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Upstate NY Farmers with Tickets Barred from Gasland 2 Premier

Josh Fox and Yoko Ono at Tribeca A group of at least 20 farmers from upstate New York who made the long trip to New York City and the Tribeca Film Festival with tickets to Sunday’s premier of Gasland 2 were denied entrance after having the temerity to shout questions to Gasland director Josh Fox and Yoko Ono as they sauntered down the red carpet. Such big hearts, such open tents those liberal anti-drillers have, don’t they?

Fox and the Tribeca festival used security officers and police officers (see picture below) to keep farmers out—like the “dangerous” 70-year-old Inge Grafe-Kieklak…

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Muskingum Watershed Votes to Sell 209M Gals of Water for Fracking

The Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District (MWCD) oversees the largest watershed area in Ohio, spanning some 8,000 square miles. After some initial delays a few years ago, MWCD decided they want in on the Utica drilling bonanza happening all around them. In 2011 they leased 2,800 acres of watershed land to Gulfport Energy for $15.6 million. In 2012, they leased 3,700 acres to Chesapeake for $21.5 million. In February of this year, they signed a contract with Antero Resources to lease 6,500 acres for $40.3 million plus 20% royalties (see Muskingum Watershed District Signs with Antero for $40.3M Bonus).

All that drilling will need water. MWCD will oblige…

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NY Anti-Drilling Protesters Jailed After Refusing to Pay Fine

Twelve protesters who suffer from what MDN calls FDS (Fracking Derangement Syndrome) were arrested in March for blocking the entrance to a legally operating facility near Watkins Glen, NY that will be used to store natural gas and propane in underground salt caverns (see NY Protesters Arrested for Blocking NatGas Storage Facility).

Three of the twelve have pleaded guilty and after refusing to pay a $375 fine were sentenced to 15 days in jail. They’ll get to have nice warm guest rooms in the clink in all likelihood heated by natural gas, and meals prepared by using natural gas. Do you think the irony will dawn on them as they sit there for two weeks? Nah, we didn’t think so either…

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Pete Seeger Will Play for Fossil Fuel Haters Fest in PA

Iconic folk singer and lefty activist Pete Seeger (now about 150 years old, a marvel to behold) will play a benefit concert for a group of fossil fuel-haters protesting the expansion of a natural gas pipeline in Pike County (northeast PA). They hate fossil fuels and the pipelines that deliver them—although hypocritically they use fossil fuels delivered by pipelines every single day.

Other helpful activities planned by the group: Brainwash school children with a “sustainable energy curriculum” at the Delaware Valley School District. What will they teach them? How wonderful it is to keep the thermostat set at 45 degrees? Every time your parents fire up the SUV for a run to Walmart they’re killing Mother Earth? (Be sure to rat out your parents to your greenie teacher, kiddies.) These are people with too much time on their hands…

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Will 2 Billboards Convince Youngstown Residents Ban Fracking?

A handful of Youngstown, OH anti-drillers who are, frankly, quite ignorant of how fracking works (they apparently don’t know it’s heavily regulated), have foolishly spent their money on two billboards in the city to try and convince unsuspecting neighbors to pass a May 7 resolution to ban fracking in Youngstown—a loud and clear signal that Youngstown doesn’t want to participate in the economic miracle Utica Shale drilling is bringing to the state.

A Youngstown attorney says anyone reading the language of this bill (if it does pass) will think the city is populated with idiots. He’s right…

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Ohio Oil & Gas Regulatory & Environmental Matters eBook

The lawyers at Porter Wright Morris & Arthur LLP write an excellent blog on oil and gas drilling in Ohio called the Oil and Gas Law Report. They’ve compiled a number of those articles into a handy PDF ebook (embedded below), covering regulations and environmental issues impacting Ohio’s oil and gas drilling industry. This little ebook (28 pages) is useful for lawyers, drillers and landowners alike…

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Three Ways the Shale Boom will Impact the Trucking Industry

In January, MDN told you about the results of a survey conducted by Benesch, a large law firm with offices in Ohio, Pennsylvania and other oil and gas states, the National Tank Truck Carriers association and the Ohio Trucking Association (see Marcellus/Utica Shale Drilling is Good for Trucking Industry). The survey found shale activity is having a positive impact on the trucking industry, creating an increase in opportunities and profits that is expected to continue into the future. The survey also found significant job growth is a byproduct of shale drilling.

Benesch has written and released a new white paper based on the findings of the survey (embedded below), titled: “3 Ways the Shale Boom Will Impact the Trucking Industry.” The paper is short, well-written, and shows how the growth in trucking is directly tied to the growth in shale drilling—and a harbinger of economic growth for the future…

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Higher Marcellus Permit Fees Coming for PA Drillers

The Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) wants to hike permit fees for Marcellus and other horizontal or “unconventional” wells by $1,000 to $1,800 above the current $3,200 (a 56% increase). The DEP says more work is required for each well under new legislation passed in 2012, and new permits have slowed a bit, meaning less revenue for the agency. More work to do but less revenue from new permits—something’s gotta give…

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