Hydraulic Fracturing

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    Enviros Tell DRBC Not Enough Freak Shows Scheduled on Frack Ban

    In September, MDN told you that the obsequious members of the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) had slavishly obeyed their radical environmental masters by voting to move forward with a permanent ban on fracking in the Delaware River Basin (see DRBC Votes Tomorrow on Permanent Frack Ban Resolution). The final ban language/regulation was dropped like a bomb by DRBC staff on Nov. 30 (see DRBC Drops Permanent Frack Ban Bomb – Public Hearings in January). In dropping their bomb, the DRBC said (with no proof) that fracking “poses significant, immediate and long-term risks” to the waters in the basin. Then they declared, by fiat, that “High volume hydraulic fracturing in hydrocarbon bearing rock formations is prohibited within the Delaware River Basin.” However, they also said (in the fine print) that water from the Delaware River Basin can be used by frackers in other locations–which sent antis like THE Delaware Riverkeeper into apoplectic shock. The DRBC is allowing public comment, via written communication, through Feb. 28. They will also hold four public hearings (i.e. freak shows) to allow antis to parade before the microphones and make jerks of themselves. We know what we’re speaking about–we’ve been to a number of similar hearings and can attest, first-hand, to how they behave during these hearings. Even though the public has a full 90 days to provide written comment, and four hearings in which to sound off–that’s still not enough for the nutters. They want the deadline for public comment extended and more freak shows to be added to the lineup…
    Read More “Enviros Tell DRBC Not Enough Freak Shows Scheduled on Frack Ban”

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    Antis Take Over Westmoreland County, VA, Aim to Ban Fracking

    Invasion of the body snatchers has become reality in Westmoreland County, Virginia. The Westmoreland Board of Supervisors passed amendments Monday night “to strictly limit gas and oil drilling.” However, that’s just a stopgap measure. The real aim is a full-out, flat-out ban on any kind of oil and gas drilling. Right after taking the vote, the illustrious body-snatched supervisors asked the county attorney to begin researching a moratorium they can enact without landing them in jail. Good luck with that. Virginia doesn’t have the Marcellus/Utica under it–at least not very much. But Virginia does have another shale layer–the Taylorsville. We commented back in 2014 that the state is inching closer to allowing fracking in the Taylorsville and other potential basins (see Virginia Inches Closer to Shale Drilling in Taylorsville Basin). They’re still inching–and it’s not going very fast. Anti-drilling radicals have risen up to oppose anything to do with shale in the state. Westmoreland isn’t the first location to be snatched. The first county in Virginia to become lawless in this regard was King George County, last summer (see King George County, VA Commits Fracking Suicide with Vote to Ban). In the spring, Augusta County followed suit (see Augusta County, VA Votes to Illegally Ban Fracking). And now the body snatchers are invading Westmoreland County. It’s always breathtaking, and disturbing, when a small group of individuals decide to take away the Constitutional property rights of their fellow citizens…
    Read More “Antis Take Over Westmoreland County, VA, Aim to Ban Fracking”

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    DRBC Drops Permanent Frack Ban Bomb – Public Hearings in January

    We knew it was coming. We told you back in September that the obsequious members of the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) will slavishly obey their radical environmental masters by voting to move forward with a permanent ban on fracking in the Delaware River Basin (see DRBC Votes Tomorrow on Permanent Frack Ban Resolution). The final ban language/regulation was dropped like a bomb yesterday by the DRBC. In dropping their bomb, the DRBC said (with no proof) that fracking “poses significant, immediate and long-term risks” to the waters in the basin. Then they declared, by fiat, that “High volume hydraulic fracturing in hydrocarbon bearing rock formations is prohibited within the Delaware River Basin.” Of course the Federal Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit may have another take on that (see DRBC Lawyer Nearly Faints 2nd Time When Questioned by Fed Judges). What happens now? Aside from the lawsuit cooking in the background to challenge the DRBC’s jurisdiction over fracking, the bureaucrats will hold a series of four public hearings in two locations–i.e. circus freak shows–where THE Delaware Riverkeeper herself and others will make pompous jerks of themselves and try to drown out landowners who want to express opposition to this injustice. Below we have a copy of the proposed regulation the lawless DRBC intends to adopt by fiat early next year, the list of public hearings (pro-gas needs to show up in force!), and reaction from antis and the industry…
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    New System Allows 100% Reuse of Frack Wastewater in Marcellus Test

    Researchers with Halliburton and EQT have created a new friction reducer, testing it in three Marcellus wells. What’s a friction reducer? It is a chemical substance used to reduce the amount of friction water (or other liquids) encounters in a pipe. Lots of water (and recycled wastewater) is pumped down the bore hole to frack a Marcellus well–upward of 5 million gallons. About 20% of that water comes back out of the hole and is recycled and used again for more fracking. The problem is, the wastewater has a lot of minerals in it, i.e. it’s super “salty.” In order to keep recycling and using the wastewater to frack more wells, typically fresh water has to be added because as the wastewater gets more salty, it encounters more friction along the pipe. So a friction reducer is needed to keep the liquid flowing fast along the pipe. The innovation–the breakthrough that Halliburton has pioneered–means that drillers won’t have to add fresh water to recycled wastewater for fracking. They can now use 100% recycled wastewater with no fresh water added. Even as the wastewater is reused again and again, getting more salty, it can still be used without mixing in fresh water…
    Read More “New System Allows 100% Reuse of Frack Wastewater in Marcellus Test”

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    Canadian Antis Threaten to “Defend” Against Quebec Utica Drilling

    Advocating for anarchy (a doing away of laws and letting the mob rule) is not unique to radical environmentalists in the United States. Such anarchy is alive and well in the Canadian environmental movement too. The Utica Shale, which underlies much of the Marcellus Shale, also underlies part of Canada’s Quebec province. From time to time we highlight news concerning the Utica in Canada. There hasn’t been much news to highlight over the years since Quebec has had a moratorium on fracking since 2012. But as we reported in December 2016, something of a minor miracle happened–the Quebec National Assembly voted to pass Bill 106, ostensibly to support Quebec’s “clean power plan” (see Fracking in Canadian Utica Shale Takes Big Step Closer to Reality). The bill includes a section that “lays out a framework for oil and gas development” in Quebec. Then in September, Quebec did the unthinkable (for radical environmentalists)–they published draft Utica drilling regulations (see Quebec Government Publishes Draft Utica Fracking Regulations). Canadian driller Questerre believes Utica drilling can begin sometime next year (see Questerre Plans 8 Initial Well Pads in Canadian Utica 2018-2019). That news has antis in Canada going berserk. They’re now threatening that “the public will defend itself” if drilling is allowed. What do they mean by that? Sure sounds like a threat to us…
    Read More “Canadian Antis Threaten to “Defend” Against Quebec Utica Drilling”

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    DRBC Lawyer Nearly Faints 2nd Time When Questioned by Fed Judges

    This is getting pretty old, fast. Two weeks ago MDN told you about a lawsuit that finally got it’s day in court–a case brought by a Wayne County, PA landowner against the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) over its ongoing, 10+ year ban on fracking in the Delaware River Basin (see DRBC Attorney Faints in Federal Court During Questioning). Under “heaving questioning” the attorney for the DRBC fainted in the court room, ending the session that day. Both sides were back in court yesterday to finish what began two weeks ago, and the judges once again turned up the heat on the DRBC attorney–and he almost fainted again, having to sit down (delaying proceedings for a time). Every time this lawyer gets tough questions that he doesn’t like, he pulls this fainting routine. Is it legitimate? Does he have a “condition?” Frankly, we don’t care. His “condition”–if that’s what it is–keeps blocking justice. If he’s not up to the job, remove him. Get someone who can handle the pressure. At least the session yesterday finished. Oral arguments are now done. MDN friend Tom Shepstone listened to a recording of the session and filed a fantastic report, recounting the back and forth–and how the DRBC’s defense collapsed (metaphorically) under the sharp eye of the judges doing the questioning. The DRBC and its shill leader Steve Tambini (a MAJOR disappointment since he was appointed in 2014) were exposed yesterday as the obstructionists they are…
    Read More “DRBC Lawyer Nearly Faints 2nd Time When Questioned by Fed Judges”

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    Riverkeeper Campaign Pressures Towns to Support DRBC Frack Ban

    THE Delaware Riverkeeper is a far-left, radical environmental group that is the self-appointed “caretaker” of the entire Delaware River Basin. It’s run by Maya van Rossum and gets its funding from a variety of foundations, mainly the William Penn Foundation. Riverkeeper’s cause célèbre is a complete, and permanent, ban on fracking in the Delaware River Basin. They’d actually like a permanent ban throughout Pennsylvania (and every other state in the Union), but they’ll take a ban in the River Basin as a first step. Unfortunately Riverkeeper has the ear of the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) and has pressured the DRBC for years to institute a total ban on fracking. The DRBC finally took a step in that direction in September (see Governors from PA-NY-DE Vote to Ban Fracking in Dela. River Basin). There has been no fracking in the River Basin for 10+ years. So why the urgency for the board to pass a ban now? Because a Wayne County, PA landowner has taken the DRBC to court, challenging their right to impose such a ban. After all, the adjacent Susquehanna River Basin (overseen by the Susquehanna River Basin Commission) is loaded with fracking–with NO harmful effects on water supplies. Earlier this month oral arguments were heard in federal court on the case. The attorney for the DRBC fainted under heaving questioning (see DRBC Attorney Faints in Federal Court During Questioning). The case was postponed to an as-yet-unscheduled future date. Neat trick–faint and the case is postponed another few months. In the meantime, Riverkeeper is obviously not convinced the DRBC will follow through with their threat to pass a permanent ban–or perhaps they want to give the DRBC more ammunition to do so. Riverkeeper is hosting a webinar next Monday–to stoke their crazy groupies. Mamma Maya’s sidekick Tracy Carluccio (Riverkeeper Deputy Director) will give the faithful instructions for how to harass local town boards to the point they’ll sign a petition to support a permanent ban. MDN has a mole on Riverkeeper’s email list and we have their invite below…
    Read More “Riverkeeper Campaign Pressures Towns to Support DRBC Frack Ban”

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    Antis at DRBC Meeting Act Like Children, Demand Total Frack Ban

    We told you back in September that the obsequious members of the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) will obey their radical environmental masters by voting to move forward with a permanent ban on fracking in the Delaware River Basin (see DRBC Votes Tomorrow on Permanent Frack Ban Resolution). The form the final ban language will take has yet to be delivered–it’s due by Nov. 30th. However, the DRBC isn’t singing from the same song sheet as the radicals at THE Delaware Riverkeeper. A total frack ban isn’t good enough for the nutters. You see, they don’t like language in a draft resolution they’ve read that would allow frack wastewater to be hauled/disposed of inside their precious Delaware River Basin playground (see Governors from PA-NY-DE Vote to Ban Fracking in Dela. River Basin). The DRBC held a regular meeting yesterday, and the nutters showed up in force–behaving like the children-in-adult-bodies they are. There were, “About two dozen protestors, some of them with cloth gags in their mouths,” protesting at the meeting, calling on board members to not only ban fracking, but ban any kind of water use in the basin related to it. Here’s an account of what happened, and what lies ahead…
    Read More “Antis at DRBC Meeting Act Like Children, Demand Total Frack Ban”

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    Richmond County, VA Commits Fracking Suicide with Vote to Ban

    Sadly, the “leaders” of Richmond County, VA have just voted to commit fracking suicide–a total ban on fracking in the county. They’re not the first. Last year King George County did the same thing, banning it in most of the county (see King George County, VA Commits Fracking Suicide with Vote to Ban). Augusta County was the first Virginia county to ban fracking throughout the entire county, which they did in February of this year. Richmond is the second to ban it countywide. No, there is no Marcellus Shale underlying the county, but there is the Taylorsville shale layer–and there is interest in drilling there, someday. The Chairman of the Board of Supervisors, F. Lee Sanders, said they are “just trying to set an example for other people.” Apparently the real motivation for the ban is not that there would be any actual drilling since only a sliver of Richmond contains Taylorsville shale. No, the real reason for the ban is worry over what other people think. Each year a group of radical leftists called American Rivers (Big Green group) puts together a sham list the call “America’s Most Endangered Rivers.” The Rappahannock River (in Richmond County) is on this year’s list in the #5 spot, because of the “threat fracking poses to clean drinking water.” The entire list is bogus–but the dolts in Richmond County fell for it anyway. They worry that lefties will say mean things about them if they allow fracking. So they banned it. And just like that, more citizens of this country have lost their hard-earned freedoms and property rights…
    Read More “Richmond County, VA Commits Fracking Suicide with Vote to Ban”

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    Longer Laterals Major Trend in 2017 Marcellus-Utica Drilling

    Yesterday MDN updated you on Eclipse Resources’ program of drilling looooong laterals–the horizontal part of shale wells (see Eclipse Res. 3Q17: Super-Laterals Proving to be Super Productive). Eclipse is the reigning champ, having drilled the three longest onshore horizontal wells–in the WORLD. Upward of 3.5 miles underground! All three of Eclipse’s record-breakers are Utica wells. However, Eclipse isn’t the only driller hopping on the long lateral bandwagon. In June, Range Resources reported drilling the longest Marcellus lateral well (see Range Resources Drills Longest Marcellus Well Ever – in Washington Co.). If you compare the lateral length of Range’s wells from 3Q17 with 3Q16, they are drilling laterals 90% longer than they were just one year ago! EQT and Antero Resources are also experimenting with longer laterals. All of which leads us to christen 2017, “the year of the longer lateral”…
    Read More “Longer Laterals Major Trend in 2017 Marcellus-Utica Drilling”

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    DRBC Attorney Faints in Federal Court During Questioning

    Some true courtroom drama from yesterday to report regarding a lawsuit brought by Wayne Land and Mineral Group against the Delaware River Basin Commission’s (DRBC) arbitrary and illegal frack ban. Yesterday we told you Wayne landowners would finally get their day in federal court (see Landowner Fight to Overturn DRBC Frack Ban Goes to Fed Court Today). And so they did. Or at least, began to. The attorney for the Wayne landowner (plaintiff) was questioned by the 3rd Circuit judges about their case. However, when the lead attorney for the DRBC (defendant) took his turn at the podium to be questioned, at one point during what was intense question, the attorney, Kenneth Warren, fainted! In the only account reporting on the incident we could find, Warren was attended to by medics and quickly revived–however both sides agreed to postpone the rest of the session in light of the episode. There was no word on why Warren fainted–his office did not respond to requests from a reporter for an explanation. Perhaps he’s been ill? Perhaps the pressure was too much? We simply don’t know. So here we are again in limbo–with PA landowners having been shafted by the DRBC for 10+ years, now shafted again until the lawyers and the judges can agree on a new date for the rest of oral arguments…
    Read More “DRBC Attorney Faints in Federal Court During Questioning”

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    Landowner Fight to Overturn DRBC Frack Ban Goes to Fed Court Today

    The lawsuit filed by a Wayne County, PA landowner against the egregious overreach by the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) to stall/delay/block any shale drilling within the Basin takes a very important step forward today. It’s a step feared by the DRBC and radical groups like THE Delaware Riverkeeper–because this case has the real potential to neuter the DRBC’s claim it can block shale drilling in the watershed. In March, MDN reported that U.S. District Judge Robert Mariani ruled against the Wayne Land and Mineral Group in a lawsuit that challenged the right of the DRBC to stop fracking in the Delaware River Basin (see Judge Tosses Wayne County, PA Landowner Lawsuit Against DRBC). At first blush it may seem like a setback for landowners in Wayne and Pike Counties (in PA) who have been denied the right to lease and allow drilling under their land for the past 10+ years. But looks can be deceiving. As we pointed out in our article, if you read the judge’s decision, he harpoons all of the DRBC’s legal arguments, but in the end rules against the landowner. Why? Because the judge wanted to send the case to a higher court for an ultimate decision–the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals. In June, the Wayne Land and Mineral Group filed their brief with the 3rd Circuit (see Wayne County Landowner Files Brief in Case Against DRBC Frack Ban). Today, oral arguments will be heard in what we sincerely hope is the beginning of the end of the DRBC’s illegal frack ban…
    Read More “Landowner Fight to Overturn DRBC Frack Ban Goes to Fed Court Today”

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    Northwestern Univ Study: Marcellus Shale Fracture Properties

    Researchers at Northwestern University have just published a new study called, “Characterization of Marcellus Shale Fracture Properties through Size Effect Tests and Computations” (full copy below). The study runs 33 pages and is highly technical. The premise of the study is to use a new/different method of testing on Marcellus Shale rock in order to more accurately describe how the rocks behave under certain conditions. We’re not scientists and don’t know whether there are important insights in this research which can help drillers, but we suspect there may be, which is why we pass it along. Any time we see hard science relating to the Marcellus that’s not colored by a fractivist agenda, we think it’s worth highlighting. Below is the abstract, followed by a full copy of the study, for our drilling engineer readers…
    Read More “Northwestern Univ Study: Marcellus Shale Fracture Properties”

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    Weatherford CEO Warns Intensive US Fracking Drains Wells Too Fast

    The former CEO of the fourth largest oilfield services company in the world, Weatherford International, says “intensive fracking” being used in U.S. shale plays is becoming so effective that its draining wells faster, earlier, and that means decline rates will soon begin to skyrocket. At the Oil & Money Conference in London on Monday, Bernand Duroc-Danner said this: “If you’re going to be fracking closer zones like crazy, lots of sand, lots of water, lots of pressure, you drain the hell out of those zones which is why production goes up…But then those zones don’t get replenished…after two years, there’ll be a build up in decline rates…I am not so sure if the battle won’t be, in two years, to sustain the base as opposed to keep on growing.” What does he mean?…
    Read More “Weatherford CEO Warns Intensive US Fracking Drains Wells Too Fast”

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    PA Republican Senate Extends SE PA Drilling Ban in Newark Basin

    As MDN has explained in a companion story appearing today (see PA Republican Senate Changes Lease Terms for Landowners), the PA legislature has slipped a number of “environmental riders” into one of the final budget bills. The riders are bits of legislation that have nothing to do with the budget or spending, but tacked on as a way of getting them passed without the mess of voting on them individually. One of those riders affects the potential to drill for oil and gas in southeast PA. Back in 2012, an eleventh hour deal was snuck into the Pennsylvania budget signed into law by then-Gov. Tom Corbett (see Republicans Sneak SE PA Drilling Ban into Budget Deal). An amendment was introduced to the budget that established a moratorium on drilling in southeastern PA in the South Newark Basin, a small area which stretches from New Jersey through Bucks, Montgomery and Berks counties in PA. Caving to pressure from the libs that elect them, RINOs (Republicans in Name Only) placed an ongoing moratorium on any kind of drilling–test wells or otherwise–in their region. Disgusting. However, Section 1607, as it is called, had this provision: “This section shall expire January 1, 2018.” Senate Republicans have once again screwed the drilling industry by removing the expiration date, but leaving the moratorium in place. There are certain conditions that must be met according to 1607 (see them below), but practically speaking, we doubt those provisions will ever happen, meaning there will never be drilling in southeast PA…
    Read More “PA Republican Senate Extends SE PA Drilling Ban in Newark Basin”

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    OH Supreme Court Blocks Youngstown Frack Ban Ballot Measure

    In July MDN told you that puppets of the PA-based Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF) have once again gotten enough signatures to put a so-called Community Bill of Rights (i.e. frack ban) ballot measure on the ballot this November in Youngstown, Ohio for a 7th time (see Youngstown Frack Ban Vote on November Ballot – for 7th Time). The same people have tried six times before–and the ballot measure failed every single time. However, as we pointed out, this time is different. In addition to the usual no fracking, no pipelines pablum, this 7th petition has language that makes it legal to break the law. If the ballot measure were to pass, and if an anti got it into her head to sit in front of a bulldozer that was about to clear ground for a wellpad, or dig a trench for a pipeline, the police would not be able to arrest and remove the anti. It would be within her rights to sit there and block legal, legitimate activity–all in the name of saving the planet. It would, in essence, legalize mob rule. In September the Mahoning County Board of Elections voted to NOT allow measure on the ballot in November (see Mahoning County Bans Frack Ban Measure from Nov Ballot in Youngstown). Using the deep pockets of the CELDF, antis appealed the rejection to the Ohio Supreme Court. It didn’t take the Supremes long. They ruled last Friday to uphold the Mahoning County Board of Elections decision to not allow the measure on the November ballot. However, it was a close vote, 4-3, and likely means more litigation will follow in the future…
    Read More “OH Supreme Court Blocks Youngstown Frack Ban Ballot Measure”