Statewide PA 256 - Marcellus Drilling News

New Video: Women of the Marcellus

April 3, 2012April 3, 2012

MDN is really pleased to share a new video highlighting how Marcellus Shale development is impacting families in Pennsylvania. While many know about the economic impacts and consumer savings made possible by shale gas, this video highlights the personal stories of three families whose lives have been made materially better because of Marcellus Shale drilling in Pennsylvania.

Big Economic Impact of Midstream Projects in OH & PA

April 3, 2012April 3, 2012

A pair of stories about how the midstream is transforming western Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio recently ran in the Youngstown, OH The Business Journal. Midstream refers to the infrastructure that gets natural gas to market, including pipelines and processing plants. Right now and for the foreseeable future, spending on midstream projects in Ohio is likely larger, from an economic impact standpoint, than exploration and production.

Commodity Price | Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

Pittsburgh Customers Get Another NatGas Rate Reduction

April 2, 2012April 2, 2012

The Pittsburgh area’s three largest natural gas utilities have just dropped their natural gas rates (again) for customers—this time up to 22 percent.

Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

Lawsuit Filed: PA Towns Sue State over Marcellus Act 13 Law

March 30, 2012March 30, 2012

A threatened lawsuit to overturn Pennsylvania’s newly passed Act 13 law that preempts local zoning ordinances passed to prevent shale gas drilling has finally materialized. The lawsuit was filed yesterday by seven PA municipalities and several other people (a copy of the lawsuit is embedded below). Act 13, signed into law in February by Gov. Tom Corbett, contains a provision that disallows local PA municipalities from passing zoning laws that are specifically aimed at preventing shale gas drilling. The loss of zoning power has some municipalities hopping mad.

Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

Wells Fargo Study: 60% of New PA Jobs from Gas Drilling

March 27, 2012March 27, 2012

jobs Wells Fargo Securities economists recently issued a report on the effects of Marcellus Shale drilling on Pennsylvania jobs (a copy of the 12-page report is embedded below). The report offers both an optimistic and pessimistic forecast of job growth, along with what they believe to be a realistic forecast. And all of their numbers are backed up with plenty of commentary so the reader understands why they predict what they predict. The bottom line?

Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

Marcellus Revitalizes PA Company 150 Miles from Nearest Well

March 27, 2012March 27, 2012

PA State Senator Tim Solobay, a Democrat serving western PA’s 46th district, made the following report about the “broad-reaching economic impact” of Marcellus shale drilling and it’s power to revitalize businesses in the state:

Commodity Price | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

Number of NatGas Drilling Rigs Continues Slow Decline in PA

March 27, 2012March 27, 2012

The number of gas drilling rigs continues a slow decline in Pennsylvania as companies reallocate those rigs to Ohio and to areas in the country where shale oil drilling is expanding.

Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Taxation

PA Dem Seeks to Tax Marcellus Towns to Cover Trooper Costs

March 26, 2012March 26, 2012

Pennsylvania Rep. Mike Sturla, D-Lancaster, wants to assess a tax on rural municipalities in Marcellus Shale areas without a police department who rely on PA State Troopers to assist them, to help fund the expense of the troopers. Sturla, chairman of the House Democratic Policy Committee, says the money the state spends on troopers for some 1,300 municipalities is money not available to spend on other transportation-related purposes.

Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA DEP Hosting Webinars on Act 13 Zoning Law

March 23, 2012March 23, 2012

Want to know more about the recently passed Act 13 law in Pennsylvania? That’s the new law essentially removing the right of local municipalities to regulate or otherwise ban drilling within their borders. Some townships are up in arms and threatening a lawsuit. The state Department of Environmental Protection wants to educate local officials and the public and is conducting four one-hour webinars to do it.

From the DEP press release:

Education | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

Survey of 940 PA School Districts on Impacts of Marcellus

March 22, 2012March 22, 2012

Penn State Cooperative Extension recently published a new fact sheet with results and conclusions from a survey of 940 school districts about Marcellus Shale gas development and what it means for Pennsylvania’s schools (a copy is embedded below). So far, in areas with a lot of drilling, there’s been little in the way of new revenue for local schools, although those areas have benefited economically in general. Some respondents expressed concern about drop-out rates increasing as students leave to take advantage of high-paying jobs. Road damage and traffic congestion are also problems in some areas affecting school buses. But it’s not all bad news for schools.

Williams Buys Caiman Eastern Midstream for $2.5 Billion

March 20, 2012March 19, 2012

Williams announced yesterday that it will buy Caiman Energy subsidiary Caiman Eastern Midstream for $2.5 billion. Caiman Midstream has a major presence in the wet gas area of the Marcellus and Utica Shale play. The acquisition will give Williams a major pipeline gathering network in northern West Virginia, southwestern Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio, along with two processing facilities and a fractionator. Williams says by 2020 the Caiman system will be gathering more than 2 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas along with 300,000 barrels per day of natural gas liquids and condensate.

In addition to the acquisition, the Caiman Energy parent company will partner with Williams in a new joint venture to further develop new midstream infrastructure in the Utica Shale. From the Williams press release:

Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

Anti-Drillers Try to Stop SRBC Meeting in Harrisburg

March 16, 2012March 16, 2012

Yet another case of anti-drillers behaving badly. At yesterday’s meeting of commissioners of the Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC) in Harrisburg, PA, demonstrators tried to stop the commissioners from doing their work during an open meeting. The commissioners were voting on water withdrawal requests for Marcellus drillers, among other items on the agenda. And protestors once again tried to stop an SRBC open and public meeting.

Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

PA Commission Wants to Charge for Water in Western PA Too

March 14, 2012March 14, 2012

John Arway, executive director of the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, believes that the state is missing out on a lot of revenue it could be making from water sales. At a recent meeting of the PA House of Representatives Game and Fisheries Committee, Arway said the state should start charging industry for the water it takes from the state’s rivers and streams. And by industry, Arway means the drilling industry as well as anyone else using water from public water supplies, like farmers.

Home Rule Didn’t Work in PA, So Why Would it in NY?

March 13, 2012March 13, 2012

The headline of this post is the point of a press release issued earlier this week by the Dryden Safe Energy Coalition (DSEC), a group based near Ithaca, NY that seeks to remove the hype and emotion from the debate over hydraulic fracturing and shale gas drilling and instead provide science and facts. The DSEC issued a press release (below) which makes the point that Pennsylvania has had a lot more experience with shale gas drilling than New York and has found that a “patchwork quilt of local regulations” on the municipal level did not work, so PA replaced home rule with statewide regulations.

The DSEC says: “If local home rule does not work in Pennsylvania, it is clear it will not be workable in New York.” (Listen up, NY Republican State Senator James Seward.)

From the DSEC press release:

Exxon, GE Donate $1M Each for Shale Best Practices Training

March 9, 2012March 9, 2012

Exxon Mobil and General Electric announced yesterday that each company is investing $1 million to help fund training in shale development best practices at three universities, including PennState.

Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

Jarrett Out, Jugovic In as President & CEO of PennFuture

March 6, 2012March 6, 2012

Stop the presses. Jan Jarrett, long-time President and CEO of PennFuture, has resigned her position. PennFuture is Pennsylvania’s largest environmental lobbying organization, and also a largely anti-drilling organization. Her departure is sudden and unexpected after leading the organization for the past 13 years.

Why the sudden departure? Jeanne Clarke, spokesperson for PennFuture says that Jarrett plans to take a “breather” and focus on her grandchildren. However, her departure may be related to trouble that cropped up last December over how a state grant was spent by the organization: