New WVDEP Secretary Fires Enviro Advocate, Communications Director
It’s the end of an era in West Virginia. Due to term limits, Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin (Democrat) could not run for reelection this past November. Jim Justice (also a Democrat) won that election. Upon assuming office this month, Justice appointed a new head of the WV Dept. of Environmental Protection–Austin Caperton. It’s only natural for an incoming governor to pick his own team, even if the outgoing governor was from the same party. And, we suppose, it’s only natural that the new head of a department (Caperton) would want his own team too. In a move that appears to have generated some controversy, Caperton has given the boot to the leader of the DEP’s Office of Environmental Advocate, Wendy Radcliff, as well as the DEP’s communications director, Kelley Gillenwater. Radical anti groups like the West Virginia Highlands Conservancy, West Virginia Sierra Club and the Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition were up in arms over the firing of Radcliff. Which must mean it was a good move…
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It’s been a while since we’ve updated you on Canadian driller and midstream company Epsilon Energy. As a reminder, Epsilon had a shareholder rebellion in 2013 and threw out the sitting board of directors (see 
As MDN has covered (shouted) for several years now: natural gas-fired electric plants are a really big deal. The conversion from using coal (and some other forms) to natgas to generate electricity is happening at an increasing rate. And those electric generating plants use A LOT of natgas–meaning new markets for drillers. Just yesterday we gave you a list of 409 such projects across the Fruited Plain (see 
In November 2015, MDN told you about Pilgrim Pipeline Holdings, developing an East Coast pipeline to carry refined petroleum products such as gasoline, diesel, heating oil, and jet and aviation fuel northbound from Linden, New Jersey to Albany, New York (178 miles). In addition, a second Pilgrim pipeline will carry crude oil from Albany south to NJ and other locations. Two pipelines, side by side, liquids flowing through them in different directions (see 
PennEast Pipeline has just released a list of 28 non-profit organizations receiving grants of “up to” $5,000 from the pipeline company. It’s not the first time (
Last week President Trump issued a pair of executive orders meant to speed up approval for the Keystone XL and Dakota Access Pipeline projects (see 
The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading. In today’s lineup: New REX Zone 3 capacity for northeast gas markets; Indian Point nuke closing, how will NY replace 25% of Manhattan’s electricity; Sunoco hiring at Marcus Hook refinery; Trump’s election “complicates” gas politics in PA; rig counts stable in PA; natural gas prices running out of time for a rally; oil prices slip; and more!
The nutjobs at the Sierra Club have done us the favor in identifying their next targets: 409 natural gas-fired electric plants and 83 pipeline projects either under construction or planned. We have both full lists below. (Handy lists for those who want to sell something to the builders of those projects!) Global warming nuttery has metastasized into full-blown insanity at the Sierra Club. Even though natural gas produces far less carbon and harmful emissions than other fossil fuels, the Sierra Club is focusing all of their money, time and resources to defeating anything to do with fossil fuels. If they got their way, they would stop an additional 31 gigawatts of electricity from coming online from gas-fired plants (many of them in the Marcellus/Utica region). They would also stop many M-U pipeline projects. Essentially, they want to force all of us back into the Stone Ages–without the benefit of plastics or the use of fossil fuels. Yes, it IS insanity. Below are not only the two lists (gas power plants projects and pipeline projects), but also a copy of the Sierra Club’s latest foray into Joseph Goebbels propaganda–a report called “The Gas Rush: Locking America into Another Fossil Fuel for Decades.” Real bizzaro stuff…
Last week we brought you a few pickings from the Hart Energy Marcellus-Utica Midstream Conference and Exhibition held in Pittsburgh. One of those pickings were comments from Williams CEO Alan Armstrong and his prediction that production in the Marcellus/Utica would go up by 65% in the next five years (see 
Somehow, someway, a new natural gas-fired electric plant is in the process of getting built–in anti-fracking New York State (see 
Range Resources released details on their proved reserves last Friday. The company reports proved reserves are 12.1 trillion cubic feet equivalent (Tcfe), a 22% jump from 9.9 Tcfe at the end of 2015. Excluding acquisitions and divestitures, Range’s proved reserves were actually up 11%. Range CEO Jeff Ventura said the company replaced 292% of production from its drilling activities in 2016. They have driven down development costs to 34 cents per thousand cubic feet. If it costs an average of 87 cents to gather and get the gas to market (PA IFO estimate), that means it costs Range $1.21 to find, extract and get the gas to market. Range’s announcement was pretty amped-up on their newest purchase of acreage in Louisiana. However, in 2016, almost all of the added proved reserves came in the Marcellus–1,315 out of 1,394 billion cubic feet (or 94%)…
Oilfield services company Baker Hughes, with major operations in the Marcellus/Utica, posted its fourth quarter and annual 2016 results last week. Financially speaking the numbers were a river of red. BH lost $2.7 billion in 2016 vs. losing $1.9 billion in 2015. However, when you look at the later half of the year, and the fourth quarter in particular, the numbers started to improve. BH lost $417 million in 4Q16 vs. losing $1 billion in 4Q15. The bleeding slowed. BH CEO Martin Craighead, in responding to a question about the company’s North American shale business, said, “So equipment goes where it’s loved the most, and not every basin in North America is created equal right now in terms of pricing.” Hmmm. We wonder if the Marcellus/Utica is loved? Below is the update…
As we inch closer to a final investment decision (FID) on the PTT Global Chemical ethane cracker in Belmont County, OH, and with President Trump’s emphasis on using steel manufactured here at home for pipeline projects like Keystone XL, some are asking whether the PTT project (if it gets approved) will use American steel–or cheap, imported steel. It’s a good question…