Marcellus Drilling News

Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Washington County

South Fayette, PA Pushing Defacto Frack Ban, Again
June 17, 2016June 17, 2016

Last month MDN brought you some news that mainstream media in Pittsburgh intentionally ignored: a judge ruled that a new hyper-restrictive (defacto ban) ordinance passed by South Fayette Township, in Allegheny County, was “invalid, null and void” (see South Fayette, PA Restrictive Drilling Ordinance Tossed by Judge). South Fayette is one of seven selfish PA towns that sued the state after the Act 13 law was enacted in 2012 (see Lawsuit Filed: PA Towns Sue State over Marcellus Act 13 Law). Ultimately the towns won their case at the PA Supreme Court level, winning the right to enact their own ordinances with respect to oil and gas drilling. Last year South Fayette enacted a new defacto ban, calling it a zoning ordinance. The judge, as we mentioned, tossed it out last month–but he tossed it because South Fayette didn’t follow proper protocol and procedure. So South Fayette is back–re-advertising the new zoning rule and in July, they intend to adopt it…
Read More “South Fayette, PA Pushing Defacto Frack Ban, Again”
Electrical Generation | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Kinder Morgan | Lackawanna County | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Regulation | Susquehanna County | Tennessee Gas Pipeline

NEPA Pipeline for Power Plant Gets Positive FERC Assessment
June 17, 2016June 17, 2016

Kinder Morgan’s Tennessee Gas Pipeline Company (TGP) is proposing to build a small pipeline near Scranton, PA to service what will be the state’s largest natural gas-fired electric generating plant, in Jessup (see Kinder Morgan 4Q15: Cutting Dividend, PA Pipeline Progress). The pipeline project is called the Triad Expansion Project and involves building seven miles of new 36-inch pipeline alongside an existing pipeline in Lenox and Clifford Townships, Susquehanna County, PA. When complete, Triad will deliver 180,000 dekatherms (180 million cubic feet) of natural gas per day to the new Invenergy plant in Jessup, called the Lackawanna Energy Center. Good news for the Triad project and the Invenergy plant: the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has just granted a favorable Environmental Assessment for the pipeline–all but guaranteeing its approval…
Read More “NEPA Pipeline for Power Plant Gets Positive FERC Assessment”
Dominion Energy | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | New York | Pipelines | Regulation | Statewide NY

Petition Asks Gov. Cuomo to Approve Upstate Pipeline Project
June 17, 2016June 17, 2016

We hate to say this, but we’ve seen this movie before. Last October the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approved Dominion’s $165 million New Market Project–a project that expands Dominion’s transmission pipeline from western New York across the state to the Capital Region of the state, near Albany (see FERC Approves Expansion of Dominion Pipeline in Upstate NY). As with any fossil fuel-related project, radical environmentalists objected (see NY Antis Flood FERC in Fight Against Dominion’s New Market Project). Also once again, there’s a holdup in New York–the Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DEC), at Gov. Cuomo’s behest, has delayed granting necessary permits for the project to begin. Can anyone say “Constitution” (see NY Gov. Cuomo Refuses to Grant Permits for Constitution Pipeline). Yesterday three groups, including the Consumer Energy Alliance (CEA), the Business Council of New York State and New York State Laborers’ filed a petition with Cuomo with 10,000 signatures requesting he get off his rear-end and approve the New Market Project…
Read More “Petition Asks Gov. Cuomo to Approve Upstate Pipeline Project”
Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Luzerne County | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Regulation | Statewide PA | Transco | Williams

More Support for Atlantic Sunrise at FERC Hearings in PA
June 17, 2016June 17, 2016

Last night concluded a round of four public hearings held by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) regarding approval for Williams’ Atlantic Sunrise pipeline project. The first hearing, in Lancaster, PA, was largely a circus freak show of anti-drilling babblers (see Lancaster Antis Try to Bully Pipeline Supporters, FERC Reps). A session held in Lebanon County, PA was dominated by supporters of the pipeline (see Supporters Dominate 2nd FERC Hearing for Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline). Last night’s hearing, held in Dallas, PA (near Wilkes-Barre) also saw many supporters. One of the supporters who spoke in favor was MDN friend Kevin Lynn. MDN editor Jim Willis has appeared on Kevin’s weekend talk radio show a few times in the past (“The Shale Gas News,” heard every Saturday at 10 am on 94.3 FM in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre area). Here’s how things went down last night in Dallas…
Read More “More Support for Atlantic Sunrise at FERC Hearings in PA”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Companies | Exxon Mobil | Industrywide Issues | Litigation

Exxon Fights Back Against Mass. AG’s Illegal Subpoena
June 17, 2016June 17, 2016

Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, New York AG Eric Schneiderman and several other Democrat AGs have ganged up like a pack a hyenas with saliva dripping from their legal fangs at the prospect of bringing down one of the biggest preys imaginable–Exxon Mobil. Healey, Schneiderman and others are making fantastical claims that Exxon “knew” that burning their evil, filthy, nasty oil and natural gas is causing Mom Earth to warm up, so they’ve been serving subpoenas to Exxon to turn over ever piece of communication the company has ever had, so they can build a case against Exxon’s free speech (see NY AG Targets/Accuses ExxonMobil of Lying about ‘Climate Change’). As we’ve previously written, these far-out libs represent the rise of the new Enviro Nazis (see Rise of the New (Environmental) Nazis – Free Speech Under Attack). The legal hyenas believe they could bring down the “beast”–stealing Exxon’s money and redistributing it to voters who will keep them in office forever. Just one little problem: Exxon isn’t playing along. The beast is not wilting, not running, not willing to give up and give in, like the legal hyenas thought it would. In fact, the beast is fighting back…
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CNG/LNG | Industrywide Issues | Processing Plants | Regulation

Nova Scotia Seeks Comments on Plans to Overregulate LNG
June 17, 2016June 17, 2016

Nova Scotia – click for larger version (Credit: Wikipedia)

Yesterday MDN highlighted the good news that the government of Canada has given its final, full approval for the Bear Head LNG project proposed for Nova Scotia (see Canada Grants Final Approval for Bear Head LNG Facility). The Goldboro LNG export facility (Pieridae Energy) is also proposed for Nova Scotia. Both facilities would use a considerable amount of Marcellus Shale gas to compress and export–so even though they are Canadian projects, they are of keen interest to us in the Marcellus/Utica region. So it was with equally keen interest we noticed that Nova Scotia is seeking comments on how the province can limit so-called greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, specifically from these two proposed LNG facilities. If Nova Scotia enacts onerous regulations on methane emissions, these plants will never get built. The government of Nova Scotia is eliciting comments on proposed new regulations (see below) from now until July 29…
Read More “Nova Scotia Seeks Comments on Plans to Overregulate LNG”
Industrywide Issues | Research | Reserves (Proved and Unproved)

Deloitte: Drillers Face $2 Trillion Funding Gap Next 5 Years
June 17, 2016June 17, 2016

Consulting and accounting powerhouse Deloitte has just issued an important new report that sounds the alarm that upstream (i.e. drillers) are not spending enough money to replace proved reserves. Deloitte says there is a “funding gap” of $2 trillion over the next five years! Natural gas is more at threat than oil, because natural gas “reserves shortfall is bigger than oil since the commodity is yet to see its best years of demand growth in the developing world.” The Deloitte report, titled “Short of Capital? Risk of underinvestment in Oil and Gas is amplified by competing cash priorities” is embedded below. An interesting read…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues

Radical Enviro Groups Push Hillary to Go Extreme
June 17, 2016June 17, 2016

Hillary Clinton

You think Hillary is a lot more moderate and reasonable when it comes to fracking and the environment? You know that Crazy Bernie Sanders doesn’t stand a chance, so you can breathe easier? Think again. Some of the most extreme and radical environmental groups who were backing Crazy Bernie are now sidling up to Hillary–and pushing her to go extreme when it comes to fracking and environmental issues. You should be concerned that she’ll do just that. After all, Hillary herself said, “By the time we get through all of my conditions, I do not think there will be many places in America where fracking will continue to take place” (see A President Hillary Clinton Would Ban Most Fracking). So she’s already predisposed to ban it–and now we read that Big Green Gangster groups like the Sierra Club, Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth and others are cozying up to Hillary, hoping they can push her to ban fracking outright…
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Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Fri, Jun 17, 2016
June 17, 2016June 17, 2016

The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading. In today’s lineup: Southwestern Energy not out of the woods yet; investors fleeing corrupt Andrew Cuomo’s Buffalo Billion project; Cincinnati passes resolution against pipeline; Sen. Inhofe tells states to ignore EPA’s Clean Power Plan directives; economics of new gas pipelines; Russians think price of oil stays low for 10-15 years; and more!
Read More “Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Fri, Jun 17, 2016”
Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Taxation

PA PUC Releases Impact Fee Numbers: Revenue Down $36M in 2015
June 16, 2016June 16, 2016

Yesterday the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC), the agency charged with keeping tabs on impact fee revenue from shale drillers, announced that impact fee revenue (PA’s version of a severance tax) is going down by $36 million from fees levied in the previous year–to $188 million. That’s the lowest yearly impact fee revenue in the past five years–since the beginning of impact fees in PA. As an aside, we find it interesting that last year when impact revenue was the highest it’s been in five years, the PUC had to be forced to release the numbers, with Republicans leaking the numbers first to force the PUC to give it up (see PA 2014 Impact Fee Payments: List of Drillers & What They Paid). This year, when impact fee revenues are at their (current) lowest levels, the PUC is only too happy to trumpet the news. Tell us again how politics, and lib Dem appointments, don’t play a role at the PUC. Anywho, below we have the johnny-on-the-spot-let’s-get-the-news-out-quickly press release from the PUC, followed by some pretty, colored charts detailing who paid, and where the money will go, for PA’s 2015 impact fees…
Read More “PA PUC Releases Impact Fee Numbers: Revenue Down $36M in 2015”
Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA Gov Wolf “Eager” to Sign Drilling Law Forced Down His Throat
June 16, 2016July 29, 2016

PA Gov. Tom Wolf

7/29/16 Update: Please see the note on this article for clarification on when/if new shale drilling regulations (known as Article 78a) will take effect.

We can’t stop laughing. PA’s very liberal Governor, Tom Wolf, has been obstinate in demanding onerous new drilling rules for the conventional, as well as unconventional (shale) drilling industry since he took office. Reworked drilling rules were done and ready to go under previous Governor, Tom Corbett. Then Corbett lost to Wolf, and Wolf demanded to change common sense rules everyone had already agreed to (see New Draft Drilling Regulations in PA: Wastewater Impoundments Out). It became obvious that Democrats were trying to run PA’s traditional, small conventional drillers out of business by applying the same regulations to them that will apply to shale drillers. The Pennsylvania Independent Oil & Gas Association (PIOGA) represents many of those small conventional drillers and vigorously fought back (see PIOGA Turns Up the Heat on Wolf/Quigley Over TAB/Article 78 and PA Board Adopts New Drilling Regs, PIOGA Blasts DEP “Deceptive”). In the end, Wolf’s own Democrat Party legislators in the House and Senate abandoned him and the writing was on the wall: The entire package of drilling rules, for both conventional (Article 78) and shale (Article 78a) was headed for defeat. The legislature was about to repeal both sets of newly-minted DEP rules–so Wolf pivoted and decided to accept half a loaf–passage of the shale rules, Article 78a (see Wolf Really Didn’t Wise Up, He Just Took Half a Loaf re Drilling Regs). Yesterday the the PA House voted 141-46 to require the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to start from scratch with proposed rules for the state’s conventional drilling industry. The Senate later agreed, voting 37-12 in favor of Senate Bill (SB) 279. The bill will now be signed by Wolf. Why are we laughing? Because Wolf’s office issued a press release yesterday essentially taking credit for getting SB 279 passed–like it was somehow his idea all along, when in fact he was forced into it…
Read More “PA Gov Wolf “Eager” to Sign Drilling Law Forced Down His Throat”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

Radical Enviros Mad at PA Gov Wolf over Compromises with Repubs
June 16, 2016June 16, 2016

Pennsylvania State Rep. Greg Vitali, a far-left Democrat from the Philadelphia area, is a good soldier who knows how to take orders. When Big Green says “Salute!” Greg snaps his arm around faster than you can say “global warming.” A few weeks ago PA’s radical Secretary of the Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP), John Quigley, got fired over an email he unethically sent from a private email account to his close buddies in the Big Green movement, asking them to out so-called “apostate” Democrats who refuse to support his (Quigley’s) radical, anti-drilling agenda (see Smoking Gun: Copy of the Email that Got John Quigley Fired). Apparently one of the apostates is none other than Gov. Wolf himself–according to soldier Vitali who is the designated verbal grenade thrower–tossing some pretty mean-spirited jabs in Wolf’s direction for Wolf’s willingness to accept half a loaf and adopt new drilling regulations for shale/unconventional, while letting rules for conventional drilling slide (see PA Gov Wolf “Eager” to Sign Drilling Law Forced Down His Throat). Vitali and his media enablers (StateImpact Pennsylvania, funded by taxpayer dollars) are savaging Wolf, throwing him under the bus. Not only for exempting conventional drillers from new rules, but also for Wolf’s willingness to bend and compromise with Republicans on other environmental issues. Apostate! (As Quigley calls it in his profane email.) As we previously commented, we enjoy watching the Dems eat their own…
Read More “Radical Enviros Mad at PA Gov Wolf over Compromises with Repubs”
Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Range Resources Corp | Washington County

Homeowner Claims Range Doctored Well Test Results, Suing for Fraud
June 16, 2016June 16, 2016

In 2014, the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) fined Range Resources a whopping $4.15 million for violations related to several of Range’s wastewater impoundments in Washington County, PA (see PA DEP Fines Range Resources $4.15M for Wastewater Impoundments). Some of the nearby neighbors claimed that Range’s impoundments had leaked, contaminating their water wells. One of those landowners was Loren Kiskadden, who sued Range in civil court. The problem is, the DEP found 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 didn’t reverse its finding, he would have 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. Kiskadden’s re-hearing request got turned down (see DEP Final Determination: Range Didn’t Pollute Kiskadden Water Well). End of story. Except, we now have a new wrinkle. Another homeowner–we’re not sure if this is for the Yeager or a different impoundment–is suing both Range and a lab Range used to test their water well claiming fraud–that Range changed the test results that the DEP based its “faulty” investigation on…
Read More “Homeowner Claims Range Doctored Well Test Results, Suing for Fraud”
Economic Impact | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | NEXUS Pipeline | Ohio | Pipelines | Spectra Energy | Statewide OH

NEXUS Awards Contracts to Build Pipeline – Union & Non-Union Labor
June 16, 2016June 16, 2016

NEXUS map – click for larger version

Spectra Energy has awarded four contracts to three companies to build the NEXUS Pipeline–a $2 billion, 255-mile interstate pipeline that will run from Ohio through Michigan and eventually to the Dawn Hub in Ontario, Canada. Two of the three companies will use union labor, the third will not–and that’s causing some pushback from labor groups in Ohio. A NEXUS rep said that 79% of the pipeline will be built by union labor. Labor unions would prefer that percentage be 100. Spectra/NEXUS guaranteed at least 50% of the labor would be union–so the contracts far exceed their promise. A dollar figure was not released for the work. Here’s who got the work to build NEXUS…
Read More “NEXUS Awards Contracts to Build Pipeline – Union & Non-Union Labor”
Columbia Pipeline Group | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Marshall County | Pipelines | Regulation | West Virginia

Federal EPA Throws Cold Water on Leach XPress, Rayne Xpress Pipes
June 16, 2016June 16, 2016

Columbia Leach Express map – click for larger version

In August 2014, MDN told you that Columbia Pipeline Group, a division of NiSource, had decided to move forward with investing $1.75 billion dollars for two new projects: the Leach XPress and Rayne XPress pipeline projects (see Columbia Gas: $1.75B for 2 Projects to Send Marcellus Gas to Gulf). Leach Xpress will begin in Marshall County, West Virginia, cross Ohio and end up in Leach, Kentucky. Rayne Xpress will beef up an existing pipeline from Leach, Kentucky that goes all the way to Rayne, Louisiana with new compressor stations and looping. The two projects together mean up to 2.7 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of natural gas can move through the entire system–from West Virginia to the Gulf Coast and all point in between. In April of this year, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued their draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS), which was positive. Earlier this week the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) came along with their comments and decided to throw cold water on both projects. Why are we not surprised?…
Read More “Federal EPA Throws Cold Water on Leach XPress, Rayne Xpress Pipes”
Beck Energy | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Ohio | Regulation | Summit County

Beck Energy Lawyer Responds to Frivilous Munroe Falls Zoning Case
June 16, 2016June 16, 2016

Earlier this month MDN shared with you the news that Munroe Falls (Summit County), OH had filed yet another frivolous lawsuit against Beck Energy to prevent drilling–after already losing a similar case before the Ohio Supreme Court (see Munroe Falls Won’t Let it Go: Files New Lawsuit Against Beck Energy). MDN received a statement from Beck Energy’s lawyer which says, among other things: “the complaint the City of Munroe Falls recently filed lacks any good faith basis under existing law, and it is clear Munroe Falls’ intention in filing this complaint is to harass and maliciously injure Beck Energy.” Fighting words! Sounds like the taxpayers of Munroe Falls should get ready to open their pocketbooks to pay into a settlement with Beck after Beck wins again. Our question: When will Munroe Falls voters get rid of the obstinate jerks running the place? Here’s the statement from Beck’s lawyer…
Read More “Beck Energy Lawyer Responds to Frivilous Munroe Falls Zoning Case”