Pennsylvania

The Facts on NORM, TENORM, and Natural Gas in Pennsylvania

One of the aspects of the Austin Master Services (AMS) story (from Ohio) that captures people’s attention is that the frack waste at the facility contains drill cuttings, some of it with a low level of radioactivity. The headline-grabbing media touts that aspect of the story, overplaying just how “radioactive” it actually is. “OMG! If…

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Baker Hughes U.S. Rig Count Drops 4 @ 600, M-U Drops 3 @ 37

Yeah, the bottom pretty much fell out of the rig count last week, both nationally and for the Marcellus/Utica region. We’re hitting new lows with both counts. For the M-U, Pennsylvania stayed the same with 21 active rigs, but Ohio lost one rig, and West Virginia lost two rigs last week, for a net loss…

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16 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV May 13 – 19

Permits issued in the Marcellus/Utica continue to bounce up and down. One month ago, there were 26 new permits in the M-U for a one-week period. Three weeks ago, 16 new permits were issued. Two weeks ago, just ten new permits were issued. And last week, May 13-19, the number increased to 16, but only…

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PA Senate Candidate David McCormick Gets a Rig Tour – “Unbelievable”

In case you weren’t aware, there’s an important political race happening in Pennsylvania for the U.S. Senate. In fact, the race’s outcome will likely determine whether or not the Senate remains hostage to radical Democrat control or flips to common sense Republican control. The Democrat running for the seat is Bob Casey, an entrenched D.C….

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Mainstream Media 5 Years Late Reporting Lithium-from-Shale Story

We’ve had more than a few MDN readers pass along links from recent mainstream media stories about the treasure trove of lithium available “beneath Pennsylvania” in the state’s brine (shale wastewater) production. Which makes us a little bit crazy and amuses us at the same time because we’ve been reporting on this story since 2019!…

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16 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Apr 29 – May 5

Two weeks ago, during the week of April 22 – 28, there were 26 new permits issued to drill in the Marcellus/Utica. Last week, for April 29 – May 5, there were just 16 new permits issued. Encino Energy was the top receiver of permits with 7 permits between two counties: Carroll and Harrison, both…

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Epsilon Energy 1Q: Production Down Due to Chesapeake Curtailments

Epsilon Energy issued its first quarter 2024 update yesterday. Epsilon, a relatively small company, used to concentrate most of its effort on developing Marcellus Shale wells. However, over the past few years, the company has expanded into other plays and now owns assets in the Anadarko (Oklahoma and Texas) and the Permian (Texas and New…

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Extremist Democrats Intro Gov. Shapiro’s Energy Plan with 4 Bills

In March, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro traveled to Scranton, PA, to announce a proposal to “immediately pull Pennsylvania out of a multi-state carbon cap-and-trade program” (the so-called Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, or RGGI) and instead enroll PA in its very own RGGI-like carbon tax program (see PA Gov. Shapiro Proposes Own Version of Marcellus-Killing Carbon…

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Pretend Evangelical Christians Want PA to Dump Fossil Energy

The environmental left is now attempting to co-opt the term “Evangelical Christian,” defined as protestants who tend to be pro-life and conservative in their political views. We’re here to expose them for who they really are. We’re talking about the so-called Evangelical Environmental Network (EEN) that keeps trying to pressure Pennsylvania to adopt unreliable renewable…

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Cabot O&G (Now Coterra Energy) Settles Lawsuit for Securities Fraud

In October 2020, a law firm filed a lawsuit on behalf of several Cabot Oil & Gas shareholders against Cabot (now Coterra Energy), claiming the company “had inadequate environmental controls and procedures and/or failed to properly mitigate known issues related to those controls and procedures,” and that the company “failed to fix faulty gas wells…

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Cecil Twp Board Considers Revising Drilling Setbacks to 1,500 Feet

About 150 people packed a hearing of the Cecil Township (Washington County), PA, Board of Supervisors meeting yesterday to express their concerns about Range Resources’ fracking activities near their homes. Some attendees were paid activists (holding signs), but judging from media reports, many were just local residents. The Board held a hearing to consider modifications…

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Post-Gazette Proposes Compromise on Who Pays to Plug Old Wells

Two days ago, MDN brought you an extensive article from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that delves into the thorny issue of who should pay to plug some of the 200,000+ orphaned and abandoned wells in Pennsylvania (see The Thorny Issue of PA’s Old Conv. Wells & Who Pays to Plug Them). In some cases, the owners…

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PA Senate Memo: Counties Pursuing Climate Litigation Will Reap Economic Consequences

A Pennsylvania state senator plans to introduce legislation prohibiting municipalities that file climate lawsuits against energy companies from reaping the economic benefits of the oil and gas industry. Announced in light of Bucks County’s recent climate lawsuit and the activist group Center for Climate Integrity (CCI)’s pitch to Allegheny County, the legislation marks the latest

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Coterra Scales Back in Marcellus in 1Q in Favor of More Oil Drilling

Coterra Energy, formed by the merger of Cabot Oil & Gas (drills for natural gas in the Marcellus) and Cimarex Energy (drills for oil in the Permian and Anadarko basins), issued its first quarter 2024 update on Friday. The company turned in respectable financial numbers, making a profit of $352 million in 1Q24, albeit down…

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