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Judge Tosses Most Charges Against Constables Guarding ME2 Pipe
After deliberating for an hour, a jury in Chester County, PA declared two off-duty constables guilty of not filling out a tax form–a third-degree misdemeanor. The Chester County District Attorney’s case against innocent men hired to protect the Mariner East (ME) Pipeline project from crazy anti-fossil fuel nutters crashed and burned when the judge in the case threw out all charges save one. How much money did the DA’s office spend to convict two low-level constables of not filing the right paperwork? Somebody in that office should LOSE HIS OR HER JOB. Most likely the DA herself–Deb Ryan.
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Yesterday MDN reported that Chester County, PA officials sent a letter to the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) asking the agency to immediately shut down flows along the existing Mariner East 1 pipeline for fear that new sinkholes related to Mariner East 2 work will develop and break an existing, older ME1 pipeline, creating a public hazard (see C
What would you call it if your boss, the guy who hired you and keeps you employed, wants you to vote in favor of something he supports–and your job depends on that vote? Aside from the obvious gross corruption, we’d call it a clear case of conflict of interest. This is exactly what happened last week when the heads of various government agencies appointed by Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf got together as members of the Environmental Quality Board (EQB) and voted to advance an economy-killing, jobs-killing, $2.6 billion new carbon tax on PA residents euphemistically called the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (see 
It’s been almost a month, but yesterday S&P Global Platts finally issued a new weekly update for the Enverus U.S. rig count. For the week ending July 23, the rig count stood at 604–that’s up an amazing 24 rigs in just one week and the highest number it has seen since April 2020, just as the pandemic was starting to take hold and shut everything down. The Marcellus play lost one rig from the previous week, while the Utica gained one rig. Collectively the M-U is currently running 45 rigs.
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Pa. shale gas production flat in May but up 7% YOY; EQT shareholders OK plan to increase shares; Murrysville council hears proposal on gas-interconnect for fracking well; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Kinder Morgan says Permian, Haynesville will need new natgas pipes; NATIONAL: Demand for oil, gas seen rising in H2-2021 and 2022; Will natural gas replace diesel as a data center power source?; The gigantic holes in anti-oil ESG activism; Leasing ban backfires on President Biden; Will all the oil and gas jobs lost during the pandemic ever return?; Wall Street opens back up to oil and gas–but not for drilling.
In March 2019 MDN brought you the news that Wood Group had been awarded a $34 million contract to build 28 miles of the 60-mile Risberg Pipeline from Crawford County, PA to Ashtabula County, OH (see 
Energy Transfer’s (ET) Revolution Pipeline in southwestern Pennsylvania is the financial gift that keeps on giving–for the state of Pennsylvania. Revolution Pipeline runs through Bulter, Beaver, Allegheny, and Washington counties. The 24-inch gathering pipeline shifted and exploded in September 2018, just as it was entering service (see 
Big Green insanity continues at the so-called Pennsylvania Environmental Defense Foundation (PEDF). The only thing they “defend” is their own twisted philosophy of trying to gouge out the eyes of the oil and gas industry in PA–even at the expense of de-funding their own beloved PA Dept. of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR). The PEDF has convinced the liberal Democrats on the PA Supreme Court (again) to block using revenues from oil and gas drilling on state land to fund the DCNR’s own budget! Truly insane.
Because of recent sinkholes developing near the construction of the Mariner East 2X pipeline, Chester County, PA officials have sent a letter to the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) asking the agency to immediately shut down flows along the existing Mariner East 1 pipeline. All of the ME pipelines flow NGLs, mainly ethane (sometimes propane and butane). Officials say seven sinkholes have developed near ME construction *just this year* and they are concerned more sinkholes will develop and potentially crack or break an existing pipeline. One recent sinkhole swallowed a small tree (caught on video, below).
On June 24, the operator of the SOS D-2 injection well in Cambridge, Ohio (Guernsey County) reported a small release from a pipeline that transfers fluid from a storage tank to the injection well. The well’s owner/operator, Silcor Oilfield Services Inc., immediately contained the leak (see 
For all the chatter about ESG and environmental yada yada, at the end of the day every Marcellus and Utica driller drills for and extracts hydrocarbons. Fossil fuels. As the de facto leader of all natural gas drillers, it’s important and instructive to watch what EQT and its young CEO, Toby Rice, actually do AND say. EQT and Rice are leading the charge to defend our industry against the crazies who want to end the use of all fossil fuels. In a recent column appearing in a West Virginia newspaper, Rice makes the case that natural gas is good for the economy and good for the environment.
New permit activity once again picked up last week after the previous week showed a paltry number of permits. In Pennsylvania 10 new permits were issued, all but one of them in the northeastern dry gas area of the state. In Ohio 4 new permits were issued, all of them for the same driller on the same well pad. And in West Virginia, 7 new permits were issued. One of the permits appears to be issued to a private landowner drilling his own shale well! And in another oddity, four WV permits were issued to a midstream company.
MDN is taking a rare few days off for summer vacation–from Friday, July 16th through Wednesday, July 21st. We will be back on Thursday, July 22nd. Editor Jim Willis will continue to monitor the news and if anything BIG happens, he will issue a special bulletin.