Marcellus Drilling News

Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | JKLM Energy | Pennsylvania | Potter County | Wastewater

Planned Potter County Frack Wastewater Treatment Facility is Dead
April 11, 2018April 18, 2018

Those who once supported a cutting-edge technology wastewater treatment plant, proposed by Epiphany Water Solutions for Coudersport, PA, are now running away from the project as fast as they can. First was JKLM, the primary (only) customer for the project–the main reason for the project. As we told you on Monday, JKLM, which was rumored to also be the main financial backer, said they are no longer interested (see JKLM Pulls Support of Planned Potter County Wastewater Facility). Now comes the news that the Coundersport Area Municipal Authority (CAMA), which operates the local sewage treatment plant that was going to take the distilled water from the proposed Epiphany plant (clean enough to drink) and discharge it into the Allegheny River, has just voted to rescind the permits and contract they had with Epiphany. With friends like these…
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Clearfield County | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Wastewater

Clearfield County, PA Residents to Appeal Injection Well Approval
April 11, 2018April 11, 2018

We suppose it was bound to happen. Several weeks ago MDN told you that the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) had given final approval to Windfall Oil and Gas to drill a wastewater injection well near Dubois, in Brady Township (Clearfield County), PA (see PA DEP Approves Wastewater Injection Well in Clearfield Count). Residents who live near the proposed injection well have opposed the plan from the beginning. They are now pledging to take the next step. What is that step? To appeal the DEP’s approval to the special court set up in PA to hear appeals of DEP decisions–called the Environmental Hearing Board. Clearfield County Commissioners are aiding residents in their fight against the injection well. However, the county and its residents are not putting all their hope in overturning the DEP approval. They’re also making backup plans in case the well is drilled–by testing water wells in the vicinity now, and by making “emergency plans” for the future–whatever that means…
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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | New York | Pipelines | Statewide NY | Williams

Constitution Pipe Files Brief with Supreme Court, Exposes Cuomo/DEC
April 11, 2018April 11, 2018

In January, the Constitution Pipeline–a $683 million, 124-mile pipeline from Susquehanna County, PA to Schoharie County, NY to move Marcellus gas into NY and New England–filed an appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court asking the court to overrule a lower court decision and allow the pipeline to get built in New York State (see Constitution Pipeline Appeals NY Fight Directly to U.S. Supreme Court). The Andrew Cuomo-corrupted Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DEC) suckered Constitution into refiling an application for a state-issued (but federal) water crossing permit a second time, restarting a one-year clock under which NY could render a decision about the pipeline. Constitution fully cooperated with the DEC, changing plans at the DEC’s request. With four days left on the clock in the second one-year period, DEC, in bad faith, issued a denial of Constitution’s request for the permit (see NY Gov. Cuomo Refuses to Grant Permits for Constitution Pipeline). In January Constitution filed the lawsuit with the Supreme Court, but earlier this week Constitution filed a “reply brief” in the case. In the brief, Constitution exposes the DEC’s actions as nothing more than a political move orchestrated by Andrew Cuomo himself. It is a devastating brief, laying bare the naked corruption of Cuomo and those who run the DEC…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Chester County | Crime | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Sunoco Logistics

Antis: Sunoco Damaged Own Equipment to “Change Conversation” re ME2
April 11, 2018April 11, 2018

Last week MDN reported that two pieces of heavy equipment being used by Sunoco Logistics Partners to build the Mariner East 2 pipeline in Chester County, PA had been severely, intentionally damaged (see Criminal Antis Vandalize Sunoco ME2 Pipe Construction Equipment). As Sunoco pointed out, there is no doubt who perpetrated the crime: Someone(s) who oppose the ME2 project. Antis who tipped over into engaging in a criminal act in their misguided, twisted attempt to save Mother Earth from the evils of fossil fuels. Sunoco is offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest. Antis know darned well it was one of their own who did the crime–either a local or (more likely) someone from out-of-state, an imported radical who couldn’t help himself. Wackos. Antis are now trying to focus attention away from their own criminal element by having the gall to allege Sunoco may have damaged their own equipment as a way of “changing the conversation.” Antis are offering their own $10,000 reward in order to shift the focus away from themselves. This is really sick stuff…
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Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Taxation

LibDem PA Sen Yudichak Floats Bill to Kill Marcellus with Severance Tax
April 11, 2018April 11, 2018

As predictable as spring dandelions (weeds that won’t give up), a Marcellus Shale severance tax is once again being pushed by leftists in Harrisburg who want to raise hundreds of millions of dollars to give it away to teachers unions in the Philadelphia area. The interesting twist is that this time the bill introduced in the PA Senate is not from a Philly Senator, but is being authored and introduced by northeast PA Democrat Sen. John Yudichak–from Luzerne County (Wilkes-Barre area). Apparently Yudichak has been nominated as Gov. Wolf’s patsy, to do Wolf’s bidding and dirty work this time around. On Monday Yudichak issued a “co-sponsorship memo” to elicit names he can list on the bill when it’s formally introduced. No doubt he’ll get at least a few sell-out Republicans, like RINOs from the Philly area, and perhaps even some Republicans from drilling areas, like Sen. Gene Yaw from Williamsport, who voted for a similar bill last year…
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Columbia Pipeline Group | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Pipelines | Regulation | Statewide OH | Statewide WV | TC Energy/TransCanada | West Virginia

Columbia Asks FERC to Approve OH/WV Buckeye XPress Pipe Project
April 11, 2018April 11, 2018

Buckeye XPress Pipeline map – click for larger version

In January 2017, TransCanada’s Columbia Pipeline subsidiary launched an open season for the Buckeye XPress (BXP) pipeline project (see Columbia Pipeline Launches Open Season for New M-U Project). BXP will expand service along the Columbia Gas Transmission pipeline from Ohio (and PA and WV) to send even more Marcellus/Utica gas to the Gulf via the interconnection at Leach, Kentucky. Columbia launched a non-binding open season to gauge interest in the project, which will use looping and beefed up compressor stations to increase capacity another 700 million cubic feet (MMcf) per day along the existing pipeline Columbia pipeline system. The open season (time when shippers express interest and sign contracts) was a success. But these things take time. On March 26, a year and two full months after the open season, Columbia filed an application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) seeking permission to build the project. The project includes building 66 miles of new pipeline to replace old pipeline in Ohio’s Vinton, Jackson, Gallia and Lawrence counties, as well as pipeline replacement in West Virginia’s Wayne County. Below is the lowdown on the BXP application…
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Best of the Rest

Other Energy Stories of Interest: Wed, Apr 11, 2018
April 11, 2018April 11, 2018

The “best of the rest”–stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading: Trump trade war with China could hurt WV’s energy sector; natgas revenue was crucial for survival of Pittsburgh Intl Airport; hearings for RI natgas-fired power plant under way; API launches new jobs website for o&g industry; It’ll take $170B in pipelines to keep the shale gas boom going; drillers turn back to Eagle Ford oil play; U.S. natgas set production record in 2017; the quiet rise of offshore oil production in U.S.; energy industry reaches out to Generate Z; EPA sued by liberal states to force o&g methane reductions; Panama LNG terminal to get U.S. commissioning cargo; and more!
Read More “Other Energy Stories of Interest: Wed, Apr 11, 2018”
Broome County | CNG/LNG | Delaware County | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | New York | NG Advantage

NG Advantage Virtual Pipeline Project Near Binghamton is Dead
April 10, 2018April 10, 2018

In March MDN brought you the news that NG Advantage, which had big plans to build a virtual pipeline (gas compression & trucking facility) on the outskirts of Binghamton, NY, appears to have given up on the Town of Fenton location for the planned project (see NG Advantage Looks Beyond Fenton, NY to Build Virtual Pipeline). That impression is now further strengthened by comments coming from the Fenton town attorney at a meeting last week when he said, “My sense is that they [NG Advantage] are abandoning the project.” Abandoning in Fenton, yes. But not outright abandoning the project. Fenton, and indeed perhaps Broome County, is the biggest loser. But rumor has it that NG is looking elsewhere, nearby, for an alternative location. MDN’s sources keep whispering Hancock, NY as a possibility (in Delaware County). We’ve also heard Deposit, NY mentioned (sitting on the border of Broome and Delaware counties, not far from Hancock). MDN remains a top cheerleader to have NG bring their project to MDN’s own neighborhood, truck traffic and all, in the Town of Windsor. Sadly, no word on a Windsor option from our sources. So what did Fenton and surrounding communities achieve with their “victory” in defeating NG’s project in Fenton?…
Read More “NG Advantage Virtual Pipeline Project Near Binghamton is Dead”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Apex Energy | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Olympus/Huntley & Huntley | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Westmoreland County

Penn Twp Antis Try to Use PA ERA to Block Shale Drilling
April 10, 2018April 10, 2018

Last November we updated you on a lawsuit filed by a group of radical anti-fossil fuelers in Penn Township (Westmoreland County), PA (see Penn Twp Ninny Nannies File Lawsuit to Block Apex, H&H Wells). A group calling themselves Protect PT, backed with money and legal help from Big Green group PennFuture, filed a lawsuit to try and stop Apex Energy and Huntley & Huntley (H&H) from drilling wells in the township. The lawsuit finally made it to a county judge who is hearing testimony this week. One of the “expert witnesses” called by Protect PT is retired and discredited Cornell professor Tony Ingraffea, who makes a living by traveling around the country bashing fracking (see our Ingraffea stories here). The peril with this particular lawsuit is that it uses Pennsylvania’s so-called Environmental Rights Amendment (ERA), which liberal PA judges have, in recent years, breathed new life into. The argument is that fracking denies those who live near this temporary activity their “right” to enjoy Mom Nature, therefore it should be banished forever. That’s what Protect PT is attempting to pull off–a total frack ban in the Penn Township…
Read More “Penn Twp Antis Try to Use PA ERA to Block Shale Drilling”
Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Seneca Resources | Trumbull County | Wastewater

Trumbull Co. Residents Rally to Oppose 3 New Injection Wells
April 10, 2018April 10, 2018

Town of Brookfield – Trumbull County, OH

Last December MDN told you about three proposed new injection wells planned for the Town of Brookfield, in Trumbull County, OH (see 3 More Injection Wells Coming to Trumbull County, OH). Highland Field Services (subsidiary of Seneca Resources/National Fuel Gas Company) brought two new injection wells online in Brookfield last year. Shortly after the two wells went online, Highland then floated a plan to build three more wells in close proximity to the existing two, a plan opposed by many in the town. Even though Brookfield Township trustees issued a “no more injection wells” letter to Gov. John Kasich and the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR), the ODNR ignored the letter and two weeks ago issued the necessary permits to build the three additional new wells (see ODNR Grants Permits for 3 New Injection Wells in Trumbull County). Last Thursday a group of town residents staged a rally against the three new injection wells. Do they have valid concerns?…
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Duke Energy | Electrical Generation | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues

Duke Energy SC Gas-Fired Plant Starts Up – Marcellus Connection?
April 10, 2018April 10, 2018

W.S. Lee combined cycle gas-fired plant – click for larger version

We spotted news from Duke Energy that the company has begun operations at a brand new natural gas-fired electric generating plant in Anderson County, South Carolina. The W.S. Lee Station is a 750-megawatt combined-cycle natural gas plant that began serving customers on April 5. Duke began construction of the $700 million plant in 2015. It sits on the same site as two former coal plants that were shuttered in 2014. A third coal plant at the site was previously converted to burn natgas. Why do we care about a new electric plant launching in SC? Because it’s fed by natural gas, and we believe at least some of (perhaps most of) the gas feeding it comes from the Marcellus/Utica region. According to Duke’s press release, “The unit receives natural gas through a new dedicated pipeline that branches off the transcontinental mainline.” We’re pretty sure they’re referring to the Williams-owned Tranco (Transcontinental) Pipeline that crosses through Anderson County. Transco is the pipeline feeding the new power plant. Transco is bidirectional and increasingly carries Marcellus molecules south–some molecules all the way to the Gulf Coast (see Is Marcellus/Utica Gas Getting Exported from Cheniere’s Sabine Pass?). It stands to reason that it is Marcellus gas feeding, at least in part, this new plant located in Dixie…
Read More “Duke Energy SC Gas-Fired Plant Starts Up – Marcellus Connection?”
Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Kentucky | Kinder Morgan | Litigation | NGLs | Pipelines | Tennessee Gas Pipeline

Kentucky County Suing to Stop TGP from Reversing Pipeline for NGLs
April 10, 2018April 10, 2018

Rowan County, KY

In February MDN told you that Kentucky antis went to court to try and block a plan by Kinder Morgan to convert a portion of the Tennessee Gas Pipeline that flows natural gas from the Gulf Coast to the northeast, to reverse the pipeline and flow natural gas liquids from the Marcellus/Utica region to the Gulf (see Kentucky Antis File Lawsuit to Stop TGP NGL Pipe Reversal). The reversal is part of a $4 billion project called the Utica Marcellus Texas Pipeline (UMTP) project. The first step in reversing the existing pipeline was approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission last October (see FERC Advances Plan to Reverse Part of TGP to Haul M-U NGLs to Gulf). Antis in Kentucky got their bluegrass knickers in a twist over FERC’s action. They filed a request for “rehearing” of FERC’s decision, which is the first step in a process that typically ends up in court. Normally FERC has 30 days to decide on a rehearing, however, they have a tactic they call a “tolling order” which allows them to extend the amount of time to make a rehearing decision–indefinitely. FERC pulled out the tolling order card and played it last November (see FERC Frustrates Kentucky Radicals Seeking to Stop TGP Pipe Reversal). The ticked-off antis filed a lawsuit challenging the FERC tolling order. While all of that continues to play out, one of the Kentucky counties along the TGP route–Rowan County–is filing its own lawsuit to stop the reversal and conversion of the pipeline. No, Rowan County has no standing to file such a lawsuit, but apparently they’ll need to learn that the hard way…
Read More “Kentucky County Suing to Stop TGP from Reversing Pipeline for NGLs”
Commodity Price | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines

Permian NatGas Increasingly Competes with M-U in Midwest
April 10, 2018April 10, 2018

The biggest oil play in the United States is the Permian, located in West Texas and southeastern New Mexico. In March, MDN warned readers that natural gas in the Permian, which is a byproduct of the oil wells drilled there (i.e. “associated gas”), is increasingly competing with Marcellus/Utica gas (see “Free” NatGas in Texas Permian Changes Shale Gas Economics in M-U). A few weeks later we shared a Bloomberg article in which we learned the price of natgas in the Permian at major trading hubs is now lower than the price for hubs around the Marcellus/Utica (see Natural Gas Prices in Texas Permian Drop Below Marcellus/Utica). Our narrative continues with insights from the experts at RBN Energy. In a recent blog post, RBN looks at the three markets where Permian gas can flow out of the basin: “west to Arizona and California, south to Mexico and north to the Midcontinent and Midwest gas markets.” The route north to the Midwest is now being pursued by Permian gas, and that gas is competing with Marcellus/Utica gas molecules that travel to the Midwest via the Rockies Express and Rover pipelines…
Read More “Permian NatGas Increasingly Competes with M-U in Midwest”
Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Regulation

Trump Action Improves Pipeline Reviews by Federal Agencies
April 10, 2018April 10, 2018

President Trump presides over the signing of the agreement. Official White House Photo by Shealah Craighead.

Eight months ago President Trump called for the government to speed up reviews and permitting of major infrastructure projects. It’s hard to drain the swamp–the entrenched bureaucracy that is Washington, D.C. resists it at every turn. But change it he has! On Monday, 12 federal agencies, including 7 cabinet-level departments of the Executive Branch, signed an agreement to better coordinate reviews and to guarantee that critical infrastructure projects can get reviewed and approved (or not approved) within a two-year period. Among those signing the agreement were the Department of Interior (DOI), the Department of Energy (DOE), the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Infrastructure projects includes, prominently, pipeline projects. No more dilly dallying at one agency, and then a year later on to the next agency only to be repeated. Reviews will now be done concurrently (instead of sequentially), among other changes…
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Best of the Rest

Other Energy Stories of Interest: Tue, Apr 10, 2018
April 10, 2018April 10, 2018

The “best of the rest”–stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading: Sierra Club-backed WV anti-fracking event a flop-o-rama; National Lab looks to the future of fossil fuels; William Penn Foundation’s plan to create playground for elites; PA loses 1 rig, OH & WV each gain 1; FERC commissioner says New England faces “horror story” of expensive power; natgas prices unmoved by snow and low inventories; Bahrain shale find puts world oil market on notice; Canadia shale drawing super-major interest; and more!
Read More “Other Energy Stories of Interest: Tue, Apr 10, 2018”
Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | JKLM Energy | Pennsylvania | Potter County | Wastewater

JKLM Pulls Support of Planned Potter County Wastewater Facility
April 9, 2018April 18, 2018

It’s always disappointing when our side backs down from a fight–especially when the other side is demonstrably lying. On Friday afternoon JKLM, the drilling company founded by Terry Pegula (owner of the Buffalo “Marcellus” Bills), announced it is no longer interested in processing brine (wastewater) from shale wells the company drills in Potter County at a proposed shale wastewater treatment plant in Coudersport, PA (see Shale Wastewater Treatment Plant Planned for Potter County, PA). The cutting-edge technology plant, proposed by Epiphany Water Solutions, was opposed by folks who, frankly, lied about it. The lies got so bad that lawyers for Epiphany (and JKLM) recently warned them to stop their lying (see Opponents Slandering Potter Co. Wastewater Facility Legally Warned). JKLM would have been the primary customer for the facility. On Friday, JKLM issued a short statement (below) to say they are no longer interested. We’re guessing they’ve pulled out because of the negative publicity, which is too bad, because it teaches antis that if they make enough noise and enlist lying media to aid them, they can shut down important projects like this one. Is this the end of the Epiphany project–at least in Potter County? JKLM was the primary customer AND financial backer. You do the math…
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