Washington County

Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Washington County

South Fayette, PA Pushing Defacto Frack Ban, Again
June 17, 2016June 17, 2016

Last month MDN brought you some news that mainstream media in Pittsburgh intentionally ignored: a judge ruled that a new hyper-restrictive (defacto ban) ordinance passed by South Fayette Township, in Allegheny County, was “invalid, null and void” (see South Fayette, PA Restrictive Drilling Ordinance Tossed by Judge). South Fayette is one of seven selfish PA towns that sued the state after the Act 13 law was enacted in 2012 (see Lawsuit Filed: PA Towns Sue State over Marcellus Act 13 Law). Ultimately the towns won their case at the PA Supreme Court level, winning the right to enact their own ordinances with respect to oil and gas drilling. Last year South Fayette enacted a new defacto ban, calling it a zoning ordinance. The judge, as we mentioned, tossed it out last month–but he tossed it because South Fayette didn’t follow proper protocol and procedure. So South Fayette is back–re-advertising the new zoning rule and in July, they intend to adopt it…
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Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Range Resources Corp | Washington County

Homeowner Claims Range Doctored Well Test Results, Suing for Fraud
June 16, 2016June 16, 2016

In 2014, the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) fined Range Resources a whopping $4.15 million for violations related to several of Range’s wastewater impoundments in Washington County, PA (see PA DEP Fines Range Resources $4.15M for Wastewater Impoundments). Some of the nearby neighbors claimed that Range’s impoundments had leaked, contaminating their water wells. One of those landowners was Loren Kiskadden, who sued Range in civil court. The problem is, the DEP found that the nearby Yeager impoundment had not contaminated Kiskadden’s well, which led to allegations that the DEP had bungled the investigation (see Did DEP Mishandle Range Wastewater Impoundment Investigation?). Kiskadden had to press on, because if the DEP didn’t reverse its finding, he would have no civil case against Range. Press on he did (see Hearing on Range Yeager Impoundment/Water Contamination Continues). The matter was heard by the DEP’s Environmental Hearing Board (EHB). The EHB found that Kiskadden didn’t have a case–his well was not contaminated by Range’s impoundment. So Kiskadden and his lawyers asked for a re-hearing. Kiskadden’s re-hearing request got turned down (see DEP Final Determination: Range Didn’t Pollute Kiskadden Water Well). End of story. Except, we now have a new wrinkle. Another homeowner–we’re not sure if this is for the Yeager or a different impoundment–is suing both Range and a lab Range used to test their water well claiming fraud–that Range changed the test results that the DEP based its “faulty” investigation on…
Read More “Homeowner Claims Range Doctored Well Test Results, Suing for Fraud”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Washington County

PennFuture Bullies PA Town over Lack of Fracking Ordinance
June 6, 2016June 6, 2016

In May 2015 MDN reported that after more than two years of acrimony and lawsuits between Range Resources and Mt. Pleasant (Washington County), PA., Range agreed to close four freshwater ponds (called “impoundments,” not to be confused with wastewater impoundments) the company was using to drill wells in nearby non-Mt. Pleasant locations (see Range Capitulates, Closing 4 Freshwater Ponds in Mt. Pleasant, PA). Mt. Pleasant is one of the original seven selfish towns that sued PA to overturn portions of the Act 13 oil and gas law. They won. Sooner or later a company can take a hint that a township is anti-business, so Range left town. Mt. Pleasant never followed up their victory in 2013 to fix a “hole” in their zoning ordinances. Not that it makes a whole lot of difference. MDN notices two permits issued in Mt. Pleasant Township in early 2015, and nothing since then, according to our Databook series. But the radicals at PennFuture have noticed. Even with little-to-no drilling, PennFuture is threatening to sue Mt. Pleasant unless they adopt far more restrictive ordinances on shale drilling in the town. Which points out PennFuture’s hypocrisy. It’s OK for a town to pass really restrictive zoning laws, but if the town chooses to not pass such laws, which is allowable under the Act 13 court case decision, that’s not OK by PennFuture. The door only swings one way for the radicals of PennFuture…
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Housing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Supply Chain | Washington County

SWPA Hotel Owners Catering to Marcellus Auctions Properties
April 18, 2016April 18, 2016

Since 2012 MDN has had our eye on a “feel good” story–about a physician who immigrated from India to Bentleyville, PA and his son. The Gosais (doctor father and son) took to investing in hotels in western PA (they began building them in 2000). With the fracking boom, the Gosais began to cater to the Marcellus industry (see Hotel in Rural Western PA Makes it Big from Marcellus/Utica; Marcellus Workers First to Get Studio 6 Motel in PA; and Washington County, PA Hotelier Adapts to Serve Drilling Industry). But then the market turned and it turned fast. In a not-so-happy ending, the Gosais have put several of their hotels on the auction block…
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Energy Companies | Greene County (PA) | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Rice Energy | Statewide PA | Washington County

Rice Energy Fined ~$400K by PA DEP for Not Asking “Mother May I?”
April 6, 2016April 6, 2016

The Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) has slapped Rice Energy and a couple of Rice’s subsidiary companies with a hefty fine of $393,500. Egads! Must be Rice did some very nasty things, right? Turns out most of the reason why the DEP fined Rice was for not playing “Mother May I?” with the DEP. In one case Rice installed a waterline between a well pad and an impoundment–without “Mother May I?” permission from the DEP. In another case Rice built a pipeline through a swamp (i.e. “wetland”) without getting DEP “Mother May I?” permission. And in yet another case Rice installed three waterlines under a creek instead of one. Rice’s midstream subsidiary was cited for “not using best management practices”–a severe no no for the DEP. Rice Midstream’s lack of management practice decorum led to a small incidence of erosion that briefly turned a creek brown. Call in the EPA! That’s your PA DEP hard at work for the people–always on the job ensuring those nasty drillers tow the line and pay big fines…
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Ascent Resources | Belmont County | Chesapeake Energy | Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Energy Companies | EQT Corp | Greene County (PA) | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Range Resources Corp | Rice Energy | Susquehanna County | Washington County

Top 10 Shale Wells of 2015 for Marcellus, Utica, Entire Country
April 1, 2016April 1, 2016

Rystad Energy Ranks, a data company based in Norway, hosts web-based portal with easy-to-use access data on oil and gas wells around the globle. They call their service “Rystad Energy cubes.” Rystead has made a wealth of data available in predefined “ranking lists” where the user can change filter settings to drill into and slice and dice the data. They call it their “database list format Ranks.” Up to now, Rystad Energy cubes have been available only through Rystad Energy’s proprietary Cube Browser. With “Ranks” users can now access predefined analyses based on the same databases. The really cool thing? They offer the “top 10” for various queries absolutely free. No registration required. We took it for a spin and produced Top 10 lists for Marcellus Shale well production in 2015, Utica Shale well production in 2015, and all American shale wells for 2015. As you might imagine being an MDN reader, most of the wells in the “all American” list are wells located in the Marcellus/Utica…
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Allegheny County | American Petroleum Partners | Belmont County | Brooke County | Greene County (PA) | Jefferson County (OH) | Marion County | Marshall County | Monongalia County | Monroe County | Ohio | Ohio County | Pennsylvania | Washington County | West Virginia | Wetzel County

New Marcellus/Utica Driller Quietly Launches w/$800M Investment
March 23, 2016March 23, 2016

Details are just now coming to light of a new E&P (exploration and production, or drilling) company headquartered in Pittsburgh and focused totally on the Marcellus and Utica region. Until now the company has flown under our radar. The company is American Petroleum Partners (APP)–not to be confused with Aubrey McClendon’s American Energy Partners (AEP)–and is headed by Rice Energy alumnus Varun Mishra, who is the founder and CEO. The big news is that last September Mishra’s new company, founded in 2014, received a major injection of investment capital. Apollo Global Management invested $411 million in APP with the option to double it up to $800 million. MDN has it on very good authority that although APP quietly issued a press release about this last September (see it below), the company has intentionally kept the news quiet. Not any more! Big mouth MDN is blabbing it to the world. Below are the bits and pieces we’ve been able to put together about this newest Utica/Marcellus driller…
Read More “New Marcellus/Utica Driller Quietly Launches w/$800M Investment”
Bradford County | Greene County (PA) | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Susquehanna County | Washington County

SWPA Created Bulk of PA’s NatGas Production Increase in 2015
March 16, 2016March 16, 2016

Pennsylvania natural gas production continues to impress, despite rigs being laid down in the later half of last year. Looking at all of 2015, the top two producing counties in the state likely won’t surprise you: #1 was Susquehanna County (where Cabot Oil & Gas drills). Susquehanna produced about 25% of all natural gas produced in the state last year! The #2 producing county was Bradford, also in northeast PA. But counties #3 and #4 in the list may surprise you: Washington and Greene counties, both in southwestern PA. In fact, an analysis done by the Pittsburgh Business Times finds that the 11-county southwestern PA region accounted for 86% of the state’s growth in production last year. That is an amazing statistic! Here’s more of their analysis of PA’s natgas production numbers for 2015…
Read More “SWPA Created Bulk of PA’s NatGas Production Increase in 2015”
Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Sunoco Logistics | Washington County

Judge Hears Eminent Domain Case Against Mariner East 2
February 19, 2016February 19, 2016

Five Washington County, PA property owners had their day in court yesterday with their case against Sunoco Logistics Partners and the Mariner East 2 pipeline project. The attorney for the plaintiffs argued that Mariner East 2 is an interstate pipeline (begins in Ohio, crosses the northern panhandle of West Virginia and then crosses Pennsylvania from west to east) and therefore it does not fit the definition of a public utility under PA law. Public utilities in PA have the right to use eminent domain, which is what this case appears to be about–denying Sunoco the right to use eminent domain in cases where it cannot come to an agreement with the landowner. But as you’ll see below, we don’t think that’s what this case is REALLY about. Sunoco argued that the pipeline is both an interstate and intrastate pipeline with “numerous public benefits.” He hastened to add one of those benefits is a $1.9 billion investment that will result in a $4.2 billion economic impact on the state…
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Energy Services | FTS International | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Pennsylvania | Washington County

FTS Intl Fires All Drivers & Mechanics in Sand Hauling Business
February 18, 2016February 18, 2016

On Tuesday MDN told you that FTS International, the largest private well-completion company in North America with offices and employees in the Marcellus/Utica, has laid off workers in Eighty Four and Venetia, both sites in Washington County, PA (see FTS International Lays off PA Workers – Won’t Say How Many). We now have a few more details on what is happening at FTS–and what’s happening is that FTS is in the process of selling their sand-hauling business, which is located in Eighty Four and Venetia. The company still won’t say how many people they’ve laid off, but an inside source told the Washington Observer-Reporter that 34 sand-truck drivers and seven “coordinators” were let go at Venetia last Friday. A company memo from FTS CEO Michael Doss says they laid off all of the truck drivers and mechanics involved in their sand hauling business. Here’s an update on FTS “adjusting head count,” as they euphemistically put it…
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Bradford County | Chief Oil & Gas | Energy Companies | EQT Corp | Lease & Royalty Payments | Pennsylvania | Sullivan County | Washington County

PA Game Commission Cuts $15.5M in Deals to Lease State Land for Drilling
February 16, 2016February 16, 2016

This is something you don’t see often these days: The Pennsylvania Game Commission is getting $15.5 million of revenue from new Marcellus leases with Chief Oil & Gas and EQT. The bulk of the money will come from a deal with Chief to lease 5,870 acres in Bradford and Sullivan counties. Terms of the lease? Chief is paying $2,500 per acre as a signing bonus and 20.55% in royalties when/if they drill and the gas and oil begin to flow. It just about floored us to see this deal! We though all deals were done until the price of gas goes up again. We’d not heard of any new deals being cut. As for EQT, they are paying the Game Commission $917,000 for the right to drill under a 306-acre parcel in Washington County, PA. Details on the per acre bonus and royalty for the EQT deal below…
Read More “PA Game Commission Cuts $15.5M in Deals to Lease State Land for Drilling”
Economic Impact | Greene County (PA) | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Pennsylvania | Washington County

More Evidence of the Slowdown in the Marcellus
February 11, 2016February 11, 2016

We won’t continue to beat the drum indefinitely that “it’s bad out there.” Everyone knows it. However, we did honestly and truthfully report when the Marcellus industry was on the upswing and it seemed like everything was coming up roses. So we will now honestly and truthfully report when our beloved industry is on the downswing. We don’t sugarcoat it here at MDN. The latest bit of “it’s bad out there” evidence comes from Greene County, PA and Hot Rod’s House of Bar-B-Que where it used to be you couldn’t get a seat at lunchtime, but now it’s “walk right in, sit right down”…
Read More “More Evidence of the Slowdown in the Marcellus”
Energy Companies | EQT Corp | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Taxation | Washington County

EQT 20-Well Pad on the Way in Washington County, PA? Maybe!
February 5, 2016February 5, 2016

A recent meeting of the Nottingham Township (Washington County), PA Board of Supervisors proved to be a font of useful information about Marcellus drilling in the town, both past and future. Nottingham currently has three drilling sites, two of which are already active and one future. The two active sites have 11 and 12 wells either drilled or planned to be drilled. According to a local fractivist, the third site, which is planned by EQT, will have 20 wells on it. EQT says the eventual number of wells has not yet been determined (but they didn’t rule out 20 wells). Nottingham shares a border with Peters Township. Peters, you may recall, was one of the seven selfish townships that sued to overturn portions of the Act 13 law dealing with local zoning of oil and gas projects, eventually winning at the PA Supreme Court level (see PA Supreme Court Rules Against State/Drillers in Act 13 Case). Nottingham has active drilling within its borders. Peters has still not allowed any drilling within its borders. Nottingham got $70,000 in impact fee money last year. Peters got $360,000 in impact fee money. What’s up with that?…
Read More “EQT 20-Well Pad on the Way in Washington County, PA? Maybe!”
Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Lycoming County | Pennsylvania | Range Resources Corp | Washington County

Range Resources Lays off 55, including 33 in PA
February 3, 2016February 3, 2016

Yesterday Range Resources, the fourth largest driller in the Marcellus, announced the company is laying off 55 people companywide, with 31 of those positions located in Washington County, PA. Another 20 positions will be eliminated in Range’s home office located in Fort Worth, TX. Two of the jobs disappearing will be in Williamsport, PA, and the final two in Oklahoma. Range CEO Ray Walker used the same identical language he’s used twice before (lazy PR department?) in saying, “Low commodity prices have created a harsh reality that everyone in our industry is facing.” Indeed. The oil and gas industry is facing the toughest market it’s had in 30 years…
Read More “Range Resources Lays off 55, including 33 in PA”
Economic Impact | Greene County (PA) | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Washington County

SWPA Local Leaders Forecast 2016, What’s Ahead for Marcellus?
January 6, 2016January 6, 2016

We’ve brought you a number of opinions and perspectives on what lies ahead for 2016 with respect to our beloved shale energy industry. But it’s one thing for investors and politicians and commentators to pontificate. What about leaders in local communities, like the leaders of one of the most-drilled places in the Marcellus: southwestern Pennsylvania? What do local economic leaders see coming along in 2016? We think getting the opinion of some locals provides much-needed balance…
Read More “SWPA Local Leaders Forecast 2016, What’s Ahead for Marcellus?”
Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Sunoco Logistics | Washington County

Judge Rules Yes, Mariner East Pipe IS a Public Utility After All
December 21, 2015December 21, 2015

In June we told you that Sunoco Logistics Partners had sued two different families/landowners in Washington County, PA using eminent domain to complete a pipeline part of the Mariner East project (see Mariner East Invokes Eminent Domain Against 2 SWPA Landowners). As we said at the time, nobody wins when it comes to using eminent domain for pipelines. In the case of the Mariner East pipeline, the ongoing legal question/issue has been whether or not the pipeline qualifies as a public utility with the right to invoke eminent domain. Last week a Washington County judge ruled that yes, Mariner East is a public utility and that the state of Pennsylvania controls permitting for the pipeline, not the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). The Washington County landowners who sued have lost their appeal of the eminent domain case against Sunoco, and the pipeline will now cut through their property…
Read More “Judge Rules Yes, Mariner East Pipe IS a Public Utility After All”