The Permitorium Lives -- Worse Than Ever -- So Much For Shovel-Ready Jobs -- And Folks Wonder Why The Economy Falters

US Army Corps of Engineers shuts down new pipelines in the Marcellus, Pennsylvania. New rules might as well simply say: no more pipelines.

The new U.S. Army Corps of Engineers rules, effective July 1, 2011, replaced federal regulations that expired in June controlling pipeline construction and other surface-water impacts in Pennsylvania. A change in the regulations requires companies to detail all of the streams and wetlands to be crossed by a pipeline project - some of which stretch for hundreds of miles - rather than outlining only the impacts of each stream crossing individually.

Delays caused by the new permit reviews have stranded 128 of the company's drilled and completed Marcellus Shale wells without pipelines and are "costing Pennsylvanians royalty income," [Chesapeake says].

So much for "more jobs" except, I guess, job security for bureaucrats. Although these reports could be written up be college biology students, I suppose.