Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel

Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Kinder Morgan | Pipelines | Regulation | Tennessee Gas Pipeline

Deerfield MA “Bans” Kinder Morgan TGP Pipeline – Or So They Claim
October 24, 2014October 24, 2014

In September MDN pointed out the antics of the silly nutters in the Town of Deerfield, Massachusetts. The county Board of Health claims they have “unlimited power” to stop the Tennessee Gas Pipeline from coming through their township, if they decide to exercise their impressive (super) powers (see MA Town Health Board Claims “Unlimited Power” to Stop TGP). They’ve just decided to exercise those “powers.” In a breathtakingly bold (and stupid) move, they’ve served notice to Kinder Morgan that all construction on the proposed TGP pipeline in their town is forthwith banned. Of course, according to law, only the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has the power to authorize (or not) the pipeline through Deerfield–but why spoil a really good acid trip flashback for the old hippies behind this nonsense? Lawlessness is very fashionable these days…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Crestwood Midstream | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | New York | Schuyler County

NY Anti-Driller Steingraber Tries to Get Re-Arrested at Seneca Lake
October 24, 2014October 24, 2014

In March 2013, Ithaca College “distinguished scholar in residence” Sandra Steingraber, along with 11 other anti-drillers, were arrested for illegally blocking the entrance to a depleted salt mine along the shore of Seneca Lake near Watkins Glen, NY that Crestwood Midstream wants to use to store liquefied petroleum gas, i.e., propane (see NY Protesters Arrested for Blocking NatGas Storage Facility). Steingraber actually went to jail because she refused to pay a fine for her stunt (see NY Anti-Drilling Protesters Jailed After Refusing to Pay Fine). Since it’s been over a year since she was in the slammer, Steingraber must have the itch to go back in (it sometimes happens to convicts), so she convinced a few retirees with nothing better to do to stage a new illegal blockade of the facility. Of course, with no activity at the facility–on hold because New York Gov. Cuomo can never make a decision about anything dealing with natgas–the illegal blockade didn’t much matter to anyone but a few reporters…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Research

NRDC Says Efficiency, Not Fracking, Reason for Energy Security
October 23, 2014October 23, 2014

The U.S. has drastically reduced its dependence on foreign oil in the just the past 3-4 years. Electricity prices keep going down for many Americans too. The price of natural gas keeps falling. The air is getting cleaner. Why? Because of shale drilling, of course. But if you shake the snow globe real hard, tap your heals together three times and enter into the alternate universe of the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC), the reason for all of that good news not because of nasty, filthy shale–it’s because of (wait for it)…….energy efficiency. Instead of acknowledging that the miracle of fracking is the cause of this good news, the NRDC is attempting to simply rewrite history in an attempt to make cutting back–energy efficiency–the prime reason why things are looking up. Nice try NRDC, but no cigar…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | New York | Statewide NY

Stop That (Bakken Oil) Train!
October 23, 2014October 23, 2014

The wackos at Earthjustice, along with the nutty Sierra Clubbers and a few other anti-fossil fuel groups have sent a petition to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the NY Dept. of Environmental Conservation essentially calling crude oil trains carrying Bakken light crude over tracks in New York rolling bombs. The so-called environmental groups are calling on Cuomo to stop shipments of Bakken crude that traverse the state on the way to the Port of Albany where the oil is loaded onto ships and moved to refineries in the Gulf. Here’s the latest diatribe sent to Gov. Can’t-Make-a-Decision:
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Northampton County | PennEast Pipeline | Pennsylvania | Pipelines

Dela. Riverkeeper, Sierra Club Hold Stop PennEast Pipeline Mtg
October 21, 2014October 21, 2014

THE Delaware Riverkeeper herself, Maya van Rossum, has apparently been called back from outside the orbit of the Delaware River Basin (see Martian Chronicles: Delaware River Basin Shifts to Western PA?). What urgent matters would draw Ms. van Rossum from trying to stop evil shale well drilling in western PA all the way back to the Delaware River Basin in eastern PA? Why, a pipeline, of course. She, along with a contingent of Sierra Clubbers, held a “stop the PennEast Pipeline Project” meeting at Northampton Community College last night. There were lots of words like “dangerous” and “devastation” bandied about, in an attempt to fire up ~125 of the faithful who attended…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Chautauqua County | Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | New York | Regulation

Dunkirk NY Electric Plant Natgas Conversion Challenged in Lawsuit
October 20, 2014October 20, 2014

There is precisely one (and only one) decision that New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has made with regard to clean-burning natural gas that we know of. Last December Gov. Cuomo trudged through three feet of snow in Dunkirk, NY to announce a deal had been struck to convert the local coal-burning electrical generating plant to burn natural gas instead (see Dunkirk, NY Electric Plant Saved – Converting from Coal to NatGas). If the plant is not allowed to convert, it will close and 435 megawatts of electricity will disappear, and along with it, 40% of the taxes paid to local governments and the local school district will evaporate too. You might think environmentalists would be happy to have the plant convert from “dirty” coal to clean-burning natural gas. How have they responded? By filing lawsuits against the conversion…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Dominion Energy | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Randolph County | West Virginia

Verbal Dueling at Anti-Pipeline Meeting in Randolph County, WV
October 17, 2014October 17, 2014

A couple of West Virginians verbally sparred at an “open house” conducted by the West Virginia Wilderness Lovers yesterday to essentially bad mouth and denigrate Dominion and their planned $5 billion Atlantic Coast Pipeline project. The incident happened in Mill Creek (Randolph County), WV. One local landowner, who we will charitably say was making some wild claims about Dominion and the pipeline (it’s going to blow up and burn his family to ashes), was challenged by a pipeline union worker, also from Randolph County…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues

Anti-Drilling Former Mayor of DISH, TX Gives FrackNation the Slip!
October 17, 2014October 17, 2014

One of the earliest anti-drilling rallies MDN editor Jim Willis covered by personally attending was held at a Binghamton public school in February 2012. We had a visiting “dignitary”–former Mayor of DISH, TX, Calvin Tillman (see DISH, Texas Mayor Calvin Tillman Visits Binghamton – Marcellus Drilling News was There). It was at that meeting that Jim’s eyes were opened to the fact that many in the anti-drilling movement are ’60s hippies–or hippie wannabes. We weren’t all that impressed with Mayor Tillman’s ramblings. Recently one of our favorite people, Phelim McAleer (producer and star of the FrackNation documentary) caught up with Mayor Tillman, to ask him some tough questions about the “science” Tillman uses in his talks about DISH. Tillman, obviously outclassed by McAleer, slipped out the back door…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Erie County (NY) | Industrywide Issues | New York | Pennsylvania | Potter County | Statewide PA | Tioga County (PA)

MDN Prediction Comes True: Anti Criticizes Bills Sale to Fracker
October 15, 2014October 15, 2014

Just last week, with respect to the sale of the Buffalo “Marcellus” Bills to East Resources CEO Terry Pegula, we said the following tongue-in-cheek: “What’s interesting to us is that there’s zero talk about how Marcellus “blood money” has purchased the Bills. No talk that Pegula is an evil, nasty fracker….The talk, universally, is of a really great guy with a big heart that’s whip smart and committed to the Buffalo region (he previously bought the NHL Buffalo Sabres team). Where are the crazies and their loony toons criticisms? Where are the protesters? Nowhere to be found” (see Buffalo “Marcellus” Bills – Team Sold to Fracker for $1.4B). Well, such a loon has now been found, and a Wilkes-Barre newspaper published his rantings…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Statewide VA | Statewide WV | Virginia | West Virginia

Trout Unlimited Volunteers to Watch GWNF for Fracking Effects
October 15, 2014October 15, 2014

Two anti-drilling groups with benign-sounding names, Trout Unlimted and Wild Virginia, are training volunteers to monitor streams for effects from (so far) non-existent shale drilling in the George Washington National Forest. Trout Unlimited has been doing this sort of training/testing for years in places like the Delaware River Basin (see TU: Just Eyeball Those Streams, You Know What Shouldn’t Be There). Testing, testing, testing. And what have they found from all of their testing? An environmental holocaust from fracking shale wells? Some mild environmental impacts? Nope. They’ve found nothing. Zero. Nada. But they keep on testing…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Chemung County | Industrywide Issues | Landfills | New York

NY Anti Drillers Apoplectic Over Soil in Chemung Co. Landfill
October 15, 2014October 15, 2014

A bunch of ~~former hippies who are now~~ anti-drilling activists in the Twin Tiers area of New York (Elmira/Corning area) protested at the Chemung County legislature meeting last night. Protesting what? That the Chemung County landfill, which has been accepting drill cuttings from PA shale drilling for something like two years now, is considering expanding the landfill to make more money from PA’s drillers. Accepting drill cuttings is the only way New Yorkers currently make money from the shale drilling revolution (thank you Gov. Ditherer). Once again protesters are claiming area residents will start glowing in the dark–any time now…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Butler County | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Rex Energy

Martian Chronicles: Delaware River Basin Shifts to Western PA?
October 14, 2014October 14, 2014

The Martians are getting an assist from THE Delaware Riverkeeper herself (Maya van Rossum). Get this: The Delaware Riverkeeper, along with another anti-drilling group called The Clean Air Council (both based near Philadelphia), have filed an appeal with Adams Township (Butler County), PA over the town’s decision to grant Rex Energy permits to drill gas wells 3/4 of a mile away from the Mars public school. In June, Adams Township supervisors voted 4-1 to allow drilling to commence, subject to getting permits from the Dept. of Environmental Protection (see Adams Twp, PA Votes to NOT Block Drilling “Near” Mars School). Just a month ago, Rex got the permits from the DEP to begin drilling (see Rex Gets Permits to Drill Near Martian School, Antis Apoplectic). Some Martian parents objected, and found a sympathetic wallet all the way across the state in Philadelphia with van Rossum. What does Butler County, on the western edge of PA have to do with van Rossum’s Delaware River Basin group, which is focused exclusively on the eastern edge of PA? NOTHING. Except for her personal hatred of fossil fuels and willingness to spend her own (and other people’s) money to fight shale drilling wherever it happens…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Baker Hughes | Energy Services | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues

Liberal Group Calls Baker Hughes Breast Cancer Effort “Pink Sh*t”
October 10, 2014October 10, 2014

Baker Hughes is the world’s fifth largest oilfield services company. Schlumberger and Halliburton are numbers one and two, respectively. Oilfield services companies provide drilling equipment and yes, even fracking equipment (and fracking fluids) that power the shale revolution. Baker Hughes, with a large presence in the Marcellus/Utica, has just donated (for the second year in a row) $100,000 to Susan G. Komen®, the world’s leading breast cancer organization, to help in the effort to find a cure for breast cancer. Anyone alive over the age of 30 almost certainly has a relative or friend who is or has been afflicted by this disease. Doing what we can to fight it is something we all can get behind. But because some wacko anti-drillers make wild claims that fracking fluids “cause cancer”–even though fracking fluids contain many of the same chemicals in the stuff under your kitchen sink–some lib groups (incredibly) oppose the donation and efforts by Baker Hughes, saying it is blood money and “pink washing” the fracking industry…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Minuteman Environmental Services | Northumberland County | Pennsylvania

Minuteman Sues AG Kane’s Office for $20M + Punitive Damages
October 10, 2014October 10, 2014

What a sad story. In May 2013, Pennsylvania’s anti-drilling Attorney General, Kathleen Kane, had the offices of Minuteman Environmental Services in Milton (Northumberland County) raided using the FBI, IRS and the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) agents, in addition to agents from the AG’s office (see Shale Environmental Services Company Raided by PA AG’s Office). After conducting a witch hunt of Minuteman for 13 months following that raid, Kane finally charged them (see PA’s Anti-Drilling AG Charges Minuteman with Enviro Crimes). During that 13 months and following, Kane’s office terrorized the family and drove the company–that employed over 100 people with $49 million in revenues–into bankruptcy (see Minuteman Enviro Says PA AG Office “Terrorized” Family Members, Filing Lawsuit). Minuteman’s owners threatened to sue the AG’s office and they followed through. We have an exclusive copy of the lawsuit…
Read More “Minuteman Sues AG Kane’s Office for $20M + Punitive Damages”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Dominion Energy | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Statewide VA | Statewide WV | Virginia | West Virginia

Where is Real Opposition to Dominion SE Pipeline? Hint: Not WV
October 10, 2014October 10, 2014

Opposition to Dominion’s 550-mile, $5 billion Atlantic Coast Pipeline project (formerly called the Southeast Reliability Project) continues, but not much of it is located in West Virginia. You may recall there is an anti-pipeline group called West Virginia Wilderness Lovers, which is, from what we can tell, two people who have opposed the pipeline from the beginning (see Hula Hoops & Tall Tales from WV Anti-Drillers Opposed to Pipeline). At least one of the two Wilderness Lovers still opposes it…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Luzerne County | Northampton County | PennEast Pipeline | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Statewide PA | UGI Energy Services

Update on PennEast Pipeline–Its Physical & Emotional Path
October 9, 2014October 9, 2014

The anti-drilling nutters at the Sierra Club (we call them Sierra Clubbers, you know, people who like to go “clubbing“?) have apparently polled a new phrase that they think is a winner. They’ve found when you say magic words, like “pipeline x will leave a nasty, ugly scar that’s irreversible” on Old Mother Nature, that gets low information people really fired up. So that’s the new phrase they toss around for projects like the recently announced PennEast Pipeline (see 3rd New NEPA Marcellus Pipeline Proposed, Connects to Trenton, NJ). PennEast will run from Wilkes-Barre, PA all the way to a spot near Trenton, NJ. Communities along the proposed route have been organizing meetings with the express purpose of castigating and ridiculing the proposed $1 billion project. “Not in my back yard!” they yell. The Sierra Clubbers helpfully sprinkle magic words like “scar the earth” which whips them up into even more of frenzy. So UGI and the four other partners in the project have abruptly stopped attending those meetings and will, instead, host their own meetings in an attempt to keep anti-drillers from trying to manipulate people’s emotions. Good for them…
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