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ACLU Asks County Judge to Toss Lawsuit Against Litigious Martians

My Favorite MartianIt seems anti-drillers love to launch lawsuits, but when the shoe is applied to the other foot and lawsuits are filed against them, they don’t like it so much. Hypocrites. A small group of anti-drilling parents in the Mars School District in Middlesex Township (Butler County), PA–folks we call Martians–want to prevent the legal, legitimate, and now fully permitted right of Rex Energy to drill a few Marcellus Shale wells three-fourths of a mile away from the Mars School. We’ve long chronicled this battle (see MDN’s list of Mars School stories). Four local Middlesex residents used two non-profit, tax-exempt groups from the opposite side of PA, backed by Big Green money–THE Delaware Riverkeeper and the Philadelphia-based Clean Air Council–to file a lawsuit against the little town of Middlesex to stop any kind of drilling, a move that has so far cost local taxpayers over $35,000 in legal defense fees (see Dela. RiverKeeper, Clean Air Council Cost Middlesex Residents $35K+). So a group of 12 Middlesex landowners and a business launched their own lawsuit against the two Big Green groups and the four local residents claiming (rightly) that they are being economically harmed (see Shoe Now on Other Foot: Landowners Sue Martian Anti-Drillers). What do the anti-drilling parents and Big Green groups do? They go crying like little girls to the anti-American ACLU for help. The ACLU is asking a Butler County court judge to dismiss the lawsuit against the litigious anti-drillers ’cause they don’t like being sued. Seems it doesn’t feel too good when the shoe is on the other foot…
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Antero Sells Marcellus/Utica Water Business to Itself for $1.05B

1 billionAntero Resources announced today it will sell its integrated water delivery business in the Marcellus/Utica to itself for $1.05 billion. That is, Antero Resources (the drilling company) is selling the water business to Antero Midstream (subsidiary pipeline company) in what is called a “drop down” transaction–for more than a billion dollars. All lighthearted joking aside about Antero selling something to itself, this is a big and complex deal. In the announcement below we get a number of details for both Antero the driller and Antero the pipeline company, including how much Antero the driller will pay for the water from Antero the pipeline company ($3.69/barrel in WV, and $3.64/barrel in OH)…
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Shale Insight Day 2: News Roundup

news roundupBelow are articles written by others who attended this year’s Shale Insight event in Philadelphia. MDN editor Jim Willis sat in on some of the general sessions and took notes. He’ll share his own notes and insights on Shale Insight next week. In the meantime, here’s what mainstream media said about the sessions happening on Day Two…
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Federal EPA Praises Ohio’s Wastewater Injection Well Program

two thumbs upGood news for the citizens of Ohio. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently released a report on Ohio’s Class II Underground Injection Control (UIC) program–that is, wastewater injection wells–and found that the Ohio Department of Natural Resources’ (ODNR) regulatory program is of “good quality” and continues to provide strong protections for Ohio’s underground sources of drinking water (USDW). The federal EPA just gave Ohio a big, fat, sloppy kiss right on the mouth along with a big two thumbs up that the state is doing it right when it comes to wastewater injection wells…
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PIOGA Sets Record Straight on Latest Wolf Attack re Severance Tax

temper tantrumThe Pennsylvania Independent Oil & Gas Association (PIOGA) has been at the forefront in opposing an industry-killing severance tax proposed by new governor Tom Wolf (see PIOGA Leads the Charge to Defeat Wolf’s Severance Tax). We are now close to three months past the deadline for a new state budget–and Wolf continues to be obstinate. He offers a few crumbs and when Republicans don’t immediately cave on a massive, industry and jobs-killing severance tax, he jumps up and down like a spoiled three year-old saying he “got nothing” in return. What a putz. Here’s how the obsequious Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports Wolf’s latest temper tantrum…
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Group of “Religious” Leaders Asks PA Gov Wolf to End All Fracking

politics religionFresh back from Shale Insight in Philadelphia, MDN editor Jim Willis is always pumped after hearing about the technology and safeguards and careful treatment the shale energy industry uses in extracting shale gas. These people are true professionals who care about the work they do–and they want to do it right. They care about the environment. They want to protect the land and our natural resources. They live in the communities where fracking is done. On the other hand, the people who profess to care about such things, anti-drillers, repeatedly prove themselves to be a) mind-numbed robots who believe whatever their movement leaders tell them, b) stark raving mad. Example: A group of extremists who happen to be “religious” have penned a letter to Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf asking him to stop all fracking in the state because they fervently believe (wrongly) that fracking contributes to the mythological existence of man-made global warming. Mainstream media picks this garbage up and repeat it, like it’s a real news story…
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Heartland Institute Criticizes Pope’s Anti-Fossil Fuel Message

Pope Francis - No Fracking SupporterLet’s be honest, shall we? The Catholic Church has a Marxist as its leader in Pope Francis–which is a truly sad thing for a great and significant denomination. Pope Francis, nee Jorge Mario Bergoglio, is from Argentina and he supports Marxism, as many do in South America. Pope Francis hates capitalism and appears to be more interested in advancing socialist political policies here on earth than he does in serving Jesus Christ and saving souls. The current situation with Pope Francis distresses many Catholics we personally know. The Pope has thrown in his lot with climate change liars–those who say mankind is causing the earth to warm up–because the so-called climate change movement is the new home of anti-capitalists (i.e. Marxists, i.e. Communists). Scientific fact: global average temperatures haven’t risen now for 18 years. Yesterday, The Heartland Institute participated in a Constitution Day event in Philadelphia to call attention to the Pope’s coming visit to Philly (a visit made possible via fossil fuels) and the Pope’s error-filled teachings against fossil fuels and capitalism…
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Duke Hit Piece on Shale Water Usage from Same Park-Sponsored Prof

junk scienceA single professor from Duke University who lives by the motto “publish or perish” is out with yet another “study” published in a so-called peer reviewed journal. From time to time Avner Vengosh, professor of geochemistry and water quality at Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment, pops up to smear the Marcellus Shale. He was in league with the Izaak Walton League to attempt to tie Marcellus drilling to water contamination in Ten Mile Creek (see Is Shale Wastewater Causing Radiation Spike in Ten Mile Creek?). Turns out the testing Vengosh and Izaak Walton did, and the testing done by the DEP itself, was inaccurate (see PA DEP Screws Up Water Test at Ten Mile Creek – Egg on Face). Vengosh was paid by the Park Foundation to conduct a “study” implying untreated wastewater from the Marcellus is being disposed in streams and rivers (see Yet Another Duke University Study Smears the Marcellus Industry). Vengosh has just published another study/article, titled “Water Footprint of Hydraulic Fracturing” (full copy below). This new hit piece claims between 2005 and 2014 frackers in shale plays have used 250 billion gallons of precious, rare, supremely valuable and can never be replaced water for their filthy, vile activities. He does admit, grudgingly, that the 250 billion gallons used by frackers represents less than 1% of all water used for industrial activities. In other words, frackers’ use of water is a footnote in the annals of water usage…
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3rd SGICC EH&S Award Goes to Innovation in Treating Frack Water

Bill Hall & Mark Miller
Bill Hall & Mark Miller – click for larger version

At Shale Insight 2015, the Ben Franklin Shale Gas Innovation & Commercialization Center (SGICC) presented their 3rd Annual Shale Gas Environmental, Health, & Safety (EH&S) Award. Each year SGICC conducts a survey of proposed or commercially available new technology advancements (cool things) in the EH&S area for the shale gas industry that are being developed by Pennsylvania-based entities. They choose one winner to highlight. The objective of the award is to place a spotlight on the importance of EH&S to the shale gas industry, by highlighting the new technologies that are being developed every year to promote continuous improvement in the EH&S area. The first year the award was given to MDN’s good industry friend Donny Beaver for one of his ingenious inventions, a shower to suck silica (sand) off workers’ clothes safely (see HalenHardy Wins Ben Franklin EHS Award for Silica Air Shower). Last year the award went to TekSolv for their development of a gas detection sensor system that identifies explosive buildup of dangerous gases during the drilling and fracking process (see Winner of Environmental Health & Safety Award Announced At Shale Insight 2014). This year’s winner was FyreRok Biofluids for innovating a way to produce hypochlorus acid at well pad sites, a non-toxic biocide used to treat water (kill bacteria) in water used for fracking…
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Conference Agenda for PIOGA’s Eastern Oil & Gas Conf/Trade Show

PIOGA Tradeshow logoMDN is proud to be supporting this year’s Pennsylvania Independent Oil & Gas Association (PIOGA) Eastern Oil & Gas Conference and Trade Show, which will take place Oct 27-28 at the Monroeville Convention Center just outside Pittsburgh. The event features a conference, trade show and networking events–a “must attend” event for those involved with oil and gas drilling in the PA (and associated industries). Below is the just-announced line-up for conference presentations. Oh! And be sure you don’t miss the Halloween-themed mixer Tuesday evening!…
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