Westmoreland County

CONSOL Energy | Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Westmoreland County

Pricetag to Test Water at Reservoir Near CONSOL Drilling Goes Up
June 17, 2013June 17, 2013

CONSOL Energy has a contract and has actively been drilling Marcellus Shale wells (37 so far) near Beaver Run Reservoir in Westmoreland County, PA. The reservoir provides water to some 120,000 customers in the region. Just to keep an eye on things and to be sure none of the drilling has led to contamination of the reservoir’s water, the Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County contracts with Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP) to conduct quarterly water tests. Students both collect and analyze the data.

Two years ago the Municipal Authority paid IUP $55,000 for the work. Last year, $75,000. This year? The price is going up to $100,000. Built in to this year’s higher price is a “third party” review of the water quality…
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Energy Companies | Lease & Royalty Payments | Olympus/Huntley & Huntley | Pennsylvania | Westmoreland County

Conventional Driller Eyes Marcellus Under Murrysville, PA Park
June 6, 2013June 6, 2013

A privately-held, small conventional driller from southwestern PA near Pittsburgh, Huntley & Huntley, wants to begin drilling unconventional wells that target the Marcellus Shale. They’ve chosen Westmoreland County, PA as the place to do it. Huntley & Huntley has already leased land surrounding the Murrysville Community Park and now wants to lease the 305-acre park too. They plan to set up drill pads outside of the park, on adjoining land, and drill under the park.
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Energy Companies | Greene County (PA) | Industrywide Issues | Landfills | Pennsylvania | Rice Energy | Westmoreland County

Marcellus Drill Cuttings Set Off Radiation Alarm at SW PA Landfill
April 23, 2013April 23, 2013

A truck with Marcellus Shale drill cuttings entering a landfill in Westmoreland County, PA triggered a radiation alarm last Friday. The truck was quarantined and after finding that yes indeed, the cuttings were a tad too radioactive for disposal at the landfill, the truck was sent back to the drilling site in Greene County.

The details:

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Air Quality | Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Westmoreland County

Murrysville, PA Stream Monitoring Group Expands to Air Monitoring
April 5, 2013April 5, 2013

A volunteer group in Westmoreland County called the Murrysville Stream Monitoring Group tests seven local streams once each month, looking for total dissolved solids. They’ve been testing since September of last year. The group was started and is populated by anti-drillers, people opposed to Marcellus Shale drilling. The locations they’ve selected to test are close to active Marcellus well drilling operations. What have they found so far? Nothing. Each stream has passed every test they’ve done—both upstream close to well drilling and downstream away from drilling. Same result—nothing.

Since they aren’t finding anything in the streams, maybe it’s time for the Murrysville Group to turn their attention to the air. And so they have. But monitoring air is expensive, requiring equipment that costs $3,000 per unit. The group wants three units, and they want taxpayers to fund it:

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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Ion GX Technology | Pennsylvania | Seismic Testing | Westmoreland County

Vandergrift, PA Threatens Seismic Mapping Co with Lawsuit
January 3, 2013January 3, 2013

Ion GX Technology, a company that produces high fidelity underground maps, is attempting to produce a three-dimensional seismic map of the Marcellus formation over a 281-square-mile area (180,000 acres) covering nearly all of central and southern Armstrong County and crossing into parts of Westmoreland and Indiana counties. But they’ve hit a snag with the borough of Vandergrift (Westmoreland County), PA. Borough officials are concerned the technology used to create vibrations could potentially damage underground structures like sewer lines, so they’ve denied the company permission to test on public property.

GX, however, has tried to circumvent that denial by going direct to individual landowners to request permission, which has ticked off Vandergrift council members. The borough’s solicitor sent GX a letter telling them to “cease and desist” from trying to deal with private landowners in the borough under threat of a lawsuit. Sounds a bit dicey to tell a private company what it can and can’t do in private business transactions. The complication is, of course, if their activity did crack a sewer line…

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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Sunoco Logistics | Westmoreland County

Meeting about Western PA NGL Pipeline Turns Contentious
October 11, 2012October 11, 2012

Sunoco Logistics held a meeting with landowners in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania last night to discuss plans for a new 45-mile pipeline they will build to carry natural gas liquids (NGLs). The new pipeline is part of the Mariner East project that will carry NGLs from western PA to southeastern PA—to the Marcus Hook refinery near Philadelphia (see this MDN story).

The meeting with landowners about the new pipeline construction turned contentious when landowners demanded to know whether or not Sunoco would invoke eminent domain and “take” the property, even if they don’t want it running across their land. A few of those present said Sunoco had already broken faith by surveying their land without informing the landowners first.

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Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Pennsylvania | Westmoreland County

Another 200 New Jobs in PA – Thanks to the Marcellus Shale
October 11, 2012October 11, 2012

More jobs on the way in greater Pittsburgh area, courtesy of the Marcellus and Utica Shale. The latest example is a concrete company’s expansion, which will contribute another 200 jobs to the area:

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Energy Services | Fayette County | Greene County (PA) | Heckmann | Pennsylvania | Washington County | Westmoreland County

Heckmann Corp Buys Appalachian Water Services
September 10, 2012September 10, 2012

Last week Heckmann Corporation, an environmental services company, announced they were merging with Power Fuels, another enviro services company and moving corporate HQ from Pittsburgh to Scottsdale, AZ (see this MDN story). Heckmann is on a tare—today they’ve announced they bought Appalachian Water Services in Fayette County, PA. Heckmann says the purchase is an important part of their strategy for shale wastewater treatment in the southern Marcellus Shale area.

From the Heckmann press release:

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Armstrong County | Energy Services | Indiana County | Industrywide Issues | Ion GX Technology | Pennsylvania | Seismic Testing | Westmoreland County

Seismic Testing for Shale Coming to Armstrong County, PA
August 13, 2012August 13, 2012

Ion GX Technology is in the process of contacting landowners and filing the necessary paperwork to begin seismic testing in Armstrong County, PA along with some portions of Westmoreland and Indiana counties. Landowners do not have to grant permission for seismic testing and cannot be forced to do so.

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Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Pennsylvania | Westmoreland County

The Shale Multiplier Effect – One Company’s Success Story
July 17, 2012July 17, 2012

Mitt Romney will make a campaign stop later this week in North Huntingdon (Westmoreland County), PA. The “news” about that stop for MDN is not Romney’s visit, but the company he’s visiting—Horizontal Wireline Services. It’s news because it’s a shale services company that didn’t exist prior to 2010, but today employs over 100 people at starting salaries of $60,000-$80,000. The company was started with no government assistance, and financed by a private investor (the banks wouldn’t touch it).

The company’s 35 year-old founder, Joseph Sites, graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with a degree in chemical engineering in 2000, but he left PA because of no job prospects. He returned in 2010 to found Horizontal Wireline which runs wires into gas and oil wells to help with extraction.

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CONSOL Energy | Energy Companies | Pennsylvania | Westmoreland County

CONSOL Operations Update: Westmoreland, PA Well Hits 17.9 Mmcfd
July 13, 2012July 13, 2012

CONSOL Energy, a large coal and natural gas company heavily invested in the Marcellus and Utica Shale region, released an operational update today. The big news is that one of the Marcellus Shale wells CONSOL has just completed in Westmoreland County, PA—the Gaut 4A well—produced an astonishing peak rate of 17.9 million cubic feet of natural gas in a single 24-hour period. The highest ever for a CONSOL gas well.

The operational update below outlines CONSOL’s activities in the second quarter of this year for the Marcellus and Utica Shale, and provides forecasts for what they plan in the third quarter, including details of their joint ventures with Noble and Hess.

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Chevron | Energy Companies | Lease & Royalty Payments | Pennsylvania | Westmoreland County

Chevron’s Offer to Western PA School; Dry Gas Worth More?!
March 14, 2012March 14, 2012

The Hempfield Area School District in Westmoreland County, PA is considering a lease offer from Chevron. So far they aren’t happy with the prices being offered:

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Dominion Exploration | Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Westmoreland County

Water Tests at PA Reservoir Show No Affects from Gas Drilling
March 12, 2012March 12, 2012

In March 2009, the Westmoreland (PA) County Board of Supervisors voted to lease Municipal Authority property near the Beaver Run Reservoir for shale gas drilling to Dominion Resources. The original plan was to drill five wells (see this MDN story). Two years later, there are 13 working wells on the property with plans for another 14 wells. More importantly, testing done of the water in the reservoir and streams that flow into it show (gasp), there’s been no affect on the water from Marcellus drilling.

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Accidents | Atlas Energy | Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Westmoreland County

PA DEP Sides with Homeowner Against Atlas in Well Water Issue
January 26, 2012January 26, 2012

In 2008, a homeowner located near gas wells drilled in Westmoreland County, PA by Atlas Energy says his well water turned muddy immediately after drilling was done. At the time, Atlas told him to stop drinking the water and supplied him with a water buffalo, making fresh water deliveries ever since. That is, until two weeks ago when Atlas says that after re-testing the water is now safe to drink, so they ended the water deliveries. The homeowner disagrees and the PA Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is siding with the homeowner in this case.

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Energy Companies | Lease & Royalty Payments | Pennsylvania | Westmoreland County | Williams Production

Drilling Deal Between Williams & Municipality in Western PA
January 19, 2012January 19, 2012

The Latrobe Municipal Authority in Westmoreland County, PA (near Pittsburgh) is negotiating with Williams to lease 236 acres of municipal property for $2,500 per acre with 15 percent royalties on any gas produced. Latrobe is also talking with landowners who own adjacent property hoping they can pool enough land together to present Williams with 800-1,000 acres, including the right to drill on an eight-acre parcel owned by Latrobe located next to their wastewater treatment plant.

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Barbour County | CONSOL Energy | Energy Companies | Greene County (PA) | Indiana County | Marshall County | Noble Energy | Pennsylvania | Washington County | West Virginia | Westmoreland County

Noble Energy and CONSOL to Partner on Marcellus in $3.4B Deal
August 19, 2011August 19, 2011

In March 2010, CONSOL Energy (Cecil, PA) paid Dominion Resources $3.5 billion for 500,000 acres of Marcellus Shale gas leases, instantly tripling their lease holdings. Since that time, CONSOL has continued to invest in Marcellus acreage and they now have 750,000 acres under lease. But CONSOL had a problem: Not enough money to develop their vast Marcellus acreage. So they did what is now a common practice—they found a partner to invest. Yesterday, CONSOL and Noble Energy (Houston, TX) announced that Noble will buy a 50 percent interest in 663,350 net undeveloped acres and fund drilling and completion costs in a deal worth $3.4 billion over an eight-year period.

The joint venture will concentrate on ramping up development of Marcellus Shale gas wells in three areas of Pennsylvania and West Virginia (see a map of CONSOL’s acreage below):

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