Hydraulic Fracturing

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

MD Marcellus Shale Commission’s First Report Issued
January 10, 2012January 10, 2012

The first of three reports due from the Maryland Marcellus Shale Safe Drilling Initiative Advisory Commission has just been issued. A copy of the 46-page report—about how to tax and sue the drilling industry—is embedded below. It’s interesting reading.

On June 6, 2011, Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley signed an Executive Order establishing the Marcellus Shale Safe Drilling Initiative, which includes an Advisory Commission with 13 members to assist the Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE) and the Department of Natural Resources (DNR) in a multi-year study of potential Marcellus Shale drilling in the state. “In the state” actually means just two western counties where there is Marcellus Shale: Allegany and Garrett.

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Statewide NY

NYT: Kerfuffle Among Anti-Drilling Groups in New York
January 10, 2012January 10, 2012

A surprisingly balanced article in the New York Times yesterday takes a look at the anti-drilling movement in New York State. The article, written by Peter Applebome, focuses on the “divide” in the anti-drilling movement between those who want strict drilling laws in New York versus those who want to ban drilling outright.

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Accidents | Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Susquehanna County

EPA Promises Water for Dimock PA, Reneges 24 Hours Later
January 9, 2012January 9, 2012

The news out of Dimock, PA is coming so fast and furious, it’s hard to keep track of it all. First, a brief background on the situation in Dimock, the context you almost never read in the mainstream media:

In 2008, Cabot Oil & Gas drilled a number of Marcellus Shale gas wells in Dimock Township in Pennsylvania, a rural area in the northeastern part of the state, in Susquehanna County. Homeowners located along the Carter Road area noticed high levels of methane in their drinking water. After an investigation by the PA Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), the DEP fined Cabot in 2009 stating that Cabot’s operations in the area caused methane to migrate into a local water aquifer serving anywhere from 13 to 19 houses, depending on the changing storyline.

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Accidents | Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Susquehanna County

New Cases of Methane Water Well Contamination by Cabot in PA
January 9, 2012January 9, 2012

Three private water wells in Lenox Township (Susquehanna County), PA have been contaminated with methane from nearby Marcellus Shale drilling done by Cabot Oil & Gas according to the PA Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). Cabot has installed methane detection alarms in the three homes and has vented the affected wells.

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Susquehanna County

EPA “May” Start Testing Dimock, PA Water in 2 Weeks
January 6, 2012January 6, 2012

Earlier this week, MDN reported that the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), an agency prone to overstep its legal authority, is once again nosing around Dimock, PA (see this MDN story). After writing to tell Carter Road residents in the Dimock area that their drinking water was just fine on Dec. 2 of last year, they reversed course last week and expressed concerns over “gaps” in water testing data. Now it seems that the EPA themselves will conduct their own tests of water in Dimock.

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

New Fracking Moratorium Bill Coming in NY Legislature
January 6, 2012January 6, 2012

Gannett reporter Jon Campbell reports that a bill to extend New York’s moratorium on hydraulic fracturing until June 2013 is now circulating in Albany and is expected to be introduced soon by the the Assembly environmental chairman:

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

NY Gov. Cuomo Dumps Reference to Fracking in Big Speech
January 5, 2012January 5, 2012

Yesterday, all eyes were on New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and his second “State of the State” address, delivered in Albany. The popular governor has walked a tightrope on the issue of hydraulic fracturing, but after yesterday’s speech, MDN wonders if he’s fallen off that tightrope.

Since his inauguration in 2011, Gov. Cuomo has seemed to be on the side of allowing gas drilling, but then, good politicians “seem” to be on everyone’s side at one point or another. Gov. Cuomo was due to address the issue of fracking in yesterday’s speech. In fact, there’s a short 125 words dedicated to it under the subtitle of “Hydraulic Fracturing in the Southern Tier.” The interesting thing is, he left that section out when he delivered the speech—he never uttered the words. Here’s what he was going to say:

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Accidents | Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Talisman Energy | Tioga County (PA)

Talisman Fined for Drilling Accident from January 2011
January 5, 2012January 5, 2012

Nearly a year after an accident which happened during hydraulic fracturing of a gas well in Tioga County, PA, the State Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has fined Talisman Energy $51,478. From a DEP press release issued yesterday:

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Delaware County (PA) | Economic Impact | Energy Services | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Pennsylvania | Preferred Sands

Philly Frack Sand Company Expands, Buys WI Company
January 5, 2012January 5, 2012

Preferred Sands, a privately-held company headquartered in the Philadelphia suburb of Radnor, PA, has just bought out another sand company—Winn Bay Sand, located in Blair, Wisconsin—for $200 million. Preferred Sands is a frack sand and proppant company launched in 2007. It’s the largest frack sand producer in Canada, and one of the top three in the U.S.

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

Will New PA Drilling Law/Impact Fee Pass in 2012?
January 4, 2012January 4, 2012

Although the Pennsylvania House, Senate and governorship are all controlled by Republicans (for the first time in many years), they have not yet agreed on new legislation that puts stricter environmental controls in place over shale gas drilling in the state. The pending legislation, introduced last year after Gov. Tom Corbett appointed an advisory commission to propose new regulations, also includes an impact fee assessed on each new well drilled.

PA Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati believes all parties to the discussion are very close to agreement and hopes the legislation will be passed by early February, before it can get bogged down in election-year politicking.

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Accidents | Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Susquehanna County

EPA Says Gaps Exist in Dimock, PA Water Tests
January 3, 2012January 3, 2012

The federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is once again stirring up trouble in Dimock, PA by “reopening” a review of Dimock Township water supplies after recent tests from a private testing service hired by Cabot Oil & Gas turned up “gaps” in the data that the EPA wants to explore. This is less than a month after the EPA sent a letter to residents, on Dec. 2, telling them the same test results showed well water in the area “does not present an immediate health threat to users” (see this MDN story for a copy of the letter).

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

Anti-Frackers in NY Target Cuomo with Home Rule Legislation
January 3, 2012January 3, 2012

In the ongoing struggle to start gas drilling in New York State, those who oppose it, including State Senator James Seward of Oneonta (a RINO), are trying a new tactic. That new tactic is to take the fight local, in town by town, by using “home rule” laws. But they have a hurdle to jump first: New York State law currently does not permit local municipalities to regulate oil and gas drilling.

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Earthquakes | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Mahoning County | Ohio | Trumbull County | Wastewater

Youngstown Earthquake Update
January 3, 2012January 3, 2012

John Armbruster, a seismologist from Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in Palisades, NY is one of the researchers investigating a string of 11 earthquakes near Youngstown, OH, the most recent of which occurred on New Year’s Eve in the afternoon. Armbruster says a local injection well, which injects wastewater from shale gas drilling under high pressure deep into the ground, is “almost certainly” the cause of the earthquakes.

As MDN pointed out yesterday, injection wells are not fracked gas wells (see this MDN story). But some politicians keep trying to tie the two together. A spokesman for Ohio Gov. John Kasich, Rob Nichols, does a great job in pointing out the difference:

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Earthquakes | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Mahoning County | Ohio | Trumbull County | Wastewater

Youngstown Earthquake and Fracking: Is There a Connection?
January 2, 2012January 2, 2012

A 4.0 earthquake in the Youngstown, OH area on Saturday afternoon is thought to be connected to a local injection well. MDN has chronicled previous episodes of earthquakes thought to be connected with injection wells in Arkansas and Texas. Saturday’s earthquake was the 11th in the Youngstown area in recent months, and by far the strongest. The theory is that fluid, which is pumped nearly two miles underground under very high pressure, had migrated to a nearby fault and is causing the fault to shift.

Until it can be determined what, exactly, is happening, all further injection of fluid into the well has been stopped. In fact, fluid injection had stopped a day earlier, on Friday, before Saturday’s quake. But pressure in the well would remain high for a period of time, likely leading to the 4.0 quake.

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

The Real Story Behind Binghamton’s Fracking Ban
January 2, 2012January 2, 2012

MDN recently covered the vote to enact a two-year moratorium on hydraulic fracturing in the City of Binghamton (see MDN stories here). It took some time, but we finally received a copy of the actual legislation that was enacted. The legislation is embedded below, along with all of the associated paperwork that goes with it.

Tom Shepstone, head of Energy in Depth’s Northeast Marcellus Initiative, was also at the Binghamton City Council public hearing and the vote that followed. Tom has written an excellent article titled, “Pulling the Curtain Back on the Binghamton Ban Vote.” MDN recommends you read it for a proper understanding of just what went on behind the scenes.

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Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Lackawanna County | Pennsylvania | Southwestern Energy

PA Town Takes Innovative Approach in Drilling Oversight
January 2, 2012January 2, 2012

Instead of trying to regulate Marcellus drilling inside municipal borders, Benton Township (Lackawanna County), PA took a different approach when Southwestern Energy recently drilled an exploratory well. Benton hired an independent engineer to monitor drilling and construction of the well. According to township officials, the process has been “an ‘unequivocal’ success.”

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