PA DEP Proposes Changes to Ch. 105 Water Permits

In Pennsylvania, there are two permits required by the Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) for nearly every shale well drilling project: A Chapter 102 (erosion and sediment control) and a Chapter 105 (water obstructions and encroachments). The DEP has proposed and is seeking comments on wide-ranging amendments to its Chapter 105 regulations.This post appeared first

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WVU Co-Authors Study Using CO2 to Extract More Oil/Gas from Shale

The story of the Marcellus/Utica is a story of natural gas. At least, mostly. We focus almost exclusively on natgas production here on MDN. But there is another story in the M-U, and that’s shale oil. More oil is produced in the Ohio Utica than in the Pennsylvania and West Virginia Marcellus, but all three

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M-U NatGas Prices Highest in a Year with Coming Winter Storm

click for larger version Demand for natural gas in the northeastern United States, along with the spot price for gas, has surged over the past few days, for one simple reason: the weather. Those of us living in the northeast are about to get clobbered by a classic nor’easter snowstorm that’s due to drop two

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FERC OKs NGPL Pipe Phase 2 Partial Startup – M-U Gas to Gulf Coast

In March 2019 MDN told you about Kinder Morgan’s Natural Gas Pipeline Company of America LLC (NGPL) project that carries Marcellus/Utica gas from the Midwest all the way to the Gulf Coast to feed just about any of the existing or under construction LNG export plants in the region (see NGPL Pipe Will Flow M-U

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Anti-Fossil Fuelers Pack Virtual Hearings to Support PA Carbon Tax

Big Green groups conducted a highly coordinated effort to pack Pennsylvania Environmental Quality Board (EQB) virtual hearings on Gov. Tom Wolf’s $2.36 billion carbon tax scheme. Big Green claims 95% of those blabbering on during the hearings supported the tax, which would kill the gas-fired power generation industry in the state. There’s still time for

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Harrison County, WV Tries to Keep Gas-Fired Power Plant Proj Alive

Tomorrow the Harrison County Commission will consider (and most likely approve) an extension for an option to purchase property at the site of a proposed natural gas-fired power plant in Harrison County. Energy Solutions Consortium (ESC) currently has an option to buy the site of a proposed 550-megawatt natural gas-fired power plant, but the option

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Johns Hopkins Junk Science: PA Fracking Gives You Heart Failure

Do political, agenda-driven “researchers” never tire of spinning false narratives around fracking? When Michael Bloomberg pays your salary (as he does for researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health), apparently not. Back in 2016, Brian Schwartz, a fellow at the Post Carbon Institute (virulent anti-fossil fuel group) was among a group of

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PA is Nation’s Top Electricity Net Exporter Thx to Marcellus Shale

Yesterday MDN brought you a post about the dramatic increase in natural gas-fired electric plants in the Marcellus/Utica, particularly Pennsylvania (see NatGas-Fired Power Plants in M-U See Dramatic Increase 2015-2019). Today we have another post (also from the U.S. Energy Information Administration) about gas-fired electric power. Gas-fracking giant Pennsylvania was the largest net exporter of

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NYMEX NatGas Price Crashes – Down $0.37 in 2 Days, Now $2.51

Earlier this week the NYMEX natural gas futures contract for December rolled off and the January contract became the “front contract” being traded. The latest storage numbers–how much gas has *not* been withdrawn from storage–combined with weather forecasts and computerized trading to hammer prices. Natgas was down 10 cents on Wednesday, and down another 27

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Kinder Morgan’s Elba Island LNG Partially Down for Maintenance

The first of 10 LNG (liquefied natural gas) mini-trains at Kinder Morgan’s Elba Island, Georgia export facility went online in December of last year (see Elba Island Finally Exported First Marcellus LNG Cargo on Friday). Since that time, the other nine trains have come online one at a time, with the last unit going into

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4th Circuit Clown Judges Signal They’ll Overturn MVP Permit, Again

The clown judges of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit (one of whom quotes from children’s books in her opinions) have signaled they will overturn, again (for the second or third time) a permit issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that allows the 92% completed Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) from

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O&G Industry Calls Out PA DEP for “Appalling” Conventional Regs

The Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) is in major butt-covering mode with the state’s conventional (non-shale) oil and gas industry. During an industry-led advisory committee meeting held yesterday, members of PA’s conventional oil and gas industry delivered some rather blunt comments to DEP Deputy Secretary for Oil and Gas Management Scott Perry, accusing the

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M-U Companies Must “Walk the ESG Walk” to Get Investment Money

click for larger version On Wednesday, Hart Energy held its annual DUG (Developing Unconventional Gas) East event. This year the event was virtual instead of in-person at the convention center in Pittsburgh. One acronym seemed to be on the lips of nearly every speaker at this year’s event: ESG, which stands for “environment, social, governance.”

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CNX CEO Nick Deluliis Talks About “Hard Truths” in M&A at DUG East

Yesterday CNX CEO Nick Deluliis was one of the keynote speakers at the annual DUG (Developing Unconventional Gas) East event, held virtually this year. Normally DUG is held at the Convention Center in Pittsburgh. Deluliis’ talk was wide-ranging, but much of it concentrated on mergers and acquisitions, particularly M&A in the Marcellus/Utica. Deluliis is not

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Judge Allows Class Action Against EQT/Rice 2017 Merger to Proceed

In June 2019 the Cambridge (Massachusetts) Retirement System sued EQT claiming EQT’s executives had made false and misleading statements about their 2017 purchase of Rice Energy–claims about cost efficiencies that never materialized, and claims about the location of Rice leases that were not as close to EQT’s acreage as claimed (see Mass. Retirement Fund Sues

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