Permitting in Pennsylvania, especially those overseen by the Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP), has been broken for years. A Chapter 102 Erosion and Sedimentation permit sometimes takes two, three, even six to eight months for approval–instead of the law-mandated 14 days. It got so bad that in the fall of 2019, PA State Sen. Gene…
Read More...For the third week in a row and the 12th time in the last 13 weeks, the U.S. active rig count lost rigs. Last week the number decreased by five rigs after falling six rigs the week before (see U.S. Rig Count Drops Another 6 Rigs, Now Lowest Level in 16 Mos.). Both the Marcellus…
Read More...This is a cautionary tale of choosing your joint venture partner carefully. The Pennsylvania Superior Court threw out a $2.4 million arbitration award against Marcellus driller PennEnergy in a business dispute in a precedential ruling last week. The Superior Court judges overruled an award by an arbitrator. PennEnergy maintained the case should never have been…
Read More...EQT Corporation, the largest natural gas producer in the U.S., recently donated $500,000 to the Wisecarver Reservoir Recreation Project near Waynesburg in Greene County, PA. The project will develop the 360 acres around the reservoir into a destination for families and outdoor enthusiasts. EQT has major drilling operations in Greene County, and according to EQT…
Read More...New shale permits issued for Jul 17-23 in the Marcellus/Utica saw a nice increase. There were 31 new permits issued last week, up from the 23 issued the previous week. Last week’s permit tally included 13 new permits in Pennsylvania, 8 new permits in Ohio, and 10 new permits in West Virginia. The top permittee…
Read More...The problem with the pay-for-protection scam is that it never stops. A mobster comes calling on a business, and for a “small” and regular fee, the mobster will guarantee nothing “happens” to the business. “Just think of it as insurance.” It’s a shakedown–a scam. And over the years, the price keeps going up. What if…
Read More...This is the first time a proposed new wastewater injection well in Fayette County, PA, is appearing on our radar screen. G2 STEM, a Virginia-based company, filed an application in June 2022 with the federal EPA to construct and operate a wastewater injection well in Nicholson Township. The EPA recently held an online hearing (July…
Read More...Olympus Energy (formerly Huntley & Huntley) drills in the Greater Pittsburgh region, in Allegheny and Westmoreland counties. In 2021, Olympus applied to build a new well pad in a rural part of Allegheny County, in West Deer Township. So-called “concerned citizens” got amped up to oppose the project. They succeeded when town supervisors rejected the…
Read More...A group of Pennsylvania State Senators are (once again) trying to expand the swampy bureaucracy of the state Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP). A group of six Democrat state senators issued a co-sponsorship memorandum last Thursday to say they want to expand the DEP’s power to reject “facilities such as incinerators, landfills, and sewage plants”…
Read More...Pennsylvania’s Pipeline Investment Program (PIPE) issues grants covering part of the cost for building new natural gas pipelines to connect homes and businesses, typically in rural parts of the state, to homegrown Marcellus Shale gas supplies. We’ve written about many PIPE grant projects in the past (see our PIPE stories here). Another PIPE grant was…
Read More...In January 2016, Invenergy announced its intention to build a natural gas-powered electric plant in Elizabeth Township, in Allegheny County, PA (see Invenergy Eyes SWPA for Second Marcellus-Powered Electric Plant). It took a few years, a lawsuit, and a new location, but eventually, Elizabeth commissioners approved Invenergy’s plan in December 2018 (see Elizabeth Twp in…
Read More...Although Shell maintains flaring and accidental emissions from its new multi-billion-dollar ethane cracker in Beaver County, PA, have not violated state and federal air standards, the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) says they have–on numerous occasions. Shell didn’t argue the point, and in May, the company agreed to pay nearly $10 million in fines…
Read More...Mountain Valley Pipeline Politicos Talk A Good Game, But… Jim Willis on NGL Pipelines Editor & Publisher, Marcellus Drilling News (MDN) [Editor’s Note: The politicos supporting the Mountain Valley Pipeline are talking a good game but only impeachment of tyrant judges will do if they want to end the nonsense.] On Tuesday, U.S. Senator Joe Manchin
Read More...Natural Gas – 100 Years Ago Today, July 21, 1923 Tom Shepstone Shepstone Management Company, Inc. …. …. Natural gas news from a hundred years ago offers great perspective for discussing one of the cleanest sources of energy available then and still today. It’s fun and illuminating to look back 100 years ago at what
Read More...We love a good “back from the dead” story. In 2017 Epiphany Water Solutions (aka Epiphany Environmental, LLC) filed for a permit to build a centralized oil and gas wastewater treatment facility in Coudersport (Potter County), PA (see Shale Wastewater Treatment Plant Planned for Potter County, PA). The Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) held…
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