A federal judge has granted a preliminary injunction in favor of Tennessee Gas Pipeline, LLC, precluding two environmental groups from bringing a permit challenge before the Pennsylvania Environmental Hearing Board, the Scranton Times-Tribune reports. Tennessee Gas filed a complaint and sought the injunction to block attempts by the environmental groups to seek review of permits associated with the company’s Northeast Upgrade Project. In an order issued February 5, 2013, District Judge Robert Mariani concluded that Natural Gas Act precluded the Environmental Hearing Board from reviewing permits issued by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection to Tennessee Gas under the Clean Water Act and the Clean Streams Law. The Delaware Riverkeeper Network and the Responsible Drilling Alliance brought an appeal before the Environmental Hearing Board in December 2012 seeking review of permits.
The court noted that two permits were issued under the Clean Water Act and one permit was issued under the state Clean Streams Law, but concluded that the three were interrelated such that review by a federal appellate court alone rather than two separate tribunals was appropriate. The court also concluded that the Natural Gas Act precluded the Environmental Hearing Board from reviewing the DEP’s permitting decisions prior to an appeal to a federal appellate court. The court’s analysis focused on the application of Section 717r(d)(1) of the Natural Gas Act, which provides that “the United States Court of Appeals for the circuit in which a facility . . is proposed to be constructed, expanded, or operated shall have original and exclusive jurisdiction over any civil action for the review of an order or action of a Federal agency … or state administrative agency acting pursuant to Federal law to issue, condition, or deny any permit … required under Federal law … .”
LS Power Development LLC, a New Jersey based company, received site approval this week to build a power plant estimated to cost $750 million in Lawrence County, Pennsylvania, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports. The plant would be powered by Marcellus shale gas. The company still needs state and federal permits, but construction could begin early next year and the plant could generate electricity by 2016. Tennessee Gas Pipeline Company, L.L.C., a subsidiary of Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, owns and operates the gas pipelines that would supply the plant.
The Delaware River Basin Commission has advised that it will conduct a review of two completed pipeline projects in Northeast Pennsylvania, a reversal of its prior position. DRBC Executive Director Carol Collier made the decision after the Commission decided at its December 2012 meeting that Collier should assess whether the DRBC should review the projects. The projects are interstate pipelines built by Columbia Gas Transmission and Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co. While the DRBC does not review gas pipeline projects typically, the DRBC determined that review was needed in these cases because the pipelines went through the Delaware State Forest. The Philadelphia Inquirer has more.
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection on Saturday issued notices in the Pennsylvania Bulletin announcing (1) that the DEP has finalized revisions to its GP-5, a general permit that pertains to emission limits at natural gas-fired engines and equipment at compressor stations and/or processing facilities; and (2) the DEP has proposed revisions to its “Plant Approval and Operating Permit Exemptions” for air emission sources, which includes a proposed exemption from the air quality plan approval process for air emission sources at well drilling sites. According to the DEP’s press release, the revisions to the GP-5 will “impose emissions limits that are 75 to 90 percent stricter than current limits for the largest, most common types of engines used at compressor stations.” The DEP will accept comments from the public regarding its proposed revisions to its “Plant Approval and Operating Permit Exemptions” through March 19, 2013.
Pennsylvania state Senator Gene Yaw (R-Lycoming County) has introduced legislation that would effectively add a Pugh clause to leases being unitized for development of shale gas. Senate Bill 356, which was introduced by Senator Yaw and several others on January 31, has been referred to the Senate Committee on Environmental Resources & Energy for consideration. A Pugh clause releases the portion of leased acreage that is not included within a production unit. Senate Bill 356 would apply only to units formed after the effective date if the bill were passed and to development of unconventional reservoirs, as defined in the bill.
As indicated in this article from January 29th, Andy Dinniman, state senator for Pennsylvania’s 19th Senatorial District, planned to introduce the Public Notification and Access to Information Act this week. Reportedly, the Act would require the posting of additional information about proposed gas pipeline projects on the Department of Environmental Protection’s website.
The Pennsylvania Game Commission board yesterday approved two leases and amended one lease which cover game lands throughout Pennsylvania. The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports that the Pennsylvania Game Commission entered a lease with Chesapeake Appalachia covering 1,201 acres in Donegal and Independence townships, Washington County, and will receive a bonus of more than $3 million plus a 23.25% royalty interest. The Commission also entered a lease with Hilcorp Energy Co. covering 586 acres in Pulaski, Lawrence County, and will receive a bonus payment of $1.9 million plus a 20% royalty interest. Finally, the Game Commission agreed to add 34 acres in Dunkard, Greene Count,y to an existing lease with Chevron Appalachia in exchange for a $51,000 bonus payment. The bonus money received from the agreements will be deposited in a fund for future purchases for wildlife management and maintenance.
Following a speech at the Marcellus Utica Midstream Conference in Pittsburgh this morning, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett said that Royal Dutch Shell’s recent decision to delay a final commitment to building an ethane cracker plant in Beaver County does not mean that Shell is considering alternate locations for the plant. The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports that Gov. Corbett said “[i]f they’re going to build it, they’re going to build it here,” and that the extension can be attributed to “dotting I’s and crossing T’s.”
On January 25, 2013, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection issued a notice in the Pennsylvania Bulletin acknowledging that its general permit number WMGR128 had been rescinded on January 8, 2013. As first issued to Integrated Water Technologies, Inc,. on September 1, 2012, the WMGR128 general permit was titled (and intended to cover activities involving) the “Beneficial Use of Crystallized Sodium Chloride and Liquid Calcium Chloride from the Processing of Oil and Gas Liquid Waste”. According to the January 25, 2013 notice, DEP “determined that the notice provided to the public on April 9, 2011, advising the public of the Department’s receipt of the permit application and soliciting public comments, was not sufficiently detailed to provide the category of proposed beneficial use.” The DEP also stated in that notice that it intends to republish the WMGR128 application for public comment in the near future. Citizens for Pennsylvania’s Future, an environmental advocacy group, appealed the public notice regarding WMGR128 to the Pennsylvania Environmental Hearing Board last fall.
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection announced yesterday that it will undertake a study concerning naturally occurring levels of radioactivity in oil and gas drilling by-products. The study, which is expected to take 12 to 14 months, will sample flowback water, rock cuttings, treatment solids and sediments at well pads and wastewater-treatment and waste-disposal facilities. It will also examine pipes and well casings, storage tanks, treatment systems and trucks. DEP Secretary Michael Krancer called the study the “most comprehensive of its kind anywhere.” He also said that it will demonstrate “that states are best suited to responsibly oversee the natural gas exploration and production activities taking place in [their] respective borders.” The DEP retained Perma-Fix Environmental Services to assist in conducting the study, and the DEP announced that it will consult with “independent members of academia to peer review the project’s detailed study plan.” The Scranton Times-Tribune has more.
West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Ohio and New York could benefit from more than $10 trillion dollars in new economic activity as a result of the full development of the Marcellus and Utica shale plays, according to an analysis from New York-based Kroll Bond Rating Agency that was reviewed by Business First. Kroll’s economic prediction is based on the sale of shale gas and indirect economic benefits, such as higher employment, increased tax revenues and improved infrastructure.
Marketwatch.com reports that most consumers living in West Virginia believe shale exploration will provide economic opportunity. Of those polled, nearly a quarter already reported seeing economic impact. The poll, conducted as Huntington Bank’s Midwest Economic Index, shows that populations with the most exploration activity, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia had the highest expectation for economic opportunity. Huntington Bank predicts that natural gas production, particularly from the Utica and Marcellus Shale formations, will increase dramatically over the next 25 years and that job growth will continue as well. According to the report, Huntington plans to expand its commercial banking services to serve the energy sector to meet new demand in the energy sector.
Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Michael Krancer took issue with a recent claim that the state undercounted unconventional wells for impact-fee purposes in a letter to the author of the study, the Post-Gazette reports. In the letter to Joel Gehman, Secretary Krancer argued that the study’s authors “misunderstood or misrepresented” the provisions of Act 13. The report, published earlier this month, contended that Pennsylvania had undercounted the number of wells subject to impact fees by 15,000 to 25,000.
Industry experts believe that horizontal drilling of shallow wells could be an opportunity for small family-owned drillers, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports. Shallow horizontal wells and fracking are more affordable than in the past due to improved technology and a larger workforce trained in the process. According to the Tribune-Review, PENNECO became the first company to horizontally drill and frack a well for oil out of a conventional formation in Pennsylvania when it completed a well in Lower Burrell in early 2011.
The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports that Allegheny County Health Department Air Quality Program subcommittee may conduct a preliminary vote today on whether to require developers to notify them at certain stages of drilling to allow the county to conduct air monitoring. The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and the Pennsylvania Independent Oil and Gas Association both submitted comments to the proposal and questioned the Health Department’s plan. Although Allegheny County has special jurisdiction over air quality within its limits, but it is uncertain whether it would allow the county to regulate drilling activities in light of Act 13, which the state enacted last year.
UPDATE: The Tribune-Review reports that the Air Quality Program Regulation subcommittee gave preliminary approval to the proposed rules yesterday.