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Repsol Eyes Talisman Energy for “Assets” – Takeover Target?

Mamas Don't Let Your Babies Grow Up to Be CowboysMDN told you last October that evil corporate raider Carl Icahn had begun to sink his claws into his next shale victim. Like he had done at Chesapeake Energy, Icahn started snapping up stock in Canadian company Talisman Energy (see Carl Icahn Snaps Up 6% of His Next E&P Victim: Talisman Energy). Icahn quickly became the puppet master pulling the strings, forcing the company to begin selling assets (see Icahn Now Throwing His Weight Around at Talisman, Like Chesapeake). You knew what was coming when he scored two seats on the board of the directors just a few months later, in December 2013 (see Carl Icahn’s Claws Go Deeper into Talisman – 2 New Board Members). Indeed, what we feared is now coming true. Talisman is now actively considering a buyout/takover from Spanish oil company Repsol…
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EQT 2Q14 Update: Profit & Production Way Up

EQT posted their second quarter update today, and wow, what an update! Profit for the company is up 28% and production increased by double digits–thanks to the Marcellus Shale. Gas production was up 17% and the company’s midstream division saw a whopping 33% increase in revenue. The company says they’re still on track to produce 465-480 billion cubic feet of natural gas equivalent this year…
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The Supreme Arrogance of SWPA Environmental Health Project

You may recall an anti-drilling group that calls itself the Southwest Pennsylvania Environmental Health Project (SWPA-EHP) is trying to prove Marcellus drilling makes people sick (see Health “Study” of Whopping 27 People Blames Drilling for Symptoms and more recently, Anti-Drilling Group Distributes Air Monitors, Calls it Research). In an article in the Philadelphia Inquirer, a media spokesman for SWPA-EHP makes the breathtakingly arrogant statement that his organization is the public health organization representing people affected by shale drilling in the U.S….
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Former DEP Sec. Krancer Skewers Auditor General “Report”

Yesterday MDN brought you the news of Pennsylvania Auditor General Eugene DePasquale’s politically-motivated critical report of the state’s Dept. of Environmental Protection (see Anti-Drilling PA Auditor General Criticizes DEP in “Report”). We pointed out the huge conflict of interest on the part of DePasquale (he supports a renewable energy agenda). Today we have reaction from Michael Krancer, a former Secretary of the DEP during 2012, secretary during one of the four year period covered in DePasquale’s report. In his frank style, Krancer skewers the report, while keeping a smile on his face…
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PA’s Sec of Health Fires Back at Reckless Accusations Against Dept

The latest anti-drilling push in Pennsylvania is to plant seeds of fear and doubt that Marcellus “may be” harming some people’s health. That tactic has worked wonders in liberal New York, so the anti-fossil fuel crowd in PA have also glommed onto. First to appear are stories planted by anti-drilling PBS “reporters” accusing the state’s Dept. of Health of muzzling its own employees (see StateImpact Pennsylvania’s story Former state health employees say they were silenced on drilling). That story about a so-called buzzword list that supposedly would trigger a “don’t talk about it” rule (which is utter nonsense) was picked up and endlessly repeated in the liberal mediasphere–over and over and over and over again. That’s how yellow journalism works. Michael Wolf, secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Health, has had enough and is now pushing back…
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Benesch Shale Report 2Q14: Ohio’s New Top Utica Well

Each quarter the Ohio law firm of Benesch Friedlander Coplan & Aronoff LLP produces an Ohio shale update. MDN often shares their updates–well worth your time to read. The latest edition, covering Utica Shale activity in the second quarter of 2014, is embedded below. This issue highlights Ohio’s new top producing Utica Shale well–drilled by recent upstart Rice Energy in Belmont County. They also talk about the likely forthcoming increase in Ohio’s Utica Shale severance tax–from 1% to 2.5%. It’s less than what Gov. John “foreigner hunter” Kasich wants, but something that apparently Ohio’s squishy Republicans can live with. Take time to read this well-crafted summary (will only take you a few minutes)…
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Where Do Things Stand with NY Fracking? ProPublica “Explainer”

The ProPublica website bills itself as “Journalism in the Public Interest.” Although the editors and writers on ProPublica tilt to the left of the political spectrum, we’ve found over the past year or two that most of the time their articles on fracking are pretty balanced–a surprising (and welcomed) aberration in the world of mainstream media. Such is the case with their latest article, a roundup on where things stand in the state of New York with respect to fracking. The writer (an intern!) does a good job of informing casual readers who may not follow the issue closely of just where things stand at this point. We liked the article and thought you might too…
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OH Rep Hagan Doesn’t Let A Good Frack Accident Go to Waste

Anti-drilling Ohio State Rep. Robert Hagan (Democrat, Youngstown) sent out a press release yesterday that says, essentially, “Na na na na na, told ya so, told ya so.” In just about that childish tone. Hagan has seized on a report that MDN and others highlighted yesterday from the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) that alleges Halliburton, following the well pad fire in Monroe County on June 28, took five days to provide a list of chemicals at the site to the EPA (see EPA Reports on Enviro Damage from Statoil Well Fire in OH). What Hagan conveniently leaves out of his childish screed is that Halliburton promptly provided that list to the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources and local firefighters, the two agencies stipulated under Ohio law. The EPA is not stipulated to get a fast copy of the chemicals list–they’re not first responders to the accident. The EPA is there to watch, observe, assess and level hefty fines…
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