PA DEP Picks Pocket of Sunoco Another $497,000 for ME2 Pipe

The Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) is sticking its sticky fingers into the pocket of Energy Transfer/Sunoco one more time, and this time drawing out nearly half a million dollars to pay for a series of small spills of nontoxic drilling mud in Snitz Creek in Lebanon County. It isn’t the first time the

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Mountaineer NGL Storage Hub Reapplies for Permits, Building Soon?

Last fall Mountaineer NGL Storage, a $500 million project in Monroe County, OH to build underground storage for ethane and other NGLs, asked Ohio regulators to cancel a key permit for the project (see Mountaineer Asks Ohio to Cancel NGL Storage Hub Permits). Our understanding was that until PTT Global Chemical makes a final investment

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CNX Gets More Diverse – Working with Minority-Owned Co. EQT Dumped

Yesterday, CNX Resources, Bettis Brothers, and The Bus Stops Here Foundation announced a partnership intended to bring greater awareness and access to opportunities in the natural gas industry to disadvantaged urban and rural communities in the Pittsburgh region. Does the Bettis name ring any bells? It should. Pittsburgh-based IntegrServ, a trucking company partly owned by

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Enverus US Rig Count Holds Steady at 461, M-U Ties Haynesville!

Another week, another rig count to share with you. As we often point out, rig counts go up and down each week, so it’s good not to get too wrapped up in the “up one week down the next” narrative. After the rig count crashed to historic, all-time lows last year (due to the pandemic

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2nd Biggest NatGas Storage Withdrawal on Record, but Prices Fall

On Monday of this week we reported about natural gas withdrawals from underground storage for the week ending Feb. 12, which were the twelfth largest on record since 2010 and the biggest one-week withdrawal in the past two years (see Biggest Withdrawal from Underground NatGas Storage in 2 Years). Yesterday withdrawal numbers came out for

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PA Legislators Strongly Disapprove Ch. 105 Water Permit Changes

In December MDN brought you the news that the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) is proposing and seeking comments on changes to the state’s Chapter 105 (water obstructions and encroachments) permit (see PA DEP Proposes Changes to Ch. 105 Water Permits). It’s a fundamental permit almost all outdoor construction projects in PA are required

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US Supreme Court May Hear Illinois Takings Case – NY Implications?

More than six years ago a group of landowners in Wayne County, Illinois sued the state for its refusal to grant permits to drill and frack in the New Albany Shale deposit. Over the years the case morphed and the plaintiff became Next Energy, LLC, which acquired the leases to explore and develop the shale

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Cheniere Energy Strikes New LNG Export Deals – Rebound in 2021

Cheniere Energy operates two huge LNG export facilities–one in Sabine Pass, Louisiana, the other in Corpus Christi, Texas. Cheniere is the #1 LNG exporter in the U.S. Yesterday the company issued its fourth-quarter and full-year 2020 update. The company said it secured over 4 million tonnes of LNG supply deals during 4Q20. While the company

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GECF Says NatGas Eclipses Oil as World’s Top Fossil Fuel by 2050

The Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF) is an international governmental organization providing a framework for exchanging experience and information among member cuntries. The GECF is a gathering of the world’s leading gas exporting countries and was set up as an international governmental organization with the objective to increase the level of coordination and strengthen the

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Chester Co DA’s “Buy a Badge” Case Against ME2 Pipe Complete Bust

Last August we told you about the politically-motivated prosecution (by the Chester County, PA District Attorney’s office) of men connected to a security firm providing off-duty constables to protect Mariner East 2 (ME2) pipeline construction sites (see Chester DA Persecution of Off-Duty Constables Guarding ME2 Pipe). Last June a Chester County Magisterial District Judge dismissed

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IRRC Recommends PA EQB Delay Adopting Wolf’s Carbon Tax

Pennsylvania’s Independent Regulatory Review Commission (IRRC) has just thrown up a huge roadblock to Democrat/autocrat PA Gov. Tom Wolf’s attempt to railroad through a proposal to force PA to join the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a $2.6 billion carbon tax aimed at killing coal and gas-fired power plants. The IRRC told the rule-adopting Environmental

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Are WV’s Rugged Mountains Too Much for Mountain Valley Pipeline?

WV mountains Equitrans Midstream’s Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP), which stretches 303 miles from Wetzel County, WV to Pittsylvania County, VA, is backed into a corner by anti-fossil fuelers. The project is 92% complete and in the ground, yet somehow antis have successfully blocked an Army Corps of Engineers Nationwide Permit 12 (NWP12) that allows the

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Penn State Says Bigger Well Setbacks are Needed in Some Cases

click for larger version Penn State researchers have and continue to do important research around the benefits AND risks of Marcellus Shale drilling. Recently Penn State researchers published a study in Energy Policy, an Elsevier scientific journal, reviewing the presence of fine particulars (called PM 2.5) in proximity to well pad drilling sites in the

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Enverus U.S. Rig Count +4 Even Amid Major Cold Snap, Marcellus +1

The Enverus U.S. rig count numbers continued to climb over the past week, even during the extreme cold snap and winter weather that shut down wide swaths of the economy in Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana. The rig count grew by four to 461 for the week ending Feb. 17. The Permian, which has added the

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ET Update – Mariner East 2 Gets Finished in 2Q21

Pipeline giant Energy Transfer made quite a splash yesterday during its 4Q and full-year 2020 update by announcing the company has cut a deal to buy Enable Midstream for $7.2 billion. That deal, while important, has nothing to do with the M-U region. We were interested in talk about the company’s Mariner East (ME) pipeline

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