Marcellus Drilling News

Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues | Michigan | Statewide MI

Indeck to Start Building $1B Gas-Powered Electric Plant in Michigan
February 13, 2018February 13, 2018

In October 2016, Indeck Energy announced a plan to build a $1 billion electric generating plant (powered by natural gas) in Niles, Michigan, not far from Chicago (see $1B Electric Plant Planned Near Chicago, M-U Connection?). Although there has been no mention of Marcellus/Utica gas feeding the plant (so far), we have little doubt that our gas will be used to power the plant. A number of pipelines already do, or soon will, serve that region with our gas. The State of Michigan gave its blessing and approval for the project over a year ago (see Indeck Gets Michigan Approval for $1B Gas-Powered Electric Plant). Indeck, at the time, said they planned to begin construction by the end of 2017. Didn’t happen. What’s the holdup? A couple of easements are required from Amtrak (Come on Amtrak! Get with the program!). Indeck now says construction is slated to begin in August of this year, and the plant is due to be up and running in early 2021…
Read More “Indeck to Start Building $1B Gas-Powered Electric Plant in Michigan”
Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Lancaster County | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Williams

Local Officials Praise Atlantic Sunrise Construction in Lancaster
February 13, 2018February 13, 2018

Here’s something you don’t read every day with respect to pipeline construction: “Some township officials have praised the care of contractors in minimizing and reacting to disturbances and nuisance issues such as muddy roads and traffic backups.” Those comments come from officials in (yes), Lancaster County, PA, referring to the stellar job Williams is doing in building the Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline–a $3 billion, 198-mile natural gas pipeline project running through 10 Pennsylvania counties to connect Marcellus Shale natural gas from northeastern PA with the Williams’ Transco pipeline in southern Lancaster County. What happened to the “over 1,000 protesters” willing to get themselves arrested as they stand in front of heavy equipment to block construction in Lancaster County? Where are the Clattberbucks and their Lancaster Against Pipelines gang? Nowhere to be found, apparently. The opposition to Atlantic Sunrise appears to have run out of steam. Meanwhile, Williams is full of steam–going full steam ahead with the project–and local officials could not be happier as Williams drills under 70 roads, 67 streams and 17 wetlands in Lancaster County…
Read More “Local Officials Praise Atlantic Sunrise Construction in Lancaster”
Allegheny County | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Olympus/Huntley & Huntley | Pennsylvania | Regulation

Monroeville, PA Antis Want 100% Ban on Fracking, Pipelines
February 13, 2018February 13, 2018

Limiting fracking to an impossibly small 150 acres (out of 12,620 acres) that make up Monroeville–a mere 1% of the acreage–is not enough of a ban for radical antis in the municipality of Monroeville (suburb of Pittsburgh). They want it all banned–every single centimeter. The only problem with that is the Act 13 law, passed in 2012, requires each municipality to allow drilling in at least one zoned area. But hey, disobeying the law isn’t a problem for antis–they do it all the time. They are anarchists by nature. Last October, Monroeville Council passed a temporary ban on oil and gas well drilling everywhere except for those areas marked M-2 industrial zoning–a big change (see Monroeville, PA Hostile to Shale, Bans Drilling in Most Places). Previously, drilling permits were “conditional use” in Monroeville, meaning each permit was evaluated on its own merits, regardless of which zoning district it was located in. By limiting drilling to M-2, Council effectively banned drilling in the municipality. They passed the temporary ban until they could pass a new zoning ordinance that would set the frack ban policy in concrete. In January, Monroeville Council advertised their new zoning ordinance to FURTHER RESTRICT any kind of oil and gas activity–not just drilling, but pipelines, compressor plants, etc.–to a 150-acre parcel located next to the city dump (see Monroeville Pushes Ban on NatGas Activity, Incl. Drilling & Plants). Fantastically, unbelievably, antis in Monroeville aren’t happy with that 150-acre parcel exception–an old dump! They want drilling at the dump banned too…
Read More “Monroeville, PA Antis Want 100% Ban on Fracking, Pipelines”
Electrical Generation | Harrison County | Industrywide Issues | Regulation | West Virginia

Harrison County, WV Commissioners Vote to Help Delayed Elec Plant
February 13, 2018February 13, 2018

Last June, the West Virginia Public Service Commission held a public hearing in Clarksburg, WV on the proposed ESC Harrison County Power Plant project (see Public Hearing Held for Harrison County, WV NatGas Electric Plant). ESC (Energy Solutions Consortium) was founded by father and son team Andrew and Matthew Dorn, based in Buffalo, NY. The Dorns are behind a series of WV natgas-fired electric plants, the first of which will get built in Marshall County (see Progress for 3 WV NatGas Electric Plants; 1 Breaks Ground in 2016). At the public hearing last June, the only person to speak against the project was from the Sierra Club–opposed because the Clubbers claim the plant will contribute to man-made global warming. Whatever. The PSC reported receiving 540 positive comments, and one negative comment. What does that tell you? Last July we reported the project still needs a few more permits (air and water) and was jumping through multiple government hoops to get them (see Harrison County, WV NatGas Electric Plant Close to Final Approval). Here we are, seven months later, and the project is STILL not fully permitted! What in the world is going on in WV? Why is it taking so long? Harrison County commissioners, hoping they can further goose the process and get it dragged across the finish line, will vote tomorrow to issue a resolution giving their full-throated support for the project. Let’s hope their vote of confidence finally does the trick…
Read More “Harrison County, WV Commissioners Vote to Help Delayed Elec Plant”
Best of the Rest

Other Energy Stories of Interest: Tue, Feb 13, 2018
February 13, 2018February 13, 2018

The “best of the rest”–stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading. In today’s lineup: Cheniere ordered to close 2 Sabine Pass LNG tanks following leaks; US shale oil output in Permian almost 3 million barrels/day; Chesapeake Energy sells remaining Mississippian Lime assets for $500M; Trump admin proposes repealing Obama methane leak rule; Trump budget slashes EPA budget 23%; Big Green lawyers hope latest tactic will sink fossil fuel companies; and more!
Read More “Other Energy Stories of Interest: Tue, Feb 13, 2018”
Energy Companies | Rex Energy

Rex Energy Preparing to File for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy?
February 12, 2018February 12, 2018

We’ve often called Rex Energy, a driller focused mainly on the Marcellus/Utica (headquartered in State College, PA), our “little energy company that could.” Rex has, in the past couple of years, had stiff challenges, at least on the financial front. It has swapped out old IOUs for new IOUs, converted debt (IOUs) into equity (shares of stock), sold off assets in other basins–a whole lotta stuff to keep on drilling (see our Rex Energy stories here). More recently the company was threatened (for a second time) by NASDAQ with de-listing its stock (see Rex Energy Once Again Threatened with NASDAQ De-listing). Last week Rex issued a fourth quarter and full year 2017 operational update (below). The update shows a mixed bag: 4Q17 production numbers beat 4Q16 numbers. But when you look at all of 2017 vs 2016, 2017 production was down. However, it wasn’t last week’s update from Rex, but rather an SEC 8K filing that caught our eye. Publicly traded companies are required to file a Form 8K with the Securities and Exchange Commission to notify investors of “specified events that may be important to shareholders.” Among the list of specified events is filing for bankruptcy. Rex’s 8K filing from last week does NOT say they have, or will, file for bankruptcy. However, it DOES say they are in talks with noteholders about that possibility. The 8K filed last week includes two term sheets for filing a prepackaged Chapter 11 bankruptcy. We reached out to Rex for comment but did not hear back by the time this story was published. We will include their response here if they do respond. Here’s what we found when searching through the 8K filing…
Read More “Rex Energy Preparing to File for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy?”
Dominion Energy | Energy Services | Equitrans/EQT Midstream | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Pipelines | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Unions in WV Hiring Workers as Pipeline Construction Begins
February 12, 2018February 12, 2018

Tree clearing for Dominion’s $5 billion Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP) has already begun in West Virginia (see Atlantic Coast Pipeline Begins Cutting Trees in WV & VA (Not NC)). Construction for ACP in WV will begin this spring. Tree clearing for EQT’s $3.5 billion Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP), along with construction of access roads and construction yards, has not yet begun but soon will in WV (see Mountain Valley Pipe Gets FERC Approval to Begin WV Construction). What it all means is that a lot of workers will be needed in a hurry as construction gets underway. Enter trade unions. Union workers will perform the bulk of construction–everything from driving trucks to delivery of supplies (and people), to operating heavy equipment, to digging trenches, to welding–even cutting down the trees, an activity happening now. Unions in WV are currently recruiting new members who want a good-paying, hard-working jobs in the pipeline industry in the Mountain State…
Read More “Unions in WV Hiring Workers as Pipeline Construction Begins”
Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Lease & Royalty Payments | Lehigh County | Northampton County | PennEast Pipeline | Pennsylvania | Pipelines

PennEast Pipeline Cuts $1.7M Deal with Bethlehem Water Authority
February 12, 2018February 12, 2018

In a sure sign that the $1.1 billion, 120-mile PennEast Pipeline will get built, the Bethlehem Authority, which manages watershed land in the Pocono Mountains that supplies drinking water for the City of Bethlehem, has signed a $1.7 million deal to allow PennEast to traverse four miles of Authority land. Rather than challenge PennEast and potentially lose an eminent domain case, Bethlehem Authority officials said they brokered the deal–not only for the money it will bring in, but also to ensure there are certain protections in place during construction. The State of New Jersey is trying its best to stop the PennEast project (see NJ Continues to Hassle PennEast Pipe with Refusals & Rejections). However, this deal with Bethlehem Authority is yet another sign of the inevitability of the project. NJ is fighting an uphill battle they will lose. Wiser heads in Bethlehem realize that fact and took the right action to get the best deal possible…
Read More “PennEast Pipeline Cuts $1.7M Deal with Bethlehem Water Authority”
Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Taxation

Severance Tax Battle in PA Heats Up One More (Last?) Time
February 12, 2018February 12, 2018

As MDN reported last week, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf, an extremely partisan Democrat, is once again beating the drum for a Marcellus Shale-killing severance tax in the last of his annual budgets (see PA Gov. Wolf Broken Record: Proposes Budget with Severance Tax). At least, we hope it’s Wolf’s last budget and that Pennsylvanians won’t be foolish enough to re-elect him for another four years (fool me once…). Wolf’s plan, in a nutshell, is to tax drillers (and by extension, landowners) to the tune of $250 million a year, and give that money away to teachers and their unions in the Philadelphia region–the people who elected him to office. We spotted dueling newspaper editorials from last week–one from the (sometimes) conservative Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, the other from the (always) liberal Democrat-owned Scranton Times-Tribune. Below are those editorials illustrating clear-headed thinking, and muddled thinking (respectively), along with a January column co-written by the Marcellus Shale Coalition and the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business & Industry laying out the case against a severance tax in the Keystone State. Unfortunately this is an ongoing battle we must fight every single year. But fight it we must…
Read More “Severance Tax Battle in PA Heats Up One More (Last?) Time”
Allegheny County | Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Olympus/Huntley & Huntley | Pennsylvania | Regulation

Compromise Allows Drilling to Begin in Pittsburgh Suburb of Plum
February 12, 2018February 12, 2018

In October 2017, local officials in Plum, PA (Allegheny County) approved a plan by Huntley & Huntley (H&H) to drill a series of Marcellus wells on a single well pad in their municipality (see Plum, PA Gives Huntley & Huntley Green Light for Shale Drilling). Plum’s leaders got blowback from some residents (antis) over the decision to conditionally approve H&H’s request. In Plum, fracking is (or rather was) allowed in any zone if a conditional use is granted. That’s what happened in October–the Plum Council issued a conditional use exception for H&H to drill on 92 acres near Coxcomb Hill Road in Plum. To avoid dealing with more such conditional cases, Plum Council drafted proposed changes to their zoning ordinances (ordinances which haven’t been updated since 1993) that will only allow fracking in rural residential and industrial zones (see Plum, PA Officials Hold Hearing on New Restrictions for Fracking). H&H originally said the changes would be too restrictive. However, they later adopted a “half a loaf is better than no loaf” philosophy, opting to support the new rules. A compromise. In December, Plum Council moved ahead and adopted the new rules, and antis predictably blew a gasket (see Plum, PA Passes Ordinance to Allow Fracking – Antis Livid). How and why did Plum adopt such an ordinance? Especially given so many surrounding towns in Allegheny Township are outright hostile to drilling? Let’s pull the curtain back and probe the thought process Plum used to arrive at a compromise that appears to work for both sides…
Read More “Compromise Allows Drilling to Begin in Pittsburgh Suburb of Plum”
Air Quality | Clinton County | Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation

Marcellus-Fired Electric Plant in Clinton County, PA Gets DEP Approval
February 12, 2018February 12, 2018

Click for larger version

Last July MDN brought you news about a new Marcellus-fired electric plant planned for Clinton County, PA (see New Marcellus-Fired Electric Plant Coming in Clinton County, PA). The $800 million Renovo Energy project (in Renovo, PA) will be a 950-megawatt dual fuel (natural gas and ultra-low sulfur diesel) combined cycle electric generating plant located in the Renovo Industrial Park. The official application for the project was filed with the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (along with an application fee of $29,700) in August 2015. Yeah, it takes a looooong time to get these things approved. However, a key (perhaps THE key) permit needed by the PA DEP was issued over the weekend. The DEP approved Renovo’s application for an air quality permit for the project. An official working with Renovo says recent rumors that plans to build the plant are dead is false. He said construction may start by the end of this year, after a few more kinks are worked out…
Read More “Marcellus-Fired Electric Plant in Clinton County, PA Gets DEP Approval”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Chester County | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Statewide PA

Fractivists Gear Up to Fight Conversion of Philly Pipe for NatGas
February 12, 2018February 12, 2018

A far-left group of radicals calling themselves Ending Dirty Gas Exploitation Philadelphia (EDGE Philly) is borrowing a tactic first pioneered by THE Delaware Riverkeeper, to oppose a short pipeline project near Philadelphia. In November, MDN shared the exciting news that an old oil pipeline stretching from Northampton County, PA through Bucks, Montgomery, and Chester counties, terminating in Delaware County at Marcus Hook, had been purchased by a subsidiary of New Jersey Resources and will get converted to flow Marcellus natural gas to the greater Philadelphia region (see Oil Pipeline Near Philly to be Converted to Flow Fracked NatGas). The project/pipeline is called Adelphia Gateway. Adelphia ran an open season–a period of time when shippers can reserve capacity along the pipeline–and got requests for twice the amount of capacity the pipeline will hold (see Converted Pipeline Near Philly Gets 2X More Interest than Capacity). That was more than enough for NJ Resources to move forward with the project. In January NJ Resources filed an official application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to convert the existing pipeline to flow natural gas, and add various facilities (like meter stations) along the way (see Adelphia Gateway Pipeline Near Philly Files with FERC). The irrational fossil fuel haters from EDGE Philly want to stop the project. So they’re coaching as many blind followers as possible to file as “intervenors” in the project–hoping to flood FERC with intervenor applications, slowing down the entire approval process, bringing it to a halt…
Read More “Fractivists Gear Up to Fight Conversion of Philly Pipe for NatGas”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Ashland County | Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Energy Companies | Guest Post | Industrywide Issues | Ohio

OH Fractivist Claims Obliterated with Cold, Hard Facts from NEPA
February 12, 2018February 12, 2018

MDN friend Chris Acker, standing in front of a rig about 200 yards from his house in NEPA

In December MDN brought you the news that Cabot Oil & Gas is sniffing around Ashland County, OH, with plans to possibly drill in a rock layer even deeper than the Utica Shale (see Cabot O&G Considers Drilling in Ashland County, OH). Cabot’s activity in the area was met with resistance by anti-fossil fuelers. Nothing new about that. What is new, however, is that some of the antis (a handful) in the Ashland area formed a faux landowner coalition, trying to fool landowners into joining them (see Warning to Ohio Residents: Beware Fake Landowner Coalitions). The faux landowner coalition has been busy spreading lies about Cabot, making wild accusations about what will happen if Cabot is allowed to drill in the county. MDN friend (and right arm) Chris Acker, a northeast PA landowner signed with Cabot, has written a guest post/rebuttal that obliterates the lies being spread by Ashland antis. Buckle up, this one will be fun to read!…
Read More “OH Fractivist Claims Obliterated with Cold, Hard Facts from NEPA”
Calendar

Calendar of Marcellus/Utica Events for Feb 12 – May 11
February 12, 2018February 12, 2018

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. Thank you!
Read More “Calendar of Marcellus/Utica Events for Feb 12 – May 11”
Best of the Rest

Other Energy Stories of Interest: Mon, Feb 12, 2018
February 12, 2018February 12, 2018

The “best of the rest”–stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading. In today’s lineup: PA wants comments on Mariner East 2 erosion permits; DEP proposes water quality permit for Equitrans pipe in Greene County; Ohio schedules hearing for proposed Harrison County electric plant; Cheniere signs deal to supply China with LNG; Trump’s “buy American” pipeline plan “vanished”; how did GE screw up its Baker Hughes merger; shale fears in the oil market; and more!
Read More “Other Energy Stories of Interest: Mon, Feb 12, 2018”
Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Regulation | Statewide PA | Sunoco Logistics

Sunoco LP Pays PA DEP $12.6M to Resume ME2 Pipeline Construction
February 9, 2018February 9, 2018

In what can only be considered a government shakedown, Sunoco Logistics Partners has agreed to pay a massive (historically high) $12.6 million fine to the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) for “permit violations related to the construction of the Mariner East 2 pipeline project.” The fine, along with a “stringent compliance review” going forward, gives the DEP enough confidence to allow Sunoco to resume construction on the ME2 project, which has been halted since January 3rd (see PA DEP Caves to Big Green Pressure, Stops All Work on ME2 Pipeline). Last Friday Sunoco appealed the DEP’s stop work order to a special court set up to hear appeals of DEP decisions (see Sunoco Appeals DEP’s ME2 Pipe Suspension to Enviro Hearing Board). DEP couldn’t risk having their order overturned–not when there’s a shakedown in progress! With respect to the “deal,” Sunoco said, in so many words, that while they (strongly) disagree with the DEP’s statements in making the deal, Sunoco is willing to pay the fine so they can get back to work and finish the project. A cost of doing business in PA, apparently. Beginning today, thousands of people who had been thrown out of work by the DEP order will resume their jobs. All it took was 12.6 big ones to make it happen…
Read More “Sunoco LP Pays PA DEP $12.6M to Resume ME2 Pipeline Construction”