Hydraulic Fracturing

Broome County | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | New York | Regulation

Binghamton Fracking Ban Heading to Court
April 23, 2012April 23, 2012

Last December, at the eleventh hour shortly before Binghamton Mayor Matt Ryan knew he would lose his all-Democrat city council and hence an opportunity to stick it to the drilling industry, Ryan forced through a vote on a measure to ban fracking within the city limits for a period of two years (see this MDN story). There’s just one problem with the ban as enacted—it isn’t legal, at least according to attorneys Robert Wedlake and Kenneth Kamlet, who have sent a letter to the city demanding they either follow the law or they’re going to court.

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

NY Update: New Rules Won’t Be Done Before Fall
April 20, 2012April 20, 2012

Is it any surprise that eager beaver, go-get-em NY Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Joe Martens now says that his department’s review of comments on proposed new fracking rules won’t be done before end of summer, “perhaps”? No, not a surprise at all. This is typical Martens delay tactic behavior.

Martens, speaking in Albany on Thursday, told business leaders of this arbitrary new delay. Can anyone say “productivity challenged”?

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

Timeline for New York Drilling Ban Court Case
April 20, 2012April 20, 2012

Tom West, an attorney handling a combined appeal of two New York cases where local judges upheld drilling bans passed by local townships, laid out a timeline for when the combined case will be heard and decided at an Albany conference yesterday. The two original cases are from Dryden, in Tompkins County, and Middlefield, in Otsego County.

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Air Quality | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Regulation

Initial Reaction to EPA’s New Air Pollution Fracking Rules
April 20, 2012April 20, 2012

The initial response to the EPA’s new 588 pages of rules governing hydraulic fracturing for oil and gas well drilling (see this MDN story) was lukewarm from both pro- and anti-drillers—at least in the Pittsburgh area.

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Statewide NY

NY Post Picks Up on Anti-Fracking Preservation League
April 20, 2012April 20, 2012

At the end of March, MDN told you about the latest anti-fracking group to come along, The Preservation League of New York State (see this MDN story). The editorial page of the New York Post has now picked up on the same story:

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Economic Impact | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues

Canadian Company Buys Youngstown, OH Short Line RR
April 20, 2012April 20, 2012

One of the more interesting (and MDN believes underreported) stories about the economic renaissance occurring because of hydraulic fracturing in shale deposits is the revival of short line railroads. The latest case:

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Air Quality | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Regulation

EPA Issues New Air Pollution Standards for Fracking
April 19, 2012April 19, 2012

In response to a court order, the federal Environmental Protection agency has issued a set of new rules (i.e. laws) that will govern air pollution standards at oil and gas drilling sites throughout the country, in particular at wells sites that use hydraulic fracturing. A copy of the 588 pages of new rules is embedded below. A five-page summary of which new rules will apply to gas drillers is also embedded below.

The EPA is trying to sell this as a cost savings for drillers—that they will capture more of the natural gas that currently escapes into the atmosphere—meaning they can sell that gas and profit from it, making the cost to implement the new rules revenue neutral. Of course the opposite is true—as with all things government, the new rules will cost drillers, and by extension landowners, more money to implement. And it gives EPA more control over fracking—something they’ve lusted after for years. Fracking comes under the purview of the individual states. The states alone have the right to regulate oil and gas drilling within their borders. But the federal government, like moths drawn to a flame, can’t help themselves. They want to regulate it.

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Regulation

Obama Issues Executive Order on Hydraulic Fracturing
April 16, 2012April 16, 2012

On Friday, President Barack Obama issued an Executive Order (EO) called “Supporting Safe and Responsible Development of Unconventional Domestic Natural Gas Resources” (a copy of the EO is embedded below). The new EO is being touted as Obama’s EO on fracking—an attempt by Obama to coordinate the efforts of many federal agencies so the federal government will speak with one voice on the topic of hydraulic fracturing.

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Regulation

Three Federal Agencies Announce Partnership to Study Fracking
April 16, 2012April 16, 2012

At the same time The White House was announcing President Obama’s new interagency working group on fracking last Friday, three executive branch agencies were making an announcement of their own. The Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Interior and Department of Energy all released their own press releases with nearly identical language (read it below). The release announces that the three agencies have formed a formal partnership “to coordinate and align all research associated with development of our nation’s abundant unconventional natural gas and oil resources.” That is, all three agencies will share research on shale gas drilling and hydraulic fracturing, with an eye to how they can regulate it.

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Statewide NY

Park Foundation Admits Anti-Fracking Advocacy
April 16, 2012April 16, 2012

Kind of interesting that the anti-drilling Park Foundation has outted itself as one of the major funding sources of anti-fracking movement. An article in the Sunday Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin (and run in other Gannett newspapers) chronicles that the Park Foundation, a foundation started by Roy Park, media mogul, has funneled more than $3 million to anti-drilling groups since 2009. Energy in Depth has long exposed the Park Foundation, headquartered in Ithaca, NY as a major source of funding for anti-drilling groups. Apparently the mainstream media can no longer ignore this 800 pound gorilla in the room, and so has spun a story about how wonderful it is that the tiny Park Foundation is doing this bit of community work as an antidote to the evil, nasty behemoth drilling industry. Nice try MSM.

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Maryland | Regulation | Statewide MD | Taxation

Maryland Legislature Fails to Act on Fracking Bill
April 16, 2012April 16, 2012

Forgive the editorial smirk, but MDN always enjoys reading about the status of fracking in Maryland because Maryland is the only place even more dysfunctional than New York (MDN’s home turf) when it comes to the issue of hydraulic fracturing. The Maryland General Assembly meets in session for 90 days each year to pass new legislation. The session for 2012 has just ended and several bills dealing with hydraulic fracturing did not receive enough support to come to a vote.

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Statewide NY

Anti-Drillers Organize to Oppose LPG Fracking in NY
April 13, 2012April 13, 2012

It’s time for MDN to say, “I told you so.” More than two weeks ago MDN said the following when it was announced a group of New York landowners are about to sign a lease and move forward with waterless LPG fracking technology:

So MDN asks, what will the enviro-left do when all of their stated reasons for opposing fracking are gone? That’s right, they’ll invent new reasons to continue covering the ugly fact that they are prejudiced against fossil fuels and that anything not “sustainable” and “alternative” is not acceptable in their worldview. It will be fascinating to watch how this develops. (MDN: Alternative Fracking Method May Soon Debut – in New York!)

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Bucks County | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Public Opinion | Regulation

Anti-Drillers Behave Badly at Act 13 Meeting in Nockamixon
April 13, 2012April 13, 2012

As is typical—and has been the experience of MDN many times—it is the anti-drillers at public meetings who are loud, unruly, offensive and just plain uncivil. The latest example on full display was last night at an educational forum at Palisades High School in northern Bucks County, Pennsylvania where a panel of twelve people had gathered to discuss and answer questions for residents on the new PA Marcellus drilling law called Act 13. Palisades High School is located in Nockamixon Township, one of seven PA townships that recently sued the state over Act 13 provisions that preempt local zoning laws for oil and gas drilling.

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA Act 13 Author Responds to Charge “Doctors Will be Gagged”
April 13, 2012April 13, 2012

Anti-drillers who oppose the new Act 13 drilling legislation in Pennsylvania have focused on a provision in the law that they claim “gags” doctors and health care workers, preventing them from sharing information about the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing if they learn what those chemicals are in the course of treating a patient. Yes, the anti-drilling claims are convoluted and trumped up, but its all about the headlines, and the headlines (courtesy AP and others) almost all manifestly read that “Act 13 gags doctors and enforces secrecy” or some such. The legislative author of Act 13, PA Speaker of the House Sam Smith, called the allegations “outrageous” and issued the following statement yesterday:

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Alternative Energy | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues

Comments from an Environmentalist Oil Industry Geologist
April 13, 2012April 13, 2012

A very interesting interview with someone who works as an exploration geophysicist for the oil and gas industry who considers himself to be an environmentalist—or rather, a “realistic environmentalist”—recently appeared on the Adventure Journal blog. The interviewee, who asked to remain anonymous, responded this way when asked if other environmentalists give him a hard time about his choice of career:

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA Judge Grants Injunction for Zoning Portion of Act 13 Law
April 12, 2012April 12, 2012

Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court Senior Judge Keith Quigley issued a 120-day injunction yesterday to stop a small but important portion of the newly passed Act 13 Marcellus drilling law. Seven PA townships had filed a lawsuit to overturn Act 13 (see this MDN story). As part of their lawsuit, they filed a petition seeking an injunction from stopping the law from going into effect this Saturday, April 14. Judge Quigley’s injunction only deals with the provisions in the law that deal with changes to zoning regulations—the part that would replace local zoning laws with a “one size fits all” state law. Everything else in Act 13, including collection of an impact fee, will go into effect on Saturday.

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