PA Marcellus Digest - January 28, 2014
Range Resources Spokesman Matt Pitzarella Misrepresented Education Credentials, Never Received Business Ethics Degree
Range Resources Director of Corporate Communications Matt Pitzarella has long listed a master of science degree in leadership and business ethics from Duquesne University as one of his educational accomplishments – one he claimed to have earned in 2005.
Report: 2,500 miles of waterway across Pa. pollution-impaired
A report issued last week by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation indicated that nearly 2,500 miles of the state’s waterways are polluted, but even though those streams and rivers throughout the state have the same statuses, the sources of pollution are different.
Act 13 ruling could change drilling case law
With the state Supreme Court’s decision last month to strike down Act 13 provisions that set statewide zoning rules for natural gas development, experts are questioning whether the ruling will affect future litigation.
The Corbett administration and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection would seem to be entertaining the longest of long shots in their appeal of last month’s state Supreme Court ruling striking down portions of Act 13, the controversial oil and natural gas drilling law.
Nockamixon is asking state supremes to reject appeal of Act 13
Nockamixon wants Pennsylvania’s Supreme Court to reject the state’s appeal of the Act 13 decision on oil and natural gas drilling.
What happened to DCNR’s $6 million Marcellus monitoring report?
After spending more than three years and $6 million to monitor how gas drilling is affecting public forests, the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources has yet to release the information, and environmental groups are beginning to raise questions.
Finding right home for oil and gas revenue
When the revenue collected from oil and gas wells on state park and forest lands amounted to $4 million annually, few paid attention to how the money was spent.
Pipeline Fight Lifts Environmental Movement
Environmentalists have spent the past two years fighting the Keystone XL pipeline: They have built a human chain around the White House, clogged the State Department’s public comment system with more than a million emails and letters, and gotten themselves arrested at protests across the country.
DEP plans hearing on proposed oil/gas regs
The state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) will hold a public hearing on proposed oil and gas surface activities for conventional and unconventional operators at the Warren County Courthouse at 6 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 12.
Will officials revisit local drilling regs?
A reversal of fortunes for the Marcellus Shale natural gas industry at the Pennsylvania Supreme Court doesn't necessarily mean a change in direction for the Clinton County Planning Commission.
Tax gas companies to fund transportation
The Gov. Tom Corbett transportation funding plan stinks. Middle- and lower-class people are left with the burden of paying for it. How about the companies digging for gas? Tax them.
A ‘rural lifestyle’ no more?
The tranquility of rural living in Greene County is being disrupted by encroaching industrialization. At least that’s the impression we came away with following a hearing last week on a plan by Equitrans, LP to expand its Jefferson compressor station.
City Council told plugging of well missed deadline
The state Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) may have ordered Timothy Koebley to plug a well drilled on Warren's south side.
Battle Over DEP Oil, Gas Regs Continues
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection published its list of possible revisions to Chapter 78 of the Pennsylvania Oil and Gas Act, and conventional well drillers are left with many questions and doubts about their future.
PUC Urges Consumers to Conserve Energy During Frigid Temps
The extreme cold has significantly increased the demand for electricity, leading the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) to call on consumers to conserve electricity.
Train derailments have Delco reps scrutinizing safety
As CSX workers continued to remove derailed tank cars from a bridge above the Schuylkill River Thursday, state representatives from Delaware County were getting closer to setting a date for an emergency hearing on rail safety.
Milford Township residents raise concerns about compressor station fumes
At the Milford Township supervisors' first meeting of 2014, Justin Snyder said he always wanted to be on television, but not with his house burning in the background.
Ohio EPA, health officials dismiss radioactive threat from fracking
When Pennsylvania environmental officials tested creek mud near a fracking wastewater-treatment plant last year, they found radiation at levels 45 times higher than federal drinking-water standards.
Pa. shirks duty on climate change plan
It fails to set greenhouse gas reduction goals, fails to provide clear, quantifiable recommendations to meet those goals, and fails to sufficiently incentivize renewable energy. Regrettably, this plan, recently released by the state Department of Environmental Protection, is consistent with Gov. Tom Corbett’s total lack of leadership on climate change.
Wildlife notebook: Groups take sides on endangered species bills
Businesses have long complained that state policies protecting at-risk species are too restrictive, redundant with federal protections and interfere with legitimate efforts to develop lands or harvest resources. Bipartisan bills in the state House and Senate would strip the independent Game and Fish and Boat commissions of oversight of threatened and endangered species.
DEP issued Wayne County lake community violation after 10,000 fish killed
An improper application of lake treatment chemicals killed about 10,000 fish in a Wayne County lake last summer, the state Department of Environmental Protection determined.
State agency fast tracks permits for fracking, raising concerns
The shale-gas company wanted a pollution permit in less than four months. To help it meet that goal, Ohio Environmental Protection Agency officials had to do two things: avoid a public hearing and make sure the feds didn’t get involved.
Don't sacrifice conservation to balance the budget
Less than a week before Gov. Tom Corbett will give his annual budget address, state Rep. Greg Vitali and environmentalists will urge him not to tap a fund intended for conservation to balance the budget.
Gas Division Produces Record 48.5 Bcfe in Quarter; Marcellus Production Volumes Increase 56% from Year-Earlier Quarter; BMX Mine On-Track to Begin Operations in Q1 2014
CONSOL Energy Inc. (NYSE: CNX) is providing an operations update for the quarter ended December 31, 2013.
Corbett vision for natural gas drilling in state unchanged
Gov. Tom Corbett was in the area Monday and the centerpiece of his visit was a sort of energy pep talk at the Pennsylvania College of Technology's Earth Science Center.
Opinion: Shale helping boost Pa. recovery
Many people have become so frustrated that they've stopped looking for work. The one bright spot has been Marcellus Shale development, which has offset this larger trend by providing hundreds of thousands of Pennsylvanians with meaningful work and newfound hope for their financial future.
Ample supplies of gas stabilize prices
A bitter cold snap has furnaces working overtime and heating bills climbing, but Western Pennsylvania residents will pay less than they would have five or 10 years ago as Marcellus Shale production has fortified natural gas supplies.
