Welcome back to The Link-Up, your weekly rundown of our favorite stories from the past seven days in the oil and gas industry!
Court News Ohio
Once upon a time, I attended law school. "Attended" being a somewhat flexible word there, hence not "graduated from." Nevertheless, stuff like this is still interesting to me.
So essentially, some guy named Thomas Dundics was negotiating leases on behalf of Eric Petroleum. Eric didn't pay Dundics, so Dundics sued, but the case was thrown out because - and this is why lawyers make their money - Eric found a section of the Ohio Revised Code saying that because Dundics wasn't a licensed real estate broker, he didn't have standing to bring a suit. The appeals process eventually led to the Ohio Supreme Court, where nothing changed except the bank accounts of all of the lawyers. I really should've stuck with that. For what it's worth, Dundics did have an argument to the license issue. Not a great one, but he tried.
Long story short, get a real estate license before you conduct real estate transactions.
Charleston Gazette-Mail
Sticking with the legal/regulatory sphere for a minute, here's an update on the Atlantic Coast and Mountain Valley pipelines, which are slated to take our sweet, sweet Marcellus Shale product down south. Long story short, it's been tied up in the permitting process for quite some time while lawyers argue about how many of them it takes to screw in a light bulb.
Pennsylvania Business Report
Our industry has a way of bringing out heavy hitters, like U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ryan Zinke.
"President Trump has been clear: America has to be energy dominant,” Zinke said. “We have re-lit the pilot light of American energy under this President. We are incorporating industry innovation, best science and best practices to improve reliability, safety and environmental stewardship. Our energy strategy is 'all-of-the-above,' leveraging every source of energy to take our nation forward. I am bullish about America’s energy future."
Lehigh Valley Business
Of course, there's a reason places like Pennsylvania have been a popular stop for people like Zinke. Over towards the other end of the commonwealth, we have this, from Vice President of policy at the Global Energy Institute at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Dan Byers. That's a heck of a title.
Pennsylvania’s electricity cost of about 10 cents per kilowatt puts it near the national average of about 10.5 cents per kilowatt. But it is the cheapest among northeast states, where prices range from 13 cents to 15 cents.
"That certainly makes a difference among lower-income households," Byers said.
New York Post
This is just a quick little article, but I had to share it because I just love the idea presented, sort of a game of chicken between Wall Street and Washington: authorize more fracking every time the price of oil goes up. I mean, I'm still new here, but I did think not being controlled by foreign influences was a major part of the benefit to this entire thing.
Warren Tribune-Chronicle
Thanks, letter writer Jim Eidel.
Colorado Springs Gazette
I won't even get into the arguments this time around. But seriously, think about this statement for two seconds:
It is a jobs-killing initiative so extreme each candidate for governor, and Democratic Gov. John Hickenlooper, strongly opposes it.
How often do you see that these days, about literal anything? Hopefully we can take a hint.
See you next week!
