Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel

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    NY Dem Senators Want to Ban PA Drill Cuttings from NY Landfills

    drill cuttingsNot only do the anti-drilling Democrats in in the New York Senate want to keep shale drilling banned in the state (lack of drilling is destroying the upstate economy), now they also want to ban drill cuttings (leftover rock and dirt) from Pennsylvania from coming into the state for disposal in NY landfills. This has real implications. Currently, we’re aware of at least one landfill–in Chemung County–that accepts safe drill cuttings (see Radiation Testing Shows Marcellus Shale Drill Cuttings are Safe for Chemung County, NY Landfill). According to the Chemung County Executive Tom Santulli, “a lot of landfills” in upstate NY accept drill cuttings. The landfilling of drill cuttings (mined before fracking takes place and perfectly safe–it’s dirt and rock for heaven’s sake!) benefits all county residents by keeping landfill operating costs lower than they otherwise would be.

    Now the radical, vicious anti-drilling Dems in the Senate want to take even that meager revenue away from upstate communities. The only conclusion you can draw is that they intentionally want to harm the residents of upstate NY…
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    OH Sen. Brown, 21 Others Send Anti-LNG Export Letter to Obama

    Some 21 Democrat U.S. Senators and 1 RINO Republican (Susan Collins from Maine) signed a letter to President Obama on Monday asking him to hold up on exporting LNG because, they claim, it will lead to higher natural gas prices here at home. Such loving, caring people those Democrats–always concerned for “the little guy.” What utter horse manure. The entire lot of them, including the shameful Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown are either stupid or (more likely) have an ulterior political motive–something that involves money and perhaps kickbacks to their campaign coffers. What else can explain such collective lunacy by Democrats and Democrat-lite Collins?

    Below is the press release from the shameful OH Sen. Sherrod Brown, a copy of the letter sent by this cabal, and the entire list of who signed…
    Read More “OH Sen. Brown, 21 Others Send Anti-LNG Export Letter to Obama”

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    Latest Earthjustice Scam: “Clean Air” Petition Signed by 64 People

    Here’s a scam for you. If you’re an anti-driller, make up a hokey name like Berks Gas Truth, Riverkeeper, Catskill Mountain Keeper, or Breathe Easy Susquehanna County–claim it’s a huge, many-membered group (when it has half a dozen or less active members), and then be used by a small group of fanatical lawyers in Washington, DC calling themselves Earthjustice to claim “64 environmental and community groups” are “demanding” the federal government, via the EPA, should illegally usurp individual state’s rights and begin regulating the oil and gas industry by the back door–using the Federal Clean Air Act. Which is just what Earthjustice is claiming with its latest publicity stunt. The radical (and small) Earthjustice has prepared a proposed rulemaking petition for the federal EPA and used their loosely affiliated lackeys in the aforementioned “groups” (64 in all) to “sign” the “petition”. And news outlets like the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette fell for it hook, line and sinker, reporting it as real news when it’s nothing more than yet another propaganda play.

    When was the last time a group like Earthjustice organized a 3,000-member rally against drilling like was recently held by pro-drillers in Harrisburg, PA (see First-Hand Account of History-Making PA Energy Rally). What’s that…Never? That would be correct. Below is the so-called petition written by a few lawyers in DC, signed by a few devoted anti-drillers from the hinterlands, and packaged as a “movement” of gazillions of people rising up with pitchforks in hand to demand “clean air.” Plueeze…
    Read More “Latest Earthjustice Scam: “Clean Air” Petition Signed by 64 People”

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    PPG Says Drilling is Killing PA Residents – via Traffic Accidents

    We’re not exactly sure when the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette turned anti-drilling. We’ve previously theorized that perhaps the drilling industry is throwing more advertising money to their arch-competitor, the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, and so the PPG’s strange turn to anti-drilling is either sour grapes, pay-back, or an elaborate shake down to get more ad revenue. However, one thing is for sure, the editors at the PPG don’t like drilling, as evidenced by the increasing number of negative articles and editorials they write about the industry. When they hired reporter Anya Litvak away from the Pittsburgh Business Times last year we were thrilled. After a few initial stories–they’ve all but hidden her talents away. We haven’t spotted an Anya story on shale in months.

    Perhaps Pittsburgh-area residents should cancel their subscriptions to the PPG in protest? Here’s the latest editorial by the PPG that asserts “drilling will kill you because of traffic accidents” …
    Read More “PPG Says Drilling is Killing PA Residents – via Traffic Accidents”

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    Media Bias in Story re NJ Senate Vote to Ban Frack Waste

    We’re always amazed that because a newspaper is published on dead trees, the reporters for that paper are somehow accorded the honor of being impartial and unbiased–and the pap they write, especially about drilling and fracking, is somehow impartial and unbiased. When in fact nothing could be further from the truth. Case in point: an article appearing in today’s Hackensack, NJ’s The Record, reporting on a bill that passed the NJ Senate yesterday that would ban the treatment or disposal of frack waste in the state. The story says “environmentalists” are delighted because they may be able to arm-twist enough legislators to override a veto by Gov. Christie this time around (they tried it in 2012 and failed).

    It’s the way the obviously anti-drilling reporter “reports” (or rather mis-reports) the news that is so egregious. The article is anything but impartial. The “reporter” (we’d say anti-drilling advocate) definitely takes a side, and attempts his best smear job at clean, safe fracking for natural gas–used by his own state in quantities larger than most other states. To which we say: When will PA, WV and OH start banning their shale gas from being sold to states like NJ and others who ban fracking or the clean, safe treatment of frack waste? Here’s is the article with MDN’s suggested edits, using strike throughs and [brackets]…
    Read More “Media Bias in Story re NJ Senate Vote to Ban Frack Waste”

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    Final PA Democrat Gov Debate Interrupted by Anti-Drilling Kook

    Last night was the final debate in Philadelphia between the final four Democrat candidates seeking the nomination to run for governor in November in Pennsylvania. Which was a yawner. All four are Democrat hacks that will try to screw up the economic miracle happening in PA from Marcellus Shale drilling. None of them deserve your vote–including the presumptive winner of today’s primary, Tom Wolf.

    We only mention last night’s debate because a hysterical (i.e. distraught) young woman who is anti-drilling took to the stage and interrupted the debate to vomit out the same old lies that drilling’ll kill everyone and Mother Earth, while the obsequious candidates just looked on. It was, well, hysterical (i.e. funny)…
    Read More “Final PA Democrat Gov Debate Interrupted by Anti-Drilling Kook”

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    PA Farmers Flourish Thanks to Marcellus While NY Farmers Fail

    A rather long, and surprisingly pretty balanced, article appeared over the weekend in The Buffalo News comparing and contrasting Pennsylvania and New York’s approach to the issue of shale drilling. The reporter actually talked to a number of sources on both sides of the drilling issue and wrote a good article that presents the facts of the economic miracle happening in PA, and the economic misery happening in upstate NY because of our state’s dithering. You can tell it’s a good article when the cadre of about a half dozen anti-drillers (pathetic people with no lives apart from opposing drilling) flock to the comments to condemn the article and condemn those who dare to post a positive comment about drilling.

    The article opens with the classic tale of two cities theme, comparing the fortunes (or lack thereof) of two farmers on opposite sides of the NY/PA border…
    Read More “PA Farmers Flourish Thanks to Marcellus While NY Farmers Fail”

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    Washington, PA Officials Try to Stop Marcellus Boarding House

    In early February MDN told you about the rank hypocrisy of those in Washington, PA who are trying to block the rehabilitation of an old, unused and in-disrepair convent from being converted into housing for Marcellus Shale workers (see Marcellus Prejudice on Display at Washington, PA Church). The story has advanced since then. Seems that a second developer has picked up the property from the original buyer with the same thought. The new developer, Phive Starr Properties, is proving to be a tad more assertive.

    Phive Star had the gall to tell Washington officials last week that there’s a big old hole in their zoning laws and that by provisions in their own laws the city can’t keep out a boarding house in the former convent property. Which has city officials “scrambling” (and butt covering) to see if there’s anyway they can still prevent it…
    Read More “Washington, PA Officials Try to Stop Marcellus Boarding House”

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    Feds Attempt a Power Grab of Delaware River Basin

    grabNew York Sen. Chuck Schumer earlier this week paid nominal lip service to the marvels of shale drilling (see Sen. Chuck Schumer Supports Fracking in NY – Sort of). Although some on the pro-drilling side didn’t like MDN’s take on the gasbag Schumer and his false support of drilling, we offer evidence of his true intentions. Yesterday Schumer and six other senators (all liberal Democrats) introduced a bill to “preserve and improve [the] Delaware River Watershed.” The so-called “Delaware River Basin Conservation Act of 2014” would “establish the Delaware River Basin Restoration Program within the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The program would implement a coordinated approach, requiring the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service director to adopt a basin-wide plan that sustains and enhances the Delaware River basin restoration and protection efforts. The program would support projects from federal, state, and local governments and stakeholders, ensuring that existing successful restoration plans are leveraged.”

    Translation: The feds want to trample over the states and take over the Delaware River Basin, which means there never will be any shale drilling in places like Wayne County, PA which happens to sit in the basin. It’s a horrible bill–a federal power grab–and it needs to be opposed. Vigorously. Thanks Chucky, for your so-called “support” of shale drilling. Schmuck. An even bigger schmuck is Sen. Bob Casey–from Pennsylvania! He’s one of the seven lib Dem senators sponsoring this abomination…
    Read More “Feds Attempt a Power Grab of Delaware River Basin”

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    Lawyer for NEPA Anti-Driller Vera Scroggins Tries Legal Maneuver

    A lawyer for little-known (outside of northeast Pennsylvania) anti-driller Vera Scroggins was in court in Susquehanna County earlier this week trying out the latest legal maneuver. Anti-drilling lawyer Gerald Kinchy–from Sayre, PA–was trying to sucker Judge Kenneth Seamans into “joining” landowners leased with Cabot Oil & Gas to the lawsuit. That is, the lawyer wants the court to treat landowners the same way it’s treating Vera–consider them as trespassing on their own land. Sound like convoluted legal fleecing? Well, that’s exactly what it is. And the judge wasn’t having any of it.

    The whole thing got started when Vera started trespassing at Cabot Oil & Gas drilling sites, taking busloads of fellow anti-drillers around to point and gawk and claim Cabot was polluting Mother Earth. Cabot finally had enough and got the court to place a restraining order on her–for her own and others’ safety (see NE PA Anti-Driller Slapped with Trespassing Injunction). Since the restraining order disallowed Vera from stepping foot on any property leased by Cabot, it prevented her from visiting her favorite grocery store, among other things. So at Cabot’s request, the judge eased the restrictions just a bit (see Judge Lets PA Anti-Driller Sip More Lattes, Attorney Claims “Big Win”). She’s still banned from active drill sites, and that apparently irritates Vera. So she got the ACLU to take up her cause and defend her. Now, her lawyer from Sayre is trying to pollute the case before it goes to trial in June (maybe having second thoughts?)…
    Read More “Lawyer for NEPA Anti-Driller Vera Scroggins Tries Legal Maneuver”

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    Anti-Drillers File Complaint with SEC re Cove Point LNG Facility

    Even though they’ve lost, the obstinate and unreasonable (not able to be reasoned with) people at Earthjustice and the Chesapeake Climate Action Network (CCAN) are once again trying to prevent the inevitable–the Cove Point, Maryland LNG export facility. Dominion is the company building the new LNG export facility at Cove Point. On the eve of Dominion’s annual shareholder meeting, Earthjustice and CCAN attempted a publicity stunt by filing a complaint with the Securities and Exchange Commission saying that Dominion has not provided adequate disclosure of financial and environmental risks in their plans to build the new $2 billion facility.

    It’s just one more lame attempt by the same small group of virulent anti-drillers plus a ninny nanny anti-drilling investor from Trillium Asset Management (don’t ever invest money with Trillium) to stop progress…
    Read More “Anti-Drillers File Complaint with SEC re Cove Point LNG Facility”

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    Youngstown Frack Ban Vote Goes Down in Flames for 3rd Time

    Youngstown has now voted for a third time on a proposed fracking ban in the city. And for the third time, it was voted down by an overwhelming majority. (For our most recent coverage, see 20 Youngstown U Profs Attempt PR Stunt on Frack Ban – Goes Limp.) Three strikes and you’re out, right? Not according to the virulent anti-drillers who have made opposing the miracle of shale drilling in Ohio their life’s cause.

    Susie Beiersdorfer and Lynn Anderson, two of the chief agitators for the ban, something they and others have intentionally mislabeled as a “Community Bill of Rights” (it’s nothing of the sort), say they’re happy to keep wasting taxpayer’s money on useless votes that don’t pass. Didn’t pass the third time? They want it to come back a fourth, fifth, umteenth time. We say it’s time to start sending them the bill for votes that don’t pass. That would stop this nonsense but quick…
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    Pittsburgh Angst Over Propane Rail Tanker Cars Exploding

    Something has some of the folks in the suburbs of Pittsburgh spooked (likely reckless anti-drilling lies). Yes, the number of rail cars hauling liquefied petroleum gas (i.e., propane) has increased in recent years. But such tanker trains have been around for decades. And yet, the mayor of Carnegie is now calling the tanker trains that pass through town “bombs on wheels.” Pretty strong language. A resident of nearby Green Tree is quoted as saying “someday” there will be an accident and “boom” his house might be gone.

    How is that related to Marcellus and Utica Shale drilling? Certainly shale drilling in southwestern PA, northern WV and eastern OH produces plenty of natural gas liquids, one of which is propane. So yes, some of the increase in rail traffic hauling propane through Carnegie comes from northeast shale drilling. But honestly, such tanker cars have been around for years. When was the last time you heard of a propane tanker car exploding? Us either…
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    Second MA Community Set to Veto TGP Pipeline in Their Area

    On Monday we reported about the first Massachusetts community to pass a resolution against Kinder Morgan’s plan to–at the request of six New England state governors–build a new leg to the Tennessee Gas Pipeline across the state to transport abundant, cheap Marcellus Shale gas to New England where it’s desperately needed (see NIMBYism Becomes NOMEism in MA Over Kinder Gas Pipeline). Next week, a second Massachusetts community may vote to ban the pipeline through their area: Northampton City.

    To which we say again, “Now that’s the far-left Massachusetts we know.” Finally, a little “normalcy”! Here’s what’s brewing in wacky liberal-land…
    Read More “Second MA Community Set to Veto TGP Pipeline in Their Area”

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    CT Gets Ready to Temporarily Permanently Ban Frack Waste

    Three weeks ago MDN told you that the Connecticut legislature was considering a permanent ban on frack wastewater being disposed anywhere in the state, to which we said maybe Pennsylvania should consider a ban on selling natural gas to the state (see CT May Pass Frack Wastewater Ban; Should PA Pass CT NatGas Ban?). Hey, it works great for Vlad Putin. Shut off the spigot for a week and listen to them squeal.

    The CT Senate has reached a “compromise” on the proposed legislation. Instead of a permanent ban, they’ve vote instead on a “temporary” ban–until the CT Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) can craft regulations to deal with fracking wastewater. Of course, DEEP is not very inclined to deal with it any time soon (see CT DEEP Wants Frack Waste Reclassified Hazardous to Keep It Away). So in the end, this is hocus pocus chicanery. The vote will happen, and frack waste will effectively be banned long-term from entering CT…
    Read More “CT Gets Ready to Temporarily Permanently Ban Frack Waste”

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    White House Professes to Love Fracking – Yeah, Right

    Yesterday senior White House officials, in a press briefing, went on the record with a “strong endorsement” of the U.S. oil and gas industry and its resurgence due to shale drilling and fracking. John Podesta, a top adviser to President Obama, essentially said the White House loves fracking. He then said fracking is a bridge to the libs’ ultimate dream of an alternative energy nirvana future. In the meantime, fracking will be tolerated by our benevolent and beloved Dear Leader, Herr Barack.

    Yes, it was all theater as it always is with this bunch. They didn’t mean a word of it. How can we make such a bold statement? Because their actions speak way louder than their lying words. The Obama White House is doing everything they can to make fracking harder–from punitive and restrictive BLM regulations to new EPA regulations. They just as soon strangle fracking as allow it–so in the meantime, they’ll just take credit for something they’ve had NOTHING to do with. Oh, and the timing of the White House “we love fracking” statement sure is curious–coming the day before the White House will release their third “climate assessment” to let us all know that carbon is set to make Mother Earth bake…
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