The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection is hiring more inspectors for gas and oil wells. Right now there are 125 inspectors statewide. By the summer, an additional 68 will be on board bringing the total to 193 inspectors. Which is a good thing according to the York (PA) Dispatch, which notes:
In the last year, to cite two examples, inspectors noted that a brine pipeline operated by Range Resources Corp. was spilling production fluids into the ground at Cross Creek Park near Avella, resulting in a $23,500 penalty for the Texas-based company; and Atlas Resources was fined for violations at 13 of its wells in Washington, Fayette and Greene counties.*
MDN agrees. More inspectors are a good thing. It keeps everyone honest, and reassures the general public that drilling can be done safely.
*York Dispatch (Mar 10) – Marcellus Shale: Drilling inspectors welcome
Morrisville State College, part of the State University of New York system and located in Morrisville, NY with a satellite campus in Norwich, NY, is looking to launch a program to train workers for drilling in the Marcellus Shale. According to an article in the Norwich, NY Evening Sun we get this interesting comment:
Many natural gas industry followers are predicting a June release date for the state’s revised hydrofracking regulations. Energy companies and their suppliers have been waiting in the wings for 18 months for the state Department of Environmental Conservation’s Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement to be released.*
If and when drilling commences starting in June as predicted:
[I]f it’s anything like what happened when the Marcellus Shale action began heating up two years ago in neighboring Pennsylvania, there will be hundreds of jobs available at well sites within the first 18 months.*
Initially, Morrisville is looking to create a 2-year program, with the possibility of extending that into a 4-year program. Let’s hope Morrisville has many students in their program, and that those students will have jobs drilling in the Marcellus when they graduate.
*Norwich Evening Sun (Mar 10) – Morrisville readies to train natural gas drilling workforce
PVR Midstream, a division of Penn Virginia Resource Partners, has signed an agreement with Range Resources to construct and operate pipelines and compression facilities for Range’s drilling in the Marcellus shale in PA.
According to the press release:
PVR Midstream and Range have agreed to an area of mutual interest (AMI) that covers parts of Lycoming, Tioga and Bradford Counties in north central Pennsylvania, in which Range currently holds a substantial acreage position. Within this AMI, PVR Midstream will construct approximately 16 miles of 24- and 30-inch gathering trunklines, smaller-diameter field gathering lines and compression facilities required to gather Range’s production from the AMI. The gathering system will have over 700 million cubic feet per day (MMcf per day) of throughput capacity, and the initial phase is expected to become operational in the fourth quarter of 2010. The agreement provides Range significant firm gathering capacity in the system, and PVR Midstream will be compensated for the gathering and compression services provided to Range through a combination of volumetric fees, with no direct commodity exposure. Excess capacity on the system and the location within a core area of Marcellus Shale development should allow PVR Midstream to develop additional revenue by providing gathering and compression services to area producers.
A lesson for Owego and Tioga County, NY from Marion County, West Virginia where a new wastewater treatment plant is a big success. The AOP Clearwater Plant is located just outside of Fairmont.
According to AOP Clearwater President Louis Bonasso, they have had no problems getting customers from oil and gas drilling companies in the Marcellus Shale. In fact, the trucks are “lining up” at the facility.
“We are a distillation-crystallization process, available to the oil and gas producing community in the area for clean-up of flow back and production brine waters,” said Bonasso.
Which means, the contaminated water is brought in on trucks, put through an extensive cleaning process, and pumped back out–as clean water for the oil and gas companies to reuse.
“We offer a very rapid unload-reload opportunity for trucking companies. Instead of sitting in line, we unload in about 11 minutes and we can reload in about the same time,” said Bonasso.*
Beside creating 16 jobs and bringing revenue to the county, there is this positive side benefit:
Through the cleaning process, salt is removed from the contaminated water and is able to be re-used to treat winter roads.
“All the salt that we produced since the plant started operations in November was sold in Marion County to independent contractors and the city,” explained Bonasso.*
*The State Journal (Mar 9) – AOP Clearwater Plant Open in Marion County
Last week, Patriot Water LLC withdrew their application to convert a former car dealership on the edge of the Village of Owego, NY (in Tioga County) into a wastewater treatment plant to deal specifically with wastewater from Marcellus Shale drilling in Pennsylvania, and from New York, when drilling finally begins there.
Each well drilled in the Marcellus will use approximately 3 million gallons of water during the process of hydro fracturing. Much of that water comes back out of the ground and needs to be treated so it can be re-used in drilling. Some of it will be treated and returned to area waterways, which is no different than the local sewage treatment plant. The fluids entering the environment from any wastewater plant must pass rigid tests to ensure no pollution occurs.
So the news that Patriot Water was planning to build and operate such a plant was good news for the Southern Tier of New York, bringing jobs and tax revenue to Tioga County. But one problem: The proposed site was very close to residential areas. Yes, it is zoned industrial, but it would mean four trucks an hour, 24 hours a day running down residential streets, and local folks didn’t want it. Can’t blame them.
But! Could Tioga County not have come back with a counter offer? Another location nearby that is not close to residential areas? Was there any kind of effort made at all? It appears not. And so, on March 3, Patriot Water said “no thanks” to Owego and Tioga County.
MDN recommends Patriot have a look at nearby Broome County, NY. There’s a couple of industrial parks close to Interstates 81 & 86 (NY Route 17) in the Conklin and Kirkwood areas, and those locations have truck traffic all the time. Perhaps the members of the town planning boards in Broome County will actually show up for meetings (unlike the Tioga County Planning Board, five members of whom abrogated their duties by not showing up for a crucial meeting on the Patriot request). Come on over to Broome, Patriot!
Owego Pennysaver (Mar 3) – Patriot Water, LLC withdraws application for Taylor Road site
William Zagorski, geologist and musician, is credited as being the “Father of the Marcellus Shale.” It’s an interesting story how he convinced Range Resources to try drilling in the Marcellus using hydraulic fracturing. Mr. Zagorski even has a music CD! Read the story of the beginning of drilling in the Marcellus Shale and about the man who pioneered it:
PA Observer-Reporter (Mar 7) – Riding high on the range, the ‘Father of the Marcellus Shale’ leading a busy life these days
George Phillips, a Republican candidate for the 22nd Congressional District in New York State, penned a viewpoint article in today’s Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin on the topic of drilling in the Marcellus Shale. In short, Mr. Phillips is pro-drilling while the man who currently holds that office, Maurice Hinchey (Democrat) is anti-drilling and supports federal government interference. While the article takes political aim at his opponent, Mr. Phillips makes strong arguments on why drilling should commence—now.
He closes his article with this:
But the window of opportunity may be closing. As more areas of the country move forward with plans to develop these types of resources, prices naturally fall as supply increases. This leaves our residents waiting, watching potential profits and opportunities evaporate as others reap these benefits while our government dithers.*
Ah yes, the dithering officials in Albany. Albany needs to move forward now. Other shale plays are becoming active, and the Pennsylvania Marcellus is red hot. If Albany drags on much longer with their obstruction of drilling, landowners will be the ones who suffer.
We also hope, along with Mr. Phillips, that the federal government (and Mr. Hinchey) stay out of states’ business.
*Binghamton Press & Sun Bulletin (Mar 8th) – Clear way for drilling
West Virginia Marcellus Shale is getting hot. From an article* in the Steubenville (OH) Herald-Star, we get a mountain of good intelligence on what energy companies have and are paying in the West Virginia panhandle:
- AB Resources is paying the New Vrindaban Hare Krishna Community in Marshall County $2,500 per acre for approximately 4,000 acres, and 18.75 percent production royalties. That works out to $10 million in lease payments.
- Chesapeake paid $750 per acre and 14 percent royalties to the Wheeling Park Commission for leases in the Oglebay and Wheeling Parks in 2009. The park commissioner is not happy that Chesapeake is planning to pay more this year to lease public lands in neighboring Ohio County.
- Chesapeake paid $2,800 per acre and 18.75 percent production royalties last month to the Marshall County Board of Education for rights to 177 acres in Sherrard.
- Chesapeake has 11,000 acres under lease in Ohio County, and 45,000 acres (with 26 wells drilled) in Marshall County.
- Trans Energy owns and operates 300 active wells in Marshall, Wetzel and Marion counties, with 40,000 acres under lease.
Also, according to the article:
Current lease contracts range from as low as $5 per acre to as high as $2,800 per acre, with production royalties ranging from 12.5 percent to 18.75 percent. Landowners are being urged to think carefully before signing any contract.*
*Steubenville Herald-Star (Mar 8th) – Steubenville Herald-Star – Natural gas could bring riches to Panhandle
Jim on March 8, 2010 | Filed Under AB Resources, Chesapeake Energy, Energy Companies, Lease & Royalty Paments, Marion County, Marshall County, Ohio County, Trans Energy, West Virginia, Wetzel County | Leave a Comment
Kudos to the Skaneateles High School Environmental Club for the public meeting they held on hydraulic fracturing on January 23rd at the High School auditorium. Yes, the members of the club are no doubt anti-drilling and they had several speakers who presented the anti-drilling viewpoint. And yes, they showed the biased anti-drilling “documentary” Split Estate.
But to their credit, the Environmental Club also balanced it with someone who presented the pro-drilling side of the argument. That person was David Palmerton, a geologist and environmental consultant, and someone who’s actually developed oil and gas wells.
With regard to the likelihood that chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing will pollute water aquifers, Mr. Palmerton said:
“I can tell you as a geologist that putting water in 7,000 feet down, which is some 6,500 feet below any possible water supply, is not going to reach that water supply,” Palmerton said. “It’s trapped by the pressure of the rock.”
A question was also raised about what is done with the “frack fluid” once it is reclaimed.
Palmerton agreed with [Onondaga Nation General Counsel Joseph] Heath’s earlier point that there were not enough facilities to treat the wastewater.
“But, once it’s clear that oil and gas development can proceed, companies will come in, will develop those facilities,” he said. “There’s a lot of money that’s out there that’s ready to be invested in those facilities.”*
Some common sense words. Let’s hope the young members of the Environmental Club were listening. Hats off to them for airing both sides.
*Skaneateles Press (Mar 8th) – Fracking finds supporters, opponents at SHS
Chesapeake Appalachia, a subsidiary of Chesapeake Energy, has received clearance from two townships in Washington County, Pennsylvania, to move forward with plans to drill five gas wells. Three of the wells will be drilled in Robinson Township, and two in North Fayette Township. Supervisors in both townships voted unanimously (3-0) to allow drilling to begin. The PA Department of Environmental Protection will still need to approve permits, but all systems appear to be “go” for drilling to begin.
Each well will take approximately three weeks to drill with drilling activity scheduled seven days a week, 24 hours a day. The approvals were granted contingent on certain guarantees and conditions about safety.
For full details, see: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Mar 4) – Officials OK plan to drill Marcellus shale for natural gas
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