Marcellus Drilling News

Obama State of the Union: Safe Fracking will Create 600K Jobs

January 25, 2012January 25, 2012

Last night, President Barack Obama delivered his State of the Union address to Congress. Energy and natural gas played a big role in the speech. In particular, Obama acknowledges the jobs-generating power of natural gas drilling, saying it can generate 600,000 jobs by the end of this decade. He also mandated a requirement that gas drillers on public lands disclose the chemicals they use. (Disclosing fracking chemicals is already the law in five states and mostly enforced in a sixth—see this MDN story).

Obama said the U.S. has enough natural gas to last us 100 years and that he’s going to “take every possible action” to develop it. He also reaffirmed his belief in global warming.

Broome County | Energy Companies | Lease & Royalty Payments | New York | Talisman Energy

Broome County, NY Landowners Get Big Payment from Talisman

January 25, 2012January 25, 2012

New York landowners in Broome County will receive millions in lease payments this month from Talisman Energy—$5000 per acre (they’ve already received $500 per acre). The landowners belong to the Friendsville Group, a landowner coalition that signed a deal with Talisman in 2009. Most of the Friendsville Group members are landowners just over the border in Pennsylvania, who already received their full $5,500 per acre payments two years ago. The New York members had to wait—either until permits were granted, or January 2012.

Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

PA DEP Wants to Use Acid Mine Drainage for Fracking Water

January 25, 2012January 25, 2012

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is floating the idea of using a portion of the 300 million gallons of acid mine drainage that flows each and every day from abandoned coal mines in that state as a source of water for Marcellus Shale gas fracking.

Allegheny County | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Wastewater

McKeesport Settles Lawsuit for Treating Fracking Wastewater

January 25, 2012January 25, 2012

A lawsuit against the City of McKeesport, PA (near Pittsburgh) for treating fracking wastewater has been settled. McKeesport was hauled into federal court last year by two activist anti-drilling organizations—Clean Water Action and Three Rivers Waterkeeper—to force the McKeesport municipal sewage treatment plant to not accept fracking wastewater for treatment at the plant (read the background in this MDN story).

Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Wed, Jan 25, 2012

January 25, 2012January 25, 2012

The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading: