Virginia Inches Closer to Shale Drilling in Taylorsville Basin
For some time MDN has been watching the first stirrings of what may eventually be horizontal drilling and fracking in Virginia. But it’s not along the western fringes where the Marcellus layer is present. Instead, the attention has been in the eastern/central part of the state (see Fracking Finally on the Way in Virginia? Maybe Yes, Maybe No). Virginians, like Marylanders, New Yorkers and others that haven’t yet experienced the miracle of Marcellus Shale drilling have been fed a line of equine feces from fossil-fuel haters. Things like “It’ll contaminate yer water aquifers, man.”
We spotted an article about a very interesting meeting between Texas-based Shore Exploration and Production and area residents at a town hall meeting at the University of Mary Washington in Dahlgren (King George County), VA on Monday. From the article we learn that Shore has now leased 84,000 acres in the Taylorsville basin–south and east of Fredericksburg, VA. We also learn that the company’s CEO Ed DeJarnette, who presented at the meeting, is in ill-health and close to death. DeJarnette said he wants to use non-water-based hydraulic fracturing. His preference is to use nitrogen fracking (which is interesting to us). But DeJarnette, under heavy questioning, admitted Shore may sell the leases and he couldn’t guarantee whoever buys those leases will not use water-based fracking. Here is a report of the lively and interesting meeting from Monday…
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Although they don’t know for certain, the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) is assuming that Hilcorp’s Utica Shale drilling and fracking in the Youngstown area a month ago is the “probable” cause of a series of earthquakes in the area (see 
Everyone knows how mercenary and evil those oil and gas companies are. They’re just in it for the buck. Rape and pillage poor Mother Earth–pollute the air, pollute the water, pollute everything! Those shale drillers are actually some of the worst, ya know. That’s what the anti-drilling left would have you believe. That’s the meme constantly drummed by mainstream media. Throw in a “Halliburton loophole” and “Dimock” or maybe a “Pavillion, Wyoming” and you’re good to go with the typical mainstream coverage of our industry. Just a teeny, tiny problem…none of it is true.
Chesapeake Energy continues to find itself under the metaphorical gun with respect to royalty payments in Pennsylvania. The PA legislature is considering a bill (HB 1684) that would plug a legal loophole and require Chesapeake and other drillers to pay landowners a 12.5% minimum royalty regardless of post-production costs (see