PA Grand Jury Finds Anti-Drilling AG Kathleen Kane Lied Under Oath
Kathleen Kane, the anti-drilling Attorney General of Pennsylvania–lied under oath–according to a PA grand jury. That’s called perjury and it’s a crime. She should be removed from office immediately but she’s fighting the charge using Lanny Davis–the same lawyer who kept Bill Clinton in office after he lied under oath. She’s hoping lightening will strike twice and Davis will be able to restore her damaged-beyond-repair credibility as the state’s top law enforcement officer, even though she herself has committed high crimes against the state. Why do we care? Because she’s lied in at least two other cases that affect the Marcellus Shale industry: XTO Energy (see PA AG Abuses Her Authority, Files Criminal Charges Against XTO) and Minuteman Environmental Services (see Minuteman Sues AG Kane’s Office for $20M + Punitive Damages). She’s vicious and relentless when it comes to smearing the Marcellus industry and she needs to go because of her own crimes…
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A Green County man–Heath A. Rankin, 33, of Carmichaels, PA–was indicted earlier this week by a federal grand jury on a felony charge of damaging a shale well (or wells) on the Burchianti Pad in Greene County in March 2014. The pad is owned by Chevron, which is, according to one news source, planning to seek restitution for damages exceeding $5,000 allegedly caused by Mr. Rankin. Another man, Brian Harbarger, 34, of Cumberland, PA–was indicted for the same thing in December 2014. It’s too early to jump to any conclusions. Are they environmentalists that tipped over the line? Are they former/disgruntled employees? Drunk and out for a joy ride? We simply don’t know. Here’s what we do know…
Something we consider pretty big news: Chesapeake Energy is running an experiment with waterless fracking. They’ve contracted with Canadian waterless fracking company GASFRAC to attempt what is the second (that we’re aware of) waterless frack job on a Utica Shale well–in Tuscarawas County, OH. The first waterless frack job done by GASFRAC was for EV Energy Partners on a Utica well also in Tuscarawas County (see 
On March 3, a federal judge awarded a Tyler County, WV mineral owner $4.8 million in present and future royalties (plus interest) as damages in a dispute involving the operator’s failure to follow through on some unusually generous lease terms. The operator, Cunningham Energy LLC of Charleston, WV, had promised to horizontally drill eight wells to and through the Marcellus Shale formation within three years, but was unable to do so–largely because the leaseholds were far too small to develop as stand-alone units, and the surrounding lands turned out to be already under lease to other drillers…
Tioga County, PA is getting a reputation. No, not THAT kind of reputation silly! Tioga County, PA is getting a reputation for impressive Utica Shale wells. Last September MDN told you that Shell had drilled a pair of Utica wells in Tioga County (see 
Antero Resources, one of the largest drillers in the Marcellus/Utica, wants cash and they want it bad. Two days ago we told you that Antero is in the market floating IOUs (or “notes”) looking to raise a huge $1.25 billion (see