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21 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Mar 31 – Apr 6
For the week of Mar 31 – Apr 6, the number of permits issued in the Marcellus/Utica to drill new shale wells increased by two from the previous week. Last week, 21 new permits were issued, with 12 going to the Keystone State (PA). Expand Energy, via its merged companies Chesapeake Energy and Southwestern Energy, scored five permits, with three permits for Southwestern in Susquehanna County and two for Chesapeake in Bradford County. Greylock Energy received three permits for drilling in Potter County. Range Resources also received three permits to drill wells in Lycoming and Washington counties. Read More “21 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Mar 31 – Apr 6”
Yesterday, MDN told you about a newly announced data center (and gas-fired power plant) coming to Washington County, PA (see 
On Friday, MDN reported that on the previous day (Thursday), Department of Interior Secretary Doug Burgum joined the CEOs of Range Resources and EQT Corporation and the President of Halliburton’s Western Hemisphere operations at a rally in Washington, PA, to cheerlead and promote the announcement about the country’s largest natural gas-fired power plant to be built in western Pennsylvania (see 
A Washington County, PA, man and his anti-fossil fuel lawyer won a victory with the Pennsylvania Environmental Hearing Board (EHB), a special court in PA set up to hear appeals of Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) decisions. The man, Bryan Latkanich, alleges Chevron used PFAS “forever chemicals” in fracking fluids in 2011-2012 when Chevron drilled two wells some 500 feet from his home. Latkanich claims his water well was damaged, as well as his health and the health of family members who drank the “contaminated” water. EQT now owns the wells. 
WhiteHawk Energy, headquartered in Philadelphia and owning mineral and royalty interests for over 1 million gross unit acres with over 3,400 producing horizontal shale wells between the Marcellus and the Haynesville, announced yesterday that it has doubled its ownership in Marcellus assets in Washington and Greene counties in southwest Pennsylvania. WhiteHawk paid $118 million to increase ownership across 475,000 gross acres in the Marcellus Shale. The drillers operating on those acres include EQT, Range Resources, and CNX Resources.
For the week of Mar 10 – 16, the number of permits issued in the Marcellus/Utica to drill new shale wells increased by nine from the previous week. Last week, 31 new permits were issued, with 16 going to the Keystone State (PA). EQT (and its subsidiary Rice Drilling) scored nine permits across Fayette, Greene, and Washington counties in southwestern PA. Range Resources took five permits, all of them in Washington County. And Rev Resources received two permits in Tioga County. 
Here’s an explosive allegation. EQT Corporation and its pipeline subsidiary EQM Gathering are suing Union Township (located in Washington County, PA). Also named in the lawsuit are the town’s five supervisors. EQT’s allegation is that the town (and its supervisors) are attempting to extort big money from EQT to allow the company to connect gathering pipelines to several of its recently-drilled shale wells. Among the claims, the town wants $50,000 to issue a permit for ANY gathering pipeline that connects to a well. The town also (says EQT in the lawsuit) tried to extort $750,000 to repair a road slip caused by another company. Oh! And Union wants a $50,000 monthly “fee” from EQT to continue operating in the township. 
The great folks at Steel Nation, headquartered in Canonsburg, PA, have built over 2,200 compressor stations and other structures for the oil and gas industry in the Marcellus/Utica (and beyond) over the past 17 years. Last November, Steel Nation announced it had launched a new division to build electric microgrids for companies looking to create their on-site power plants to ensure their operations run efficiently 24/7/365 (see 
A Washington County, PA, judge is closing the barn door about 12 years late. On February 7, Washington County Court of Common Pleas Judge Brandon P. Neuman ruled Sunoco Pipeline, LLC (i.e., Energy Transfer) did not have the eminent domain authority to take property for the Mariner East Pipelines in 2013 from Bradley and Amy Simon (in Washington County), and possibly many other property owners. The case alleges that while ME gained eminent domain authority later, when the company negotiated with the Simons (and potentially others), it did not have that legal authority, yet it claimed it did. The Simons signed a lease they otherwise would not have signed if they had full information. They either would not have signed, or perhaps negotiated a bigger payment. That’s the gist of the story—that ME fraudulently presented claims.