Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel

Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Orange County | Statewide NY | Sullivan County | Ulster County

Mid-Hudson Valley NY Towns For and Against Drilling
November 19, 2012November 19, 2012

Where do Orange, Ulster and Sullivan county towns (in New York State) stand on the issue of fracking and gas drilling? All three of them could conceivably see drilling of some kind should it be allowed, although only Sullivan is squarely in both the Marcellus and Utica Shale boundary (Orange has just a small slice within the boundary, and perhaps half of Ulster, see the Marcellus and Utica Shale Databook Volume 2 for a map showing the boundaries). However, anti-drilling sentiments run deep the closer you get to the orbit of New York City, and all three counties are in that orbit.

The Middletown Times Herald-Record takes a look at the latest towns for and against fracking in Orange, Ulster and Sullivan counties:

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Alternative Energy | Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues

Geological Consultant Says Shale Gas is a Commercial Failure
November 19, 2012November 19, 2012

Two weeks ago MDN highlighted the opinions, as expressed in a book to be published in the spring, from an “expert” who says shale gas supplies in the U.S. will last less than 10 years (see this MDN story). We were a bit incredulous and doubtful—the book is written by an energy investment advisor, not a geologist. But we now have a second contrary voice to add to his—this one is Arthur Berman, a geological consultant with 34 years of experience in petroleum exploration and production.

Berman says, among other things, that the decline rates for shale oil are very steep and that unless we’re drilling thousands of new wells each year, we won’t even stay even with the oil we’re producing now. His opinion is in stark contrast to the IEA, EIA and other governmental organizations that predict the U.S. will soon surpass Saudi Arabia to be the world’s largest oil producer (we’ve already surpassed Russia to be the largest natural gas producer). Here’s some of Berman’s comments in an interview on shale gas and oil:

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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues

Anti-Drilling Group Releases Fracking Chemical Database
November 16, 2012November 16, 2012

A new database of the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing (fracking) has just been released by anti-drilling organization SkyTruth.org. The database uses publicly available information posted on FracFocus.org. According to SkyTruth, they make the FracFocus chemical data more accessible and easy to use.

Here’s the press announcement from SkyTruth:

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

Anti-Drillers Pressure PA Gov on Water Testing “Controversy”
November 15, 2012November 15, 2012

The ever-shrill anti-fracking machine believes they have a winner of an issue in the recent “discovery” that (gasp) the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection does not, in every instance of well water testing, conduct useless and expensive testing for every chemical known to mankind (see this MDN story). For the anti-drilling lobby, the DEP’s lack of extreme testing equals “cover-up.” And so they grind out press release after press release, letter after letter. (Crank up the Peter, Paul & Mary music, there’s more letters to write!)

Yesterday, 25 groups (listed at the bottom so you know whom not to support) sent one such letter to Gov. Tom Corbett requesting he order the DEP and Sec. Michael Krancer to start conducting those extreme tests post haste (a copy of the letter is embedded below). Here’s how the latest faux controversy is being reported:

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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Susquehanna County

Leading Anti-Driller Does 180, Signs Lease with Cabot in PA
November 14, 2012November 14, 2012

This is an astonishing turnaround. Denise Dennis, a very vocal critic of gas drilling and someone who caught national attention two years ago by denouncing natural gas drilling and comparing it to the tobacco industry at a Philadelphia City Council meeting, has just signed a lease with Cabot Oil & Gas to allow drilling under her historic property in Susquehanna County, PA.

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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Commodity Price | Industrywide Issues

Bloomberg Says NatGas Producers “Killing” Gas Price Rally
November 14, 2012November 14, 2012

It’s been at least two weeks without a natural gas hit piece from Bloomberg (they had to leave the natgas topic alone for a few weeks to get their candidate re-elected)…must be time for another smear. Yep, here it is: “Gas Prices Doomed to Stay Low as Producers Pump Faster.” The premise is that because gas prices have started to climb again, the capitalistic, selfish energy companies are greedily turning back on “shut-in” wells and hooking up previously drilled wells and the gas is now flowing so darned much, it’s doomed gas prices to stay low, like, forever.

Never mind that next week Bloomberg will run another story that says these same energy companies are vastly overstating how much shale gas really exists and supplies will run out in a few years—that we don’t really have 100 or more years of supplies as most experts believe. Being a bit truth-challenged has never bothered Bloomberg, or Reuters or the AP for that matter. They have a template, a narrative—and the “facts” will be bent, molded and shaped to fit it.

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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Broome County | Industrywide Issues | New York | Statewide NY

NY Politicians Say Drilling will Bring an “Invasion”
November 14, 2012November 14, 2012

Binghamton’s failed mayor, Matt Ryan, was in Albany yesterday to stir up trouble on the fracking issue. (First Dimock, now Albany…seems Mayor Ryan’s pass time is to cause trouble somewhere else while your own city is crumbling around you.)

Mayor Ryan has started his own cultic anti-fracking group called Elected Officials to Protect New York. The group, meeting in Albany yesterday, said that if drilling is allowed in New York, it will create an “invasion” of crime and social unrest. Here’s the scoop:

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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Research | Statewide NY | Wastewater

Yet Another Faux Report on Radiation Danger from NY Fracking
November 12, 2012November 12, 2012

Grassroots Environmental Education, a leftist anti-drilling organization in New York State, released a biased report last week that says, in essence, if fracking is allowed in New York, radiation will poison us all for centuries to come. Another week, another faux report issued by a “scientist” with the viewpoint that all fossil fuels are evil. Film at eleven.

(Yes, we grow tired of reporting this claptrap, but you need to know about it because mainstream media is too lazy to evaluate it critically.)

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

MSC Responds to Allegations PA DEP Skews Drilling Water Tests
November 5, 2012November 5, 2012

Late Friday MDN told you about an allegation made by PA State Rep. Jesse White (from western PA) and an attorney for a plaintiff in a lawsuit in Washington County, PA alleging well water was contaminated by nearby shale gas drilling. White and the attorney claim the state Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) knowingly suppressed water test results to the plaintiff and others that would have proven a link between drilling and water contamination (see this MDN story).

The DEP immediately responded, refuting the claim that they skew water tests. The Marcellus Shale Coalition (MSC), an organization representing large and small drillers in Pennsylvania and throughout the Marcellus Shale, has also responded. Here’s what they said on Friday about Rep. White’s claims of fraud at the DEP:

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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Broome County | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York

NYRAD Endorsements for NY Elections – Solid Democrat
November 5, 2012November 5, 2012

Last week MDN brought you the Joint Landowners Coalition of New York voting guide (see this MDN story). Today, we bring you the New York Residents Against Drilling (NYRAD) voting guide. Why? So you know whom, precisely, to not vote for. Those in the NYRAD list (below) are people against shale gas drilling—people you do not want in public office at any level. No mystery here that every single one of them is a Democrat.

The list is mostly for races in Broome County, NY, with a few races in surrounding counties. Here’s the NYRAD list, received by MDN in an email over the weekend:

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Air Quality | Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Research | Wayne County

Anti-Drilling Group Does Air Sampling in Wayne County, PA
November 5, 2012November 5, 2012

Anti-drilling group Damascus Citizens for Sustainability (DCS)—a group supposedly based in Damascus Twp (Wayne County), Pennsylvania but with its actual headquarters in Manhattan, NYC—has hired Massachusetts-based Gas Safety Inc. to perform what they call baseline air testing in and around Damascus Twp. This is not the first time DCS and Gas Safety have teamed up for a hit job (see this MDN story).

The Damascus study supposedly provides baseline numbers for how much naturally occurring methane is in the air, just in case drilling should ever start in the township. Drilling is on hold everywhere in the Delaware Watershed Basin, which includes Damascus Twp, until/unless the Delaware Watershed Basin Commission votes to pass drilling rules that would allow it. What did Gas Safety find in its so-called “scientific” analysis of methane around Damascus? Let’s just say farmers with pooping cows may want to be concerned that DCS will be coming for them next…

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

PA DEP Accused of Skewing Water Tests from Wells Near Drilling
November 2, 2012November 2, 2012

Pennsylvania House of Representatives member Jesse White (D-Allegheny, Beaver, and Washington counties) is outraged with the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) and says someone needs to go to jail. The DEP is outraged with Mr. White and lawyer Kendra Smith. What’s all the outrage over?

Two DEP officials have gone on record in a court case in Washington County, PA with testimony that seems to indicate when the DEP tests residential water wells suspected of being contaminated by natural gas drilling, the reports they issue suppress (or simply don’t look for) certain drilling-related chemicals. Mr. White says it’s evidence of a systematic cover-up—a crime. He’s basing his allegation on a letter by Kendra White, attorney in a case against Range Resources (a copy of the letter is embedded below). The DEP says Mr. White and Ms. Smith are both wrong.

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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Economic Impact | Industrialization | Industrywide Issues | Jobs

Anti-Drilling Objection: Shale Drilling Causes Boom & Bust
October 26, 2012October 26, 2012

Two and one half years ago MDN editor first heard about “boomtowns” at a talk by Cornell Professor Tony Ingraffea. Ingraffea is a well-known anti-driller who traipses hither and yon to spread the anti-fracking message—from the halls of Congress to local town libraries to college classrooms with young, impressionable minds. That night, Dr. Ingraffea talked extensively about how local towns in the Western U.S. went through a cycle of building up (or “boom”) due to energy exploration, and then almost overnight went “bust” once the energy was mined and the companies left town. It was quite a horror picture he painted (see this MDN story recounting Ingraffea’s talk).

MDN has heard the same argument on and off over the years since. The latest example is a story published yesterday titled, “Will Shale Create Ohio Ghost Towns in 2040?” Every time MDN editor hears that argument it makes us angry. Here’s why…

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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Bucks County | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Tioga County (PA)

Anti-Drilling Close-up: Trout Unlimited
October 26, 2012October 26, 2012

One of the non-profit organizations that crops up in lists of those whom MDN would classify as anti-drilling is Trout Unlimited (TU). The 50 year-old organization is national in scope with 140,000 volunteers and 400 local chapters—really one of the country’s premier conservation organizations. The TU charter is “Conserving, protecting and restoring North America’s coldwater fisheries and their watersheds” according to their website.

MDN has noticed that over the past several years TU runs programs—mostly on the weekends and mostly in Pennsylvania—to train volunteers in how to test streams and rivers. The aim is to test before there is drilling (or pipelines or compressor plants) in an area, to test during drilling or construction and then to test after, to see if those streams and rivers are in any way affected by drilling and related activity. So what have they found?

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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Spectra Energy

Nutjob Protester Stops NYC Pipeline Construction for 2 Hours
October 26, 2012October 26, 2012

This story will help lighten the mood for Friday. Our entertainment for today comes courtesy the continuing antics of a small group of New York City protesters who object to what Mayor Michael Bloomberg has called “vital” to the city—more natural gas. Spectra Energy is building a pipeline from New Jersey, under the Hudson River, over to a pier in New York to help bring more badly-needed natural gas supplies to the city. Natural gas that will come mostly from the Marcellus Shale.

MDN told you a few weeks ago about protesters getting naked and painting themselves green (see this MDN story). On Wednesday of this week, one of the pipeline protesters (get this) didn’t even tell himself he was going to protest! He spontaneously chained himself to a backhoe. Here’s what happened:

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