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Latest Marist NY Poll Shows Slight Increase in Frack Opposition

opinion pollA new public opinion poll of New Yorkers was released yesterday by the Wall Street Journal/NBC 4 New York/Marist College. Among the questions asked was this one: “Hydrofracking is a process of splitting rocks underground to remove natural gas. From what you have read or heard, do you generally support or oppose hydrofracking in New York State at the Marcellus Shale?” For years the answers have been roughly even, about 40% for, 40% against and 20% clueless.

This latest NY poll shows the following statewide average: 37% support fracking, 47% oppose it, and 16% are clueless/unsure. So, a few more of the unsure people have now become sure and it’s breaking against fracking, maybe a few who used to support it no longer do, and those who were against it remain ideologically rigid and impervious to overwhelming evidence that fracking is safe (i.e. willfully stupid). End result: a few more are now in the opposition column. However, it’s when you dig into the numbers and the breakdowns by party, political philosophy, gender and geography that it becomes interesting…
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P&G’s Only Energy Self-Sufficient Plant is Powered by Marcellus

Consumer goods behemoth Procter & Gamble (P&G) has 150 manufacturing plants worldwide that make things like Pampers diapers, Charmin toilet paper and Bounty paper towels. Only one of those 150 P&G manufacturing plants is 100% energy self-sufficient–providing all of its own massive energy needs without the need to tap into the local utility grid. Can you guess where it’s located? The 100% energy self-sufficient P&G plant is in Mehoopany (Wyoming County), PA, near Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. The P&G plant in Mehoopany is powered exclusively by Marcellus Shale gas drilled right on P&G’s own property! In fact, P&G is producing so much electricity by using Marcellus gas that they sell electricity back to the local utility grid–enough electricity to power 20,000 homes! What a tremendously proud, feel-good moment this is.

Northeast PA is showing the world how shale gas is making the U.S. energy independent. Bye bye tinpot dictators in the Middle East who hate our guts! Bye bye messy wars to keep oil flowing. Hello home-grown energy, home-grown jobs and home-grown economic prosperity. Here’s the P&G feel-good story that will keep you smiling while you eat turkey tomorrow…
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OH Court Tells ODNR: Turn Over Emails in Patriot Water Lawsuit

Patriot Water Treatment of Warren, OH has had a long-running feud with the Ohio EPA and Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR)–a feud that goes all the way back to 2011 (see MDN’s string of Patriot Water stories here). Patriot processes frack wastewater at it’s Warren plant and then disposes of the wastewater by using the local Warren municipal sewage treatment plant. That is, Patriot strips out all of the really nasty stuff, and then the sewage plant finishes off the process and the water is then released into the Mahoning River, near Youngstown.

The OH EPA and ODNR pulled Patriot’s permits to operate for a four-month period in 2012, but Patriot sued and won the right to continue operating (and sending their wastewater to the sewage plant). In relation to the shut-down, Patriot is suing for damages and the ODNR has not been altogether forthcoming with emails and paperwork requested by Patriot as part of the lawsuit. So the OH District Court of Appeals told the ODNR yesterday to comply, or else…
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4 Electric Plants Coming to NE PA, Powered by Marcellus Gas

In August MDN told you the news that Chief Oil & Gas has struck up a deal with IMG Midstream (sort of misnamed, IMG is not a pipeline company) to provide IMG with Marcellus Shale gas to power several small regional, super efficient and low-polluting electric generation plants they plan to build in northeastern Pennsylvania (see Chief Strikes Deal to Provide Marcellus Gas for Electric Plants). We have good news: projects to build those plants are moving forward with all due speed.

We now know that there are four plants planned for Pennsylvania and one for West Virginia. We also know where those plants will be built…
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OH’s Largest School District Gets $1M+ from Lease Bonuses

Ohio’s largest school district (geographically speaking), the Switzerland of Ohio Local Schools in eastern Ohio, has raked in over $1 million so far from Marcellus/Utica Shale drilling deals. It’s located in some of the best drilling spots in the Ohio Utica (Monroe/Belmont/Noble counties). Even so, the school is headed for “devastating cuts” according to the school treasurer, due to a collapse in enrollment over the last 20 years.

The money received so far from shale deals is from lease payments, not royalties. Will the school district go on over the fiscal cliff? Or will shale royalties come along in time to save the day? School officials are not sure…
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Obama’s Warming Cultists Raise “Social Cost of Carbon” Number

Just boggles the mind. Make up some cockamamie, pretend number, call it the “social cost of carbon” and proceed to use it as if it’s real science with real data behind it so you can justify unilaterally implementing Communistic regulations to control every aspect of slaves’ citizens’ lives. That sums up the actions of the Obama administration and their so-called justification in raising the rate of the “social cost of carbon” from $21 per metric ton to $35 per ton. Oh, and issue a white paper with a bunch of fake numbers to give it the veneer of legitimacy (check! that’s now done too).

Feels like Alice going through the Looking Glass. Are there no real scientists with the intestinal fortitude to stand up and tell Obama and his warmist cult followers, “You have no clothes on this issue, Mr. Emperor”? The Hill reports on this latest Obama scam/power grab:
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Big News: Bloomberg Writes Positive Marcellus Shale Article!

Whenever we start reading a Bloomberg article about the Marcellus Shale, shale gas drilling in general, or fracking, we just know how skewed to the anti-drilling side of the ledger the story will be. So imagine our surprise when we read an article that actually reports (gasp!) the truth about the Marcellus Shale. Even though Bloomberg usually tells us the low price of natural gas can’t last, the whole shale gas thing is a house of cards waiting to collapse, drillers are trying to hoodwink investors, blah blah blah–this time even Bloomberg can’t ignore the fact that natural gas being piped into New York City is selling below the price of the benchmark Henry Hub in Louisiana–and likely will for years to come. Thanks to the Marcellus.

The Bloomberg article does a good job of giving the big picture with respect to gas prices and how drilling has become more efficient, how infrastructure (pipelines) are helping to get all that gas to market (abundance of supply equals lower prices), and predicting what’s coming next. At the end of the article is an obligatory few sentences from anti-drillers about how shale drilling will poison all of our water and make farms uninhabitable. Well, it is Bloomberg after all. But on balance, this is a good article and worth your time to read. The article begins this way…
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First-Ever Ford F-150 CNG/LPG Model Roles Off Assembly Line

This not technically a Marcellus/Utica story, but it certainly will impact the northeast and natural gas supplies in years to come. Ford announced last week the very first 2014 Ford F-150 truck, the best selling truck ever, has just rolled off the assembly line in Kansas City–and it has a CNG/LPG option! In fact, Ford will offer eight models for the 2014 model year and says they are on track to sell 15,000 CNG vehicles. MDN previously alerted you that Chevrolet is launching a CNG version for one of their most popular sedans–the Chevy Impala–next summer (2015 model year). Is this the dawning of the natural gas vehicle renaissance for consumers? We sure hope so.

The exciting Ford announcement from last week:
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Short Week – See You Monday!

Dear MDN Reader:

MDN will take Thursday and Friday off–there will be no regular updates on those days. Hopefully you won’t mind if we kick back, enjoy family and do a bit of “re-charging.” We’ll be back next Monday ready and rarin’ to go.

Happy Thanksgiving!
Jim Willis, Editor, MDN