Statewide PA

Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

Antis Lobby PA DCNR to Make EDWIN O&G Well Info Free for All
July 25, 2022July 25, 2022

Anti-fossil fuel activists are agitating in Pennsylvania to get the state Dept. of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) to drop a $5,000 initial (and subsequent $500 annual) fee to access what is called the Exploration and Development Well Information Network (EDWIN) database. The EDWIN database contains details about oil and gas wells throughout the state, including data on the location, ownership status, construction information, and completion reports. DCNR uses the Dept. of Environmental Protection’s database as a starting point and cleans it up, making it more useful.
Read More “Antis Lobby PA DCNR to Make EDWIN O&G Well Info Free for All”
Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA IRRC Approves Onerous VOC/Methane Regulation for Shale Ops
July 22, 2022July 22, 2022

Against the wishes of the Pennsylvania House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee, the PA Independent Regulatory Review Commission (IRRC) voted 5-0 to approve Part I of the final Environmental Quality Board (EQB) regulation that supposedly will capture every last molecule of stray methane that leaks from shale drilling operations. The onerous new regulation, adding new layers of reporting and new equipment requirements (that won’t change a thing), now goes into effect.
Read More “PA IRRC Approves Onerous VOC/Methane Regulation for Shale Ops”
Allegheny County | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA | Taxation

Bill Denies PA Counties with Frack Ban from Receiving Impact Tax Rev
July 21, 2022July 21, 2022

What’s fair is fair. If a county blocks drilling under county-owned land, as the Allegheny County Council recently did (see Allegheny County Council Overturns Veto/Upholds Frack Ban in Parks), that county has declared it doesn’t support Marcellus Shale drilling. So that county should not be the beneficiary of revenue raised by the impact fee (PA’s equivalent of a severance tax) in other places that do support and allow drilling. That’s just fair. You don’t want drilling? Fine. Then you don’t get to benefit financially from the drilling done in other places. State Sen. Gene Yaw is introducing a new bill in the Pennsylvania legislature that would do just that–deny counties (but not individual municipalities within the county) from receiving Act 13 impact fee revenue–IF that county blocks drilling under county-owned land. Brilliant! And fair.
Read More “Bill Denies PA Counties with Frack Ban from Receiving Impact Tax Rev”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

Gov. Wolf Promotes Ban on Using PA NatGas by Private Property Owners
July 19, 2022July 19, 2022

Last week MDN reported that Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf, in a final act of thumbing his nose at the prolific Marcellus industry in his own state, vetoed a bill, Senate Bill (SB) 275, that would have prohibited municipalities from banning the use of natural gas (see Parting Swipe at Marcellus – Gov. Wolf Vetoes Bill Blocking Gas Bans). Wolf spun the veto as the protection of towns and their right to self-determination, establishing “local control.” It is, in fact, the opposite. Wolf is promoting the ability of elites and bureaucrats to deny the rights of individual property owners to choose their own forms of energy. Wolf didn’t protect rights, he took them away.
Read More “Gov. Wolf Promotes Ban on Using PA NatGas by Private Property Owners”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA | Taxation

PA Hit with Elec Power Price Uncertainty as Wolf Appeals RGGI Case
July 18, 2022July 18, 2022

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf’s foolish plan to force PA’s coal- and natural gas-fired power plants to begin paying an obscenely high tax on carbon dioxide emissions as part of the so-called Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) got blocked on July 1 by PA Commonwealth Court (see PA Commonwealth Court Blocks RGGI Carbon Tax Pending Fall Trial). However, Wolf appealed the court decision to the PA Supreme Court. Appealing the case unblocks the new tax and puts it into play again. Power generations are confused as to whether or not they need to include the tax in the costs they pass on to customers (you and me). And what happens if another court reblocks the tax until the full case is heard later this year? Wolf is creating chaos and price uncertainty for electricity in PA.
Read More “PA Hit with Elec Power Price Uncertainty as Wolf Appeals RGGI Case”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

Parting Swipe at Marcellus – Gov. Wolf Vetoes Bill Blocking Gas Bans
July 13, 2022July 13, 2022

PA Gov. Tom Wolf

He’s about as lame a duck as they come with his term ending at the end of this year, yet Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf is once again attacking (at the behest of the radical left) the Marcellus industry in his own state. The PA legislature, following the example of many other states, passed a bill that blocks local leftist-infested communities from doing something truly stupid–banning the use of natural gas. PA is not California, or New York, or other leftist hornet nests filled with fossil fuel haters. Yet Wolf acts as if he is a fossil fuel hater himself, tightly bound to the radical environmental left, doing whatever they ask of him. His latest act against the Marcellus is to veto Senate Bill (SB) 275.
Read More “Parting Swipe at Marcellus – Gov. Wolf Vetoes Bill Blocking Gas Bans”
Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA House Ctte Urges IRRC to Reject Onerous VOC/Methane Regulation
July 12, 2022July 12, 2022

In June the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection’s (DEP) Environmental Quality Board (EQB) adopted an onerous new regulation that supposedly will capture every last molecule of stray methane that leaks from shale drilling operations (see PA EQB Adopts Tweaked Version of Onerous VOC/Methane Regulations). The EQB voted to advance a rule that only affects shale sites and related equipment–not conventional drilling. The final step before the onerous new reg goes into effect is a hearing and vote by the state Independent Regulatory Review Commission (IRRC). A key PA House committee sent a letter to the IRRC opposing adoption of the reg as written, potentially blocking it.
Read More “PA House Ctte Urges IRRC to Reject Onerous VOC/Methane Regulation”
Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Taxation

PA Commonwealth Court Blocks RGGI Carbon Tax Pending Fall Trial
July 11, 2022July 11, 2022

We finally have some good news to share with respect to Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf’s foolish plan to force PA’s coal- and natural gas-fired power plants to begin paying an obscenely high tax on carbon dioxide emissions as part of the so-called Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). After exhausting various attempts to block it, Wolf published a final RGGI regulation in the Pennsylvania Bulletin in April (see PA Adopts Carbon Tax, Publishing Final RGGI Reg in Apr 23 Bulletin). The new RGGI reg went into effect on Friday, June 24, despite ongoing lawsuits to block it. But then a wonderful thing happened. On Friday, July 1, a Commonwealth Court judge blocked the state from implementing RGGI until a trial happens this fall to consider a challenge against RGGI by coal and gas-fired power plants.
Read More “PA Commonwealth Court Blocks RGGI Carbon Tax Pending Fall Trial”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA Enviro Left Fails to Block On-Site Water Recycling for Fracking
June 27, 2022June 27, 2022

The Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) published a final regulation over the weekend–at the specific direction of the PA legislature–that allows shale drillers to operate temporary waste process facilities at shale pads and other locations. The regs, called Residual Waste General Permit WMGR163, are aimed at allowing Marcellus (and Utica) drillers to clean up and use brine and wastewater coming from the ground so it can be reused for fracking. The new provision cuts down on the need for freshwater in fracking. Predictably, anti-fossil fuelers are not happy.
Read More “PA Enviro Left Fails to Block On-Site Water Recycling for Fracking”
Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

Only One Choice for PA Governor This November – IF You Support M-U
June 27, 2022June 27, 2022

Doug Mastriano

Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro (Democrat), who is running for governor this year, has targeted the Marcellus industry and the companies that operate in it since he took office as AG. Shapiro routinely charges Marcellus companies with crimes for episodes that were accidents–resolved years ago by the state Dept. of Environmental Protection. Shapiro refuses to disclose that he intends to forcibly keep PA in the Marcellus-killing Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) carbon tax scheme. On just about every issue affecting the M-U, Shapiro is on the wrong side of that issue. However, there is another choice for governor in PA–someone who is pro-shale.
Read More “Only One Choice for PA Governor This November – IF You Support M-U”
Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Taxation

PA IFO Predicts 2022 Impact Tax Will be Highest on Record – $258M
June 22, 2022June 22, 2022

Just yesterday MDN told you about this year’s distribution of last year’s (2021) impact fee revenue to local municipalities and to the black hole of Harrisburg politicians (see PA Pays Out $234M in Impact Tax for 2021 – 2nd Highest Ever). Impact fee revenues for last year were the second-highest ever. The Pennsylvania Independent Fiscal Office (IFO) is fresh out with an estimate for how much the impact fee will raise this year (to be distributed next year). The IFO says it thinks, based on the price of natural gas and pickup in drilling, that PA will land its biggest impact fee haul ever.
Read More “PA IFO Predicts 2022 Impact Tax Will be Highest on Record – $258M”
Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Taxation

PA Pays Out $234M in Impact Tax for 2021 – 2nd Highest Ever
June 21, 2022June 21, 2022

click for larger version

Last Friday the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) posted detailed information about this year’s distribution of last year’s impact fees generated by natural gas producers. Great news! PA raised a total of $234 million from Act 13 impact fees (PA’s version of a severance tax). That is the second-highest amount raised and distributed by impact fees from the beginning of the program. The impact fee is based, in part, on the NYMEX Henry Hub price of natural gas. The price went up a lot last year. It’s gone up even more this year. County and municipal governments directly affected by drilling are receiving a total of $123 million for the 2021 reporting year–roughly half of the revenue raised. The rest goes into the black hole of Harrisburg where PA politicians use it as play money for their favorite causes.
Read More “PA Pays Out $234M in Impact Tax for 2021 – 2nd Highest Ever”
Lease & Royalty Payments | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

Drilling & Royalty Revenue on the Rise in the PA Marcellus
June 17, 2022June 17, 2022

A few days ago MDN received a phone call from the Harrisburg Patriot-News, from a reporter asking editor Jim Willis for comments on the latest activity in the Pennsylvania Marcellus. Are royalties doing better? Has there been more drilling activity? Jim tackled the question about drilling activity this way: Yes, there has been a *slight* increase in drilling activity, but not a huge increase. The reporter talked with multiple sources and published an article yesterday.
Read More “Drilling & Royalty Revenue on the Rise in the PA Marcellus”
Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA Rep. Metcalfe Floats Resolution to Impeach DEP Sec. McDonnell
June 16, 2022June 16, 2022

Two days ago Pennsylvania House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee (ERE) Majority Chairman Daryl Metcalfe (R-Butler) issued a co-sponsorship memo asking for other House members to sponsor a resolution with him calling for the impeachment of outgoing Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) Secretary Patrick McDonnell. Metcalfe calls the measure his “parting gift” to McDonnell who is leaving the agency on July 2nd (see PA DEP Secretary Pat McDonnell Leaving Agency July 2nd). Metcalfe accuses McDonnell of “flagrant violations of our state Constitution and statutes throughout his tenure.”
Read More “PA Rep. Metcalfe Floats Resolution to Impeach DEP Sec. McDonnell”
Air Quality | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA EQB Adopts Tweaked Version of Onerous VOC/Methane Regulations
June 15, 2022June 15, 2022

The Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection’s (DEP) Environmental Quality Board (EQB) figures a quarter of a loaf of bread is better than no loaf at all. (In this case, no loaf is preferred!) We’re referring to the EQB’s adoption of onerous new regulations that supposedly will capture every last molecule of stray methane that leaks from shale drilling operations (see PA EQB Approves Final Onerous Methane Regs Harming Conv Drillers). The EQB voted yesterday to advance a rule that only affects shale sites and related equipment–not conventional drilling.
Read More “PA EQB Adopts Tweaked Version of Onerous VOC/Methane Regulations”
Industrywide Issues | Landfills | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA DEP Issues Final Guidance on Radioactive Waste from Shale
June 14, 2022June 14, 2022

Last weekend the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) published a notice in the weekly (Saturday) edition of the Pennsylvania Bulletin to announce final guidance (i.e. regulations) on handling radioactive waste going to solid waste processing and disposal facilities from unconventional shale gas drilling operations and other sources. Last year MDN told you about a plan by the Wolf administration to require quarterly testing at landfills that accept shale drill cuttings (see PA DEP to Require Radium Tests at Landfills Accepting Drill Cuttings). These new regs go WAY beyond that.
Read More “PA DEP Issues Final Guidance on Radioactive Waste from Shale”