Landowner Appeals Range Well Contamination Case to PA Supreme Crt
For some time we’ve followed the story of Range Resources and their (former) wastewater impoundments in Washington County, PA. The PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) fined Range a whopping $4.15 million for violations in September 2014 (see PA DEP Fines Range Resources $4.15M for Wastewater Impoundments). Some of the nearby neighbors claimed that Range’s leaky impoundments (a quarter of a mile away) contaminated their water wells. One of those landowners was Loren Kiskadden, who sued Range in civil court. The problem is, the DEP determined that the nearby Yeager impoundment had not contaminated Kiskadden’s well, which led to allegations that the DEP had bungled the investigation (see Did DEP Mishandle Range Wastewater Impoundment Investigation?). Kiskadden had to press on, because if the DEP doesn’t reverse its finding, he has no civil case against Range. Press on he did (see Hearing on Range Yeager Impoundment/Water Contamination Continues). The matter was heard by the DEP’s Environmental Hearing Board (EHB). The EHB found that Kiskadden didn’t have a case–his well was not contaminated by Range’s impoundment. So Kiskadden and his lawyers asked for a re-hearing. The result of that re-hearing came in December 2015 and we thought it finally closed the door, once and for all, on the case (see DEP Final Determination: Range Didn’t Pollute Kiskadden Water Well). But no, that was not the end. Kiskadden appealed again, and in October 2016 a Commonwealth Court appeals panel affirmed the EHB’s 2015 dismissal of Kiskadden’s appeal of the DEP 2011 ruling that Range’s Yeager site operations did not contaminate Kiskadden’s well water. Case closed, right? Nope. Kiskadden has one card left to play, and he’s done it. Kiskadden’s attorneys have appealed the case to the PA Supreme Court…
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Over the past two months Panda Power Funds has brought online the first two built-from-scratch-to-use-Marcellus-gas electric plants, both in northeast Pennsylvania (see 
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has just thrown a little cold water on two important pipeline upgrades to carry more Marcellus/Utica gas to southern markets. A final environmental impact statement (EIS) was due from FERC for both the Mountaineer XPress and Gulf XPress projects no later than April 28, 2017. FERC says that deadline is going to slip by three months due to reroutes and additional environment information requested. MDN has previously reported on Mountaineer XPress, which includes 165 miles of new pipeline with approximately 2.7 billion cubic feet (Bcf) per day of transportation capacity from existing and future points of receipt along or near the Columbia pipeline system–most of it located in West Virginia (see 
Fairmount Santrol, an Ohio-based sand producer that sells sand as a proppant for use in Utica and Marcellus Shale drilling, raised $161 million from a new stock offering in August (see 
In March 2015, Dominion–a huge natural gas and electric utility as well as a midstream company–announced plans to build the State of Virginia’s (indeed the country’s) largest natural gas powered electric generating plant, in Greensville County, VA (see 
The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading. In today’s lineup: Activists backed with lib $$ protest against Trump & natgas; petition with out-of-state signatures may affect OH Wayne National Forest lease sale; Williams closing OKC office, moving people to Tulsa; OPEC cutback may trigger drilling boom in US shale; North American natgas prices will rise due to LNG, petchem demand; the frac spread; and more!
As MDN predicted, yesterday the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approved the NEXUS Pipeline project (see 
FERC (the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission) is not happy with Energy Transfer and their Rover Pipeline. There are two major pipeline projects planned for Ohio: NEXUS and Rover. NEXUS got some FERC love today (see today’s lead story). Rover, on the other hand, is getting the cold shoulder from FERC, from a self-inflicted wound. Let us explain. As a reminder, Rover (an Energy Transfer project) is a $3.7 billion, 711-mile Marcellus/Utica natural gas pipeline that will run from PA, WV and eastern OH through OH into Michigan and eventually into Canada. The short version of what happened is that in May 2015 Rover purchased a house in Carroll County, OH, located near where the pipeline, and a compressor station for that pipeline, is due to run. Rover bought the house to use for offices for several Rover affiliate companies. After buying it, they determined it was “ill-suited for its intended purpose” and decided to demolish the house. Problem was/is, that house was under consideration to be added to the National Register of Historic Places. The house was not yet on the list of Historic Places, but was on a list of properties under consideration. Rover should have reported their decision to demolish the house to FERC but didn’t, which has Rover in hot water with FERC and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation. Will Rover’s action kill the project? No. Will it slow down Rover and end up costing the company boatloads of money? Most likely, although Rover disputes that interpretation of events…
Statoil, based in Norway, is a big player in the West Virginia Marcellus Shale. Statoil paid property taxes to Brooke, Marshall, Ohio and Wetzel counties (all in WV) in 2015 and later found, during an audit/review, that they had overpaid those counties. They overpaid Brooke by $1.8 million, Ohio by $2.9 million, Wetzel by $1.6 million and Marshall by $342,000. The WV Tax Department argues that Statoil “acted negligently” and exercised “poor judgment” in not finding the mistake sooner. All four counties voted to deny Statoil’s request, so Statoil took them to court, asking the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals to hear the case. However, the Appeals court has just ruled that the cases are not “complex” and don’t require “special treatment,” so back to county court the cases will go…
For several years MDN has tracked and reported on a lawsuit brought against the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District (MWCD) by an anti-drilling couple in Guernsey County, OH–Leatra Harper and her husband Steven Janstro (backed by the odious Food & Water Watch). At last check in April 2014, the couple had won the right to continue on with the lawsuit (see 
FirstEnergy is one of the nation’s largest investor-owned electric systems, serving customers in Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, West Virginia, Maryland and New York. FirstEnergy loves the shale industry. We told you in December 2014 that FirstEnergy was planning to invest $100 million in new electric transmission projects to service the growing Marcellus and Utica Shale industry in WV (see 
Kinder Morgan’s Broad Run Expansion Project will expand transportation capacity of natural gas on the existing Tennessee Gas Pipeline system. The project includes the construction of two new compressor stations in Kanawha County, WV, one new compressor station in Davidson County, TN, and one new compressor station in Madison County, KY. Tennessee Gas also expects to increase compression capacity by modifying two of its existing compressor stations in Powell and Boyd counties in KY by replacing existing capacity with new, higher-rated horsepower compression units. The project will provide an extra 200,000 dekatherms per day (Dth/d) of transportation capacity along the same capacity path as the Broad Run Flexibility project, which was placed in service on Nov. 1, 2015. All of the additional gas will come from Antero Resources and their Marcellus/Utica program. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a Certificate to build the project in September. However, several anti-drillers filed an appeal, asking for a stay claiming a removal of 40 acres of forest for a compressor station would irreparably harm Mom Earth. FERC has just ruled against the stay and told the antis Mom Earth will be just fine. Fire up the backhoes!…
Pipelines have been, and continue to be, a big deal throughout the Marcellus and Utica region. Landowners who are approached about placing a pipeline through their property should (1) never sign the standard contract presented, and (2) never sign anything without first running it by a lawyer. Beyond that, what else should landowners think about/do when negotiating a pipeline easement? Clif Little from the Ohio State University Extension gives us some helpful tips…
The world’s third largest oilfield services company, Baker Hughes, has struggled to stay afloat given the radical reduction in revenue they get for the services they offer. BH’s recent third quarter update showed the company lost $430 million, which is down from losing $912 million in 3Q15, a positive sign we suppose (see