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    US Senate Bill Fixes States Blocking Pipelines via Water Permits

    Once upon a time, before far-out liberal governors like NY’s Andrew Cuomo weaponized the federal Clean Water Act (CWA), states would use their federally-delegated authority under the CWA (Section 401) to provide feedback and get changes/tweaks to interstate pipelines passing through their respective states. Then Cuomo (now others) started bending the intent of their delegated authority under the CWA and began abusing it to block federal policy by blocking approved pipelines that benefit the citizens of many states. That’s why the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) was created–to review and authorize energy projects, like pipelines, that pass through multiple states. If not for FERC, no pipelines (or electric transmission lines) would ever get built across state lines because one state will selfishly block such projects–“What’s in it for us?” Andrew Cuomo has stated publicly that he has and will continue to block interstate pipeline projects and new gas-fired electric plants (see NY Gov. Cuomo Says He’ll Block All New Gas-Fired Elec Plants). This must stop. Cuomo’s actions violate the spirit if not the letter of the law. There has been an outcry to overrule Cuomo and others abusing their CWA authority. Until now, it’s been all talk. Talk is cheap. Who will stand up to the bully Cuomo and other bullies like him? Four brave senators from the U.S. Senate, that’s who. Senators John Barrasso (R-WY), chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Jim Inhofe (R-OK), and Steve Daines (R-MT) have introduced a bill called “Water Quality Certification Improvement Act of 2018” that will ensure state water quality permitting reviews for proposed pipeline projects are limited to direct water quality impacts of that pipeline, and that decisions to grant or deny a permit must be made based on water quality reasons only. It plugs loopholes currently used by Cuomo and others under the CWA 401 certification process. In other words, the senators are about to slap Andy Cuomo and those like him back into line–IF the bill passes…
    Read More “US Senate Bill Fixes States Blocking Pipelines via Water Permits”

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    WV’s Top Brass Meeting with Chinese Next Week re $83.7B Deal

    A little over two weeks ago MDN wrote a post speculating about whether or not China’s deal to invest $83.7 billion in West Virginia shale and petrochemicals is now dead, given the current “trade war” with China (see $83.7B Chinese Investment in WV Shale & Petchem Still Alive?). In June, Chinese officials were supposed to attend the Northeast U.S. Petrochemical Construction Conference in Pittsburgh to announce the first round of investments in WV. However, Brian Anderson, director of the West Virginia University Energy Institute, said given the trade war now on with China, the officials elected to stay home instead. Anderson said, “The pending trade war has put this project in jeopardy” (see Trade War Puts $83.7 Billion Chinese Investment in WV on Hold). But a few weeks later Anderson appeared to change his tune. He told a reporter, “In terms of the development process, we continue to move forward…We’re even working on the next potential visits by officials and team members, so it’s not just the high-level executives, but development teams” (see $83.7B Chinese Investment in WV Shale & Petchem Still Alive?). Now comes word that next week, on Aug. 9, both WV Congressman David McKinley and WV Gov. Jim Justice will meet with Chinese officials “to discuss the future of the investment deal.” No word on whether that meeting is in WV or in China. McKinley would not comment on specifics about the meeting, but he did say he thinks the $83.7 billion Chinese investment is still on track and will happen…
    Read More “WV’s Top Brass Meeting with Chinese Next Week re $83.7B Deal”

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    EQT Employees in Kentucky Vote to Unionize

    A group of 116 EQT production employees who live and work in Kentucky have voted to form a union to protect their jobs and benefits. It is unusual–frankly unheard of–for unions to make inroads with an exploration and production company (E&P) like EQT. Why this group and why now? The fire was lit when EQT announced it is selling its Huron Shale assets to Diversified Gas & Oil (see Diversified Gas & Oil Adds to Conventional Assets in KY, VA, WV). Those assets include transferring 250 workers (including the 116 working in Kentucky) to Diversified. The workers are afraid of what typically happens when such deals occur–“efficiencies” are sought, which usually translates into layoffs and whacking benefits. To get out ahead of that, the group voted to unionize. Here’s the story of a small group unionizing, and the prospects of unionization happening elsewhere in the Marcellus/Utica…
    Read More “EQT Employees in Kentucky Vote to Unionize”

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    Macquarie Sells NJ Gas-Fired Plant Powering NYC for $900M

    Macquarie Infrastructure Corporation, part of Macquarie Bank, is selling 100% of the Bayonne Energy Center (BEC) gas-fired power plant in Bayonne, New Jersey for $900 million to an unnamed buyer. BEC is a 644 megawatt gas-fired electric generation plant constructed in 2012 and expanded earlier this year. BEC distributes power into New York City via a cable that runs from Bayonne, NJ beneath New York Harbor to a substation in Brooklyn. Macquarie bought the plant in 2015 for $720 million, and now they’re flipping it, making $180 million in the process. Which we suppose is good news for Macquarie. But also somewhat strange–at least to us layman. In 2016, Macquarie bought most of the Lordstown Energy Center plant in Trumbull County, OH (see Lordstown, OH Gas-Powered Electric Plant Gets New Owners). And they continue to invest in other such projects. Yet now Macquarie is selling this gas-fired plant serving the largest city in the U.S. Our interest, as usual, lies in what gas powers the plant. We speculate that most, if not all, comes from the PA Marcellus…
    Read More “Macquarie Sells NJ Gas-Fired Plant Powering NYC for $900M”

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    Quebec’s Junex Says Utica Offer “Not Superior” – Merger in Doubt

    MDN told you in June that Canada’s Quebec Province announced it will commit fracking suicide by implementing a permanent frack ban (see Quebec to Ban Utica Shale Drilling, Most Other Drilling Too). Quebec’s announcement is a virtual death sentence for oil and gas companies in the province. The shale fracking ban is coupled with new drilling standards so tight that even conventional drillers will have a difficult, almost impossible time. The result was immediate. Junex, a driller headquartered in Quebec with 1 million leased acres in the St. Lawrence lowlands (where there is Utica Shale), announced it would sell out to/merge with Cuda Energy, headquartered in Calgary, Alberta. Except now the merger is in doubt. It seems the merger was Cuda’s idea and was “unsolicited.” But hey, what’s a oil/gas driller going to do if they can’t horizontally drill and frack? Junex looked the offer over in detail and says it “does not constitute a ‘Superior Proposal’.” Oh oh. Is this a negotiating tactic for a higher price/better terms? What’s Plan B for Junex if they don’t sell out to Cuda? Here’s the latest on the Cuda/Junex potential merger…
    Read More “Quebec’s Junex Says Utica Offer “Not Superior” – Merger in Doubt”

  • Energy Stories of Interest: Wed, Aug 1, 2018

    The “best of the rest”–stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading: Sulfur dioxide emissions in M-U plung thx to shale; Hilcorp seeks 3 new Utica permits in Columbiana County; cleaning up NY’s peakers; Forge the Future Summit meets in Pittsburgh; SCANA approves merger with Dominion; Greenpeace launches propane-fueled blimp…to protest fossil fuels (dopes); Wisconsin frac sand wars; Florida power plant gets key backing; Williams adds former NY State investment guru to board; Europe won’t buy US LNG, but Europeans might; cities suing Big Oil should worry about damage awards from tossed lawsuits; 500 fewer wells getting drilled in Canada this year; Kuwait wants a $1.1B loan–for shale drilling; and more!
    Read More “Energy Stories of Interest: Wed, Aug 1, 2018”

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    EQT Retains Shale Rights in Recent Diversified $575M Deal in WV

    On June 19 MDN exclusively brought you the news that Diversified Gas & Oil had purchased EQT’s Huron Shale assets in Kentucky, Virginia and West Virginia for $575 million (see Diversified Gas & Oil Adds to Conventional Assets in KY, VA, WV). The original announcement didn’t name the seller–that information was available only here on MDN. It wasn’t until June 29 that EQT admitted to the world that they were the seller (see EQT Confirms Sale of Huron Shale to Diversified for $575M). EQT said the sale includes nearly 12,000 wells with 200 million cubic feet per day of natural gas production and 2.5 million (!) acres of leases and some 6,400 miles of gathering pipelines. The sale also includes 8 field offices and 250 employees. But like an onion, more details about this story keep getting peeled back one layer at a time. Here’s the newest detail that (until now) we were not aware of: The massive $575 million deal for 2.5 million acres does not include or transfer the right to drill in the deeper shale layers that may exist under that 2.5 million acres. Instead, EQT is retaining those rights…
    Read More “EQT Retains Shale Rights in Recent Diversified $575M Deal in WV”

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    Chesapeake’s $2B Exit from Ohio Utica “Is a Good Thing”

    Last week MDN shared the blockbuster news that Chesapeake Energy is exiting the Ohio Utica, selling all of its Ohio assets for $2 billion (see Stop Press: Chesapeake Sells ALL of its Ohio Utica Assets for $2B). The buyer is Encino Acquisition Partners, a joint venture between Encino Energy and the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board. At the time we speculated this may be good news for Ohio’s landowners signed with Chesapeake–that perhaps landowners now stand a better chance of seeing new drilling. That was just speculation/hope on our part. Looks like we’re not the only ones thinking that way. A couple of industry experts are saying the same thing. One of them said Chesapeake’s sale and exit “is a good thing” because it means Encino will sink money into new drilling programs in a way that Chesapeake, larded up with debt, could not…
    Read More “Chesapeake’s $2B Exit from Ohio Utica “Is a Good Thing””

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    PA Briggs “Rule of Capture” Case Turns on Concept of Drainage

    In April, MDN brought you the news that Pennsylvania Superior Court had handed down a decision (known as the “Briggs” case) that has the power to greatly restrict, perhaps even stop, Marcellus drilling in PA (see PA Superior Court Overturns “Rule of Capture” for Marcellus Well and PA “Rule of Capture” Case has Power to Limit Marcellus Drilling). The issue, in brief, is that the Superior Court decision disallows using an age-old principle called the “rule of capture” when it comes to shale drilling and fracking. It opens the door to a myriad of frivolous lawsuits claiming that a fracture, a crack created during fracking, is draining gas from a neighbor’s property without justly compensating the neighbor for the gas. Southwestern successfully argued in a lower court that the odd crack here and there that may slip under a neighbor’s property is permissible. The landowner appealed to Superior Court and three judges heard the case. Two of the three overturned the lower court and sided with the landowner. Southwestern, following that decision, petitioned the Superior Court to have all of the sitting justices (called en banc) hear the case. Sadly, in June the Superiors proved they aren’t so superior after all, declining to rehear the case (see PA Superior Court Rejects Southwestern “Briggs” Trespass Appeal). Southwestern then appealed the case to the PA Supreme Court in early July (see Southwestern Appeals “Briggs” Trespass Case to PA Supreme Court). No word yet on whether or not the Supremes will take the case. In the meantime, this case and its ultimate effect on drilling in PA and beyond is still a hot topic of discussion throughout the industry. We spotted two recent articles tackling it–one from a lawyer who does a great job of crystallizing the important elements in the case–that this case turns on the concept of drainage, and the other article which tackles the broader topic of how energy law in PA is charting its own path separate from Texas and other big oil/gas states…
    Read More “PA Briggs “Rule of Capture” Case Turns on Concept of Drainage”

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    NEXUS Pipeline Update – Now 80% Complete, on Schedule for 3Q18

    NEXUS map – click for larger version

    The NEXUS Pipeline project, owned by DTE Energy and Spectra Energy (Enbridge), is a $2 billion, 255-mile interstate pipeline that runs from Ohio through Michigan and eventually to the Dawn Hub in Ontario, Canada. NEXUS got final approval for the project from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in August 2017, the first major pipeline to get approved following a newly restored quorum at FERC (see New FERC Quorum Votes Final Approval for NEXUS Pipeline). However, radical environmental groups have fought the project tooth and nail. CORN (Coalition to ReRoute Nexus), and the far-left Sierra Club, launched lawsuits and regulatory actions against the pipeline. The City of Green, OH initially blocked construction, but later cut a deal to allow the pipeline through the area after NEXUS agreed to pay the city $7.5 million and donate 20 acres of land that sit next to an existing city park (see Antis of Green, OH Finally Face Reality – Will Allow NEXUS Pipe). So just how is the project doing? On a recent quarterly analyst phone call, DTE’s president and chief operating officer, Jerry Norcia, answered that question. He said, in brief, that the pipeline is now 80% built and on track to go online in the third quarter of this year…
    Read More “NEXUS Pipeline Update – Now 80% Complete, on Schedule for 3Q18”

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    ME2 Landowner/Protester Admits to Some of Her Crimes, $25K Bail

    Yesterday we told you that a Pennsylvania landowner from Huntingdon County, PA, Ellen Gerhart, was arrested on Friday for violating a court order to not interfere with Mariner East 2 (ME2) pipeline work being done on her property (see Central PA Landowner Arrested, Jailed for Violating ME2 Court Order). Although Gerhart is due for a hearing before a judge on Friday, there was a preliminary hearing yesterday. Gerhart “attended” by video conference because she’s being held in a neighboring county jail (Huntingdon doesn’t have facilities to house female prisoners). Under questioning, Gerhart admitted her actions were intended “to annoy and harass” ME2 workers by her actions. What were those actions? She admitted placing meat close to the construction site in order to attract bears. She also admitted setting small fires in bottles/cans, hinting to workers that they might explode (like a Molotov cocktail). She remains in jail, for now. Yesterday the judge set bail at $25,000…
    Read More “ME2 Landowner/Protester Admits to Some of Her Crimes, $25K Bail”

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    DC Circuit Court Denies Anti Request to Rehear AIM Pipe Approval

    The Algonquin Incremental Market (AIM) pipeline project is an expansion of the existing Algonquin pipeline system designed to carry 342 million cubic feet of natural gas per day to New England states that badly need the gas. On March 3, 2015 the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued their final approval for the project, allowing it to go forward. Construction began in 2015 and, following extreme opposition from New York State over a small portion of the project, it finally went online in late 2016. New York’s radical, anti-drilling governor, Andrew Cuomo, tried to stop the Algonquin using the flimsy excuse that some of the drilling for the pipeline would happen a half mile from a nuclear power plant–a plant that’s shutting down anyway. A few weeks after Cuomo requested FERC shut it down, FERC told him “no”–which was the cue for Big Green groups to file an appeal with the District of Columbia Court of Appeals to force FERC to rehear/reconsider their approval (see Radical Enviro Groups File Appeal to Stop AIM Pipeline in NY/CT). They asked the D.C. court to tell FERC to deny AIM after all because, they say, the project should have been lumped in with consideration of a second project, called Atlantic Bridge. Hope springs eternal for antis. Even though the completed project has been up and running for a year and a half, they still hoped they could roll back the clock and stop the extra gas flowing through AIM with their lawsuit. Those hopes were dashed on Friday when the D.C. court denied the rehearing request…
    Read More “DC Circuit Court Denies Anti Request to Rehear AIM Pipe Approval”

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    Berkeley/Johns Hopkins Publish Junk Study on Fracking & Depression

    The usual suspects from Johns Hopkins University, working with researchers from the University of California, Berkeley, have completely soiled themselves this time. It’s really kind of embarrassing. In a “study” just published in Nature, researchers claim they have found a link between living near fracking sites in Pennsylvania and an increased incidence of being *mildly* depressed. We get mildly depressed just reading this drivel. Maybe there’s a link between junk science and mild depression? Launch a study! The research team this time around includes a fellow from the Post Carbon Institute, a rabidly anti-fossil fuel organization that has called fracking a “virus.” You can tell just how biased and false this study truly is just based on the wackos who published it. The “study” is titled, “Associations of unconventional natural gas development with depression symptoms and disordered sleep in Pennsylvania” (full copy below). It’s not even real research. They used a bunch of medical records from a local hospital network (Geisinger) and didn’t actually interview anyone themselves. Totally made up. Total fiction. That’s what you need to know about the latest attack on Marcellus drilling…
    Read More “Berkeley/Johns Hopkins Publish Junk Study on Fracking & Depression”

  • Energy Stories of Interest: Tue, Jul 31, 2018

    The “best of the rest”–stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading: UGI CNG filling station will lower customer natgas bills; Pittsburgh energy attorney nominated by Trump for U.S. District judge seat in PA; judge dismisses San Fran’s climate lawsuit because global warming is a global issue; U.S. energy costs are going down, thx to shale; U.S. crude oil production/exports hit record highs; U.S. GDP through the roof thx to shale; Supreme Court refuses to toss children’s climate lawsuit; Congress wants to give FERC workers a raise; Saudi-Russia mega cartel just a pipe dream; Europe pledges to take more U.S. gas; and more!
    Read More “Energy Stories of Interest: Tue, Jul 31, 2018”

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    Enviro Groups Back Down on Challenging DEP Permits for ME2 Pipe

    An interesting development on Friday, when the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) issued a press release to announced that three radical environmental groups have dropped their objections to permits the DEP previously granted for the Mariner East 2 Pipeline. Clean Air Council, Mountain Watershed Association, and THE Delaware Riverkeeper “settled” their appeal of 20 permits issued to Sunoco for the ME2 project. What does it mean that they “settled?” According to the announcement, “The settlement does not alter any of the 20 permits in the appeal.” In other words, this is face-saving by the radical groups. They backed down. Gave up. Threw in the towel–recognizing that ME2 is about to be completed. In other words, they’ve lost. And we won! We love saying that. No matter how hard the radicals tried to spin the news (via their affiliated mouthpieces, like StateImpact Pennsylvania), you simply can’t gloss over the fact that they’ve backed down…
    Read More “Enviro Groups Back Down on Challenging DEP Permits for ME2 Pipe”

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    Central PA Landowner Arrested, Jailed for Violating ME2 Court Order

    For the past two years the Gerhart family has used illegal protest tactics to stall tree cutting on their property in Huntingdon County, PA, to block construction of the Mariner East 2 (ME2) Pipeline. Out-of-state Big Green radicals, along with the Gearharts’ own daughter, lived on-and-off in the tops of three white pine trees, building magic tree houses so they can lay around and pretend they’re saving the planet. The tree occupation prevented Sunoco Logistics Partners from cutting the trees, which are in the path of the ME2 project. Then, at daybreak on Sunday, April 8th, after observing the protesters had left the night before scared of impending high winds, Sunoco snuck in and cut down the trees, much to the consternation of the Gerharts who called it a “underhanded and cowardly attack.” The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette called it a “predawn timbering raid” (see ME2 Pipeline Cuts Down PA Trees Vacated by Protesters). Funny! We mention all that as background because the mama Gerhart has landed herself in jail. Sunoco said that Ellen Gerhart violated a standing court order to not interfere with work happening on her land for the pipeline. So police arrested and jailed her last Friday, without bond, until a hearing date on Aug. 3 (a week later). What did Mrs. Gerhart do to end up in the slammer?…
    Read More “Central PA Landowner Arrested, Jailed for Violating ME2 Court Order”