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    Constitution Pipeline Asks FERC to Override NY DEC

    The Andrew Cuomo-corrupted New York Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DEC) took more than two years to evaluate and eventually reject the Constitution Pipeline–a $683 million, 124-mile pipeline from Susquehanna County, PA to Schoharie County, NY to move Marcellus gas (see NY Gov. Cuomo Refuses to Grant Permits for Constitution Pipeline). Constitution went to court to overturn that decision, but ultimately failed in August (see Court Rejects Constitution Pipe’s Case Against NY DEC; Now What?). Many analysts and lawyers believed it was lights out for the project (see Energy Attorneys Hint it’s ‘Lights Out’ for Constitution Pipeline). Hold your horses! Constitution, borrowing a strategy that worked for Millennium Pipeline, filed a request last week with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), asking FERC to overrule the DEC’s refusal to grant the water permit needed for the project. There is precedence. FERC recently did the same thing in another case (see History Made! FERC Overrules NY DEC on Millennium Pipe Permit). Constitution is on firm ground. The DEC took over two years to review the project. Statutorily the DEC only has one year to complete a review. It was on that same basis that FERC granted Millennium permission to build their project (review was too long), and Constitution is hoping FERC will now do the same for them…
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    PA DEP Tries to Expand Its Power, Republicans Try to Reign It In

    A troubling development over the past generation or so has been the rise of executive agencies that formulate and adopt their own laws–without said laws being voted on by a legislature. Those new laws are called “regulations.” Long ago the legislative branch of government ceded some (much!) of its power to these agencies. Can you imagine a legislature debating over every new line in a Dept. of Motor Vehicles manual? Or debating standards for nuclear reactors? It was thought that specialists should oversee such minutiae, so the legislature delegated their authority to various executive branch agencies–like the DMV, Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and Environmental Protection Agency. Not only is this done at the federal level, it’s also done at the state (even local) level. On the state level in Pennsylvania, the Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) is charged with developing regulations to protect PA’s environment. The DEP sits in the executive branch–under the oversight of the governor (currently Tom Wolf). However, over the years the legislative branch has lost much of its oversight over the activities and new regulations adopted by these agencies. Coincidentally (or not), the PA DEP has just launched an effort to (our words) expand its power in making new regulations. At the same time, a Republican House member has introduced a bill that restricts regulatory agencies like the DEP, and gives the legislature more of a say in how they operate. Looks like a battle is shaping up in the Keystone State over the (expanding) role of the DEP…
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    William Penn Foundation Exposed: Funds Penn East Pipe Propaganda

    MDN friend Tom Shepstone (Natural Gas Now) has long pointed out that the William Penn Foundation funds a variety of front groups to push an anti-fossil fuel agenda. William Penn funds groups like the Sierra Club, THE Delaware Riverkeeper, and the New Jersey Conservation Foundation. William Penn also funds “news” outlets, including StateImpact Pennsylvania and NJ Spotlight. So this is how it happens: Riverkeeper, the Sierra Club and others issue wild claims about a project like the PennEast Pipeline, and then StateImpact and NJ Spotlight report it like it’s news. Incestuous. At the center of it all is the William Penn Foundation. MDN friend Kevin Moody does a great job of exposing this web of deceit targeting PennEast Pipeline in an article published on The Daily Signal…
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    Marcellus Driller Cabot Oil & Gas: Wall Street’s NatGas “Unicorn”

    Cabot Oil & Gas has long been one of our favorite Marcellus drillers. We are friends with several members of the Cabot team. We are impressed with their many acts of philanthropy in northeastern Pennsylvania–donating millions of dollars to worthy causes in the local community where they drill. As we’ve pointed out many times, Cabot somehow spins gold out of hay in Susquehanna County–producing something like 2.5% of all the natural gas that’s produced in the U.S. from a single county. They have some of the best rocks in the shale business. Cabot’s assets have not gone unnoticed on Wall Street, where investors and analysts call the company “a unicorn.” While the term unicorn as applied to a company can have several meanings, as applied to Cabot the meaning is clear: the company is rare, and desirable. In an Investor’s Business Daily article, several analysts gush about Cabot in light of the beginning of construction of the Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline project. Cabot will be the main shipper on the new pipeline. Analysts are predicting next year, in 2018, Cabot’s production will increase 23% from this year. And in 2019, one analyst says Cabot production will be up a whopping 47%! You begin to see why Cabot has a reputation as a unicorn on Wall Street…
    Read More “Marcellus Driller Cabot Oil & Gas: Wall Street’s NatGas “Unicorn””

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    Harrisburg NatGas Pipeline Manufacturer Laying Off 180

    Dura-Bond Industries operates a pipeline and coating manufacturing plant in Dauphin County, PA–near Harrisburg. The plant, acquired from Bethlehem Steel in 2003, “manufactures and coats steel pipe in diameters from 24 to 42 inches, mostly for the natural gas industry.” You would think with all of these new pipeline projects in the works that business at the plant would be in overdrive. Unfortunately, that’s not the case. Because of a glut of steel imports from places like India and Canada, business at the plant is down. Dura-Bond recently filed a notice that within 60 days they will layoff 180 workers–about 40% of the workforce at the plant. Which is a shame in our book. While the company is mouthing platitudes about trying to rehire them at some point, the local union says don’t count on it. Those jobs are gone gone…
    Read More “Harrisburg NatGas Pipeline Manufacturer Laying Off 180”

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    Further Thoughts on PA’s Severance Tax “Mess”

    Dan Markind

    Last week MDN published an opposing viewpoint about the current severance tax debate in Pennsylvania (see Guest Post: An Opposing View of PA’s Severance Tax “Mess”). Please take time to read it. MDN editor Jim Willis has high respect for the author, Dan Markind (a partner with law firm Weir & Partners). When we published his post, we introduced it with our own thoughts. Dan had asked for the opportunity to respond to our intro, which we readily agreed to. Below is Dan’s response. We bring it with no further commentary necessary here, other than we like Dan and appreciate his views, even the ones we may not agree with…
    Read More “Further Thoughts on PA’s Severance Tax “Mess””

  • Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Mon, Oct 16, 2017

    The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading. In today’s lineup: PA House committee cancels meeting on severance tax bill; the many benefits of fracking IN the Delaware River Basin; thoughts on Carrizo’s Marcellus asset sale; Ohio the “key anchor” to Appalchia’s bright plastics future; convering WV buses to run natgas; Cheniere starts up 4th LNG export facility; OPEC’s message to shale drillers; drilling mud separator expands into US shale; Clean Power Plan’s counterfeit benefits; and more!
    Read More “Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Mon, Oct 16, 2017”

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    Former GreenHunter Expanding in West Virginia with 160 Jobs

    Fountain Quail Energy Services, which is the new name for the company that used to be called GreenHunter Resources, is planning to expand in Lewis County, WV. A WV lawmaker says he’s talked Fountain Quail into expanding in an industrial park in Jane Lew, bringing 160 jobs to the site. In December 2015 MDN reported that Magnum Hunter Resources (MHR) finally filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection (see Sad Day: Magnum Hunter Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy). MHR has a variety of subsidiary companies. One of those companies, GreenHunter Resources (water and wastewater), also succumbed and filed for bankruptcy–in March 2016 (see Another Sad Day: GreenHunter Resources Files for Bankruptcy). Restructuring was completed for GreenHunter in May 2016 and the company emerged from bankruptcy under the ownership of a private equity firm. A few months later, GreenHunter shed its former name and merged with/took on a new name: Fountain Quail. The CEO of Fountain Quail is the former Executive Vice President and COO of GreenHunter, Kirk Trosclair. The COO of Fountain Quail also previously worked for GreenHunter. Here’s the update that Fountain Quail is once again on the road to expansion, putting the past behind it…
    Read More “Former GreenHunter Expanding in West Virginia with 160 Jobs”

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    Williams Launches Major WV Expansion to Serve Southwestern Energy

    Yesterday Williams announced a new, major deal with Southwestern Energy to expand its network of gathering pipelines and processing facilities in West Virginia, to serve Southwestern’s increasingly aggressive drilling program in the state. Williams will expand its its Oak Grove processing plant to handle extra wet gas that will flow into it from Southwestern’s 135,000-acre wet gas (i.e. NGL) drilling program in Marshall and Wetzel counties. Southwestern targets wet gas in the Marcellus and Upper Devonian in those two counties. The expansion will give the Oak Grove plant the capability to process an additional 1.8 billion cubic feet per day of wet gas. But wet gas isn’t the only focus. Williams is also expanding its pipeline network to an additional 71,500 dry gas acres, again in Marshall and Wetzel counties, targeting Southwestern’s dry gas Utica program. In the same announcement, almost as an afterthought (but for us is a really big deal), Williams announced it will connect its system to Columbia Pipeline’s (now TransCanada) Leach XPress and Mountaineer XPress pipelines, “to boost market access and diversify gas pricing opportunities.” Leach XPress, which is part of a project including Rayne XPress, will send gas all the way to the Gulf Coast (see Columbia Gas: $1.75B for 2 Projects to Send Marcellus Gas to Gulf). Leach XPress began construction earlier this year. Mountaineer XPress will send gas to Leach, Kentucky (as will Leach Xpress), and from there on to a variety of other markets in the Midwest and South–as well as the Gulf Coast (see Details on Columbia Pipeline Mountaineer XPress Pipeline Project). Mountaineer Xpress received a favorable final environmental impact state from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in July of this year, but is still waiting on other permits before it begins construction. Here’s the news about Williams expanding in the Mountain State…
    Read More “Williams Launches Major WV Expansion to Serve Southwestern Energy”

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    Antero Taps Veolia to Handle TENORM Waste at WV Water Facility

    In 2015 Antero Resources hired Veolia Water Technologies Inc. (subsidiary of France-based Veolia) to build a new shale wastewater recycling facility in Doddridge County, West Virginia (see Antero Building New 60K Bbl Wastewater Recycling Facility in WV). The new facility, which is slated to take two years to build and cost Antero $275 million, will process 60,000 barrels of wastewater per day. The facility is still under construction. The plant will separate water, salt and radioactive particles. The salt can be sold to municipalities for use as road salt–but frankly there’s not enough of a market to sell it all. And not all of it will be of sufficient quality to be sold that way. So Antero is also spending $20 million to build a landfill next to the plant (see Update on Antero’s $275M Wastewater Facility in WV). This week we also learned that Antero will spend another $70 million with Veolia–in addition to the $275M they’re paying Veolia to build the plant–paying Veolia $70M over 10 years to handle the “loading, packaging, transporting and proper disposal of water treatment sludge” the plant will produce. The sludge contains TENORM–technologically enhanced, naturally occurring radioactive materials. Veolia will ensure the TENORM sludge is carefully handled and properly disposed…
    Read More “Antero Taps Veolia to Handle TENORM Waste at WV Water Facility”

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    Monroeville, PA Hostile to Shale, Bans Drilling in Most Places

    Monroeville, PA

    For whatever reason, Monroeville, PA (Allegheny County, suburb of Pittsburgh) is hostile toward the shale industry. In September Monroeville Council voted to enact a super-restrictive seismic testing ordinance (see Monroeville, PA Passes Restrictive Seismic Testing Ordinance). The ordinance was meant to hassle Huntley & Huntley, which had wanted to conduct seismic testing in two rural areas of the municipality. But that wasn’t enough for the anti-drilling zealots of Monroeville. On Tuesday, Monroeville Council voted to ban oil and gas well drilling everywhere except for those areas marked M-2 industrial zoning. This is a big change. Previously drilling permits were “conditional use,” meaning each permit was evaluated on its own merits, regardless of which zoning district it was located in. By limiting drilling to M-2, the Council has effectively banned drilling in the municipality. Which is a shame, as Huntley & Huntley’s headquarters is located in Monroeville. We think they should seriously consider moving out of the municipality, taking their considerable economic impact (jobs, tax revenue) with them…
    Read More “Monroeville, PA Hostile to Shale, Bans Drilling in Most Places”

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    Plum, PA Gives Huntley & Huntley Green Light for Shale Drilling

    Plum, PA

    Unlike the anti-drilling Luddites in Monroeville, PA who seek to stifle shale drilling in their municipality (see today’s story: Monroeville, PA Hostile to Shale, Bans Drilling in Most Places), the leaders in Plum, PA (shares a border with Monroeville, in Alleghany County) has approved a plan by Huntley & Huntley to drill a series of Marcellus wells in their municipality. Last week MDN told you that H&H plans to begin constructing a well pad in Plum next month (see Huntley & Huntley Starts Shale Drilling in Plum, PA Next Month). Plum officials gave H&H their blessing on the plan at a meeting on Wednesday. About 150 people showed up for the meeting, many against H&H’s plan to drill. Among the antis was a representative from FracTracker Alliance–a non-profit that pretends to be an impartial “watchdog” of the drilling industry. At the meeting the FracTracker rep revealed his out-of-the-mainstream, anti-drilling bias. He outted his organization as an anti-fossil fuel, Big Green group. Although there was plenty of the typical anti moaning and groaning at the meeting, to their credit, the Plum Council voted 6-1 to approve H&H’s plan to construct a well pad, and to drill several fracked Marcellus wells at the site…
    Read More “Plum, PA Gives Huntley & Huntley Green Light for Shale Drilling”

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    Annual SRBC Water Report Finds No Impacts from Shale Drilling

    Susquehanna River Basin

    The Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC) established the Remote Water Quality Monitoring Network (RWQMN) in January 2010 in response to natural gas drilling activities in the basin. More than 50 water quality monitoring stations are operating in watersheds experiencing unconventional shale gas development. Each station continuously monitors the following parameters: pH, temperature, specific conductance, dissolved oxygen, turbidity, and relative water depth. The data are collected at five-minute intervals and uploaded to SRBC’s publicly accessible web site. Each year the SRBC releases an annual report evaluating their findings. So far, since, 2010, the SRBC has found no adverse impacts on the basin’s water supplies due to Marcellus drilling and fracking. The SRBC has just released the latest report, for 2016 (full copy below). The trend continues yet again for last year: no impacts from natural gas drilling on the Susquehanna River Basin…
    Read More “Annual SRBC Water Report Finds No Impacts from Shale Drilling”

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    Atlantic Sunrise Work in NEPA Beginning “Very Soon,” Locals Hired

    Williams representatives were on hand earlier this week in Tunhannock, PA (Wyoming County) to present a briefing to local politicians and community leaders on the status of the now-under construction Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline project. Atlantic Sunrise is a $3 billion, 198-mile natural gas pipeline project running through 10 Pennsylvania counties to connect Marcellus Shale natural gas from northeastern PA with the Williams’ Transco pipeline in southern Lancaster County. Much of the attention has focused on Lancaster County and a small group of antis who oppose the project there. However, Atlantic Sunrise will begin its journey to Lancaster in Susquehanna County, PA–in the northeastern tip of the state. Construction in Susquehanna and adjacent counties is scheduled to begin “very soon,” according to Williams rep Mike Atchie. When it does begin, some of the people working on it will come from the same counties where it’s getting built. Last week the Teamsters held a job fair in Harrisburg (see Harrisburg Job Fair Oct 6-7 Looks to Fill 400 Pipeline Jobs). Of those streaming through, nearly 200 people filled out job applications. Five of the people who showed up have already been hired and are on job sites working–less than a week later! Another 100+ were enrolled in safety training classes and instructional courses. Here’s an update on the advent of Atlantic Sunrise construction in NEPA…
    Read More “Atlantic Sunrise Work in NEPA Beginning “Very Soon,” Locals Hired”

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    Antis Release Fake Report Claiming PA Children at Risk from Drilling

    The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette has done it again. They’ve posted another fake news story about the Marcellus Shale industry. Here’s how it works: A Big Green group, like the odious Earthworks, enlists the help of a servile, biased “reporter”–feeding all sorts of false information to said “reporter”–the “reporter” essentially takes dictation, writes it up, and publishes it as “news.” Earthworks and Moms Clean Air Force, both national, radical, out-of-the-mainstream anti fossil-fuel groups, have colluded with the Post-Gazette to release a fake news “report” that says because some of Pennsylvania’s children go to school within a half mile of an oil or gas well, those children are endangered from emissions, including methane. Yeah, methane–you know, natural gas. IF methane happens to leak (which doesn’t happen often) it simply goes straight up into the atmosphere where it supposedly contributes to man-made global warming. It certainly doesn’t endanger anyone on the ground. The Big Green groups publishing the report say 311,000 kids in PA go to school near an oil or gas well (the vast majority being conventional, non-shale wells). Big Green totally lies about the risks. But let’s set that aside for the moment. Why are only children endangered? Why not adults too? Or pets? Or zombies? Big Green is (ab)using children in their narrative because everyone has a knee-jerk reaction when it comes to kids. We all will protect our children with our own lives–it’s an ingrained, automatic reaction. These sleazeballs are playing off that fear with a false report–and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is complicit in spreading the lie…
    Read More “Antis Release Fake Report Claiming PA Children at Risk from Drilling”