Statewide PA

Allegheny County | Meetings | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

Still Time to Attend SGICC’s Free May 12 Event & See Cool Tech
May 5, 2015May 5, 2015

Who says there’s no free lunch?! On May 12, you can attend the Ben Franklin Shale Gas Innovation & Commercialization Center’s (SGICC) free event (with lunch!) at the Southpointe, PA Hilton Garden Inn. And what’s the event? It is the unveiling of four winners of the SGICC’s annual Shale Gas Innovation contest. Each year the SGICC runs a contest to highlight early-stage technologies that enhance responsible stewardship of the environment while properly utilizing our bountiful Marcellus Shale as an asset. Four winners (out of the final 14 selected) will receive a $25,000 cash prize each–$100,000 total. The event will celebrate the newest winners and give YOU the opportunity to mill around and review each of the 14 finalists and their truly unique and innovative technologies. Here’s more details and how to register…
Read More “Still Time to Attend SGICC’s Free May 12 Event & See Cool Tech”
Allegheny County | Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Crime | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

US Attorney Looks for “Environmental Crimes” in Marcellus/Utica
May 4, 2015May 4, 2015

On Friday MDN told you of an observation about anti-drillers trying to criminalize accidents and (in some cases) sloppy neglect when it comes to Marcellus and Utica Shale drilling (see Youngstown Injection Wells Previously Shut Down Resume Operation). The emphasis on so-called “environmental crimes” seems to be coming from the federal government–in the Youngstown case, from the EPA. We spotted another such effort–this one from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in southwest PA (Pittsburgh). U.S. Attorney David Hickton began meeting (colluding?) in December with the FBI, EPA, and the PA DEP and PA anti-drilling Attorney General “to discuss opportunities for improved environmental enforcement.” Another such meeting is scheduled for this week…
Read More “US Attorney Looks for “Environmental Crimes” in Marcellus/Utica”
Energy Services | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Williams

Williams Says Some Marcellus Drillers Shutting in Production
May 4, 2015May 4, 2015

Last week top management from midstream heavyweight Williams participated in an analyst call to discuss first quarter 2015 results and to talk about what to expect going forward in 2015. The one that that stands out about the call is that Williams is facing lower volumes of gas flowing through their pipelines in some areas of the Marcellus Shale because drillers are “curtailing” or shutting-in some of their wells to wait for natgas prices to go up. Sometimes drillers do that. They have a lot of expenses sunk into a well. If they believe the price will rise in the near or medium term, they sometimes throttle back and wait. How much are drillers shutting in? Williams figures it will be between 300-500 million cubic feet per day (Mmcf/d) of production…
Read More “Williams Says Some Marcellus Drillers Shutting in Production”
Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA | Washington County

PA DEP Gets an Earful About New Drilling Rules at Public Hearing
May 1, 2015May 1, 2015

The first two of three public hearings being held by the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection on proposed new drilling rules, which were changed at the last minute by the incoming Gov. Tom Wolf administration, have now been held. What happened? What always happens at these things. Anti-drillers parading before the cameras and microphones to demand this and that, and (in this case) pro-drillers commenting on their dim view of the last minute changes made by the DEP. It seems that Wolf and his Acting Secretary of the DEP, John Quigley, have made precisely no one happy with their meddling with the rules…
Read More “PA DEP Gets an Earful About New Drilling Rules at Public Hearing”
Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Kinder Morgan | NGLs | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Statewide OH | Statewide PA

First Step in KM’s 1,000 Mile Y-Grade Pipeline Journey
May 1, 2015May 1, 2015

We have a lot of information to boil down and convey regarding what was once called Tennessee Gas Pipeline’s (TGP) “Y-Grade Pipeline”–a natural gas liquids (NLG) pipeline some 1,000 miles long that will stretch from Pennsylvania to Texas (see our 2013 article for background: Kinder Morgan/MarkWest Proposed NGL Pipeline Gets a Nickname, Map). The Y-Grade Pipeline is now called the Utica Marcellus Texas Pipeline Project (UMTP). TGP has a series of 6 parallel pipelines that currently run from Louisiana to western Pennsylvania–carrying natural gas from the Gulf Coast to the northeast (and to points in between, running through Mississippi, Tennessee, Kentucky and Ohio). The northeast and southeast doesn’t need that much gas from the Gulf given the enormous production coming from the Marcellus/Utica. The plan is to “abandon” some of the lengths of those pipelines and repurpose the “abandoned” pipelines, reversing the flow and instead of flowing natgas, flowing NGLs from the northeast to the Gulf–eventually (with a new pipeline) from LA into TX. That is the plan for UMTP. Kinder Morgan, owner of TGP, recently filed official paperwork with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to “abandon” certain sections and beef up the remaining pipelines with new compressor stations. We have the full details, including details about four new compressor stations to be built in Ohio…
Read More “First Step in KM’s 1,000 Mile Y-Grade Pipeline Journey”
Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA Congressmen Send Letter to Army Corps Over Pipeline Delays
April 29, 2015April 28, 2015

A majority of the Republican Congressman representing the great state of Pennsylvania sent a letter to the Army Corps of Engineers earlier this month encouraging the Corps to get off it’s collective rear-end and begin authorizing midstream/pipeline projects in the Keystone State. Nine of the 13 Republican Congressman from PA, and one of its senators (Republican Pat Toomey) sent a letter on April 8 to Assistant Secretary of the Army (Civil Works), Jo-Ellen Darcy, to complain that the Baltimore District of the Army Corps is dragging its feet (our words) and their actions are putting PA at a competitive disadvantage compared with other states. One of the problems seems to be overreach by the Corps–in redefining projects and project scope. Here’s the letter that no PA partisan Democrat would sign (shame on them)…
Read More “PA Congressmen Send Letter to Army Corps Over Pipeline Delays”
Housing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

UMH Pays $5.3M for 2 Trailer Parks in W PA for Marcellus/Utica
April 27, 2015April 27, 2015

We’ve talked about a New Jersey-based real estate investment company, UMH Properties, Inc., a couple of times before. Why? Because they keep buying trailer parks in the Marcellus/Utica with the express hope that drilling activity in the region will lead to high occupancy rates. In July 2014 UMH bought four “manufactured homes communities” in the Pittsburgh area (see More Housing for Marcellus/Utica on the Way in Pittsburgh Region). In January of this year, UMH bought another trailer park–this one in Erie, PA (see Quirky Friday: What’s the Main Selling Point of Erie, PA Trailer Park?). UMH is back–they’ve just purchased two more trailer parks in western PA for $5.3 million…
Read More “UMH Pays $5.3M for 2 Trailer Parks in W PA for Marcellus/Utica”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

Anti Protesters Who Disrupted Wolf Inauguration Appeal Conviction
April 27, 2015April 27, 2015

More than 100 anti-drilling, anti-fossil fuel protesters spoiled PA Gov. Tom Wolf’s otherwise nicey nice inauguration in January (see Anti-Fracking Protesters Spoil PA Governor Inauguration Ceremony). Of the 100 or so loud mouths at the inauguration who tried to spoil it for everyone else, eight of them were arrested and charged with disorderly conduct. They were all convicted. Now, two of the eight are appealing their convictions. It seems they don’t want to be held accountable for their lawless actions…
Read More “Anti Protesters Who Disrupted Wolf Inauguration Appeal Conviction”
Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA DEP Plans to Air Conventional Drilling’s Dirty Laundry
April 24, 2015April 24, 2015

Pennsylvania’s conventional (non-shale) oil and gas drillers have long argued they should be exempt from new rules and regulations that apply to shale drillers. The wells they drill are much shallower, use less water (and less of everything, including truck trips), and in general conventional drillers say shale regulations will drive mom and pop drillers out of business entirely. The PA Dept. of Environmental Protection, however, doesn’t quite see it that way. The DEP has made certain allowances for the difference between shale and non-shale, but the DEP has drawn a line in the frac sand on other matters and plans to press it case that conventional drillers need to step up their game…
Read More “PA DEP Plans to Air Conventional Drilling’s Dirty Laundry”
Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Taxation

PA Town Supervisors Say “No Thanks” To Wolf Severance Tax Plan
April 24, 2015April 24, 2015

More and more people are waking up to the fact that Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf’s proposed severance tax is not only bad for the Marcellus industry–it’s bad for the state too. The latest group to officially oppose it is the influential Pennsylvania State Association of Township Supervisors (PSATS). The group’s president said yesterday that the fee from the severance tax intended to replace the current impact fee (under Act 13) that provides an important source of revenue for municipalities would not grow as drilling grows. PSATS has figured out the dirty little secret–Wolf intends to raid money that would have gone to townships in order to grease politicians hands in Harrisburg, allowing that money to disappear into the black hole of state spending…
Read More “PA Town Supervisors Say “No Thanks” To Wolf Severance Tax Plan”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

Anti-Drillers Pressure Philly City Council to Dump Energy Hub Plan
April 23, 2015April 23, 2015

A group of 33 anti-progress organizations, headed up by the odious and misnamed Food & Water Watch, have (fantastically) sent a letter to members of the Philadelphia City Council to tell City Council they should forget about making Philly an East Coast “energy hub.” The blithering idiots refuse to acknowledge the reason they’re alive and able to send such a letter is due to the beneficence of fossil fuels. They are only able to organize and protest fossil fuels–because of the existence of fossil fuels. The good news is that City Council is so corrupt they won’t notice or care anyway…
Read More “Anti-Drillers Pressure Philly City Council to Dump Energy Hub Plan”
Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

Center for Sustainable Shale Dev Gets Grant to Keep Going
April 23, 2015April 23, 2015

A spot of good news for the Center for Sustainable Shale Development (CSSD). The CSSD has struggled to obtain funding after Mamma Teresa Heinz Kerry, the William Penn Foundation and the quacks at PennFuture all pulled their funding for the group (see PAI Says 3rd Enviro Group – PennFuture – Abandoned CSSD). The Richard King Mellon Foundation threw the CSSD a lifeline by donating (see CSSD Thrown a Lifeline from Richard King Mellon Foundation). Now comes word that the Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation has renewed their support with another one-year grant…
Read More “Center for Sustainable Shale Dev Gets Grant to Keep Going”
Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Research | Statewide PA

Confirmed: PA Natgas Production Decreased from Jan to Feb 2015
April 22, 2015April 22, 2015

As MDN told you last week, natural gas production in Pennsylvania went DOWN from January to February 2015 (see Exclusive: PA Feb Natgas Production Numbers Show Decrease from Jan). We now have the percentage by which it decreased: 9%. As we said last week, EQT and a few other laggards didn’t file their numbers on time. Those numbers are now in and we have the final summary below showing production for both January and February, and the percentage difference–both by county and by driller. Mainstream and industry publications we’ve read say February natgas production in PA was either flat or slightly up from January. That simply is not the case. We’ve run the numbers–twice. We’ve pulled the raw data from the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection–twice. We’ve checked and rechecked and, as we predicted last week, “we expect production to have decreased somewhere around 8-10% overall.” We nailed it, if we might immodestly say so ourselves. So why does everyone else say production rose slightly?…
Read More “Confirmed: PA Natgas Production Decreased from Jan to Feb 2015”
Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

PA Drilling Permits Drop 30% Jan-Mar – How Low Will it Go?
April 22, 2015April 22, 2015

How low will it go? Data from the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) shows a significant drop in the number of Marcellus Shale drilling permits issued for the first quarter of 2015. In fact, the number of permits issued dropped 30% in 1Q15–to the lowest number of permits issued in the past five years. Here’s a look at the numbers…
Read More “PA Drilling Permits Drop 30% Jan-Mar – How Low Will it Go?”
Air Quality | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Research | Statewide PA

PA DEP Releases 2013 Air Pollution from Drilling Report
April 21, 2015April 21, 2015

Each year the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) collects air emissions data for the natural gas industry as required by PA’s Air Pollution Control Act. Yesterday the DEP issued a comprehensive report for calendar year 2013. It’s no surprise that several categories of air pollutants increased–the more wells you drill, the more activity, the more air pollution. What *is* surprising is that two categories of air pollution decreased: carbon monoxide (CO) and methane (CH4). You also need to throw this into the mix: The way the information is collected and reported changed in 2013. The DEP began requiring data from compressor stations supporting coalbed methane wells. That is, they grew the pie–the data is sort of apples and oranges. And still the CO and CH4 numbers went down! Below is the DEP summary of the numbers, broken out by type of air pollution…
Read More “PA DEP Releases 2013 Air Pollution from Drilling Report”
Education | Energy Companies | Exxon Mobil | Industrywide Issues | New York | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Statewide NY | Statewide OH | Statewide PA

ExxonMobil Donates $47M to Higher Ed, Including Marcellus Region
April 20, 2015April 20, 2015

ExxonMobil runs an incredibly generous program called the Educational Matching Gift Program under which they have just donated $47 million to ~900 colleges and universities across the United States. Here’s how it works: for every $1 ExxonMobil employees, retirees, directors and surviving spouses contribute to the Matching Gift Program, ExxonMobil matches it with $3. In Pennsylvania, the total pot donated to higher education was $3.8 million. In Ohio, it was $909,000. Virginia colleges are getting $1.3 million. New York State colleges and universities are getting a whopping $3.4 million–after New York State has screwed ExxonMobil royally (the company has lost millions of dollars in lease expirations when it couldn’t drill shale wells in the state because of Andrew Cuomo’s fracking ban). And yet, ExxonMobil gave money to the Empire State anyway, to some of the very schools who provide shelter and sponsor anti-drilling zealots. It shows the caliber of the people who run the company. One more: New Jersey, big users of oil and gas, but haters of pipelines and shale drilling, got $1.1 million…
Read More “ExxonMobil Donates $47M to Higher Ed, Including Marcellus Region”