Friday, March 15, 2013

PA Marcellus News Digest 3/15/13

PA Marcellus News Digest
March 15, 2013
 
Releases
 
Conklin introduces 3 bills to help regulate oil and gas drilling in the state
Wallaby
March 7
[...]Conklin's first bill (H.B. 880) would require well operators to provide public notice of their intent to drill in the area. Public notice would consist of an advertisement published in the local newspaper before the permit application is filed with the Department of Environmental Protection. The ad would run once a week for four consecutive weeks, and proof of publication would be required to be submitted with the permit application.
 
Vitali bill would prevent further state forest leasing
Wallaby
March 8
HARRISBURG – State Rep. Greg Vitali today introduced legislation, H.B. 950, which would permanently ban the leasing of additional state forestland for Marcellus Shale natural gas drilling.
 
Senators Baker, Vogel Call on PEMA to Investigate Breakdown In Information-Sharing Following Illegal Dumping Incident
Wallaby
March 11
Two state senators are calling on the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency (PEMA) to conduct an immediate review of a critical communications breakdown that occurred in Beaver and Lawrence Counties following the illegal dumping of thousands of gallons of fracking wastewater in Ohio.
 
Major Green Groups Sends Joint Letter to Obama to Take a Timeout on Natural Gas Exports
Sierra Club Press Releases
March 12
WASHINGTON, DC-The Center for International Environmental Law, Clean Water Action, Earthjustice, Earthworks, Environment America, Friends of the Earth, League of Conservation Voters, Sierra Club, The Wilderness Society has sent a letter to President Obama strongly pushing for a timeout on natural gas exports until critical national economic, environmental, and trade concerns are thoroughly analyzed and carefully addressed.
 
Articles
 
Landowners claim breach of contract
Say company reneged on lease payments
Sharon Herald
Joe Pinchot
March 7
MERCER COUNTY — Five Mercer County landowners have sued a gas-drilling firm and two companies that marketed their drilling rights to that firm, alleging their drilling contracts were illegally broken.
 
GE Transportation eyes natural gas locomotives
Times-News
Jim Martin
March 11
GE Transportation doesn't simply build diesel-electric locomotives. The company, which has its main manufacturing facility in Lawrence Park Township, invented this system of using diesel engines to generate power for electric traction motors.
 
For gas drilling near Delaware River, renewed calls for oversight
Express-Times
Douglas B. Brill
March 11
Environmentalists expecting tens of thousands of miles of new gas pipelines tapping into Pennsylvania’s rich Marcellus shale deposit are renewing calls for greater oversight from the governors of four Delaware River states.
 
Cause of off-color, fetid water eludes Pa. town
CDT
Kevin Begos, AP
March 10
PITTSBURGH — What causes clear, fresh country well water to turn orange or black, or smell so bad that it's undrinkable?
 
In Chesco town, opposition helped stop proposed gas pipeline
Inquirer
Aubrey Whelan
March 12
Amy Shenk had never joined a protest movement, never organized neighbors, never passed around petitions or printed signs.
 
Driller Offered $15 M for Access to Loyalsock State Forest
Allegheny Front
March 2
Anadarko Petroleum offered the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources $15 million for surface use to a section of the Loyalsock State Forest known as the Old Logger's Path, according to a letter obtained by the environmental group PennFuture.
 
Fracking health study results likely years off
Inquirer
Mary Esch, AP
March 9
ALBANY, N.Y. - A health study cited by leading environmentalist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as pivotal in helping persuade Gov. Andrew Cuomo to hold off on plans for limited gas drilling is likely years away from conclusions about whether the technology involved is safe, according to the project's leaders.
 
Conservation districts disappointed with state’s funding adjustments
Pitt Trib
Jennifer Reeger
March 10
Greg Phillips had hoped that the Westmoreland County Conservation District would eventually be able to use Marcellus shale impact fees to start a pilot program for gas drillers to work with landscape architects and erosion control specialists to restore farmland and forested areas.
 
NY Assembly Passes Two Year Fracking Moratorium, Senate Expected to Follow
Eco Watch
De Smog Blog
Steve Horn
March 7
In a roll call vote of 95-40, the New York State Assembly has passed a two-year moratorium on hydraulic fracturing or fracking, the toxic horizontal drilling process through which oil and gas is procured that’s found within shale rock basins across the country and the world.
 
Sunoco hears Westmoreland County residents’ concerns, agrees to reroute pipeline
Pitt Trib
Timothy Puko
March 9
After months of complaints from North Huntingdon home­owners, a Philadelphia pipeline company agreed to move a proposed hazardous gas pipeline's path away from Westmoreland County's populous western suburbs.
 
PA-based company cited for spill into WV creek
WITF
AP
March 8
(Moundsville, WV) -- West Virginia regulators have ordered Pennsylvania-based Noble Energy to regain control of an impoundment that overflowed into a tributary of Wheeling Creek last month.
 
Penn State's new natural gas center to keep Pa. at forefront of industry
Penn State News
Kelly Henry
March 6
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Bringing together one of the largest contingents of natural gas experts in the United States, Penn State has established an Institute for Natural Gas Research (INGaR), which is expected to provide much-needed study into this important form of energy.
 
'Fracking' brings prosperity, problems to Pennsylvania
Shale gas drilling boom yields jobs, but some wells are contaminated
Baltimore Sun
Timothy B. Wheeler
March 9
Times are good these days at the Linde Corp., where despite a sluggish economy nationally, the company is on a hiring binge.
 
Venture proposes 'Bluegrass Pipeline' to the Gulf Coast
Post-Gazette
Erich Schwartzel
March 8
More natural gas liquids extracted from underneath Pennsylvania will start flowing to petrochemical facilities and export markets near the Gulf Coast through a new pipeline project announced Thursday.
 
Face climate facts
Post-Gazette
Barb Grover, Chair, Allegheny Group of the Sierra Club
March 9
Here's a bit of good news/bad news on climate change. To the good, the commonwealth's secretary of environmental protection, Michael Krancer, said recently that carbon emissions and human activity contribute to global warming. To the bad, he said scientists had no unanimity as to how much or how fast the planet is warming, or how much of a role humans play in it.
 
Fast, yet comfortable: The Life of a drilling project manager
Times Online
Amanda King
March 8
PITTSBURGH — Greg Hess sits on a stool at a restaurant sipping on a glass of vodka and club soda. It’s a chilly, Thursday afternoon in downtown Pittsburgh.
 
Corbett's 'freebies' call for legislative ban on gifts, free travel
Express-Times
Editorial
March 8
Unlike their counterparts in many other states, Pennsylvania legislators and governors have managed to avoid enacting these common-sense rules for themselves:
Don’t accept any gifts of value.
Unless you’re on official business, pay your own way.
 
Allegheny County health board seeks 24-hour drilling notice
WITF
AP
March 7
(Pittsburgh) -- The Allegheny County Board of Health wants natural gas companies to provide 24-hour advance notice before drilling starts.
 
Pennsylvania ethics uproar is over peanuts
Morning Call
Paul Carpenter
March 7
[...]A governor who has accepted $1.8 million in "campaign contributions" from gas-drilling interests, in return for letting them ravage the environment and escape customary taxes, should not have to face a fuss over $11,000.
 
The governor's gifts
Intelligencer Journal
Editorial
March 7
Lancaster District Judge Kelly Ballentine will find out later this month whether the state Judicial Conduct Board will force her to vacate her post for fixing three of her own parking tickets.
 
Beaver water woes tied to Ohio drilling
Pitt Trib
Timothy Puko
March 1
A Beaver County drinking water supplier says liquid drilling wastes dumped illegally in Ohio are linked to water problems in his county, where local and state officials claim Ohio investigators failed to tell them about pollution headed their way.
 
N.Y. fracking health study news draws cheers, jeers
Observer-Reporter
March Esch, AP
March 3
ALBANY, N.Y. – While opponents of fracking are pleased at a report that Gov. Andrew Cuomo will wait for a Pennsylvania health study before deciding whether to allow drilling, landowners are preparing to sue New York over lost gas-leasing opportunities and an industry group warned Sunday that a business exodus from the state will worsen.
 
Fracking Industry Conflicts Of Interest With Regulators? Watchdogs Concerned
HuffPost Green
Lynne Peeples
Feb 27
After facing heat from fellow residents of Red Wing, Minn., over his ties with an industry group intent on increasing frac sand mining in the state, the town's mayor, Dennis Egan, announced this week that he would step down.
 
New York’s Fracking Decision May Hinge on Results of Geisinger Health Study
NPR State Impact
Marie cusick
March 4
 
Beaver water woes tied to Ohio drilling
Pitt Trib
Timothy Puko
March 1
A Beaver County drinking water supplier says liquid drilling wastes dumped illegally in Ohio are linked to water problems in his county, where local and state officials claim Ohio investigators failed to tell them about pollution headed their way.
 
Leveraging Marcellus shale to pay for pension reform
Patriot-News Op-Ed
Brendan Finucane
March 4
As discussed in last week's PennLive editorial, Pennsylvania faces unfunded public sector pension obligations of $41 billion. And proposals are proliferating to reform pension parameters in ways which are likely to face protracted legal challenges.
 
Marcellus Shale Coalition releases video on methane
Times Online
March 6
The Marcellus Shale Coalition, an industry group, released a new informational video this week called "Methane: An Element of Nature."
The video touches on the science and geology associated with methane, as well as regulations and practices taken by natural gas operators in relation to methane.
 
Protesters disrupt DRBC meeting over gas pipelines
Inquirer
Sandy Bauers
March 7
More than 70 shouting protesters disrupted Wednesday's meeting of the Delaware River Basin Commission, refusing to be quiet or sit during the business session.
 
Pa. benefiting greatly from natural gas
Daily Local
Kathryn Z. Klaber
Opinion
March 6
Communities across the entire commonwealth, including in the Greater Philadelphia, continue to see a wave of benefits associated with Pennsylvania’s historic natural gas revolution. Manufacturing towns and refineries are being revitalized. Small- and medium-sized business are opening and expanding. Jobs are being created, energy costs are more affordable for consumers and businesses, and revenue is pouring back into local economies for critical services and infrastructure improvements. And as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently reported, the Mid-Atlantic region’s air quality, thanks to expanded natural gas availability and use, is improving markedly.
 
Shale tests worry Forward residents
Pitt Trib
Jeremy Sellew
March 5
Nearly 60 Forward Township residents concerned with Marcellus shale drilling filled the municipal building Monday for a public meeting with officials from EQT Corp., Geokinetics, and Cougar Land Services.
 
Marcellus Shale meeting topic
Sun-Gazette
March 7
The Lycoming County Pomona Grange will hold a community meeting with Eric Cowden, land affairs director of the Marcellus Shale Coalition, at 7 p.m. Friday at Eagle Grange, Route 15 south of Williamsport.
 
Not making friends, influencing people
Observer-Reporter
Opinion
March 6
There’s an old saying that you can catch more flies with sugar than with vinegar. Some of the folks in the Marcellus Shale industry in our area seem to be straying further and further from that axiom.
 
U.S. Federal Reserve Survey Cites Positive Economics of PA’s Gas Boom
NPR State Impact
Marie Cusick
March 7
 
Organic Farmers Split Over Fracking
NPR State Impact
Susan Phillips
March 7
 
Proposed Pipeline Would Transport Marcellus Resources to Gulf Coast
NPR State Impact
Marie Cusick
March 8
 
All bills to ban, place moratorium on fracking dead
Cumberland Times-News
March 7
CUMBERLAND — A bill that would have placed a moratorium on drilling for natural gas via hydraulic fracturing, pending further study, has been withdrawn in the House of Delegates after late adverse action on a similar Senate bill Wednesday night.
 
Natural gas line expansion slated for Pa.
E&E News
EnergyWire
March 1
(full text below)
Interstate pipeline operator Columbia Gas Transmission Group has announced plans for a $210 million expansion to its Philadelphia network, responding to the booming gas market in Pennsylvania's Marcellus Shale.
 
The project would boost capacity on the Pennsylvania portion of an existing line from New York to Virginia, giving a 738-megawatt gas-fueled power plant under construction in Gloucester County added supply options. Columbia plans to build a 20-inch-diameter pipeline to cross Gloucester County and a 26-inch-wide line for 8.9 miles in Chester County for its East Side Expansion Project.
 
"We are responding to a demand for increasing capacity of natural gas from our customers," said Brendan Neal, community relations and stakeholder outreach manager for Columbia, which is a subsidiary of NiSource Inc.
 
The transmission company outlined a public campaign for the development in filings with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Monday. The construction is likely to irk some locals and draw the attention of environmental activists concerned about air pollution, although Columbia expects FERC approval by June 2014.
 
"Other than payments for easements, it doesn't really bring any increase in tax revenue or jobs," said James Wendergass, manager of West Vincent Township, one of the areas affected by Columbia's expansion.
 
The pipeline project reflects shifting infrastructure demands due to the gas boom gripping Pennsylvania's Marcellus Shale. The surge in production has largely been driven by improved extraction techniques such as hydraulic fracturing, which involves pumping water, sand and chemicals down well bores to reach trapped pockets of shale oil and gas.
 
"Because of the nature of where gas supply was in the past, the gas pretty much ran from the south to the north," said Neal of Columbia. "Now there's new [drilling] technology available that's made gas supply available in other areas" (Andrew Maykuth, Philadelphia Inquirer, Feb. 28). -- BS
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PENNSYLVANIA: Study reveals state officials' oil and gas industry ties
E&E News
Energy Wire
March 12
(full text below)
 
A recent report has raised concerns about the "revolving door" between government posts and oil and gas industry jobs in Pennsylvania.
 
The Public Accountability Initiative, a Buffalo, N.Y.-based nonpartisan research organization, highlighted 45 current or former Pennsylvania officials with ties to the state's energy industry in a study released two weeks ago titled "Fracking and the Revolving Door in Pennsylvania."
 
Many of the former state workers mentioned in the report have moved on to jobs in the industries they were charged with regulating, leading some activists to call for tighter ethical rules.
 
"The revolving door data in this report raises troubling questions about the incentives that may be guiding public officials' oversight of fracking in Pennsylvania, from governors to [Department of Environmental Protection] secretaries to well inspectors," Robert Galbraith, a research analyst at the Public Accountability Initiative, said in the report.
 
The list includes high-profile figures such as Gov. Tom Corbett (R), who received $1.8 million in campaign contributions from the oil and gas industry and worked as a lawyer with Waste Management Inc., a member of the shale gas lobbying firm Marcellus Shale Coalition. Pennsylvania's previous three governors also have "strong ties to the natural gas industry," the study noted.
 
Pennsylvania's DEP Secretary Michael Krancer was formerly general counsel at Exelon Corp., a utility that uses natural gas, according to the report. Krancer also once worked at Blank Rome LLP, a lobbying group that is an associate member of the Marcellus Shale Coalition.
 
Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, as it is commonly called, is an unconventional drilling technique employed by the booming Pennsylvania petroleum industry. Environmentalists have criticized the process.
 
If state officials go on to take industry jobs -- as 28 regulators and policymakers have done, according to the study -- they may be lax in their oversight.
 
"There's a concern about people in state government providing favors to industries that might hire them, in effect helping to feather the nest they land in," said Jeff Schmidt, executive director of the Sierra Club in Pennsylvania.
 
Oil and gas companies active in the state, from Royal Dutch Shell PLC to Chesapeake Energy Corp., have argued that hiring former government employees is standard business practice.
 
"Our desire is to hire the best, the brightest and the most qualified, which in some instances may include individuals who previously worked as public servants," said Matt Pitzarella, a spokesman for gas company Range Resources Corp. The Fort Worth, Texas-based company employs K. Scott Roy, once deputy chief of staff for former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell.
 
Pitzarella noted that many workers at environmentalist organizations formerly served in official capacities or go on to become government administrators.
 
Eric Shirk, a spokesman for Corbett, said it isn't surprising that "the most highly qualified and experienced" state overseers have backgrounds in or eventually take jobs in the lucrative oil and gas sector. After all, he argued, that is their area of expertise.
 
"To protect our taxpayers, Pennsylvania has strict ethics and disclosure laws to guard against undue influence in the policymaking arena," he said in a written statement.
 
Critics contend that those ethics laws don't go far enough. Under current regulations, government administrators are prohibited for one year from lobbying the departments they worked for.
 
"The DEP looks like it's run by the industry," said Silver Lake Township resident Craig Stevens at a House Democratic Policy Committee hearing in Washington, Pa., two weeks ago. "There should be a two-year moratorium on people from [the department] going to the industry" (Dan Hopey, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, March 10). -- BS
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