• | | |

    Surprise! NJ Issues Permits for Meadowlands Marcellus-Fired Plant

    MDN reported in April that a subsidiary of Japanese conglomerate Mitsubishi wants to build a huge, new $1.5 billion natural gas-fired electric generating plant in the Meadowlands (New Jersey), just outside of New York City (see Marcellus Electric Plant Proposed for Meadowlands to Power NYC). The North Bergen Liberty Generating Project, at 1,200 megawatts, will help replace some of the electricity lost when the Indian Point Nuclear plant located in New York along the Hudson River closes down in 2021. We suspect that since the mighty Transco pipeline, which flows mostly Marcellus molecules in the northeast, will feed the Meadowlands project, this plant will become an important new market for PA Marcellus production. The town where the plant will be located, North Bergen, is jazzed about the plant (see NJ Town Ready to Approve Meadowlands Marcellus-Fired Power Plant). Of course the plant is opposed by radicals in the nutty Sierra Club and other Big Green groups who despise all fossil fuels and demand that you and I end our use of fossil fuels to make them feel better about themselves. The Sierra Clubbers, namely Jeff Tittel, thought he could tell NJ’s newly elected leftist Democrat Gov. Phil Murphy to block the project. After all, they’re best buds. Tittel strongly supported Murphy’s campaign. But a funny thing happened on the way to the forum. In a surprise move, the Murphy Administration has just approved the first in a series of required permits, indicating ole Phil is in favor of the project after all and wants it built. Which has Jeff Tittel hopping mad…
    Read More “Surprise! NJ Issues Permits for Meadowlands Marcellus-Fired Plant”

  • | | | | | |

    Va. Supreme Court Upholds Pipeline Survey Law for 3rd Time

    In 2016 the Virginia Supreme Court accepted a case from an 83-year old granny who didn’t want surveyors working for Dominion’s Atlantic Coast Pipeline to enter her property to conduct a survey for a possible pipeline route (see A Supreme Court to Hear Atlantic Coast Pipe Survey Case). A 2004 Virginia law specifically allows surveyors to enter a property WITHOUT landowner permission, as long as the surveyors provide ample, advance notice of when they are coming. Granny’s case attempted to challenge and end that law. She failed. Last July the Supremes ruled against her (see Va. Supreme Court Rules Against Granny in Pipeline Survey Case). However, Dominion did get a slap on the wrist. The justices said notifications sent for when surveyors will arrive can no longer say the surveyors will arrive “on or after,” because “after” can mean years later. Instead, Dominion will have to give several potential, specific dates when surveyors will visit a property. Fair enough. Except yet another group of landowners sued attempting to overturn the same law–now for a third time. And this third case also ended up in state Supreme Court. Last Thursday the Supremes ruled 6-1 to uphold the existing law that grants pipelines permission to enter property with advance notice. Third time’s a charm?…
    Read More “Va. Supreme Court Upholds Pipeline Survey Law for 3rd Time”

  • | | | | |

    Enviro Radicals Target ACP with Same Strategy that Shut Down MVP

    Believing they have a winning court strategy that has (temporarily) stopped the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) in West Virginia (see Sierra Club Succeeds in Delaying MVP Project in WV via Court Order), Sierra Club lawyers set about to try and stop MVP in Virginia too (see Enviro Radicals Target MVP in Va. Following WV Court “Win”). But hey, why stop there? The Clubbers are now attempting to use the SAME legal argument to stop Dominion’s Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP) in WV, VA and NC. Their strategy was/is to bamboozle the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth District into stopping construction at stream crossings (hundreds of them) by claiming the pipeline can’t complete required work at some of the crossings within the stated 72 hours called for in the original permit. Therefore, the court needs to reassess the umbrella permit issued for all crossings, stopping work at every single stream crossing–which effectively shuts down construction along the entire pipeline while judges dither around, go on summer vacation, then come back and dither some more before making a decision. The gajillion dollar question is, will the court fall for this sleazy legal trick again, and shut down ACP construction as they have MVP?…
    Read More “Enviro Radicals Target ACP with Same Strategy that Shut Down MVP”

  • | | |

    PA State Sen. Wants to Drill on State Land to Fund School Safety

    Since taking office nearly four years ago, Pennsylvania’s left-leaning Democrat Gov. Tom Wolf has rigidly blocked any new shale leasing of state forest land. Leases and drilling prior to Wolf brought a bountiful harvest of revenue to state coffers. But Wolf, bowing to pressure from radical environmentalists, refuses any new drilling. In February the state Senate, controlled by Republicans, passed a resolution calling on Wolf to restart drilling in state parks (see PA Senate Ctte Passes Resolution to Restore Drilling in State Parks). No dice. Resolutions aren’t laws and can’t be enforced. At the end of February, Republican Sen. Gene Yaw (Williamsport) told Cindy Dunn, Secretary of the Dept. of Conservation and Natural Resources at a hearing, that if the state were to open up another 25,000 acres of state forest land for Marcellus drilling, it would generate $100 million that could be used for the Environmental Stewardship (Growing Greener) Fund (see PA DCNR Secretary Chilly to Suggestion of More State Forest Drilling). Dunn brushed Yaw off with a chilly response. However, PA Senate Republicans are persistent. State Sen. Dan Laughlin has just announced he will introduce a bill to restart leasing and drilling under state-owned land, and that the revenue will be used for “school safety.” Laughlin figures the new leasing could raise $250-$400 million. Question: Will Dems vote to oppose school safety?…
    Read More “PA State Sen. Wants to Drill on State Land to Fund School Safety”

  • | |

    Anti-Fossil Fuel CA, NY, MA Scramble to Avoid Electric Blackouts

    Saturday morning 34,500 residents in Los Angeles lost their electric power, in the midst of a dangerous heat wave. The cause? Not enough electricity to power all those air conditioners. Last winter Massachusetts and New England came razor close to losing electric power for millions of residents during an extended cold snap that went on for weeks. The only thing that saved their bacon was firing up a bunch of 1960s oil burning power plants. And the very town where MDN editor Jim Willis lives (Windsor) in Upstate New York is about to embark on a project to stick 33 wind mills across thousands of acres–wind mills that are 60 stories high and will kill bald eagles living in the area. These three seemingly separate stories have one thing in common–each state is anti-fossil fuel. They all desperately need more electricity. And each state is heading for (or already in) brownouts and blackouts–because of their stubborn, obtuse, anti-fossil fuel political leaders who insist “renewables” will ride in to save the day. Each state is now going to reap what it has sown, and we will be there every step of the way to remind you that we’ve predicted it, for years…
    Read More “Anti-Fossil Fuel CA, NY, MA Scramble to Avoid Electric Blackouts”

  • | | | |

    Utica Fracking May Help Locate Evidence of Life on Mars

    In 2016 MDN brought you the story of researchers who found microbes (bacteria) living nearly two miles down in Utica Shale wells. They dubbed one of the never-before-seen bacterial “lifeforms” in the well Frackibacter. We immediately labeled it a different name: Frackenstein (see Frackenstein! Researchers Find New Life Form in Fracked Utica Wells). One of the Ohio State researchers who helped discover Frackenstein continued the work. Last July he published a study titled, “Sulfide Generation by Dominant Halanaerobium Microorganisms in Hydraulically Fractured Shales” (see Ohio State Research Finds Microbes in Utica Well May be Corrosive). The researcher said a different bacteria he studied, that appeared in multiple Utica wells (called Halanaerobium) may be a cause for concern, possibly corrosive to pipes and cement and toxic for workers. Bear in mind the study was theoretical and based on observations at a single Utica well. The intrepid researchers at Ohio State have kept at it and have now published a third study. This new study, titled “Coupled laboratory and field investigations resolve microbial interactions that underpin persistence in hydraulically fractured shales” (full copy below), may “hold clues to extraterrestrial life” and assist in our efforts to search for life on the planet Mars. Far out! ET phone home–we’re about to frack Mars…
    Read More “Utica Fracking May Help Locate Evidence of Life on Mars”

  • Energy Stories of Interest: Mon, Jul 9, 2018

    The “best of the rest”–stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading: Impact fee revenue flows to Philly area; CNG station in Lackawanna County delayed; Polymer Alliance Zone of WV expands; BP may buy BHP’s US shale assets; CO2 in US dropping, thx to shale; Big Corn wins with ouster of EPA’s Scott Pruitt; analysts whispering about $150/barrel oil; $5.2 billion Italian pipeline held up by olive trees; and more!
    Read More “Energy Stories of Interest: Mon, Jul 9, 2018”

  • |

    FREE Audio: MDN Top 5 Stories for Week of July 2, 2018

    Below is an audio recording (“podcast”) featuring the Top 5 stories most read over the past week on MDN. Just click on the green button to listen. Below the recording is a list of the Top 5 with links to click to read the full stories (available only for subscribers). This list is meant as a way for folks to quickly catch up on the most essential news of the week–“essential” as determined by MDN’s audience of readers. Enjoy!


    Read More “FREE Audio: MDN Top 5 Stories for Week of July 2, 2018”

  • |

    Small Victory for the Swamp – EPA Admin Scott Pruitt Resigns

    Scott Pruitt, EPA Administrator, has been given the heave-ho by President Trump. We doubt Pruitt has done anything that merits his dismissal. He’s certainly done nothing worse than hundreds (thousands?) of Democrats that infested the Obama Administration. Gina McCarthy, as EPA Administrator, committed crimes while in office that were totally ignored by the media. The difference between McCarthy and Pruitt is a biased and partisan mainstream media that’s hounded Pruitt from Day One–because he’s draining the swamp. Swamp Things fight back. And this time, they won a small victory by hounding Pruitt out of office (including physical threats to Pruitt and his family). D.C. these days kind of has the feel of a third world dictatorship. Not because of Trump, but because of the Swamp Things that infest it. Cross them, and they’ll gang up on you like members of the Medellín Drug Cartel fighting to protect their turf. D.C. belongs to Swamp Dwellers–and they don’t let outsiders like Pruitt, or Trump, forget it. Not for a single day. Pruitt’s Deputy Administrator, Andy Wheeler, will take over as Acting Administrator. What do we know about Andy? He’s certainly less controversial and combative than Pruitt. Andy used to work for Oklahoma Senator Jim Inhofe (good conservative). Andy doesn’t believe in the fairy tale of catastrophic global warming, just as Pruitt didn’t. Big Green Swamp Dwellers like the NRDC are voicing their concerns that Wheeler may be *more* effective than Pruitt at dismantling Lord Obama’s numerous, onerous regulations. All good signs. However, our concern about Wheeler is that he has lived in and around D.C. most of his adult life. You can’t live in that region for that long and not be somewhat tainted by Swamp Fever. That an the fact that Wheeler didn’t support Trump and wrote some derogatory things about him during the campaign…
    Read More “Small Victory for the Swamp – EPA Admin Scott Pruitt Resigns”

  • | | | |

    Rover Pipe Tells FERC: The Weather Ate My Restoration Homework

    Earlier this week MDN told you that Rover Pipeline has not fulfilled its promise to restore (grading, replanting, etc.) certain locations it said it would restore no later than June 30, and because of their failure to perform, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is (so far) refusing to authorize for go-live two of Rover’s lateral pipeline segments (see FERC Plays Hardball with Rover – Refuses to Certify 4 Laterals). Treading on thin ice, Rover responded to FERC with a letter (full copy below) stating it is “deeply disappointed by several inaccurate statements made by FERC Staff in the letter and writes now to correct the record.” Very thin ice. In the letter, Rover tells FERC they (Rover) had kept FERC staffers informed at every point along the way about what they are doing, and not doing, and why. Specifically, they blamed the weather, heavy rains, for the delay. And Rover said that for FERC to imply Rover may not live up to its obligations is just bupkis. Question: Will telling someone “You’re wrong!”–especially if they’re your boss with the power to make your life miserable–make them more amenable to your position? We don’t think so…
    Read More “Rover Pipe Tells FERC: The Weather Ate My Restoration Homework”

  • | | | | | | |

    Army Corps Engrs Reinstates MVP Permits for 4 WV River Crossings

    In May, the radical Sierra Club claimed a victory in temporarily stopping construction work of the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) at four river crossings in West Virginia (see Army Corps Engineers Suspends MVP Permit for River Crossings). The Sierra Club and a mishmash of other radicalized green 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 was this: When constructing the pipeline across a river, the stated standard (according to the permit) 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 Corps said they had reviewed the standards and at that point (in May) rescinded the permit as it applies ONLY to those four rivers, NOT to any locations. The Corps has just reissued the permit in question, tweaked to allow MVP more time. That’s the new news and the good news. However, in June the Fourth District Court agreed with the Clubbers and for now, has stopped construction at all 591 stream crossings the pipeline traverses in WV (see Sierra Club Succeeds in Delaying MVP Project in WV via Court Order). So even though the underlying reason the case was brought in the first place, that construction will take longer at four crossings (out of 591) is now resolved, the court order is still in place preventing work at any of the crossings in WV…
    Read More “Army Corps Engrs Reinstates MVP Permits for 4 WV River Crossings”

  • | | | |

    Dominion Surrenders to Mt. Vernon – Relocating Compressor Station

    In October 2016, Dominion announced a new pipeline project called Eastern Market Access Project (see Dominion Announces $145M Project to Expand Gas Supply to DC & MD). The project will beef up two compressor stations in Virginia, build a new compressor station in Maryland, and add a couple of pipeline taps near Washington, D.C. The purpose of the $145 million project is to deliver more gas to Washington Gas (and its customers), and to deliver gas to a new gas-fired electric power plant being built in Maryland. A Dominion spokesman confirmed for MDN that the gas will come from either the Marcellus or Utica plays. The compressor station slated to get built in Maryland sits just across the Potomac River from Mount Vernon–the home and estate of our illustrious first president, George Washington. Mount Vernon is designated as a National Historic Landmark and part of the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places. If you’ve ever visited, it has an incredible view. The folks operating Mount Vernon took exception to a compressor station junking up that incredible view. Dominion says you won’t be able to see the compressor station at all from Mount Vernon, but Dominion’s arguments fell on deaf ears. Last week Mount Vernon launched a very public campaign to stop the new Dominion compressor station from locating across the river. The campaign worked. Facing a PR nightmare, Dominion issued a statement saying they will work with Mount Vernon to find a new/different location for the compressor station, something acceptable to both sides…
    Read More “Dominion Surrenders to Mt. Vernon – Relocating Compressor Station”

  • | | | |

    Europe Building New Cracker, to be Fed by Marcellus/Utica NGLs

    Here’s some exciting news: The first ethane cracker plant to get built in Europe in the past 20 years has just been announced by INEOS. Based in Switzerland, INEOS is a young but rapidly growing chemical company with roughly $40 billion in sales per year. INEOS’ competitors would be companies like BASF, Bayer and Dow Chemical. INEOS has its fingers in a lot of pies. For example, the company currently has two ships that shuttle Marcellus and Utica Shale ethane from Philadelphia to Scotland and Norway (see Ineos Gets Ready to Begin Ethane Exports from Marcus Hook, PA). INEOS has also been tapped to provide the technology for an ethane cracker plant to be built in Belmont County, OH (see PTT Taps Swiss Company INEOS for OH Cracker Plant Technology). INEOS already owns their own cracker plant in Scotland (see Cracker Plant in Scotland “Brought Back to Life” Thx to Marcellus Ethane). Now the company plans to build a €2.7 billion (US$3.2 billion) cracker plant and propane dehydrogenation unit in northern Europe. A specific country/location has not yet been selected. An INEOS official said, regarding the new cracker facility: “All our assets will benefit from our ability to import competitive raw materials from the US and the rest of the world.” Our translation: We love cheap Marcellus/Utica NGLs, and this plant will use lots of it…
    Read More “Europe Building New Cracker, to be Fed by Marcellus/Utica NGLs”

  • | | |

    Appalachia Resist! OH “Camp” Trains Children to be Eco-Jihadists

    We find this story truly disgusting, and disturbing. On the Fourth of July, a small group of parents in Ohio forced their children to attend an Appalachia Resist! protest “camp” in Athens where the kids were brainwashed and indoctrinated, taught to hate fossil fuels and hate the people that work to extract them. Perhaps parents passing down their irrational hatred to their children is nothing new–but teaching kids how to sabotage equipment and spike trees, in order to stop legal fossil fuel extraction activities, is rather new–or at least not something you see a lot of. What kind of country have we become where parents do this to their kids?…
    Read More “Appalachia Resist! OH “Camp” Trains Children to be Eco-Jihadists”

  • |

    Oil & Gas Workers Make Highest Average Paychecks in U.S.

    Oil and gas is back, and back in a big way. During the downturn in 2015-2016, hundreds of thousands of people lost their jobs in the shale industry when companies like Chesapeake Energy, Halliburton and others laid off thousands at a time. Our industry is a boom and bust industry, there’s no denying it. The work is there, until it isn’t. Last year our industry began to turn around once again. These days, workers are once again in high demand. If you’re a truck driver in Texas making under six figures, you’re not working in the shale industry (see WSJ story: Hot commodity in the shale boom: truckers). Researchers at Bloomberg (yes, left-leaning Bloomberg) are reporting that of all the industries in the U.S., those working in “energy” (including oil and gas) now make the highest average salaries of any industry. The median pay for energy workers last year was $123,000! If you’re looking for work, or looking to change careers, now is the time to check out the shale industry…
    Read More “Oil & Gas Workers Make Highest Average Paychecks in U.S.”