Energy Services | Energy Transfer Partners | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Regulation | Statewide PA
PA DEP Blocks Revolution Pipe Restart Even Though Repair is Done
The Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) continues to block Energy Transfer’s Revolution Pipeline gathering system in western PA from restarting. In September the DEP finally, after two years, gave ET permission to fix problems that caused the pipeline to explode. Even though ET has fixed the original site of the explosion, the DEP says there are other areas of concern and forbids certain sections of the pipeline from restarting, until…
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Eureka Resources, which operates three frack wastewater treatment facilities in the Marcellus Shale, is doing really cool stuff. In October 2019 the company began extracting lithium from Marcellus wastewater at one of its plants in Bradford County, PA (see 
Radical anti-fossil fuel groups have not given up hope they can somehow, at the last minute, block the $10 billion Shell ethane cracker plant (about a year from being completed) from ever starting up. Perhaps Biden’s “victory” has given them a little boost of irrational exuberance? In 2015 the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) issued an air permit for the cracker plant. Shell needs to tweak the permit with new information. Antis are asking PA to deny the new tweaks, claiming Shell wants to pollute the region even more. Shell says the tweaks reflect new realities, including LOWER emissions.
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf and his Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) continue to push a plan that will raise Pennsylvania residents’ electric rates by 50% or more, a carbon tax plan called the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). The DEP will conduct 10 three-hour virtual public hearings between Dec. 8 and 14. There will be no in-person hearings due to concerns over COVID-19.
The radicalized Pennsylvania Environmental Defense Foundation (PEDF) never gives up. In June 2017, the PEDF won a case at the PA Supreme Court by the skin of their teeth (see 
Although the national election is still undecided (looking like Biden, a complete disaster), in almost every other respect Republicans (i.e. pro-shale candidates) won, big-time. Republicans gained seats in the U.S. House of Representatives, look to be keeping a majority in the U.S. Senate, and picked up seats in many state legislatures. Leftist Democrats poured BIG money into Pennsylvania in an attempt to flip both the PA House and Senate from red to blue. They failed. And that’s very good for shale energy in the state.
During the Williams third-quarter 2020 update yesterday, CEO Alan Armstrong shared some very interesting, and relevant (to the Marcellus/Utica) comments. Armstrong said that two important pipeline projects to carry M-U gas to other markets, the Southeastern Trail expansion project and the Leidy South project, are both in the midst of coming online–ahead of schedule.
In August Pennsylvania hiked its permit fee to drill a new shale well to be the most expensive of any state in the country, from $5,000 to $12,500 (see 
There is a reason why President Trump and sleepy/creepy Uncle Joe Biden are visiting Pennsylvania so much. It is one of the “battleground” states, likely THE state, that will determine who wins the presidential race next week. The key issue both candidates talk about is fracking. Joe Biden (says Donald Trump) will take away the right to frack in PA, and along with it thousands of jobs. Biden insists he won’t ban fracking, but in the next breath says he will “transition” the country away from using oil (and gas, all fossil fuels) over the next 15 years. Which is, in essence, a ban on fracking.
Back in March, just as the COVID-19 pandemic was beginning to enter the public consciousness, some 500 people from labor unions and industry met in Pittsburgh to launch an organization called Pittsburgh Works Together (PWT), dedicated to fighting back against those who want to end southwest PA industries including steel, natural gas, and petrochemicals (see 
American Energy Partners, Inc. (AEPT), based in Allentown, PA, is a small but diversified company. They have their fingers in a number of different oil and gas pies, including subsidies in drilling, remediation, water, valuation services, and education. AEPT announced a new deal yesterday to buy a producer with 230+ conventional natural gas wells in western Pennsylvania.
Pennsylvania is so lucky to have a group of talented state legislators in both the House and Senate. Last week a group of House Republicans introduced a group of new bills they have dubbed “Commonwealth’s COVID Comeback.” The bills are aimed at bringing more jobs to the Keystone State in the manufacturing and energy sector. One of the bills is squarely aimed at getting the foot-draggers at the Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) to approve permits faster.
A month ago the analysts at S&P Global Market Intelligence reviewed permits issued for shale drilling in Pennsylvania and found there were 24% fewer permits issued in August 2020 than in August 2019 (see 
Each year one of MDN Editor Jim Willis’ favorite events to attend is the 
Donald Trump is NOT lying about Joe Biden and the words Biden has used about his desire to ban fracking *and* eliminate the use of fossil fuels. We have the video (below) showing clips from various Biden events where he unequivocally states he will ban fracking, and (in time) eliminate the use of all fossil fuels. This is Biden in his own words. So was Biden lying then? Or is he lying now?