In March MDN reported that work has restarted, after eight years, to complete an injection well in Mahoning County, OH (see Work Restarts at 8-Year Dormant Youngstown, OH Injection Well). The Ohio EPA, ever vigilant as they are, recently issued the project a notice of violation…but not for any work related to the injection well itself.
Read More “New Mahoning Injection Well Online Soon; OEPA Issues Violation”
In March, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf traveled to an elementary school in South Philadelphia with the message that only a severance tax on Marcellus Shale production stands in the way of cleaning up lead paint problems that are poisoning the little kiddies at the school (see Gov. Wolf’s Campaign of Lies re Severance Tax Continues in Philly). We were, rightly, incensed. If children are being poisoned by lead paint in Philly schools, find the money somewhere and fix the problem–NOW. It seems we weren’t the only ones thinking that way. Wolf has magically found $4.3 million to fix the problem…without a severance tax.
Read More “PA Gov Magically Finds $ to Fix Philly Schools w/o Severance Tax”
We love happy endings, and this story has one. Despite claims by anti-fossil fuelers that the Tenaska Westmoreland Generating Station in southwestern PA would spread disease and death if it got built, it’s been up and running since last December–producing power and generating money for both its builders and the community–and everyone is just fine. Cue the Pete Seeger song “Where Have All the Flowers Gone?” and replace “Flowers” with “Antis”…
Read More “Tenaska’s Westmoreland Gas-Fired Plant – Generating Power & Money”
Yet another cockamamie “study” (i.e. propaganda) about the negatives of fracking–this one done by the University of New Hampshire claiming a few hikers and outdoor enthusiasts in Pennsylvania will have to find someplace else to hike and enthuse…because of evil Marcellus fracking. The thing that really angers us is that Pennsylvania taxpayers paid for this “study”!
Read More “New Study Claims PA Fracking Stops Hikers from Having Good Time”
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette continues to get a lot of negative reaction to its grossly irresponsible series of stories attempting to connect shale drilling to several cases of childhood cancer in southwestern Pennsylvania (see Response to Pittsburgh Newspaper Smear Campaign re Child Cancer). The founder and CEO of Steel Nation, a company deeply involved in the Marcellus/Utica shale industry, is the latest to push back against the Post-Gazette‘s irresponsible series.
Read More “Steel Nation CEO Pushes Back on Post-Gazette Cancer Stories”
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: PUCO threatens to shut down natural gas company; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: U.S. Department of Energy approves LNG exports from Gulf LNG; Bakken gas muscling out Western Canadian supply from Chicago market; NATIONAL: Rystad Energy finds employment is shifting from shale to offshore; Hurricane Barry knocked 700,000 barrels of oil per day offline and hardly anyone noticed; Bill improving natural gas pipeline safety advances in Congress; INTERNATIONAL: Google’s celeb-obsessed search for climate change answers is a hypocritical joke.
Read More “Shale Energy Stories of Interest: Thu, Aug 1, 2019”
CNX Resources, formerly the CNX Gas division of CONSOL Energy, released its second quarter update yesterday. The big news is that during 2Q CNX drilled the longest new Marcellus well ever…at 19,609 feet! The company reports production jumped 10%, from 123 Bcfe last year to 135 Bcfe in 2Q19, and net income jumped 216% from $61 million last year to $193 million in 2Q19.
Read More “CNX Drills Longest Marcellus Well EVER – Big Budget Cuts in 2020”
PTT Global Chemical continues to behave is if it’s going forward with building a $7.5 billion ethane cracker in Dilles Bottom (Belmont County), Ohio. The latest evidence? The company is actively buying up homes close to the proposed site. Over the past two months the company has snapped up six homes and is in discussions right now with others.
Read More “PTT Buying Homes Near Proposed Cracker Plant in Belmont County”
In February 2017, Spire, a natural gas utility company based in St. Louis, Missouri, filed an official application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to build the Spire STL Pipeline, a 65-mile, 24-inch diameter pipe that will flow 400 million cubic feet (MMcf) per day of yummy Marcellus/Utica gas from the Rockies Express (REX) pipeline to St. Louis (see Spire Files Plan with FERC to Flow Marcellus/Utica Gas to St. Louis). Construction on the project began this past December (see St. Louis Marcellus/Utica Pipeline Begins Construction). The project is already 97% complete!
Read More “St. Louis Marcellus/Utica Pipeline Now 97% Done, Up & Running 4Q”
Equitrans, formerly known as EQT Midstream (formerly a division of EQT), released its second quarter update yesterday. Among the things we learned: The Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) project is now 85% complete and will be done and online in mid-2020. EQT (the driller) remains committed to the MVP project and contrary to false rumors, EQT is not pulling out (it would cost them north of $3 billion to do so!). The project cost for MVP will be around $5 billion–a new high.
Read More “Equitrans Wants to Remain Kissin’ Cousins with EQT; MVP 85% Done”
America’s natural gas and oil industry announced “a landmark partnership” in late 2017 called the Environmental Partnership, to “accelerate improvements to environmental performance in operations across the country” (see NatGas, Oil Industry Partnership to Accelerate Methane Reductions). The first area of focus has been to reduce methane and volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions. How is it going?
Read More “NatGas, Oil Industry Partnership Reduces Methane Emissions”
Lee Wasserman is director of the Rockefeller Family Fund, a New York-based charity started in 1967 by heirs of oil tycoon John D. Rockefeller. Wasserman is a man-causes-global-warming Kool Aid drinker, and he uses the considerable money available to him to “fight climate change.” For a smart guy he’s really, really dumb. In a New York Times editorial last week, Wasserman paraded his ignorance for all to see by declaring the petroleum industry’s continued search for oil and gas is “rampant corporate irrationality.”
Read More “Rampant Irrationality of Rockefeller Fund in Opposing Fossil Fuels”
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Unrealistic energy policies sting American consumers; CNX COO announces retirement; NY grid reliability at risk; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: California grid operator warns regulators on natural gas-fired plant retirements; Don’t let state regulators limit energy choice in California; Tesla unleashes Megapack battery to take on natural gas plants; Howell planners approve New Jersey Natural Gas training facility; NATIONAL: Flaring natural gas is the safer environmental option; Natural gas exports are giving US a key edge; Mid-decade milestone for US LNG exports; Inslee’s climate bubbles (video); INTERNATIONAL: TC Energy reaches agreement to sell Ontario natural gas-fired power plants for $2.87 billion; Surf’s Up…Second wave of LNG is here; Don’t ‘demonize’ energy firms: BP boss says climate activists should avoid polarizing society.
Read More “Energy Stories of Interest: Wed, Jul 31, 2019”
The last time MDN reported on Tug Hill Operating was more than two years ago, a story about Tug Hill’s XcL Midstream subsidiary working to build a new gathering pipeline system in West Virginia to flow gas that would come from Tug Hill’s THQ Appalachia drilling subsidiary (see XcL Midstream Building New Dry & Wet Gas Gathering Pipes in WV). Both the midstream and drilling subsidiaries have been busy over the past two years. In fact, Tug Hill’s THQ subsidiary says it has unlocked the secret to drilling cheap Utica wells in the Mountain State.
Read More “Tug Hill Ramps Up Low-Cost Utica Drilling in WV Panhandle”
Although some of the 300-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) that stretches from Wetzel County, WV to the Transco Pipeline in Pittsylvania County, VA is on hold due to court delays over stream crossing permits, work continues on the project. The original project is now 80% built and will go online in 2020 according to Equitrans CEO Thomas Karam. Equitrans filed plans with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) last November to extend the pipeline *another* 70+ miles south–into North Carolina–called the MVP Southgate project (see EQT Makes it Official, Files with FERC to Extend MVP into NC).
Read More “FERC Signals Approval for MVP Southgate Pipe to NC in Draft EIS”
Shale driller Huntley & Huntley (H&H), headquartered in Monroeville (Allegheny County), PA, leases land and drills in the Pittsburgh suburbs. They’ve picked a tough place to do business. The company works hard to win over residents who live near their shale drilling projects. The latest example is what H&H is doing to reduce truck traffic in Murrysville (Westmoreland County), PA.
Read More “H&H Bends Over Backwards to Reduce SWPA Well Pad Truck Traffic”