Marcellus Drilling News

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

Broome County Republicans to Cuomo: Drill Now or Move On
October 9, 2012October 9, 2012

An article published last weekend by Gannett tackles the tricky middle ground NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo is trying to navigate when it comes to fracking. MDN has gone on record with our disappointment in Cuomo and Dept. of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Joe Martens. The Joint Landowners Coalition of New York (JLCNY) is on record expressing their disappointment too (see this MDN story).

The Gannett article doesn’t add much in the way of news to the fracking-in-New-York issue, but it is noteworthy for one reason: Two prominent Upstate New York Republican politicians, both from Broome County, are quoted essentially telling Cuomo to make a decision and be done with it. To wit:

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Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues

Marcellus has Largest Recoverable Gas Deposit in Lower 48
October 9, 2012October 9, 2012

Investment research company ITG has just released a new 64-page report analyzing the recoverable onshore oil and gas deposits in the Lower 48 United States. Among their findings: The Marcellus Shale holds the largest remaining recoverable resources of natural gas at 330 trillion cubic feet.

Here’s a few more interesting statistics from the study, via the ITG press release:

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

York, NY Votes Down Fracking Moratorium
October 9, 2012October 9, 2012

Town council members for York, NY (Livingston County) recently voted against a proposed fracking moratorium for the town. Unlike their unwise neighbors in Avon, NY (see this MDN story), York town board members took the time to carefully review the situation and instead of making a hasty political statement, they voted to remain neutral, saving the town a lot of money in legal fees to defend an illegal moratorium (the City of Binghamton’s moratorium was recently overturned).

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Broome County | Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | New York | Pipelines | Taxation

NY Town’s Taxes Decrease Thanks to Marcellus Activity in PA
October 9, 2012October 9, 2012

Even though New York has not allowed high volume, horizontal hydraulic fracturing (yet), some communities along the border with Pennsylvania, like MDN’s own community—the Town of Windsor (Broome County, NY)—are seeing tangible benefits. Those benefits are for every single resident, not just landowners who have leased or energy companies who drill. Windsor’s school tax bill for residents just went down! When’s the last time you heard anyone in NY say that?

MDN doesn’t know for sure, but we’d wager a large sum Windsor is the only school district in the entire state where taxes have gone down this year. Why?

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Broome County | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York

Binghamton Mayor Ryan’s New Folly: Water Testing
October 9, 2012October 9, 2012

The failed mayor of Binghamton, Matt Ryan, is going on a fishing trip—but it’s no ordinary fishing trip. He wants to see if he can’t persuade Binghamton water technicians, who constantly test water quality of the Susquehanna River, to see if drilling in Pennsylvania has in any teeny tiny way impacted the quality of the river water Binghamton uses. So far, it’s a big, fat zero. No impact. None.

But that won’t dissuade the hard-headed, way out there left-leaning Democrat Ryan. He’s now asked for “special tests.” Yeah, that’ll do the trick! We need “special” (i.e. expensive) tests:

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Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | NG Vehicles

GE & Chesapeake Launch "CNG In A Box" for Filling Stations
October 9, 2012October 9, 2012

The name may not be overly clever, but the concept sure is. GE and Chesapeake Energy have partnered to release new technology for convenience stores called CNG In a Box™. The new technology uses regular natural gas that is found in most urban areas via a local pipeline, and it compresses that case into Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), making it available at a pump similar to a regular gasoline pump.

From the GE/Chesapeake press release:

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Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Statewide OH

Shale is "Revolutionary" for Ohio’s Petrochemical Industry
October 9, 2012October 9, 2012

Ohio finds itself at the very front end of the shale energy revolution and all of the benefits that will mean for the state. Most stories on how the shale boom will affect the state economically concentrate on the exploration and production (E&P) aspects and talk about jobs and tax revenue—very important aspects.

Not mentioned so often is another beneficiary of the shale revolution: the petrochemical industry. Shale drilling, according to one trade group, will have a “revolutionary” (not just evolutionary) impact on chemical and plastics companies throughout Ohio. How?

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Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Williams

Federal Agency Opposes Marcellus Constitution Pipeline
October 9, 2012October 9, 2012

MDN has previously reported on the proposed new Constitution Pipeline being planned by Williams and Cabot Oil & Gas (see this MDN story). The Constitution would run from Susquehanna County, PA into Central New York—Schoharie County—where it would link to both the Tennessee and Iroquois interstate natural gas pipelines.

A potentially powerful detractor of the proposed new pipeline has come forward: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS). A field supervisor for FWS sent a letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)—the federal agency charged with permitting pipelines—asking FERC to consider other possibilities before approving the Constitution Pipeline.

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues

New Technologies Being Patented for Fracking
October 9, 2012October 9, 2012

An interesting tidbit from the Foley & Lardner LLP law firm who’s been keeping an eye on new technologies being patented related to hydraulic fracturing:

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Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Taxation

Manufacturer Assoc Says Key to PA Drilling Success: Low Taxes
October 9, 2012October 9, 2012

A letter to the editor published in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal from the head of the Pennsylvania Manufacturers’ Association in response to an editorial on fracking in New York succinctly summarizes why Pennsylvania has been so successful in attracting and keeping drilling in their state. It also points out the differences between former Gov. Rendell and current Gov. Corbett in PA on the issue of shale gas drilling:

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Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Tue, Oct 9, 2012
October 9, 2012October 9, 2012

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

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