PA Marcellus News Digest: August 2012

Friday, August 31, 2012

PA Marcellus News Digest 8/31/12

PA Marcellus News Digest

August 31, 2012

Articles

Equitable’s plan to use more local gas is challenged
Pitt Trib
Kim Leonard
Aug 31
Under a proposal challenged by a consumer advocate and natural gas producers, Equitable Gas wants its customers to pay a surcharge averaging 71 cents a month to help the utility shift to selling more gas from Marcellus shale wells.
Link: http://triblive.com/business/2510417-74/gas-equitable-customers-plan-utility-challenged-local-production-natural-surcharge#axzz257B8Ze2X

State production of natural gas to keep growing, experts say
Pitt Trib
Timothy Puko
Aug 31
Drilling has slowed across the state, but that does not mean Pennsylvania’s historic rate of new natural gas production will follow very soon, experts said on Thursday.
Link: http://triblive.com/business/2509879-74/gas-production-pennsylvania-energy-marcellus-wells-drillers-drilling-experts-jolly#axzz257B8Ze2X

Commissioners receive studies on gas industry
Sun Gazette
David Thompson
Aug 31
With a limited amount of gas industry impact fee revenue coming to the county and its local municipalities, a clear idea of what industry impacts are is needed to make sure the money is spent wisely.
Link: http://www.sungazette.com/page/content.detail/id/582700/Commissioners-receive-studies-on-gas-industry.html?nav=5011

Energy symposium touches on Act 13
Observer-Reporter
Michael bradwell
Aug 31
The secretary of the state Department of Environmental Resources said Thursday he’s confident the state Supreme Court will rule in favor of the municipal zoning provisions originally set forth in Act 13.
Link: http://www.observer-reporter.com/or/story11/krancer-speaks-at-symposium

Governor Tom Corbett: Mitt Romney has right energy policy
Patriot-News
Op-Ed
Aug 31
Pennsylvanians have a history of ushering in game-changing energy innovation. In 1859, an oil well was drilled in northwestern Pennsylvania, one of the first for the sole purpose of finding petroleum. The development of this well ushered in a new era in energy production that has changed the course of civilization.
Link: http://www.pennlive.com/editorials/index.ssf/2012/08/governor_tom_corbett_mitt_romn.html

Drilled Wells in PA by Watershed Data Available
Frac Tracker
Matt Kelso
Aug 30
There are two new Pennsylvania watershed available for download on FracTracker’s DataTool:
- Pennsylvania Watersheds (HUC12), which shows the boundaries of watershed boundaries within the state at relatively fine level of detail. [...]
- Pennsylvania Watersheds With Drilled Unconventional Wells (8-29-2012), which contains those watersheds in the above dataset with one or more drilled wells, as determined by a spatial join with PADEP drilled unconventional welldata.Included on this dataset for each watershed is the number of unconventional wells drilled within its boundary from January 1, 2005 through August 29, 2012, as well as a density of wells per square kilometer.
Link: http://www.fractracker.org/2012/08/drilled-wells-in-pa-by-watershed-data-available/

Overhauled permit rules would streamline review process
Post-Gazette
Laura Olson
Aug 30
HARRISBURG -- Revamped permitting guidelines released Thursday by state environmental regulators propose to make the review process more efficient and outline several criteria for how applications may rise to the top of the pile.
Link: https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?shva=1#label/Marcellus+Digest/1397dcd7dd296585

DEP Issues Draft Permit Review Changes
NPR State Impact
Susan Phillips
Aug 30
Link: http://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/2012/08/30/dep-issues-draft-permit-review-changes/

Marcellus Shale Coalition releases suggestions for pre-drill water sampling
Express
Patrick Creighton and Travis Windle, Marcellus Shale Coalition
Aug 30
PITTSBURGH - The Marcellus Shale Coalition has released a Recommended Practice for pre-drill water supply surveys. This is the third in a series of recommended practices, all aimed at reinforcing the MSC's Guiding Principles to "continuously improve our practices and seek transparency in our operations" while furthering a fact-based dialogue that encourages responsible American natural gas development.
Link: http://www.lockhaven.com/page/content.detail/id/540689/Marcellus-Shale-Coalition-releases-suggestions-for-pre-drill-water-sampling.html?nav=5003

Chesapeake Energy holds landowners meeting for Towanda residents
Daily Review
Johnny Williams
Aug 30
Chesapeake Energy sought to help landowners living in the Towanda and North Towanda townships by holding a landowners relations meeting at the Towanda High School on Tuesday night.
Link: http://thedailyreview.com/news/chesapeake-energy-holds-landowners-meeting-for-towanda-residents-1.1365712

Thursday, August 30, 2012

PA Marcellus News Digest 8/30/12

PA Marcellus News Digest

August 30, 2012

Release

MSC Releases Recommended Practice for Pre-Drill Water Sampling
Wallaby
Aug 28
Pittsburgh, Pa. – Today, the Marcellus Shale Coalition (MSC) released a Recommended Practice (RP) for pre-drill water supply surveys. This is the third in a series of recommended practices, all aimed at reinforcing the MSC’s Guiding Principles to “continuously improve our practices and seek transparency in our operations” while furthering a fact-based dialogue that encourages responsible American natural gas development.
Link: http://wallaby.telicon.com/PA/library/2012/2012082883.HTM

Articles

Local group challenges new rules for shale gas industry
Post-Gazette
Janice Crompton
Aug 30
The leader of the organization representing 1,455 municipalities -- 44 percent of the state's population -- said his group is openly supporting a contingent of local officials and individuals who are challenging state lawmakers and officials, including the governor, over zoning provisions in the state's Act 13, the new law that brought sweeping changes to the Marcellus Shale gas drilling industry.
Link: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/neighborhoods-south/local-group-challenges-new-rules-for-shale-gas-industry-651150/?p=0

Robinson joins South Fayette as Pa. townships with Marcellus rules under PUC review
Post-Gazette
Laura Olson
Aug 29
HARRISBURG -- Pennsylvania officials are reviewing a second municipality's gas-drilling rules to determine whether Robinson's ordinance should prevent the township from receiving impact fee dollars this fall.
Link: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/state/robinson-joins-south-fayette-as-pa-townships-with-marcellus-rules-under-puc-review-650999/

Gas law zoning ruling will be on merits, Senate leader suggests
Scarnati OK with ruling on zoning
Times-Tribune
Robert Swift
Aug 30
HARRISBURG - A top Senate Republican leader said Wednesday he isn't worried that a final court ruling on local zoning limits under the Marcellus Shale drillers impact fee law will be determined by partisan considerations.
Link: http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/gas-drilling/gas-law-zoning-ruling-will-be-on-merits-senate-leader-suggests-1.1365766

Marcellus Education Team to Host New Webinar Series
Gant Daily
Aug 28
The Penn State Marcellus Education Team will be offering a new monthly Shale webinar series, beginning from 1 p.m. – 2 p.m. Thursday, Sep. 13.
Link: http://gantdaily.com/2012/08/28/marcellus-education-team-to-host-new-webinar-series/

Update of Pennsylvania's gas, oil regulations mostly supported
Pitt Trib
Tim Puko
Aug 29
Link: http://triblive.com/business/2496763-74/industry-gas-oil-state-perry-board-update-drillers-environmental-kriebel#axzz24xz8hWqq

More Than Three Months Later, Methane Gas Is Still Leaking In Bradford County
NPR State Impact
Scott Detrow
Aug 28
Link: http://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/2012/08/28/more-than-three-months-later-methane-gas-is-still-leaking-in-bradford-county/

Officials: Billion-dollar tax break for Beaver County cracker plant will be costly
Post-Gazette
Erich Schwartzel
Aug 29
Link: http://shale.sites.post-gazette.com/index.php/news/archives/24770

Wall Street Journal Maps Local Fracking Bans
NPR State Impact
Scott Detrow
Aug 29
Link: http://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/2012/08/29/wall-street-journal-maps-local-fracking-bans/

No Rest for Retirees: Fractivism Becomes a Full-Time Job
NPR State Impact
Susan Phillips
Aug 29
Link: https://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/2012/08/29/no-rest-for-retirees-fractivism-becomes-a-fulltime-job/

Top 10 OSHA citations for oil/gas sites
Saint Marys Daily Press
Victoria Stanish
Aug 27
RIDGWAY – At a recent meeting of the Elk County Gas Task Force, Compliance Assistance Specialist Mark F. Harmon of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) Erie office presented a “top 10 list” of the most frequent violations OSHA has encountered recently in the oil and gas industry.
Link: http://www.smdailypress.com/content/top-10-osha-citations-oilgas-sites

Destroying Precious Land for Gas
NYT
Sean Lennon
Op-Ed
Aug 27
ON the northern tip of Delaware County, N.Y., where the Catskill Mountains curl up into little kitten hills, and Ouleout Creek slithers north into the Susquehanna River, there is a farm my parents bought before I was born. My earliest memories there are of skipping stones with my father and drinking unpasteurized milk. There are bald eagles and majestic pines, honeybees and raspberries. My mother even planted a ring of white birch trees around the property for protection.
Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/28/opinion/sean-lennon-destroying-precious-land-for-gas.html?_r=2

Natural Gas and Zoning: The Commonwealth Court's Act 13 Decision
On July 26, the Commonwealth Court decided Robinson Township v. Pennsylvania Public Utility Comm'n, No. 284 M.D. 2012, invalidating portions of the Oil and Gas Act amendments of 2012 (known as Act 13). Specifically, Robinson Township struck down the provisions of Act 13 constraining the application of local land use controls to oil and gas facilities and sustained others.
David G. Mandelbaum
Commentary
Aug 28
(full text below)
On July 26, the Commonwealth Court decided Robinson Township v. Pennsylvania Public Utility Comm'n, No. 284 M.D. 2012, invalidating portions of the Oil and Gas Act amendments of 2012 (known as Act 13). Specifically, Robinson Township struck down the provisions of Act 13 constraining the application of local land use controls to oil and gas facilities and sustained others.
Both the commonwealth and several of the municipalities have already filed petitions for allowance of appeal in the Supreme Court.
Robinson Township arises in the context of shale gas development, but it addresses a general theme that I have raised before in these columns. If there are trade-offs to be made between competing environmental values (or between environmental and economic values) in deciding whether to promote or to impede a certain kind of development, who decides?
Earlier this year, the General Assembly amended and codified the Oil and Gas Act, Pa. Stat. Ann. tit. 58, §§601.101 to .605 (repealed), by passing Act 13, 58 Pa. Cons. Stat. §§2301-3504. Act 13 addresses all oil and gas development activity, but, of course, its motivation and focus arise from the current development of natural gas from shale formations such as the Marcellus and Utica shales. The new statute therefore includes provisions directed specifically at "unconventional" natural gas development.
Some of the new and amended provisions elaborate or amplify the commonwealth's ability to regulate natural gas facilities — wells, gathering systems, processing facilities and so forth. The more controversial provisions of Act 13, however, have to do with municipalities.
Act 13 establishes an impact fee to be paid by natural gas producers. Unlike a severance tax, the fee does not go to the commonwealth's general revenue, but instead primarily goes to the municipalities and the counties in which the developer drills its wells.
However, in order to participate in distribution of the impact fee, municipalities and counties must not regulate natural gas development in a manner prohibited by Act 13. Even before adoption of Act 13, the Oil and Gas Act pre-empted inconsistent local regulation of oil and gas operations regulated by the state statute.
New Section 3302 largely replicates that provision. However, Section 3302 does not pre-empt local ordinances adopted under the Municipalities Planning Code, Pa. Stat. Ann. tit. 53, §§10101-11202, or the Flood Plain Management Act, Pa. Stat. Ann. tit. 32, §§679.101 to .604. Thus, a zoning ordinance or a subdivision and land development ordinance adopted under the MPC would not be pre-empted explicitly by Section 3302.
The courts have determined that the former Oil and Gas Act's pre-emption of zoning or subdivision and land development ordinances allowed local regulation only of "where" natural gas activities occurred, but not "how" they occurred unless the "how" regulation applied generally to all similar industrial land uses. See, e.g., Range Resources v. Salem Township, 964 A.2d 869 (Pa. 2009); Huntley & Huntley v. Borough Council of Oakmont, 964 A.2d 855 (Pa. 2009).
Thus, municipalities opposed to natural gas development have attempted to craft ordinances that thread the pre-emption needle and allow the local government to regulate (or to prohibit) natural gas development without running afoul of the former Oil and Gas Act's pre-emption provision.
In reaction to this dynamic, Act 13 broadened pre-emption in two ways. Section 3303 pre-empts all local regulation of "oil and gas operations" to the extent they are regulated by the "environmental acts." "Environmental acts" is defined to include any state or federal statute "relating to the protection of the environment or the protection of public health, safety and welfare."
That definition seems to cover every state police power regulation and so may not exactly mean what it says, but Section 3301 calls out specifically any program administered by the Department of Environmental Protection as an "environmental act."
Finally, Section 3304 of Act 13 requires all local ordinances — including land use ordinances — to "allow for the reasonable development of oil and gas resources." Subsection (b) goes on to enumerate limitations on what a local ordinance may or may not require, and most of the enumerated provisions would ordinarily be found in a zoning ordinance. Oil and gas operations other than compressor stations, processing plants and impoundments have to be permitted uses in all zones, and those uses have to be permitted either as of right or as conditional uses. Height, setback and other restrictions can be no more restrictive than as set out in Section 3304(b).
Section 3215(b) establishes certain statewide setbacks for oil and gas wells from water resources, including wetlands. Section 3215(b)(4), however, permits the Department of Environmental Protection to waive those requirements when the well developer proposes "additional measures, facilities or practices ... necessary to protect the waters of this commonwealth." That is, the department may substitute a site-specific determination for the setbacks imposed by Sections 3215(b)(1)-(3).
The Commonwealth Court determined in Robinson Township that Section 3304 of Act 13 — the uniform zoning provision — failed a substantive due process challenge under Article I, Section 1 of the Pennsylvania Constitution.
Municipal zoning, the court held, must rationally separate uses, excluding "the pig from the parlor." By enacting Section 3304, the court held that the General Assembly required municipalities to allow the pig to enter the parlor. Section 3304 mandates irrational zoning, reasoned the court, and therefore it was unconstitutional.
The court characterized oil and gas activities under Act 13 as a "spot use."
Substantive due process prohibits "spot zoning." One parcel cannot be singled out from within a zone for special treatment. So, in the case cited by the Commonwealth Court, Realen Valley Forge Greenes Associates, 838 A.2d 718 (Pa. 2003), Upper Merion Township gradually changed the land use in the vicinity of the King of Prussia Mall so that a golf course was the last remaining undeveloped parcel. The township then sought to preserve that parcel in open space use. That was unconstitutional spot zoning under Article I, Section 1.
The Commonwealth Court analogized natural gas development because Section 3304 of Act 13 singles it out for special treatment, allowing gas development in every zone.
The Commonwealth Court held that that "spot use" treatment by the commonwealth would unconstitutionally disrupt any municipality's zoning. There are other uses treated specially by the MPC or the constitution from airports to landfills to churches. However, the Commonwealth Court found the treatment of oil and gas operations in Act 13 to be too special to meet constitutional muster.
The court's decision does not turn on a finding that any specific municipal zoning scheme would be rendered unconstitutional with the Act 13 overlay. The Commonwealth Court appears to assume that if municipalities cannot freely regulate location, setback and similar features of natural gas uses, it must be unconstitutionally disconnected from the purpose of keeping the pig in the barnyard and not the parlor.
Recall that nothing requires a municipality to enact a zoning or a subdivision and land development ordinance. If it does so, nothing requires that enactment faithfully to implement the municipality's comprehensive plan. Section 303(c) of the MPC makes clear that an ordinance may not be invalidated for inconsistency with the plan.
However, if a municipality decides to do so, Robinson Township stands for the proposition that substantive due process imposes limits on the General Assembly's ability to constrain the municipality's exercise of regulatory authority. Article I, Section 1 of the Pennsylvania Constitution does not relieve municipalities of any oversight — the MPC contains quite a number of limits on the zoning or subdivision ordinance — but Act 13 went too far, evidently.
The Commonwealth Court insisted that the municipality, not the commonwealth, had to have the ability to make judgments about which uses are pigs and where the parlor begins and ends. That limitation derives from Article I, Section 1, due process. Interestingly, the environmental rights amendment, Article I, Section 27 of the Constitution, imposes no such limitation. Section 27 requires a municipality to consider the environmental costs and benefits of any action it takes when it regulates.
However, the Commonwealth Court held that the General Assembly could withdraw the power to do so by statute, placing that obligation on the Department of Environmental Protection.
Robinson Township represents a defeat for Governor Tom Corbett and the natural gas industry in that both wanted uniform local regulation to facilitate natural gas development.
In broader focus, the decision leaves unclear who can make decisions about whether certain development or uses should be permitted. Sometimes, the commonwealth can withdraw discretion from municipalities. It can more easily withdraw discretion to consider environmental concerns — whatever they are — as distinct from other neighborhood issues; Section 27 is less protective of municipalities than Section 1. However, sometimes the commonwealth may not withdraw municipal discretion.
Robinson Township offers very few guideposts to help determine when municipalities may exercise independent discretion. Land use policy is fairly local. Environmental policy is regional or global. Uncertainty over which government can regulate what makes for poor environmental policymaking.
David G. Mandelbaum is national co-chair of the environmental practice group of Greenberg Traurig. His principal office is in Philadelphia. He teaches "Oil and Gas Law," "Environmental Litigation: Superfund" and "Global Climate Change" in rotation at Temple University's Beasley School of Law, and serves as vice chair of the Pennsylvania Statewide Water Resources Committee. He was educated at Harvard College and Harvard Law School.

Monday, August 27, 2012

PA Marcellus News Digest 8/27/12

WE'RE BACK!

PA Marcellus News Digest
August 27, 2012

Release

Township supervisors want tougher injection well standards
PA House
Aug 24
HARRISBURG, Aug. 24 – State Rep. Camille “Bud” George, D-74 of Clearfield County, today said that a recent letter sent to Gov. Tom Corbett from the Pennsylvania State Association of Township Supervisors further shows the need for stronger regulations regarding deep injection wells used to dispose Marcellus shale gas drilling wastewater.
Link: http://www.pahouse.com/PR/074082412.asp

Articles

Group fights state to halt glen drilling
Daily Item
Evamarie Socha
Aug 25
Rock Run in Lycoming County is one of those crazy-beautiful spots that define Pennsylvania outdoors — clear, natural water pools formed inside giant rock look like nature’s idea of a soaking tub.
Link: http://dailyitem.com/0100_news/x277235292/Group-fights-state-to-halt-glen-drilling

About Act 13
Post-Gazette
Mark Brositz
Letter to the Editor
Aug 27
I am writing regarding Kevin Moody's Aug. 16 letter ("Act 13's Rules"). Mr. Moody, vice president and general counsel of the Pennsylvania Independent Oil & Gas Association, states several important facts, but he also fails to mention several other critical ones.
Link: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/opinion/letters/about-act-13-650650/

Fix holes in gas reporting
Times-Tribune
Opinion
Aug 25
Accurate publicly reported data about the burgeoning Marcellus Shale natural gas industry are crucial for the sake of public transparency and for the industry itself. Financial markets and energy companies use the information to make long-range decisions worth many billions of dollars.
Link: http://thetimes-tribune.com/opinion/fix-holes-in-gas-reporting-1.1363364

Environmentalists challenge well permit
Times Online
Aug 24
GREENE TWP. -- Two environmental organizations are asking the state Department of Environmental Protection to rescind its permit for a Marcellus shale natural gas well in Greene Township.
Link: http://www.timesonline.com/news/local_news/environmentalists-challenge-well-permit/article_b407dbce-cb59-5b1a-828d-c21752d91d01.html

Corbett goes where he feels at home — on the river
Inquirer
Amy Worden
Aug 25
SHAWNEE-ON-DELAWARE - With the fog still thick over the Delaware River, Gov. Corbett, joined by about a dozen state officials, all in kayaks, pushed off from the Pennsylvania side Friday morning for a 10-mile float downriver.
Link: http://articles.philly.com/2012-08-25/news/33368007_1_kayak-trips-delaware-river-summer-camp

Long fight over fracking still divides Pa. town
Inquirer
Andrew Maykuth
Aug 26
DIMOCK, Pa. - More than three years after residents in this Susquehanna County town complained that Marcellus Shale natural gas development polluted their private water wells, the lawsuits are getting settled, the activists are going away, and gas drilling is set to resume.
Link: http://articles.philly.com/2012-08-26/news/33403570_1_susquehanna-county-town-cabot-oil-baby-drill

Thursday, August 2, 2012

PA Marcellus News Digest 8/2/12

PA Marcellus News Digest

August 2, 2012

This will be the last Digest till late August. Our intrepid Digest editor Lindsay will be exploring Alaska during her honeymoon, leaving the rest of swltering here in PA! We will still forward to you stories of significant interest, but they will be fewer and not in Digest form.

Releases

What They’re Saying: American Natural Gas Drives “Economic Growth and Prosperity”
Wallaby
Marcellus Shale Coalition
Aug 1
Pittsburgh, Pa. – It’s difficult to go an entire day – or hour – without a reminder of the economic difficulties facing America, especially for the millions looking for work. This week, the Associated Press reports that “As U.S. hiring as declined, so has consumer and business confidence.” The Associated Press also recently reports that “High unemployment isn't going away” in the United States. These are historically challenging times. For its part, though, America’s natural gas producers – along with a robust supply chain – continue to make critical investments leading to expanded economic growth, private sector job creation and strengthened energy security all while protecting the environment. Here’s what they’re saying.
Link: http://wallaby.telicon.com/PA/library/2012/2012080173.HTM

Shale Gas Industry Puts Workers at Risk in Rush to Frack
Wallaby
Aug 1
(Philadelphia) Labor leaders and health professionals, along with a broad coalition of citizen groups committed to halting shale gas development, assert that risks to workers in the shale gas industry, "from stem to stern," are being overlooked in the rush to frack. This is the first in a series of Bulletins in advance of the Shale Gas Outrage demonstration planned for Philadelphia, 12 - 2 pm on September 20th, 2012 (press conference 10 AM), outside the Convention Center where the Marcellus Shale industry conference will be underway.
Link: http://wallaby.telicon.com/PA/library/2012/2012080165.HTM

PHFA accepting proposals for use of PHARE and Marcellus Shale funding to improve housing in areas impacted by natural gas drilling
Deadline for proposals is Nov. 2
Wallaby
Aug 1
HARRISBURG – The Pennsylvania Housing Finance Agency is issuing a Request for Proposals (RFP) today for projects to improve the availability and affordability of housing in the Marcellus Shale region of the state.
Link: http://wallaby.telicon.com/PA/library/2012/2012080186.HTM

Articles

The Price of Fracking – Report Back from Stop the Frack Attack
Oil Change International
Karen Showalter
July 31
“I haven’t seen an issue that’s affected so many people in so many places,” Doug Shields, former member of the Pittsburgh City Council, remarked at Stop the Frack Attack rally last Saturday. And indeed, the thousands assembled on the lawn of the US Capitol Building reflected this truth. From as far as California and even Australia, Ohio and Minnesota, normal folks turned “fracktivists” descended on Washington last weekend.
Link: http://priceofoil.org/2012/07/31/the-price-of-fracking-report-back-from-stop-the-frack-attack/

Luzerne doctor sues over bans in new fracking law
Inquirer
Sandy Bauers
Aug 2
A Luzerne County physician claims in a federal lawsuit that Pennsylvania's new oil and natural gas drilling law will force him to violate ethical rules in treating his patients.
Link: http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20120802_Luzerne_doctor_sues_over_bans_in_new_fracking_law.html

Shale drilling boosts development
Pitt Trib
Tory N. Parrish
Aug 1
Some stalled residential developments in Cecil are picking up steam, fueled in part by the Marcellus shale drilling industry’s expansion in the area, township officials said.
Link: http://triblive.com/news/allegheny/2280835-74/southpointe-cecil-park-development-shale-area-developments-drilling-based-energy

'Irrational' gas policy: Act 13 local zoning pre-emption is a mistake
Patriot-News
Editorial
Aug 2
Sometimes, even in politics, you have to admit you’re wrong. Gov. Tom Corbett and members of the Legislature were wrong to strip local municipalities of their zoning rights in Act 13, the Marcellus Shale law. Even zoning land “residential” would not make any difference if drillers want access to the land.
Link: http://www.pennlive.com/editorials/index.ssf/2012/08/irrational_gas_policy_act_13_l.html

Local officials confident in Marcellus Shale zoning ruling
State appeals decision striking part of Act 13
Post-Gazette
Andrea Iglar
Aug 2
Local officials are applauding a court decision that supports the right of municipalities to decide where Marcellus Shale development can occur.
Link: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/neighborhoods-west/local-officials-confident-in-marcellus-shale-zoning-ruling-647278/

Drilling leak leads to violation notice
Pitt Trib
Timothy Puko
Aug 1
A gas-drilling site leaked sediment above a drinking-water reservoir in Westmoreland County, leading state environmental regulators to issue a violation notice.
Link: http://triblive.com/home/2322637-74/officials-substance-authority-bentonite-consol-drinking-state-supply-according-ashton

Gas drilling research suffers from lack of funding
Inquirer
Kevin Begos, AP
Aug 1
PITTSBURGH - Is gas drilling ruining the air, polluting water and making people sick? The evidence is sketchy and inconclusive, but a lack of serious funding is delaying efforts to resolve those pressing questions and creating a vacuum that could lead to a crush of lawsuits, some experts say.
Link: http://www.philly.com/philly/health/20120801_ap_gasdrillingresearchsuffersfromlackoffunding.html

Taking the Marcellus Shale gas boom from rush to responsibility
Inquirer
Arthur Sterngold
Opinion
Aug 2
After four years of rapid growth, Marcellus Shale gas drilling has slowed. As The Inquirer reported last month, the number of drilling rigs in Pennsylvania has fallen 29 percent from a year ago. State data show the number of Marcellus wells drilled in July was 57 percent lower than in the same period last year.
Link: http://www.philly.com/philly/opinion/20120802_Taking_the_Marcellus_Shale_gas_boom_from_rush_to_responsibility.html

Low Gas Prices Have Not Slowed Renewable Energy But Will They In The Future?
John Hanger's Facts of The Day
Blog
Aug 1
Since 2008, times have been exceptionally good for both natural gas and renewable energy. Both have boomed, with natural gas setting records for production in 2011, and with renewables providing more energy than nuclear power last year.
Link: http://johnhanger.blogspot.com/2012/08/low-gas-prices-have-not-slowed.html

Act 13 Ruled Unconstitutional: What Happens Now?
Canon-McMillan Patch
Jesse White, State Representative, 46th District
Aug 1
Last week, the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court declared portions of Act 13, the law passed earlier this year regarding natural gas drilling in the Marcellus and Utica Shale, to be unconstitutional.
The specific parts struck down dealt with the preemption, or taking away, of the rights of municipalities to use zoning ordinances to ensure safety, accountability and responsibility in oil and gas development. Our region figured prominently in the fight: Cecil, Mt. Pleasant, Robinson, South Fayette and Peters Townships were all plaintiffs, and as a legislator I filed an amicus curiae brief in support of the effort.
Link: http://canon-mcmillan.patch.com/articles/act-13-ruled-unconstitutional-what-happens-now

Gas drilling regulation becomes more local
The Mercury
Editorial
Aug 1
The controversies surrounding natural gas extraction in Pennsylvania just got closer to home.
Issues involving local and regional regulation of drilling operations versus the desires of the natural gas industry could roost in the region’s backyards with the revelation that western Montgomery and southeastern Berks counties are home to natural gas reserves.
Link: http://www.pottsmerc.com/article/20120801/OPINION01/120809987/gas-drilling-regulation-becomes-more-local

Group urges limit on drilling
Indiana Gazette
Sam Kusic
July 31
In light of a state court ruling that struck down part of a law establishing standard zoning rules for oil and gas wells, a local group said it intends to renew its push for an absolute ban on wells in protected zones around Indiana County parks.
Link: http://www.indianagazette.com/a_news/article_8155c4d7-631c-5281-9b78-a49e2c2f0ae3.html

AG seeking appeal of Shipman sentencing
Observer-Reporter
Bob Niedbala
Aug 1
The state attorney general has filed a notice of appeal seeking to overturn Greene County Judge Farley Toothman’s sentencing of Robert Allan Shipman.
Link: http://www.observer-reporter.com/or/story11/Shipman

Pa. court orders release of documents to paper
CDT
AP
July 31
HARRISBURG, PA. — A state appeals court has ordered environmental officials to turn over documents related to gas drilling requested by an eastern Pennsylvania newspaper under the Right To Know Law even if doing so would be difficult.
Link: http://www.centredaily.com/2012/07/31/3280976/pa-court-orders-release-of-documents.html

Shell says cracker plant under evaluation
New Castle News
Debbie Wachter
Aug 1
NEW CASTLE — Shell Oil’s proposal to build its petrochemical plant in Beaver County is being evaluated, a company spokesman said Tuesday night.
Link: http://www.ncnewsonline.com/topstories/x1962236660/Shell-says-cracker-plant-under-evaluation

PA Marcellus News Digest 8/2/12

PA Marcellus News Digest

August 2, 2012

Releases

Articles