Statewide PA

Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | PennEast Pipeline | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Statewide PA | Taxation

PA State Law Prevents PennEast Pipeline from Paying Property Tax
November 17, 2014November 17, 2014

If you live in New Jersey and you live in a county or township where the PennEast Pipeline will be built, you’re in for a treat: You get a shot of extra revenue every year for the town/county budget in the form of real estate taxes (often referred to as property taxes). PennEast figures Hunterdon County, NJ will see something like $1 million per year in tax revenue from the pipeline. But just over the border in Pennsylvania it’s a different story. In PA natural gas pipelines are not considered “real estate” but instead equipment, and therefore pipelines are not taxed…
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Energy Services | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | UIL Holdings

PDN: City Council Ruined the Promise of Energy Hub in Philly
November 17, 2014November 17, 2014

Can Philadelphia ever be THE energy of hub of the northeast? According to an editorial in the Philadelphia Daily News, City Council has ruined that possibility by scuttling the deal to sell Philadelphia Gas Works (PGW) to UIL Holdings (see Phila. City Council’s 6-Hour Hearing on PGW Sale, UIL Appearance). According to the editorial writers, City Council is focusing on retaining 1,600 (and shrinking) public sector union jobs at PGW instead of allowing the sale of PGW which potentially could lead to Philly becoming THE northeast energy hub employing 10 times that number of energy jobs…
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Blair County | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Taxation

Altoona Politicos Say 5% Severance Tax a Marcellus “Killer”
November 14, 2014November 14, 2014

State Sen. John H. Eichelberger Jr., a Republican from Blair County (Altoona area) in Pennsylvania, had some tough words for incoming Democrat Gov. Tom Wolf: Forget about a 5% severance tax on the Marcellus industry. Eichelberger figures such a tax, while sounding “small” actually represents the snatch and grab of 50% of the profit companies now make in the state–and if you take away half of the profits they earn, most of them will stop drilling and leave. Hello! Anybody home at Democrat HQ? Anybody home at REPUBLICAN HQ? Are you listening?? Eichelberger is exactly right…
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Energy Services | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | UIL Holdings

Phila. City Council’s 6-Hour Hearing on PGW Sale, UIL Appearance
November 14, 2014November 14, 2014

More on the drama of the corrupt Philadelphia City Council’s scuttling of the sale of the municipal-owned Philadelphia Gas Works (PGW) to Connecticut utility UIL Holdings. Yesterday City Council held hearings on alternatives to selling PGW and made a representative from UIL wait until the very end of six hours of hearings to give him 10 minutes to speak…
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Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Research | Statewide PA

Bernstein: Marcellus Production Will Slow, Hit 25 Bcf/d in 2017
November 13, 2014November 13, 2014

A fascinating pair of research reports from Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. LLC as been analyzed and summarized in a top notch article by SNL Financial. Historically the Marcellus has been divided into northeast Pennsylvania and southwest PA, the SW including WV and a tiny bit of eastern OH. Also historically, the NE portion of the Marcellus has produced more dry gas (methane only) than the SW, which is richer in wet gas (or natural gas liquids). However, because of lack of pipelines in the NE, researchers say dry gas production throughout the Marcellus–particularly in the NE–will slow over the next few years. Another juicy tidbit from the report: Bernstein researchers predict natgas production from the Marcellus will hit 25 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) by end of 2017–just three years from now…
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CNG/LNG | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | UIL Holdings

LNG Facility the Crown Jewel in Scuttled PGW Sale
November 13, 2014November 13, 2014

We find it interesting now that the corrupt Philadelphia City Council has torpedoed the deal to sell the Philadelphia Gas Works (PGW) to Connecticut utility company UIL Holding, the talk by council members has returned to the shiniest jewel in the PGW crown: their small LNG facility. You may recall that MDN previously warned of an ex-Enron employee, Boris Brevnov, who wanted to tank the sale to UIL so he could gain control of the LNG facility for himself (see Former Enron Exec Makes “Unethical” Play to Derail PGW Deal). With the deal now hosed, is Brevnov working in the background to get the LNG facility? We have no proof of that, but the thought has crossed our mind. The Philadelphia Inquirer has an article delving into the LNG facility and what may happen next in the ongoing saga of the PGW sale…
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Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA Utility’s Innovate Plan to Deliver Marcellus Gas to Customers
November 12, 2014November 12, 2014

Although there’s a lot a cheap, abundant, and clean-burning natural gas being produced in Pennsylvania, there’s still a lot of customers who can’t burn it because of lack of pipelines through their neighborhoods. Natural gas prices currently are 61% less than fuel oil and 68% percent less than propane. But when it costs between $500,000 and $1 million a mile to install the pipelines to carry the gas–you need a lot of customers to sign up to make it work. Not everyone signs up at the beginning–some wait and see. So in places like the suburbs of Philadelphia where there’s a lot of people, it has still been a conundrum–a complex problem with no obvious solution. One of the utilities serving the Philly area, Peco, believes they have solved the problem. Peco has proposed a new formula to the Public Utility Commission (PUC) that will allow them to assume that 75% of their customers will sign up for gas over the next 20 years. The Peco plan will allow current customers to stretch the natgas hook-up fee across 20 years, radically changing the economics and lowering the hook-up price for customers–making it a no-brainer to make the change–now or in future years. Here’s the details of Peco’s plan…
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Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

How Will Wolf Appointment of McGinty Affect Marcellus Drilling?
November 11, 2014November 11, 2014

Get this: From 2003-2010 PA Democrat Gov. Ed Rendell ran Pennsylvania over an economic cliff during his administration by raising taxes and raising spending even more. The mess was so bad it took current Gov. Tom Corbett several years to fix it and put the state back on the road to economic sanity. It’s not hyperbole to say that Corbett saved Pennsylvania from bankruptcy. The thanks Corbett got for saving the state? He got fired. Democrat Tom Wolf came along promising the moon–and (using $10 million of his own money and another $10 million of Californian “environmentalist” Tom Steyer’s money) he won. Yesterday Wolf named a former head of the Dept. of Environment Protection (and Wolf’s former opponent in the Dem primary for governor) Katie McGinty to be his chief of staff. Oh, did we mention that both Wolf and McGinty were cabinet members in the Rendell administration? Nothing like getting the band back together so you can take the state right back over the same economic cliff again. Leaving aside the larger economic issues for PA, we wonder how McGinty’s appointment will affect Marcellus drilling in the state…
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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Research | Statewide PA | Wastewater

Researchers: Frack Wastewater “Not quite as bad as we thought”
November 10, 2014November 10, 2014

What do you know–some real science has once again popped up with respect to shale drilling. A pair of researchers from Rice University published the results of their analysis of frack wastewater from the PA Marcellus Shale, the TX Eagle Ford Shale, and the NM Barnett Shale. The study, titled “Organic compounds in produced waters from shale gas wells” (full copy below) was just published in the October issue of the journal Environmental Science: Processes & Impacts. The study is a detailed breakdown of the chemical components found in shale wastewater. And what did the study find? According to one of the researchers, the results show the frack water “was not quite as bad as we thought”…
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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Minuteman Environmental Services | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

PA AG Kane Tries to Derail Counter Lawsuit in Minuteman Bankruptcy
November 10, 2014November 10, 2014

Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane is once again trying to manipulate the court system to support her ongoing witch hunts into the Marcellus Shale industry. You may recall she previously abused her office in filing criminal charges against XTO Energy for an accidental spill that occurred two years before she took office (see PA AG Abuses Her Authority, Files Criminal Charges Against XTO). She’s also brought criminal charges against EQT (see PA Attorney Gen. Kane Abuses Office Again, Arrest Warrant for EQT). But it’s not only the big boys she has a vendetta against. She also shut down a small company that does environmental remediation and wastewater disposal (see Minuteman Enviro Says PA AG Office “Terrorized” Family Members, Filing Lawsuit). The company had the audacity to fight back, filing their own lawsuit against Kane because she’s forced the company into bankruptcy by her abusive actions (see Minuteman Sues AG Kane’s Office for $20M + Punitive Damages). Kane now wants to keep the bankruptcy court judge from making a ruling in that lawsuit, furthering her abuse of power…
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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Statewide PA | Sunoco Logistics

Sunoco Logistics Will Build $2.5B Mariner East 2 Pipeline
November 7, 2014November 7, 2014

Click image for larger version

Big news from Sunoco Logistics. Yesterday the company announced they’ve now signed up enough customers that they will proceed (if they get regulatory approval) to build a second Mariner East pipeline–Mariner East 2–which will run alongside the existing Mariner East pipeline from eastern OH and western PA all the way to the Philadelphia area and the Marcus Hook refinery. Sunoco Logistics did not mention who those customers are who have signed up, but they did say based on the commitments, they will spend $2.5 billion (!) to build the new pipeline and to expand the Marcus Hook operation by adding a propane dehydrogenation (PDH) plant to manufacture propylene. The new pipeline will flow natural gas liquids including propane, butane and ethane…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | York County

Anti-Fracker Ejected from PA Gov-Elect Wolf Victory Celebration
November 6, 2014November 6, 2014

That was fast. We find it amusing that Governor-elect Tom Wolf’s hometown newspaper, the York Daily Record (YDR), is already lowering expectations for their favorite son and what he’ll be able to accomplish as a Democrat governor in a state with an even larger majority of Republicans in the House and Senate than it had under current Republican Gov. Tom Corbett. The YDR says Wolf may not walk on water after all (although they’re not sure, he may), and that those nasty Republicans may, well, not just roll over and play dead like they’re s’posed to. Not only does Wolf have to fend off the nasty Republicans, he has a hard time keeping his own “supporters” somewhere in the realm of planet Earth. During Wolf’s victory celebration Tuesday night in York, when he mentioned shale drilling, some of the rabidly wacko anti-drillers in the audience went into hysterics–one of whom was physically removed from the premises…
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Industrywide Issues | New York | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide NY | Statewide OH | Statewide PA | Statewide WV | Taxation | West Virginia

Big Election Night for Republicans & Pro-Gas Candidates
November 5, 2014November 5, 2014

Yesterday’s election was, by all accounts, historic. It was a complete and utter repudiation of Barack H. Obama and his aggressive socialist policies–there’s no denying that. Republicans picked up governorships in most states where they ran. The one cloud was, unfortunately, Pennsylvania where California environmentalist wacko Tom Steyer’s $10 million+ purchased the governorship for the hapless Democrat Tom Wolf. One bright spot in PA (we challenge you to find this news in your local newspaper today) is that Republicans picked up MORE seats in both the PA House and Senate. Which means unless Republicans cave, there will be no severance tax to shut down Marcellus drilling in the Keystone State–at least for the next few years. Whew. In New York, Republicans (beyond all belief) held on and improved their majority in the Senate. The NY Senate is the only firewall against legislative action to permanently stop fracking in the Empire State. Whew. And what’s this, New England moves Republican???…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA | Taxation

Dela. Riverkeeper Hopes New PA Gov Will Stop Marcellus Drilling
November 5, 2014November 5, 2014

StateImpact Pennsylvania, an online publication populated with lefty advocates who call themselves “reporters” from Pennsylvania’s PBS stations, interviewed a variety of people from both industry and those opposed to drilling in compiling a story on what Tom Wolf’s win as the new Democrat governor of PA will mean for the drilling industry. Of particular interest to MDN are the (many) words in the article attributed to THE Delaware Riverkeeper, the arrogant Maya van Rossum. Among her (many) words is her desire/hope that Wolf will implement a moratorium on all new Marcellus Shale drilling in the state…
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Energy Services | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | UIL Holdings

Phila. Energy Solutions Tells Mayor & City Council: Start Talking
November 4, 2014November 4, 2014

Philadelphia Energy Solutions (PES) is the joint venture between The Carlyle Group and Sunoco (now part of Energy Transfer Partners) that owns and operates the Point Breeze and Girard Point oil refineries in Philadelphia–the largest such refining complex on the Eastern Seaboard. PES CEO, Philip Rinaldi, has weighed in on the corrupt Philadelphia City Council’s scuttling of the purchase of Philadelphia Gas Works (see Philly City Council Kills the Phila. Gas Works $1.86B Deal). We suppose it’s understandable, but Rinaldi says precisely nothing in his comments beyond Mayor Michael Nutter is a great guy, but so too is City Council President Darrell Clarke, head of the cabal that scuttled the deal. As head of the Greater Philadelphia Energy Action Team which is attempting to position Philly has an “energy hub,” Rinaldi’s comments are of the tone “Why Can’t We Be Friends” (cue music). He hopes that Nutter and Clarke can start talking to one another again to get this deal done…
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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | New York | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide NY | Statewide OH | Statewide PA | Statewide WV | West Virginia

IPAA Fracking Update: Legislation, Regulation, Litigation
November 4, 2014November 4, 2014

What’s the latest legislative, regulatory and litigation developments with respect to hydraulic fracturing in the Marcellus and Utica region? Thanks to the Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA) and their partnership with PIRA Energy Group, a consulting firm that specializes in U.S. and international energy markets research and intelligence, we have an update. Recently the IPAA sent around the quarterly Fracking Policy Monitor. In this latest issue of the Monitor (full copy embedded below) we have news from PA, OH and WV, where drilling happens now, and even news from NY, where drilling doesn’t happen now (thanks to being blocked by Gov. Andrew Cuomo)…
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