We have some super-exciting news to share–what we believe is an MDN exclusive. DeepRock Disposal Solutions has secured all of the necessary permits and authorizations it needs (over 30!), including authorization from the U.S. Coast Guard, to begin transporting shale (produced) wastewater via barge on the Ohio River. DeepRock will begin its barge service in first quarter 2021.
Continue reading
A well in the Marcellus Shale in (of all places) Plum Borough in Allegheny County, PA (a suburb of Pittsburgh) has become the longest onshore lateral drilled in the Marcellus Shale. Olympus Energy (formerly Huntley & Huntley Exploration) has drilled and completed a well with a 20,060-foot lateral–3.8 miles long!
UPDATE: This post was revised from the original. See our note below.
Continue reading
What if we gave the University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) a $2.5 million grant to study a link between peanut butter and childhood cancer. Researchers could only use the money to study any potential link between peanut butter and kids getting rare cancers. Sounds absurd, right? What if there is NO link between peanut butter and cancer in kids? What if there IS a link to some other environmental factor like, say, an old uranium dumpsite nearby? But the remit is ONLY to research peanut butter. Sound silly? Sound stupid? Substitute “shale drilling” for “peanut butter” and you can see how absurd it is for Pennsylvania to announce awarding $2.5 million to Pitt to study a single potential cause for rare childhood cancers in southwestern PA.
Continue reading
We’ve heard of fossil fuels, but until we spotted a press release from Ohio, we’d never heard of a fossil fish. Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine has just signed a bill into law designating the fossil fish species Dunkleosteus terrelli (a mean-looking critter) as the official Fossil Fish of Ohio. Dunkleosteus is the second fossil animal and third geologic state symbol to be added to Ohio’s list. The new official Fossil Fish can be found in (you guessed it)…shale deposits.
Continue reading
Week after week and month after month anti-fossil fuel “environmental” groups, aided and abetted by their willing accomplices in mainstream “media”, bash away at Energy Transfer’s Mariner East (ME) pipeline projects, particularly in the southeast PA region near Philadelphia. What you don’t hear are stories of how ME has transformed and benefited individuals and entire companies–for the better. We have one such story below, written by a woman who owns a small business in the Philly area.
Continue reading
Last week Pennsylvania issued 25 new shale well drilling permits in both northeast and southwest PA, although most of the permits for SWPA. Ohio issued 4 new shale well permits, all of them to the same company (Encino Energy) and the same well pad (in Harrison County). West Virginia issued 6 new shale well permits, one in Lewis County and the rest in Tyler County.
Continue reading
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: WV Gov. Jim Justice acknowledges Biden presidency, says U.S. is not ready to move away from coal and gas; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Broadway Mill kicks coal after transition to natural gas completed; NATIONAL: The worst may be over for U.S. oil; U.S. shale oil just had its worst year and the pain could bleed into 2021; Biden’s Cabinet picks could fuel EPA, FERC pipeline wars; US natural gas in storage forecast to post another triple-digit withdrawal; INTERNATIONAL: Russia to U.S. President-elect: don’t upset the oil market.
Continue reading