Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel

Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

NY Radicals Ask Cuomo to Ban Fracking Because of Global Warming
December 4, 2014December 4, 2014

Not that it’s been hiding anywhere, but the truth comes out (yet again). A group of 75+ individuals masquerading as “groups of people” have signed and sent a letter to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (full copy below) requesting that he ban fracking statewide. Why? Because of their belief that mankind is causing global warming by burning fossil fuels. That is, because they hate fossil fuels. They hate the fossil fuels used to manufacture the computers on which they typed the letter to Cuomo. They hate the fossil fuels they use to travel to work. They hate the fossil fuels that are part of the clothes they wear (petrochemical fibers) and the sneakers on their feet. They hate the fossil fuels they use to heat their homes. Yep, the so-called environmentalists who use fossil fuels every day of their lives–hate them. We call it insanity. Fracking Derangement Syndrome (FDS). Left-wing newspapers like the Albany Times Union dutifully report it like its actually news…
Read More “NY Radicals Ask Cuomo to Ban Fracking Because of Global Warming”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Litigation

Enviro Groups Sue DOT to Stop Bakken Oil Rail Shipments
December 4, 2014December 4, 2014

The radicals at Earthjustice, the Sierra Club and ForestEthics (bet you didn’t know that forests have ethics, didja?) have sued the federal Dept. of Transportation to challenge the DOT’s refusal to ban railroads from shipping crude oil via rail from the Bakken (and other shale plays). This is the same tactic repeatedly used by anti-drillers (and leftists everywhere) to create new laws without getting Congress involved. Sue a regulatory agency, win the lawsuit, then the agency is “forced” to enact a regulation it (supposedly) didn’t want to enact–at the gun point of a lefty judge. (Watch this video of Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt for an explanation of how they do it.) What Earthjustice and their ilk continue to do to our justice system is sick…
Read More “Enviro Groups Sue DOT to Stop Bakken Oil Rail Shipments”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

Anti-Drilling Christmas Carols: Climate Change is Coming to Town [Video]
December 2, 2014December 2, 2014

Just when you thought it was the season of peace on earth and goodwill toward men (and women), the season of cheer and good tidings, eggnog and presents–along come wacky anti-drillers to screw up Christmas. Members of the radical Clean Air Council in Philadelphia are rewriting Christmas carols to include messages about nutty man-made global warming. Here’s some real creativity: “You better watch out, you better not cry, you better not pout, I’m telling you why. Climate Change is coming to town.” Wow. How much did these kids’ parents ~~waste~~ pay for a college education? Watch the video below and marvel at youthful stupidity…
Read More “Anti-Drilling Christmas Carols: Climate Change is Coming to Town [Video]”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Kinder Morgan | Pipelines | Tennessee Gas Pipeline

Anti-Pipeline Arguments in New Hampshire Debunked by MDN Reader
December 1, 2014December 1, 2014

A conservative and a liberal get into a discussion at a local landfill about a plan to run a new pipeline through their state…. Sound like the setup to a joke? It’s no laughing matter. MDN subscriber Rick G. from New Hampshire recently had such an encounter. The arguments Rick heard from those opposed to the Kinder Morgan pipeline, and his counter arguments, are instructive for us all…
Read More “Anti-Pipeline Arguments in New Hampshire Debunked by MDN Reader”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Regulation | Statewide OH

OH Senate Asked to Fix Language in Frack Chemical Reporting Bill
December 1, 2014December 1, 2014

Anti-drillers are fundamentally unhappy people. They want no drilling, so in an effort to try and scuttle drilling, they do stupid things–like last year when they forced a change in Ohio away from filing lists of chemicals used at drill sites electronically to having them filed by paper instead (see OH Antis Force Change in Chemical Reporting, Everyone Less Safe). Going backward is not a good plan, so the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) lobbied for new changes in the chemical reporting law to fix the mess caused by anti-drillers. The changes were made two weeks ago when an omnibus environmental and agricultural bill was passed by the Ohio House. Problem is, the changes made weren’t the ones ODNR wanted…
Read More “OH Senate Asked to Fix Language in Frack Chemical Reporting Bill”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Dominion Energy | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Statewide WV | West Virginia

So-Called ‘Pipeline Air Force’ to Track Dominion Pipeline in WV
November 26, 2014November 26, 2014

Just when you think you’ve heard it all, along comes another bizarre twist from those who oppose shale drilling. As we’ve reported in a number of stories, Dominion is planning to build a 550-mile, $5 billion natural gas pipeline from West Virginia through Virginia and into North Carolina. It’s called the Atlantic Coast Pipeline project and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is now evaluating it (see Dominion Asks FERC to Start Environmental Review of SE Pipeline). Apparently a group of people who oppose the pipeline plan to keep an eye on it as it’s built (they must figure it’s a foregone conclusion that it will get built). They’ve somehow gotten ahold of three airplanes that they will use to spy from the sky as the pipeline gets built through the mountains of West Virginia…
Read More “So-Called ‘Pipeline Air Force’ to Track Dominion Pipeline in WV”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Crestwood Midstream | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | New York | Schuyler County

Steingraber, 2 Others Sent to Jail for Refusing to Pay Fine
November 24, 2014November 24, 2014

The increasingly shrill (and irrational) Sandra Steingraber, a so-called “scholar in residence” who’s paid to gallivant and protest shale drilling and related fossil fuel issues by Ithaca College, was (once again) arrested, refused to pay her fine, and carted off to jail for refusing to pay a fine because she illegally blocked the entrance to a legally running business that one day hopes to house underground storage of natural gas. The facility is a depleted salt cavern along the shore of Seneca Lake (near Watkins Glen, NY). Steingraber has pulled this stunt before (see NY Anti-Drilling Protesters Jailed After Refusing to Pay Fine). Since she gets no media attention and you wouldn’t know about it otherwise, we thought we’d share the news with you…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Butler County | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Rex Energy

Martians & Enviro Groups Continue to Block Rex Drilling in W PA
November 21, 2014November 21, 2014

Martians have successfully delayed Rex Energy from continuing to drill a series of five Marcellus wells on a single pad in Middlesex Township (western Pennsylvania). You may recall that two so-called environmental groups (front groups for rigid anti-drillers)–THE Delaware Riverkeeper and the Clean Air Council, both based on the other side of the state in the Philadelphia area–along with four parents from the Mars school district, filed an appeal of the decision to allow the drilling to occur in Middlesex Township (see Rex Drilling Operation Near Mars School Put on Hold). The Mars school district is some 3/4 of a mile from the drilling site–never mind at least two other schools in PA, one near Mars, allows drilling ON SCHOOL PROPERTY! Nope. The Martians are insistent that Rex not be allowed to drill those wells because it will endanger the kiddies. So a zoning board hearing was held Tuesday night and “continued” until another meeting at the end of December. Town officials say they may end up holding five hearings total on the matter (one for each well?) before it’s concluded. Meanwhile, no more drilling for Rex at that site…
Read More “Martians & Enviro Groups Continue to Block Rex Drilling in W PA”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Companies | Indiana County | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Pennsylvania General Energy | Wastewater

Little Mahoning Watershed to Testify in Court Case (??)
November 21, 2014November 21, 2014

You have to give the silly anti-fossil fuel nutters one thing–they sure are creative. The latest nonsense to come from the extreme left is that artificial constructs like watersheds now have “rights” and can somehow speak for itself. At least that’s what’s being claimed in a “first of its kind” motion by–yes–the Little Mahoning Watershed (Indiana County, PA). We wonder, what does the Watershed’s voice sound like? And where, precisely, did the Watershed scribble down its statement that was recently delivered to the court? We’d like to see that place and behold that miracle. This would all be rolling-on-the-floor funny if extremists weren’t so hellbent on bastardizing our laws and the U.S. Constitution–to the point our legal system becomes meaningless. The Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF), which hangs its hat in Mercersburg, PA, says Little Mahoning Watershed spoke to it and whispered it doesn’t want to be polluted by nasty frack wastewater…
Read More “Little Mahoning Watershed to Testify in Court Case (??)”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Landfills | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA | Wastewater

PA Dem Congressman Cartwright Continues to Bash DEP
November 21, 2014November 21, 2014

An anti-drilling Democrat Congressman from Pennsylvania’s 17th Congressional District (eastern part of the state), U.S. Rep. Matt Cartwright, continues a campaign of smearing the Marcellus Shale industry with a so-called investigation into how frack wastes in PA get handled and disposed. In October Cartwright demanded information from the new acting Secretary of the Dept. of Environmental Protection (see PA Dem Congressman Demands Info from DEP on Frack Waste). Cartwright’s latest media stunt is to send demand letters to WV and OH to ask them how they dispose frack waste in their states…
Read More “PA Dem Congressman Cartwright Continues to Bash DEP”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Landfills | Litigation | Ohio | Regulation | Statewide OH | Wastewater

Another Day, Another Lawsuit from Food & Water Watch
November 20, 2014November 20, 2014

The anti-drilling Fresh Water Accountability Project (FWAP)–based in Ohio–along with the odious and litigious (and misnamed) Food & Water Watch have once again, sued. Surprise! This time they’ve sued OH Gov. John Kasich along with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) for what they claim are the “illegal approval of at least 23 fracking waste handling, storage, processing and recycling facilities to operate.” Lea Harper, head of the so-called FWAP, has been involved in other anti-drilling lawsuits, including one against the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District. FWW must have to employ a librarian to keep track of all their anti-drilling lawsuits. Here’s the latest bald-faced lies from these two litigious organizations:
Read More “Another Day, Another Lawsuit from Food & Water Watch”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Crestwood Midstream | Crime | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | New York | Schuyler County

Progress with Proposed Seneca Lake Propane Storage Facility
November 19, 2014November 19, 2014

Some positive movement (finally) for the proposed LPG (liquefied petroleum gas, or propane) storage facility proposed by Crestwood Midstream for a depleted salt cavern along Seneca Lake, near Watkins Glen, NY. We’ve been covering this story for years (see our articles on Inergy and Crestwood). In 2009 Inergy, which has since been sold to Crestwood, applied for a permit to store LPG in the depleted salt caverns on Seneca Lake. Since then, the state Dept. of Environmental Conservation, under a series of Democrat governors, has intentionally delayed issuing a permit for the facility. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) gave their blessing for the facility last month, and early last week the DEC finally issued draft permit conditions–the next step in the process…
Read More “Progress with Proposed Seneca Lake Propane Storage Facility”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Taxation

Green Scissors Proposes New Energy Taxes Under Guise of Spending Cuts
November 19, 2014November 19, 2014

A completely bogus anti-drilling campaign calling itself “Green Scissors” attempts to pass off the latest anti-fossil fuel efforts by Friends of the Earth and two other unheard of, far left groups (Taxpayers for Common Sense and R Street) as cutting wasteful government spending. It is NOTHING of the sort. Their so-called interactive database identifies “more than $259 billion in environmentally-harmful government waste” that they hope Republicans in Congress will adopt. What it really is, is their recommendations for eliminating tax deductions that encourage energy companies to drill for oil and gas. Deductions like instead of the ability to write off an expense up front, in the year when the expense occurs–Green Scissors wants to force energy companies to amortize and depreciate the expense over the life of the asset (decades). In other words, raise taxes on energy companies. In the minds of Green Scissors–ALL MONEY belongs to the government and the government allows you to keep some of it–rather than the other way around…
Read More “Green Scissors Proposes New Energy Taxes Under Guise of Spending Cuts”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Kinder Morgan | Pipelines | Regulation

4 Mass. Legislators Brag About Opposing Kinder Pipeline
November 18, 2014November 18, 2014

Here’s four Massachusetts state representatives that residents of MA may want to consider voting out of office for their rigid stance against the Kinder Morgan Northeast Energy Direct pipeline, a pipeline aimed at delivering cheap, abundant clean-burning Marcellus Shale gas so desperately needed in MA and the other New England states: Rep. Stephen Kulik (D-Worthington), Sen. Eileen Donaghue (D-Lowell), Sen. Jamie Eldridge (D-Acton), and Rep. Sheila Harrington (R-Groton). They boast that they pressured current/out-going governor Deval Patrick to back away from supporting the pipeline. The Democrat candidate for governor in November’s election, Martha Coakley (Patrick decided not to run again), opposed the pipeline too. She lost. Even in the face of defeat and the prospect of rolling blackouts (see the story below), these dimwits continue their push to prevent more natural gas from reaching their region due to their own misguided prejudice against fossil fuels…
Read More “4 Mass. Legislators Brag About Opposing Kinder Pipeline”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Statewide OH

OH Anti Group Claims Legislature Wants to Drill in State Lands (Redux)
November 17, 2014November 17, 2014

The wacko Ohio Environmental Council (committed anti-drillers all) is raising the alarm that the Ohio legislature, and RINO Gov. John Kasich, may be about to allow oil and gas drilling under state-owned lands. One can only hope they would be so smart as to allow it! Yes ladies and gents, an Ohio House committee is, according to the OEC, considering a “stealth effort” to re-open Ohio public lands to oil and gas drilling. Ooooo…
Read More “OH Anti Group Claims Legislature Wants to Drill in State Lands (Redux)”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Lebanon County | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Sunoco Logistics

Sunoco Presents on Mariner East Pump Station in Lebanon, PA
November 12, 2014November 12, 2014

On Monday we told you that a few committed anti-drillers in Lebanon County, PA have been distracted from opposing the Williams Atlantic Sunrise pipeline project by shiny object syndrome–another pipeline project, from Sunoco Logistics (see New Target for Lebanon, PA Antis: Mariner East Pipeline). The Mariner East pipeline has been in the ground for decades, but Sunoco is repurposing the pipeline to flow natural gas liquids and that requires building a new pump station. A Sunoco rep presented information about the pipeline and the pumping station last night at the West Cornwall town board meeting–but the three Lebanon residents appealing the permits for the station with the zoning board weren’t allowed to ask questions, and boy oh boy did that tick them off…
Read More “Sunoco Presents on Mariner East Pump Station in Lebanon, PA”