PA House Bill to Neuter SRBC, DRBC Makes It to First Base
As we reported in April, a Pennsylvania House of Representatives member, Dan Moul (Republican from Gettysburg), introduced a bill, House Bill (HB) 2222, that would replace the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) and Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC) authority to regulate groundwater by vesting that authority solely in the hands of the state Dept. of Environmental Protection (see PA House Bill Would Neuter SRBC, DRBC Regulation of Ground Water). Moul’s ire is particularly focused on the SRBC and how the organization has interfered with (and charged a lot of money to) big water users, like farmers, in Moul’s district. It is about perceived abuses by the SRBC. That appears to be the bee in Moul’s bonnet. So he’s taking aim at removing the guts of both SRBC and DRBC and placing their power in the hands of the PA DEP, which presumably Moul thinks would be more amenable to the legislature with regard to water policies. While the DRBC is without question a rogue organization that needs reigning in, our impression of the SRBC has been, on balance, positive. SRBC doesn’t try to regulate fracking the way DRBC is attempting to do. At any rate, the point of this post is that we noticed Moul’s bill actually has some traction and has been assigned out to the House State Government Committee for consideration. A bill must first go to a committee and be reported out before it can go to the floor for a full vote by all members. This is step #1, or using a baseball metaphor, the bill made it to first base…
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In our headline we pose a question asking if private equity (PE) money is about to be lavished on the oil and gas sector once again. The short answer, according to an analyst who writes about these things, is YES! Anthony Mirhaydari, a senior financial writer at PitchBook, says because of the current high price of oil, “After a drought of investment as management teams aggressively trimmed expenses to stay afloat, an aggressive ramp-up in spending is needed.” According to Deloitte, the oil and gas industry will need to spend on the order of $3 trillion in capital expenditures from now until 2020 (two short years away). Some of that money comes from profits or is already in hand from other sources. But, according to Deloitte, “there is a funding gap of $750 billion to $2 trillion that will need to be met with outside capital.” That trillion dollar delta is where private equity comes in–private investors once again opening up their wallets so more oil and gas drilling can happen. And that’s good news for the entire industry, including the Marcellus/Utica region. More money = more drilling…
An interesting development in the pipeline wars. Kinder Morgan has just agreed to sell its Trans Mountain Pipeline system to the Canadian government for C$4.5 billion ($3.5 billion U.S.). Why? Kinder is tired of the ongoing civil war in Canada over extending Trans Mountain from the oil sands of Alberta through British Columbia to the coast for exporting to Asia. As we reported last week, British Columbia is blocking the project and Alberta is now fighting back–and it’s nasty, a civil war in every way except armed conflict (see 
The “best of the rest”–stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading: Pittsburgh trucking firm testing natgas Mack trucks; PA DEP to name new Enviro Justice director in June; Dominion sets new natgas storage withdrawal record; latest Baker Hughes rig count shows WV up 1; Total makes big investment in U.S. natgas trucks; Trump wants climate lawsuits dismissed; Saudis still large and in charge of oil prices; Halliburton aids and abets Saudis with frack tech; Poland wants sanctions to block Russian pipeline; and more!
As MDN reported last Friday, fossil fuel opponents finally located a liberal judge that they could persuade to abuse her judicial power to shut down not only construction on the 98% complete Mariner East 2 (ME2) pipeline project, but also shut down Mariner East 1 (ME1), a pipeline that has been working with no issues or problems for over a year (see 
The Utica Shale is starting to get more love. No, not in Ohio where the play is already well-loved, but in Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Although it’s always been known that the Utica underlies the Marcellus and in fact covers a larger geography than the Marcellus, drillers have not targeted the Utica nearly as much outside of OH. Why? Because it’s nearly twice as deep as the Marcellus and costs more to tap it. The Marcellus is roughly a mile below the surface, and the Utica roughly two miles below. However, there is renewed interest in the Utica in PA and WV in 2018. Most of the Utica wells drilled in PA have, so far, been drilled by Hilcorp. JKLM is targeting the Utica in Potter County. SWEPI (Shell) has drilled a few Utica test wells, as has EQT, CNX and others. Most recently CNX and Seneca Resources mentioned targeting the Utica in their quarterly updates. Throw it all in the mix and what it spells is more Utica drilling on the way in what has, until now, been largely Marcellus country…
In February 2016 there was an accidental release of a hazardous chemical at the MarkWest Energy cryogenic processing plant in Mobley (Wetzel County), WV (see 
The United Nations–essentially America’s enemies–recently issued a false report (full copy below) that tells the countries of the world to forget about shale energy as a way to lower carbon emissions and increase the standard of living among its peoples. Why? Because natural gas is methane and methane, according to UN warmists, is “worse” for the precious climate than CO2. Far worse. And because “everyone knows” that the world needs to dump the use of all fossil fuels sooner rather than later. So just forget about shale. Don’t give it a second thought. That about sums up the idiotic conclusions of this totally false, totally misleading report by the UN. Why are we not surprised? According to the wizards of smart issuing the report, it’s far better for counties to invest in solar (even though the sun doesn’t always shine) and wind (even though the wind doesn’t always blow)–and, you know, just keep your impoverished people living in mud huts. All in an effort to keep Mom Earth from toasting to a cinder. Even though the earth hasn’t been warming for 20 years!! Frustrating. Hard, actual science plays no role. This is a political report, not a scientific report. Bear that in mind as you read it…
Events related (or of interest) to the Marcellus and Utica Shale, primarily pro-drilling events. To have your event included (or if you are aware of a worthy event you believe should be on this page), please send the details and/or a link to have it included to the calendar@marcellusdrilling.com email address.
Anti-fossil fuel nutters have finally, after months and years, scored a minor victory. They’ve been shopping to locate an ultra-liberal judge who would ignore the law and instead issue edicts from the bench–to shut down both the Mariner East 1 (ME1) and Mariner East 2 (ME2) pipeline projects. Yesterday Elizabeth Barnes, an administration law judge for the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC), unilaterally ordered Sunoco Logistics Partners to “cease and desist all current operation, construction, including drilling activities on the Mariner East 1, 2 and Mariner East 2X pipeline” in West Whiteland Township (Chester County, PA). The judge also moved to shut down all operations of Mariner East 1 across the state, ruling that she is “enjoining Respondent from operating Mariner East 1.” It is a breathtaking display of arrogance and seizure of power that does not belong to her. The ruling runs counter to other decisions regarding these critical pipeline projects–projects that have been thoroughly vetted by numerous regulatory agencies. Construction of ME2 is 94% complete! ME1 has been flowing NGLs for over a year–with ZERO problems! And yet Barnes has shut it all down, with the stroke of a pen. We predict it won’t last long…
The radical Sierra Club is claiming a victory in temporarily stopping construction work of the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) at four river crossings in West Virginia. On Tuesday the Sierra Club and a mishmash of other radicalized groups filed a motion asking the Fourth District U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to suspend a permit issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that allows MVP to construct the pipeline across streams and rivers in the Mountain State. The Clubbers’ tortured logic is this: When construction of the pipeline across a river, the stated standard is that construction can take no longer than 72 hours. MVP says it will need longer when constructing the pipeline across four rivers–Elk, Gauley, Greenbrier and Meadow. Therefore (say the Clubbers), MVP is in violation of the general permit issued by the Corps and that means ALL (not just those four rivers) construction should be stopped, immediately. The Fourth Circuit has not yet rendered a decision, however, the Corps itself said they had reviewed the standards and have (for now) rescinded the permit as it applies ONLY to those four rivers, NOT to any locations. So it’s a partial, and temporary, victory for the Clubbers…
It’s been seven long years since Windfall Oil and Gas first floated a plan to drill a shale wastewater injection well near Dubois, in Brady Township (Clearfield County), PA. After all that time, the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) finally approved the project in March of this year (see