Natural gas drilling is saving the family farm in Pennsylvania–literally. Farmers who receive bonus and royalty checks are using that money to buy new equipment and continue doing what they love to do–operate the family farm. It would not be a stretch to say that fracking is helping to feed Americans. Take the case of this organic farmer in Washington County, PA…
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As MDN reported in early October, MarkWest Energy finally (after four years) won the right to build a compressor station in Cecil (Washington County), PA (see MarkWest Wins Court Case to Build Compressor Station in Cecil, PA). The compressor station will be built on property owned by Range Resources. It’s Range’s gas that will flow through that station on its way to market. The Cecil Board of Supervisors voted to not challenge a Commonwealth Court (a lower court) decision that said the zoning board erred when denying MarkWest a permit to build the compressor station. However, the zoning board itself can still appeal the decision (see Cecil Supervisors Vote to NOT Appeal MarkWest Compressor Decision). It appears to us like a civil war has erupted between the Cecil board of supervisors and the zoning board…
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The Chesapeake Energy fire sale continues–and this time it’s cut right into the bone and sinew of the company. The beneficiary of Chesapeake’s ongoing divestiture, this time, is Southwestern Energy. Southwestern has signed a deal to pick up 413,000 (!) Marcellus/Utica acres, most of it in West Virginia with some of it in Washington County, PA. Much of the land is in prime wet gas areas (see the map below). The deal includes 256 (!) operating and producing Marcellus and Utica Shale wells and another 179 (!) non-operated, non-producing wells–a total of 435 drilled wells. Southwestern is paying Chesapeake $5.375 BILLION for the deal–which will make Chesapeake’s real boss, corporate raider Carl Icahn, very happy…
Read More “Chesapeake Sells Close to 25% of Marcellus/Utica Operation”
You might think, when reading the claims of some groups, that pipeline companies are callous and will run their pipeline any ole place they want, landowners be damned. “See that hayfield? Who cares! Run that steel right on through it!” That’s the (false) impression you get from some people. The reality is, of course, far different. Let’s hear it straight from the horse’s mouth–from the people who do the surveying to figure out the route a pipeline will take…
Read More “Painting a Different Picture of Pipeline Companies”
Little did we know it at the time, but former PA Dept. of Environmental Protection Chris Abruzzo’s last public interview was granted to MDN editor, Jim Willis, just three weeks ago before Abruzzo resigned (see PA DEP Sec. Abruzzo’s Last Public Interview…with MDN). Topic A that Jim asked Sec. Abruzzo was about the recent record fine of Range Resources ($4.15 million) for a series of leaky wastewater impoundments. Abruzzo stated during that interview, several times, that newer “next generation” impoudments have come along that are much safer. What are these “next generation” impoundments and are they really safer?…
Read More “Second Generation Wastewater Impoundments – Truly Safe?”
You know that anti-drilling State Rep. Jesse White (Cecil, Washington County, PA) is in trouble when the Democrat editorial board of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette takes time to author an entire editorial to make excuses for his deranged behavior in attacking his own constituents by using fake online identities–pretending to be some of his own pro-drilling constituents and posting comments as them to make them look bad (see How the Mighty Have Fallen: PA Rep White Admits Guilt, Not Sorry). It’s sick, it’s unpardonable, and at a minimum unethical–perhaps even illegal. He should have been tossed out of office a year ago when it was exposed–but there you go. Behaving badly is a resume enhancer in the PA Democrat Party and now White’s fellow Dems on the editorial board of the PPG have to hold their noses and try to keep him in office with their lame “approval” of him…
Read More “PPG Tries to Prop Up Discredited/Shamed PA Rep Jesse White”
Last week ago MDN told you about the victory for MarkWest Energy in Cecil Township (Washington County), PA. A Commonwealth Court judge has ruled Cecil must and will allow MarkWest to build a compressor station in an area clearly zoned for it under Cecil’s own rules–a station they’ve been trying to build since 2010 (see MarkWest Wins Court Case to Build Compressor Station in Cecil, PA). As with all things legal, the question then became–will Cecil appeal the ruling to a higher court in hopes of further delaying the inevitable? That question was partially answered last night. Cecil’s board of supervisors voted 3-2 against appealing the decision–meaning the town must now, as the judge ordered, grant a permit to MarkWest within 45 days (now about 38 days) to build the compressor station. However, there is one more storm cloud ahead for MarkWest…
Read More “Cecil Supervisors Vote to NOT Appeal MarkWest Compressor Decision”
More from the ongoing hearing into the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection’s actions, or lack of actions, in determining a private water well 2,800 feel (half a mile) downhill from a Range Resources wastewater impoundment that was found to be leaky was fouled by that impoundment. We previously explained that in order for a lawsuit by the landowner Loren Kiskadden against Range for “contaminating” his water well to be valid, the DEP must reverse a previous finding that Range’s Yeager impoundment did not foul his well (see Did DEP Mishandle Range Wastewater Impoundment Investigation?). So one of the DEP’s investigators has been on the hot seat explaining his previous findings and reports…
Read More “Hearing on Range Yeager Impoundment/Water Contamination Continues”
Cecil Township in Washington County, PA is one of the original seven selfish townships that sued and eventually had portions of the state’s Act 13 Marcellus drilling law overturned. The portion overturned restored to local municipalities the right to establish their own zoning regulations when it comes to oil and gas related activities. Apparently Cecil thought they had a blank check to deny anything they wanted, but a recent court decision has brought them back to reality. A Commonwealth Court judge has ruled Cecil must and will allow MarkWest to build a compressor station in an area clearly zoned for it under Cecil’s own rules–a station they’ve been trying to build since 2010…
Read More “MarkWest Wins Court Case to Build Compressor Station in Cecil, PA”
Word has leaked out that Thailand’s largest chemical company–Bangkok-based PTT Global Chemical–and Japan’s fifth largest general trading company/conglomerates–Tokyo-based Marubeni Corp.–have formed an alliance and are actively looking to build an ethane cracker plant in the Marcellus/Utica region. The first such ethane cracker was announced by Shell in 2012, to be located in Beaver County, PA. The second was announced last year by Odebrecht, targeted to be built in Parkersburg, WV. We also recently told you about a “baby cracker”–a much smaller version of an ethane cracker coming to Monroe County, OH (see Ohio to Get “Baby” Ethane Cracker Originally Slated for WV). The PTT/Marubeni cracker will be the third big/major cracker plant for the northeast–with the caveat “if built” (which applies to all of these projects). The word on the street is that PTT/Marubeni have been looking for nearly a year…
Read More “Thailand & Japan Partner to Build 3rd Big Marcellus Ethane Cracker”
Range Resources has had a long-running dispute with some of the neighbors near some of it’s wastewater impoundments in Washington, PA. Without recounting the details (see MDN’s previous stories here), the entire thing came to a head recently when the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) completed their investigation and fined Range the highest amount any driller has paid so far in the modern shale drilling era (see PA DEP Fines Range Resources $4.15M for Wastewater Impoundments). Part of the deal is that Range is closing those impoundments. There are, of course, legal actions involved, as you might expect. One of the neighbors near the Yeager impoundment sued Range with claims of well water contamination from chemicals leaking from the impoundment. The DEP determined the landowner’s well was not contaminated by the Range impoundment and the landowner challenged that finding in DEP’s version of court, the Environmental Hearing Board. Testimony at the hearing last week from a DEP official about the investigation indicates the DEP “might have used incomplete and inaccurate test information to decide whether chemicals leaking…contaminated a water well and springs”…
Read More “Did DEP Mishandle Range Wastewater Impoundment Investigation?”
MarkWest continues to feel the effects of problems they’ve experienced at the company’s Houston Gas Processing Plant in Chartiers Township (Washington County), PA. MarkWest had expanded the plant–doubling its operations. When new equipment went online in July, things didn’t go as planned and there was emergency flaring–burning of gas–at the plant (see Smoke at MarkWest Chartiers, PA Gas Processing Plant). It wasn’t long before the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) started handing out violation notices (see MarkWest Served Violation Notice for Chartiers Processing Plant). The company had a previous $71,000 fine for improper flaring at the plant stemming from incidents in April of this year. With the July incident, another $80,000 fine was assessed, totaling $151,000 in fines for the plant in the past six months…
Read More “Fines Total $151K for 2 Incidents at MarkWest Chartiers, PA Plant”
Last Thursday, Precision Pipeline of Waynesburg, Pa was drilling under the Little Mingo Creek behind the Mingo Creek Church on behalf of Sunoco Logistics when the drill bit hit something really solid. It stopped the bit and led to drilling mud, often called bentonite, to leak into the the Little Mingo Creek causing a gray “sludge” to travel down the creek in Nottingham and Union townships (Washington County), PA. Bentonite is non-toxic and used in products from shampoo to deodorant and toothpaste. It’s also used to lubricate the drill bit and carry drill cuttings out of the ground. While non-toxic, a whole lot of bentonite in the water can, of course, suffocate fish and cause problems for wildlife that happen to drink it…
Read More “Mariner East Pipeline Drilling Spills Mud in Local Creek”
Typically villages and cities have not seen Marcellus or Utica Shale drilling under them because of the numbers. To negotiate leases with hundreds or even thousands of landowners over a relatively small area makes no sense when you have to pay landmen and have all of those leases individually vetted by a lawyer. Signing bonuses are piddly and royalty checks aren’t much either. So most drillers have passed by the small villages and towns that sit next to land they otherwise have leased. However, Range has hit on a unique approach. Range has enlisted the help of the Claysville Borough (Washington County, PA) fire department to approach and get residents in the borough to sign a single, standardized group lease–think landowner coalition lease…
Read More “Range’s Unique Approach to Signing Small Landowners in WPA”
It seems that impoundment hysteria is the newest rage among anti-drillers. An impoundment is nothing more than a pond. As it relates to the drilling industry, the pond (or impoundment) may hold freshwater or it may hold frack wastewater, depending on what kind of impoundment it is. Range Resources was fined last week for leaking impoundments in Washington County (see PA DEP Fines Range Resources $4.15M for Wastewater Impoundments). What better time for an anti-fracking organization like the so-called “SkyTruth” to poke its head up and claim to be mapping impoundments in Pennsylvania and elsewhere. To hear SkyTruth tell it, there’s impoundments hiding just about everywhere…
Read More “SkyTruth Uses Anti-Drilling Volunteers to Count Impoundments”
Range Resources has just had their knuckles rapped, hard, by the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) with respect to wastewater/recycled water impoundments (i.e. ponds) they operate in Washington County, PA. Range has been fined the most any company has been fined by the DEP in the modern shale era–$4.15 million. They will also be required to close five of the seven impoundments they’ve operated in the county (Range was closing them anyway), and make major upgrades to the two remaining impoundments. There’s no way to sugarcoat this–Range was taken to the proverbial woodshed by the DEP and got a lot more than a switch to the rear-end…
Read More “PA DEP Fines Range Resources $4.15M for Wastewater Impoundments”