Hydraulic Fracturing

Broome County | Chenango County | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Research

USGS: Best Places in NY Southern Tier to Get Water for Fracking
March 15, 2013March 15, 2013

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has identified three large-scale groundwater supply sources along the Susquehanna River in Broome and Chenango counties (New York State) in an announcement about a newly completed study (full copy of the study is embedded below). The USGS says these three potential groundwater supply locations are in areas where there may be future shale gas drilling activities.

Essentially, the USGS has provided the drilling industry and regulators at the DEC and SRBC with a helpful “best places to get water for fracking” guide…

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

JLCNY Issues Update, Begins Fundraising to Finance NY Lawsuit
March 14, 2013March 14, 2013

The Joint Landowners Coalition of New York (JLCNY), an organization representing 77,000 landowners with over 1 million acres, issued an extensive update late yesterday on: the status of their lawsuit (which is proceeding); their need for fundraising to finance the lawsuit; and the rationale/strategy for the lawsuit. Even though recent comments by Gov. Cuomo offer a “tease” that he may soon approve fracking, the JLCNY says it’s moving forward with the lawsuit anyway, essentially telling Cuomo “we’ll believe it when we see it.”

Landowners in NY have had too many broken promises and too much double-speak from Albany politicians (see NY Assemblywoman Donna Lupardo: Fracking Friend or Foe?). Through the JLCNY, landowners are now acting to protect their Constitutional property rights. It seems Cuomo, Lupardo and other Democrats have miscalculated when it comes to NY landowners and they will now pay the political and economic price. Here’s the entire update from the JLCNY, worth the read:

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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Forced Pooling | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

Bloomberg Tries to Stir-up NY over Compulsory Integration Issue
March 14, 2013March 14, 2013

Mainstream media sources, like Bloomberg, often tip their hand as to which way they think the wind is blowing on an issue. You just have to take time to observe. For example, someone at Bloomberg believes New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is about to decide in favor of fracking. How do we know they think that? Because they run hit pieces that try to scare readers as a tactic to “stir-up the natives” so they’ll make noise.

The latest stir-up-the-natives-against-fracking hit piece from Bloomberg is on the topic of compulsory integration. If 60% of your neighbors sign a lease in New York, and fracking is allowed, and if your property is in a drilling unit (640 acres or one square mile), your land may be included in the fracking operation. Nothing would be built on top of your land, but drilling may be done under it—a mile or more down—even if you don’t want it. Bloomberg found an anti-driller—someone who has bought the lies from the anti-drilling left hook, line and sinker—and they’ve milked it (or should we say slaughtered it) for all it’s worth…

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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Maryland | Statewide MD

Love Canal Mom Uses Fracking Issue for Second 15 Min of Fame
March 14, 2013March 14, 2013

In a pathetic and transparent attempt to tie the miracle of hydraulic fracturing (i.e. “fracking”) to the 1970s issue of chemical contamination at Love Canal in Niagara Falls, NY, anti-drillers in Maryland held a protest rally yesterday in the state capitol of Annapolis. The featured speaker at the rally was Lois Gibbs, the mom who made Love Canal a household name in the 1970s. Her actions indirectly led to the eventual creation of the EPA Superfund program. Just like Yoko Ono and the manifestly untalented Sean Lenon, she’s back for her second 15 minutes of fame and believes she can grab it by riding the coattails of the fracking issue.

Of course, fracking doesn’t contaminate and has nothing whatever to do with the kind of chemical contamination that was found in the Love Canal toxic waste dump—but confusion, obfuscation and deceit is a favorite tactic of the environmentalist left…

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

PA House Dem Introduces Bill to Ban New Drilling on State Land
March 14, 2013March 14, 2013

Pennsylvania Democrat State Rep. Greg Vitali introduced a bill last week (H.B. 950, full copy embedded below) that would permanently ban the leasing of any additional state land for Marcellus Shale gas drilling.

Here’s Vitali’s announcement about the bill, with his reasons for introducing it (complete with obligatory eco-nut language like “old growth forests” and “fragile ecosystems”):

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania

Phelim McAleer and FrackNation Come to Philly on April 10
March 14, 2013March 14, 2013

MDN friend Phelim McAleer will be on hand at the Philadelphia premiere screening of his marvelous new documentary FrackNation on April 10 at the Bryn Mawr Film Insititute. The Delaware Valley Marcellus Association (DVMA) is sponsoring the screening.

The announcement (and details for how you can attend), from the DVMA:

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Air Quality | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Regulation

Senators Wants Answers from EPA Nominee about “Crucify Them” Al
March 13, 2013March 13, 2013

The ranking Republican member of the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee, U.S. Sen. David Vitter (Republican from Louisiana), and several of his Senate colleagues, are “demanding answers” from Gina McCarthy, Obama’s choice to head the EPA, over her involvement with the discredited and fired Al “Crucify Them” Armendariz (see EPA Administrator Al Armendariz Resigns over Crucify Comment). Seems a colleague at EPA emailed old Al when he was under fire and Al responded at the time essentially “don’t worry about me” and made mention of Gina McCarthy’s new EPA air pollution rules as “icing on the cake.”

Clearly Armendariz saw McCarthy’s efforts as dovetailing nicely with his own strategy to “crucify” several oil and gas companies as examples to scare the rest of the “villagers” into falling into line. Sick and sleazy. (Armendariz went to work for the Sierra Club after leaving EPA.) Vitter and other Republicans are rightly concerned over the tight relationship between Armendariz and McCarthy—specifically on the matter of Armendariz’s action in outlawing Las Brisas Energy Center (LBEC) in Corpus Christi, Texas—and they want answers. Vitter issued the following press release yesterday:

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Maryland | Statewide MD

UMD Issues 172-Page Report on Marcellus Drilling Best Practices
March 13, 2013March 13, 2013

In the past MDN has been critical of the Marcellus Shale Advisory Commission appointed by Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley. There were supposed to provide a set of best practices for hydraulic fracturing to the state legislature and have repeatedly missed their stated deadlines to do so (see Maryland Shale Commission Misses Second Deadline for Report). The first deadline that slipped by was August 1, 2012. Then it was Dec. 31, 2012. Then they (wisely) didn’t commit but said some time in the spring of 2013.

We don’t know for sure, but perhaps their recommendations are late in coming because they’ve been waiting on the University of Maryland (UMD) to complete a report on best practices. Three weeks ago, the UMD Center for Environmental Science Appalachian Laboratory in Frostburg, Maryland, submitted a 172-page report (full copy embedded below) of recommendations for drilling and fracking best practices to the Maryland Dept. of the Environment (MDE).

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

IOGA of NY Goes to Albany to Engage in “Hallway Chatter”
March 13, 2013March 13, 2013

One day after Gov. Andrew “the Ditherer” Cuomo verbally slapped around landowners and those who favor fracking by saying they ought to refrain from lobbying and “hallway chatter” (see The Gall: Cuomo Lectures Landowners on How to Play Politics), the Independent Oil & Gas Association of New York held their annual lobbying day in Albany to, well, engage in hallway chatter…

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

Deerfield, NY Extends Fracking Moratorium Another 6 Months
March 13, 2013March 13, 2013

It’s time to toss out (at the next election) the anti-Constitutional town board members of Deerfield (Oneida County), NY. Monday night they voted unanimously to extend an illegal moratorium on fracking for another six months:

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Health Impacts | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

NY Health Com. Nirav Shah Says Fracking Health Review Almost Done
March 12, 2013March 11, 2013

An interesting development in the “As Cuomo Dithers” fracking soap opera. Freshly back from a road trip to confer with researchers studying the health effects of fracking, New York State Commissioner of Health Nirav Shah appeared at a press conference yesterday with Gov. Cuomo. In a surprise announcement, Shah said he will render his judgment on the question of frack/no frack “in weeks.” Cuomo himself made some encouraging remarks at the presser too, including his belief that the two-year moratorium bill passed by the NY Assembly last Wednesday is going nowhere fast.

You may recall we are currently waiting for Shah’s review and official opinion on whether or not fracking as done under the rules proposed by the Dept. of Environmental Conservation would negatively impact “public health.” Shah and his assistants went on a road trip to find out what they could from fracking health studies now under way (see Deadline for NY Fracking Regs Slips Again…Or Does It?). One of those studies, being performed by Geisinger Health Systems, has only just received $1 million in funding and preliminary results won’t be available for at least a year. Anti-drillers celebrated and took that to mean fracking in New York will be on hold for several more years. Shah and Cuomo’s comments from yesterday may have burst their bubble…

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

The Gall: Cuomo Lectures Landowners on How to Play Politics
March 12, 2013March 11, 2013

It appears the Joint Landowners Coalition of New York, the Independent Oil & Gas Association of New York, the New York Petroleum Council and other pro-fracking groups have caught the attention—and irritation—of Gov. Ditherer Cuomo.

After a cabinet meeting yesterday, Cuomo was questioned about fracking and the looooooooong time it’s taking him to make up his mind. How did he respond? By verbally slapping around New York’s landowners that have waited nearly five years for drilling to begin:

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Statewide OH | Utica Shale

ODNR Issues New OH Utica Maps, Including “Best Places to Drill”
March 11, 2013March 11, 2013

Last week the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) released a number of new maps. Two of them, in particular, will be of interest to MDN readers: A map which displays the location of wells permitted and/or drilled, and a map showing Total Organic Carbon (TOC)—an indicator of the “best places to drill.” Both maps are embedded below.

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

NY Assemblywoman Donna Lupardo: Fracking Friend or Foe?
March 11, 2013March 11, 2013

Last Wednesday when the New York State Assembly voted to extend a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing another two years, after having had a moratorium for near five years already, many landowners in Broome County were surprised and disappointed to see a seeming change in position for an influential member of the NY State Assembly. Donna Lupardo, Assemblywoman for the City of Binghamton, Village of Endicott and the western Broome County towns of Vestal and Union, voted in favor of the two-year ban on fracking. Such a ban, if passed, would effectively kill drilling in New York—likely permanently. Two years ago she voted against a similar piece of legislation. Why the change?

MDN contacted Ms. Lupardo to ask that very question. She sent this response via email:

Read More “NY Assemblywoman Donna Lupardo: Fracking Friend or Foe?”
Air Quality | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Research

NOAA Methane Study from 2011 is Flawed – Final Answer
March 11, 2013March 11, 2013

MDN tries to avoid “inside baseball” stories as much as possible—those stories that are highly technical and involve complex math and science. We avoid them not because they aren’t important—they are. But because readers often don’t have the time to study the issue properly to understand it. When possible, we try to interpret such stories and give you “the bottom line.” This is one of those stories.

In December 2011, the Journal of Geophysical Research (JGR) published a paper by a number of authors associated with NOAA—the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The paper, titled “Hydrocarbon emissions characterization in the Colorado Front Range – A pilot study,” took a close look at natural gas drilling and using some rather complex science, made the bombshell claim that a large amount of methane escapes into the atmosphere during the drilling process. In the parlance of scientists, the issue is called “fugitive emissions.” Those who buy the claims of manmade global warming say methane is a “potent” greenhouse gas—so if a lot of it escapes into the atmosphere, that’s a bad thing. It causes the globe to heat up.

Read More “NOAA Methane Study from 2011 is Flawed – Final Answer”
Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

NY Republican Senator Works to Thwart Assembly’s Ban Vote
March 8, 2013March 8, 2013

Earlier this week the New York State Assembly voted to ban horizontal fracking until May 2015 (see Lights Out on NY Fracking? Senate, Assembly Dems Push 2-Year Ban). One NY Assemblyman said—on the floor of the Assembly—that his Democrat colleagues are waging an “intellectual and political jihad” against fossil fuels (see NY Assemblyman Says Colleagues are Waging Jihad Against Fracking). If anti-drillers want to ensure the current ban stays, the next step is to get the NY Senate to pass a similar bill.

One of New York’s top Republican senators (who happens to be from the Southern Tier) is Tom Libous. If he has his way, Sen. Libous says there won’t be a vote in the Senate on a moratorium. In fact, he’s working hard to ensure it doesn’t happen:

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