Hydraulic Fracturing

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    IEA: CO2 Emissions in US Go Down Again, Thx to Shale

    The International Energy Agency (IEA) works to ensure reliable, affordable and clean energy for its 29 member countries and beyond. IEA’s mission focuses on four main areas of focus: energy security, economic development, environmental awareness and engagement worldwide. A somewhat self-important group that issues reports periodically–particularly on mythical man-made global warming. The core of the man-made global warming argument is that mankind is burning fossil fuels, releasing loads of extra carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. The CO2 in the atmosphere acts as a canopy to trap the earth’s heat and to (someday soon) catastrophically warm the planet, killing off species, causing sea levels to rise, melting polar ice caps. Except none of that is actually happening (the Emperor has no clothes). Which we keep pointing out over and over. We won’t head down that rabbit trail again right now. CO2 levels are important for the eggheads at IEA. In conducting research for the next release of the IEA’s World Energy Outlook report (for 2017), researchers at the agency say worldwide CO2 levels were “flat” in 2016, even though economic activity (or the use of energy) increased. One of the major points in the IEA’s preview of what’s to come in the World Energy Outlook report is this: “The biggest drop [in CO2] came from the United States, where carbon dioxide emissions fell 3%, or 160 million tonnes, while the economy grew by 1.6%. The decline was driven by a surge in shale gas supplies and more attractive renewable power that displaced coal. Emissions in the United States last year were at their lowest level since 1992, a period during which the economy grew by 80%.” Translation: Shale gas is good for global warming, if you believe in global warming…
    Read More “IEA: CO2 Emissions in US Go Down Again, Thx to Shale”

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    DRBC Secretly Deliberating on Rules to Lift Shale Drilling Ban

    The Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) held a regularly scheduled business meeting yesterday in Washington Crossing, PA. As predicted, a number of anti-fossil fuel zealots turned up to make noise about the PennEast Pipeline project–and about the prospect of the DRBC allowing shale drilling. As we disclosed yesterday, the zealots all read from the same document prepared by Her Eminence, THE Delaware Riverkeeper, Maya van Rossum (see THE Dela. Riverkeeper Issues Final Orders to Minions re DRBC Mtg). It’s tiresome reporting on the same, predictable behavior by children in adult bodies who never learned manners from their parents. So we’re not going to comment on the circus freak show that was the public comment period yesterday. However, there was an interesting development to report. Lt. Col. Michael Bliss of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (the Army Corps is one of the standing members of the DRBC Commission) read a statement about the history and possible future of DRBC regulations that may allow shale drilling in the basin. You read that right. According to Bliss, since 2010 the staff of the DRBC has actively been engaged in private (i.e. secret) discussions with various state agencies (we’re assuming the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection) in an effort to, at some point, release regulations that will allow shale drilling in the Delaware River Basin. He said those discussions are ongoing and that before any kind of regs are released, there will be plenty of notice and public hearings…
    Read More “DRBC Secretly Deliberating on Rules to Lift Shale Drilling Ban”

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    DRBC has No Power to Stop Shale Drilling in Delaware River Basin

    You’ve heard the phrase, “The Emperor has no clothes.” A lawsuit against the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) by a Wayne County, PA landowner over the DRBC’s ongoing moratorium of shale gas drilling, is exposing the DRBC as having “no clothes” when it comes to their authority over shale drilling (see Wayne County, PA Landowner Sues DRBC Over Fracking Ban). In fact, the DRBC has no authority to stop shale drilling, as they are now being forced to admit in response to the lawsuit. That fact has the DRBC, and radical environmentalists like THE Delaware Riverkeeper, petrified. MDN friend Tom Shepstone, author of the always-excellent Natural Gas Now website, writes about the DRBC’s lack of authority and the need for Pennsylvania to immediately defund the DRBC–until the agency stops their sham pretense of blocking shale drilling…
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    Gorsline Zoning Case Argued Before PA Supreme Court Justices

    Not long after the Pennsylvania legislature passed the Act 13 Marcellus Shale drilling law in 2012, signed into law by then-Gov. Tom Corbett, seven selfish towns sued, claiming they should have the right (via zoning laws) to determine just where an oil and gas well can be located within their borders. The challenge was brought by rabid anti-drillers and appealed all the way to the PA Supreme Court, where unfortunately the antis won (see PA Supreme Court Rules Against State/Drillers in Act 13 Case). What the antis didn’t think about was the fact some towns may decide to exercise their newly-won rights–to allow wells, instead of prohibit them. Whoops. Guess they didn’t see that one coming. A town in Lycoming County decided to allow a shale well on property zoned residential/agricultural (i.e. farming country). Anti-drilling Big Green groups, including PennFuture, THE (arrogant) Delaware Riverkeeper, and the Peters Township gang (none of which are from mid-PA where the town is located) sued to deny the town the right to exercise its Act 13 authority to allow a shale well. A sham county judge granted a victory to the antis. But it was temporary. On appeal, the higher PA Commonwealth Court obliterated the faulty reasoning of the lower court and, significantly, redefined how courts should interpret the results of the Act 13 zoning lawsuit that allows local municipalities the right to restrict, or allow, shale drilling (see Major Victory for PA Landowners/Drillers in Lycoming County Case). The case, Brian Gorsline v. Board of Supervisors of Fairfield Township (Gorsline is an avowed anti-driller), was appealed to the PA Supreme Court and yesterday in Philadelphia the Supremes heard oral arguments. Can we determine anything from the tone of the questions?…
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    Could Challenge to Colo. Frack Ban Affect NY’s Moratorium?

    We spotted an article on the Hot Air website about a court challenge in Colorado that may (or may not) have implications for shale drilling in places like New York State. Several years ago the ultra-liberal Boulder County, CO banned fracking. Landowners in the county are unconstitutionally denied the right to use their land as they see fit. So Colorado’s Attorney General, Cynthia Coffman, has just sued Boulder County to have the frack ban declared illegal. IF the case were to get appealed to a federal court and IF the case decided that Boulder County does not have the right to ban fracking, might that not serve as a precedence for New York and a statewide ban? We know, we know. It’s a stretch and a lot of IFs. But it is an intriguing idea–and a case worth watching…
    Read More “Could Challenge to Colo. Frack Ban Affect NY’s Moratorium?”

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    VA Senate Committee Nixes Frack Trade Secret Protection

    In January MDN told you about an effort in Virginia to ensure new changes in Virginia’s environmental regulations that require “mandatory disclosure of fracking chemicals, baseline water testing and monitoring, and spill prevention and response planning” would still protect trade secrets–the exact combinations of chemicals used by drillers when fracking (see Proposed VA Law Would Protect Frack Chemical Trade Secrets). As we said at the time, Big Green groups are demagoging the issue, claiming drillers want to keep fracking chemicals secret from first responders and doctors. Not true. But that doesn’t stop the headlines from continuing, like “Citizens have a right to know about fracking chemicals” and “King George supervisors lobby for disclosure of fracking chemicals” (see Debate & Misinformation re Frack Chemical Disclosure Rages in VA). Here’s the thing: fracking chemicals ARE required to be disclosed. The proposed law that modifies the regulations doesn’t change that. The new law only shields the exact combinations of chemicals from being disclosed–and even the exact combination can/will still be exposed for doctors and first responders. However, the damage has been done. Enough lies hit the fan that members of a Virginia Senate committee have rejected it, ending the bill before it could receive a full vote. In other words, Senators believed the lies…
    Read More “VA Senate Committee Nixes Frack Trade Secret Protection”

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    Augusta County, VA Votes to Illegally Ban Fracking

    It’s always breathtaking, and disturbing, when a small group of individuals decide to take away the Constitutional property rights of their fellow citizens. We always wonder, is this how it started in 1920s Germany? The Augusta County (VA) Board of Supervisors voted 6 to 1 Wednesday night to illegally take away the property rights of every citizen in the county by enacting a total ban on fracking in the county. Is there any shale in the county to frack? No idea, but we doubt it. To be fair, 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). Not helping matters is the confusing and inaccurate information coming from Virginia’s Attorney General, Mark Herring (see Virginia AG Says Localities Can “Regulate” & “Prohibit” Fracking). We always feel like a funeral is in order when Constitutional property rights are trampled as they have been in Augusta County…
    Read More “Augusta County, VA Votes to Illegally Ban Fracking”

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    Fake Research Study from Duke U on O&G Spills in PA, Elsewhere

    For some reason Duke University seems to have a fascination with the Marcellus Shale and seeks to denigrate it with fake research reports. Of course there’s big money in research grants, which is why Duke keeps issuing bogus studies. In fact, last year Duke was exposed for doctoring research data in a scheme to grab $200 million in grant money (see Duke University Exposed for Scientific Grant Fraud). Being exposed as fraudsters hasn’t slowed them down. Yesterday another faux research “study” was published analyzing oil and gas-related spills in four states, one of them Pennsylvania. It’s not until you dig into the report that you find the largest spill recorded, according to the research, is fresh water! Yes, water without chemicals of any kind. Water that you can put in a glass and drink. This sham study jumps up and down and screams to call attention–without pointing out the fact that some of the biggest spills are simple fresh water. And of the spills that happened with water “laced” with chemicals, or flowback, etc., the “vast majority of spills are contained on the well pad and never impact the environment.” Here’s the latest on the waste emanating from Duke University…
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    Antis Nervous that DRBC is Making Moves to Lift PA Drilling Ban

    We now have a bit more of the back story and reason why anti-frackers turned out in large numbers to attend last Thursday’s meeting of the Delaware Basin River Commission (see Anti-Fracking Protesters Turn Out in Force at DRBC Meeting). As we noted, antis carpooled protesters in from New York City and other locations. On the agenda were two items that had them irked: (1) a short, 8-mile pipeline that will cross through a small sliver of DRBC-controlled territory, and (2) adoption of a two-year water resource plan “that instructs staff to carry out the commission’s natural gas regulations.” The antis are concerned the water plan will restart the discussion on regulations to allow fracking. Overactive imaginations? Maybe not. An AP story brings new details to light we had not previously read. THE Delaware Riverkeeper and others have “learned” that “recently” the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection held a meeting with DRBC staffers to discuss “draft regulations for drilling in the Delaware watershed.” THAT’S what had the antis all hot-and-bothered and showing up in large numbers. We’re now going on six years that the DRBC has blocked drilling by shelving regulations they had drafted to allow drilling in the Delaware River Basin–at least in PA. Last year a landowner from Wayne County, PA sued the DRBC, asking the courts to rule the DRBC has no right to block drilling (see Wayne County, PA Landowner Sues DRBC Over Fracking Ban). Here’s the article that sheds new light on the nervous Nellies of the Delaware…
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    Frackenstein Returns – Insights on Microbes in Fracked M-U Wells

    For the first time, scientists reconstructed the genetic material from microbes in shale formations (represented here) being drilled for natural gas – click for larger version

    Last year MDN shared with you the news that researchers from Ohio State University analyzed the genomes of microorganisms (i.e. bacteria) that live in Utica Shale wells and found little communities of microscopic critters that live in those shale wells, including a brand new critter that lives only in fracked Utica Shale wells (see Frackenstein! Researchers Find New Life Form in Fracked Utica Wells). The hypothesis is that fracking itself created this new mutated life form. The researchers call this new microorganism “Frackibacter” (pronounced frack-uh-back-tor). We call it Frackenstein! Who knew fracking didn’t destroy life, but actually creates it?! Not long after the original announcement, those same researchers, in poring over their data, discovered those tiny critters may actually INCREASE natural gas output from the well (see Frackenstein 2: Gassy Utica Critters May Increase Well Output!). Since that time the same researchers have continued to review their data and now have important insights to add: microbes from the surface get injected deep in the earth during the fracking process. And those microbes do a good job of adapting and surviving, even in an environment with a lot of chemicals and minerals. That adaptation means more methane is produced, but it also means more corrosion of pipes and equipment. The researchers hope scientists will use this information to produce better fracking fluids and equipment used to extract natural gas…
    Read More “Frackenstein Returns – Insights on Microbes in Fracked M-U Wells”

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    How Maryland Screwed Garrett County Residents Out of Shale Money

    Maryland’s heavily Democrat legislature is doing its best to slap a permanent ban on fracking in the state (see Maryland Democrat Lawmakers Continue to Torpedo Fracking). Such a ban would be a disaster for the state–and for landowners in places like Garrett County (far western MD) where there is Marcellus Shale gas. However, deep and long-lasting damage has already been done by Maryland legislators. In Garrett County energy companies once held leases on 100,000 acres of land–before the legislature and governor diddled away for four years. Today? There are remaining leases on 4,000 acres. That change represents millions of dollars that did not go into the pockets of MD landowners. Maryland seems to be in a race with New York to see which state is the most energy unfriendly state in the country…
    Read More “How Maryland Screwed Garrett County Residents Out of Shale Money”

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    Anti-Fracking Protesters Turn Out in Force at DRBC Meeting

    As we warned you earlier this week, a large contingent of anti-fossil fuel wackos protesters planned to crash a meeting of the Delaware River Basin Commission yesterday (see Josh Fox & Antis Plan to Disrupt DRBC Meeting This Wednesday). Their concern is that the DRBC may be reconsidering its years-long ban on fracking in the Delaware River Basin–a ban which illegally denies landowners in Pike and Wayne counties (PA) from profiting from the Marcellus Shale beneath their land. True to form, the protesters bused people to the meeting from places like New York City–so they could pack the room. On the docket were two items of concern for antis: (1) a short, 8-mile pipeline that will cross through a small sliver of DRBC-controlled territory, and (2) adoption of a two-year water resource plan “that instructs staff to carry out the commission’s natural gas regulations.” The antis are concerned the water plan will restart the discussion on regulations to allow fracking. Although DRBC Executive Director Steve Tambini told the motley crew that the Commission was there to listen only, NOT to answer questions, Maya van Rossum (THE Delaware Riverkeeper) demanded Tambini answer HER questions anyway…
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    Penn State Study: NatGas Power Plants Pose No Radon Risk

    A bright and enterprising graduate student at Penn State University cooked up an interesting research project for her graduate thesis. With all this talk about “fracked gas” having boatloads of radon in it, would using such radon-laden gas as the source fuel for a gas-fired electric plant pose a risk to those who live near it? In particular, could the gas-fired plants on Penn State’s own campus be posing a danger to students, faculty and staff that live and work on campus? Alison Stidworthy, a former graduate student in the Department of Meteorology at Penn State (and now employed as a site manager for the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection), led the research effort, which was the topic of her master’s degree thesis (copy below). What did Alison find? High levels of radon do not leak from the plants and pose no health issues to those living and working nearby. Which makes perfect sense. How do you get rid of radon in your basement when it’s present? You vent it to the outside, where it quickly dissipates and becomes inert. Alison, along with several of her professors, recently published her work as a study in the Journal of the Air & Waste Management Association...
    Read More “Penn State Study: NatGas Power Plants Pose No Radon Risk”

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    New Arkansas Study Finds Fracking Does NOT Affect Streams

    We caught sight of an interesting new study just published in the journal BMC Microbiology by researchers at the University of Arkansas/Fayetteville. Researchers studied (did in the field studies) of streams both near and far from fracking activities in the Arkansas Fayetteville Shale. No, the research is not directly about the Marcellus/Utica, although our shale plays are mentioned several times in the study. However, the research and its results apply to our region as well as all shale plays. In the study just published titled, “Do biofilm communities respond to the chemical signatures of fracking? A test involving streams in North-central Arkansas” (full copy below), researchers looked to see if the chemistry of streams was altered by nearby fracking activity. They evaluated “benthic biofilm community composition as a proxy for stream chemistry” to see if bacteria and other tiny critters that show up under a microscope display differences between the streams near fracking, and those not near fracking activity. What did they find? No difference. No change. No impacts from fracking on streams and the microbiology of those streams. What they did find is that streams are affected by agriculture and urbanization…
    Read More “New Arkansas Study Finds Fracking Does NOT Affect Streams”

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    Debate & Misinformation re Frack Chemical Disclosure Rages in VA

    Two weeks ago MDN told you about an effort in Virginia to ensure new changes in Virginia’s environmental regulations that require “mandatory disclosure of fracking chemicals, baseline water testing and monitoring, and spill prevention and response planning” would still protect trade secrets–the exact combinations of chemicals used by drillers when fracking (see Proposed VA Law Would Protect Frack Chemical Trade Secrets). As we said at the time, Big Green groups are demagoging the issue, claiming drillers want to keep fracking chemicals secret from first responders and doctors. Not true. But that doesn’t stop the headlines from continuing, like “Citizens have a right to know about fracking chemicals” and “King George supervisors lobby for disclosure of fracking chemicals.” Ah, sorry to burst the anti bubble, but fracking chemicals ARE required to be disclosed. The proposed law that modifies the regulations doesn’t change that. The new law only shields the exact combinations of chemicals from being disclosed–and even the exact combination can/will still be exposed for doctors and first responders…
    Read More “Debate & Misinformation re Frack Chemical Disclosure Rages in VA”

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    Heinz Endowments Gives Prof $48K to Find Frack Water Contamination

    Make no mistake. When the Heinz Endowments, a left-leaning, big-moneyed nonprofit invests its money via grants into programs that have anything to do with shale drilling, it is for one purpose and one purpose only: to smear the reputation of fracking and to make oil and gas look bad. They fund all sorts of “research” efforts that mysteriously always come to the same conclusion: fracking is bad. Funny how that works. So it was with interest we noted they’ve purchased for themselves another academic researcher rather cheaply–just $48,000–with a mission to test water wells near fracking sites. The aim? To prove that fracking contaminates water wells. Which is the claim made by groups like Heinz for years–and has never been proven. Millions of wells fracked, with a small number where methane has migrated into those wells (a fixable condition). NEVER has there been chemical transmission from fracking into groundwater wells. But that doesn’t stop Heinz from trying to manufacture evidence. Here’s their latest effort…
    Read More “Heinz Endowments Gives Prof $48K to Find Frack Water Contamination”