Statewide PA

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    3 Democrats Win PA Supreme Court Seats – Trouble Ahead for O&G?

    The Marcellus industry can forget about getting a fair hearing by PA’s Supreme Court from here on out. In Tuesday’s election, three liberal Democrats were elected to fill three open seats on the court, the most elected at one time in the past, well, in forever. The court is now stacked against fair trials with a 5-2 majority for Lib Dems. America’s most liberal governor, Tom Wolf (so says non-partisan website InsideGov in an independent survey) didn’t waste any time attempting to use the court victory to pressure the legislature to cave to his radical budget demands. Typical. The Dems outspent the Republicans by three to one–i.e. they purchased the election…
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    PA Allows Wastewater Pipelines to be Buried – With No Regulations

    A last minute change made to proposed new drilling regulations in Pennsylvania will mean (if adopted) that drillers can bury wastewater pipelines instead of being required to run them on top of the ground. Companies typically use pipelines in areas where it would be disruptive to have multiple truck trips in and out of an area. They’re also used to lower the cost of transporting wastewater (cheaper through a pipeline than by tanker truck). The change came after a letter-writing campaign launched by CONSOL Energy and their joint venture partner Noble Energy. But there’s a bit of controversy over the new standard that permits lines to be buried: the buried wastewater lines aren’t regulated. Not yet anyway…
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    Philly Enviro-Nazis Attack Dem Councilman for Visiting Drill Site

    geenaziA story in Philadelphia Magazine perfectly illustrates the Nazi-like control freaks that inhabit anti-fossil fuel organizations like Food and Water Watch and the fringe group Action United. Philadelphia City Councilman Curtis Jones Jr. is a bone fide, card-carrying liberal Democrat. In 2011 Jones called for a fracking moratorium in the Delaware River Basin. Since that time Jones has actively advocated for no fracking/drilling in the Philadelphia region. Four years ago the Marcellus Shale Coalition invited Jones (and others) to tour a drilling rig, to see how it’s done. At the time, he declined. It’s always so much easier when you stick your head in…the sand. But Jones is a member of the Philadelphia Gas Commission, the group that oversees the city-owned Philadelphia Gas Works (PGW). A recent audit recommends PGW buy more Marcellus Shale gas (see Expensive Audit Tells PGW to Buy More PA Shale Gas to Save Money). So Jones, being on the Gas Commission responsible for overseeing PGW, felt it would be worthwhile to go ahead and take that rig tour and learn the facts for himself first-hand rather than relying on second-hand opinions. So Jones agreed to attend a tour last Friday. He even allowed his name to be put on the invite to encourage others to “go see for yourselves” just what happens at a drilling rig. And that, dear reader, is anathema to the wackos at groups like Food and Water Watch, the Sierra Club, THE Delaware Riverkeeper, Action United, on and on and on. Actually touring a rig and learning that this activity is safe, and advantageous, and not the environmental holocaust it’s made out to be? That blows their lies right out of the water and they can’t have that. And so Food and Water Watch, along with Action United, attacked one of their own–Curtis Jones–for the simple act of visiting a drill site to see it for himself…
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    Is it Time to Tax Big Pipelines in PA?

    is it time yetAn Associated Press (AP) story appearing in multiple newspapers and in online outlets has returned to the meme of how unfair it is that pipelines in Pennsylvania are not taxed, as they are in other states like New York, Ohio and West Virginia. Perhaps they have a point? No, MDN isn’t going “soft”! We’ve long made the argument that a permanent structure in the ground should benefit landowners beyond a one-time, up-front payment (see the suggestion by Bryant LaTourette made at the Constitution Pipeline scoping hearing in April 2014: Vicariously Attend FERC Scoping Hearing on Constitution Pipeline). The counter to landowners receiving ongoing royalties for pipelines is the argument of electric power lines. They run everywhere over people’s property. You can’t build a structure under or near such lines once they are in place. Yes, they can be taken down/removed (i.e. not “permanent”), but when was the last time that happened? Landowners are not given an ongoing royalty for the electricity flowing through power lines that criss cross their land. Why would you grant an ongoing payment/royalty for a pipeline in the ground if you don’t for a power line above the ground? You see this is a thorny, complex issue. Although individual landowners in states like New York don’t receive an ongoing royalty for pipelines, the pipelines themselves are considered property and pipeline companies are taxed for having them in the ground, giving a community-wide benefit to all residents in a town or village. We’ve remarked before that the property taxes where we live (in NY) have gone DOWN because of a local pipeline. When’s the last time you heard about taxes going down in New York State?! In Pennsylvania, pipelines are NOT taxed, and therefore taxpayers in those communities don’t benefit. That’s the bone of contention…
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    DEP Board Votes to “Not Endorse” Sec. Quigley’s New Drilling Regs

    slap across the faceIn a big metaphorical slap across the face, the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection’s Oil and Gas Technical Advisory Board (TAB) has voted to not endorse re-worked drilling regulations proposed by the PennFuture Sec. of the DEP, John Quigley. We told you two days ago the DEP was meeting with TAB to get the group’s rubber stamp of approval (see New Drilling Rules for PA Take One Big Step Closer to Reality). Looks like Quigley’s hand-picked new board members are not yes men (and women) after all. This is the second DEP advisory group packed with Quigley appointees that has rejected his onerous proposed re-worked regulations. Previously the Conventional Oil and Gas Advisory Committee (COGAC) also told Quigley nyet (see PA DEP Sec Quigley’s Own Committee Appointees Turn Against Him). Which means both conventional and now unconventional drilling advisors, appointed by Quigley himself, don’t believe Quigley’s rejiggered regulations are good. Do we see a pattern developing here? Seeing that two boards of experts are telling him there’s a problem, does that mean Quigley will pause and reflect and perhaps consider changing his proposed rules? Are you kidding! Don’t make us laugh. Oh no no no. Quigley plans to ramrod these new regs through as fast as he can regardless…
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    PA DEP Sec. Quigley Defends DEP, Criticizes Patriot-News Series

    backstabberWow. We didn’t think it possible. The PennFuture Secretary of the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP), John Quigley himself, is sticking up for the honor and reputation of his agency. Last week the Democrat-run Harrisburg Patriot-News ran an attack series against shale energy. We told you about it by reprinting Tom Shepstone’s excellent critique (see Harrisburg Newspaper’s Attack Series on Marcellus Exposed). Tom followed it up with another excellent article with a clip of the vapid lead author’s Twitter feed showing her outright bias against not only shale in general, but against the DEP in particular (see Natural Gas Now, PennLive Shale Series: “Erin” Go Bragh?). Quigley had fully cooperated with the Patriot-News and lead series author Candy Woodall, and now feels betrayed and stabbed in the back (welcome to the club John). So Quigley wrote a response to the profoundly biased attack series–and wonder of wonders, the Democrat Patriot-News actually published his response! Here it is…
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    PA DEP Sec. Quigley Calls Pipeline Protesters “Badly Misinformed”

    misinformedAbout 20 hippie retreads showed up in Harrisburg, PA on Wednesday to protest outside of the Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) regional office in Harrisburg to protest the fourth meeting of Gov. Tom Wolf’s Pipeline Infrastructure Taskforce. In May Gov. Wolf announced he was forming a taskforce to study and make recommendations on how the state can better work with (i.e. control) where local gathering pipelines are installed (see Disaster on the Horizon: PA Gov Wolf Creates Pipeline Task Force). DEP Secretary John Quigley packed the task force with 42 members, most of them government employees (beholden to Wolf/Quigley for their jobs) as well as some from the “environmental” community and a few from the pipeline industry (see PA Gov Wolf Packs Pipeline Task Force with His Own Minions). The gang of 42 was meeting for the fourth time in an effort to complete a draft report by mid-November. Some of the best and brightest gathered outside, including THE Delaware Riverkeeper, Maya van Rossum, to protest. Quigley called the assembled antis “badly misinformed”…
    Read More “PA DEP Sec. Quigley Calls Pipeline Protesters “Badly Misinformed””

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    New Drilling Rules for PA Take One Big Step Closer to Reality

    one step closerShortly after assuming the office of Secretary of the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection, John Quigley (who formerly worked for the anti-drilling Big Green group PennFuture) mass-fired a very important group at the DEP called the Oil & Gas Technical Advisory Board, or TAB (see Why did PA DEP Acting Sec Quigley Mass Fire Gas Advisory Board?). Quigley installed his own yes-men and women in the group, including the illegal move of appointing non-voting members. The reason the make-up of TAB is important is because just prior to Gov. Corbett leaving office, the DEP had re-worked new drilling regulations, a required re-work under the Act 13 law passed in 2012, approved by the existing TAB. The DEP was ready to finalize and publish the new regulations, known as Chapter 78 and 78a, but in the chaos of the campaign and Corbett losing, the DEP fumbled the ball and now that a fox (or rather a Wolf) is guarding the hen-house, the re-worked rules have been re-worked again and Wolf/Quigley needed a new group of people to approve the changes. Hence the mass-firings at TAB. PIOGA is still valiantly resisting this sleazy move by Quigley (see PIOGA Turns Up the Heat on Wolf/Quigley Over TAB/Article 78). Yesterday the DEP met with newly-appointed TAB members to outline the “final” changes they (the DEP) has made and wants the new TAB to rubber stamp…
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    Blame PA Fracking for…the High Price of Firewood?

    say what?We’ve heard just about everything blamed on fracking. Global warming? Yep–blame fracking because fracking produces natural gas and natural gas, when burned, turns into carbon dioxide and and abundance of CO2 in the atmosphere supposedly heats the planet (although the average temp hasn’t gone up in nearly 19 years now). What about STDs–sexually transmitted diseases? Yep–blame fracking because nefarious roustabouts from “foreign” locations like Texas and Oklahoma show up to work on rigs, and the only off-hours things they do is screw the local women-folk and spread STDs all over the place (do you honestly think they have an ounce of energy left after working a 12-15 hour day lifting heavy stuff at a rig site?). Here’s a new one we’ve just heard for the first time: you can blame fracking in places like Pennsylvania for the high cost of firewood this winter. Say what???…
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    PA Big Green Groups Elated: Latest EPA Sue-and-Settle Scam Worked

    scam alertA gang of Big Green groups are tickled pink–or is it tickled “green”–that their continuous frivolous lawsuits against the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have once again yield the desired result. Radical leftist “green” groups like Earthworks, Environmental Integrity Project, THE Delaware Riverkeeper, and yes, PennFuture (where PA’s current Secretary of the Dept. of Environmental Protection, John Quigley, used to work), had previously sued the federal EPA to force onerous new reporting rules on natural gas processing plants, using lies about the kinds of air pollutants released by the plants. The EPA cooperates with these sleazy organizations in a “sue and settle” scam. “Hey, you sue us for this, a liberal judge will ‘make us’ do it–then we can bypass Congress and everyone else and set up our own laws outside of that stupid old Constitution.” That’s how these groups collude with the EPA (see Environmentalists & Government Collude in “Sue and Settle” Cases). So a group of Big Green groups mostly located in PA were elated when the EPA confirmed their latest sue-and-settle scam had worked. So elated they issued a press release doing a happy dance–loaded up with yet more lies about the oil and gas industry. We bring you their press release below to (a) point out how many sleazy Big Green groups are engaging in this nefarious activity from the Marcellus/Utica region, and (b) point out the incestuous nature of these groups–with people like John Quigley now actually (fantastically) in charge of regulating the oil and gas industry in PA–although he used to actively work against that same industry when he worked for PennFuture…
    Read More “PA Big Green Groups Elated: Latest EPA Sue-and-Settle Scam Worked”

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    Delaware Riverkeeper Scams FERC in Review of PennEast Pipeline

    scam alertTHE Delaware Riverkeeper is running a scam on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). By all accounts it is a legal scam–but a scam nonetheless. FERC has a process known as a motion to intervene. Individuals, towns and organizations with a vested, legitimate interest can file to “intervene” in a project application–like the PennEast Pipeline. PennEast recently filed their application, so those people who may be affected can file to intervene–offer comments to FERC and remain updated by FERC–to ensure FERC hears and addresses the information and concerns of people with a vested, legitimate interest. Typically an intervenor might be a township where the pipeline is planned to run, or perhaps a farmer with a concern that a pipeline will destroy a good hay field. If you just want to mouth off about fossil fuels and fracking and evil pipelines–send a comment to FERC. They get mountains of them for every project. Here’s the scam: Riverkeeper recently ran “intervenor training” in an attempt to get as many people as possible to sign up as intervenors, including children, thereby overloading FERC’s ability to keep track of it all and respond to it all–slowing down the approval process for PennEast. As a fringe benefit, the more intervenors who register, the more the media makes a big deal out of it. It’s all a scam. It’s a setup. And we expose it below…
    Read More “Delaware Riverkeeper Scams FERC in Review of PennEast Pipeline”

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    Philly Transport Authority Building Marcellus-Powered Electric Plant

    win-win-winGood old fracked Pennsylvania Marcellus Shale gas will begin powering passenger trains in Philadelphia starting in 2017, if all goes according to plan. SEPTA (Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority) announced as part of its “sustainability” efforts they plan to build their own electric generating plant powered by Marcellus Shale gas. The $26.8 million plant will save them money, be better for the environment, and heat SEPTA’s largest bus garage (with excess heat from the plant) to boot. It’s a win/win/win all the way around…
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    Biggest Companies in Marcellus Warn Wolf: No New Severance Tax

    don't you dareLast week 17 top Marcellus Shale-related executives–including those from CONSOL Energy, Chevron, Huntley & Huntley, MarkWest Energy, Williams and Columbia Pipeline Group–sent a letter to the Pennsylvania legislature and to PA Gov. Tom Wolf. The letter point blank said don’t slap a new/high severance tax on Marcellus Shale in addition to the already-high tax (called an impact fee). We couldn’t find a copy of the letter to share with you. However, we do have reaction from America’s most liberal governor, Tom Wolf, whose office responded with the “same tired argument” always trotted out by Wolf: he still wants to tax shale to give the money away to teachers’ unions in return for electing him to office. We don’t know how many times we have to say this: these are not empty threats by the industry. The industry is telling Wolf exactly what will happen if he institutes the tax–they’ll leave town…
    Read More “Biggest Companies in Marcellus Warn Wolf: No New Severance Tax”

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    Details for 7 Major Pipeline Projects in PA

    updatePart of the ongoing hit series in the Democrat-owned Harrisburg Patriot-News that attempts to smear the Marcellus industry (see Harrisburg Newspaper’s Attack Series on Marcellus Exposed) includes a few articles where overwhelming bias is left behind. Must be one honest editor in the bowels of Patriot-News somewhere. As part of a much longer so-so article about pipeline projects in PA, the “reporter” inserts a laundry list of some of the biggest projects and where they stand…
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    Expensive Audit Tells PGW to Buy More PA Shale Gas to Save Money

    consultant moneyHere’s a thought: Why doesn’t the Philadelphia Gas Works (PGW) convert more of the gas it buys to take gas from the nearby Pennsylvania Marcellus Shale and dump buying gas from the Gulf Coast–because PA’s gas is closer and much cheaper, it will result in lower costs for PGW and lower bills for consumers. Now, where do we go to collect our $1.5 million consulting fee for that fine idea? The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission contracted with Michigan consulting firm Schumaker & Company, Inc. to perform a top to bottom audit of the PGW. While we don’t know how much the audit cost, we did find a 2008 proposal from Schumaker to New York State touting the same kind of audit, with a total price tag (back then) of $1.3 million. So we figured with a little inflation the audit just turned in by Schumaker must have run at least $1.5M. The chief, number one suggestion by Schumaker? PGW can save $6-$7 million a year by buying more of its gas (60% more) from the Marcellus Shale region, upping it from the current 33% they buy from the Marcellus now. Maybe we should get into the consulting business. Sure pays better than blogging!…
    Read More “Expensive Audit Tells PGW to Buy More PA Shale Gas to Save Money”

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    Koch Bros Vilified for Donating $100K to PA Supreme Court Race

    media biasIn the 2014 campaign for governor of Pennsylvania, California billionaire Tom Steyer gave over $10 million to Tom Wolf’s campaign to help him get elected (see CA Anti-Driller Tom Steyer Purchasing Tom Wolf PA Governorship). Steyer is a very rich anti-drilling nutjob. Hey, if he wants to blow his money like that, who are we to disagree? You might think that “outside money” from a “controversial” figure like Steyer would warrant some kind of news coverage by the state’s major newspapers, like the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. But you would be wrong. “Nothing to see here–just move along.” That was the way “reporters” at the Post-Gazette treated the purchasing of the governorship in their state by Steyer. No questions. No investigations. Nothing. But along comes the evil, nefarious Koch brothers (cue sinister music), donating $100,000–1% of what Steyer donated–to the effort to elect three conservative Republican judges to the PA Supreme Court, and the Post-Gazette pulls out all the stops to declare this a hideous act of betrayal, something that must be stopped…
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