Marcellus Drilling News

Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

DRBC Secretly Deliberating on Rules to Lift Shale Drilling Ban
March 16, 2017March 16, 2017

The Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) held a regularly scheduled business meeting yesterday in Washington Crossing, PA. As predicted, a number of anti-fossil fuel zealots turned up to make noise about the PennEast Pipeline project–and about the prospect of the DRBC allowing shale drilling. As we disclosed yesterday, the zealots all read from the same document prepared by Her Eminence, THE Delaware Riverkeeper, Maya van Rossum (see THE Dela. Riverkeeper Issues Final Orders to Minions re DRBC Mtg). It’s tiresome reporting on the same, predictable behavior by children in adult bodies who never learned manners from their parents. So we’re not going to comment on the circus freak show that was the public comment period yesterday. However, there was an interesting development to report. Lt. Col. Michael Bliss of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (the Army Corps is one of the standing members of the DRBC Commission) read a statement about the history and possible future of DRBC regulations that may allow shale drilling in the basin. You read that right. According to Bliss, since 2010 the staff of the DRBC has actively been engaged in private (i.e. secret) discussions with various state agencies (we’re assuming the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection) in an effort to, at some point, release regulations that will allow shale drilling in the Delaware River Basin. He said those discussions are ongoing and that before any kind of regs are released, there will be plenty of notice and public hearings…
Read More “DRBC Secretly Deliberating on Rules to Lift Shale Drilling Ban”
Energy Services | Energy Transfer Partners | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Ohio | Pipelines | Statewide OH

Some Ohio Landowners Say Rover Violating FERC Tree Clearing Order
March 16, 2017March 16, 2017

A group of approximately 250 Ohio landowners, represented by an Ohio eminent domain law firm, is doing its best to stop Energy Transfer’s Rover Pipeline project dead in its tracks. Rover is playing beat the clock to finish tree clearing following a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) final approval of the project on Feb. 3 (see ET Rover Pipeline Gets Final Approval by FERC). In order to comply with the batty regulation to have trees cleared no later March 31 (due to roosting bats that are protected), Rover moved immediately to begin the tree clearing process. Most Ohio landowners have granted easements and permission to Rover to clear trees. But there are those that have not–either because they want more money, or because they’re anti-fossil fuelers. Regardless, Rover has the right to do it and is using eminent domain procedures to do it. The group of 250 trying to stop Rover has taken two actions: (1) filed a complain with FERC claiming Rover is violating the terms of FERC’s order by not giving landowners advanced notice before clearing trees, and (2) filed a lawsuit in Ohio federal court asking for a restraining order. Will it work?…
Read More “Some Ohio Landowners Say Rover Violating FERC Tree Clearing Order”
Empire Pipeline | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

NY Fights Back Against NFG’s Request to Bypass DEC Pipe Approval
March 16, 2017March 16, 2017

On Feb. 3, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approved a long-delayed project–National Fuel Gas Company’s (NFG) Northern Access 2016 pipeline project (see NFG’s Northern Access Pipe in NY/PA Gets FERC Approval). The $455 million project includes building 97 miles of new pipeline along a power line corridor from northwestern Pennsylvania up to Erie County, NY. The project also calls for 3 miles of new pipeline further up, in Niagara County, along with a new compressor station in the Town of Pendleton. Although FERC has now given permission to build it, the State of New York, specifically the state’s Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DEC), must issue stream crossing permits. We’ve seen this movie before. The corrupt DEC fiddle faddles around in an effort to stall and delay. NFG is in no mood to screw around with the Cuomo DEC, so they filed a motion asking FERC for a “reconsideration and clarification” on the role of the DEC in reviewing the project (see Gutsy: NFG Asks FERC to Cut NY DEC Out of Pipeline Approval). Specifically, NFG wants FERC to rule that the DEC has NO role in reviewing the Northern Access 2016 project. The corrupt DEC doesn’t like being challenged and last week filed its own motion with FERC claiming NFG is out of line. The peeing match has begun…
Read More “NY Fights Back Against NFG’s Request to Bypass DEC Pipe Approval”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Dominion Energy | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Regulation

SC Antis File FERC Challenge to Stop Marcellus Pipe to Charleston
March 16, 2017March 16, 2017

Transco to Charleston Project – click for larger version

In March 2016, Dominion filed an official application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for a 55-mile pipeline project called the Transco to Charleston Project (see Dominion Files Application to Move Marcellus Gas to Charleston, SC). As the name implies, it will be a short pipeline to connect the Transco pipeline, which is in the process of reversing flows to bring Marcellus and Utica Shale gas south. This new pipeline will grab Transco’s Marcellus/Utica gas and send it to the Charleston, SC area. The projected in-service date is November of this year. However, this project, like every square inch of every pipeline project in the Eastern U.S., faces opposition from nutty anti-drilling radicals who vow to try and stop it even if it gets FERC approval (see SC Antis Fuss Over Pipeline to Carry Marcellus Gas to Charleston). In February, just prior to Commissioner Norman Bay resigning and leaving FERC without a quorum, the three FERC Commissioners voted to grant Dominion the certificate to build the Transco to Charleston pipeline (see FERC Approves SC Pipeline to Flow Marcellus Gas to Charleston). So the nutters have flown into action by filing a request for a rehearing of the Commission’s decision, and filing a motion to stop any construction in the meantime…
Read More “SC Antis File FERC Challenge to Stop Marcellus Pipe to Charleston”
Energy Services | HalenHardy

HalenHardy Does it Again – New SpillBoa Absorbs Oil/Fuel Spills
March 16, 2017March 16, 2017

Donny Beaver is a serial entrepreneur. He co-founded New Pig in the mid-1980s–a company that absorbs anything that leaks, drips, splatters or spills. In 2001 Donny founded what would become a series of exclusive fly fishing clubs/retreat centers called the HomeWaters Club across Pennsylvania. In January 2013 he co-founded and launched HalenHardy, which solves problems for the Marcellus (and by extension construction) industry. Donny would talk to Marcellus workers who frequented his HomeWaters Club and his natural curiosity landed him in a new venture to help solve problems for the industry. HalenHardy’s tagline is that it develops and manufactures “tools to tackle crappy jobs®” for the mobile industrial workforce. First up was the excellent and award winning Mobile Air Shower by HalenHardy (MASHH) units that remove silica dust from workers in 30 seconds (see HalenHardy Wins Ben Franklin EHS Award for Silica Air Shower). Next up was a device that removes mud from boots in 30 seconds. After that? Portable barriers that will keep people away from dangerous construction sites or emergency scenes–as in “keep the heck out,” a product called Heck Out (see Marcellus Entrepreneur Donny Beaver: Silica Dust, Mud & Heck Out). Donny and his crew have done it again. HalenHardy has a line of products called Spilltration that trap oil, diesel fuel, and other kinds of chemicals, while letting pure water pass right through. Ingenious. What’s even more ingenious is that they’ve figured out a way to condense the Spilltration material into a 5-inch by 25-foot “flat boom” (think a long snake) that can be coiled up and fit behind the seat in your pickup truck. This new product, called SpillBoa™, is small enough for workers to carry with them to job sites–saving critical time. In the event of a spill, workers can quickly contain it so it doesn’t reach a storm drain or leak out of containment…
Read More “HalenHardy Does it Again – New SpillBoa Absorbs Oil/Fuel Spills”
CNG/LNG | Dominion Energy | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Regulation

Dominion CEO Asks Senators to Fix Broken Permitting Process
March 16, 2017March 16, 2017

Dominion CEO Diane Leopold

On Tuesday, just as winter storm Stella was beginning to hit along the East Coast, a group of executives testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy & Natural Resources. The session was billed as a “Hearing to receive testimony on opportunities to improve American energy infrastructure.” One of the speakers to address the Senators was Dominion CEO Diane Leopold. The thrust of her lengthy testimony was to encourage (implore?) the Senators to (in our words) fix the very broken process of permitting important infrastructure projects in this country. Leopold shared Dominion’s experience in applying for permits to build the $4 billion Cove Point LNG export project in Maryland. As bad as it was with 55 federal, state and local permits and reviews required, Leopold said Cove Point was a relative walk in the park compared to what they’re now going through with the $5.5 billion Atlantic Coast Pipeline project. Something has got to change if anything is going to get built in this country…
Read More “Dominion CEO Asks Senators to Fix Broken Permitting Process”
CNG/LNG | Industrywide Issues | NG Vehicles

UPS Adds 390 CNG, 50 LNG Trucks to Fleet in $90M NatGas Investment
March 16, 2017March 16, 2017

UPS LNG tractor trailer

In 2013 we tipped our hat to UPS, the worldwide package delivery service, for their commitment to growing their natural gas fleet with a plan to add 700 new LNG (liquefied natural gas) tractor trailers to the fleet (see UPS to Grow NG Fleet with Additional 700 LNG Tractor Trailers). In 2015, UPS did it again. The company announced they would another 64 new LNG tractor trailers to the fleet–this batch based in Harrisburg, PA (see UPS Adds 64 New LNG Tractor Trailers to Fleet in Harrisburg, PA). It seems that UPS’s investment in natural gas comes every two years. Yesterday the company announced another massive $90 million investment in natural gas. UPS is adding an additional six compressed natural gas (CNG) fueling stations, 390 new CNG tractors and terminal trucks, and 50 liquefied natural gas (LNG) vehicles to its alternative fuel/advanced technology fleet…
Read More “UPS Adds 390 CNG, 50 LNG Trucks to Fleet in $90M NatGas Investment”
Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Thu, Mar 16, 2017
March 16, 2017March 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 Supreme Court suspends Jesse White’s law license; pipelines are solution to high energy costs in New England; gas glut leading to low prices in 2017; is changing natgas market about to change again; crude prices plunge because shale oil on the increase; how to fix our failing energy infrastructure; why natgas is the future – not coal; Trump to dump climate change from enviro reviews; and more!
Read More “Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Thu, Mar 16, 2017”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | PennEast Pipeline | Pipelines | Regulation

THE Dela. Riverkeeper Issues Final Orders to Minions re DRBC Mtg
March 15, 2017March 15, 2017

Today is the day that (some of) Maya’s minions will show up at a meeting of the Delaware River Basin Commission to attempt to bully DRBC staff during the public comments period. As we’ve been reporting (from a well-placed mole on the DRBC email list) Maya has been issuing orders to her minions–people who apparently aren’t bright enough to form their own thoughts about matters like the PennEast Pipeline (see Mind-Numbed Antis Need Maya’s Instructions re DRBC Mar 15 Mtg). Maya has written out a treatise of objections to PennEast, to be read WORD FOR WORD by the minions–or else. We now have the script that Maya’s mind-numbed robots will read from (see it below). We also have her last-minute instructions to the dolts doing the reading…
Read More “THE Dela. Riverkeeper Issues Final Orders to Minions re DRBC Mtg”
Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pike County | Regulation | Statewide PA | Wayne County

DRBC has No Power to Stop Shale Drilling in Delaware River Basin
March 15, 2017March 15, 2017

You’ve heard the phrase, “The Emperor has no clothes.” A lawsuit against the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) by a Wayne County, PA landowner over the DRBC’s ongoing moratorium of shale gas drilling, is exposing the DRBC as having “no clothes” when it comes to their authority over shale drilling (see Wayne County, PA Landowner Sues DRBC Over Fracking Ban). In fact, the DRBC has no authority to stop shale drilling, as they are now being forced to admit in response to the lawsuit. That fact has the DRBC, and radical environmentalists like THE Delaware Riverkeeper, petrified. MDN friend Tom Shepstone, author of the always-excellent Natural Gas Now website, writes about the DRBC’s lack of authority and the need for Pennsylvania to immediately defund the DRBC–until the agency stops their sham pretense of blocking shale drilling…
Read More “DRBC has No Power to Stop Shale Drilling in Delaware River Basin”
Industrywide Issues | Regulation | Statewide WV | West Virginia

WV Bill to Exempt O&G from Storage Tank Law Gets Gutted
March 15, 2017March 15, 2017

On Monday, MDN wrote about a new bill introduced in the West Virginia legislature that would exempt storage tanks used by the oil and gas industry from a 2014 law passed following a coal industry storage tank failure that temporarily polluted the drinking water for 300,000 WV residents (see WV Bill Would Exempt O&G Industry from Storage Tank Law). House Bill (HB) 2811 would exempt ~27,000 tanks owned and operated by the oil and gas industry from West Virginia’s Aboveground Storage Tank Act. The bill didn’t get far. On Monday, the WV House Judiciary Committee gutted their version of the bill. The new/gutted version will exempt about ~2,300 oil and gas storage tanks–those very small and very far away from drinking water sources…
Read More “WV Bill to Exempt O&G from Storage Tank Law Gets Gutted”
Forced Pooling | Industrywide Issues | Regulation | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Analysis of New WV Bill SB 576 re Co-Tenancy & Joint Development
March 15, 2017March 15, 2017

Yesterday MDN reported on a new West Virginia bill (Senate Bill 576) that aims to bring both the drilling industry and rights owners together to support co-tenancy and joint development–which are stripped down pieces of previous forced pooling bills that failed in the past (see WV Sen. Charles Trump Introduces New Co-Tenancy, Joint Dev Bill). As we previously reported, Senate Bill 244 was introduced in February to address co-tenancy and joint development (see WV Senate Bill 244 Introduced for Co-Tenancy & Joint Development). That bill went nowhere due to strong opposition from rights owners, including the West Virginia Royalty Owner’s Association (WVROA). SB 576 was meant to meet rights owners in the middle, to address their concerns. But as we mentioned yesterday, WVROA is not supporting the new SB 576 either. Although we included a copy of the bill in yesterday’s post, we did not have a detailed analysis of SB 576 vs SB 244. We now have some expert analysis from the legal beagles at top energy law firm Babst Calland…
Read More “Analysis of New WV Bill SB 576 re Co-Tenancy & Joint Development”
Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Taxation

MSC Responds to Sec DCED’s Call for High Severance Tax
March 15, 2017March 15, 2017

Last week MDN published a letter to the editor (Philadelphia Inquirer) from Dennis Davin, Secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development (DCED), supporting his boss’ desire for a new, very high Marcellus Shale severance tax (see PA DCED Sec. Promotes Wolf’s Marcellus-Killing Severance Tax). As we said at the time, we prefer to think the letter was written by someone in the governor’s office and pushed in front of Davin for his signature. The column smacks of socialistic crap about how the severance tax is PA’s “fair share” of the Marcellus Shale boom. It’s nothing of the sort. The severance tax is a political payback to teachers’ unions for backing Wolf, which Davin surely knows. He and his excellent staff have been tireless promoters of the Shell ethane cracker–we have a favorable opinion of the DCED. MDN friend Dave Spigelmyer, president of the Marcellus Shale Coalition, noticed Davin’s letter too. So Dave wrote his own letter to the editor, to respond…
Read More “MSC Responds to Sec DCED’s Call for High Severance Tax”
Industrywide Issues | Regulation

Bumble Bee May Yet Sting O&G Industry with “Endangered” Listing
March 15, 2017March 15, 2017

Rusty patched bumble bee

As MDN has previously chronicled, on September 22, 2016 the rogue U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) published a proposed rule to list the rusty patched bumble bee (Bombus affinis) as “endangered” under the Endangered Species Act (ESA). The rusty patched bumble bee is found in the Midwest and eastern parts of the U.S. If it gets listed, it will have SIGNIFICANT impacts on drillers and midstreamers (see “Endangered” Bumble Bee May Slow/Stop O&G Projects in Northeast). With just a few days left in Obama’s reign of terror, the Obama-influenced USFWS pulled the trigger and listed it (see USFWS Pulls the Trigger and Lists Bumble Bee as Endangered). But then a white knight rode in to town to (temporarily) save the day. The Trump Administration signed an order delaying the listing until March 21 (see Trump Administration Delays Listing Bumble Bee as Endangered). The clock is ticking and drillers/midstreamers are worried. The oil and gas industry, along with farmers and others negatively affected by the listing, have asked newly-minted Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke to delay the listing until next year, to give everyone time to figure how they’re going to comply with this newest inanity from USFWS…
Read More “Bumble Bee May Yet Sting O&G Industry with “Endangered” Listing”
CNG/LNG | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines

Trinidad LNG Exports Keep Falling – When Will it Affect New England?
March 15, 2017March 15, 2017

Last June, MDN quasi-predicted that natural gas prices may spike during the 2016-2017 winter season in New England, due to a coming shortage of LNG from Tinidad (see Is New England Heading for Huge NatGas Price Spike this Winter?). With a warmer than normal winter, and with newfound natural gas supplies making their way to New England, prices did not spike. However, New England continues to pay prices 3-4 times higher than the rest of the country for their natgas–due to lack of supply. That hasn’t (and won’t) change, until more supplies make it to New England–either by pipeline or ship. Opponents of new pipelines to New England have included LNG importers in the region. Specifically, GDF Suez imports Trinidad gas at the Everett, MA LNG import terminal, near Boston (see New England Importer Received 59% of All LNG Ship Imports 1H15). LNG imports are one of the primary sources of natgas for New England. Antis holler and scream, “Forget the pipelines. If you must use gas, use LNG. There’s more than enough LNG to supply New England.” In a macro sense that may be true–the world is awash in LNG. But arranging shipments and sources for it takes months, even years. Right now most of the LNG GDF Suez imports comes from Trinidad. As we pointed out in our article last year, Trinidad’s natural gas sources are drying up. The country is exporting less and less. We spotted yet another article about how Trinidad’s natural gas exports are rapidly declining. Sooner or later Trinidad’s falling exports will affect GDF Suez’s imports of LNG to New England. Once again, like that famous New Englander Paul Revere, we’re issuing a warning that New England needs new sources of natgas (via pipelines), and they need it sooner rather than later…
Read More “Trinidad LNG Exports Keep Falling – When Will it Affect New England?”
Baker Hughes | Energy Services

Baker Hughes Introduces New “Adaptive” Drill Bit
March 15, 2017March 15, 2017

TerrAdapt™ adaptive drill bit

Baker Hughes has just officially released a new drill bit that they hope will become the new standard in drill bits–the TerrAdapt “adaptive” drill bit. Baker Hughes says they’ve made “dumb” drill bits “smart” by packing intelligence into them. This drill bit can respond to conditions in real time, automatically, to prevent “stick-slip” issues which cause bits to rapidly speed up or slow down. The bit self-adjusts its depth-of-cut (DOC) control elements to automatically adapt its aggressiveness to changing rock types. Pretty cool stuff. The long and the short of it is that this bit means less problems and more uptime spent drilling/chewing away, meaning it will take less time to get the hole drilled…
Read More “Baker Hughes Introduces New “Adaptive” Drill Bit”