New Electric Line Thru PA Anticipates Marcellus-Fired Plants
PPL Electric Utilities Corporation announced yesterday that they plan to build a major new electric power line that will run 725 miles from western and north/central Pennsylvania to New York, New Jersey and Maryland. The exact route for the new 500-kilovolt line has not yet been determined, but if approved, PPL would begin construction in 2017 and complete construction by 2025. PPL says it will create a boatload of new jobs and cost between $4 and $6 billion to complete. Wait. What does this have to do with Marcellus drilling? Glad you asked…
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Two “independent” administrative law judges for the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission have dealt what could be a major blow to Sunoco Logistics’ request to have the Mariner East NGL (natural gas liquids) pipeline declared a public utility. The two judges–David Salapa and Elizabeth Barnes–handed down a decision yesterday that denies Sunoco’s request to have 18 pump and 17 value stations (in 31 locations) that would need to be built along the 300+ mile pipeline exempt from local zoning ordinances. If the pipeline is considered a public utility it would be exempt from local ordinances. Without that exemption, Sunoco Logistics faces a nearly impossible task of trying to gain permission to build the necessary new stations. Below is a copy of the decision, and MDN’s background on this important pipeline project, along with a “where do we go from here” analysis…
Yesterday MDN wrote a summary and interpretation of an article appearing in the Harrisburg Patriot-News about the recent court decision known as EQT Production v. Opatkiewicz, et al (see 
Pennsylvania’s anti-drilling Democrat Auditor General Eugene DePasquale yesterday released a report (full copy below) criticizing the state’s Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) as being disorganized and ill-equipped to handle the rapid expansion of Marcellus Shale drilling in the state. What DePasquale forgot to mention in his report is his own whopping conflicts of interest. While he was a state legislator he pushed hard for so-called alternative energy programs to be funded by the state and as deputy secretary of the DEP he convinced a big wind farm operation to locate in the state. From his first day on the job, he was gunning for the Marcellus industry (see