Marcellus Drilling News

Energy Companies | Norse Energy

Norse Stock Options for Key People: Something in the Wind?
July 23, 2012July 23, 2012

Norse Energy, a driller who has gambled on New York State allowing hydraulic fracturing (and has so far lost that gamble), just awarded stock options to a few key employees, including the CEO, CFO, Chief Legal Officer (CLO), and several vice presidents. Typically an organization floats stock options to key people in order to keep them from jumping ship before the company either hits it big or sells out to another company.

Is Norse considering a sale of the entire company? MDN doesn’t have a clue. If they are, it likely would not happen for at least a year or two—long enough for the New York moratorium on fracking to be lifted and for drilling to begin. Once that happens, Norse believes they will be in the pole position—perhaps even first in line—to receive permits to drill in the Marcellus and Utica Shale. And what better time to sell than that?! When the moratorium is lifted, if Norse receives many or even most of the permits to drill, their stock will soar.

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues

AP to Josh Fox: Fracking Does Not Cause Breast Cancer
July 23, 2012July 23, 2012

Wow, something we never thought we would see: The Associated Press skewers Josh Fox (Gasland and The Sky is Pink), exposing the lie he spreads that breast cancer rates are higher in the Barnett Shale in Texas because of fracking. The truth is, breast cancer rates in that area are not higher than other areas of the state or country. Oh oh Josh, don’t look now, but your lies are being exposed by your pals in the mainstream media.

The AP story starts out this way:

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Chenango County | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation

Sen. Libous Responds to Chenango County, NY Rumor
July 23, 2012July 23, 2012

MDN recently told you about the CNY Landowner’s Coalition sounding the alarm that Chenango County, NY may not be included in the initial hydraulic fracturing “test run” that is rumored to be coming from Gov. Andrew Cuomo (see this MDN story). Coalition members number in the thousands and represent over 240,000 acres of land—the largest single coalition MDN is aware of. So when they mobilized their members to write and call Gov. Cuomo and State Sen. Tom Libous (their representative in Albany), that’s just what happened. And the politicians noticed.

At a recent pro-drilling event, Sen. Libous responded to the rumor that Chenango County would be dropped from the rumored plan to allow fracking in “The Lucky Five” counties:

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Accidents | Chevron | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Marshall County | Ohio County | West Virginia

Chevron Restarts Production for Some WV Wells after Accident
July 23, 2012July 23, 2012

Chevron previously purchased a number of leases and drilling operations in Marshall and Ohio counties in West Virginia. But they halted production for their WV operations earlier this year after a well exploded near Moundsville to conduct a top to bottom safety review and ensure the newly acquired operations met Chevron’s high safety standards.

Although the review is ongoing, it’s been completed in some areas and wells in Marshall County are now starting to come back online.

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Broome County | Delaware County | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | New York | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Schoharie County | Susquehanna County | Williams

Williams Holds Public Sessions for New Constitution Pipeline
July 23, 2012July 23, 2012

MDN editor Jim Willis attended a “meet and greet” session by Williams about their proposed new Constitution Pipeline. This is a first-hand account of that meeting.

Gas production from northeastern Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale is so plentiful, new pipelines are necessary to move it to market. That was the message from Williams Corporation last Wednesday night at the West Windsor Fire Hall located just miles outside of Binghamton, NY.

Williams was on hand to discuss the proposed Constitution Pipeline, a joint venture between Williams and Cabot Oil & Gas to build a 121-mile pipeline from the Marcellus-rich area of Susquehanna County, PA north to Schoharie County, NY.

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Earthquakes | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Wastewater

Bloomberg Targets Fracking for Recycling Water, Earthquakes
July 23, 2012July 23, 2012

Another masterful hit job against fracking by Bloomberg, this one appearing in Bloomberg Businessweek. The latest propaganda piece masquerading as an article, titled “Fracking Foes Build Momentum for Recycling,” goes after fracking based on the amount of water used, especially in light of the “the worst U.S. drought in a half century.”

The aim of the article is to plant the seed that fracking uses too much water, although the article’s authors admit (slipping in this fact along the way) that water use for hydraulic fracturing in Pennsylvania is less than one-tenth of one percent (0.01) of all water used every day in that state. In other words, the amount of water used by fracking in PA is a rounding error. Makes no difference—the authors plow on trying to sully the reputation of fracking.

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Fayette County | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania

Ohiopyle, PA Summer Camp Brainwashes Kids Against Fracking
July 23, 2012July 23, 2012

Be careful which camp you send your kids to this summer. The camp they attend may just be brainwashing them against the miracle of hydraulic fracturing, like the Mountain Watershed Association did when it held its Clean Water Camp last week at the Ohiopyle Community Center in Ohiopyle, PA.

Little 8 year-olds at the camp were visited by Tour de Frack bike riders on their way to a hippie-fest anti-fracking rally in Washington, D.C. and they took time out to share a brainwashing session with youngsters:

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues

David Letterman Screws Himself with Fracking Comments
July 23, 2012July 23, 2012

Unfortunately for those who get their news from sources like late night television—people who frankly can’t rub two brain cells together—David Letterman has proven yet again that you can fool some of the people all of the time—into thinking that you’re right, and into thinking you’re funny. Last week Letterman did a nearly two minute rant on fracking (watch it below) that is so full of outright lies he should be charged with comedic malpractice.

During his idiotic diatribe he says “we’re screwed” because:

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About MDN | Calendar

Calendar of Events for Jul 23-Aug 5, 2012 [FREE]
July 23, 2012July 23, 2012

Below are upcoming events for this week and next.

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Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Mon, Jul 23, 2012
July 23, 2012July 23, 2012

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

Read More “Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Mon, Jul 23, 2012”