click for larger version Two weeks ago Trumbull County, OH’s Board of Commissioners sent a letter to Gov. Mike DeWine requesting DeWine order a feasibility study on a “lake-to-river natural gas pipeline” project that will extend along the State Route 11 corridor from Columbiana County all the way to Ashtabula Harbor on Lake Erie. The
Read More...FirstEnergy is up to its metaphorical rear-end in alligators. Not only has the Ohio Supreme Court blocked (for now) the collection of annual $150 million payments from the residents of Ohio given to FirstEnergy to prop up its uneconomic nuclear power plants, but multiple (over a dozen) lawsuits have been filed against the company by
Read More...Dunkleosteus terrelli We’ve heard of fossil fuels, but until we spotted a press release from Ohio, we’d never heard of a fossil fish. Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine has just signed a bill into law designating the fossil fish species Dunkleosteus terrelli (a mean-looking critter) as the official Fossil Fish of Ohio. Dunkleosteus is the second
Read More...The Ohio Supreme Court just delivered a decision that affects one particular landowner (and former mineral rights owner), but also has implications for all Ohio landowners and rights owners. And by extension, implications for drillers that pay royalty payments. The Supremes found in Gerrity v. Chervenak that the landowners in the case (the Chervenaks) did
Read More...Anti-fossil fuelers love to protest things. Fine. Let them protest. This is (still) America. But when antis tip over into illegal acts like blocking legal activities of building pipelines or drilling wells, or when antis tip over into acts of vandalism like destroying equipment, that’s NOT okay. Antis call it “protesting.” We call it criminal
Read More...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
Read More...click for larger version Each year Cleveland State University publishes a report for JobsOhio looking at how much money has been invested by the private sector in the Utica Shale (and related) industry. The CSU’s eighth report (full copy below) was recently released and shows some eye-popping numbers. Total shale investment from July through December
Read More...click for larger version FirstEnergy continues to get battered over its alleged role in a $60 million bribery scandal in Ohio. The latest blow comes from the country’s three main ratings agencies, Fitch, Moody’s and S&P, which have all downgraded FirstEnergy’s credit rating to ‘junk’ status. This post appeared first on Marcellus Drilling News.
Read More...In July, now-former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder and four of his associates were indicted for felonies related to an alleged $60 million bribery scandal in passing the hugely unpopular House Bill 6 (see FirstEnergy Involved in Bribery Scheme to Pass $1B Nuke Bailout Law). HB 6 gives Energy Harbor, a FirstEnergy subsidiary, $150 million
Read More...This is extremely frustrating. FirstEnergy subsidiary Energy Harbor is accused of bribing former Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder and several of his associates to pass (and stay passed) a $1.1 billion bailout bill that funnels electric ratepayer (i.e. taxpayer) money into the hands of FirstEnergy, to prop up two uneconomic and failing nuclear power plants
Read More...It’s such a breath of fresh air (and so rare) when we spot actual, in-the-field, real science being done. So many times the “studies” we see published are nothing more than rehashed interpretations, speculation, and outright fabrications parading as scientific inquiry. We spotted a new study published just yesterday in the journal MDPI Atmosphere by
Read More...Although many landowners in the Marcellus/Utica (at lease those who are interested) have already signed leases to allow shale drilling on and under their property, not all have. And sometimes leases expire with no drilling. Plus, not all landowners have leases that allow pipelines and other development (like solar projects). The Ohio State University Extension
Read More...The Ohio Supreme Court ruled yesterday that the Ohio tax commissioner correctly charged Tallgrass Energy’s Rockie Express (REX) pipeline $2 million in excise tax (based on $699 million of income), for gas transported from and to (within) Ohio. REX claimed it did not owe the tax because the same law that exempts gas transported out
Read More...Columbia Gas of Ohio (NiSource) recently announced a new $135 million pipeline project to bring new supplies of Utica-sourced natural gas to homes and businesses located north and west of Columbus, in central Ohio. The project, called the Northern Loop Project, will file for regulatory approval with the Ohio Power Siting Board and hopes the
Read More...Drilling is great for local counties when it arrives. Especially for the “supply chain” in those counties–companies that sell goods and services to drilling companies. Everything from retail to convenience stores to restaurants to hotels to trucking companies and more. But what about businesses in nearby counties without any drilling activity? Is there any way
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