On March 6, 2013, the Allegheny County Health Department unanimously passed a recommendation that would require unconventional shale gas operators to notify the Department 24 hours prior to drilling a well, WTAE-TV reports. As previously reported, the Department has been contemplating the implementation of notification requirements for unconventional shale gas operators for some time. The 24-hour notification requirement is consistent with the many notification requirements for operators to make to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection in compliance with Act 13 of 2012. The recommendation must still be approved by both the Allegheny County Council and county executive Rich Fitzgerald before becoming effective.
The Ohio House and Senate introduced legislation this week to impose tougher penalties for illegal dumping of oil and gas drilling wastes. If passed, the legislation will elevate illegal dumping to a felony and impose a minimum prison term of three years and a $10,000 fine. In addition, the legislation would revoke current permits and deny any future permits to individuals and companies convicted of illegal dumping.
A spokesperson for the Ohio Oil and Gas Association opposes the legislation and describes it as the “death penalty” for waste disposal operators.
Kinder Morgan is reportedly eyeing Tuscarawas County for a natural gas processing plant and a fractionation plant. The reports surfaced when EV Energy Partners referenced a “recent announcement” by Kinder Morgan on the two plants. Kinder Morgan has since denied that it made any such announcement. However, other reports revealed that Kinder Morgan was planning to build natural gas processing plants to handle up to 300 million cubic feet of natural gas per day. Industry estimates indicate that there has been $6 billion invested in pipelines in the Utica Shale play to date.
According to the Charleston Gazette, Denver-based Energy Corporation of America (ECA) will build a three-story office building Northgate Business Park in Charleston. The building will have more than 5,000 square feet of space and house 100-200 employees. It will replace the company’s current eastern regional headquarters in the Kanawha City neighborhood of Charleston. ECA has operations in the United States and New Zealand, and is actively engaged in natural gas exploration and production in the Marcellus Shale play.
The WVU College of Law will tackle hydraulic fracturing issues in the upcoming National Energy & Sustainability Moot Court Competition. On March 14-16, 2013, moot court teams will gather in Morgantown to address issues involving alleged violations of the Clean Air Act and Migratory Bird Treaty by a “mid-Atlantic national gas company” involved in hydraulic fracturing. The sample case was designed to bringpractical compliance and enforcement issues into the classroom and to raise awareness of vital business and environmental issues affecting West Virginia and other gas-rich states. The Competition includes teams from American University, Duquesne, Florida State, Colorado, Maryland, Utah and Wyoming, West Virginia, and others, at WVU’s Erickson Alumni Center.
Pennsylvania has been ranked third among all states for the number of new or expanded corporate facilities by Site Selection Magazine. The magazine also ranked Pittsburgh sixth among metropolitan areas with more than one million people. The Tribune-Review reports that it is the second consecutive year that Pennsylvania was among the top states and third for Pittsburgh in the top ten among large metropolitan markets. The editor in chief of the economic development publication indicated that the energy industry, including the oil and gas industry, helped the state’s ranking.
As reported in the Fayette Tribune, West Virginia Governor Earl Ray Tomblin’s Natural Gas Vehicle Task Force has released its final report on how the state can utilize its natural gas resources to reduce transportation costs and boost the local economy. The Task Force identified locations within the state that contain large concentrations of government fleet vehicles, and therefore have the greatest demand for fueling infrastructure (map). The Task force suggested tax credits for the purchase of natural gas vehicles and for private investments in the construction of fueling stations. The Task Force also recommended that the state develop programs to educate West Virginians about natural gas vehicles, including the benefits of adopting these vehicles and information on how to maintain and operate them.
Industry officials announced at a conference in Columbus, Ohio, that a series of infrastructure investments over the next year will begin to unlock access to the Utica Shale play. Projects currently underway by Dominion Transmission Inc. and Enterprise Products Partners LP, will respectively raise the regions capacity to separate valuable ethane from shale gas streams and help to deliver ethane from the Utica and Marcellus shale deposits to petrochemical plants on the Gulf Coast. Marc Halbritter, managing director for commercial midstream operations for Dominion Transmission Inc., believes “these developments will break the bottleneck that has so far held back Utica Shale development,” allowing for growth and expansion of the play. Other major infrastructure additions are also under construction or planned.
President Obama announced today that he is nominating Gina McCarthy to be the next Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). McCarthy is currently Assistant Administrator for EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation. She will replace former Administrator Lisa Jackson, who stepped down from the post last month. McCarthy is known for her work on EPA’s greenhouse gas program and other high-profile regulatory initiatives, including the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule and new mercury emissions limitations for power plants. She previously served as Commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection. President Obama also announced two other significant nominations today: Ernest Moniz for Secreraty of Energy and Sylvia Mathews Burwell to be head of the Office of Management and Budget.
On February 28, 2013, the West Virginia House of Delegates reportedly approved a measure that would significantly increase maximum civil penalties for safety violations involving natural gas pipelines regulated by the West Virginia Public Service Commission (PSC). Under current law, the PSC may impose a civil penalty of $1,000 per day for a pipeline safety violation, up to a maximum of $200,000. The measure passed by the House of Delegates would raise those limits to $200,000 per day and up to a maximum of $2 million. The penalty increase would apply only to natural gas pipeline facilities that are under the jurisdiction of PSC, which oversees about 10 percent of the facilities in the state. The other 90 percent fall under state or federal jurisdiction. The legislation now moves to the West Virginia Senate.
Randy Huffman, Secretary of the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), reportedly defended the agency’s tardiness in finalizing two natural gas drilling studies that were due at the end of 2012, as mandated by the 2011 Horizontal Well Act, during a presentation to the West Virginia Legislature on February 21, 2013. “I made the decision to be late rather than turning in something we wouldn’t be proud of,” Huffman said. The two late studies include an investigation of the safety of pits and impoundments and the evaluation of noise, light and dust generated by the drilling of horizontal wells as they relate to the Horizontal Well Act’s setback requirements. Earlier this year, Secretary Huffman said he hoped to complete a report for the impoundment study by mid-February, but at the time did not offer an estimated completion date for the noise, light and dust study. DEP noted in the February 21st presentation to the legislature that the logistical demands involved with completing the studies were overwhelming in light of the statutory deadline. “We have taken a lot of time with these studies to try to be as scientific and comprehensive as we could,” Huffman said. A third DEP study examining air pollution from oil and gas operations is due on July 1, 2013.
Gulfport Energy Corp. announced that it plans to accelerate its Utica shale drilling program in 2013. Gulfport currently holds about 128,000 net acres in the Utica shale play. Gulfport’s third party engineers estimate that its year-end 2012 probable reserves are 12.84 million barrels of oil and 80.62 billion cubic feet of natural gas. In all, Gulfport expects to produce 21,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.
In another sign of the energy industry’s impact on the region, the Pittsburgh Technical Institute broke ground earlier this week on a $3.5 million energy technology center designed to educate individuals in the oil and gas electronics involved in extracting, transporting, and storing gas. The 15,392-square-foot facility, which is being funded partially by the Redevelopment Assistance Capital Program, is expected to be completed this fall. The Post-Gazette has more.
As a result of the booming gas market in Pennsylvania’s Marcellus shale, Columbia Gas Transmission Group submitted plans Monday with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for a $210 million expansion to its Philadelphia network, the Philadelphia Inquirer reports. Columbia’s plans include installing a 20-inch-diameter pipeline on a 7.5-mile route in Gloucester County and a 26-inch-diameter pipeline for 8.9 miles in Chester County. Columbia expects FERC approval of the East Side Expansion Project by June 2014.
This week the Joint Landowners Coalition of New York, Inc. (JLCNY) announced that they are seeking landowner plaintiffs for a lawsuit against New York State. JLCNY announced in early February its plan to sue the state. According to JLCNY, the lawsuit “will focus on claims where the failure to grant [high-volume hydraulic fracturing] permits has deprived landowners of all economically viable uses of their real property or interfered with reasonable investment-backed expectations.” The Associated Press recently reported on the fear shared by many New York landowners that a “golden opportunity” has passed due to the state rulemaking delay.