to be had being a tree whisperer…
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Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Taxation

Wolf Can’t Get Current Budget Done, Vows Severance Tax Next Year
November 24, 2015November 24, 2015

Will Pennsylvania’s governor, Tom Wolf–the most liberal governor in America according to the nonpartisan website InsideGov–finally agree to a budget framework and budget to end a nearly six month delay he has caused? He promised to try and get the budget done by Thanksgiving–but you know all about politicians and promises. That promise is now out the door. The latest news we’ve been able to locate says Wolf’s plan to hike the sales tax in order to give a break on property taxes is now dead. The one thing that every news account we read says is this: Wolf is promising to resurrect the issue of a Marcellus Shale severance next year and every year thereafter of what we predict will be a very short tenure as PA’s governor. Wolf is fixated on raiding drillers and landowners in order to transfer their hard-earned money to those who don’t earn money–teachers unions…
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Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Regulation | Statewide PA

Herding Cats: DEP Sec. Quigley Unhappy with Pipeline Task Force
November 19, 2015November 19, 2015

The thin-skinned Secretary of the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP), John Quigley, showed his irritation yesterday with his own hand-picked 48 members of the Pipeline Infrastructure Task Force (see PA Gov Wolf Packs Pipeline Task Force with His Own Minions). Last week Quigley released a 355-page draft report supposedly compiled by the Task Force that will govern how rural gathering pipelines will be regulated (see PA Gathering Pipeline Draft “Recommendations” from Wolf Task Force). However, it seems the Task Force may not have authored the document after all. It appears to us that Quigley wants Task Force members to rubber stamp *his* proposed recommendations (i.e. regulations). At yesterday’s meeting, some Task Force members took issue with portions of the draft document, which had Mr. Quigley in a grumpy mood. Adding to Quigley’s grumpy mood was THE Delaware Riverkeeper herself, Maya van Rossum, who had to be escorted out of the meeting by Capitol police…
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Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Taxation

PA Lib Dems Don’t Like Paying High Education Tax Themselves
November 19, 2015November 19, 2015

Pennsylvania Democrats are unhappy with their governor. They were all jazzed and giddy at the thought of taxing Republicans (i.e. drilling companies) to raise mountains of money for Big Education (i.e. Democrat voters). In the end, Gov. Tom Wolf had to settle for taxing other Democrats because, as Senate Majority Leader Jake Corman says, the drilling industry is “on its back” and more taxes would shut it down. Lack of a Marcellus Shale tax makes PA Dems grumpy–because they themselves (and their voters) will now pay for Wolf’s rash promise to Big Education. Hey, how does that shoe feel when it’s on your own foot, Lib Dems?…
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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Research | Statewide PA

Update on Study that May/Might/Possibly Show Stressors from Drilling
November 18, 2015November 18, 2015

In September MDN told you about a newly published study that purports to evaluate potential “stressors” on streams from unconventional (i.e. shale) oil and gas drilling–including drilling in the Marcellus/Utica (see New Study Evaluates Stressors on Streams from Shale Drilling). As we said at the time, the study appears to be real science as opposed to the usual political science that passes for real science. The one great negative, in our opinion, is that it was published in a non-peer reviewed journal that publishes a lot of “fracking will kill you” bull–PLOS ONE. The study has popped back up in the news once again. We find it interesting that newspapers run this headline–“Study indicates gas drilling can impact rivers, streams”–and a few paragraphs into the story, one of the lead authors of the paper says this: “What we’ve developed is a predictive model…We have not proven anything about whether shale gas development is affecting streams or not.” You always see lots of “cans” and “maybes” and “mights” and “possiblys” when it comes to anti-drilling mainstream media. How about sticking to “does” and “will” and “proven” instead? In other words, let’s have some hard science instead of theoretical science. Prove your statements. Do some in-the-field research. Here’s the latest update on a study that “may” indicate “some” problems with shale drilling…
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Energy Services | Equitrans/EQT Midstream | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Regulation | Statewide PA | Statewide VA | Statewide WV | Virginia | West Virginia

Time to Support EQT Mountain Valley & Equitrans Pipelines @ FERC
November 17, 2015November 17, 2015

It’s time for you, pro-drilling supporters, to weigh in and make comments to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on your support for two important pipeline projects: EQT’s Mountain Valley Pipeline and EQT’s Equitrans Expansion project. The Mountain Valley Pipeline project is a new $3.5 billion natural gas pipeline running 301 miles (down from 330 miles) from Wetzel County, WV to Pittsylvania County, VA, connecting to the existing Equitrans pipeline along the way (see Mountain Valley Pipeline Files FERC Appl, Now Just Matter of Time). Mountain Valley will flow 2 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of natgas and is projected to be built and in-service around the fourth quarter of 2018. The Equitrans Project will upgrade compressor stations, add approximately eight miles of pipeline connectors to upgrade capacity on the Equitrans Pipeline from southewestern PA into WV. The $100 million project, when completed, will expand capacity on the Equitrans pipeline by 600 million cubic feet per day (Mmcf/d). The Equitrans project is also due to be completed in 4Q18. Here’s the details for how you can show your support for these two important projects. But hurry, you only have until Nov. 26 to provide your comments/show support…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Health Impacts | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Research | Statewide PA

Another Devastating Critique of Fracking/Premature Birth “Study”
November 17, 2015November 17, 2015

In early October MDN brought you the story that a new so-called research study had been published claiming to show a connection between how close mommies live to a fracking site and an increase in premature births (see New Junk Science Claims PA Fracking Leads to Premature Births). We quickly debunked that study by showing the huge flaws in how it was “researched” (see EID’s Devastating Critique of PA Premature Birth “Study”). We have a further update. Dr. Gilbert Ross, senior director of medicine and public health at the American Council on Science and Health has weighed in with his own critique of the science behind the study. Dr. Ross says, “Realistically, there is no way hydraulic fracturing could have had an impact on pregnancy outcomes.” Here’s what else he says about this very flawed study…
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Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Taxation

PA LibDems Turn On/Attack Wolf Over No Severance Tax Budget
November 16, 2015November 16, 2015

Must be Pennsylvania’s liberal Democrats, like those in the Harrisburg Patriot-News news room, thought Tom Wolf was the Second Coming of Barack Hussein Obama. They actually thought that Wolf could jam huge tax increases, including a Marcellus Shale severance tax, down the throats of PA Republicans in the state legislature. Somehow (thank the Good Lord) Republicans grew a spine and resisted the withering pressure and harassment of Dems and their media organs, including the Patriot-News. So we thought is noteworthy (and funny) when the editorial board at the Patriot-News essentially turned on one of their own, Tom Wolf, and threw him and his budget deal with Republicans under the bus…
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Industrywide Issues | Lease & Royalty Payments | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

PA Superior Court Rules on 2nd Important Surface/Mineral Rights Case
November 16, 2015November 16, 2015

We have a second important Pennsylvania Superior Court case decision to bring you in less than a month. Last month we told you about Wright v. Misty Mountain Farm LLC, a case with implications for all land and mineral rights owners in PA (see PA Superior Court Rules on Important Surface/Mineral Rights Case). Another case decided Nov. 6, Northern Forests II, Inc. v. Keta Realty Company, also has big implications for rights owners. In the Northern Forests case (full copy below), the surface rights owner (Northern Forests) claimed they should also own the subsurface rights due to a legal principal called adverse possession. In reviewing the case, a PA trial court found the original case from 1989 awarding Northern Forests the mineral rights, was in error–the rights revert back to the original rights owners. PA Superior Court agreed and upheld the decision. Here’s the low down from legal beagles at McGuireWoods, the attorneys for Keta Realty, the winner in the case…
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