Washington County

Housing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Washington County

Prejudice in Washington, PA – Judge Says No Marcellus Boarding House
March 3, 2015March 3, 2015

Discrimination and prejudice have finally won in Washington, PA–and a dilapidated eyesore will continue to exist because of it. We’re speaking about plans to renovate a former, run-down convent into a boarding house for Marcellus Shale workers in Washington, PA. We’ve previously chronicled City Council’s opposition to the project (see Washington, PA Votes to Reject Marcellus Boarding House). We’ve also chronicled the shameful opposition of Rev. William Feeney and the Immaculate Conception church across the street from their denomination’s abandoned convent–opposed to the plan because it might attract “transients” to the neighborhood (see Marcellus Prejudice on Display at Washington, PA Church). The reverend and parishioners may want to re-read Matthew 25:31-40. The developer looking to create Marcellus housing at the old convent, Robert Starr, took the matter to court. Yesterday he lost…
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Accidents | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Range Resources Corp | Washington County

More on that Range Rig Fire in Washington County, PA
February 6, 2015February 6, 2015

Range Resources dodged a bullet with the fire at a well pad in North Strabane (Washington County, PA) on Wednesday. We now know that a hydraulic line leaked oil and that’s what started the fire. Personnel on site tried to extinguish it but enough oil spread on the rubber well pad liner that the liner itself caught fire–essentially like a huge tire burning. Which is what caused the billowing black smoke in the area. The fire spread and consumed the rig, destroying it, and a couple of trailers parked at the site. Range was in the beginning stages of drilling the well. The bullet they dodged is that no one was injured. Equipment can be replaced–people can’t…
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Accidents | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Range Resources Corp | Washington County

Fire at Range Resources Well Pad in Washington County, PA
February 5, 2015February 5, 2015

Photo Credit: NewsChopper 2/KDKA

A “large fire” broke out at a Range Resources well pad in Washington County, PA last night. Fortunately no one was injured. The fire was caused by “equipment failure” according to Range. The fire did not at any time involve the well itself. It was a fire in the machinery on the well pad. The details as we know them…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Range Resources Corp | Washington County

PennFuture Does Happy Dance for Stopping Range Wells in SWPA
February 4, 2015February 4, 2015

The anti-drilling organization PennFuture–once the employer of newly nominated Secretary of the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection, John Quigley, and the organization whose president was, until recently, Cindy Dunn, now nominated as Secretary of the PA Dept. of Conservation and Natural Resources–is once again celebrating that shale drilling won’t happen. PennFuture has just pushed out a press release to claim credit for stopping Range Resources from drilling at a site in Washington County because the well pad would be a mile away from a school. They’re such heroes, such champs of the environment. What a positive organization serving the great good in PA (not!)…
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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Washington County

Peters Twp, PA Pretends to Debate Ordinance to Allow Drilling
February 3, 2015February 3, 2015

Peters Township, in Washington County, PA, continues to “struggle” with whether or not they will allow Marcellus Shale drilling within their borders. Peters, you may recall, is one of the seven selfish towns that sued the state over the zoning provisions in the Act 13 law, eventually winning at the PA Supreme Court level (see PA Supreme Court Rules Against State/Drillers in Act 13 Case). That “victory” has proven to be a disaster in more ways than one. The court decision does, however, require municipalities with districts zoned industrial to allow drilling, albeit those municipalities have plenty of options to continue stopping it by road use restrictions, etc. It seemed like Peters had finally come to grips and was looking for ways to allow shale drilling (see Peters Twp, PA Once Sued to Stop Act 13, Now Considers Drilling). However, recent comments by town leaders and an email from an MDN reader indicate Peters remains as hardened against drilling as ever…
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Bradford County | Greene County (PA) | Industrywide Issues | Lycoming County | Pennsylvania | Public Opinion | Research | Statewide PA | Washington County

Report: PA’s Youth Not Impressed with Marcellus Industry
February 3, 2015February 3, 2015

A little over a week ago The Center for Rural Pennsylvania, a bipartisan, bicameral legislative agency that serves as a resource for rural policy within the Pennsylvania General Assembly, published the third report in a series of studies commissioned on the Marcellus Shale and its impact on the state (see New Report: Marcellus Shale Drilling’s Impact on PA Schools). The Center has just published a fourth report. Titled “Youth Perspectives on Marcellus Shale Gas Development: Community Change and Future Prospects” (full copy embedded below), the new report tackles the topic of youth attitudes toward the industry. In a quick pass, it seems PA’s youth are not all that impressed with the industry and what it has to offer them. They don’t like the traffic and noise and believe in some places shale drilling has detracted from the natural beauty of the countryside and harmed wildlife…
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Columbia Pipeline Group | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Regulation | Washington County

Columbia Withdraws Compressor Plan, Seeks Alternative in SWPA
January 29, 2015January 29, 2015

Columbia Midstream Group, a subsidiary of NiSource, has withdrawn an application to build a compressor station in South Strabane Township (Washington County), PA and has, instead, applied to build two smaller facilities at the same site: a launcher/receiver facility and a metering station (both related to pipelines). The land they intend to build on is a 251-acre plot owned by Range Resources. Nearby residents who attended a public hearing on Tuesday night were still against the plan, even though it’s not nearly as big and noisy and polluting as a compressor station…
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Industrywide Issues | Lease & Royalty Payments | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Taxation | Washington County

The Tax Man Returneth — for PA Landowners with Royalties
January 27, 2015January 27, 2015

Landowners who get royalty checks in Pennsylvania beware: the PA tax man may be coming for you. It’s a shame, but landowners who get royalty checks have to employ a bevy of accountants and tax experts in order to file a tax return. Such is life. One of the deductions landowners take from their royalty checks are for production costs. On paper, a landowner may be paid 14% in royalties, but in actuality it works out to be much less. Landowners have to navigate sometimes confusing statements from drillers to put the right numbers in the right boxes. What’s happening now is that the PA Dept. of Revenue is telling some landowners the numbers in the boxes don’t add up–according to their convoluted calculations anyway. And PA wants some of that money back they say should have been paid to them all along. It’s a confusing mess…
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Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Range Resources Corp | Regulation | Statewide PA | Washington County

Strange: DEP Fines Range Resouces $1.75M for Water Withdrawals
January 19, 2015January 19, 2015

A strange announcement from the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) on Friday says that Range Resources has agreed to pay $1.75 million to the state for failure to keep track of water withdrawals made by the company (takes a lot of water to frack, much of which comes from creeks and rivers), and for exceeding the amount of water withdrawn according to the plan they have on file with the DEP. What’s strange about the announcement is that a) you can’t find it on the DEP website itself, b) Range was making withdrawals and not recording/tracking the withdrawals from 2009 to 2014–five years–but apparently the DEP didn’t notice or didn’t care, and c) $950,000 of the $1.75 million “fine” (more than half) will go to fix up and operate the Hamilton Abandoned Mine Treatment System in Findlay Township, Allegheny County…
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Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Washington County

Peters Twp, PA Once Sued to Stop Act 13, Now Considers Drilling
January 14, 2015January 14, 2015

It’s interesting to MDN that several of the seven Pennsylvania towns that sued the state over the Act 13 law and its zoning provisions–presumably because they didn’t want any Marcellus drilling in their borders–have done a 180 degree turnabout. It happened first in Robinson Township (Washington County), PA–the very township whose name is forever (shamefully) emblazoned on the case, which is called “Robinson v Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.” Voters in Robinson tossed their anti-drilling leaders out of office (see Robinson Twp, PA Offers a Preview into Future of NY Frack Debate). Now it seems Peters Township, another of the seven (also in Washington County), is following the same path. Peters is zoned almost all residential. However, last August Peters voted to evaluate the possibility of Marcellus drilling on and under land in the town. Next Monday night, they begin the process of public hearings to do just that. It’s bitter sweet–bitter that they participated in gutting the Act 13 law, sweet that they finally saw the light…
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Bradford County | Greene County (PA) | Health Impacts | Industrywide Issues | Lycoming County | Pennsylvania | Research | Statewide PA | Washington County

PA Study Finds No Negative Health Impacts from Marcellus Drilling
January 7, 2015January 7, 2015

The Center for Rural Pennsylvania, a bipartisan, bicameral legislative agency that serves as a resource for rural policy within the Pennsylvania General Assembly, has just published the second report in a series. Titled “The Impact of Marcellus Shale Development on Health and Health Care” (full copy embedded below), the report looks at whether incidences of certain health status indicators and demand for healthcare services changed in four heavily drilled PA counties–two in the northeast and two in the southwest–during the years that Marcellus drilling activity increased. Although the report says initial results are “preliminary” and “not conclusive,” so far it seems that heavily drilled locations have not seen an increase in people injured or harmed because of shale drilling. About the only thing that did increase was the number of calls for emergency first responders–which can’t conclusively be tied Marcellus drilling…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Washington County

Pro-Driller Ortitay Replaces Anti-Driller White in PA House
January 7, 2015January 7, 2015

Just a brief note to celebrate yesterday, the first official day of the new Pennsylvania General Assembly and the swearing in of newly-minted Rep. Jason Ortitay, Republican from South Fayette, PA. Jason Ortitay handily defeated the dishonest anti-driller Jesse White, someone who abused his office by using fake online IDs to criticize and impugn some of his own pro-drilling constituents (see How the Mighty Have Fallen: PA Rep White Admits Guilt, Not Sorry). We’d also add that it’s interesting to us that throughout the campaign, the increasingly anti-drilling (and very pro-Democrat) Pittsburgh Post-Gazette supported Jesse White, attempting to prop him up and make excuses for his behavior (see PPG Tries to Prop Up Discredited/Shamed PA Rep Jesse White). Shame on the Post-Gazette. The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Pittsburgh’s other major newspaper, supported Jason Ortitay, to their credit. Perhaps businesses in Pittsburgh should reevaluate their ad spending for 2015, eh? Jason’s claim to fame is not simply that he defeated White. Jason is pro-drilling and instead of being a career politician, he’s a small business owner of a cheesecake company. What a breath of fresh air!…
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Allegheny County | Housing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Washington County

Home Values in Heavily Drilled Western PA Go Up, Not Down
January 5, 2015January 5, 2015

Yet another anti-drilling lie is put to rest–again. You often here that “the value of my house, my property, will decrease if drilling comes to the area.” Not so. Take the uber-drilled area of Allegheny and Washington counties, essentially the Pittsburgh, PA area. Housing values there have gone up–and it’s a “seller’s market” according to real estate professionals. Why? The Marcellus Shale, of course…
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Accidents | Energy Services | Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Washington County | Williams

Explosion, Fire at Meter Station Along Williams Ethane Pipeline in SWPA
December 31, 2014December 31, 2014

A meter station along the Williams Ohio Valley Ethane pipeline reportedly exploded and caught fire in in Chartiers Township (Washington County), PA–about four miles from Houston, PA–on Christmas Eve. The fire has caused the shut-down of the ethane pipeline that runs some 50 miles from Marshall County, WV to an ethane hub in Houston…
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Energy Companies | Pennsylvania | Range Resources Corp | Utica Shale | Washington County

Range Resources Drills Highest-Ever Initial Producing Utica Well
December 16, 2014December 16, 2014

Yesterday Range Resources released an announcement with two big pieces of news. The first (and lesser) news is this: Range is trimming its 2015 exploration and production budget by 18% compared to what they spent this year. The 2015 capital expenditure budget is now set at $1.3 billion. However, the company says production will continue to increase, even with less spending on drilling. The second and more important news: Range has drilled a Utica Shale well that has dethroned Magnum Hunter’s Utica well (see Magnum Hunter Takes the Prize: Top Producing Utica Well) as being the most initially productive horizontal shale well ever–in the Marcellus, Utica or any other shale play. Range says their Utica well is producing an initial production rate of a mind-blowing 59 million cubic feet per day (Mmcf/d). In the course of a single month, that one well produces enough gas to heat more than 25,000 U.S. homes for an entire winter. Oh…and just where is Range’s new gargantuan Utica well located? In Washington County, PA…
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Landowner Coalition News | Lease & Royalty Payments | Pennsylvania | Washington County

Go it Alone? Or Join a Landowner Coalition/Group?
December 16, 2014December 16, 2014

Not every landowner can belong to a group that negotiates a lease to allow Marcellus or Utica Shale drilling. In some areas (like PA, WV and OH), much of the large tracts of land is already leased. However, if you can belong to such a group, MDN believes it is in your best interests to do so. For example, take the experience of landowners in Washington County, PA…
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