Rogue Obama EPA Goes on Methane Witch Hunt
The recent Climate Action Plan to cut methane emissions emitted by the White House last week contains this ominous bullet point: “EPA will assess several potentially significant sources of methane and other emissions from the oil and gas sector. EPA will solicit input from independent experts through a series of technical white papers, and in the fall of 2014, EPA will determine how best to pursue further methane reductions from these sources.”(1) The good news is that the overbearing, out-of-control actions by the Obama EPA will only apply to drilling on federal lands. The bad news is that they will try to bully individual states to adopt the same new onerous regulations, thereby making federal regulations de facto in many locations.
Will the EPA methane witch hunt affect the Marcellus and Utica region? Too early to tell whether PA, OH and WV will cave to Obama EPA pressure. Here’s an analysis of how onerous new regulations may affect several drillers with major operations in the Marcellus…
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Just when you thought there was a conclusion to the story of Ben Lupo and Hardrock Excavating and the dumping of frack wastewater down a drain that eventually emptied into the Mahoning River–the story takes a new turn. MDN previously told you that Hardrock’s owner, Ben Lupo, changed his plea to guilty last week (see 
Last Monday a little known anti-driller with a potty mouth from northeast PA–Vera Scroggins–had her day in court. You may recall that Vera had repeatedly trespassed on drilling sites owned by Cabot Oil & Gas in Susquehanna County and a judge slapped her with a restraining order last year. Vera said the court order prevented her from sipping lattes at the local Price Chopper grocery store (land leased by Cabot) so she got herself a lawyer from the American Civil Liberties Union and asked the judge to reconsider (see