PA Lawmakers Pass Bill to Allow Shale Drilling at Colleges
Coming soon to a Pennsylvania college campus near you: Marcellus Shale drilling? Yep.
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PA Senate Leader Proposes Marcellus Drilling Health Panel
Pennsylvania President Pro Tempore of the State Senate, Joseph Scarnati (a Republican), is drafting a bill to create a nine-member shale drilling health panel to study possible health and safety impacts from Marcellus Shale natural gas drilling. A new health panel was one of the proposals made last year by Gov. Tom Corbett’s Marcellus Shale Advisory Commission.
According to the Scranton Times Tribune:
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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | New York | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide NY | Statewide PA | Wayne County
Federal Judge Throws Out NY AG’s Lawsuit Against DRBC
Big news for landowners living in the Delaware River Basin area, especially for those in Wayne County, PA who want to see drilling in the Marcellus go forward: A federal judge has thrown out the lawsuit by New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman that sought to force the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) to conduct a “fuller assessment” of the potential impacts of shale gas drilling on New York City’s water supply before allowing any shale gas drilling in the basin.Such an assessment would have meant years of additional studies and delays, especially harmful to landowners in Pennsylvania who happen to live in the DRBC’s jurisdiction and have seen no drilling for the past five years while their neighbors all around them have. This is a victory not only for landowners, but the DRBC itself, fighting the lawsuit.
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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Michigan | New York | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide MI | Statewide NY | Statewide OH | Statewide PA
NRDC Launches Lawyers to Oppose Fracking in 5 States
You have to say one thing about the increasingly shrill Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)—they don’t let an issue they can demagogue for money go to waste. For the NRDC, there’s money to be made in opposing fracking. Warning to the drilling industry: The NRDC is well-funded and is gunning for you. Their latest offensive? They’ve created something called the Community Fracking Defense Project whereby they’ll launch lawyers out into any township across New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois and North Carolina to assist that town in opposing fracking. (Sorry West Virginia, you aren’t important enough for the NRDC to spend time and money on.)
The fight over fracking is about to go very local, and get very nasty, with the NRDC pumping millions into the effort to make mischief.
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Penn State Researcher: Most PA Drill Pads Prone to Erosion
A new 12-month study by a Penn State researcher says that 50-70% of shale gas pads in Pennsylvania are constructed on slopes prone to erosion and sedimentation problems. The researcher, Dr. Patrick Drohan, is quick to point out such problems don’t necessarily exist for those pads—he’s just pointing out they could exist given the right conditions, and he believes the pads need to monitored closely.
Here’s the Penn State press release talking about the newly released study (unfortunately we could not get a copy of the study itself):
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MSC Launches LearnAboutShale.org to Answer Questions
On Friday, Sept. 21, during the Shale Gas Insight event in Philadelphia, the Marcellus Shale Coalition (MSC) launched a new website called LearnAboutShale.org. The MSC just completed three months of eliciting questions from Pennsylvanians at “listening sessions” about shale drilling. That initiative was called Ask About Shale. They’ve now categorized and answered those questions and invite new questions at the LearnAboutShale.org website.
From the MSC press release:
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Sunoco Hands over Keys to Philly Refinery after 146 Years
As MDN reported in early July, Sunoco (about to be purchased by Energy Transfer Partners), signed a joint venture deal with the Carlyle Group, a Washington, D.C. private equity firm, to keep Sunoco’s Philadelphia oil refinery open (see this MDN story). The deal will save 850 jobs. The reason the deal happened at all? The Marcellus Shale.
On Wednesday, Sunoco handed over the ceremonial keys to the plant to Carlyle. Sunoco maintains a one-third interest in the refinery, and Carlyle will be the new operator.
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MDN to Attend Shale Gas Insight in Philly this Thu/Fri [Free]
MDN editor Jim Willis will attend Shale Gas Insight 2012 at the Pennsylvania Convention Center in Philadelphia, PA on Thursday and Friday, Sept. 20 & 21. He’ll be hanging out at the NGI Shale Daily booth (#433). If you’re an MDN reader, please stop by to say hello in person! Jim would like to meet you.
It seems, however, that more than just luminaries like Jack Welch (former CEO of GE), Tom Corbett (Governor of PA), Ted Koppel (former Nightline host) and the CEOs of Range, XTO and MarkWest will be there. Anti-drillers will also converge on the Convention Center in a spectacle they call Shale Gas Outrage, featuring minor celebrities like Josh Fox (of Gasland infamy), Bill McKibben (350.org), Sandra Steingraber (ecologist), and Doug Shields (former president of Pittsburgh City Council). Hey, it ought to be a real party!
Here’s what the Philadelphia Inquirer says about the upcoming event:
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Cowardly “Me Too” Towns Support Act 13 Lawsuit in 11th Hour
Pennsylvania’s Act 13 shale drilling law, passed earlier this year, is facing a stiff legal challenge to a key provision in the law. The only part of the law challenged in court is the part replacing the ability of local municipalities to enact zoning ordinances to control where, and if, drilling happens within their borders. Act 13 substitutes a common set of zoning restrictions—drilling must be at least X feet from water wells, schools, etc. Seven brave townships in PA sued to have that provision overturned. MDN says “brave” not because we necessarily support their effort, but in contrast to the cowardly towns and cities and organizations who haven’t put up their own money and time but instead have issued press releases to support the seven who have.
Who are the cowardly towns and organizations? Let’s name some names, shall we?
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PA Former Gov. Rendell Changes Position on DRBC Moratorium
Ed Rendell, former governor of Pennsylvania, is a prominent Democrat and a supporter of natural gas drilling. While in office, he opposed the ongoing moratorium for drilling in the Delaware River Basin. Now that he’s out of office, he still supports drilling, but he’s changed his tune on the Delaware River Basin Commission’s (DRBC) de facto moratorium. He now supports it.
Rendell points out, however, that if you say “no” to fracking and natural gas, you say “yes” to burning more oil. At least he’s a realist.
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NJ Natural Gas Customers Get Rate Cut Thanks to Fracking
In what can only be termed delicious irony, more than 2 million natural gas customers across New Jersey, many of whom oppose hydraulic fracturing for natural gas, will get a cut in their natural gas rates starting October 1st. Why? Because of the abundance of hydraulically fractured Marcellus Shale gas flowing into the state from Pennsylvania.
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Drillers Talk about Marcellus Advantage over Other Shales
Interfax Energy’s Natural Gas Daily ran a highly interesting and useful article on the advantages of the Marcellus Shale, why it’s attracting capital investments, along with who is ramping up and who is scaling back drilling in the Marcellus.
Among the points made in the article:
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PIOGA Says, “You’ve Been Green-Slimed”
Anti-drilling organizations like PennFuture can make all sorts of wild accusations against the drilling industry in Pennsylvania and the media simply nods its collective head up and down like bobble heads, never questioning, always regurgitating what they’re fed. But when someone in the industry hits back, the media (and the anti-drillers) squeal like little girls.
PIOGA, the Pennsylvania Independent Oil & Gas Association, sponsored a couple of billboards along the PA Turnpike about 35 miles from Pittsburgh a few days ago hitting back (see the picture below). What does PennFuture and the Associated Press do? Because “PIOGA” is not emblazoned across the billboard as the sponsor, they try to gin up a controversy that somehow “the industry” is trying to “hide the fact they sponsored it.” You can tell something is effective when you receive a reaction like this one.
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Bradford County | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA | Washington County | Wyoming County (PA)
PA PUC Issues more Advisories for Act 13 Zoning Violations
It’s full speed ahead for the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) when it comes to evaluating whether (or not) local zoning ordinances violate portions of the new Act 13 drilling law, thereby making those local municipalities ineligible to receive impact fees.
But wait, isn’t there a case in PA Supreme Court that will be heard in October about the constitutionality of the zoning provisions of Act 13? Indeed there is. So how can the PUC push forward with evaluating zoning ordinances that have been ruled unconstitutional by lower courts? Good question.
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PA Impact Fee Raises More Revenue than Expected
The new Pennsylvania Act 13 drilling law is paying off. Yesterday the PA State Public Utility Commission (PUC), the agency charged will billing and receiving the “impact fee” provided for under the new law, reported how much money was billed, and how much was received. We have the detailed list by drilling company (embedded below).
The original estimate in the spring of this year when the law was passed, is that the first year would raise a total of $180 million in new revenue. The good news? More than $200 million was raised from the impact fee. The PUC billed drillers $205,890,000. So far they’ve paid $197,600,000. The difference is either cases where the driller disputes the PUC’s information about the status of a well, and a few cases of “the check is in the mail.”
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Carizzo’s Missing Impact Fee Payment – Scofflaw?
Yesterday the Pennsylvania State Public Utility Commission (PUC), the agency in charge of assessing and collecting the new Marcellus Shale Impact Fee, released the figures showing which drillers were assessed the fee, the number of both vertical and horizontal wells they drilled, and most importantly, how much they were assessed and how much they’ve paid (see this MDN story).
One particular company stands out among the list: Carizzo Oil & Gas. They stand out because the PUC says they’ve paid exactly $0 of the $3,060,000 they owe in impact fees. The The Harrisburg Patriot-News calls them a scofflaw and chronicles the back and forth they’ve had with both Carrizo and the PUC over the missing payment:
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Big news for landowners living in the Delaware River Basin area, especially for those in Wayne County, PA who want to see drilling in the Marcellus go forward: A federal judge has thrown out the lawsuit by New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman that sought to force the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) to conduct a “fuller assessment” of the potential impacts of shale gas drilling on New York City’s water supply before allowing any shale gas drilling in the basin.