Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel

Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Regulation | Statewide VA | Virginia

Sierra Clubbers Call on Virginia to Not Frack Until More “Study”
September 26, 2014September 26, 2014

Must be anti-drillers all use the same playbook. Maybe they all read Saul Alinsky’s book “Rules for Radicals” (Saul Alinksy is the same guy who heavily influenced Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton). The anti-drilling playbook goes like this: When you think fracking may actually, finally start to happen, call for more studies to ensure it’s “safe.” New York has done this to get effect–so other locales think they can borrow the same tactic. The corollary is: If drilling is already happening, say it’s unsafe and should be suspended pending further studies. Study study study. That’s the mantra. Even though there have already been plenty of studies and mountains of data and proof that fracking is safe. All you have to do, if you’re a radical environmental group, is issue a press release and call for a study to plant the seed that the industry is hiding something. So it was no surprise to learn that the Virginia Sierra Club wants (surprise!) a study before shale drilling is allowed in the Old Dominion…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Washington County

SkyTruth Uses Anti-Drilling Volunteers to Count Impoundments
September 23, 2014September 23, 2014

It seems that impoundment hysteria is the newest rage among anti-drillers. An impoundment is nothing more than a pond. As it relates to the drilling industry, the pond (or impoundment) may hold freshwater or it may hold frack wastewater, depending on what kind of impoundment it is. Range Resources was fined last week for leaking impoundments in Washington County (see PA DEP Fines Range Resources $4.15M for Wastewater Impoundments). What better time for an anti-fracking organization like the so-called “SkyTruth” to poke its head up and claim to be mapping impoundments in Pennsylvania and elsewhere. To hear SkyTruth tell it, there’s impoundments hiding just about everywhere…
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Albany County | Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | New York | Research | Statewide NY

Albany Times Union’s Continued Obtuseness on Fracking
September 22, 2014September 22, 2014

Last week MDN highlighted two new studies out that prove fracking doesn’t pollute water supplies (see New Study Finds Well Casings, Not Fracking, Cause Methane Migration and Federal NETL Study: Fracking Doesn’t Contaminate Water Supplies). Objective science proving that fracking is A-OK is anathema to liberal editors at publications like the Albany Times Union. What to do? Ah yes, write an editorial acknowledging those studies (because you can’t hide the news forever), and then lie about those studies by saying people still have “polluted” water…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | CNG/LNG | Exporting | Industrywide Issues | Maryland | Statewide MD

20 People Crash FERC Meeting, Complain about Cove Point LNG
September 22, 2014September 22, 2014

Some 20 citizens out of the 88,737 that live in Calvert County, Maryland–where the Dominion Cove Point LNG export facility is to be built–crashed a recent Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) meeting to express their displeasure with the government’s approval of the Cove Point plant. What really ticked them off was that FERC didn’t send the top brass out to Calvert but instead used lower level reps. So 0.0002 of the population of Calvert County performed what they called “an unannounced intervention,” which is another way of saying they threw a snit fit. More behaving badly in public–like they always do. Here’s a glittering example of “how to win friends and influence people” at FERC brought to you by the anti-drilling folks of Calvert County, all 20 of them:
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

Dela. Riverkeeper Opposes New Electric Line Because of…Fracking?
September 19, 2014September 19, 2014

So screwed up are the fossil fuel haters that they’ve taken to opposing a proposed new regional electric power line that would run from Pennsylvania to points in New Jersey, New York and Maryland because (follow this twisted logic)–it runs through Marcellus Shale regions and the new power line will be an incentive for power plants to locate in that region to tap into cheap, abundant and clean-burning natural gas to generate electricity at a cheaper cost than can be generated in other places. And even though fracking has been proven not to contaminate water (see Federal NETL Study: Fracking Doesn’t Contaminate Water Supplies), apparently the word hasn’t yet reached THE Delaware River Keeper herself (Maya van Rossum) because she says the power line will be an incentive for more fracking and fracking is evil ’cause fossil fuels are evil and la la la la don’t tell me otherwise I’m-not-listening…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues

Scientific American Reporter Admits Real Reason He Hates Fracking
September 18, 2014September 18, 2014

For years MDN has made the case that so-called environmental groups and individuals highly placed in the environmental movement are not opposed to shale drilling because “fracking contaminates water supplies” and all of the other arguments they frequently throw out as red herrings to confuse and obfuscate. Recent studies by the federal government and researchers at top universities are proving the converse–that fracking and shale drilling doesn’t contaminate water, the environment, etc. Our observation and contention (for years) has been these people have had a philosophical snap–a mental breakdown–and they now irrationally hate all fossil fuels as a source of energy. Maybe they overdosed on Frosted Flakes and Captain Planet cartoons on Saturday mornings as children…who knows? What is indisputable is their abject hatred of oil and gas simply because it comes from the ground (“extractive”) and it’s based on carbon–the same element their own bodies are based on. How utterly stupid is that? We have yet more proof that these nutters infest even storied publications like Scientific American…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues

The Urgent Case for a Ban on Food & Water Watch
September 18, 2014September 18, 2014

The anti-drilling nuts at Food & Water Watch (FWW) just keep getting nuttier. FWW is a highly partisan, highly anti-drilling non-profit that raises huge sums of money to fund faux research and efforts to get fracking, shale drilling–anything to do with fossil fuels–banned. We often refer to them as “odious” because that’s precisely what they are. They lie so often about shale drilling it’s hardly worth mentioning any more. Their lies aren’t doing the trick, so they’ve amped it up a notch and have just issued a brand new report titled, “The Urgent Case for a Ban on Fracking” (full copy below). Hence the title of this article. We think there’s a much stronger case to be made to ban FWW than to ban fracking…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Lebanon County | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | UGI Energy Services | Williams

Pavlovian Opposition Continues Against PennEast, Atlantic Sunrise
September 17, 2014September 17, 2014

Whenever a major new interstate pipeline is proposed, especially in the northeast where more such pipelines are desperately needed, anti-drillers jump up and begin protesting immediately. It’s like a knee-jerk reaction–a Pavlov’s dog experiment gone awry. They don’t even know why they oppose it–they just do. Can’t help themselves. And so earlier this week we have two anti-pipeline meetings–one in New Jersey against the PennEast Pipeline project, the other in Pennsylvania against the Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline project. Whenever these nuts gather their conversation turns to the shrill and irrational. Try this one on. The proposed PennEast Pipeline will “cut a wide ‘virgin’ path along the entire western edge of the county” in Hunterdon County, NJ, according to Sierra Clubers at an anti-pipeline meeting on Monday. Kind of conjures up rape, does it not? That’s just what they intend with their incendiary language…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Centre County | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania

‘Marcellus Shale Documentary Project’ opens Sept. 23 @ Penn State
September 17, 2014September 17, 2014

Penn State will debut the “Marcellus Shale Documentary Project” in State College, PA on Sept. 23 at the Palmer Museum of Art. We don’t know for certain, but we’re 99.9% sure this is more anti-drilling clap trap dressed up as a serious pursuit of the truth behind the Marcellus. The project “features photographic images that tell the personal stories of Pennsylvanians affected by the Marcellus Shale gas industry.” As part of this “important” new exhibition, a series of events are planned, referred to as a “museum crawl” (something like a pub crawl, only you get drunk on “art” instead of booze). A panel discussion to bash fossil fuels and “extractive industries” will happen in late October as part of the project. The panel is being sponsored (paid for) by Penn State, the Institute for the Arts and Humanities, and something called The Rock Ethics Institute. Bet you didn’t know that rocks have ethics, did you?…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | GreenHunter Resources | Industrywide Issues | Regulation

Athens, OH Anti-Frackers Demand Army Corps Count Each Form Letter
September 16, 2014September 16, 2014

The silly (and vacuous) “protesters” who don’t want GreenHunter to build a barge facility on the Ohio River (where there are what, dozens, hundreds of such facilities?) think that if they can convince enough like-minded (we use the term “minded” loosely) anti-fossil fuelers to sign their John Hancock on form letters that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers should count each form letter individually instead of lumping them together. So instead of a “massive” 4,000 form letters received, the Corps records getting “fewer than 1,000” so-called protest letters against the wastewater barge facility. Appearances and raw numbers are all that matter to the carbon energy-allergic members of the Athens County Fracking Action Network (ACFAN). What’s the answer for this small group of people whose lives have no meaning apart from being against something? According to ACFAN and their odious backers at Food & Water Watch–sign more form letters to demand the Corps count their previous form letters!…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Kinder Morgan | Regulation | Tennessee Gas Pipeline

MA Town Health Board Claims “Unlimited Power” to Stop TGP
September 15, 2014September 15, 2014

Who knew the U.S. Constitution had a clause in it that grants the Deerfield, Massachusetts town health board “unlimited power” to do what they want to do. That’s what Cristobal Bonifaz, a lawyer from Conway, MA, is claiming. Even though the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, according to federal law, is the sole agency charged with granting or withholding permission on interstate pipelines, Bonifaz says the Deerfield health board has “unlimited power” to do what they want, and he’s volunteering to be their attorney in attempting to stop the expansion of the Tennessee Gas Pipeline through the township. How?…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

Antis Take Aim at PA Drillers for Not Hiring Enough Minorities, Women
September 15, 2014September 15, 2014

We seriously wonder if PBS reporterette Marie Cusick, who writes anti-drilling diatribes on the Pennsylvania StateImpact website, has ever, herself, visited a Marcellus well pad. How else could she write an article pejoratively titled “Gas drillers still ignoring law to include women and minorities”? MDN has visited pads a number of times–and the thing that stood out to us was the number of women suited up in overalls working in the dirtiest jobs on the drill site. But let’s not let reality destroy a good work of “journalistic” fiction…
Read More “Antis Take Aim at PA Drillers for Not Hiring Enough Minorities, Women”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Regulation | Statewide PA | UGI Energy Services

Delaware Riverkeeper Petitons DRBC to Stop PennEast Pipeline
September 11, 2014September 11, 2014

THE Delaware Riverkeeper herself, the haughty and arrogant Maya van Rossum, has sent a letter to the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) “petitioning” (i.e. demanding) that the DRBC “exercise jurisdiction over the PennEast Pipeline Project.” You may recall that energy utility giant UGI along with three other partners announced a proposed pipeline that will run from Wilkes-Barre, PA all the way to Trenton, NJ to flow abundant, cheap Marcellus Shale gas to homes and businesses in southeastern PA and NJ (see 3rd New NEPA Marcellus Pipeline Proposed, Connects to Trenton, NJ). UGI and partners didn’t waste any time. They recently completed a successful open season on the $1 billion PennEast Pipeline to sign up potential customers (see Successful Open Season Concludes for Marcellus PennEast Pipeline). Now along comes Miss Muffet sitting on her tuffet to try and throw her curds and whey on the process (see her letter below). If van Rossum can convince the DRBC to get involved, she stands a good chance of blocking the PennEast Pipeline from ever getting built…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

NY Gov Cuomo Comments on Fracking, Hounding by Protesters
September 10, 2014September 10, 2014

He speaks! The man-child Andrew Cuomo, erstwhile (and rumored) Governor of New York, someone who has a problem making decisions (should I wear the black tie or the blue tie?), had to run a small gauntlet of anti-drilling protesters to cast his ballot in yesterday’s statewide primary. Cuomo, as we’ve chronicled for years, refuses to allow fracking in New York ahead of this November’s election. The betting money is that he will allow it after the election. When asked about the anti-drilling protesters outside the polling place, Cuomo uttered an entire paragraph on the topic–more than he’s said in a year…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Northampton County | Pennsylvania

NY’s Steingraber to Keynote Lafayette College Anti-Frack Festival
September 10, 2014September 10, 2014

Lafayette College will hold an anti-fracking event under the very thin veneer of coming together to “examine the issue from all sides” at a two-day symposium next week in Easton, PA. Lafayette College’s 2014 Roethke Festival will be held Sept. 19-20 and the keynote address will be delivered by none other than New York’s own queen anti-fossil fuel advocate, Sandra Steingraber (see Sandra Steingraber’s Big Gaffe at You Defend It Debate). MDN has heard Steingraber in person a couple of times. She actually believes we could (in NY anyway) shut off all fossil fuels–today–and rely totally on so-called alternative sources of energy like wind and solar. How? If only we had the “political will” to, you know, turn our thermostats down to 50 degrees in the winter, go back to using horse and buggy and otherwise go back to living like folks did in the 19th century. In our book she’s certifiably nuts. Another headliner at the Lafayette anti-fracking fest will be little known anti-drilling author Lamar Herrin who wrote a novel about fracking creatively titled “Fractures.” He’s going to read from his book (yawn). A token pro-driller will be on one panel–the always excellent David Yoxtheimer from Penn State. If we were you, we’d give this “coming together” a big, fat pass and instead head off to a good music festival somewhere…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Cuyahoga County | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Regulation

Gates Mills, OH Caves – Anti-Frack Measure on Nov. Ballot
September 9, 2014September 9, 2014

The very exclusive and uppity Cleveland suburb of Gates Mills, OH is the latest community to fall prey to the misnamed, so-called community bill of rights that seeks to ban all drilling on, under or near property in the community. We’ve written about Gates Mills before (see these MDN stories). We originally chided Gates Mills Mayor Shawn Riley for concocting a plan that we thought would prevent drilling in the community (a community that already has some conventional wells in it). We were contacted by an MDN reader and by Mayor Riley to correct us: His intent is to pool landowners together and together (somewhat akin to a landowner coalition) to develop a contract that would strictly control how, when and where any Utica drilling would be done. He’s not anti-drilling–just really really careful and infrequent drilling. But there are a number of anti-drillers in town who want nothing to do with it whatsoever–and they want to force their preferences on their neighbors too. That’s what a “community bill of rights” does–it forces anti-drilling regulations down everyone’s throat. That’s what will be on the ballot in November in Gates Mills…
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