PA DEP Issues Air Permit for Gas-fired Elec Plant Next to Pot Farm
In early October MDN told you about a second Marcellus gas-fired electric generating plant being 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 (original story had it wrong, saying 536 MW) 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 about the project. Only 20 people turned up and nobody objected. Last Friday the DEP issued an air quality permit for the project–the last major hurdle before the project can begin. In press coverage of the permit and the project advancing, we discovered one piece of new information: The plant will be built next door to a “medical marijuana operation”–i.e., a pot growing farm. Well now that’s interesting! Workers at the new electric plant can slip out the back door on break and roll a joint for later…
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West Virginia University (WVU) is a research powerhouse. They have lots of researchers doing important work in a variety of disciplines. One of those disciplines is natural gas. WVU founded the Center for Innovation in Gas Research and Utilization (CIGRU) to “conduct transformative, fundamental, research directed at innovative pathways for shale gas utilization and upgrading.” CIGRU, along with two other non-shale related research programs, have just collectively received a $3.9 million Research Challenge Grant from the West Virginia Higher Education Policy Commission. The WVU press release doesn’t say how each of the three different recipients (CIGRU being one of them) got, but we figure they likely divided it evenly, hence our assumption that CIGRU got $1.3 million. And what will CIGRU do with the money? Figure out ways to keep more of the Marcellus/Utica gas coming out of West Virginia’s rocks in the state–used by residents and businesses who reside in WV. They want to grow the “downstream” sector of end users of natural gas and other byproducts from shale drilling…
As we do every month (and have for more than two years), MDN tracks how many rigs oilfield services company Patterson-UTI Energy reports operating–as a proxy for rig count health in general and rig count health in the Marcellus/Utica in particular. Patterson recently bought out and merged in Seventy Seven Energy (see 
Atlantic Coast Pipeline is a $5 billion, 594-mile natural gas pipeline that will stretch from West Virginia through Virginia and into North Carolina. The project will be built by Dominion Energy (lead) and Duke Energy (important partner). Years after the project filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), it was finally approved by FERC in October (see 
We’ve had our eye on oilfield services (OFS) company Weatherford International for some time. They are the fourth largest OFS company in the world. In 2016 they lost $3.4 billion. Not good. Earlier this year (in February) the company floated $2.5 billion in new debt and equity securities in an attempt to claw their way out of the hole they’ve dug (see 
We continue to be really impressed with the current Acting Chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), Neil Chatterjee, and his willingness to take the fight right back to radical antis. Chatterjee is not unlike President Trump, who appointed him to the post. Frankly, it’s a surprise for us, since Chatterjee has worked for years for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (a swamp dweller). We figured Chatterjee was a swamp dweller too–but perhaps we misjudged him. Chatterjee recently turned up the heat with Facebook posts aimed at nutty Hollywood actor James Cromwell (he of Babe and Star Trek: First Contact fame). Cromwell recently attended a FERC meeting chaired by Chaterjee and proceed to make a king-sized @$$ of himself in the meeting room, requiring security to escort him from the room (see 
We spotted an article that intrigued us with the headline, “A radical startup has invented the world’s first zero-emissions fossil-fuel power plant.” Most of the article–the first two-thirds of it–is obsequious genuflecting before the man-causes-global-warming gods. Whatever. Believe in fairy stories if you want to. The final one-third of the article is the real meat, which we highlight below. It seems a group of smart people at a company called Net Power, located in Texas, have figured out a way to capture all, as in 100%, of the carbon dioxide that comes from burning natural gas to produce heat to turn a turbine. There are no CO2 emissions that escape into the atmosphere. We bring you details of this new technology because it’s neat and may one day change how electricity is generated in this country. What if (gasp!) natural gas became as “green” as solar or wind? That just doesn’t fit the narrow worldview of radical environmentalists…
Researchers at Tufts University say they have found a better, cheaper way to convert methane (i.e. natural gas) directly into methanol. “The direct oxidation of methane—found in natural gas—into methanol at low temperatures has long been a holy grail,” so says the Tufts announcement. A group of chemical engineers say they have found a way to do it. What’s the big deal about methanol? Methanol plants convert natural gas into methanol, used as a chemical feedstock (or raw material) to create other things, like gasoline, antifreeze, plastic bottles–even LED and LCD screens. In August 2016 MDN was the first to share the news that US Methanol is building at least two, rumored up to five, methanol plants in West Virginia (see 
A quick note about the Marcellus Drilling News website. Two months ago I began a journey of updating the MDN website. The site has not had a major redesign since it began in 2009 (shame on me!). Hey, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, right? The technologies that power the internet have profoundly changed since MDN was launched. It’s time to keep up with the changes. So in early October I launched a new “look and feel” for the website. The feedback was positive–thank you! However, the changes are not yet done. One such change is being forced by Google…
The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading. In today’s lineup: Appalachian Basin produces more natgas than any OPEC country!; Utica rig count falls to 21; PA judge doubles fracking workers’ award in overtime case; Texas looks to overhaul port to keep pace with oil & gas exports; the magic number for oil is $60/barrel; two natgas charts to start winter; new energy source–on Saturn moon; and more!
Dominion announced yesterday it has introduced “feed gas” into it’s new $4 billion LNG export plant in Cove Point, Maryland. Feed gas is used for testing purposes and is the final step before the plant goes online into full production later this month. Dominion said the feed gas will come from Shell, and Shell will take delivery of the LNG that results. Following the test, Marcellus/Utica gas will begin flowing to the plant and the LNG produced will begin shipping to Japan and India. We are on the cusp of something we’ve waited for, cheered for, and agonized over for more than three years. Think of the Shell’s feed gas as the dress rehearsal the night before a play opens…
Over the past year and a half Banpu Pcl, Thailand’s largest coal producer, in cooperation with American-based partner Kalnin Ventures, has snapped up some 55,000 acres and 355 shale wells–in the northeast Pennsylvania Marcellus (
A bald eagle’s nest built in a pine tree near where a tiny 7.8 mile pipeline is supposed to pass in Orange County, NY is the latest wrinkle that threatens to stop the pipeline in the ongoing soap opera that is corrupt New York State. The pipeline is a short spur, an offshoot, from the nearby Millennium Pipeline. It will feed the Competitive Power Ventures (CPV) gas-fired electric generation plant currently under construction in Wawayanda. The CPV plant is due to be completed early next year. According to Millennium, if they don’t start construction (tree clearing) TODAY, Dec. 6, there is no way to get the pipeline done in time to feed the plant–and that may well drive CPV’s project into bankruptcy. The eagle’s nest is being used as an excuse by New York (and rabid antis) to try and block the pipeline from getting built. Here’s the latest episode in this ongoing soap opera…
THE Delaware Riverkeeper herself is back with more of her overlord’s money to file yet another frivolous lawsuit against a pipeline project in New York State. In August 2016, Millennium filed an application for what it calls its Eastern System Upgrade (see 
Invenergy is currently building a state-of-the-art, combined cycle 1,480 megawatt Marcellus-fired electric generating plant in Jessup, PA, just outside Scranton. Construction on the plant–called the Lackawanna Energy Center–has been under way for well over a year now. Some 1,200 people are currently working at the site. MDN previously reported that Cabot Oil & Gas with their prolific Susquehanna County production will feed the plant (see