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    SWPA Gas-fired Elec Plant Next to Pot Farm Nears Final Approval

    Last October MDN told you that a second Marcellus gas-fired electric generating plant is planned for Greene County, PA (see 2nd Marcellus-Fired Electric Plant Proposed for Greene County, PA). Hill Top Energy Center, based in Huntington Bay, N.Y., is planning to build a 620 megawatt plant on 41 acres of land off Thomas Road in Cumberland Township. The PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) held a public hearing in early November, and in early December the DEP issued an air quality permit for the project (see PA DEP Issues Air Permit for Gas-fired Elec Plant Next to Pot Farm). The plant will be built next door to a “medical marijuana operation”–i.e., a pot growing farm. Here’s an idea: Why not burn pot to generate the electricity instead of natgas? Roughly the same CO2 footprint, with the added benefit of lacing the air in the region with happy smoke. Oh well, back to reality. What’s left to do before construction begins on the Hill Top Energy Center? The facility needs a building permit from Cumberland Township. Plans will be reviewed at the next town meeting on July 2. If the plans are approved, a building permit will follow in short order. However, Hill Top says they don’t plan to begin construction until early 2019…
    Read More “SWPA Gas-fired Elec Plant Next to Pot Farm Nears Final Approval”

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    Presbyterians Vote to Divest from Fossil Fuels – Yet Keep Using Them

    Liberal Presbyterians in Pittsburgh, along with their comrades from New York, have succeeded in pressuring a once-great denomination, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), into adopting a proposal that forces the denomination to divest from all investments in fossil fuel companies, and instead invest in so-called renewable energy companies. The measure says divestment is “the beginning of a faithful response to the devastating and urgent reality of climate change.” The leaders of the divestment movement within the denomination say investing in fossil fuels is the moral equivalent of investing in tobacco, alcohol and gambling. And yet the very same people and the very same denomination refuse to lead by example. They don’t force their churches to quit using “devastating fossil fuels” to heat and cool their buildings. They don’t demand parishioners quit driving fossil-fuel powered automobiles to church. And they certainly don’t refuse tithes and offerings from those who work at evil fossil fuel companies (nor do they prohibit contributions from fossil fuel companies). Just a tad hypocritical?…
    Read More “Presbyterians Vote to Divest from Fossil Fuels – Yet Keep Using Them”

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    Antis Convince Chatham County, NC to Extend Frack Moratorium

    In 2014, the North Carolina legislature passed a law that specifically says local municipalities can’t regulate oil and gas exploration–it is the sole responsibility of the state to do so. Some municipalities thought there were loopholes they could use. Stokes and Chatham counties enacted moratoriums instead of outright bans, hoping to game the system. In order to plug the loopholes, the NC General Assembly approved a 41-page “technical corrections” bill (literally passed in the middle of the night) in September 2015 (see NC Legislature Makes Local Frack Bans/Moratoria Illegal). The technical corrections bill, signed into law by then-Gov. Pat McCrory, introduced language which closes any perceived loopholes and makes any actions like the ones in Stokes and Chatham illegal. And yet the moratoriums in those counties persist, contravening NC law. On Monday night Chatham County commissioners voted (unanimously) to extend their illegal moratorium until Jan. 31, 2019. How do they get away with it? The obvious answer is that nobody cares about drilling in Chatham County, otherwise there would have been a lawsuit to challenge this blatant violation of the law…
    Read More “Antis Convince Chatham County, NC to Extend Frack Moratorium”

  • Energy Stories of Interest: Thu, Jun 21, 2018

    The “best of the rest”–stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading: ICE launches updated Cove Point trading instrument; solar power slow to catch on in NY; closing PA nuke plants will cut energy prices; natgas pipeline bottlenecks in Louisiana affect M-U; antis keep pressure on Michigan regulators to retract decision to approve gas-fired power plant; is Trump’s coal/nuke support getting him in hot water with supporters?; massive climate funding by big foundations fails to sway public opinion; China’s home-grown frack boom; more OPEC machinations; and more!
    Read More “Energy Stories of Interest: Thu, Jun 21, 2018”

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    Dela. Riverkeeper Pressures DRBC to Revoke ME2 Pipe Permit

    Here’s the latest strategy in THE Delaware Riverkeeper’s ongoing war against fossil fuels, and against natural gas pipelines in particular: Pressure the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) to revoke a permit granted by the agency to the Mariner East 2 (ME2) pipeline project on the flimsy basis that ME2 has “violated” the conditions of the permit. Frankly, we didn’t even know the DRBC had issued a permit for ME2. After all, ME2 is a state-permitted project and does not come under federal authority. We doubt the DRBC has legal authority to issue a permit for the project–but if no one challenges them, their authority stands. ME2 probably thought it easier to just get the permit and not squabble over it. According to Big Green mouthpiece PBS StateImpact Pennsylvania, the DRBC is actually considering Riverkeeper’s request. The problem with this latest strategy by Riverkeeper is that DRBC’s executive director, Steve Tambini, is so weak, he may fold like a cheap deck of cards and actually do it. Tambini, who has been a major disappointment since taking over from the ultra-leftist Carol Collier, seems happy to take his marching orders from Riverkeeper. We have to wonder if this latest strategy will bear fruit. A scary proposition. But Riverkeeper isn’t content to try and scuttle ME2 by pressuring the weak DRBC as its only strategy. Last week the DRBC filed a “groundbreaking” lawsuit against the ME2 project in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, meant to stop the project by court order…
    Read More “Dela. Riverkeeper Pressures DRBC to Revoke ME2 Pipe Permit”

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    TransCanada Says Exploded Leach XPress Pipe Back Online in July

    TransCanada’s Leach XPress project–some 160 miles of new natural gas pipeline and compression facilities in southeastern Ohio and West Virginia’s northern panhandle which flows 1.5 billion cubic feet (Bcf) of gas all the way to Leach, Kentucky (hence the name)–went online January 1st. A section of the pipeline exploded and burst into flames on June 7 (see Leach Xpress Pipeline Explodes in Marshall County, WV). TransCanada (and their Columbia Gas Transmission subsidiary) is working feverishly to get the pipeline back online. As of last Friday, the Stagecoach-LXP meter, which ties into the Strike Force South gathering system station, was back up and flowing, up to 190 million cubic feet per day (see Part of Leach XPress Pipe Up and Running Following Explosion). The company told shippers earlier this week they expect to have the full 1.5 Bcf/d pipeline back online “early in July.” Still no word on what caused the explosion, although a stray comment we read leads us to speculate…
    Read More “TransCanada Says Exploded Leach XPress Pipe Back Online in July”

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    Mountaineer Plans Pipe Expansions in WV Panhandle “Every Year”

    Eastern Panhandle Expansion – click for larger version

    In 2017, Mountaineer Gas launched its Eastern Panhandle Expansion pipeline project–a project to deliver natural gas via local distribution channels to a new industrial facility in Berkeley County, WV, and to provide gas to other local businesses and residents in the Tri-State area. Mountaineer’s pipeline expansion will be fed by a 3.5-mile Columbia Gas pipeline due to run under the Potomac–which is being fought vigorously by anti fossil-fuelers. There are three phases to the Eastern Panhandle Expansion project: Phase One runs a 22.5-mile, 10-inch-diameter steel pipeline from Morgan County to Martinsburg; Phase Two includes a loop to Charles Town (Jefferson County); and Phase Three will build a four mile segment of pipeline into Martinsburg. The West Virginia Dept. of Environmental Protection approved the Eastern Panhandle Expansion in February (see WV DEP Issues Permit for Mountaineer Gas Pipeline in Eastern WV), and work on Phase One began in March (see Mountaineer Gas Begins Work on Morgan County, WV Pipeline). According to an article just published, work on Phase One was initially delayed because of heavy rainfall in April/May (but is now going well), and Phase Two is planned to begin in the first or second quarter of 2019. The interesting thing (for us) is a comment from Mountaineer VP Thomas Westfall, who said this: “Over the next 20 years, we will have a lot of additional interest [in gas service in the Tri-State area], and we will be proposing expansion projects in this area every year.” Meaning Phases One, Two, and Three are only the beginning, which is sure to drive the antis bonkers…
    Read More “Mountaineer Plans Pipe Expansions in WV Panhandle “Every Year””

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    Cunningham Energy Focuses on Shallow Horizontal Oil Wells in WV

    Cunningham Energy is a small oil driller based in West Virginia. In 2015, Cunningham struck oil in the Big Injun sandstone formation in Clay County, WV (see Cunningham Strikes Oil in West Virginia’s Big Injun Territory). In 2016, Cunningham announced they would target another shallow formation, the Weir Sand formation, a few layers below the Big Injun (same group of rocks called the Mississippian system), once again looking for oil (see Cunningham Using Horizontal Drilling to Target Weir Sand in WV). Cunningham issued a press release two days ago to announce that its Lions Paw 4-Well Pad, in Clay County, is now producing at a rate of 10,000 plus barrels of oil per month. Normally we don’t cover news from conventional drillers, but Cunningham is interesting for a few reasons. While the rock layers Cunningham targets are layers typically targeted by conventional oil drillers, the lines are beginning to become blurred between conventional and unconventional. Cunninghamton targets shallow layers using horizontal drilling, and they drill increasingly longer laterals. Yet they don’t frack their wells. Correction: They do frack! Cunningham sent us an email to let us know they do use fracking on their shallow, horizontal wells. Is this conventional? Or unconventional? Perhaps we should invent a new word to describe it: biconventional. Drilling with elements of both conventional and unconventional. Here’s the Cunningham announcement that existing wells are pumping oil with impressive numbers. The release also mentions Cunningham’s plans to drill more shallow horizontal wells in both Clay and Kanawha counties this year…
    Read More “Cunningham Energy Focuses on Shallow Horizontal Oil Wells in WV”

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    Shell Says Falcon Ethane Pipeline to Get Built in 2019

    Click for larger version

    Shell delivered some good news at the Northeast U.S. Petrochemical conference held earlier this week in Pittsburgh: The Falcon ethane pipeline will get built next year. It won’t actually flow ethane to the Shell cracker in Monaca until 2020 at the earliest–because the cracker plant itself won’t go online until 2020 at the earliest. The Falcon pipeline project is interesting for a number of reasons, the chief reason (for us) being: Shell didn’t use eminent domain for a single foot of the 97-mile, two-legged pipeline system. Shell negotiated with every landowner and got them to sign on the dotted line. Judging by the articles we’ve highlighted in the past, Shell paid landowners between $40-$75 per linear foot for a permanent easement (see Landowners Who Negotiate with Shell Ethane Pipeline Get More $). The Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection conducted three public hearings on the project earlier this year, in preparation for issuing permits. Antis came out in force and behaved badly, as they typically do (see More of the Same at Final DEP Hearing for Shell Ethane Pipeline). Using no eminent domain, and in the face of Big Green opposition, the big news is that Shell says they will build the pipeline next year, right on schedule, which is good news indeed…
    Read More “Shell Says Falcon Ethane Pipeline to Get Built in 2019”

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    Shale Brewing Opens Brewpub Near Canton, OH

    In December MDN told you about a small-but-growing brewery in Canton, OH started by shale co-workers who had “a passion for easy drinking brews” (see Ohio Utica Gives Rise to…Beer?! Introducing Shale Brewing Co.). The Shale Brewing Company produces microbrews with names like “Cold Rolled Ale” and “Roughneck Red.” How cool is that? We reported in January that the company has continued to grow their distribution network as far away as the PA and WV border (see Ohio Utica Shale Beer Expands Distribution to WV, PA). We’ve heard that if you look hard enough, you might even find a bottle Shale Brewing beer in Pittsburgh. We’re hoping Roughneck Red will become the official beer of MDN. Shale Brewing is on the grow again. The brewery has relocated from downtown Canton to nearby Jackson Township, and last night debuted a new brewpub with nine (!) beers on draft…
    Read More “Shale Brewing Opens Brewpub Near Canton, OH”

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    INGAA: US/Canada Needs to Spend $44B/Year on Pipelines Thru 2035

    A newly published study by the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America (INGAA) Foundation is raising eyebrows. The study, titled “North America Midstream Infrastructure through 2035” (full copy below), says the United States and Canada together will need to invest a total of $791 billion, or an average of $44 billion per year, from 2018 to 2035, to build new natural gas and oil pipelines (and associated infrastructure). That is some serious cash! The study makes certain assumptions, like this one: “Because production costs are relatively low in the Marcellus and Utica compared with production costs elsewhere, the study anticipates both production and infrastructure needs related to natural gas will be focused in the U.S. Northeast.” Meaning a lot of the money to build pipelines will go to our region. And this: “The study estimates about 25 billion cubic feet per day of new capacity to move Marcellus and Utica supplies to consumers and export facilities through 2035.” Whoa! According to the updated EIA Drilling Productivity Report issued on Monday, the Marcellus/Utica region will produce 28.9 Bcf/d of natural gas in July. Another 25 Bcf/d on top of that (essentially doubling current production) means by 2035 our region will produce over 50 Bcf/d of natgas. Incredible! No wonder we need more pipeline investment. Here’s an overview, along with a copy of the full study…
    Read More “INGAA: US/Canada Needs to Spend $44B/Year on Pipelines Thru 2035”

  • Energy Stories of Interest: Wed, Jun 20, 2018

    The “best of the rest”–stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading: Collusion between RFJ Jr. & former NY AG to assassinate Exxon; the tech behind building Shell’s $6B ethane cracker; OPEC has a “second shale dilemma”; Mass. Senate passes insane 100% renewable bill; fixes for Permian gas takeaway problems; shale producers warn China tariffs will hit energy exports; NGL growth rose faster than natgas growth!; world is becoming more dependent on “riskier” U.S. shale says Dallas Fed chief; UPS ignores electric, invests in CNG; corporate raider Carl Ichan victorious in SandRidge takeover; EU/China/Canada snubs U.S. at faux climate summit; and more!
    Read More “Energy Stories of Interest: Wed, Jun 20, 2018”

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    New Yale U Study Finds Fracking Does Not Affect PA Water Wells

    Here’s what happens when the Heinz Endowments, William Penn Foundation, National Resources Defense Council and other far-left “environmental” funders don’t fund a study: real science gets done. We’ve knocked Yale University in the past when so-called studies (junk science) were released about fracking in the Marcellus/Utica (example from March 2018: Yale Study Claims Ohio Utica Fracking Causes STDs). Those studies are almost always funded by Big Green groups and the results conform to Big Green’s predetermined outcomes. This time, a group of Yale students and professors conducted a field experiment where they drilled a number of water wells in an area where there would soon be (and subsequently was) Marcellus wells drilled–in Susquehanna County, PA. A controlled experiment to find out if drilling shale wells leads to water contamination via methane migration. The results are in. According to the Yale researchers, there was NO (zero, nada) impact on the water wells from nearby shale well drilling. Case closed. The study (full copy below) was published yesterday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. It’s the third such study in the past few months to be released showing the same thing: NO impact from Marcellus/Utica drilling on groundwater supplies. The funny thing is how biased mainstream media, like (Dis)Associated Press, is reporting it. They can’t paper over the results of these studies, so they spin the story and the headline instead. Try this headline out from an AP article running in dozens (maybe hundreds) of newspapers: “Studies show groundwater holding own against drilling boom.” The truth is there is no impact from Marcellus Shale drilling on groundwater. But AP simply can’t present the bold, honest truth. Instead, they spin it to imply “Water has to hold it’s own and fight off fracking. That water is brave. It’s courageous. Even though those nasty frackers WANT to pollute our precious groundwater, that old water just hangs in there and holds its own.” That’s the impression left by AP’s headline and the accompanying story…
    Read More “New Yale U Study Finds Fracking Does Not Affect PA Water Wells”

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    Trade War Puts $83.7 Billion Chinese Investment in WV on Hold

    You can’t say we didn’t warn you. In early April, when the current “trade war” with China began to heat up, we said this with respect to the deal China signed to invest $83.7 billion in West Virginia shale and petrochemicals: “However, if a trade war does develop, it would be foolish to not think those investments (withholding them) will be used against us.” (Will Trade War with China Affect $83.7B Investment in WV Shale?) At yesterday’s Northeast U.S. Petrochemical Construction Conference in Pittsburgh, our fears (and prediction) were confirmed. Chinese officials were due to attend the event and 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.” Add to the trade war the fact that WV Gov. Jim Justice just fired the guy who built the relationships and negotiated the $83.7 billion deal, Commerce Sec. Woody Thrasher (see WV Commerce Secretary Who Brokered $83B China Deal…Fired), and it doesn’t bode well for China’s billions of investment. The Chinese are using their announced investment as an economic weapon against the U.S. Which points out the folly of relying on investments from your enemies to prop up your economy. Make no mistake: China is an enemy of the United States. However, there’s one thing the Chinese are not retaliating against, and indeed something they want more of: U.S. LNG…
    Read More “Trade War Puts $83.7 Billion Chinese Investment in WV on Hold”

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    EIA June ’18 Drilling Report: M-U Production Up Another 1/3 Bcf/d

    Yesterday our favorite government agency, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), issued our favorite monthly report, the Drilling Productivity Report (DPR). The DPR is the EIA’s best guess, based on expert data crunchers, as to how much each of the U.S.’s seven major shale plays will produce for both oil and natural gas in the coming month. Each month, as has been happening for months on end, the Marcellus/Utica region (called Appalachia in the report) continues to see production go through the roof. Last month (and the month before and the month before) EIA predicted M-U production would go up by more than 1/3 of a billion cubic feet (see EIA May ’18 Drilling Report: M-U Gas & Permian Oil on Fire). Once again for this month, EIA says in the coming 30 days M-U production will grow another 1/3 Bcf–371 million cubic feet/day to be precise. Because of the enormous amount of associated gas coming out of holes along with oil in plays like the Permian and Bakken, collectively all seven major shale plays will produce an additional 1.1 Bcf/d in the next 30 days. It is simply astonishing! No less astonishing is the amount of oil output. Oil will increase an average of 141,000 barrels per day in the next 30 days. Needless to say, but gas and oil output for the coming month breaks another record. Shale is the gift that keeps on giving…
    Read More “EIA June ’18 Drilling Report: M-U Production Up Another 1/3 Bcf/d”

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    FERC Grants MVP Permission to Cross Blue Ridge Pkwy in Virginia

    The good news keeps rolling in for Mountain Valley Pipeline–a $3.5 billion, 301-mile pipeline currently under construction from Wetzel County, WV to the Transco Pipeline in Pittsylvania County, VA. MVP is being built to move Marcellus/Utica gas south. Following multiple lawsuits and regulatory challenges by Big Green groups, MVP is getting work done and on track to be completed this year. Just last week we told you that following delays by illegal protesters sitting in trees in the Jefferson National Forest, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission helpfully extended tree cutting season for MVP to July 31 (see Big Green Fail – MVP Permission to Cut Trees in VA Until July 31). One of the faux arguments against MVP used by “environmentalists” is that the pipeline will cross under the Appalachian Trail and Blue Ridge Parkway in Virginia–somehow doing irreparable damage in the process. Good news: MVP has just received permission to drill and insert the pipeline under the Blue Ridge Parkway, which will have antis howling at the moon…
    Read More “FERC Grants MVP Permission to Cross Blue Ridge Pkwy in Virginia”