Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel

  • | | | |

    Virginia Anti Groups Pressure Gov McAuliffe to Shut Down Fracking

    A group of virulent anti-drilling groups, including Clean Water Action, the Virginia Sierra Club and Shenandoah Riverkeeper, are pushing Virginia’s Democrat Governor Terry McAuliffe to halt any new fracking permits in the state until they can muster enough public support (through their lying public relations campaigns) to permanently shut down fracking in the Old Dominion, like has been done in the Empire State (i.e. New York). Said groups, which always position their “requests” as even-handed and really the only wise thing to do–have pulled this stunt in state after state after state. Fracking is a miracle. Fracking is safe. Fracking produces jobs. Fracking does not pollute water, air, land, etc. But you wouldn’t know that by the propaganda issued by these disgusting groups. We hope McAuliffe doesn’t cave to their pressure the way man-child Andy Cuomo did…
    Read More “Virginia Anti Groups Pressure Gov McAuliffe to Shut Down Fracking”

  • |

    Paris Climate Change Hoaxers Stick Fingers in Ears, Holler La La La

    More news from Paris and the COP21 Climate Conference going on there. You might think scientists would want to know if other scientists have evidence that your hypotheses and theories need to be modified a bit–challenging your theories based on real, actual science. Any good scientist welcomes such a challenge because in the end, either your theory was off-base and you can make it better/more accurate, or your theory was correct all along and you can show the world such is the case. However, the so-called scientists at the Paris Climate Conference want to revoke the credentials/pass to attend for anyone who does not “believe” as they do in the theory that mankind is catastrophically causing Mother Earth to warm up. Can you believe that?! This has gone so far beyond science it’s no longer funny. This is the equivalent of the Catholic Church persecuting Galileo for abandoning the geocentric (earth-at-the-center) view of the solar system for the heliocentric (sun-at-the-center) view. The warmers are the Catholic Church of the Fifteenth Century. If you cross us, if you disagree with us (and use science to do so), you are dirt. You are nothing. You will be expelled. In fact, some of these zealots want to put those of us who don’t believe in man-made global warming in jail (see RIT Professor Says Jail Those Who Don’t Believe in Global Warming). It’s like these climate change hoaxers stick their fingers in their ears and holler, “La la la la la, I can’t HEAR you!” Here’s the latest from Paris, where everything BUT science is being discussed…
    Read More “Paris Climate Change Hoaxers Stick Fingers in Ears, Holler La La La”

  • | |

    Spoiled Rotten Kids Disrupt Paris Climate Conf over Fracked Gas

    Captain PlanetThe United Nations COP21 Climate Conference in Paris is attracting some of the craziest of the climate crazies. And they’re from the northeast, no less! A group of college kids–know-nothings–interrupted a panel discussion that included Vermont’s Democrat Governor Peter Shumlin because, they say, the guv is supporting a pipeline that will bring “fracked gas” to the state. We call them clinically insane. If they knew how many pipelines already exist beneath Vermont soil that flow natural gas, we expect they would have an aneurysm. During the panel two of the know-nothings stood up and unfurled a big banner that said Fracked Gas = Climate Change, complete with a kindergartenish drawing that depicts fractures reaching up into the water table (which doesn’t happen–ever). In our day and age of blaming your asinine actions on your parents, or your teachers, or even on cartoons–we’ll blame it on the cartoons. We expect these kids grew up watching Captain Planet on Saturday mornings and believed it hook, line and sinker. Here’s the story of spoiled rotten kids behaving like…spoiled rotten kids….
    Read More “Spoiled Rotten Kids Disrupt Paris Climate Conf over Fracked Gas”

  • | |

    Bernie Sanders Energy Plan: Ban Fossil Fuels, Turn Thermostat Down

    We always smile when we hear the name “Bernie Sanders.” He’s a hapless old idiot. A commie. Someone totally out of his league in running for president. But you know, he has a certain appeal–interestingly enough, with young people. The young people who like Sanders were no doubt mis-educated–not taught of the wonders and superiority of capitalism and freedom over communism/socialism/tyranny. But whatever. Bernie has a large following, which makes it somewhat scary when he announces an energy plan that includes banning all fossil fuels. Ole Bernie thinks we can stick up a windmill about every 150 feet, and solar panels on every home’s roof, and that’ll do it. We’ll be able to “save Mom Earth” by ending our “dependency” on evil, nasty fossil fuels. What dopes–Bernie AND his supporters…
    Read More “Bernie Sanders Energy Plan: Ban Fossil Fuels, Turn Thermostat Down”

  • | | | |

    Letter Writing War Erupts Over Jessup, PA Gas-Fired Power Plant

    An interesting back and forth in letters to the editor of the Democrat-run Scranton Times-Tribune over the proposed electric generating plant in Jessup, PA. As MDN has previously chronicled, Chicago-based Invenergy hopes to build what will be the largest (to date) electric generating plant in the state of Pennsylvania powered by natural gas (see Public Hearing on NEPA Proposed Marcellus-Powered Electric Plant). Invenergy hopes to build the 1300-megawatt plant in the borough of Jessup (Lackawanna County), near Scranton. In very basic and simple terms, local Democrat anti-drillers (who hate fossil fuels of any kind) are against the plant, and local clear-thinking Republicans are in favor of this clean-burning, jobs-producing, economy-stimulating project. Recently a ginned-up “controversy” over the plant took to the editorial pages of the Times-Tribune. Here’s the (so far) back and forth between two antis and one pro…
    Read More “Letter Writing War Erupts Over Jessup, PA Gas-Fired Power Plant”

  • | | | | | |

    Inflection Energy Defeats Delaware Riverkeeper in Lycoming Co.

    It doesn’t happen often enough, which is why we make a big deal of it when it does: An energy company (in this case Inflection Energy) completely, utterly, and humiliatingly defeated THE Delaware Riverkeeper in an important court case in Lycoming County, PA. Less than a month ago we brought you the news that a Lycoming County judge had told an anti-driller, backed by Delaware Riverkeeper and Riverkeeper attorney Jordan Yeager, that the case they had filed to prevent Inflection Energy from drilling a legally permitted well was frivolous. The judge said he would allow the case to go forward, but only if the anti (and Riverkeeper) put up big bucks as collateral for the eventuality that they would likely lose (see PA Judge to Antis Seeking Drilling Delay: Put Up $5.69M or Shut Up). Turns out making these sleazeballs put their money where their mouth is, is good medicine. Riverkeeper and its “client” (the local anti-driller) have bowed out. The case is now closed and can’t be re-opened–and it sets a precedent for similar cases. In other words, the good guys won this time!…
    Read More “Inflection Energy Defeats Delaware Riverkeeper in Lycoming Co.”

  • | | | |

    FANG Protesters Strike RI Compressor Station Again, 8 Arrested

    FANG logoJust like a bad case of gout that keeps returning, or perhaps more relevantly like a flareup of herpes, radical protesters keep using illegal actions to oppose the expansion of a compressor station in Rhode Island–Spectra Energy’s Burrillville, RI compressor station. They used illegal actions in August (see FANG Protesters Chain Themselves to RI Compressor Station Gate). They did it again in September (see FANG Protesters Strike RI Compressor Station Again, 3 Arrested). And they did it yet again this past weekend. This time eight protesters were arrested, including a nun who has forsaken her first love, Jesus, and replaced Him with worship of Mother Earth. The protesters illegally trespassed on Spectra’s property and were arrested and removed. Once again, the protest was organized by the threatening-sounding group that calls itself FANG (yes, that is their logo, not something we made up)…
    Read More “FANG Protesters Strike RI Compressor Station Again, 8 Arrested”

  • | | | | |

    Jefferson Hills, PA Antis Oppose EQT Well Near Future School Site

    A battle is heating up in Jefferson Hills (Allegheny County), PA where EQT has (so far) applied to drill a single shale well, near where a new school will be built. Because notifications of the neighbors requires EQT to list the maximum number of wells that may eventually get drilled at the well pad site, EQT has said that eventually that pad may support 20 wells. Note they are not planning on drilling 20 wells at the site. Further note: we’ve never even heard of 20-well site drilled anywhere in the state! Facts don’t matter in this debate. Anti-drilling radicals have latched on to the 20-well number and are raising a fuss, attempting to stop EQT from drilling even a single well. The primary objection seems to be because it will be near a school–a school not yet built…
    Read More “Jefferson Hills, PA Antis Oppose EQT Well Near Future School Site”

  • | | |

    Anti-Fracking Jackets for Sale at Local Craft Fair in Pittsburgh

    Ever been to a local craft fair? They’re fun. You usually find everything on display and for sale from potholders to original paintings to wooden toys to kettle corn. It’s always eclectic–you never know what you’re going to find at such a show. The one thing we’ve never seen (or heard of), until now, is anti-fracking items for sale. Such a booth turned up at a recent craft fair held in Pittsburgh. It’s just, well, unseemly. Out of place. Kind of like a drunken relative who shows up for a family gathering–someone whom no one wants to be there…
    Read More “Anti-Fracking Jackets for Sale at Local Craft Fair in Pittsburgh”

  • | | |

    Binghamton Newspaper Extreme Anti-Drilling Bias on Display

    This is what passes for “journalism” at the Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin (P&SB), MDN’s hometown newspaper. Once upon a time the P&SB had a lefty reporter working for them, Tom Wilber. We’ve highlighted Tom’s anti-fracking articles in the past. Tom is a good writer, and fancied himself an Author, so he left the P&SB to write a book on fracking, “Under the Surface: Fracking, Fortunes, and the Fate of the Marcellus Shale.” Perhaps Tom thought he could retire in style after attacking shale energy. The book bombed. Tom had to get a day job again and ended up working for the P&SB (surprise!). He recently penned a rehashed diatribe against shale drilling in a series on shale energy appearing in the pages of the P&SB. We found it, quite frankly, boring. If we’re bored, you will be too–which is why we didn’t bother to comment on the series. Fortunately, MDN friends Tom Shepstone and others “took one for the team” and analyzed Tom’s latest anti-drilling diatribe (see NGN: Is That All There Is, Tom Wilber?). Tom (Shepstone) deserves hazard pay for reading it all. Our point: Tom Wilber is what the P&SB considers to be a fair, impartial journalist. Well, no they don’t, not really. They know he’s as biased and unfair as the editors at the P&SB, which is why they run his articles. They present his work as impartial journalism. To further highlight just how unfair and biased the P&SB is, we spotted two opinion pieces in the Sunday edition (yesterday). You know how newspapers run side-by-side “for and against” op-ed pieces? This time it was “against and against”–both op-eds were against fracking and shale energy. That’s what passes for “fair” in the P&SB…
    Read More “Binghamton Newspaper Extreme Anti-Drilling Bias on Display”

  • | | | | |

    PennEast: The Long, Careful, Deliberate Road to Pipeline Approval

    The latest theme/meme being pedaled by groups like THE Delaware Riverkeeper (Maya van Rossum) and other anti-fossil fuel groups is that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is just a big ole rubber stamp for Big Oil and Big Gas. FERC, they say, never met a pipeline project they didn’t approve. FERC is in the back pocket of the fossil fuel industry. Yada yada yada. Some of the crazier of the crazies took to attending open FERC meetings in Washington, DC and disrupting those meetings (see FERC Clears the Room at DC HQ After Riff Raff Start Mouthing Off). Once they were banned from attending, they began to illegally block entrance to the building (see 24 Anti-Drilling Protesters Arrested by Homeland Security in DC). FERC has been made a kindergartenish bogyman by those who oppose pipelines. To counter some of the nonsense pedaled by these groups (and their willing accomplices in the media), PennEast Pipeline recently published an article to set the record straight. FERC doesn’t simply rubber stamp a pipeline application like PennEast’s–a pipeline proposed to run from Wilkes-Barre, PA to Trenton, NJ. PennEast faces a “gauntlet of approvals”–including 11 federal, state and local agencies that must approve thousands of pages of plans, much of it stringent safety requirements. Approving a pipeline is an intense, detailed, and LONG process in which no stone is left unturned. There is no rubber stamp except in the childish minds of irrational anti-fossil fuelers…
    Read More “PennEast: The Long, Careful, Deliberate Road to Pipeline Approval”

  • | | | |

    Water Well Testing Near OH Injection Wells Comes Back Negative

    Athens County, OH is infested with liberal Democrats who irrationally hate fossil fuels. Let’s just get the facts out there on the table, shall we? The ninny nannies in Athens finally (after years of agitation) browbeat their neighbors into voting for a frack ban last year (see 3 of 4 Frack Ban Ballot Measures in Ohio Fail – Athens Exception). Whatever. Athens County hosts eight wastewater injection wells and that drives the crazies every crazier. They’re doing their damnedest to get all eight shut down, and to deny a permit for a ninth well (see Athens County Asks Gov Kasich & ODNR to Stop New Injection Wells). One of their strategies is to prove that the existing wastewater injection wells are causing pollution of nearby water wells and groundwater supplies. So a study was done, testing nine different water wells for the presence of volatile organic compounds–a signal that wastewater is leaking into the wells. Guess what they found? Nothing. Nada. Zip. Zero. The injection wells are not contaminating groundwater and water well sources. What do the crazies want? More testing! More more more more more. They want to test until they find something–or rig the tests so something gets found…
    Read More “Water Well Testing Near OH Injection Wells Comes Back Negative”

  • | | |

    Shale Gas Faces Double Trouble: Low Prices & Pipeline Opposition

    According to the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA), the natural gas industry faces a double “new normal” that hobbles the industry: (1) low prices for natural gas for the foreseeable future, and (2) public opposition to pipeline expansion, especially in New England. Here’s what IEEFA’s executive director, Sandy Buchanan, says about this double threat to our beloved industry…
    Read More “Shale Gas Faces Double Trouble: Low Prices & Pipeline Opposition”

  • | |

    Paris Climate Summit Jazzes Obama…Why it Doesn’t Matter

    Yesterday our Dear Leader, Barack Hussein Obama (BHO), addressed global warming nutters from around the world who came to Paris to agree to less freedom for citizens of the United States (and to sentence developing countries to lifetimes of misery). That about sums up what the United Nations twenty-first conference of the parties (COP-21) is all about. It’s about limiting economic activity in countries around the world under the pretense of man-made global warming. What’s funny about yesterday is that even one of their own, BHO, was a little too windy for the assembled nutters. Apparently you can have too much wind–who knew? BHO, like other world leaders to address the assembled warmers, was given a 3-minute time slot to spout his opinions blaming the USA for global warming. But BHO, like the Energizer Bunny, just kept going and going and going. At the nine minute mark the Frenchies started to hit the buzzer and kept stabbing it periodically to signal BHO it was time to get his @$$ off the stage. But the tone deaf BHO kept right on jabbering until he was done reading the last word the teleprompter told him to read–some 11 minutes after he began. Below we have the story of BHO’s long-winded address to COP-21, along with some rational views about what this ill-fated conference is really all about, and why no agreement BHO signs will ever see the light of day (or matter) in the good old US of A…
    Read More “Paris Climate Summit Jazzes Obama…Why it Doesn’t Matter”

  • | | | |

    PA Supreme Court to Hear Case on Banning Drilling on State Lands

    Pennsylvania’s Democrat Supreme Court will take up the issue of whether or not private property rights still exist in the Keystone State. That’s the clear legal issue before the court over whether or not the State of Pennsylvania can continue to allow oil and gas drilling on state lands and use the revenues it receives as part of the general fund. Lower courts have all ruled that yes, the state can legally lease its own property, and allow drilling under public land for which it doesn’t, in some cases, own the mineral rights. But radical environmentalists are attempting to abuse the state’s highest court–now packed with liberal Democrats–to achieve what they can’t achieve by any other means. They’re hoping the high court will find a new cockamamie “right” to protect the environment that trumps public and even private property rights in the process. That is, they’re hoping the Supremes will rule that the state MUST ban drilling on state-owned land, in order to protect Mother Earth…
    Read More “PA Supreme Court to Hear Case on Banning Drilling on State Lands”

  • | | |

    Antis Ramp Up to Discredit EPA Study that Found Fracking is Safe

    It was certainly a major blow to radical environmentalists when, after studying fracking for more than four years (reviewing some 950 studies, including conducting several original studies of its own), the federal Environmental Protection Agency announced what everyone already knew: fracking is safe (see EPA Draft Report Says Fracking Doesn’t Pollute Groundwater Supplies). Science is science and facts are facts. The announcement took the wind out of the sails for anti-fossil fuel nutters who thought they could convince everyone to return to the stone ages and eliminate the use of fossil fuels. However, science has been corrupted and politicized–just witness the global warming debate. Radical environmentalists knowing they can never convince the hoi polloi, the great unwashed, the people they consider idiots, to go along with their holier-than-thou energy plans to eliminate fossil fuels, if fracking is perceived as anything but evil–are fighting back. Here’s the plan. Get the EPA to discredit its own study. That process is now underway. In October the usual radical suspects showed up at EPA HQ to demand they turn their backs on their own study (see Anti Groups Try to Convince EPA They Got it Wrong with Water Study). Apparently they got through to at least a few sympathetic “scientists” who are members of the EPA’s own Scientific Advisory Board…
    Read More “Antis Ramp Up to Discredit EPA Study that Found Fracking is Safe”