Hydraulic Fracturing

Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Regulation

North Carolina Shames New York: Fracking Begins in 2015
July 15, 2014July 15, 2014

It’s taken six long years and New York State still has no regulations in place to allow high volume hydraulic fracturing–to it’s utter shame and the shame of Gov. Andrew Cuomo. When it is allowed (and it will be allowed at some point, you can bank on it), the fight will go local because of a bone-headed decision by the state’s highest court (see Shale Drilling in NY is Over – High Court Upholds Town Bans). By this time next year, North Carolina will have active fracking and shale drilling. How long did it take that state? Two years from the time they placed a moratorium on fracking (in 2012) until last week when the Republican governor of North Carolina signed a law to allow it by next year…
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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Research

July DPR: Marcellus Production Up 28%, No End in Sight
July 15, 2014July 15, 2014

The Marcellus Shale continues to be a monster for production. Yesterday the Energy Information Administration released their latest monthly Drilling Productivity Report (DPR) and it shows the Marcellus will average 15.235 billion cubic feet a day this month, up 28 percent from a year earlier. The Marcellus now produces 16% of all natural gas in the United States. Below is the full DPR issued yesterday, along with a couple of charts not in the DPR that MDN finds useful…
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Allegany County | Garrett County | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Maryland | Regulation | Statewide MD

Maryland Releases 2nd Report on Shale Drilling: “Best Practices”
July 14, 2014July 14, 2014

Maryland finally released their “Internal Final Best Practices” (Part II) study on Friday. The behemoth 255-page study (full copy below) appears to be an exercise in how to stifle Marcellus Shale drilling in the two western Maryland counties where it’s found. This is the second of three reports being produced by a joint effort of the Maryland Dept. of the Environment (MDE) and the Maryland Dept. of Natural Resources (DNR), as required under an executive order from outgoing Gov. Martin O’Malley (see Maryland Marcellus Shale Commission to Have First Meeting This Week – One Meeting Down, Three More Years of Meetings to Go). There’s lots to like in this so-called best practices (more like “no practices”) report–if you’re anti-drilling…
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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

Is PA’s Act 13 Law on Last Legs with Passage of PA Budget?
July 14, 2014July 14, 2014

It’s early days yet–but here’s a developing and potentially disturbing story for drillers (and landowners, and supply chain companies) in Pennsylvania. As MDN reported, last week PA Gov. Tom Corbett signed a $29.1 billion budget bill (see PA Budget Signed by Gov. Corbett – No Severance Tax This Year). The good news is there will be no jobs-and-drilling killing severance tax–this year. The bad news is that regulations that should have been standalone–to separate conventional and unconventional drilling–were slipped into the budget bill. Why is that bad? Because, as StateImpact Pennsylvania is reporting, it may lead to the total gutting of the Act 13 law…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Cuyahoga County | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Regulation | Utica Shale

Gates Mills, OH Mayor Faces Uphill Battle in Proposed Land Trust
July 3, 2014July 3, 2014

In February MDN reported that an Ohio community near Cleveland had concocted a plan to restrict drilling in their neighborhood by getting residents to sign a restrictive land trust (see Cleveland Suburb’s Socialist Model for Restricting Utica Drilling). As it turns out, MDN was a bit off base in our analysis (yes, we admit when we’re wrong!). The mayor of Gates Mills, Shawn Riley, contacted MDN to set the record straight–something we haven’t had a chance to do, until now…
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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

Federal Court Dismisses Doctor Lawsuit re Act 13 “Gag Rule”
July 2, 2014July 2, 2014

The lawsuit brought by seven selfish towns against Pennsylvania’s Act 13 drilling law has had more twists and turns than a back road in the Pocono Mountains. The litigious towns, plus a doctor, sued over various provisions in the Act 13 law. The towns didn’t like being told they couldn’t zone drilling out of existence within their borders, and the doctor didn’t like being told he couldn’t blab drillers’ trade secrets all over the place. So it went to PA’s Supreme Court and they ruled in favor of the towns, but sent parts of the lawsuit back to a lower court, including the doctor’s portion (see Act 13 Goes Back to Lower Court, Disturbing Comments from Judge). A second lawsuit was filed by a different doctor along the same lines (so-called “gag rule”)…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Research | Statewide PA

Yet Another “Natgas Worse than Coal” Study from Tony Ingraffea
July 2, 2014July 2, 2014

Our old friend Tony “shut all fracking down” Ingraffea, who happens to (still) hold a job teaching at Cornell University, is back with yet another “research study” that (surprise!) bashes fracking. Or more properly shale drilling. This time around Tony, who has a lucrative side job by gallivanting from anti-drilling meeting to anti-drilling meeting to spread the word that fracking is evil (see Cornell Hydraulic Fracturing Expert Headlines First Meeting of New York Residents Against Drilling (NYRAD) in Vestal, NY), says shale wells have a higher rate of failure in the cement casings in Pennsylvania and he can prove it. How?…
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Alternative Energy | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Otsego County | Regulation | Statewide NY | Tompkins County

MDN Calls on NY Towns to Ban Windmills; Boycott Cooperstown
July 1, 2014July 1, 2014

They’re noisy 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. They use rare earth minerals in their manufacturing process and endanger Chinese workers who have to mine the toxic metals from the ground. They kill bald eagles and bats and all manner of birds. No one wants to live next to one going whup whup whup 24/7 (drives the neighbors insane). We’re talking of commercial windmills of course. Today MDN kicks off a campaign to get 170 New York townships to ban windmills. Oh, and while we’re at it, let’s also have town boards ban big solar farms too…
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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

Reaction to NY High Court’s Ill-fated Decision to Allow Town Bans
July 1, 2014July 1, 2014

Yesterday MDN brought you the sad news that New York’s highest court has sided with towns giving them the right to completely ban shale drilling (see Shale Drilling in NY is Over – High Court Upholds Town Bans). Today we bring you reaction from several New York pro-drilling groups, along with quotes from others, both for and against drilling. This is a really bid deal–a “10” on the news scale. So we need to devote some time to reactions to the court’s ill-fated decision…
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Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | New York | Norse Energy | Regulation | Statewide NY

Shale Drilling in NY is Over – High Court Upholds Town Bans
June 30, 2014June 30, 2014

This is a very sad day indeed. We’ve just received word that New York’s highest court, the Court of Appeals, has reaffirmed two lower court rulings that allows entire townships in the state to strip away property owners’ rights to allow drilling, in contravention to the U.S. Constitution. The two cases, long chronicled here on MDN, are the “Middlefield” and “Dryden” cases (see NY Pro-Drillers File Final Briefs in Dryden/Middlefield Cases for background). What does it mean? In our opinion it means there will never be any meaningful shale drilling in New York. No driller in his right mind will roll the dice, lock up thousands of acres by spending millions of dollars, just to see it all disappear at the next town board election with a vote by 3 of 5 people. What a complete and utter tragedy this is for freedom-loving Americans who happen to live in the increasingly communistic state of New York. Below is a copy of the decision…
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Allegheny County | Exporting | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania

China Visits the Marcellus to Learn Our Secrets
June 30, 2014June 30, 2014

Calling Pittsburgh a “very beautiful city” and the “shale gas center of the United States,” a group from the China Shale Gas Delegation visited southwest PA last week to learn how America unlocks bountiful shale gas in a safe, economical manner. And of course they chose the biggest and best shale play to study: the Marcellus. Essentially the Chinese were here to learn our secrets–and being big-hearted Americans (and relatively stupid), we opened up and shared…
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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

Another PA Senate Bill Seeks to Help Conventional O&G Drillers
June 30, 2014June 30, 2014

MDN recently reported on legislation making headway in Pennsylvania that would split regulations between conventional and unconventional oil and gas operators in the state (see PA Legislation to Split Conventional/Unconventional Regs Advances). A second PA Senate bill, SB1310, is also making its way through the legislative process. MDN views 1310 as a “helper bill” for SB1378. SB1310 would create a new group called the Pennsylvania Grade Crude Development Advisory Council that would be composed of 17 members (yes, it already sounds bloated) to “assist” the PA Secretary of the Dept. of Environment Protection. Assist the secretary with what?…
Read More “Another PA Senate Bill Seeks to Help Conventional O&G Drillers”
Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA Legislation to Split Conventional/Unconventional Regs Advances
June 26, 2014June 26, 2014

In early May three Pennsylvania Republican legislators said they would introduce new legislation to separate regulations for conventional (vertical only) and unconventional (shale) drilling in the state (see New PA Bill Would Separate Conventional/Unconventional Regulations). The intent is to plug some holes, they say exist, in the relatively new Act 13 law that makes small mom-and-pop drillers who sink only vertical wells adhere to regulations meant for big shale drillers. The bills were introduced and they’re now receiving attention and we’d say even likely to pass…
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Allegany County | Economic Impact | Garrett County | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Maryland | Research | Statewide MD

Maryland Study: Marcellus Drilling Huge Benefit for Western MD
June 26, 2014June 26, 2014

A new study recently released by the Regional Economic Studies Institute (RESI) at Towson University says if Maryland would only allow Marcellus Shale drilling, two western MD counties would reap huge benefits. The study, “Impact Analysis of the Marcellus Shale Safe Drilling Initiative” (full copy embedded below) says Allegany and Garrett counties would benefit from thousands of new jobs and hundreds of million dollars in newfound revenue…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues

Bet You Didn’t Know: Shale Drilling Causes Dangerous Earth Burps
June 26, 2014June 26, 2014

The terrorist-loving news network Aljazeera America–the network that paid Al Gore a gazillion dollars for his dying Current TV network, finally making Al a rich man and giving Al Jazeera access to American airways to spread their garbage–continues to publish anti-fracking stories. Here’s the headline of their latest brilliant posting (please don’t laugh out loud if you’re at work): Fracking increases dangerous earth burps…
Read More “Bet You Didn’t Know: Shale Drilling Causes Dangerous Earth Burps”
Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Research

Accenture Report: Where’s the Next Big Non-US Shale Play?
June 23, 2014June 23, 2014

Will shale drilling ever take off outside of the U.S. and Canada? And if it does, when will it take off, and where? Those are some of the questions answered by researchers at power-house consulting firm Accenture in a new report just released. Titled “International Development of Unconventional Resources: If, where and how fast?” (full copy embedded below), the report says that yes indeed shale drilling will take off in some locations in the next 5-10 years. In fact, the report, which covers shale basins in Argentina, Australia, China, Mexico, Poland, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and the United Kingdom, says one of those countries in particular may be the next big thing in shale. To find out which one, read on…
Read More “Accenture Report: Where’s the Next Big Non-US Shale Play?”