PennEast Pipeline Files Official Application with FERC, Antis Mad
Party time! Yesterday PennEast Pipeline filed their full, official application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for permission to commence building their $1 billion, 118-mile, 36-inch diameter pipeline that will deliver approximately 1 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day from the Marcellus gas fields of northeastern PA to locations in southeastern PA and across the border to Trenton, NJ. The long-term benefits to the pipeline are many–lower natural gas and electricity costs for millions of consumers. In addition, during construction the pipeline will generate an estimated $1.6 billion of economic impact during design and construction alone, supporting approximately 12,160 jobs and an associated $740 million in wages. This is good news for all Pennsylvanians and New Jerseyites. Of course anti-fossil fuel nutters also issued an angry press release claiming the PennEast Pipeline will do “irreparable harm” if built…
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THE Delaware Riverkeeper, Maya van Rossum, and a bunch of her anti-fossil fuel pals delivered a letter on Wednesday to America’s most liberal governor, PA Gov. Tom Wolf, asking him to immediately suspend all further Marcellus drilling in the state and while he’s at it, stop building any new pipelines. They also “demand” (their words) that Wolf shut down his Pipeline Infrastructure Task Force which he created back in May (see 
The PennFuture Secretary of the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection, John Quigley, continues to promote a hard-left agenda inside a once-great agency. Any time a Democrat like Quigley pairs the word “justice” with another word, like “environmental”, you know it’s a bad idea. Quigley is promoting the concept of creating an “office of environmental justice” within the DEP. What does that even mean? Is Quigley implying we currently have environmental “injustice” running rampant through the Commonwealth? Quigley also wants to use revenue raised from an obscenely high severance tax on Marcellus Shale drilling to fund more DEP inspectors to hang out at drill pads. Must be Quigley didn’t get the memo from Wolf that ALL of the severance tax money, if Wolf is lucky enough to get such a tax passed (very much in doubt), has already been promised in a quid pro quo agreement to teachers’ unions that helped get him elected…
Halliburton, the second largest oilfield services company in the world and a major presence in northeast drilling, performed a self audit of their 80,000+ employees and found that just over 1,000 (1.4%) of their employees were eligible for overtime but didn’t receive it. Some of those workers are in Pennsylvania Marcellus–39 of them in fact, who are owed a collective $800,000 in back wages. Halliburton turned themselves in to the U.S. Dept. of Labor, admitting the mistake and offering to make it right. The company reached an agreement with the DOL to pay $18,293,557 to 1,016 employees nationwide for uncompensated overtime, one of the biggest such cases “in recent years” according to the DOL…
At last week’s Shale Insight conference, MDN editor Jim Willis sat in on a few of the main sessions. One of those sessions was the opener on Wednesday–a panel discussion moderated by the inimitable and always interesting Michael Krancer, a partner at the Philadelphia-based Blank Rome law firm and formerly the Secretary of the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection during Tom Cobett’s administration. The panel discussion was titled “Philadelphia – The New Northeast Energy Hub” and featured an all-star lineup: Joe Colella, senior VP at Sunoco Logistics; Phil Rinaldi, Chairman and CEO at Philadelphia Energy Solutions; and John Walsh, President and CEO of UGI Corporation. Mike Krancer kicked off the session with a bold statement: He believes Philly will rival and soon pass Houston, Texas as the dominant energy hub in the United States…
As we have been reporting for months, Pennsylvania’s anti-drilling Attorney General, Kathleen Kane, committed perjury (a felony) by lying under oath about leaking grand jury information to a reporter in an attempt to smear a political “enemy” and she should have resigned and left office long ago–but she’s too obstinate to do that. In PA the AG is required to have a license to practice law. Her license has just been suspended (not yet revoked) by the PA Supreme Court, which raises an interesting constitutional question: Can Kane be forced from office because she can’t practice law, the thing she was elected to do? Everybody, including American’s most liberal governor, PA Gov. Tom Wolf, wants her gone. But she refuses to leave and continues to stammer and yammer about porno emails and conspiracies by old men out to get her…
Listen up everyone who has an interest in Pennsylvania’s midstream–pipelines and processing plants. Billions of dollars are being spent in Pennsylvania as the gas industry builds out its pipelines to all parts of the northeast, Middle Atlantic, southeast and Midwest regions of the U.S. The two questions everyone wants to know: (1) Who is spending the money? and (2) Where is the money being spent? The answer to those two questions and more will be answered at the 
Below are articles written by others who attended this year’s Shale Insight event in Philadelphia. MDN editor Jim Willis sat in on some of the general sessions and took notes. He’ll share his own notes and insights on Shale Insight next week. In the meantime, here’s what mainstream media said about the sessions happening on Day Two…
The Pennsylvania Independent Oil & Gas Association (PIOGA) has been at the forefront in opposing an industry-killing severance tax proposed by new governor Tom Wolf (see 
Fresh back from Shale Insight in Philadelphia, MDN editor Jim Willis is always pumped after hearing about the technology and safeguards and careful treatment the shale energy industry uses in extracting shale gas. These people are true professionals who care about the work they do–and they want to do it right. They care about the environment. They want to protect the land and our natural resources. They live in the communities where fracking is done. On the other hand, the people who profess to care about such things, anti-drillers, repeatedly prove themselves to be a) mind-numbed robots who believe whatever their movement leaders tell them, b) stark raving mad. Example: A group of extremists who happen to be “religious” have penned a letter to Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf asking him to stop all fracking in the state because they fervently believe (wrongly) that fracking contributes to the mythological existence of man-made global warming. Mainstream media picks this garbage up and repeat it, like it’s a real news story…
Let’s be honest, shall we? The Catholic Church has a Marxist as its leader in Pope Francis–which is a truly sad thing for a great and significant denomination. Pope Francis, nee Jorge Mario Bergoglio, is from Argentina and he supports Marxism, as many do in South America. Pope Francis hates capitalism and appears to be more interested in advancing socialist political policies here on earth than he does in serving Jesus Christ and saving souls. The current situation with Pope Francis distresses many Catholics we personally know. The Pope has thrown in his lot with climate change liars–those who say mankind is causing the earth to warm up–because the so-called climate change movement is the new home of anti-capitalists (i.e. Marxists, i.e. Communists). Scientific fact: global average temperatures haven’t risen now for 18 years. Yesterday, The Heartland Institute participated in a Constitution Day event in Philadelphia to call attention to the Pope’s coming visit to Philly (a visit made possible via fossil fuels) and the Pope’s error-filled teachings against fossil fuels and capitalism…
MDN is proud to be supporting this year’s Pennsylvania Independent Oil & Gas Association (PIOGA) Eastern Oil & Gas Conference and Trade Show, which will take place Oct 27-28 at the Monroeville Convention Center just outside Pittsburgh. The event features a conference, trade show and networking events–a “must attend” event for those involved with oil and gas drilling in the PA (and associated industries). Below is the just-announced line-up for conference presentations. Oh! And be sure you don’t miss the Halloween-themed mixer Tuesday evening!…