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Oh Oh, New “Study” Says Fracking Leads to Low Sperm Count!

fall down laughingA study titled “Endocrine-Disrupting Activity of Hydraulic Fracturing Chemicals and Adverse Health Outcomes After Prenatal Exposure in Male Mice” was published last week in the journal Endocrinology (abstract below). This one is fall-right-out-of-your-chair-laughing funny! The study attempts to make a link between fracking and low sperm counts in men by exposing mice (yes, mice were harmed in the making of this study!) with chemicals used in fracking. Thing is, they overdosed the mice–using far more chemicals at higher doses than are ever used in fracking fluids. That’s just one of the many problems with this new “study.” There are plenty of other problems too, including the raging conflicts of interest for the anti-driller who was the supervising “researcher” for the study…
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Oct 27 Deadline: Will NY Oil & Gas Industry Challenge Frack Ban?

deadlineA deadline is fast approaching in New York State. Next Tuesday, Oct. 27, the natural gas industry must file an “Article 78” lawsuit or lose its opportunity to do so. Last December NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo made a non-science, political decision to ban fracking in the state (see After 6+ Years, Andrew Cuomo Bans Fracking in New York). It took six months, but Cuomo’s useful idiot, then-Dept. of Environmental Conservation Commissioner (DEC) Joe Martens released a so-called “findings statement” on June 29 that outlines the DEC’s reasoning for the frack ban (for a copy of the findings statement, see It’s Official: Cuomo Bans Economic Opportunity & Prosperity in NY). Next Tuesday is the last chance for the industry to challenge the findings statement in court. Will they?…
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Fed Judge Overturns Grant Twp, PA Ban on Injection Wells

court gavelThe radical leftist PA-based group Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF) does its best to trick townships into passing illegal bans. In 2013 the CELDF fooled Highland Township in Elk County, PA into passing a ban on wastewater injection wells. They also tricked Grant Township in Indiana County, PA to do the same thing. Both towns are in court defending their illegal actions. One of the idiotic legal tactics used by the CELDF in both cases is to claim that an ecosystem is a “person” under the law–a person who can file to join the town’s lawsuit in an effort to protect itself (see It Speaks! An “Ecosystem” has Filed to Join a Lawsuit in PA). It’s an asinine notion. Will the tree in my front yard sue me for cutting a branch off it? Will my gravel driveway sue me if I decide to pave it? Get real. A federal judge has just ruled in the Grant Twp case and found (a) the town’s ban on injection wells is illegal, and (b) the ecosystem’s “interests” have been well-represented by the town in the case with no need for the ecosystem to join the lawsuit. The judge, in sidestepping whether or not an ecosystem is actually a person, kind of laughed at the notion–if you read between the lines…
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NY Paper Plant Opts for “Virtual” NatGas Pipeline Over Real One

virtual pipelineLast year International Paper’s Ticonderoga mill in northern New York, near the Vermont border, received $1.75 million in grant money from Andrew Cuomo and New York State (that is to say, from we the taxpayers) to help with an $11 million project to convert the plant from using oil to using natural gas (see the Albany Times Union story: $100M in upgrades at International Paper mill in Ticonderoga follows state deal for aid, cheap power). Kind of ironic that Andy was willing to give big money to an evil corporation to use more natural gas because he banned the extraction of fracked natural gas in NY later that same year. However, the plant was threatening to close. It’s the biggest employer in the area representing 600 jobs. Because of Cuomo’s $1.75M grant, the plant stayed open and converted to natgas, but that means it needs a lot of natgas on a regular basis. International Paper had planned to build a pipeline from Vermont to feed the plant as a permanent solution. In the meantime, it was using a “virtual pipeline” of a constant stream of trucks delivering compressed natural gas (CNG) from NG Advantage (subsidiary of Clean Energy Fuels Corp.), trucking CNG to the plant 24/7. International liked the CNG operation so much, and disliked the regulatory hassles of building the pipeline so much, they’ve decided to keep the virtual pipeline over a real one as a permanent solution…
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Marco Rubio Visits OH’s Utica Shale to Unveil Energy Plan

Marco RubioFloridian Jeb Bush is running for President as a Republican–necessary to state the obvious because many are likely not aware of Jeb’s candidacy since his poll numbers are in the single digits. Jeb was a guest at Rice Energy near Pittsburgh in September to unveil his energy policy plan (see Jeb Bush Visits Rice Energy in PA, Ticks Off Sierra Clubbers). Fellow Floridian U.S. Senator Marco “the kid” Rubio is also running for President as a Republican–necessary to state because his poll numbers are also in the basement. Rubio, like his mentor Jeb, decided to visit Marcellus/Utica country to unveil his proposed energy policy plan. Rubio chose BOC Water Hydraulics in Salem (Columbiana County), OH to talk energy. Hey, don’t get us wrong. We love it! Rubio, like Bush before him, said some fantastic things. If even half of the ideas and plans uttered by Rubio (or Bush) became reality? Wow! But that’s the problem. Establishment candidates say all the right things–and never do them after they get elected…
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The Big (Green) Money Behind NY’s Anti-Fracking Movement

Big Green MoneyWhat many rank and file members of the New York anti-fracking movement may not realize, or perhaps chooses to ignore, is that the people at their rallies and meetings standing behind the microphones are being paid to do so. The organizers of groups like New Yorkers Against Fracking and Frack Action are funded by the odious Park Foundation to pedal their smears and lies against fossil energy. The Park Foundation gave New Yorkers Against Fracking $125,000 earlier this year, in part to pay for organizers to travel across the country spreading the word (i.e. lie) that a little rag-tag bunch of protesters convinced the mighty Andrew Cuomo of the righteousness of their cause–and you can do it in your state too. In other words, the anti-fracking movement has become a cottage industry where people get paid to mouth off at rallies, before reporters–before anyone who will listen. They are paid by the Park Foundation and other Big Green groups to do so…
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Obama Gives $2M Grant to OH to Retrain Coal Miners for Shale Jobs

money band aidThe Obama war on coal continues. So far Obama has put around a half million people working for coal companies in the unemployment line. His solution? If you live and/or have worked in coal mines in Ohio and are now out of work, Obama is giving the state a $2 million Band-Aid grant (of taxpayer’s money) for “retraining” so the out-of-work coal miners can go to work in the Marcellus/Utica shale gas fields. One small problem: the gas companies are laying people off too. In record numbers. Government at its finest: retrain someone out of work in one industry for jobs that don’t exist in another industry. Here’s the details on the retraining program coming to the Buckeye State for out-of-work coal miners…
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6 NatGas-Powered Electric Plants On the Way in OH/WV

coming soonWith President Obama’s war on coal in full swing, so-called renewable energy sources like wind and solar can’t possibly pick up the slack from coal-powered electric generating plants shutting down. Coal-fired electric plants are shutting down at an alarming rate–we’ve lost 11 million megawatts of coal-fired electric capacity in the past year alone. That situation spells opportunity for natural gas. One reason that natgas is making inroads in the electric generating space is because it’s a whole lot cheaper today than it was just a few short years ago to use clean-burning natural gas to power electric plants. In 2008 the price of natural gas sold for an average of $13 per thousand cubic feet (Mcf). Today? The price of gas has been bumping along at around $2.75/Mcf. In places like southwest Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio Marcellus and Utica gas sells for around $1.50-$1.75/Mcf. So it’s no wonder electric plants powered by natural gas are springing up all over the place. Below is a quick look at six such plants in eastern Ohio and West Virginia…
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Short Selling of Magnum Hunter’s Stock Continues Big Decrease

positive signTwo weeks ago MDN told you about a positive trend for Magnum Hunter Resources’ (MHR) stock–traders were doing less “short selling” of the stock (see Positive Sign: Short Selling of Magnum Hunter’s Stock Decreases). At the time we noted 26.4% of MHR’s stock was being sold short (national average for all stocks is around 5-6% and the average for oil and gas companies lately has been around 12%). We have an update: short selling of MHR’s stock as of Sept. 30 was down again, dramatically, and stood at 19%. Which means traders believe prospects for the company’s financial health are improving. That doesn’t mean the company doesn’t face challenges. As we told you last Monday, MHR appears to be getting ready to either sell itself or file for bankruptcy (see Magnum Hunter: Preparing to Sell, or Filing for Bankruptcy?). Still, short selling is an important signal of what the financial markets think about a particular company–and having your stock go from 26% to 19% in short sales is a big deal–in the right direction…
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Scranton Newspaper: PA/OH/WV Should Cooperate on High NatGas Tax

it's not fairWe wonder, do the liberal editors of the Democrat propaganda machine known as the Scranton Times-Tribune consider it “fair” to close down legitimate businesses that provide jobs and tax revenue to the state by targeting them with even higher taxes, forcing them out of business because they no longer turn a profit? Is “profit” a bad word around the news room of the Times-Tribune? Is the word “capitalism” banned from so-called reporters’ lips at the Times-Tribune? Those are the kinds of thoughts that roll around our brain box when we read yet another sycophantic “we need to tax the Marcellus industry more than we do already” editorial from the brainiacs at the Times-Tribune
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Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Mon, Oct 19, 2015

best of the restThe “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading. In today’s lineup: northeast natgas changes the whole picture; Transco loop in PA gets FERC green light; PA severance tax “for” education actually takes money away from education; WV natgas customers see bills go down 24%; MA nuke plant closing makes NED pipeline more likely; Schlumberger CEO says o&g industry in the toilet until 2017; fractivism is modern-day Marxism; and more!
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