Statewide PA

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

Guest Post: Bradford Co Landowner Asks Gov. Wolf to Support HB 1684
January 27, 2015January 27, 2015

MDN has written plenty about Pennsylvania’s HB 1684–the Guaranteed Minimum Royalty Act (see these MDN articles). In essence, some companies (cough *Chesapeake Energy* cough) have gotten creative with deducting post-production costs from royalty checks. According to the PA Guaranteed Minimum Royalty Act of 1979, royalty owners (landowners) must receive no less than 1/8, or 12.5%, by law. But when Chessy and others start deducting this and that, never spelled out in the original lease agreement, landowners are getting the shaft–way lower than 12.5%. In some cases they get royalty checks for a few dollars! Bradford County landowner John Williams is concerned, both about HB 1684 and newly elected Gov. Tom Wolf’s stand on that bill, and about Wolf’s proposed 5% severance tax. Will the severance tax be the next deduction gas companies take, further reducing royalty checks? Is the severance tax Tom Wolf proposes a tax that will be paid, in essence, by landowners? We thank John for his guest post…
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Commodity Price | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

MSC & PIOGA: Marcellus Drilling is Scaling Back “Significantly”
January 26, 2015January 26, 2015

What’s the prognosis for new drilling activity in the Marcellus Shale? Two industry leaders gave a sobering assessment to the Philadelphia Inquirer. Dave Spigelmyer, president of the Marcellus Shale Coalition (MSC) and Lou D’Amico, president of the Pennsylvania Independent Oil and Gas Association (PIOGA) spoke frankly about where drilling is scaling back (more so in the wet gas areas than the dry gas areas, but dry gas still affected too), and when the outlook is likely to improve (not any time soon)…
Read More “MSC & PIOGA: Marcellus Drilling is Scaling Back “Significantly””
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

Anti-Drillers Take Aim at Pat Henderson’s Move from Govt to MSC
January 26, 2015January 26, 2015

A new hit piece from the drive-by Democrat propagandists known as PBS StateImpact Pennsylvania. Patrick Henderson, formerly PA Gov. Tom Corbett’s Energy Executive, has had the unmitigated gall to land on his feet in a new job–now gainfully employed by the Marcellus Shale Coalition as its Director of Regulatory Affairs. StateImpact is dutifully reporting the Democrat talking points that this “proves” the Corbett administration was in bed with drillers all along. Meanwhile, John Quigley once worked for Ed Rendell and later went to work for Big Environment–an anti-drilling group known as PennFuture–after he left being Secretary of the Dept. of Natural Resources in PA. But not a peep from StateImpact on how that “proves” the Rendell administration was in bed with anti-frackers. Quigley has just been recycled by Tom Wolf (Wolf’s administration increasingly looks like the third term of the Rendell administration) to head the Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP). No speculation from StateImpact about how Quigley may be “in bed” with the enviros as he assumes his vital-to-the-Marcellus-industry post at the DEP. Nope. Just another day slavishly regurgitating the Dem talking points…
Read More “Anti-Drillers Take Aim at Pat Henderson’s Move from Govt to MSC”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

Anti Group Asks PA Court for a Do-Over on State Land Drilling Decision
January 23, 2015January 23, 2015

Earlier this month we reported the crushing defeat of the litigious anti-drilling group Pennsylvania Environmental Defense Foundation (PEDF) in their lawsuit that attempts to stop all drilling and leasing of state-owned lands for oil and gas drilling (see PA Court Rules to Allow More Leasing/Drilling of State-Owned Land). Even though it was a victory for pro-drillers, it was a “dirty” win because it relied on and reinforced the flawed PA Supreme Court “Robinson” case on Act 13 zoning (see Troubling Win in PA Court Victory that Allows State Land Drilling). The litigious PEDF is back to take yet another bite at the apple. They’ve filed an “Application for Reargument” in the case. They want the judge to call a “do-over” so they can try, once again, to ban drilling on state-owned land…
Read More “Anti Group Asks PA Court for a Do-Over on State Land Drilling Decision”
Industrywide Issues | Lease & Royalty Payments | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA Senate Reintroduces Two Marcellus Royalty Bills, SB 147 & 148
January 22, 2015January 22, 2015

The “funny business” of shorting royalty checks in Pennsylvania–particularly by Chesapeake Energy–may soon come to an end. A pair of bills that didn’t make it past the House last session have been re-introduced in the Senate and both have already passed the Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee unanimously. State Sen. Gene Yaw, Republican from northeast Pennsylvania, re-introduced Senate Bills (SB) 147 & 148. SB 147 allows landowners the right to review drilling company records to verify proper royalty payment. It also requires drillers to pay royalties within 90 days of production. SB 148 prohibits drillers from “retaliating” against a landowner who questions royalty payments by canceling the lease or stopping drilling activity. Both bills are embraced by the Pennsylvania chapter of the National Association of Royalty Owners (NARO)…
Read More “PA Senate Reintroduces Two Marcellus Royalty Bills, SB 147 & 148”
Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

Important Expose on John Quigley, Nominee to Head PA DEP
January 22, 2015January 22, 2015
MDN friend Tom Shepstone, who writes the excellent Natural Gas Now blog site, has just posted a must-read article on John Quigley, PA Gov. Tom Wolf’s choice to lead the Dept. of Environmental Protection. Tom does some real investigative journalism–something you won’t read in the Harrisburg Patriot-News, the Philadelphia Inquirer, or Democrat Party satellite publications like StateImpact Pennsylvania. You certainly won’t read anything detailed about Quigley in the Scranton Times-Tribune! Real investigative journalism has gone out of vogue in those publications. But not with Tom. Rather than copy his excellent work here, we’ll ask you to click on the link below and take time to educate yourself on the “real” John Quigley.
- Natural Gas Now/Tom Shepstone (Jan 21, 2015) – Will the Real John Quigley Please Stand Up?
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Dauphin County | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

Anti-Fracking Protesters Spoil PA Governor Inauguration Ceremony
January 21, 2015January 21, 2015

Yesterday, Democrat anti-drilling protesters spoiled the inauguration of one of their own–Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf (Democrat, wants to tax the shale drilling industry into oblivion). There were “more than 100” very loud demonstrators outside of the inauguration according to the AP, which in partisan liberal math translates into “several hundred” protesters for PBS’s StateImpact Pennsylvania. Eight of these ill-behaved children adults were were so loud and obnoxious Pennsylvania State Police arrested and removed them. Two of them stood up during the inauguration speech hollering “ban fracking now” and were removed by State Police. The “ban fracking now” chant could be heard throughout the inauguration–spoiling the ceremony for everyone. According to those who organized this shameful performance, they were emboldened by New York’s recent ban–hoping if they can make enough noise and throw enough temper tantrums, they’ll get PA to ban it too. (Hey, it worked for them when they were children, why wouldn’t it work now?)…
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Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Statewide WV | West Virginia

WV Gov Earl Ray Tomblin Praises Marcellus Shale During Speech
January 21, 2015January 21, 2015

At Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf’s inauguration yesterday, Wolf didn’t even mention the word “Marcellus” and said nothing of shale drilling in the state beyond a vague statement about the state being “blessed with an abundance of natural resources” which includes “gas.” Compare Wolf’s total lack of acknowledgement of the Marcellus and the key role it plays in Pennsylvania with the West Virginia Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin’s State of the State speech last week, a speech in which he positively gushes about the Marcellus, by name. Tomblin even treats two representatives from Southwestern Energy present in the audience as exalted guests, asking them to stand for applause (Southwestern has just invested $5 billion in WV). The kicker: both governors are Democrats. In part, here’s what Tomblin said last week in his annual speech to the state:
Read More “WV Gov Earl Ray Tomblin Praises Marcellus Shale During Speech”
Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

In His Own Words: Quigley’s Positions on Fracking, NY Ban, Etc.
January 20, 2015January 20, 2015

MDN has done some more digging on Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf’s choice to run the all-important (for Marcellus Shale drilling) Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP), John Quigley. As it turns out, we didn’t have to dig very far. Quigley himself writes a blog site called “John Quigley’s A Green Thing blog.” The name about says it all. We went looking through his previous statements and found more that concerns us about his impending stewardship of the greatest economic miracle to hit PA in more than 100 years. One of the things Quigley repeatedly lobbies for is a rapid transition from water-based fracking to waterless fracking, something that isn’t remotely possible in the next 10 years…
Read More “In His Own Words: Quigley’s Positions on Fracking, NY Ban, Etc.”
Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | PennEast Pipeline | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Statewide PA

PennEast Pipeline Listens to Landowner Concerns, Modifies Route
January 20, 2015January 20, 2015

PennEast Pipeline, a pipeline that will run from Luzerne County in northeast Pennsylvania to the Trenton, NJ area, recently announced they’ve changed the route for the pipeline in a few spots, especially near the end where it will connect. The changes mean there will be an extra two miles of pipeline added and the last 20 or so miles of the pipeline’s route will be affected. Why has the route changed? Because of feedback and input from landowners, agencies and public officials. PennEast has been holding a series of open houses to elicit feedback. The purpose of PennEast’s open houses and the scoping hearings run by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is to hear people’s concerns, and to work with them. That’s what PennEast is doing. Rather than the unreasonable and childish “No, not in my backyard” response from groups like Delaware Riverkeeper and the Sierra Club, the people at PennEast behave like adults. They listen. They educate. They may argue. But in the end they listen and sometimes, they change course to accommodate concerns…
Read More “PennEast Pipeline Listens to Landowner Concerns, Modifies Route”
Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Range Resources Corp | Regulation | Statewide PA | Washington County

Strange: DEP Fines Range Resouces $1.75M for Water Withdrawals
January 19, 2015January 19, 2015

A strange announcement from the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) on Friday says that Range Resources has agreed to pay $1.75 million to the state for failure to keep track of water withdrawals made by the company (takes a lot of water to frack, much of which comes from creeks and rivers), and for exceeding the amount of water withdrawn according to the plan they have on file with the DEP. What’s strange about the announcement is that a) you can’t find it on the DEP website itself, b) Range was making withdrawals and not recording/tracking the withdrawals from 2009 to 2014–five years–but apparently the DEP didn’t notice or didn’t care, and c) $950,000 of the $1.75 million “fine” (more than half) will go to fix up and operate the Hamilton Abandoned Mine Treatment System in Findlay Township, Allegheny County…
Read More “Strange: DEP Fines Range Resouces $1.75M for Water Withdrawals”
Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

Quigley Says Opportunity to Get Marcellus Drilling “Right” in PA
January 19, 2015January 19, 2015

Pennsylvania Gov.-Elect Tom Wolf’s intended appointment of John Quigley to become the next Secretary of the Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) continues to trouble us. We’ve heard from MDN subscribers, people we respect, who say that Quigley is a good bloke, lay off on being critical of his appointment. However, we continue to rely on our eyes and ears and what we see and hear bothers us. Quigley once worked for an avowedly anti-drilling organization–PennFuture. That was enough to concern us. But now we have have his own comments to rely on. Last week he answered, on the record, questions from the Harrisburg Patriot-News. Specifically he indicates that so far PA has not “gotten it right” when it comes to Marcellus Shale drilling, and he looks forward to helping the Keystone State get it right. He doesn’t say what, exactly, has been gotten “wrong” with drilling, which is what troubles us…
Read More “Quigley Says Opportunity to Get Marcellus Drilling “Right” in PA”
CNG/LNG | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

Can Risk-Averse Phila. Gas Works Successfully Expand LNG Plant?
January 19, 2015January 19, 2015

Philadelphia Gas Works (PGW) was up for sale, a winsome suitor was found (UIL Holdings from Connecticut) and the deal to sell the nation’s largest publicly-owned gas utility was obliterated by a corrupt City Council. We won’t recount the history (see our stories here). With the $1.86 billion deal now dead, PGW is moving on and trying to act and behave like a private sector company–except it’s not a private sector company. Last week they announced a 12-day “open season” to gauge interest in expanding their liquefied natural gas plant, a plant that would be fed by Marcellus Shale gas (see Phila. Gas Works Launches 12-Day Open Season to Expand LNG). However, LNG is not regulated like the delivery of natural gas, PGW’s main “business.” That is, there’s risk involved–and the people who bear the risk for PGW, being a municipal-owned utility–are the ratepayers, not the investors/owners, which would be the case if PGW were a private sector company. Are Philly residents willing to risk higher rates if PGW bungles the LNG expansion?…
Read More “Can Risk-Averse Phila. Gas Works Successfully Expand LNG Plant?”
Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Taxation

Let’s Slap 5% Tax on ALL PA Natural Resources, Not Just Shale Gas
January 19, 2015January 19, 2015

One of Pennsylvania’s top conservative (Republican) strategists and consultants, Charlie Gerow, offers up a sobering picture of the hard work ahead for liberal/leftist Gov.-Elect Tom Wolf when, on Wednesday, he assumes office and we drop the “-Elect” part in his title. Gerow points out that Wolf got elected by offering few specifics about his plans to raise taxes, except for a tax on the Marcellus Shale–he was crystal clear on that. When Wolf assumes office on Wednesday, all of his campaign prevaricating comes to an end and he will have to start offering real proposals for big problems. Gerow evaluates the prospects for a Wolf severance tax on Marcellus Shale gas this way:
Read More “Let’s Slap 5% Tax on ALL PA Natural Resources, Not Just Shale Gas”
Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Landfills | Pennsylvania | Research | Statewide PA | Wastewater

PA DEP Completes Fracking Radiation Study, Concludes “Little Harm”
January 16, 2015January 16, 2015

We love it when we get to close a loop–especially this one. Exactly two years ago the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection, under then Secretary Mike Krancer, embarked on what would become a two-year, top to bottom, “thorough and rigorous” study of radiation in shale drilling (see PA DEP Announces New Study of Radiation in Shale Drilling). That is, they would use real science to figure out whether we will all, as the anti-drillers claim, begin to glow in the dark from exposure to radiation in wastewater, radiation in drill cuttings and radiation in “fracked gas” as they frequently prattle on about. The 200-page study is complete and we have a copy (below). What did the DEP conclude in their “peer reviewed” study? “There is little potential for harm to workers or the public from radiation exposure due to oil and gas development.” That is, the DEP says all of these wild-eyed claims of radiation poisoning are false…
Read More “PA DEP Completes Fracking Radiation Study, Concludes “Little Harm””
Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA Gov Wolf Defends Anti-Drilling Choices for DEP, DCNR
January 16, 2015January 16, 2015

Pennsylvania Gov.-Elect Tom Wolf is already playing defense about his pick of two people–John Quigley and Cindy Dunn, both of whom have worked for the anti-drilling PennFuture organization–to run the Dept. of Environmental Protection and the Dept. of Conservation and Natural Resources, respectively (see Wolf Officially Announces Quigley to Head DEP, Dunn to Head DCNR). He’s also pretty thin-skinned about the valid observation that he seems to using a lot of Rendell retreads in his administration–both Quigley and Dunn, as well as others, worked for former Gov. Ed “Fast Eddie” Rendell. Seems that Wolf’s “outsider” facade is being ripped right off his face. Wolf’s team is composed of consummate Harrisburg insiders. Here’s what Wolf snipped to reporters yesterday when asked about it…
Read More “PA Gov Wolf Defends Anti-Drilling Choices for DEP, DCNR”