Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel

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    Binghamton Newspaper Censors JLCNY Lawsuit News

    Once again a glittering example of why mainstream media news sources, like the Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin, are dying. Fast. Because they simply ignore (suppress? censor?) news that doesn’t fit their own anti-drilling philosophy.

    You might think that an organization that boasts 70,000 members throughout New York State (the Joint Landowners Coalition of New York, or JLCNY) that has just sent a letter to the governor, the head of the Dept. of Environmental Conservation and the state health commissioner telling them they’re about to get sued (see our companion story today) might be newsworthy. Further, if the chief lawyer and the president of said group (representing 70,000 landowners) called a press conference to explain the upcoming lawsuit–you might think it would at least rate a paragraph or two in the local newspaper of record. Right? If you live in the Binghamton area, that answer would be–wrong…
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    Anti-Drillers Target PA DEP Official for Elimination

    The anti-drilling long knives have come out for a mid-level PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) official because he dared to invest money in a mutual fund that buys energy stocks, investing in a PA driller (Cabot Oil & Gas, man knows a good thing when he sees it), and for an investment in a company that manufactures natural gas vehicle engines.

    Said official, Executive Deputy Secretary for Administration and Management Jeffrey Logan, has nothing to do with permitting or reporting or anything with the oil and gas end of the DEP’s business. There’s no “insider knowledge” he gets because of his position. But that’s OK–it’s time for a little anti-drilling bloodsport. Let’s shove him out on the stage in the limelight and begin target practice to see if we can bring him down…
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    Marcellus Gas Heading North: Canadian Pipeline Gets “Green” Light

    Seems like today is midstream day on MDN. Many of our stories revolve around pipelines and processing plants, including our lead about MarkWest (be sure to give it a read). Here’s an interesting story about a pipeline project in Canada that has a Marcellus tie-in. Enbridge Gas Distribution wants to expand their natural gas pipeline in the Toronto area, spending upward of C$686 million to do it. The “greens” of Canada (garden variety fossil fuel-hating anti-drillers) objected. The greens’ objection #1: If we just turn our thermostats down low, we won’t need the extra gas. The Ontario Energy Board said: Nope. Not buying that one. Objection #2: This pipeline will bring in that evil, nasty, fracked Marcellus Shale gas and kill us all because it pollutes water (in the U.S.) and releases fugitive methane into the atmosphere (global warming, heeelp!). Again, the Ontario Energy board said: Nope. Not buying that one either.

    Below is the full story about the pipeline. Embedded in it is the response by the calm, wise heads from the Ontario Energy Board to the greens, responding to them on the shale gas issue:
    Read More “Marcellus Gas Heading North: Canadian Pipeline Gets “Green” Light”

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    NY DEC Com. Martens Says No NY Fracking Until 2015 Earliest

    litigationIn what is sure to be a bitter disappointment to New York’s landowners, Dept. of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Joe Martens said yesterday in testimony to lawmakers that he’s not going to issue any permits for shale drilling before 2015. Unless, of course, he’s forced to by a court (see Norse Energy Sues Gov. Cuomo to Force Release of Fracking Regs). Martens’ comments came as he gave testimony about the DEC’s budget for the next fiscal year, which begins on April 1st. Martens is not including anything in the DEC budget for shale drilling oversight and told lawmakers it would be “extremely unlikely” that permits would be issued before the end of March 2015, hence no need to bulk up his budget for it.

    Are we surprised? Not really. The decision of whether or not to allow fracking in New York has been a political and not a scientific one for a long time now–we’d say for years. Gov. Andrew Cuomo continues to push off the decision–not Health Commissioner Nirav Shah, not Joe Martens, but Cuomo. Shah and Martens are just foot soldiers that do their master’s bidding. This latest revelation of no fracking until 2015 further validates landowners’ resolve in pushing forward with lawsuits on various aspects of the drilling issue at various levels of the court system. It’s now obvious we will have to litigate for our freedoms–or loose them forever…
    Read More “NY DEC Com. Martens Says No NY Fracking Until 2015 Earliest”

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    The Band is Back Together! Anti-Drillers to Visit Binghamton U

    The band is three-fourths back together. A group of radical anti-drilling organizations, including NYRAD (New York Residents Against Drilling), the League of [Liberal Democrat] Women Voters, NYPIRG, the Sierra Club and other lesser-known wacko organizations are sponsoring an “information” (i.e. propaganda) night at Binghamton University this Friday. And they’ve re-assembled most of the band, er, anti-drilling “experts” that visited Cornell University with their traveling road show/circus last October (see Latest Laughable NY Anti Tactic – Not Enough Gas, Just Move Along).

    Retired systems engineer for IBM and Lockheed Martin Jerry Acton will be there to induce death by PowerPoint. So too will retired Mobil Oil Executive Vice President Lou Allstadt (who’s already made his millions, so he doesn’t want any silly “farmers” to make money too, who the *$#@ do they think they are?). Oh, and Brian Brock, an anti-drilling retired geologist. Notice a theme here? All retired, all anti-drilling, with nothing to do. Road trip!…
    Read More “The Band is Back Together! Anti-Drillers to Visit Binghamton U”

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    Glow-in-the-Dark Bob Hagan: Shrill and Nutty

    Ever notice that when anti-drillers can’t seem to convince the public of their views, they get nuttier? They start spinning wild yarns, like all that fracking waste is radioactive and we’re going start glowing in the dark any day now. That’s the kind of wild tale being spun by Youngstown, OH Rep. Bob Hagan (Democrat).

    Because not enough Ohioans are turning against Utica Shale drilling, it’s time to ratchet up the rhetoric and old Bob is ready to pour it on. Here’s his latest glow-in-the-dark warning…
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    NJ Natgas Customers Get 24% Reduction on Their Bill

    An irony of ironies…The anti-drilling lobby in New Jersey is very strong. Even though there’s no recoverable Marcellus Shale gas in NJ, so-called environmentalists continually agitate for a statewide ban on fracking. A number of them also cross the border to make trouble in PA too, showing up for protest rallies. Even though they hate natural gas that comes from fracked Marcellus Shale–the very same protesters burn it to heat their homes and cook their meals. Some of them even use it to power natural gas vehicles.

    So it strikes us as a tad ironic that those same anti-drillers will see yet another huge rebate on their next gas bill from Public Service Electric & Gas (PSE&G), NJ’s largest gas and electric utility. Why? Because PSE&G has been wisely buying cheap Marcellus Shale gas produced in PA, and by law they have to pass along the savings to their customers. So in February their bills will be chopped by 24%, thanks to the same Marcellus gas groups like the Sierra Club are protesting…
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    New NYC Mayor Comes Out Against Fracking Anywhere in NY

    NYC Mayor Bill De BlasioThe new mayor of New York City, Bill De Blasio, is anti-drilling and proud of it. Yesterday he told reporters he doesn’t want to see fracking anywhere in the state. That De Blasio–wow, what a deep thinker he is! Know where he gets his facts and information from about fracking? Watching movies like Gasland. Such intellectual heft. Such gravitas. The man is clearly smarter than any of the rest of us. Thank God he’s the new mayor.

    Of course, De Blasio apparently doesn’t realize that fracking (of conventional oil and gas wells) happens right now in New York State and has been for over 40 years. But hey, let’s not let something like the truth get in the way of spinning a good fiction for the hoi polloi–us ordinary folks. We’re just so in awe of self righteous jerks intellectual leaders like De Blasio, we simply feel unworthy to be in His presence…
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    WV Anti-Drillers Try to Tie Coal Chemical Spill to Fracking

    MDN alerted you yesterday that some businesses on the periphery of the shale drilling industry in West Virginia may be affected by the recent coal-related chemical spill in that state that shut off water to some 300,000 residents (see Bumpy Ride for GreenHunter Because of WV Coal Chemical Spill?). Apparently anti-drilling Democrats in the state aren’t stopping at the periphery of the industry–why not use this unrelated chemical spill tragedy to falsely paint the entire shale drilling industry too? Yeah! What a great idea! (Rahm Emanuel: “You never let a serious crisis go to waste.”)

    And so is born one of the most confusingly false and fact-challenged articles we’ve read in a long time–and that’s saying something. A Huntington News reporter was apparently so wowed by has-been WV politician Charlotte Pritt (who once ran for governor in WV and lost), that he accepted her spoon-fed pablum that the recent coal-related chemical spill “has ties” to the fracking industry. The reporter confusingly cites studies going back years from trustworthy sources like (*cough*) Politico, and sprinkles in liberal doses of liberal dogma like “Halliburton loophole,” and apparently expects you to understand what he and Queen Charlotte are trying to say: frackin’s bad for ya man…
    Read More “WV Anti-Drillers Try to Tie Coal Chemical Spill to Fracking”

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    Minnesota Film Festival Bows to Pressure, Censors FrackNation

    It looks like the peace-loving, open-minded, love and daisies anti-drilling liberals have bullied another venue into dropping a screening of the pro-drilling (and highly recommend) FrackNation. The Frozen River Film Festival in Winona, MN said they had been pressured by libs from Mountain Film in Telluride and the Sundance Film Festival. And so they caved and went running with their tail between their legs instead of standing up for free speech and an alternative view.

    Ever notice how free speech only applies when mouthy anti-drillers want to shut down a public meeting or show their propaganda somewhere–but when the other side wants to talk or show a film, it’s “off with their heads!” Hypocrites–the lot of them. Here’s an update from MDN friend and FrackNation director and star Phelim McAleer about Frozen River Film Festival’s censorship of his film…
    Read More “Minnesota Film Festival Bows to Pressure, Censors FrackNation”

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    “Enviro” Groups: Keep Acid Mine Drainage So Drillers Can’t Use It

    How to Be Your Own Selfish PigGet this: Environmentalists (like those at PennEnvironment) hate fossil fuels from shale drilling so much, they would rather have millions of gallons of acid mine drainage pour into creeks and rivers in PA every day rather than let shale drillers use that drainage as a fracking fluid–thereby freeing up fresh water sources and solving one of the state’s most pernicious long-term pollution problems. Anti-drillers can’t stand the idea that drillers might, in any way, be perceived as helping the environment. Talk about selfish pigs.

    The residents in PA should be outraged at the 35 groups listed below, including PennEnvironment, that sent a letter last Thursday to political leaders asking them to abandon support for one of the best ideas to roll around in generations–cleaning up acid mine drainage by using it as a fracking fluid…
    Read More ““Enviro” Groups: Keep Acid Mine Drainage So Drillers Can’t Use It”

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    Heinz Spent $3.3M in 2013 on Anti-Drilling Research/Activities

    It now becomes crystal-clear (as if there were ever any doubt) about why the Heinz Endowments, under the direction of Teresa Heinz Kerry, fired its president Bobby Vagt and a couple of other senior members of the Endowments team: Heinz herself is through and through anti-drilling. Attempting to spread a thin veneer of euphemistic language, the Heinz Endowments admits that last year they provided $3.3 million of their considerable warchest to support anti-drilling organizations and causes. Oh, they don’t call it that, but that’s exactly what it is: Every single “cause” they funded took aim at shale drilling–to stop it, not make it better. With people like the Heinz’s there is no attempting a reasoned, considered “how can we improve this” approach. Instead, it’s a “how do we eliminate these evil, nasty drillers–eradicate them from the face of the earth” approach.

    Some of the recipients of Teresa’s largess last year include anti-drilling “studies” at Ivy League schools like Yale, Harvard and Cornell, and anti-drilling “activities” at non-profits like FracTracker Alliance. Contrast that with the tiny bit of money Vagt tried to spend to help create the very strict (too strict in our opinion) Center for Sustainable Shale Development–an alliance between drillers and environmental groups–getting both sides to the table and to agree. That one made mamma Teresa really mad, so Bobby had to go bye bye. We can’t have any talk of a “third way” and cooperation in shale exploration. It’s “no way” for the Heinz clan when it comes to shale…
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    Article Falsely Implies Driller Interested in S Maryland Drilling

    A highly misleading headline (and article) running in an AOL-based “local” Patch publication trumpets, “Energy Company Eyeing Gas Basin that Runs Under Southern Maryland.” The “deck” or smaller headline under it goes on to reinforce this misconception by saying, “A gas basin underneath five counties in Southern Maryland is drawing a Texas-based energy company’s attention.” Both statements are, in a way true. However, the impression they leave–that a Texas driller is actively looking to lease land in southern MD for shale drilling, is 100% false. Hence another propaganda campaign is born by another anti-drilling “reporter.”

    This particular falsehood is aimed at whipping up Marylanders against common sense regulations that would allow shale drilling in the Marcellus–which is only found under parts of two MD counties in extreme western Maryland’s panhandle area–Garrett and Allegany counties. Landowners in that area have been stymied almost as along as landowners in New York State–locked in an ongoing moratorium while politicians dither and preen. MDN has already told you about the shale basin mentioned in this new Patch story which drillers want to tap–in Virginia (see Fracking Finally on the Way in Virginia? Maybe Yes, Maybe No). The same basin underlying parts of VA, called the Taylorsville, underlies a few counties in southern MD too. But not one driller has mentioned leasing any land in anti-drilling MD. Quite the opposite–they’re staying away from Maryland like it’s radioactive…
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    Fracking Justice Denied NY Landowners Yet Again Thanks to NY AG

    justice delayed is justice deniedA liberal New York judge has just just granted New York State an additional month and a half to get their act together to respond to the Article 78 lawsuit filed by attorney Tom West on behalf Norse Energy. You may recall West filed the lawsuit in the middle of December in an attempt to force Gov. Andrew Cuomo, DEC Commissioner Joe Martens, and Health Commissioner Nirav Shah to actually do their jobs (see Norse Energy Sues Gov. Cuomo to Force Release of Fracking Regs). It’s been 5 1/2 long years and the state continues to intentionally delay the release of fracking regulations–the delay, which is now obvious to everyone, is for political reasons. The delays eventually sent Norse Energy into bankruptcy. The company can’t even sell their leases via auction to compensate shafted investors because of the continuing delay by Cuomo. West was hired to force the governor and his minions to suck it up and do their jobs.

    How does the state respond? Cuomo’s Attorney General Eric Schneiderman (a strong anti-driller himself) has found a sympathetic lib judge to, incredibly, further delay! Until March 7 (instead of the scheduled January 24)–to give the state “more time” to…I don’t know, to do what? Make more coffee runs to Dunkin Donuts? Apparently 5 1/2 years isn’t enough time! West said it’s this very kind of delay tactic that prompted Norse to file the lawsuit in the first place! So now, justice is delayed yet again. You know the old saying, justice delayed is justice denied. Landowners in NY have certainly been denied justice under this corrupt governor and his AG…
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    Out of Control EPA Exposed, Indicted by their Own Emails

    The Washington Free Beacon is reporting that through Freedom of Information requests, a link has been exposed between the federal Environmental Protection Agency and national so-called environmental groups. Emails show close coordination of “messaging” (i.e. propaganda campaigns). The emails also show, in MDN’s opinion, how these environmental groups and the federal government itself is manipulating rank and file citizens–shaping and influencing their opinion to get them to do the bidding of the elitists who run those organizations. What the evidence shows is that truth is a casualty and coordination of propaganda reigns supreme inside the Barack Obama/Gina McCarthy EPA.

    We certainly hope Congress initiates hearings to get to the bottom of these unethical and likely illegal activities–and put a stop to it…
    Read More “Out of Control EPA Exposed, Indicted by their Own Emails”

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    Bobby Vagt Leaves Heinz, Will Become Chairman of Rice Energy

    Looks like Bobby Vagt, current and soon to be former president of the Heinz Endowments, will get the last laugh. Vagt, you may recall, announced his “retirement” as president of the Heinz Endowments in October of last year. It has never been confirmed, but there’s plenty of anecdotal evidence to suggest mommie dearest Teresa Heinz Kerry bounced him out for his participation in helping to form the Center for Sustainable Shale Development (see Bobby Vagt Out as Pres of Heinz Endowments – Fracking Connection?). Momma Teresa never gave Bobby permission to get that cozy with the drilling industry, and that, dear friends, was a no-no for Bobby.

    So Bobby is taking off. And where is he going? To become chairman of the board at Rice Energy, once they complete their IPO (see Rice Energy Launches IPO, Hopes to Raise $840M). Bobby is already a wealthy man, but helping to steer the direction of Rice Energy will no doubt make him a lot wealthier. Which is amusing to MDN. You see, Bobby is making his money the old-fashioned way–he’s earning it. Momma Teresa made her money the liberal way–she married it. Here’s the story about Bobby saying bye-bye to Teresa and heading off to (much) greener pastures…
    Read More “Bobby Vagt Leaves Heinz, Will Become Chairman of Rice Energy”