Statewide PA

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    Anti-Drilling Environment America Issues “Report” of Top Violators in PA

    Looky here–another new “report” has just been issued by yet another anti-drilling organization. Must be time for a new fundraising campaign. The far-left, anti-fossil fuel Environment America (aka PennEnvironment) has just released a sham “report” titled “Fracking Failures: Oil and Gas Industry Environmental Violations in Pennsylvania and What They Mean for the U.S.” (full copy below). The “report” claims, “Fracking operators in Pennsylvania have committed thousands of violations of oil and gas regulations since 2011. These violations are not ‘paperwork’ violations, but lapses that pose serious risks to workers, the environment and public health.” The “report” was authored by a lawyer and a journalist, both anti-fossil fuelers that use fossil fuels every day of their lives, and funded by the Colcom Foundation–a far-out organization dedicated to removing the “scourge” of humankind from the face of the earth (and no, we’re not making it up). This latest “report,” which will no doubt be reported by sycophants at places like StateImpact Pennsylvania as “news,” claims that Cabot Oil & Gas is the number one violator of the environment in Pennsylvania. The “report” also throws heaps of mud on the Center for Sustainable Shale Development and the four companies that have endorsed the CSSD’s strict operating standards…
    Read More “Anti-Drilling Environment America Issues “Report” of Top Violators in PA”

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    New Report: Marcellus Shale Drilling’s Impact on PA Schools

    The Center for Rural Pennsylvania, a bipartisan, bicameral legislative agency that serves as a resource for rural policy within the Pennsylvania General Assembly, has just published the third report in a series of studies commissioned on the Marcellus Shale and its impact on the state. Titled “Marcellus Shale Gas Development and Impacts on Pennsylvania Schools and Education” (full copy embedded below), the report looks at whether or not the rapid development of shale drilling in the state has stressed local schools in areas with the most Marcellus Shale drilling. It was feared that with an influx of workers, and potentially families, local schools would see a spike in enrollment. The report says that hasn’t happened. There was also a concern about dropout rates–perhaps kids leaving school early to work in the gas fields. That hasn’t happened either. In fact, if anything, the Marcellus has contributed more money to the coffers of local schools. No negative impacts, lots of positive impacts from northeast shale drilling…
    Read More “New Report: Marcellus Shale Drilling’s Impact on PA Schools”

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    The Tax Man Returneth — for PA Landowners with Royalties

    Landowners who get royalty checks in Pennsylvania beware: the PA tax man may be coming for you. It’s a shame, but landowners who get royalty checks have to employ a bevy of accountants and tax experts in order to file a tax return. Such is life. One of the deductions landowners take from their royalty checks are for production costs. On paper, a landowner may be paid 14% in royalties, but in actuality it works out to be much less. Landowners have to navigate sometimes confusing statements from drillers to put the right numbers in the right boxes. What’s happening now is that the PA Dept. of Revenue is telling some landowners the numbers in the boxes don’t add up–according to their convoluted calculations anyway. And PA wants some of that money back they say should have been paid to them all along. It’s a confusing mess…
    Read More “The Tax Man Returneth — for PA Landowners with Royalties”

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    Guest Post: Bradford Co Landowner Asks Gov. Wolf to Support HB 1684

    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…
    Read More “Guest Post: Bradford Co Landowner Asks Gov. Wolf to Support HB 1684”

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    MSC & PIOGA: Marcellus Drilling is Scaling Back “Significantly”

    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””

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    Anti-Drillers Take Aim at Pat Henderson’s Move from Govt to MSC

    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”

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    Anti Group Asks PA Court for a Do-Over on State Land Drilling Decision

    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”

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

    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”

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    Important Expose on John Quigley, Nominee to Head PA DEP

    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.

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    Anti-Fracking Protesters Spoil PA Governor Inauguration Ceremony

    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?)…
    Read More “Anti-Fracking Protesters Spoil PA Governor Inauguration Ceremony”

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    WV Gov Earl Ray Tomblin Praises Marcellus Shale During Speech

    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”

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

    Digging for the TruthMDN 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.”

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    PennEast Pipeline Listens to Landowner Concerns, Modifies Route

    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”

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    Strange: DEP Fines Range Resouces $1.75M for Water Withdrawals

    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”

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    Quigley Says Opportunity to Get Marcellus Drilling “Right” in PA

    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”

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    Can Risk-Averse Phila. Gas Works Successfully Expand LNG Plant?

    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?”