Riddle us this: In 2023, the rig count for all oil and gas rigs was 20% fewer active rigs than in 2022 (see Baker Hughes U.S. Rig Count Finishes Year @ 622, M-U @ 40). Yet, oil and natural gas production in 2023 hit new all-time highs! How does that happen? Isn’t that a paradox?
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Well, you knew it was just too good to be true, right? When Santa Biden promised *billions* of dollars of “government” (i.e., your) money to prime the pump on establishing regional hydrogen hubs, with at least one of those hubs using natural gas as the primary feedstock to produce the hydrogen (which happened with the ARCH2 project in the Marcellus/Utica), it was too good to be true. And well, it was! The Bidenistas at the White House, Treasury Department, and Dept. of Energy proposed a new IRS rule last week that the 45V tax credits (part of Joe Manchin’s so-called Inflation Reduction Act) can only be used if the hydrogen produced is “green” — meaning NOT made from natural gas. In addition, the electricity used to produce the hydrogen can’t come from fossil fuel sources like natural gas (if you want the tax credit). Biden just kneecapped the ARCH2 hydrogen hub project.
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At the end of October, MDN told you about a company called Southern Tier CO2 to Clean Energy Solutions, based in Binghamton, NY, sending fliers to landowners in Broome, Tioga, and Chemung counties (along the border with Pennsylvania, where there is no doubt large amounts of Marcellus and Utica gas beneath the ground) inviting landowners to sign up for what appears to be an exciting opportunity to sell gas rights (see Company Seeks to Lease New York Mineral & Pore Rights for Flat $10). Last week, we told you about several local politicians (Democrats) and several Big Green groups now gearing up to oppose the plan to “frack” (which is a misnomer) with CO2 (see Big Green, Democrats Launch Effort to Block NY CO2 “Fracking”). It’s time for Food & Water Watch and other nutball green groups to fundraise before the end of the year, so they launched an all-out assault on the Southern Tier Solutions plan yesterday.
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In early November, CNX Resources CEO Nick DeIuliis signed a voluntary deal with Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro to expand drilling setbacks and several other regulatory steps not mandated for shale drillers under PA law (see CNX Signs Deal with PA Gov. to Increase Setbacks, Other Changes). Gov. Shapiro’s office yesterday blew the trumpet to announce that CNX has begun to deliver by providing a list of the chemicals used in fracking and by posting air monitoring results in real-time for two of its well pads, with plans to expand the program across its operations statewide.
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At the end of October, MDN told you about a company called Southern Tier CO2 to Clean Energy Solutions, based in Binghamton, NY, sending fliers to landowners in Broome, Tioga, and Chemung counties (along the border with Pennsylvania, where there is no doubt large amounts of Marcellus and Utica gas beneath the ground) inviting landowners to sign up for what appears to be an exciting opportunity to sell gas rights (see Company Seeks to Lease New York Mineral & Pore Rights for Flat $10). The flier and company website says the company plans to use carbon dioxide (CO2) to (a) store it underground, but also (b) use it to extract natural gas from underground and then (c) either sell the gas via pipeline or burn it to produce electricity. The technology envisioned is an alternative to fracking. The reaction from the insane left took about a month, but it’s now fully metastasized. Southern Tier Solutions (STS) has poked the leftist hornet’s nest that is New York State, and they are now swarming.
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In August, University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) researchers released three studies commissioned by the State Dept. of Health supposedly investigating whether or not there is a connection between shale drilling and childhood diseases, including cancer (see Pitt Releases Fake Research, Claims PA Fracking Linked to Kid Cancer). From the beginning, when Pitt received $2.5 million with instructions to investigate a single cause (shale drilling), our position has been that this is not real science. Not when an abandoned uranium dump in the area (which there is) is ignored as a potential source. Not when other potential environmental factors are ignored. After combing through the studies, both Energy in Depth and the Marcellus Shale Coalition penned superb articles that destroyed Pitt’s so-called studies (see EID, MSC Destroy Pitt Fake Study Tying Fracking to Cancer in Kids). Pennsylvania State Senator Gene Yaw, Chairman of the Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee, says Pennsylvania taxpayers deserve a refund from Pitt for producing sloppy research.
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Nearly 14 years after the Gasland fake documentary was released, dozens of studies have contradicted its claims about fracking. Gasland’s dire predictions didn’t come to pass. The 2010 documentary, which was written and directed by Josh Fox, portrayed fracking operations as poisoning groundwater, killing wildlife, and making people sick while corrupt oil companies profited. Remember the famous scene where a Colorado man lights his tap water on fire? It turns out it was natural methane in his water, not methane from fracking. Just one of the lies exposed about the film.
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In April, MDN told you about a radicalized faction within the Pennsylvania Democrat Party trying yet another ploy to block all new Marcellus drilling in the state (see PA House Bill 170 Kills New Marcellus Drilling Using Setbacks). Danielle Friel Otten, a committed anti-fossil fueler representing part of Chester County (Philadelphia area) in the Pennsylvania House, introduced House Bill (HB) 170, which would increase setback distances for shale wells from 500 feet to 2,500 feet — effectively killing any new shale well drilling anywhere in the state. In June, Democrat Party bosses shut down action on HB 170, telling the House to cancel a vote (see PA Dems Abandon Bill to Kill All Marcellus Drilling Using Setbacks). Some Democrats apparently didn’t get the memo. The legislation is back, this time being introduced in the Republican-controlled Senate by far-left Democrats Carolyn Comitta (D-Chester County) and Steven Santarsiero (D-Bucks County).
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The nutters are out in full force, particularly in Pennsylvania, using fraudulent “studies” by the Ohio River Valley Insititute (ORVI) and (sadly) the University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) to call for an end to the Marcellus industry in the great Keystone State. A recent “letter to the editor” appearing in the Sunbury (PA) Daily Item is a perfect example. On Sept. 3, the Daily Item ran an op-ed titled “Is fracking good for Pennsylvania,” concluding that it is not. It was written by a member of the Climate Reality Project, a far-left organization that irrationally hates fossil energy. The typical references were made to the fraudulent ORVI and Pitt studies. Ten days later, another op-ed appeared in the Daily Item, written by David Callahan from the Marcellus Shale Coalition, setting the record straight.
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The Ohio River Valley Institute (ORVI) is nothing more than a front group, another name for the ultra-left, biased, and virulent anti-fossil fuel Heinz Endowments. ORVI pokes its head up periodically to issue “reports” (i.e., propaganda) bashing fossil energy, like a recently updated report claiming the shale industry didn’t create any jobs or economic benefit in the Marcellus/Utica (see ORVI Updates Fake Report Claiming No $ Benefits from M-U Fracking). Pure B.S. Yesterday, the same B.S. was spread on thick for reporters attending an all-day event in Pittsburgh, except yesterday’s ORVI session hated on hydrogen. Yep, the left hates hydrogen energy–an energy that burns clean and doesn’t produce any CO2. Go figure.
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What’s the government’s answer to everything? Money! Have a problem, throw money at it, and declare it solved. Need more votes in the next election? Money helps with that, too. Here’s the latest “money solves all problems” proposal from the Dept. of Energy (DOE)… The DOE’s Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM) announced up to $30 million in free money (i.e., grants) for developing advanced technologies to reduce or eliminate the need for natural gas flaring at oil production sites. Cause you know, fugitive methane is toasting Mom Earth into a cinder.
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We now have the perfect example of how the government corrupts science. In 2020, Pennsylvania’s then-Gov. Tom Wolf gave $2.5 million (via his Dept. of Health) to the University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) with instructions to research whether or not a single cause, shale drilling, is linked to a small cluster of rare childhood cancers in southwestern PA (see Pitt Researchers Get $2.5M for Fake Study to Link Shale & Kid Cancer). As we said from the beginning, that’s not real science. Real science does not focus on a single cause. Pitt’s remit was to FIND a link, no matter what, and they received millions to do so. Guess what? They found a link. Isn’t that a coincidence?
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We guarantee that if an oil and gas company announced it was in the process of drilling 90 boreholes 700 feet deep (through the groundwater table) to extract oil and gas in the bastion of liberalism known as Massachusetts, the leftist mainstream media would have a stroke. There would be protests. There would be nutballs gluing themselves together in plastic PVC pipe in front of the drilling rigs to prevent drilling. The news would make the front page of the Boston Globe, the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the LA Times. But if the same company drills 90 boreholes 700 feet deep and calls it “geothermal” … nothing. Not a peep from anyone. Even though geothermal pipes that run through the water table pump something far more dangerous than drilling mud. Bentonite (drilling mud) is the same stuff used in kitty litter and toothpaste. It’s completely non-toxic and safe if it leaks. On the other hand, geothermal systems pump antifreeze through pipes. Eversource, the largest utility company in Massachusetts, announced yesterday it is drilling 90 boreholes in Framingham, MA, and will pump dangerous antifreeze through it to heat local homes, businesses, and a community college. Where is the outrage?
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In December 2020, then-Gov. Tom Wolf announced a $2.5 million contract had been awarded to the University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) Graduate School of Public Health to “conduct research on the potential health effects of hydraulic fracturing in Pennsylvania” (see Pitt Researchers Get $2.5M for Fake Study to Link Shale & Kid Cancer). As we have pointed out from the beginning, to study a single potential cause for cancer (fracking) and not any other causes (like a nearby abandoned uranium dump) is not real science. Next Tuesday, August 15, the Pennsylvania Dept. of Health and Pitt researchers will unveil their “research” in an in-person and online extravaganza.
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Liberal Democrats never give up on their poor ideas–even when they are rejected year after year. In 2021, the Dems who controlled the U.S. House of Representatives with an iron fist under der Führer Pelosi introduced five bills, including the FRAC Act, aimed at destroying the oil and gas industry in this country (see Democrats Intro 5 Bills, Including FRAC Act, to Ban Fracking Everywhere). They’re baaaack! The same five bills, including the FRAC Act, were reintroduced by Democrat Congresswoman Diana DeGette (Colorado) last week. The FRAC Act would give the federal EPA (and the swamp-dwelling bureaucrats who run it) the power to control fracking throughout the entire country, violating the U.S. Constitution.
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Researchers with the University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) recently published a study in the journal Ecological Indicators. The study’s intent was to measure whether or not frack waste dumped in local landfills has radiation that is leaking out in groundwater (leachate) from those facilities. Research like this, if legitimate (and accurate), is a good thing. We need to know if the waste we’re dumping is causing a problem. But a funny thing happened during the study. The researchers found a big problem with recordkeeping.
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