Hydraulic Fracturing

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…
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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…
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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues

The Sinister Link Between Fracking and Ice Cream
June 20, 2014June 20, 2014

Hey it’s Friday and time to cut loose a little more than normal here at MDN. Anti-drillers float a boatload of made-up, cockamamie reasons to oppose shale drilling for natural gas and oil. Their philosophy is to issue an ongoing torrent of false charges–fling it all against the wall and see what sticks. However, we’ve finally discovered one reason (overlooked by the antis) that may indeed have some merit. Ice cream. As in, shale drilling leads to high prices for your favorite summer desert. How?…
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Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Range Resources Corp | Regulation | Washington County

Court Says Range Resources Must Disclose Chemicals in SW PA
June 19, 2014June 19, 2014

Three families who live near a former drill site and frack wastewater impoundment at the Yeager Marcellus Shale site in Washington County, PA sued Range Resources in May 2012 claiming the air they breathe and the water they drink had been contaminated by Range’s operation at the site (see EPA Investigating Range Drill Site in Western PA). Litigation ensued, and years passed. In November of last year, County Judge Debbie O’Dell Seneca gave Range and its contractors 30 days to cough up a list of all the chemicals ever used at the site, right down to the kind of oil used in the engines of vehicles visiting the site (see PA Judge Forces Range, Contractors to Provide Chemical List). That didn’t happen because Range appealed. Last week Range lost the appeal…
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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

JLCNY “Outraged” by NY Assembly Democrat Moratorium Bill
June 18, 2014June 18, 2014

Yesterday MDN told you about the third time in as many years that New York City Democrats have attempted to pass an ongoing moratorium (really a ban) on Marcellus Shale drilling in the state (see NY Assembly Once Again Passes Frack Moratorium Bill (Yawn)). The Dems are lead (by the nose) by Assembly Speaker Sheldon “sleazy” Silver and his henchman on the Environmental Conservation Committee Robert Sweeney. Disgusting politicians both. Yesterday afternoon MDN received a statement from the 70,000 member Joint Landowners Coalition of New York stating they are “outraged at the continued attempts by the New York State Assembly to stall safe, responsible natural gas development.” Indeed they should be…
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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Research

June DPR from EIA: Marcellus Production Continues to Climb
June 18, 2014June 18, 2014

The latest Drilling Productivity Report (full copy embedded below) from the U.S. Energy Information Administration shows that natural gas production in the Marcellus Shale continues to dwarf all of the other major shale plays in the United States. The Marcellus Shale is expected to produce 14.9 billion cubic feel per day in July. The Eagle Ford Shale will produce around 7.1 billion cubic feet per day in July, according to the report. Below we have the full report along with a couple of tables from the EIA not included in the report (but important)…
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Allegheny County | Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation

Pittsburgh Suburb Considers New Regulations on Shale Drilling
June 18, 2014June 18, 2014

A single, lying town resident in White Oak, PA (Pittsburgh suburb) has the town council up in arms by claiming the town is about to be drilled by Marcellus Shale drillers and they “will do as they please if they aren’t regulated.” Uh, just one problem there Mr. Lying Town Resident: The state Dept. of Environmental Protection already regulates the industry–quite heavily. And the town can’t regulate it without violating state law…
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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

NY Assembly Once Again Passes Frack Moratorium Bill (Yawn)
June 17, 2014June 17, 2014

Yesterday two sleazy New York City politicians–Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and Assembly Environmental Conservation Committee Chairman Robert Sweeney–announced that, as they have done for the last three years running, they have arm-twisted downstate Democrats to approve an Assembly bill that would continue to ban hydraulic fracturing for (unbelievably) another three years–even though it’s already been banned for six years! Assembly bill A.5424-B was passed mostly along party lines. Donna Lupardo-D, whose district includes potential drilling locations in Broome County, NY, shamefully voted “yes” to pass it (she needs to be tossed at the next election). Not that any of it makes a hill of beans worth of difference. It will never pass the Republican-controlled Senate in NY…
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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Public Opinion | Statewide PA

PA Residents Rank Gasland Dead Last in Trustworthy Info Sources
June 17, 2014June 17, 2014

Who do Pennsylvanians trust when it comes to information about Marcellus Shale drilling? A poll of PA residents in 21 counties–between June and October 2012–tried to answer that question. The results of that poll, and an analysis of the results, is published in the June 2014 Energy Research & Social Science journal. Titled “Hydraulic fracturing and the management, disposal, and reuse of frac flowback waters: Views from the public in the Marcellus Shale,” the poll shows that of the eight primary ways people were getting information about fracking, dead last in “trustworthiness” was Josh Fox’s fictional movie Gasland. What strikes MDN as odd is why it took a year and a half to publish the results…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Butler County | Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Rex Energy

Martians Threaten Lawsuit Against PA Town to Prevent Drilling
June 17, 2014June 17, 2014

For some time MDN has chronicled the liberal push-back from anti-drillers in the Mars School District in Butler County, PA. First we told you they need their heads examined after refusing a lease from Rex Energy that would have netted money “for the children” on the order of $1 million (see Earth to Mars (School District) – Time to Check into Funny Farm?). Then we told you that supervisors in Adams Township, where the Mars School District is located, wisely decided to not restrict drilling by Rex Energy on property near the school (see Adams Twp, PA Votes to NOT Block Drilling “Near” Mars School). Now the state Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) is saying it’s “not a given” that the agency will grant Rex a permit to drill on any property near the school…
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Clearfield County | Education | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania

Clearfield County Residents: Get $100 to Learn about Marcellus
June 16, 2014June 16, 2014

How would you like to earn a cool $100–just for learning about Marcellus Shale drilling? That’s the promise from Penn State to those who live in and around Clearfield County, PA. Penn State, using funding from the National Science Foundation, is offering a 10-week course called Marcellus Community Science Volunteer Program on Monday nights in DuBois. Adults will learn all about the science behind shale drilling, along with its benefits and drawbacks. This is not the first group Penn State has done this with. They ran the same course earlier this year…
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Dominion Exploration | Economic Impact | Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Westmoreland County

Muchas Gasias: Beaver Run Reservoir Hires Auditor for Royalties
June 13, 2014June 13, 2014

Waaaaay back in March 2009, when MDN was still in it’s blog infancy, we told you that Westmoreland County, PA supervisors had voted to lease land at the Beaver Run Reservoir to Dominion to drill five Marcellus Shale wells (see Westmoreland County, PA Supervisors Vote to Approve Drilling on County Land). The reservoir provides drinking water to some 60,000+ customers in five southwestern PA counties. What! Marcellus wells next to–even under–a fresh water reservoir? Say it ain’t so!! But it is, and it’s worked out so well (with NO water contamination issues), that over the years those initial five wells have sprouted to become 37 wells with more on the way. The wells at Beaver Run Reservoir are raising so much money for the county they’ve hired a “drilling auditor” to keep track of royalty revenues, which this year will exceed $6 million…
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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Research

Canadian University Research Finds Fracking & Shale Drilling Safe
June 12, 2014June 12, 2014

A pair of reports were released last week by researchers at Cape Breton University (Canada). The first report on fracking and water says fracking does not contaminate water aquifers (groundwater supplies). The second report on well integrity says that while not industrial process like drilling a well can 100% prevent any leakage (of methane), current technologies are pretty darned good and getting better and there’s nothing to worry about (our paraphrase of course). These reports will help clear the way for fracking in Canada (hopefully where the Canadian Utica Shale is located, in Quebec). MDN has included more excerpts below, along with full copies of both reports that say shale drilling and fracking are A-OK for Canada…
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Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Susquehanna County

Last Gasp in Dimock Couple’s Quest for Riches
June 11, 2014June 11, 2014

Scott and Monica Ely, who once willing leased their land to Cabot Oil & Gas in Dimock, PA, then saw big bucks when their water turned cloudy, ostensibly from methane they say was the result of nearby shale drilling from Cabot, have won the right to have their “negligence” lawsuit against Cabot to continue. The single count of negligence is the only thing U.S. District Magistrate Judge Martin C. Carlson said could continue. All other claims made by the couple have been dismissed by Judge Carlson…
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