Hydraulic Fracturing

Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues

Carnegie Mellon Refutes Cornell Study on Natural Gas vs Coal
August 18, 2011August 18, 2011

A new peer-reviewed study from Carnegie Mellon University says that Marcellus gas has less impact on global warming than coal. The study, published in the Institute of Physics Aug. 5th issue of “Environmental Research Letters” is a direct refutation of the Cornell study released in April by professors Robert Howarth and Anthony Ingraffea. The Cornell study was based on sketchy data (admitted to by Howarth & Ingraffea), and pure guesswork. It made the claim that shale gas was worse for global warming and the environment than burning coal.

The Carnegie study finds that burning natural gas is 20-50 percent cleaner than burning coal when producing electricity—a conclusion most people know instinctively. It’s only by doing extreme mental gymnastics that you can say burning gas is worse for the environment than burning coal.

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Commodity Price | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues

Fracking Creates an Oil Boom – Now More Oil than Gas Rigs
August 18, 2011August 18, 2011

Turns out that horizontal hydraulic fracturing, the process used to get natural gas from shale layers, is also a renaissance for oil production as well. According to the latest figures, the number of rigs drilling for oil in the U.S. has just surpassed the number of rigs drilling for natural gas—for the first time in 18 years—thanks to fracking.

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Public Opinion | Statewide NY

Marist Releases Dubious NY Opinion Poll on Fracking
August 18, 2011August 18, 2011

Yet another opinion poll of New York State residents on the issue of drilling for natural gas in the Marcellus (and Utica) Shale. This is the third statewide poll in a month. Like the two polls before it, this one found those those who support drilling, and those who oppose it, are just about evenly split. This most recent poll was done by Marist College and of the three polls, the questions in this one are the most flawed. It’s more like a push-poll—a poll that seeks to push a political message—rather than a poll which seeks to understand public opinion. The exact wording of the four questions asked are listed below, along with MDN commentary. The entire detailed breakout of how various groups responded to each question is embedded at the bottom.

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Regulation | Statewide WV | West Virginia

New Marcellus Drilling Rules for WV Delayed Until 2012
August 18, 2011August 18, 2011

It now looks like West Virginia lawmakers will not adopt new regulations for drilling in the Marcellus Shale this year. In July, acting Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin signed an executive order creating “temporary” new Marcellus Shale drilling regulations, which have not yet gone into effect (see this MDN story). The new regs are intended to be in place for up to 15 months to give the legislature time to draft a comprehensive overhaul of drilling rules. There was talk of speeding the process along and taking advantage of the current special session of the legislature, meeting this week to rework a redistricting plan, to tackle the drilling issue. But any more work on new drilling regulations for this year is now all but dead:

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Allegheny County | Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Range Resources Corp | Regulation

Range Resources Fights PA Town Ordinance, Threatens Lawsuit
August 17, 2011August 17, 2011

Range Resources, one of the largest Marcellus Shale drillers in Pennsylvania, and the first to sink a Marcellus well in the state in 2003, is pushing back against what it calls “death by a thousand paper cuts” – townships imposing their own regulations on drilling that result in a de facto ban on drilling. Range has just filed an appeal with the zoning hearing board in South Fayette (Allegheny County), PA challenging the township’s zoning regulations prohibiting drilling. Range says if the hearing board does not reverse course, it will take the township to court. A copy of Range’s 35-page challenge filed with the hearing board is embedded below.

UPDATE: Also embedded below is a full copy of the drilling ordinance passed by South Fayette Township in 2010. Thank you to MDN reader Josh Whetzel for suggesting we include it with this article.

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

Common Cause/NY Says Delay Gas Drilling Another 6 Months
August 16, 2011August 16, 2011

Common Cause/NY, a far-left organization, is the latest anti-drilling group desperately seeking a way to stop Marcellus and Utica drilling in New York State. Their tactic? Turn the already-generous 60-day public comment period (that hasn’t even started yet!) on proposed new drilling rules into 180 days—that is, let’s stretch out the comment period from two months to six months to give everyone who opposes drilling a chance to bleat and moan before local news cameras for the next six months on the off chance we can turn a few more people against this thing and finally kill it. That’s the so-called “non-partisan” approach of Common Cause.

From their press release:

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Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Monongalia County | Northeast Natural Energy | Regulation | West Virginia

Morgantown Official Backpedals After Drilling Ban Overturned
August 16, 2011August 16, 2011

It’s always interesting to watch politicians operate after a humiliating defeat. Politicians’ DNA does not allow them to simply look inward and recognize their own errors. They always look outward and blame others, or in some cases, declare the defeat was a good thing and accomplished just what they wanted all along! I refer to the situation in Morgantown, WV. In June, Morgantown City Council members voted to ban hydraulic fracturing both inside and up to one mile outside their borders (see this MDN story). This threatened a pair of Marcellus Shale wells being drilled about a mile from city lines. The result? The driller, Northeast Energy, sued the city. Last week a judge overturned the city’s ban and now hydraulic fracturing will commence (see this MDN story). All told, Northeast probably lost about a month out of their original drilling schedule (they continued drilling anyway, the ban specifically prohibited fracking and not drilling per se).

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Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Monongalia County | Northeast Natural Energy | West Virginia

Judge Overturns Morgantown, WV Fracking Ban
August 15, 2011August 15, 2011

For some time now, MDN has covered the hydraulic fracturing ban passed by the city of Morgantown, West Virginia (see list of articles here). In a surprise move last Friday, the Monongalia County (WV) Circuit Court Judge Susan Tucker overturned Morgantown’s fracking ban, clearing the way for Northeast Energy to continue drilling and fracking operations about a mile outside of Morgantown city lines. Judge Tucker’s “summary judgment” is embedded below.

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

What Chemicals are Being Used by Marcellus Drillers in PA?
August 12, 2011August 12, 2011

Want to know what chemicals are being used at a nearby Marcellus gas well that’s being drilled near you in Pennsylvania? Right now, it’s not so easy to find out. Here’s how Pennsylvania’s fracking chemical disclosure rules work, which went into effect in February of this year:

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Regulation

DOE Report Recommends Fed Takeover of Shale Gas Regulation
August 11, 2011August 11, 2011

In early May, the federal Department of Energy (DOE), under the direction of DOE Secretary Steven Chu, assembled a panel of seven experts to create a list of industry “best practices” for shale gas drillers (see MDN story here). Known as the Shale Gas Subcommittee of the Secretary of Energy Advisory Board (SEAB), the group was charged with producing an initial report in 90 days that will identify immediate steps “to improve the safety and environmental performance of hydraulic fracturing.” That first report was released today (a full copy is embedded below).

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Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Monongalia County | Northeast Natural Energy | Regulation | West Virginia

Northeast Continues Drilling in Morgantown Despite Ban
August 11, 2011August 11, 2011

The ongoing battle between Morgantown, WV and Northeast Natural Energy over two proposed gas wells located close to Morgantown continues, and gets interesting. Northeast had been working with Morgantown to address concerns that the two wells they propose to drill are close to the water intake for the city. Northeast believed everything was fine until city council voted to ban hydraulic fracturing both inside and outside of its borders—up to one mile outside (allowable under WV law). Northeast’s proposed wells are within that one mile radius, so the ban shut them down. Or did it?

According to press accounts, Northeast has just started work drilling the second Marcellus gas well and plans to start fracking the first well in September, regardless of the ban:

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Economic Impact | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Jefferson County (OH) | Ohio | Wastewater

OH Village Wants a Fracking Water Treatment Plant
August 11, 2011August 11, 2011

Mingo Junction, a small village along the Ohio River in Jefferson County, Ohio is looking to tap into revenue from the Marcellus and Utica Shale drilling industry spouting up around it. The mayor and village council are trying to locate alternative sources of revenue since the local steel mill closed, leaving the village in a lurch after constructing a new water treatment plant specifically at the mill’s request. Mingo Junction is looking to leverage the one thing it has plenty of—water.

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

Another WV City Repeals Previous Marcellus Drilling Ban
August 11, 2011August 11, 2011

It seemed for a while like passing Marcellus drilling bans was all the rage for cities in West Virginia. Now it seems they can’t repeal those bans fast enough. The latest to repeal a previous ban is Wellsburg:

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Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Methane Present in 11% of WV Water Wells Before Drilling Begins
August 8, 2011August 8, 2011

In response to a study released in May by Duke University showing elevated levels of methane in water wells near active gas wells being drilled, Chesapeake Energy has released its own water testing data. One of the chief criticisms of the Duke study is that baseline measurements were not taken—that is, Duke did not test water wells before active gas drilling took place to eliminate the possibility that methane in those water wells was naturally occurring. Chesapeake has that data for wells close to its active drilling sites. The results are indeed interesting.

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

Maryland Marcellus Shale Advisory Commission Holds First Meeting – Sparks Fly
August 5, 2011August 5, 2011

The kick-off meeting for Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley’s recently appointed Marcellus Shale Advisory Commission happened yesterday at Rocky Gap State Park in western Maryland. It was the first meeting in what will be a three year process—a final report from the Commission is due in August of 2014. Such a long delay puts Maryland at the back of the pack for Marcellus shale drilling (see MDN’s comments here)—a fact that rankles landowners and energy companies interested in moving forward.

The first meeting saw a few sparks as issues of timing and taxation came to the forefront:

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues

Ian Urbina/NYT Continue Journalistic Malpractice Against the Natural Gas Industry – This Time it’s Fracking
August 4, 2011August 4, 2011

Even though the New York Times’ own public editor has written two articles criticizing the Times for its slanted and inaccurate coverage of the natural gas drilling industry (see MDN’s coverage here), the Times either doesn’t learn or doesn’t care. Ian Urbina, the same Times writer who has authored previous fictions, has taken another swipe at the industry. This new article, appearing in today’s print edition (posted online last night), goes for the jugular—hydraulic fracturing.

Fracking is a 60-year old technology that forces water and sand into a drilled hole in order to break apart tightly-packed rocks, like shale, to release the gas and oil in them. Along with water and sand, very small amounts of chemicals are used to prevent bacterial growth due to the high heat of drilling. Those opposed to drilling try to instill fear that those chemicals will somehow contaminate groundwater supplies.

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