Marcellus Drilling News

Economic Impact | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Research

Harvard Study: Fracking is Safe, Profitable, Good for Environment!
June 12, 2015June 12, 2015

Wow–who woulda thought Harvard University would publish a report that says fracking is a good thing (when done right) and that it will create 3.8 million new jobs by 2030 AND lower carbon emissions? The report, titled “America’s Unconventional Energy Opportunity” (full copy below) outlines “a strategic, fact-based approach to developing America’s new energy advantage to increase U.S. competitiveness and drive much-needed job and economic growth, to reducing environmental impacts, and to accelerating progress on climate change.” The authors say that with some tweaks to regulations and by using know best practices, hydraulic fracturing is safe–and an economic bonanza for America–AND good for the environment (reduces nasty carbon dioxide which causes mythical global warming)! It’s important to note the study was self-funded and published by the Harvard Business School. No outside money was involved from the likes of the Park Foundation or Heniz Endowments or William Penn Foundation–virulent anti-drilling Big Green organizations that routinely purchase “scientific” studies with pre-determined outcomes. This time is different. The authors were not beholden to big money benefactors. They are smart people tackling tough issues with an open mind–and the conclusion they come to is the same conclusion reached by millions of people who bother to research the issues: fracking is safe…
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Accidents | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Lycoming County | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Williams

Williams Transco Leidy Pipeline Ruptures in Lycoming County, PA
June 12, 2015June 12, 2015

A Williams Transco Leidy pipeline ruptured in Lycoming County, PA around 9:30 pm Wednesday night. There was no fire–and no one was injured–but families within a 3-mile radius were evacuated as a safety precaution. By 11:45 pm they were allowed to return home. Williams is not yet sure what caused the rupture–they’ve sent off a section of the pipeline to a lab for analysis. No word (yet) on how long before the pipeline is repaired and flowing again…
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Bradford County | Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Lease & Royalty Payments | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Regulation

Bradford County, PA May Join Royalty Lawsuit Against Chesapeake
June 12, 2015June 12, 2015

In 2013, a group of Bradford County, PA landowners joined a lawsuit against Chesapeake Energy over Chessy’s apparent cheating them out of royalties using a ploy to pay high fees for pipelines in return for investments from that pipeline company later on (see Bradford County, PA Landowners Sue Chesapeake over Royalties). Some Bradford landowners were getting royalty checks from Chessy for a few dollars–literally. At issue is a state law that stipulates drillers must pay a minimum of 1/8 of revenue from gas and oil in royalties to the landowner. The controversy comes in that Chesapeake claims their contracts allow them to deduct reasonable expenses, like getting the gas to market, from the total. And with low prices–oh well–those royalty checks go far below 1/8. So what is at issue is how you define 1/8 for the purposes of paying royalties. Is it 1/8 of the gross? Or 1/8 of the net? And what would be allowed to be deducted for the net number? MDN previously told you about PA House Bill (HB) 1684 meant to clear up the confusion. HB 1684 went no where in the legislature last year (see Does PA Royalty Bill 1684 Still Have a Chance This Year?). Looks like the bill will come back around again this year–but before it does, the supervisors of Bradford County, which has land under lease with Chesapeake, are seriously considering joining the lawsuit against Chesapeake. They’re tired of waiting for 1684 to become law and tired of being shorted on their royalties…
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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

New Bill Allows Drillers to Use Acid Mine Water for Fracking in PA
June 12, 2015June 12, 2015

An idea whose time has come–in fact is long overdue–is that of re-using acid mine water (AMW) for fracking. The Old Forge borehole was drilled years ago near Scranton, Pennsylvania to alleviate the problem of water seeping into abandoned coal mines in the area, contaminated mine water that was threatening the water table. Old Forge was drilled to channel that water out–and into the Susquehanna River. Some 60-100 million gallons of acid mine water comes out of that hole every single day! It is the largest single source of pollution for the Chesapeake Bay. In 2013 money was allocated to begin a pilot project to clean up the acid mine water at Old Forge, using money from the impact fee assessed on Marcellus drillers in the state (see Specifics on Marcellus $ Helping to Clean Chesapeake Bay Pollution. While that’s a great plan, what’s even better is that drillers are ready and willing to use AMW for fracking operations–except for liability laws. The current laws on the books say “if you touch it, you own it” and drillers are afraid if they begin using AMW, litigious lawyers for Big Green groups like Food & Water Watch will take them to court and try to bankrupt them–claiming the AMW, even if treated, is causing negative environmental and health issues…
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Energy Companies | Seneca Resources

National Fuel Gas’ Appoints New Bd Member from Colorado – Why?
June 12, 2015June 12, 2015

One of MDN’s favorite pastimes is reading the tea leaves. Connecting the dots. Warning: sometimes the dots we connect end up not connecting. 🙂 We don’t bring you every personnel announcement, especially new appointments to boards of directors, because, well, how does that affect the average landowner, driller or business that wants to profit from the Marcellus/Utica? We try to bring you relevant news–things that impact you. Today we have an observation–purely speculative–about a new board of directors appointment. National Fuel Gas Company, a Buffalo, NY-based utility that also has a big drilling division (Seneca Resources) and a large midstream (pipelines) operation, has just named Joseph N. Jaggers to its board of directors. Who is he and what does his appointment portend?…
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Health Impacts | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues

American Medical Assoc Votes for Full Disclosure of Frack Chemicals
June 12, 2015June 12, 2015

The American Medical Association (AMA) is inhabited–some would say infested–with politically correct left-leaning liberals. At least that’s true of the leaders of the association. So it’s no surprise that in the name of “health” and “science” the AMA passed a policy at their annual meeting requesting something that already exists–full disclosure of the chemicals used in fracking. It makes no difference that full disclosure is already being done–the AMA is making a political statement–not a health or science statement…
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Accidents | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Lycoming County | Pennsylvania | Seismic Testing

PA Rabbit Breeder Settles Lawsuit w/Land Co for 168 Dead Rabbits
June 12, 2015June 12, 2015

It took more than a year, but a lawsuit filed by a rabbit breeder in Lycoming County, PA has reached an out of court settlement for the death of some of her rabbits. MDN first told you about this case in May 2014 (see Fracking Killed the Rabbits!). The rabbit breeder, Susan Knowlden and her husband Terry, claim they had an agreement with CGG Land to not fly helicopters near the rabbit farm. CGG was doing seismic testing in the area at the time. CGG was supposed to stay at least 1,000 feet away–a “no fly zone” over the rabbits. But they got too close and “boo!” there goes another rabbit, keeled over dead. Nobody is saying what the settlement is for (confidentiality agreement), but rest assured CGG paid out big money for 168 hasenpfeffers–rabbits they scared, literally, to death…
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Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Fri, Jun 12, 2015
June 12, 2015June 12, 2015

The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading:
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About MDN | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Maryland | MDN Resources | New York | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Research | Statewide MD | Statewide NY | Statewide OH | Statewide PA | Statewide WV | West Virginia

MDN Launches 2015 Marcellus/Utica Databook – 4th Year!
June 11, 2015June 23, 2015

Earlier this week Marcellus Drilling News launched the fourth series of our Marcellus and Utica Shale Databook. The 2015 edition of the Databook, Volume 1, officially launched on Tuesday. Never in our wildest dreams did we think back in 2012 that the Databook would become so popular. We’ve now published three complete series–the 2012, 2013 and 2014 series (3 volumes each, or nine volumes total) and this week begins the fourth series–for 2015. The heart and soul of the Databook is a series of maps–one for every county where permits for drilling have been issued–throughout Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio. The “secret sauce” for the Databook is to visually, through maps and charts (89 of them in this edition), show you who is drilling right now or soon will be–and where they are drilling…
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Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Taxation

PA 2014 Impact Fee Disbursement Info: Why Did PUC Delay?
June 11, 2015June 11, 2015

Once again the Pennsylvania impact fee–the equivalent of a state severance tax on all oil and gas drilling in the state–will bring in an enormous amount of revenue for the state: $223.5 million for calendar year 2014 to be exact. That’s down slightly from the $225.7 million levied in 2013. Yesterday the PA Public Utility Commission (PUC) released the official numbers, a day after state Republicans leaked a draft version of the report. Those rascally Republicans wanted to share the news that the impact fee is doing just fine, thank you very much, and we don’t need Democrat Gov. Tom Wolf’s Marcellus-killing severance tax of 17.3% just to feed the beast (teachers’ unions). Note that drillers are required to pay their impact fee/tax by April 1st. Last year the PUC, under then-Gov. Tom Corbett, released a preliminary report of monies raised and to be distributed on April 4th (see 2013 PA Impact Fee Sets Record: $224.5M, Grand Total Now $630M). This year the PUC, under Gov. Tom Wolf, still hadn’t released the report by early June. Why did the PUC hold back the report this year? It took Republicans leaking the details to force the hand of the PUC into releasing the official numbers. Was the PUC, under Wolf’s newly appointed chairperson Gladys M. Brown, sandbagging for political reasons–to influence the debate on the severance tax by withholding important information? You decide. Below we have a breakdown of the numbers for 2014–who’s getting how much–along with some pretty charts from the PUC…
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Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Taxation

PA 2014 Impact Fee Payments: List of Drillers & What They Paid
June 11, 2015June 11, 2015

After being shamed into it by state Republicans, the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC), after delaying it for two months, yesterday released the numbers for the 2014 impact fees–the equivalent of a severance tax on PA’s drillers. The total raised was $223.5 million, to be divvied up between those places where drilling takes place (receiving 60% of the fee) and other boondoggles cooked up by Harrisburg politicians (the other 40%). See today’s companion story on who gets what from the 2014 impact fee (PA 2014 Impact Fee Disbursements: Why Did PUC Delay?). This post concentrates on the drillers themselves and how much money each one contributed to the impact fee pot for 2014. Below are some helpful pie charts from the PUC (including the number of active wells in the most-drilled counties), followed by the entire list of who paid how much…
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Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Statewide WV | West Virginia

WV’s GDP Soars Thanks to Marcellus/Utica Wells & Pipelines
June 11, 2015June 11, 2015

Last year West Virginia’s gross domestic product–the total value of all goods and services produced in the state–increased by 5.1%. Only two other states–Texas and North Dakota–had bigger increases in GDP. What was the reason for the growth? Was it tourism? Nope. The solar and wind industry? Nope. Timber harvesting? Nope. Surely because of coal–WV is a big coal state? Nope. Coal is in decline in the state. You may have guessed by now the reason for WV’s hot GDP growth rate is the Marcellus/Utica industry. With the expansion of drilling, the buildout of “massive” processing plants and yes–the addition of major new pipelines–the state is on a tear economically. So what? Higher GDP equals more investment, more jobs, more prosperity for everyone in the Mountain State…
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Energy Companies | Energy Services | EV Energy Partners | Industrywide Issues | M3 Midstream | Momentum | Ohio | Pipelines | Processing Plants | Statewide OH | Williams

Williams Buys Less of Utica East Ohio than Previously Planned
June 11, 2015June 11, 2015

In April MDN told you that Williams would buy out EV Energy Partners 21% share in Utica East Ohio (UEO)–a midstream/pipeline company operating in Ohio (see Williams Buys Out EVEP Interest in Utica East Ohio Midstream for $575M). The original press releases in April, from both Williams and EVEP, clearly state that Williams would buy the entire 21% EVEP share in UEO. But that didn’t happen. Yesterday Williams announced they have closed on an additional 13% from EVEP (not 21%) and for $357 million (not $575 million). The Williams press release says the other 8% share went to the other partner in the venture. You have to read the EVEP press release to learn that the other partner is M3 Midstream, otherwise known as Momentum. Seems a funny thing happened on the way to the forum…
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Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Taxation

PA Republicans Hold Firm in Opposing Wolf Severance Tax
June 11, 2015June 11, 2015

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf continues to face stiff opposition from the public at large, and (more importantly) from Republicans in the PA state legislature. The leadership of both the PA House and Senate have lined up against Wolf’s severance tax, which he claims is 5% but now everybody freely admits is really closer to 17% (see PA Official Admits Wolf Severance Tax Highest in Nation @ 17.3%). The PA budget is due by June 30. Negotiations between Gov. Wolf and the legislature continue. When the two sides meet, the temperature in the room noticeably drops. Wolf is in over his head and apparently doesn’t know it–or won’t admit it. He set an unrealistic expectation with teachers’ unions that he would pay them off for their support by taxing the #$#@ out of the Marcellus industry–transferring the hard-earned money of Marcellus producers to Big Education takers. PA Republicans in the state legislature are the firewall. Let’s hope the firewall holds…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | PennEast Pipeline | Pipelines | Regulation

Anti Drillers Demand DRBC Hold 7 Meetings on PennEast Pipeline
June 11, 2015June 11, 2015

Some 16 so-called “environmental and community” groups (leftist/socialist groups) are calling on the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) to hold seven public hearings on the proposed PennEast Pipeline, a 114-mile pipeline slated to run from the Scranton, PA area to the Trenton, NJ area. Why stop at seven? Why not 10? Or 20? Or 50? Let’s have a public hearing every day of the week! The aim is, of course, to provide free publicity and a forum for anti-drillers to engage in their freak shows. We’ve watched plenty of them at the podium at these kinds of meetings–and yes, it’s a freak show. The DRBC, itself tending to the anti-drilling side of the isle, is trying to interfere with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) sole authority to permit or not permit the PennEast. Apparently there’s a bit of detente on the issue and FERC will hold one joint public hearing with the DRBC. The freaks, er, a “environmental groups” are demanding the DRBC up that number to seven–because two minutes allotted for each speaker in front of the microphones and cameras is just not enough…
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Energy Services | Enterprise Products Partners | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Pipelines | Statewide OH | Taxation

ATEX Express Ethane Pipeline Says it’s Tax-Exempt in Ohio
June 11, 2015June 11, 2015

School districts and local governments in 13 Ohio counties along which the ATEX (Appalachia-to-Texas Express) natural gas liquids pipeline runs, are miffed that ATEX doesn’t want to pay property taxes on the pipeline. The 1,230-mile ATEX pipeline originates in Washington County, PA and connects to four fractionators in the Marcellus/Utica Shale region. The pipeline, which crosses 265 miles of Ohio, went online in early 2014 (see Let it Flow! ATEX Ethane Pipeline Testing Now, Online Soon). State law stipulates that only pipelines classified as public utilities are liable for property taxes. Private, non-public utility pipelines are not on the hook for local property taxes. However, ATEX may be liable for Ohio’s commercial activity tax…
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