Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel

Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA Dems Go Over the Cliff – Introduce Statewide Frack Ban Bill
September 19, 2013September 19, 2013

Stupendously stupid and truly amazing, some Pennsylvania Democrats continue to push a statewide “open-ended” moratorium on shale drilling (in essence a ban). The party voted to adopt a ban as their official position at the statewide meeting in June (see PA Democrat Party Votes to End Marcellus Shale Drilling Statewide). Now, Democrat elected representatives have introduced a bill to do just that.

PA State Senator Jim Ferlo (D-Allegheny) has just introduced Senate Bill 1100 which would institute an immediate ban (they call it a moratorium) on issuing new permits to drill until a 7-member panel can study it for “at least three to four years” and make a pronouncement about whether or not fracking is safe. Talk about insanity…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Regulation

Highland Park, NJ First Town in State to Ban Fracking – So What
September 19, 2013September 19, 2013

Egged on by community agitators like the anti-drilling Food & Water Watch and Sierra Club, Highland Park, NJ just became the first municipality in the state to officially ban fracking. Big deal. There is no fracking in NJ right now, Highland Park is too populated to support fracking, and there’s nothing worth fracking under the land in Highland Park anyway. But don’t tell the ~~potheads~~ concerned citizens in the protest lines–they’re having too much fun protesting to be bothered with the facts…

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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Research | Statewide WV | West Virginia

WV Group Seeks Volunteers to Sample Rivers/Streams Near Fracking
September 17, 2013September 17, 2013

Increasingly MDN receives a lot of email from both pro- and anti-drilling organizations and groups. We select only those items that we believe would be of interest to you. Below is one such item. A few days ago we received a forwarded email from someone working with the Three Rivers QUEST (3RQ), a water monitoring program managed by the WV Water Research Institute. West Virginia University also has some sort of involvement, according to the 3RQ website.

3RQ is looking for volunteers for their water monitoring program in WV–people to take water samples from rivers and streams “down wind” (or rather downstream) from active shale drilling sites. We fully expect most people who participate in the program are anti-drilling in philosophy. However, good science is good science. MDN believes it would be a good will gesture for pro-drillers to also volunteer…
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Allegheny County | Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation

Pittsburgh Dem Proposes Ban on Drilling in County Parks
September 16, 2013September 16, 2013

Should counties allow shale drilling to take place in or under county parks? It’s a politically charged issue, that’s for sure. Some political leaders, instead of facing the issue head-on, try to “kick the can down the road” and delay the discussion for years.

In a surprise editorial, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette takes liberal Democrat Councilwoman Barbara Daly Danko (Allegheny County) to task for proposing to delay discussion and debate about this important issue. Last week she introduced a bill that would ban drilling in Allegheny County parks until 2017. The PPG says it’s not necessary and makes a decision that much harder later on…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Wayne County

DRBC Director Carol Collier Announces Her Retirement
September 13, 2013September 13, 2013

Executive director of the Delaware River Basin Commission, Carol Collier, apparently has had enough. She announced yesterday she will retire as of March 12, 2014. You may recall Collier was shamed and humiliated on camera by filmmaker Phelim McAleer in his top-notch documentary FrackNation (see the video embedded below). Collier and her support of anti-drilling causes like the fictional Gasland movie is one of the primary reasons landowners in Wayne County, PA still have had no shale drilling–even though other PA counties all around them not in the Delaware River Basin have had drilling for years.

What does Collier’s retirement mean for the future of Marcellus Shale drilling in the DRBC’s jurisdiction? No one yet knows, but landowners are hopeful. One thing you can be sure of: Even though Collier mouths platitudes about finishing up regulations before she retires that will eventually allow drilling, there will be no movement on that issue from now until March. Of that we’re confident. Here’s Collier’s announcement from yesterday:
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Maryland | Statewide MD

Energy Deniers Ask Maryland Gov to Abandon Safe Fracking Path
September 13, 2013September 13, 2013

A group of extremist anti-drilling organizations, headed by the odious (and misnamed) Food & Water Watch, issued a press release to a single person yesterday–Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley–to ask him to abandon efforts at safe fracking in the state. These cuckoo organizations want no fracking–forever. They want a so-called sustainable energy nirvana now, which means what they really want is shared misery (and rolling blackouts) among everyone because that’s what a complete change to alternative energy sources would entail. There’s no physical way for non-fossil fuel sources of energy to supply all of our energy needs now–and likely not for the next generation or two (if ever). It’s just not possible and they know it, but they deny it. So we’ll call them “energy deniers.”

Here’s the missive issued yesterday by these anti-drilling extremists flying under the banner of Marylanders Against Fracking:
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Washington County

PA Rep. White Says Fake IDs were “Error in Judgment”
September 12, 2013September 12, 2013

Western PA Rep. Jesse White, who used fake online IDs to criticize his own pro-drilling constituents (see How the Mighty Have Fallen: PA Rep White Admits Guilt, Not Sorry), went on camera for the first time yesterday since the story broke, claiming he had a political group therapy session at (where else?) Harvard University’s Kennedy School in July. White confessed his sins (being caught) to his fellow legislators attending the program, and, shazam! Jesse’s now seen the light!

White admitted on camera yesterday to Pittsburgh’s KDKA television that it was wrong to use fake IDs. Sort-of. White actually said his actions were “an error in judgment,” which is about as close to “I’m sorry” as you’ll get from a recalcitrant and arrogant White. How did he come to this revelation that he was sort-of wrong? His classmates during the summer program at Harvard told him so–that’s how he knows. It only took White four months (and a primary challenger) to admit his “guilt”…

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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

TU: Just Eyeball Those Streams, You Know What Shouldn’t Be There
September 12, 2013September 12, 2013

Like a roomful of zombies, about 20 people who belong to the anti-drilling group Trout Unlimited (some of them fisherman) lapped up the lies from TU’s community organizer for eastern PA, Paula Piatt, at a meeting in the Pocono Mountain region last night. She told them, in essence, that they don’t need scientific testing to see if there’s anything bad going on (from fracking) in the streams they like to fish. Instead, just eyeball it: “Your eyes on the stream are priceless, as far as knowing what should be there and what shouldn’t.”

One zombie reports being “totally in awe” of Ms. Piatt and her work…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Mahoning County | Ohio | Regulation

Niles, OH Considers Vote to Rescind Ill-Advised Frack Ban
September 11, 2013September 11, 2013

When you rush to do a dumb thing, you later regret it. City council members in Niles, OH have learned that hard lesson after voting last month to implement a ban on shale drilling. In their haste to “protect residents” from drilling, they didn’t bother to read the fine print of the bill they passed (no doubt drafted by a helpful anti-driller). In addition to banning shale drilling in the city–something that wouldn’t happen anyway–the bill also bans businesses that operate in the city and the city itself from doing business with the drilling industry. Oops. The city does a lot of business with the drilling industry.

Now city council members are planning a vote to rescind the ban they just passed last month…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Mahoning County | Ohio | Regulation

Economic Suicide Attempt #2: Youngstown to Vote Again on Frack Ban
September 9, 2013September 9, 2013

In May 2013, the citizens of Youngstown, OH wisely chose not to commit economic suicide by voting against a ban on fracking–a ban that not only ban fracking but also outlaw the business activities of some companies that support the drilling industry (see Youngstown, OH Votes Down Fracking Ban Amendment). The people had their say, and they said 57% to 43% “we’ll take fracking and the jobs that go with it, thank you very much.” But you have to hand it to irrational anti-drilling zealots–they don’t give up. They are bound and determined to commit economic suicide, and now, they may have just been handed the equivalent of a loaded gun with permission to do it…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Regulation | Statewide VA | Statewide WV | Virginia | West Virginia

WashPo Takes Aim at Fracking in the George Washington Natl Forest
September 9, 2013September 9, 2013

A “reporter” with the appropriate last name of “Fears” has authored a masterful piece of propaganda for the Washington Post on the “looming” decision about whether or not the U.S. Forest Service should allow shale drilling in a teeny tiny part of the 2 million acre George Washington National Forest that covers parts of Virginia and West Virginia.

All you need to know about the viewpoint of the so-called article (really just more anti-drilling propaganda) can be found in the first two sentences…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Washington County

PA Rep. White (He of Fake Online IDs) Gets a Primary Challenger
September 9, 2013September 9, 2013

Astonishingly, PA Rep. Jesse White from Washington County, PA still holds his office, even after admitting he used fake online IDs to mock pro-drillers he disagrees with–people who are his own constituents (see How the Mighty Have Fallen: PA Rep White Admits Guilt, Not Sorry). To his own shame, and the shame of the PA legislature, White is not sorry, hasn’t apologized and has not (yet) been removed from office. It appears he will serve out his term until the scheduled election next year.

However, Rep. White’s days in office may be numbered. He now has a strong primary challenger…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA Auditor General Spreads Rumor of Problems at DEP
September 6, 2013September 6, 2013

Pennsylvania’s Auditor General, Eugene DePasquale, is an anti-drilling Democrat who took office in January 2013. On his very first day on the job he targeted the Marcellus Shale industry and the state Dept. of Environmental Protection (see Newly Elected PA Auditor General Targets DEP First Day on Job). DePasquale wasted no time in issuing a letter to the DEP, telling them he was about to launch a year-long anal exam of the agency and its “protection” of PA’s water resources as relates to shale drilling. Mike Krancer was the Secretary of the DEP at the time and told DePasquale in so many words, “bring it on” (see PA Auditor General Targets State’s Marcellus Drilling Industry).

DePasquale has issued an–update? Guidance? Interim report? Helpful suggestions? Nope. He’s issued innuendo and unspecific rumors against the DEP to the reliably anti-drilling editorial board at the Scranton Times-Tribune. Here’s what he said to a group of sycophantic and unquestioning reporters yesterday–or rather what he didn’t say but insinuated…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

Anti-Drillers Attempt a Brave Face with NY Appeals Court Decision
August 30, 2013August 30, 2013

MDN was one of the first news/blog sites yesterday to break the news that the New York Court of Appeals has decided to hear the Dryden and Middlefield appeals. This is the best possible news landowners could receive (see BREAKING: NY Court of Appeals will Hear Dryden/Middlefield Case). As promised, below is MDN’s explanation of why we believe the Court of Appeals decision is the single most positive development NY landowners have had in several years (not hyperbole!).

However, before our analysis, some background on yesterday’s decision as given by an objective news source (the Wall Street Journal) and by a not-so-objective news source (the Albany Times Union)…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide NY | Susquehanna County

What Did NYC Lawmakers Find when Visiting NE PA Frack Sites?
August 29, 2013August 29, 2013

A small group of anti-drilling New York State lawmakers from Westchester County and New York City came to Susquehanna County, PA yesterday for a “tour” of one of the most drilled (and productive) natural gas counties in PA. We’re guessing local anti-drilling celebrity (and potty mouth) Vera Scroggins led the tour, although we don’t know for sure. Regardless of who led it, the aim was to show the devastation fracking hath wrought to this poor, defenseless county. Unfortunately for Vera and other anti-drillers, reality trumps their hallucinations.

MDN was not along for the so-called tour, but we know what the visiting city folks found because we’ve also toured the county and its drilling sites: They found a pretty, rural county where the people are happy and employed, (some of them newly rich, which disgusts the old rich of NYC), and where there is no industrial wasteland. Sometimes trucks clog the roadways–but nothing like the traffic the visiting downstate lawmakers experience every day of their lives…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Columbia County | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania

Shale Justice Coalition Plans to Gate-Crash John Hanger Appearance
August 28, 2013August 28, 2013

Shhh. Don’t tell anyone…but the Shale Justice Coalition plans to show up en masse at a talk being given by former PA Dept. of Environmental Protection Sec. John Hanger on September 3rd at Bloomsburg University. Hanger is running for the Democrat nomination for governor in PA and the folks at Shale Justice don’t like his views on drilling. Shale Justice doesn’t want anyone other than the anti-drilling faithful to know about their plans to gate-crash Hanger’s talk, so they’ve asked that their secret announcement not be shared on social media or publicly announced. Whoops. Guess we kind of blew that!

Here’s the Shale Justice Coalition email announcement, as passed along to us by an MDN reader…
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