The Daily Digger

Donation to Support Resilience Bag Project for Local Children Louisville, OH – Encino Energy’s Community Partnership Program provided a $4,000 donation and first aid kits to the Family Recovery Center to support their ongoing outreach to vulnerable children throughout the COVID-19 pandemic by distributing resilience bags. In addition to the first aid kits, the bags included journals, coloring books, bubbles, toys, educational materials donated from the Ohio Oil and Gas Energy Education Program (OOGEEP) and, most importantly, ways to support a child’s mental health as well as crisis information. The Family Recovery Center has donated thousands of resilience bags throughout the pandemic, and the recent partnership with Encino will allow that effort to continue. Bags were distributed to local schools and children services, supporting at-risk children and families in Jefferson County. "Family Recovery Center was ecstatic to receive a donation from the Encino Energy Community Par...

From Bloomberg: American shale explorers are rapidly crimping production in the country’s most prolific oil fields as the worst price crash in history threatens the industry’s survival.  Three of the biggest oil explorers in the U.S. -- Exxon Mobil Corp., Chevron Corp., and ConocoPhillips -- plan to curb as much as 660,000 barrels a day of combined American output by the end of June. Across the county, crude production by all companies has already tumbled about 1 million barrels a day since mid-March, when OPEC and its allies clinched an historic deal to trim global supply.  It’s too soon to tell how long the reductions will last but if implemented for a full year, they would overshadow any previous American production slide going back to at least 1984. Moreover, the pull-back puts the U.S. on track to fulfill the Trump administration’s pledge to removing 2 million barrels of daily supplies through market attrition.  With the new reductions announced just two week...

WEEK ENDING 05/02/20 New permits issued last week:   7  (Previous updated week (02/29/20):  3 )   +4 Total horizontal permits issued:  3254  (Previous week:  3200 )    +54 Total horizontal wells drilled:  2748  (Previous week:  2724 )   +24 Total horizontal wells producing:  2483  (Previous week:  2451 )   +32 Utica rig count:  9  (Previous week:  10 )   -1

From The Canton Repository: The Supreme Court of Ohio will hear the state’s case against Rover Pipeline over alleged environmental violations during the pipeline’s construction.  The justices formally accepted the case last week, but have yet to announce a date to hear arguments.  The question before the court is whether the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency gave up its right to enforce water pollution laws concerning the pipeline.  Rover transports natural gas from the Utica and Marcellus shale regions to southern Michigan. From there it goes to other users in the United States and Canada. Texas-based Energy Transfer owns the pipeline.  Rover’s twin 42-inch-diameter mainlines cross northern Ohio, including Stark, Tuscarawas, Carroll, Wayne, Ashland and Richland counties.  The Ohio Attorney General sued Rover and its subcontractors in Stark County Common Pleas Court in November 2017.  The state said Rover violated environmental laws in more...

From Allegheny Front: A decision about building a petrochemical plant in Ohio, 65 miles southwest of Pittsburgh, has been put on hold because of the coronavirus pandemic. After five years of consideration, PTT-Global Chemical America, based in Thailand, and its South Korean partner Daelim Chemical, had expected to make a final investment decision this summer. In a statement, the companies now say they are unable to promise a firm timeline, but it remains a “top priority.” Like Shell’s plant under construction in Beaver County, Pa., the facility would use ethane, abundant in the region from fracking in the Marcellus and Utica shale, to make ethylene and polyethylene, the building blocks of many plastic products.  The first phase of site preparation and engineering work has been completed at the site, along the Ohio River, and the companies say they are continuing to invest in demolition of vacant structures in the surrounding neighborhood. The local community recently approved ...

From Farm and Dairy: Interpreting royalty checks from oil and gas companies can be confusing. The information laid out on the check stubs isn’t always clear, if the information is there at all.  Ohio state Rep. Jack Cera heard that feedback from his constituents and others throughout the region for years. Cera, D-Bellaire, introduced legislation last year that would standardize the information sent out with royalty checks for landowners.  House Bill 55 would require 15 different items to be included on a statement with the royalty check. Right now, the Ohio Revised Code requires producers to report three things and only if the royalty owner requests that information.  Those three things are the volume of natural gas for which the royalty owner is being paid, the price per thousand cubic feet the producer received and the volume of natural gas that passed through the well’s meter.  Most oil and gas companies already report the required information automatica...

From Law360: A Texas judge has rejected Gulfport Energy Corp.’s allegation that an oil and gas exploration company improperly backed out of a $26 million deal to acquire Marcellus shale assets in Ohio.  Tarrant County District Court Judge Kimberly Fitzpatrick on Thursday granted summary judgment in a brief order for Quantum Energy Partner-backed TH Exploration LLC, or Tug Hill, which argues that it was under no obligation to pay for the assets because Gulfport Energy had not fulfilled all of the terms of the purchase and sale agreement, according to a Thursday order.  Tug Hill argued that Gulfport was required to obtain releases from third parties connected to the oil and gas assets in question. Those releases were never sufficiently obtained by the appropriate date, according to Tug Hill.  “The PSA’s plain terms required Gulfport to obtain releases of the dedication agreements by the extended closing date; because there is no genuine issue of material fact that G...

From Yahoo: At 10:16 a.m. on a wet and dreary Friday morning, Russia’s energy minister walked into OPEC’s headquarters in central Vienna knowing his boss was ready to turn the global oil market upside down.Alexander Novak told his Saudi Arabian counterpart Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman that Russia was unwilling to cut oil production further. The Kremlin had decided that propping up prices as the coronavirus ravaged energy demand would be a gift to the U.S. shale industry. The frackers had added millions of barrels of oil to the global market while Russian companies kept wells idle. Now it was time to squeeze the Americans.After five hours of polite but fruitless negotiation, in which Russia clearly laid out its strategy, the talks broke down. Oil prices fell more than 10%. It wasn’t just traders who were caught out: Ministers were so shocked, they didn’t know what to say, according to a person in the room. The gathering suddenly had the atmosphere of a wake, said another.  For ov...

From 10 TV: Arnold Schwarzenegger took some time away from his eponymous sports festival on Sunday (March 8) to talk climate change.  The former California governor joined former Ohio governor John Kasich and former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on stage at Otterbein University . The three men are founding members of World War Zero, a non-profit, non-partisan coalition to fight climate change. "World War Zero is going to have hopefully 10 million conversations with our fellow Americans, many of them digital, through Facebook, through Snapchat, through Instagram," Kerry told the crowd. "In every way we can, we’re going to go out personally, we’re going to talk to people, and we’re going to make every effort for people to see that you have better health when the air’s cleaner, you have less cancer, children aren’t hospitalized in the summer because of environmentally induced asthma, which you spend $55 billion a year to deal with." Click here to view th...

Throughout the run of The Daily Digger blog, we have offered occasional updates on the latest developments from Dimock, Pennsylvania.  Dimock in may ways has served as the epicenter of the fight between the oil and gas industry and activists who insist that fracking inherently contaminates water supplies. One episode of the ongoing Dimock saga involves a man named Ray Kemble, who for a time was something of a folk hero in anti-fracking circles (and correspondingly found himself the victim of ad hominem attacks by supporters of the industry).  More and more, it has become clear that Mr. Kemble has been victimized by opportunists looking to use him to draw attention to themselves and profit financially, including attorneys and some of his fellow Pennsylvania landowners. Now here is a report on some of the latest developments in this story, from shaledirectories.com: Attorneys who once represented the Dimock Twp. man sued by gas giant Cabot Oil & Gas must now pay the b...

WEEK ENDING 02/29/20 New permits issued last week:   3  (Previous week:  8 )   -5 Total horizontal permits issued:  3200  (Previous week:  3200 )    +-0 Total horizontal wells drilled:  2724  (Previous week:  2719 )   +5 Total horizontal wells producing:  2451  (Previous week:  2451 )   +-0 Utica rig count:  10  (Previous week:  11 )   -1

From the American Petroleum Institute: The American Petroleum Institute (API) today released a new economic analysis outlining the dire economic consequences of a ban on federal leasing and hydraulic fracturing (or fracking) for American families and businesses. The technology has enabled the U.S. to become the world leader in energy production and emissions reductions.  The study – conducted by economic modeling firm OnLocation, Inc. – warns that banning federal leasing and fracking on public and private lands, which some presidential candidates have proposed, would cost up to 7.5 million American jobs in 2022 alone, lead to a cumulative GDP loss of $7.1 trillion by 2030, slash household incomes by $5,400 annually, increase household energy costs by more than $600 per year and reduce farm incomes by 43 percent due to higher energy costs. If a ban is enacted, the U.S. would flip from being a net exporter of oil and petroleum products to importing more than 40 percent of suppli...

From the Ohio Department of Natural Resources: Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) Director Mary Mertz announced today the selection of Eric Vendel as Chief of the Division of Oil and Gas Resources Management.  “Eric Vendel’s extensive legal and administrative experience in oil and gas regulation makes him the ideal candidate for this position,” said Director Mertz.  “Over the past decade, Ohio’s oil and gas program has set a strong example for other states to follow, and I’m confident the division will continue its exemplary work under Eric’s leadership.”  Vendel will oversee ODNR's regulation of Ohio’s oil and natural gas industry for the protection of the public and the environment while ensuring the state’s abundant natural resources are managed and developed responsibly.  Eric Vendel has served as the Division of Oil and Gas Resource Management’s lead attorney since 2012 where he has drafted and reviewed oil and gas rules and regulations, Chief...

From The Intelligencer: Decreasing activity at the site of a proposed ethane cracker plant in Belmont County is not a sign of declining interest in the project. Officials with PTT Global Chemical America of Thailand and Daelim Chemical USA of South Korea announced online Friday that contractors have completed the first phase of site preparation for the potential plant. The developers have purchased more than 500 acres of land, including the site of FirstEnergy’s former R.E. Burger coal-fired power plant, between the Ohio River and Ohio 7 south of Shadyside. Since mid-2019, heavy equipment has been visible at that location as PTTDLM’s contractors performed site preparation, engineering and design work to prepare for the possible world-scale petrochemical complex.  PTTDLM said Friday that the first phase of this work is complete. As a result, activity on the site will be “significantly reduced for the next two or three months.”  Now, the website pttbelmontcountyoh.com stat...

From the Times Leader: Tri-State Environmental of Cadiz has applied for permits to install two different brine injection wells off Fairview Road in Kirkwood Township, Belmont County. According to a public notice, Tri-State has applied for permits with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources to dig two wells to inject brine water associated with the production of oil and natural gas. The first well would be called Tri-State #1, in Section 31, Kirkwood Township.  “The proposed well will inject into the Ohio Shale at a depth of 4,600 to 4,800 feet. The average injection is estimated to be 4,000 barrels per day,” according to the notice. “The maximum injection pressure is estimated to be 1,060 psi.”  The second well would be called Tri-State #2, in Section 25, Kirkwood Township.  “The proposed well will inject into the Bass Islands through Salina Group at a depth of 5,200 to 5,500 feet,” the notice states.  The No. 2 well also would receive an estimated 4,000 ...

From The Canton Repository: The driller with the third most Utica Wells in Ohio lost $2 billion last year.  Gulfport Energy held a phone call Friday with investors to discuss its earnings.  The loss was equal to $12.49 per diluted share.  The Oklahoma City-based company has more than 400 Utica wells in Ohio, the most of any publicly traded company, and is only behind privately held Encino Acquisition Partners and Ascent Resources in total wells.  Gulfport’s fourth quarter revenue was $281 million, down a third from the last quarter of 2018. Annual was held level at $1.35 billion. In Ohio, Gulfport has 205,000 net acres under lease, 65 percent of which are held by production.  Last year, the company drilled 16 wells and began production from nearly 45 wells in the Utica Shale. Continue reading by clicking here. 

From the Ohio Department of Natural Resources: During the fourth quarter of 2019, Ohio's horizontal shale wells produced 6,803,057 barrels of oil and 684,771,042 Mcf (685 billion cubic feet) of natural gas, according to the figures released today by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR).   Compared to a year ago, oil production increased by 17.08% and natural gas production showed a 3.2% increase over the fourth quarter of 2018.     The ODNR quarterly report lists 2,523 horizontal shale wells, 2,452 of which reported oil and natural gas production during the quarter. Of the wells reporting oil and natural gas results:   • The average amount of oil produced per well was 2,774 barrels. • The average amount of natural gas produced per well was 279,270 Mcf. • The average number of third quarter days in production per well was 90.   All horizontal production reports can be accessed at oilandgas.ohiodnr.gov/production.   Ohio law does n...

From the Herald-Star: A locally organized industrial development company says it will build two state-of-the-art gas- to-liquids plants on a 500-acre parcel in Saline township. Hammondsville-based Orin Holdings said the property is “adjacent to the Ohio River.”  “This parcel of land will be slated for industrial development housing two state-of-the art gas to liquids plants in the Ohio Valley,” the company said in a brief notice posted on its website.  Jefferson County Port Authority Incentives Manager Evan Scurti Wednesday stressed the project is still in a “very preliminary” stage, but said there’s “great potential.” Prior to posting that notice, Scurti said Orin Holdings had insisted on confidentiality.  “We’re ready to work with them, to hear what their needs might be as they go through the permitting process,” he said.  Orin founder Donald Brown said this morning that the site had been chosen after about three years of searching.  “We’re very pl...

From Nasdaq: EQT Corp EQT.N, the largest producer of natural gas in the United States, on Thursday reported a smaller-than-expected quarterly loss and cut its 2020 capital outlays, joining peers in curbing spending as investors seek higher returns.  The company now expects 2020 capital expenditure between $1.15 billion and $1.25 billion, compared with a prior outlook between $1.25 billion and $1.35 billion.  U.S. natural gas prices are trading at their lowest in nearly two decades, with record-high levels of production outpacing domestic consumption and leading to a global glut.  As a result, several large gas producers like CNX Resources, Noble Energy have reduced the value of their production assets. EQT also took an impairment charge of $1.12 billion in the fourth quarter, which led the company to post a bigger quarterly loss. Click here to continue reading. 

WEEK ENDING 02/22/20 New permits issued last week:   8  (Previous week:  3 )   +5 Total horizontal permits issued:  3200  (Previous week:  3192 )    +8 Total horizontal wells drilled:  2719  (Previous week:  2717 )   +2 Total horizontal wells producing:  2451  (Previous week:  2451 )   +-0 Utica rig count:  11  (Previous week:  12 )   -1

From Nikkei Asian Review: PTT Global Chemical, an arm of Thai energy major PTT Group, has set aside $5 billion for its next five-year investment, of which around 80% will be spent on a petrochemical complex in the U.S. and acquisitions.  Chief Executive Kongkrapan Intarajang said the company is on track to make a final decision on the U.S. project by mid-2020. The process is moving as planned, including approval from U.S. authorities, environmental assessments and the choice of a construction company, the CEO said.  "The petrochemical complex in the U.S. will be our second home base," Kongkrapan told the Nikkei Asian Review. "We choose to invest in the U.S. because we can gain cheap raw material from shale gas near our location, while we have a big consumer base there." Kongkrapan said PTTGC's petrochemical complex will be on a 500-acre site in Ohio, where the Thai company has a 50-50 joint venture with South Korean petrochemical maker Daelim Industrial. ...

From the Western Energy Alliance: In an open letter to 2020 Democratic presidential candidates printed in New York Times on February 24th, 54 executives from the western oil and natural gas industry forcefully pushed back against months of claims that they are corrupt criminals who should be jailed. The following full-page advertisement placed by Western Energy Alliance responds to statements that have gone unchallenged by Sen. Bernie Sanders , Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Elizabeth Warren by explaining the environmental and life-sustaining benefits of oil and natural gas.  Contrary to the anti-oil and natural gas messages candidates are spreading to voters and the media on the campaign trail, the underlying statement from business leaders is that it “would be criminal not to produce oil and natural gas.” They represent companies that develop oil and natural gas across the West. The full-page ad features a young boy studying by lantern light, one of the billion people...

From Reuters: U.S. shale oil drillers could scale back investment in production more quickly than previously expected this year after prices slid for what had been a lucrative by-product of their operations.  Oil producers have already taken a hit from the fall in global oil and gas prices as China’s coronavirus outbreak destroys demand in the world’s second-largest economy. Benchmark U.S. crude prices CLc1 have fallen about 12 percent to date this year.  Many shale producers had announced reductions in their capital expenditures even before the coronavirus outbreak due to lower oil prices in the second half of 2019. Lower spending is expected to slow the rate of shale growth, although production remains on course to reach a new record in 2020.  Shale producers now face another blow to their revenues because prices for natural gas liquids (NGLs), which include propane and butane, have also fallen. NGLs had helped prop up their bottom lines, providing lucrative ret...

From the Energy Policy Research Foundation: Oil and gas production from the U.S. petroleum resource base has experienced an unprecedented expansion in output which has now positioned the U.S. as the world’s largest oil and gas producer. The North American petroleum production platform is soon to become a net oil and gas exporter to the world market. This rapid expansion in oil and gas production has enhanced U.S. energy security, provided greater stability to the world oil market, and conveyed sustained economic benefits to the national economy. The expansion in output has been possible through a series of advances in extraction technology including the use of hydraulic fracturing which permits oil and gas production from so-called source rock.  Concerns over carbon emissions from sustained increases in domestic oil and gas production has now been reflected in the 2020 Presidential race, with some candidates and many public interest groups calling for an end to hydraulic fractu...

From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette: Chevron Corp. plans to eliminate 320 jobs as a result of its decision to liquidate its assets in the Appalachian Basin and ultimately close its Appalachian Mountain Business.  “We are taking active steps to reduce job loss and will facilitate the placement of as many impacted employees as we can with other Chevron business units,” said a Feb. 6 letter Chevron company officials sent to state Department of Labor & Industry.  The California-based energy company said it was providing significant advance notice of the layoffs to government stakeholders and employees despite the fact that most of the job cuts will not occur until later this year.  An initial round is scheduled for April 6, although some employees will be offered temporary assignments with extended layoff dates, potentially through Dec. 31.  Two office locations and a total of 320 workers will be affected. Click right here to continue reading. 

From Forbes: Could a ban on fracking happen? Would it benefit the nation? Democratic presidential candidates and some incumbent officeholders have recently called for a ban on the hydraulic fracturing of oil and gas wells, which is used to boost recovery from shale formations.  In 2012, my colleagues and I visited the topic with “ The Arithmetic of Shale Gas ,” in which we found that U.S. consumers benefited by more than $100 billion per year in lower natural gas prices. We contrasted that consumer gain with the harm from fracking asserted by activists (but unsubstantiated by a major Obama administration study ). So what, if anything, has changed since then? For one thing, the annual financial benefits to consumers from fracking have almost doubled as natural gas prices dropped. And we have learned more about the environmental impacts, including how to manage them.  Today, annual domestic natural gas consumption is approximately 31 trillion cubic feet, compare...

WEEK ENDING 02/15/20 New permits issued last week:   3  (Previous week:  2 )   +1 Total horizontal permits issued:  3192  (Previous week:  3192 )    +-0 Total horizontal wells drilled:  2717  (Previous week:  2713 )   +4 Total horizontal wells producing:  2451  (Previous week:  2443 )   +8 Utica rig count:  12  (Previous week:  12 )   +-0

From a guest column by environmental scientist and Uhrichsville resident Randi Pokladnik, written for the Herald-Star: One [ sic ] again, JobsOhio, an economic development organization in Ohio, has awarded a huge sum of money, $20 million, to the Thailand chemical company PTT Global Chemical America and its South Korean partner, Daelim Industrial Co. The $20 million grant is for additional site preparation for a potential ethane cracker plant to be built at Dilles Bottom in Belmont County. This brings the total amount of money given by JobsOhio to this project to a whopping $70 million. This announcement came shortly after a Columbus-based spokesperson for the company, Dan Williamson, attempted to assuage concerns of citizens by basically “greenwashing” the dangers associated with petrochemicals and the increase in single-use plastics production. He admitted in his interview that the company has been quiet thus far but “concerned residents staging protests against the project and m...

From Energy News Network: Activists say a bill advancing in the Ohio legislature could criminalize activities such as offering rides, water or medical aid to anti-pipeline protesters.  Even chanting “stop the pipeline” could be construed as encouraging damage to critical infrastructure under the bill’s vague language, critics say.  Trespass, willful destruction of property and various other actions are already crimes under Ohio law. But Ohio Senate Bill 33 calls for heavier penalties for trespass or property damage that might affect “critical infrastructure.” The Ohio Senate passed the bill last spring, and the House Public Utilities Committee reported out a substitute version on Jan. 30.  The broad definition of “critical infrastructure” would cover most oil and natural gas facilities, including many areas relating to pipelines and facilities to handle materials derived from oil and natural gas. Click here to read more. 

From Reuters: U.S. shale gas producers are ripe for further spending cuts and write-downs, investors and analysts said, with prices at four-year lows and China’s rejection of some gas imports weighing on earnings.  Natural gas production in the United States is at record levels, outpacing domestic consumption and leading to global supply glut. At the same time, China, the world’s largest importer of gas, has turned away shipments with its demand forecast to rise at the slowest pace in four years amid the coronavirus outbreak.  As a result, several large gas producers, have reduced the value of their production assets. EQT Corp, the largest U.S. gas producer, recently said it would take a write-down of as much as $1.8 billion, following CNX Resources Corp, Royal Dutch Shell Plc and Chevron Corp in reducing the value of gas properties.  U.S. shale gas producers’ Antero Resources Corp, Cabot Oil & Gas Corp and EQT kick off fourth-quarter results in coming days....

From the Marcellus Shale Coalition: Following the introduction of legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate to ban the safe, responsible use of hydraulic fracturing, Marcellus Shale Coalition (MSC) president Dave Spigelmyer issued the following statement:   “Banning the safe and strongly regulated use of hydraulic fracturing would bring our economy to a standstill. It would result in the loss of hundreds-of-thousands of good-paying jobs and wipeout billions of dollars of capital investment in Pennsylvania while reversing the environmental progress we have gained thanks to natural gas,” Spigelmyer said.   “As a result of this disastrous policy, hard-working Pennsylvanians who have enjoyed a decade of affordable, reliable energy would be burdened with skyrocketing costs and our county would again be reliant on foreign nations to supply the energy we need.   “Supporting and growing domestic shale production should be a core focus of any serious...

by Spencer Walrath, Energy in Depth Earlier this week, EID  released our investigation  into the new Drilled News platform, shedding light into the connections between this new media initiative and the climate litigation campaign. Thanks to our efforts, the platform was  forced to come clean  about their funders and relationship to the problematic litigation campaign. Richard Wiles, Confirmed Key Contributor Richard Wiles’ Center for Climate Integrity (CCI) has played an integral part in the climate litigation campaign including running numerous  social media   campaigns , hosting  events  across the  country  to promote litigation, submitting an  amicus brief , and hiring a lobbyist to arrange meetings between city officials and plaintiffs’ attorneys. CCI is funded by billionaire donors both  foreign  and  domestic  to wage a climate litigation campaign against the nation’s energy producers and continues ...

From the University of Texas at Arlington: A study led by environmental researchers at The University of Texas at Arlington suggests a disconnect between the perception of groundwater contamination and the extent to which that contamination is attributable to oil and natural gas extraction.  Members of the Collaborative Laboratories for Environmental Analysis and Remediation (CLEAR) at UTA found that samples from only five of 36 private water wells showed any potential indications of contamination from unconventional oil and gas development, a multifaceted process that includes hydraulic fracturing. The samples were collected from the Barnett, Eagle Ford, Haynesville and Marcellus Shale regions in response to anecdotal claims of oil- and gas-related contamination.  The study, “Characterizing anecdotal claims of groundwater contamination in shale energy basins,” appears in the journal Science of the Total Environment .  Kevin Schug, Shimadzu Distinguished Professor...

From Reuters: Shale pioneer John Hess said on Tuesday that key U.S. shale fields are starting to plateau, calling shale “important but not the next Saudi Arabia.”  Over the past decade, the shale revolution turned the United States into the world’s largest crude producer and a force in energy exports. Yet that did not translate to higher stock prices or returns for investors, with the S&P 500 Energy sector only gaining 6% in a decade, far less than the 180% return for the broader stock market.  Companies remain under pressure to trim budgets and produce enough free cash flow to pay investors higher dividends or buy back shares. The biggest industry challenge is the lack of long-term investment, Hess said.  Production in the Eagle Ford Shale in South Texas is starting to plateau, while the Bakken field in North Dakota where Hess is a major producer will hit its peak production levels within the next two years, said Hess, who spoke Tuesday in Houston at the Argu...

From The Columbus Dispatch: The challenge to overturn House Bill 6 – the ratepayer-financed bailout of Ohio’s nuclear power plants – is officially dead.  At the request of the opponents of the controversial legislation, the Ohio Supreme Court dismissed Friday a case in which a federal judge had asked the justices to answer legal questions about placing referendums on Ohio ballots.  The action followed the Thursday dismissal in U.S. District Court of the now-abandoned bid by Ohioans Against Corporate Bailouts to force a vote on the $1 billion subsidy being routed to the owner of two nuclear plants on Lake Erie.  The group dismissed last week its appeal before the Cincinnati-based 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, saying it did not have the cash to continue its fight.  The group had appealed an Oct. 23 ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Edmund A. Sargus in Columbus that held it turned to the wrong court seeking additional days to collect signatures on its ...