Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Mon, June 2, 2014
The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading:
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Obama Report “Praises” Fracking Ahead of Ominous EPA Carbon Rules
Every body hold your breath–literally. And get ready to turn the lights out or be forced into rolling blackouts. The federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is about to release guidelines for how much carbon you exhale and in the process assassinate states rights. That will happen with the release, on June 2, of new EPA “guidelines” (i.e. jackbooted regulations) for how much carbon (the stuff you breathe out with every breath) can be emitted from electric generating power plants. The new rules are expected to harm–perhaps mortally–states like Pennsylvania, the second largest electric generator in the country…
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Albany County | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY
Pivotal Court Date Next Week for Future of NY Fracking
Next week will prove to be one of the most important weeks in the entire debate over whether or not fracking will ever come, in a significant fashion, to New York State. MDN editor Jim Willis is often asked, “When will New York see fracking begin?” Our answer for the past year-and-a-half has been the same: When the Dryden/Middlefield town ban cases are finally decided. Next Tuesday oral arguments in those twin (and joined) cases will be heard in Albany…
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DOE Changes Way They Evaluate/Approve LNG Export Facilities
The news came fast and furious yesterday from various quarters of the Obama administration. Almost lost in the shuffle was a major announcement from the Ernest “Hair” Moniz’s Dept. of Energy. The DOE plays a major role in deciding which (or whether) a liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facility is allowed to be built. Since 2010 some 25 LNG export facilities have been proposed, seeking DOE approval. How many have been approved? Precisely one–a new facility by Cheniere Energy for a facility along Louisiana’s Gulf Coast…
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Accidents | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | MarkWest Energy | Pennsylvania | Processing Plants | Washington County
MarkWest Update on Still-Closed PA Plant After Lightening Strike
Wednesday evening around 6:00 lightening struck the MarkWest gas processing plant in southwestern PA at Chartiers (see Lightening Strike at MarkWest Chartiers Plant Causes Evacuation). Yesterday MarkWest issued the following update about the incident…
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Energy Companies | Harrison County | Industrywide Issues | Landfills | Pennsylvania | Range Resources Corp | Regulation | Statewide PA | Statewide WV | Washington County | West Virginia
Curious: Everyone’s Happy with WV Ban on Imported Drilling Sludge
Earlier this week MDN told you that a couple of containers with drilling sludge (mud, leftover rock and dirt) from Range Resources containing low levels of radioactivity were sent to a landfill in Bridgeport, WV for disposal (see Range Radioactive Containers Sent to WV for Disposal). The WV Dept. of Environmental Protection caught wind of it and has banned any further out-of-state shipments of drilling sludge from disposal in WV…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Regulation | Statewide PA | Sunoco Logistics
StateImpact PA Claims Another Scalp for their Anti-Drilling Wall
Earlier this month MDN told you about the anti-drilling advocacy organization pretending to be a news organization, StateImpact Pennsylvania, and their crowing over their efforts to get a law firm to withdraw from representing Sunoco Logsitics and their Mariner East Pipeline project (see PA Reporter Gets Law Firm to Withdraw from Sunoco Pipeline Case). StateImpact is back with a new scalp to add to their collection. They’ve just cowed the chairman of the PA Public Utilities Commission, Rob Powelson, into resigning from the Greater Philadelphia Energy Action Team–a Chamber of Commerce organization aimed at promoting business and all forms of energy in the state…
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Crawford County | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Supply Chain | Universal Well
Marcellus Supply Chain Success Story: Universal Well Services
There is an inescapable fact in business: those who take risks are the ones who get the rewards. A corollary is this: Those who take the biggest risks get the biggest rewards. And so it is for Meadville (Crawford County), PA company Universal Well Services, a company that specializes in pressure-pumping wells, cementing well pads and other well services. Ten years ago Universal’s business was 100% servicing the needs of conventional oil and gas drillers. The company decided to take a leap of faith–they temporarily suspended their work for conventional drillers and instead worked on a single Marcellus Shale (unconventional/shale) project. It was a huge risk for a relatively small company…
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Energy Companies | Halcon Resources | Industrywide Issues | Lease & Royalty Payments | Ohio | Pipelines | Regulation | Trumbull County
Girard City Council Approves Pipeline Easement for Halcon
Girard City (Trumbull County), OH Council members made a smart move. Earlier this month the Girard City Council voted to approve a right-of-way agreement that allows a natural gas transmission line to run through part of the Girard Lakes property. The 14-mile pipeline will service and run from Hilcorp Utica wells near Vienna to a fuel depot near Lordstown. Why was it a smart move?…
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PEC Slams Bill Separating PA Conventional/Unconventional Regs
Earlier this month MDN told you that three Pennsylvania state senators would soon introduce new legislation to separate regulations for oil and gas drilling between conventional/vertical only and unconventional/shale (see New PA Bill Would Separate Conventional/Unconventional Regulations). The new legislation was introduced, as Senate Bill 1378. At the time we said we believe the bill has good intentions, but we’re kind of skeptical. So MDN found it unusual (and somewhat distressing) that the anti-drilling Pennsylvania Environmental Council (PEC) is on the same side we’re on!…
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Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Fri, May 30, 2014
The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading:
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Accidents | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | MarkWest Energy | Pennsylvania | Processing Plants | Washington County
Lightening Strike at MarkWest Chartiers Plant Causes Evacuation
Around 6:00 pm last night lighting struck a release valve at the MarkWest gas processing plant in Chartiers Township (Washington County), PA. It caused a small fire that was quickly extinguished. However, the valve remained opened for a short period after the plant was shut down which allowed some natural gas to leak, creating a “plume” or cloud of gas near the plant. MarkWest, in what they say was “an abundance of caution,” asked about 50 residents living near the plant to evacuate. The residents were back in their homes by 10 pm…
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Magnum Hunter Sells $150M in Stock Deal to “Activist Investor”
Magnum Hunter Resources (MHR) has quickly become a big player in the Marcellus/Utica region. They have a laser focus on northeast drilling, quickly building up a 200,000 acre position, largely in West Virginia and Ohio. Yesterday MHR announced they’ve cut a deal with Relational Investors LLC, granting Relational common stock and stock options in return for a tidy $150 million in cash–money MHR intends to use for more drilling in the northeast. Who’s behind Relational Investors, and should landowners (and MHR investors) be concerned? The answers may surprise you…
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PEDF Sues to Stop Corbett Under (Not On) Forest Drilling Plan
The benign-sounding Pennsylvania Environmental Defense Foundation (PEDF) has as its mission of filing frivolous lawsuits against legitimate businesses (or governments) who want to engage in sensible and safe commerce that involves natural resources. Last Friday, May 23, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett signed an executive order that continues a ban on surface drilling in PA state forests but allows drilling under a little bit more of the forests if the drillers do so from adjacent private land (see Corbett Keeps New Surface Drilling Banned in PA Forests). Two weeks before Corbett issued his executive order, the PEDF filed a motion with PA Commonwealth Court to block his executive order…
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More Details/Proposed Route of Dominion Marcellus to NC Pipeline
A month ago MDN told you the news that Dominion, a huge utility and midstream company operating in the Mid-Atlantic region, is considering building a 450-mile natural gas pipeline from West Virginia, through Virginia and all the way to southern North Carolina (see Dominion Announces 2 New Pipeline Projects from Marcellus/Utica). Dominion calls the potential pipeline the Dominion Southeast Reliability Project. A month later and mainstream media in that region finally woke up and has started reporting on “concerns” about the very preliminary and not yet decided project…
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Head of PA DEP Oil & Gas Division Departs
Alan Eichler has worked in the Oil and Gas Management division of the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) for the past 28 years. For a number of years Alan has been the head of the Oil and Gas Management division. Now he’s gone…
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