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Range Resources’ Brine Pond Leak Contaminates Groundwater in SWPA

typical wastewater impoundment (not the Jon Day Impoundment)Range Resources built an open-air frack wastewater and brine impoundment in Amwell Township (Washington County), PA in 2009–the Jon Day Impoundment. At the time, they installed a monitoring system under the impoundment to alert them (and the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection) in case the impoundment–essentially a big pond with a rubber liner–sprung a leak. The monitoring system included 4-inch perforated pipes under the impoundment located inside trenches of gravel. The theory was/is if anything leaks, it will hit one of those pipes and come out the end. According to the DEP the monitoring system was “over and above” DEP requirements at the time. Unfortunately, the monitoring system somewhere along the way failed and the impoundment sprung a leak and now we have some 15,000 tons of “contaminated” soil which has nearly all been removed from the site…
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Last Gasp in Dimock Couple’s Quest for Riches

Scott and Monica Ely, who once willing leased their land to Cabot Oil & Gas in Dimock, PA, then saw big bucks when their water turned cloudy, ostensibly from methane they say was the result of nearby shale drilling from Cabot, have won the right to have their “negligence” lawsuit against Cabot to continue. The single count of negligence is the only thing U.S. District Magistrate Judge Martin C. Carlson said could continue. All other claims made by the couple have been dismissed by Judge Carlson…
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PA Voters Like Marcellus Fracking – Analyzing the Latest Q-Poll

A poll by Quinnipiac University of Pennsylvania voters released last week has turned up some interesting insights into the prevailing attitudes of PA voters with respect to Republican Gov. Tom Corbett, the issue of Marcellus Shale drilling and the issue of whether or not to allow drilling under (not on) state lands in PA. All of the mainstream media focused on a single number: 57% of those polled oppose Corbett’s executive order to allow a tiny bit more drilling, after former Gov. Ed Rendell had thrown the door wide open during this tenure, under PA’s state lands and parks. That’s the headline, the narrative, and the “it’s all over for Corbett as soon as the fat lady sings” talking points they all work from. MDN has a different take on the numbers and what they mean…
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Williams’ Smart Open House in Lebanon County Confounds Antis

Anti-drillers are so predictable. When they’re denied a public forum where they can squeal and moan and put on a “look at me” show, they get all testy. Which is why the way Williams conducts their public open houses is so utterly brilliant. Instead of hosting the typical “3 people on the stage addressing the crowd” followed by an open microphone where anti-drilling zombies get up to read their talking points, Williams sends about 75 representatives to a local school or fire house, rolls out miles of maps, and talks one-on-one with residents–to address specific questions and concerns. That’s the way they did it last night at the Annville-Cleona High School (Lebanon County, PA) with the Atlantic Sunrise Expansion project. And sure enough, anti-drillers from the so-called “Lebanon Pipeline Awareness” complained they couldn’t show off their drama skills at the meeting last night…
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Coordinated Media Attack on Williams Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline

It appears there is a coordinated attack by both national and local media against Williams and their Atlantic Sunrise Expansion project. We’ve located one Associated Press story that’s been endlessly published in local newspapers, and one anti-drilling screed by a Lancaster County, PA newspaper, that says, in essence, Williams paid more fines in PA last year than any other pipeline company; Williams wants to build a new pipeline; ergo, Williams should not be allowed to build it because they’re a bad actor…
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Adams Twp, PA Votes to NOT Block Drilling “Near” Mars School

Back in March, MDN questioned the sanity of the Mars School District school board (Butler County, PA) in turning down $1 million to lease 175 acres of school land for drilling (see Earth to Mars (School District) – Time to Check into Funny Farm?). The school board and a number of parents were against drilling close to the school. Unfortunately they also wanted to trample on the property rights of people living about a mile from the school. A group of areas residents tried to get the board of supervisors to prohibit drilling on the Bob and Kim Geyer property. Fortunately their anti-drilling efforts failed…
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Attention WV Drillers: Time to Register Your Above Ground Tanks

MDN previously reported on the new West Virginia law that regulates most above ground storage tanks. The new law was passed after an accident with tanks containing chemicals from coal mining leaked and temporarily polluted the drinking water for some 300,000 West Virginians (see Coal Industry Blamed for West Virginia Chemical Spill). Although shale drilling had nothing to do with the spill, the new regulation passed earlier this year will greatly affect WV drillers (see Impact of WV’s New Chemical Tank Law on Marcellus Drillers). The new law went into effect last week and the WV Dept. of Environmental Protection announced above ground tank registration is now open…
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PA Media in the Anti-Drilling Tank for Tom Wolf/Tom Steyer

PA Democrat nominee for governor Tom Wolf is set to get something like $14.3 million from a big-time anti-driller from California, Tom Steyer (see CA Anti-Driller Tom Steyer Purchasing Tom Wolf PA Governorship). In other words, Steyer will buy the election for Wolf–all Wolf has to do is shut down Marcellus Shale drilling in the state. Such a small price to pay. You might think PA media would be all over such a story–but then, you would be wrong. Because PA’s state-run media is “in the tank” for Wolf and the fossil fuel-hating Steyer. So instead, we get stories from newspapers like the Philadelphia Inquirer that focus on drilling companies chipping in a few thousand here and there to Republican Tom Corbett’s campaign. It’s typical of the sleaze we’ve come to expect from PA’s mainstream media…
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Penn Virginia Floats $250M Private Stock Offering, Stick in Soros’ Eye

Penn Virginia Corporation is a very small bit player when it comes to drilling in the Marcellus Shale. According to NGI’s Shale Play Factbook, Penn Virginia still owns 38,000 acres of Marcellus leases. The last well they drilled in the Marcellus was, from everything we can tell, sometime in 2011 (see Penn Virginia Disappointed with Output from First Three Marcellus Shale Wells Drilled in PA). Three months ago Penn Virginia was in the cross hairs of billionaire corporate raider George Soros (see Penn Virginia the Latest Plaything for Billionaire George Soros). Soros wants the company to sell itself. It has not–and instead announced yesterday they’re floating $250 million of convertible preferred stock…
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