Hydraulic Fracturing

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

NY DEC and EPA Emails – Interesting, Not Earth Shattering
June 11, 2012June 11, 2012

Over the weekend, the Gannett News Service ran a story in several of its newspapers and TV stations in New York State detailing the contents of emails that have flown back and forth between the NY State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on the topic of hydraulic fracturing in New York over the past four years. A copy of the emails is embedded below.

There’s really nothing earth shatteringly new in the emails. Some interesting tidbits perhaps, but all of it now ancient history and not worth being hot and bothered about.

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Accidents | Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Range Resources Corp | Washington County

EPA Investigating Range Drill Site in Western PA
June 11, 2012June 11, 2012

The federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is investigating whether or not drilling activity by Range Resources at their Yeager Marcellus Shale site in Washington County, PA is causing air pollution and groundwater contamination. Range operates a wastewater pond and a drill cuttings pit at the site.

Several families living close to the site filed a personal injury lawsuit last month against Range.

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Regulation

Congressman Takes EPA’s Jackson to Task over Fracking
June 11, 2012June 11, 2012

The House Committee on Science, Space and Technology has a subcommittee called the Subcommittee on Energy and Environment. It’s chaired by Congressman Andy Harris (R-MD). Last week Congressman Harris sent a letter to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lisa Jackson. The purpose of the letter? Essentially it puts Ms. Jackson on notice that Congress is tired of her agency’s witch hunt with respect to hydraulic fracturing, and encourages the EPA to stop being so sloppy with its work in that regard (MDN’s interpretation of what Harris said).

In essence, Mr. Harris accuses Ms. Jackson and the EPA of promoting a political agenda instead of performing real science. A copy of the full letter is embedded below.

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Statewide OH

Muskingum Watershed Reverses Decision to Sell Water to Drillers
June 8, 2012June 8, 2012

Someone from the enviro-left movement has gotten to the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District (MWCD) board and the board has caved. On June 6 news broke that the MWCD had earlier this year commissioned a study that would look at using three of the reservoirs it controls to make water sales to drillers for use in hydraulic fracturing (see this MDN story). The MWCD had already approved one deal to sell 11 million gallons of water from Clendening Lake to Gulfport Energy.

But the very next day—yesterday—the MWCD issued a press release saying no more water sales would be considered until the study is complete “later this year” (except for the 11 million gallons already agreed to). You scratch your head and say, “Well yeah, duh, that’s what the study is for!” But that’s not all.

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

Fracking Bills in NY Legislature See Movement
June 7, 2012June 7, 2012

Several bills that deal with hydraulic fracturing are making their way through the legislature in Albany, but with only eight days left in the legislative session for 2012, it’s not at all assured any of them will pass. The bills range from stricter control of fracking wastewater to an outright ban on fracking in the state—and everything in between.

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

Elected Democrats Tell Cuomo to Continue Fracking Moratorium
June 7, 2012June 7, 2012

A new partisan effort is under way to pressure New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo to just keep the hydraulic fracturing moratorium in place for another year, and another year, and another year…

This effort is to get elected officials throughout the state to sign a letter which asks Cuomo to keep the moratorium in place, “until analyses have thoroughly and properly evaluated the potential health, economic, and cumulative environmental impacts on local communities.” Of course that very analysis has been going on now for four years, so may we presume another four years or more is what they’re asking for?

So far, the “letter” (which is really a website with a form on it) has 306 signatures (as of June 7) from elected representatives—everything from town clerks to county legislators to mayors—virtually of them Democrats.

You can find the letter and the list of signatories (people you should vote out of office), here: //www.nyelectedofficials.org/.
Broome County | Chemung County | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Statewide NY | Tioga County (NY)

NY Rumor Mill: Cuomo to Allow Test Sites for Fracking?!
June 6, 2012June 6, 2012

The anti-drillers are hot and bothered. A fringe anti-drilling group called Toxics Targeting (from where else, Ithaca, NY) held a small rally in Binghamton yesterday. They enlisted the support of the Binghamton Mayor Matt Ryan to their cause. And this week’s cause? Send a letter to Gov. Andrew Cuomo asking him to ban fracking, but especially to drop any plans to allow the drilling of “demonstration wells” in Broome, Tioga and Chemung counties.

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Air Quality | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues

New Study: Methane Emissions Half of EPA’s Previous Estimates
June 6, 2012June 6, 2012

A new study just released by America’s Natural Gas Alliance (ANGA) and the American Petroleum Institute (API) finds that methane emissions from hydraulic fracturing are at least 50% less than estimates from the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). And this is not a wild, unsubstantiated claim by “the industry.” ANGA and API have the science to prove it.

The new study (full copy embedded below) takes the most comprehensive look at the data to date—data from 91,000 U.S. natural gas producing wells. That’s a sample size 10 times larger than the EPA used in their estimates.

Here’s some of the stunning results found by the new study:

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Monongalia County | Regulation | West Virginia

Morgantown WV Attempts to Ban Fracking a Second Time
June 6, 2012June 6, 2012

Here we go again. Yesterday, the Morgantown, WV City Council voted on new legislation that would “regulate” (i.e. ban) hydraulic fracturing. But this time, those sharp-as-a-tack council members have contented themselves with regulating it within their own borders.

You may recall that last year the same Morgantown City Council (pictured below) passed a ban on fracking that included areas up to one mile outside of the city limits in a blatant attempt to try and stop the fracking of two gas wells that sit about a mile from the edge of the city. A WV circuit court judge overturned the ban (see this MDN story). Since then, both of those Marcellus wells were fracked, came online, and somehow, mystically—there has been no water contamination or ill health affects of any kind. Who woulda thunk?

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Statewide OH

OH Watershed Looking to Increase Water Sales for Fracking
June 6, 2012June 6, 2012

The Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District (MWCD) has ordered a study to determine if three of the district’s reservoirs—Clendening, Atwood and Leesville—can safely become a source of water sales for drillers who need water for hydraulic fracturing. Some residents are concerned, but the MWCD is already successfully selling some water and believes there may be an opportunity to sell more.

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues

The Enviro-Left’s Motivation to Ban Fracking
June 6, 2012June 6, 2012

An article on the Legal Newsline website takes a look at the motivations behind calls for a ban on hydraulic fracturing—and they get it right:

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | Ulster County

Town of Rochester, NY Considers Fracking Ban
June 6, 2012June 6, 2012

The Town of Rochester, NY, located in Ulster County along the Hudson River (and not the City of Rochester located on the opposite side of the state) is considering a ban on hydraulic fracturing:

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Air Quality | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues

Is Frack Sand a Health Risk?
June 5, 2012June 5, 2012

The hydraulic fracturing process uses sand—a lot of sand. The sand is used as a “proppant” to prop open the cracks created during the fracturing process.

But it’s not just your ordinary seaside sand that is used. It’s a special kind of sand that is almost 100% crystalline (pure). When that sand gets into the air, its particles are so fine they can irritate the lungs, and according to some, may cause lung cancer. This is generally not a problem for landowners or others who live nearby a drilling site, as any airborne sand would quickly fall to the ground. However, it may be a health risk for workers handling the sand if they are not properly protected.

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Onondaga County | Statewide NY

Alec Baldwin Takes Aim at Fracking in Syracuse Appearance
June 4, 2012June 4, 2012

On Saturday night, a B-list actor with anger management issues (who used to be A-list), Alec Baldwin, was joined by one-trick pony Josh Fox to show Josh’s masterful propaganda film, Gasland, to a small gathering at the Landmark Theatre in Syracuse, NY.

Alec has found yet another cause célèbre—defeat fracking in New York. (Oh, and Alec’s mom lives in Syracuse, so that’s why he was really in town.)

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

AP Story: NY Should Give Up on Drilling Before It’s Begun
June 4, 2012June 4, 2012

An AP story that appeared over the weekend attempts to make the case that Pennsylvania is so far ahead in the natural gas game that New York shouldn’t even make an attempt to allow fracking. The opening paragraph compares the situation to a runner with a huge lead in a foot race—PA will dominate natural gas for years to come.

The logic of the AP writer goes like this:

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Chemung County | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation

Horseheads, NY Still Considering a Ban on Fracking
June 1, 2012June 1, 2012

As MDN previously reported, the Town of Horseheads (NY) continues to flirt with the idea of enacting a fracking ban (see this MDN story). What makes Horseheads different from the other 90 or so towns that have enacted bans in New York different is that it’s located in prime Marcellus and Utica Shale development territory—in Chemung County, just across the border from the super-hot drilling area of Bradford County, PA. If Horseheads does ban fracking, it would be the second such municipality in the Marcellus “zone” to do so, after the City of Binghamton in nearby Broome County.

Town Supervisor Michael Edwards floated the idea of a fracking ban at a recent Town Board meeting—and he’s still pursuing it:

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