Hydraulic Fracturing

Energy Companies | EQT Corp | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Kentucky | Regulation

Kentucky Fracking One Step Closer: Commission Considers 1st Permit
March 16, 2015March 16, 2015

In January, MDN told you that shale drilling/fracking may soon come to Kentucky (see Fracking on the Way in the Bluegrass State? Quite Possibly). Several weeks ago the Kentucky Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, a group that “rarely meets” (last meeting was in 2006) held a meeting to consider granting Kentucky’s very first deep horizontal natural gas drilling permit. The company applying for the permit is Horizontal Technology Energy Company, a subsidiary of Pittsburgh-based EQT. Horizontal Technology wants to drill a well in the Rogersville Shale in the eastern part of the state. No word yet on the result of that meeting…
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Broome County | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Statewide NY

Radio Program to Discuss the Junk Science Behind NY’s Frack Ban
March 13, 2015March 13, 2015

A shout-out to those who live in the Greater Binghamton area–and even those beyond our area–to listen in this Sunday evening from 7-8 pm to radio station WNBF AM-1290 in Binghamton to another edition of Table Talk with the Joint Landowners Coalition of New York (JLCNY). This week’s guest is Dr. Gilbert Ross, Medical Director of the American Council on Science and Health. Dr. Ross will discuss high volume hydraulic fracturing and the illegal and unscientific ban which stole away the mineral rights of upstate New York landowners. If you’re not in the Binghamton area, you can tune in live online at //wnbf.com (click the big orange LISTEN LIVE button). More on this weekend’s program…
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Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies | Energy Services | GASFRAC | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Tuscarawas County | Utica Shale

Chesapeake Tries Waterless Fracking at OH Utica Shale Well
March 12, 2015March 12, 2015

Something we consider pretty big news: Chesapeake Energy is running an experiment with waterless fracking. They’ve contracted with Canadian waterless fracking company GASFRAC to attempt what is the second (that we’re aware of) waterless frack job on a Utica Shale well–in Tuscarawas County, OH. The first waterless frack job done by GASFRAC was for EV Energy Partners on a Utica well also in Tuscarawas County (see Details on GASFRAC’s Waterless Frack Test in OH Utica). We consider it a good sign that Chessy thinks its worth a few million bucks to try it out for themselves. Chessy stresses this is still very preliminary…
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Broome County | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

NY Town Hopes to Attract Drillers Using Low Volume Fracking
March 6, 2015March 6, 2015

A story about fracking in New York first caught our eye because it’s one of the only (perhaps the only) mainstream media story to admit that fracking has been and still is happening in New York State. If you’ve read MDN for any length of time you know we’ve been pointing that out until we’re blue in the face. Let us say it again: Fracking using low volumes of water (under 75,000 gallons) has been and continues to be used in New York State. Mainstream media outlets apparently have a news blackout on that score–which leads anti-drillers to believe there is no fracking in NY and that Cuomo’s recent decision will keep it that way. Sorry Charlie (and Bill, and Sandra, and Chip)…that’s just not the truth. Once we read more, it was apparent that the bigger story (the story within the story) is what’s happening in the Town of Windsor, NY–where MDN HQ is located, where the temperature this morning was 0! Windsor is actively looking at the possibility of attracting drillers who may want to use low-volume fracking, or even no fracking, to drill gas wells in the town…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Research | Statewide NY

Peer Review Fraud at Cornell, Ithaca College re Fracking “Studies”
March 5, 2015March 5, 2015

It seems you have to go all the way to Canada to find real investigative journalism. The Toronto Financial Post exposes the fraud perpetrated by “acting” New York State Health Commissioner Howard Zucker in using a number of so-called “studies” to support his ban fracking recommendation last year that were authored by, and “peer reviewed” by people like the anti-drilling Sandra Steingraber–who is paid with Park Foundation money and holds a position on the faculty of Ithaca College, where she teaches nothing. She’s a paid environmentalist hack. A pretender. The Financial Post calls Zucker’s use of so-called studies written by anti-drillers and “peer reviewed” by Steingraber and other zealots “junk science” in support of “New York’s phoney fracking ban”…
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Energy Services | GASFRAC | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues

Bankrupt Waterless Fracking Co GASFRAC Sold to “Third Party”
March 4, 2015March 4, 2015

It’s either a sad ending, or a happy new beginning–we’re not sure which. For some time MDN has chronicled the ups and mostly downs of Canadian company GASFRAC, a pioneer and perhaps best shot (so far) in providing a waterless alternative to fracking shale wells. The company ran an experimental frack job on a Utica Shale well for EV Energy Partners last year (see Details on GASFRAC’s Waterless Frack Test in OH Utica). EV has not released any details about that frack job, good or bad–so far. GASFRAC has been in financial trouble for a few years now and we reported earlier this year the company filed for bankruptcy protection and put themselves and/or any of their assets up for sale (see Fire Sale for GASFRAC Waterless Fracking Co, Interim CEO Resigns). The sale has happened…
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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Regulation

Major Improvements Coming to Fracking Chemical Database FracFocus
March 2, 2015March 2, 2015

FracFocus is the national hydraulic fracturing chemical registry. Some 20 states now use it to fully disclose the fracking chemicals used at each and every shale well drilled. Want to know what chemicals were used to drill a specific well near you? Head to FracFocus.org and you’ll quickly find the answer. FracFocus, supported by the industry, is managed by the Ground Water Protection Council and the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission, two organizations whose missions both revolve around conservation and environmental protection. Anti-drillers don’t like FracFocus because it publishes the truth about chemicals used in fracking–it ain’t all that much and it ain’t killin’ people. Therefore, anti-drillers look to denigrate the good work being done by FracFocus (don’t listen to their lies). More good news: Even though it’s just four years old, FracFocus continues to innovate and update. In 2015 they’re rolling out several major new improvements…
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Broome County | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation

One NY Town Plans to Frack Anyway, Looks for Way Around Cuomo Ban
February 27, 2015February 27, 2015

A common misconception for those who live in New York–especially dunderheaded anti-drillers–is that “Cuomo banned all fracking” in the Empire State. Sorry you dolts, fracking has been going on in this state for more than 40 years–and continues to this very day. The kind of fracking Cuomo banned is water-based, high volume horizontal fracking. New York’s drillers have and continue to drill vertical wells and frack them using less than 75,000 gallons of water. Presumably if a driller wants to drill a horizontal shale well and use something other than water, they can do that as well. At least, that’s the theory–and it’s that theory that the Town of Windsor (in Broome County, NY) is using to develop a plan to allow drillers to develop new shale wells in the town…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Maryland | Regulation | Statewide MD

Maryland Dems Introduce Liability Bill in Attempt to Ban Fracking
February 27, 2015February 27, 2015

Maryland’s anti-drillers aren’t going down without a fight. On his way out of office, Maryland Democrat Martin O’Malley set the wheels in motion to allow fracking in the state (see Maryland Gets Ready to Frack! Gov O’Malley Files New Regulations). Almost immediately a Maryland Democrat in the House of Delegates, from a Washington, DC suburb, introduced a moratorium bill (see Maryland Delegate Introduces Moratorium, Before Fracking Begins). That bill isn’t getting any traction, so the Dems have returned to a favorite tactic used by totalitarian governments around the world: you’re guilty until you prove you’re innocent. It’s the exact opposite of the jurisprudence philosophy that underpins the greatest country on earth–ours. In the USA, you’re innocent until proven guilty. But a new bill just introduced in the Maryland legislature, actually supported by Maryland’s Democrat attorney general, would flip that around and presume drillers are at fault if there’s the least little change in water quality, air quality, etc. Under this bill, you’re guilty and YOU WILL PAY until you prove otherwise. In other words, this bill is a ban on drilling flying under a different name…
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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

15 NY Towns Consider Seceding from NY, Join PA Due to Frack Ban
February 20, 2015February 20, 2015

There is an effort underway–a serious effort–for towns along the border in some upstate New York counties to secede from New York State and join Pennsylvania. Why? Because of New York’s ban on hydraulic fracturing. And no, this is not an early April Fool’s joke. MDN first started hearing of secession talk shortly after Gov. Cuomo’s disgraceful cabinet meeting in which he let bootlickers Howard Zucker (State Health Commissioner) and Joe Martens (DEC Commissioner) take the fall for a ban on fracking–a ban Cuomo himself wanted. We saw some signs and heard a few mentions of secession and chalked it up to understandably high emotions over Cuomo stealing away their future. But it seems it’s not just so much hot air. A group called the Upstate New York Towns Association has done some polling and found 15 towns along the border area of NY are ready to make the leap. There are, however, some major hurdles in the way…
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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues

Using Technology to Stay Profitable in the Marcellus/Utica
February 16, 2015February 16, 2015

Given the low, and for now staying low, price of oil and natural gas, what can Marcellus and Utica Shale drillers do to stay profitable? A professor of Petroleum Engineering & Geology at Marietta College takes a look at some of the recent innovations in technology that hold promise for northeast shale drillers, including liquefied carbon dioxide and gelled propane…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Statewide NY

NY Anti-Drillers have “Ban Fever,” Want to Spread It Beyond NY
February 11, 2015February 11, 2015

It wasn’t so long ago loonies in New York State pressured a politically weak governor, Andrew Cuomo, to ban fracking (see After 6+ Years, Andrew Cuomo Bans Fracking in New York). “Whew” (you may think), “That’s New York–you know, where all the liberal loonies live. Glad it’s not here in my state.” Well yes, in NY we do have more than our fair share of anti-drilling nutters. But don’t think you’re safe. Even though NY’s anti-drillers have had a small taste of “victory” in the Empire State, their appetite is not sated. Now NY’s anti-drillers are targeting drilling in other states. Their own members openly talk of halting/banning drilling everywhere, including PA. They say they’ve got the “ban fever” and just like the measles, they want it to spread…
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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Research

New Research: USGS In-Depth Study of Fracking from 1947-2010
February 10, 2015February 10, 2015

The U.S. Geological Survey recently released two new comprehensive studies on fracking. The publications are a “first of their kind” and look at the history of fracking and how it’s changed from 1947 to 2010. The report is a nationwide study of hydraulic fracturing trends, but most of the data comes from (unsurprisingly) Texas, where fracking was born. The report is an analysis of data on nearly one million hydraulically fractured wells and 1.8 million fracturing treatment records. Dunderheaded anti-drillers believe fracking is some new fangled, dangerous technology. It’s not. It’s been around for nearly 70 years! Horizontal drilling has been around for decades too. It is the combination of horiztonal drilling and fracking that is relatively “new”. The more you know about fracking, the more you love it. This pair of studies helps us understand how the technology has changed and evolved over the past seven decades…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Maryland | Regulation | Statewide MD

Maryland Delegate Introduces Moratorium, Before Fracking Begins
February 5, 2015February 5, 2015

A member of the Maryland House of Delegates, David Fraser-Hidalgo (Democrat from Montgomery County) will host a news conference today to propose a bill that slaps a moratorium on Marcellus Shale drilling in the state–before such drilling has even begun. This is rich on many levels. First, Marcellus drilling would only happen in 1 1/2 counties at the far western edge of the state. Second, Fraser-Hidalgo sits his rear-end in Montgomery County, a Washington, D.C. suburb–at the opposite end of the state. Third, a commission made up of many his fellow Democrats evaluated fracking for *four* years, and outgoing Democrat Gov. Martin O’Malley recently green lighted fracking–with arguably the strictest rules anywhere (see Maryland Gets Ready to Frack! Gov O’Malley Files New Regulations). All of that is not good enough for Mr. Fraser-Hidalgo. Fortunately Maryland now has a new Republican governor, Larry Hogan, and Fraser-Hidalgo’s bill, if it passes, will be DOA on Hogan’s desk…
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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Public Opinion

Majority of “Scientists” Oppose Fracking, According to Pew Research
February 4, 2015February 4, 2015

A new survey out by the Pew Research Center says a majority of “scientists” have a negative view of fracking. The survey says 66% of “scientists” surveyed (that is, members of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, AAAS) are against the use of fracking for oil and gas, while 31% are in favor of fracking. The same survey says 51% of American adults are against the use of fracking and 39% are in favor of it. The clear implication, the thing Pew and anti-drillers want you to take away from this, is that “scientists” are impartial and, frankly, smarter than the average person. And by gaw, if a scientist believes fracking is evil, you should too (you dope). The only problem is, what if the scientist is against fracking not because of the science, but because of a personal political/philosophical viewpoint? Is their opinion still “better” and “more worthy” and “more informed” than the average person’s?…
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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Washington County

Peters Twp, PA Pretends to Debate Ordinance to Allow Drilling
February 3, 2015February 3, 2015

Peters Township, in Washington County, PA, continues to “struggle” with whether or not they will allow Marcellus Shale drilling within their borders. Peters, you may recall, is one of the seven selfish towns that sued the state over the zoning provisions in the Act 13 law, eventually winning at the PA Supreme Court level (see PA Supreme Court Rules Against State/Drillers in Act 13 Case). That “victory” has proven to be a disaster in more ways than one. The court decision does, however, require municipalities with districts zoned industrial to allow drilling, albeit those municipalities have plenty of options to continue stopping it by road use restrictions, etc. It seemed like Peters had finally come to grips and was looking for ways to allow shale drilling (see Peters Twp, PA Once Sued to Stop Act 13, Now Considers Drilling). However, recent comments by town leaders and an email from an MDN reader indicate Peters remains as hardened against drilling as ever…
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