Hydraulic Fracturing

  • | | |

    More Global Warming Flummery – Latest Scare Report Issued

    A new report is out on the hazards of global warming…blah blah blah…fill in the blanks. If the warmers detect the general public doesn’t believe as fervently as they used to about global warming–if people are going a little bit squishy and starting to ask uncomfortable questions–it’s time to ratchet up the rhetoric and start talking about impending doom and a coming environmental holocaust. Trouble is, they keep doing it–decade after decade–and the environmental holocaust never seems to arrive. So they have to start blaming hurricanes and big winter storms–things we’ve had for, oh, millions of years–on global warming. Do they really think we’re that stupid?

    And so enters yet another shrill global warming flummery study from the left-leaning National Research Council–because the general population needs another good scare. The compliant New York Times does as good a job as any at trumpeting this latest false alarm. We learn that even though global warming hasn’t really caused any problems yet, when it does, baby it’s gonna happen “all at once” and be “really bad”…honest…
    Read More “More Global Warming Flummery – Latest Scare Report Issued”

  • | | | |

    Who Dat Sneakin’ Around my Well Pad…PA DEP?!

    We’re not quite sure what to make of this one… PA State Sen. Scott Hutchinson (Republican from Butler County) has introduced legislation to prohibit the state Dept. of Environment Protection (DEP) from using video surveillance cameras, some of them with “night vision”, to monitor and enforce environmental laws at oil and gas sites. DEP also uses “unmarked cars” in drive-by inspections and Hutchinson wants that fixed too.

    Is the DEP being shifty? Are they sneaking around? Should they better announce themselves? Or is this just a tempest in a teapot as DEP says it is? You decide…
    Read More “Who Dat Sneakin’ Around my Well Pad…PA DEP?!”

  • | |

    The “Flexible” (and Capricious) Ways of EPA Admin. McCarthy

    It used to be that the law (and regulations, which are based on and have the power of law) were “blind” and not a respecter of men nor companies. The law was designed to apply to all equally and without exception. But when you have a law-breaker–someone who flouts the law–as your president, you then get a situation where the law is twisted to the political whims of those in power. Don’t like a particular law because you oppose it? No problem–just ignore it and don’t enforce it. Don’t like the political blow back of enforcing laws and regulations you yourself passed? No problem–just be “flexible” with how you implement said law or regulation.

    The latest “flexible” Obama official is none other than newly minted EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy, who is signaling she won’t enforce the draconian carbon regulations her agency recently established that are designed to kill coal. Instead of killing coal all at once, she’ll toy with it, like a cat with mouse…
    Read More “The “Flexible” (and Capricious) Ways of EPA Admin. McCarthy”

  • | |

    US Chamber to Obama: Don’t Let EPA Screw Up Fracking Miracle

    One of the finest organizations in America–the U.S. Chamber of Commerce–sent a warning to President Obama yesterday to put him on notice that if the Obama Environmental Protection Agency continues down the road of federal regulation of fracking (something that is unconstitutional by the way), it will kill the very jobs and economic success that Obama has had nothing to do with but takes credit for. OK, the Chamber didn’t use that exact language, but that’s our take on their sentiment.

    Chamber President Thomas Donohue essentially said “don’t go there” with respect to the EPA wanting to horn in with regulating fracking…
    Read More “US Chamber to Obama: Don’t Let EPA Screw Up Fracking Miracle”

  • | | | | |

    Tom West Demands DEC Com. Martens Release the SGEIS – Soon

    just do your jobYesterday Tom West, lead attorney with The West Firm in Albany, NY, issued a “demand” letter to Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Commissioner Joe Martens (full copy of the letter embedded below). The hand-delivered letter (arrived around 12:30 pm we’re told) tells Martens that, as MDN revealed last week, The West Firm has been retained as legal counsel for Norse Energy (see Norse Energy Suing NY Gov Cuomo to Force Release of SGEIS). The letter asks (actually demands) that Martens inform West within the next two weeks of the “date certain in the near future” he plans to release the SGEIS drilling regulations…or else.

    The “or else” is not spelled out in the demand letter, but we know what it is: If Martens does not release the drilling rules promptly, West will file an Article 78 lawsuit to force Martens–and Gov. Cuomo and Health Commissioner Nirav Shah–to get off their rear-ends and just do their jobs. That’s what an Article 78 is–a citizen or company’s legal way of forcing recalcitrant and disobedient public servants (Martens, Cuomo and Shah) to do the job they were hired to do. So three cheers for Norse Energy and Tom West! Finally we should start to see a resolution to the 5 year, 4 month and 10 day old defacto ban (i.e. “moratorium”) on shale drilling in New York…
    Read More “Tom West Demands DEC Com. Martens Release the SGEIS – Soon”

  • | |

    Martin Sheen Pimps Himself for Anti-Frackers

    No one has ever mistaken actor Martin Sheen for someone who’s actually smart. He’s a good actor, but not that good! However, Sheen is pleasant enough to watch, especially as he ages. And he has a nice voice–perfect for voice over work. So Sheen supplements the long periods when the phone doesn’t ring by pimping himself out to liberal/loony causes. The latest “Martin for hire” work is playing now–an “expose” on fracking.

    Apparently the program airing the so-called expose is called Breakthroughs–a semi-regular series on PBS narrated by Sheen, who dutifully reads what is set before him–outright lies, big huge whopper lies, and smaller insidious lies–but all lies. Sheen doesn’t care he’s lying to you–he’s getting paid by whomever. For the fracking episode Sheen is being paid by the rabidly anti-drilling Environment America to pedal their pap to the snooty crowd that watches public television…
    Read More “Martin Sheen Pimps Himself for Anti-Frackers”

  • | | |

    National Park Service Tosses Ingraffea Anti-Frack Comments Out

    Someone who used to work at the National Park Service (NPS) is probably in the unemployment line this week because he or she made the boss look bad. Last week the NPS had to retract negative comments inserted by an unnamed (and hopefully unemployed) NPS staffer about shale drilling in the official NPS position on fracking forwarded to the Bureau of Land Management. The BLM is formulating their own rules to regulate fracking on federal lands and wanted (intelligent) input from other agencies.

    As part of the official comments/views on fracking from NPS, some idiot unnamed staffer at NPS actually quoted the goofy Cornell professor Tony Ingraffea and his wild ideas (published in the compliant New York Times) about fracking being “a gangplank to more global warming.” Whatever Tony. NPS now says they don’t agree with those crackpot comments…
    Read More “National Park Service Tosses Ingraffea Anti-Frack Comments Out”

  • | |

    Don’t Know Much About Geology (or Fracking)

    A majority of Americans are clueless when it comes to fracking. They don’t know what it is! For those of us who have tracked and followed the issue for years, it’s beyond comprehension–but there is a wide swath of the American public that either doesn’t care, or hasn’t felt the need to tune in to the debate over their energy future.

    A recent survey of Americans found that 58% (!) don’t know anything about fracking–don’t know what it is, don’t know what it does–they just don’t know. It’s sad. However, it’s also a huge opportunity for those of us on the pro-drilling side of the debate to educate them on the objective truth–on the benefits of fracking and what it means for every single citizen in the country…
    Read More “Don’t Know Much About Geology (or Fracking)”

  • | | |

    Coast Guard Wants Frack Wastewater Barges Tested – Every Load

    In late October MDN told you the good news that the U.S. Coast Guard has green lighted barge shipments of frack wastewater–good news for GreenHunter and their multiple barge facilities along the Ohio River (see Coast Guard Green Lights Barge Transport of Frack Wastewater). At the time the Coast Guard published their draft rules for a 30-day comment period. Those 30 days have come and gone as of last Friday, but still no official date for when barge shipments for frack wastewater will begin.

    However, from an article published by the reliably anti-drilling StateImpact Pennsylvania (NPR), we do find out that every shipment of frack wastewater via barge will first have to be analyzed by a state accredited laboratory before it can leave the dock. Why? Frack wastewater is not uniform–each batch varies in the chemical compounds found in that batch. The Coast Guard intends to keep a close eye on it. Of course analyzing every load will add a lot of time and expense to the process, but this precaution will reassure reasonable people that barge shipments of frack wastewater is safe…
    Read More “Coast Guard Wants Frack Wastewater Barges Tested – Every Load”

  • | | | |

    Lies, Damn Lies…and NY State Polls on Fracking

    Last week MDN brought you the news that the Marist College poll shows a slight change of public opinion in New York State with respect to whether or not the state should allow shale drilling/fracking (see Latest Marist NY Poll Shows Slight Increase in Frack Opposition). The Marist poll showed, roughly, 37% favor fracking, 47% oppose it, and 16% are clueless. The day after the Marist poll was issued, Quinnipiac University issued their poll. Because the wording is slightly different, the Quinnipiac Poll found New Yorkers are more evenly split: 44% support fracking, 46% oppose it and just 10% are clueless.

    Which just goes to show the immortal words of Mark Twain are as true today as they were more than 100 years ago. Here’s the detailed poll results from the latest Q poll…
    Read More “Lies, Damn Lies…and NY State Polls on Fracking”

  • | | | |

    Latest Marist NY Poll Shows Slight Increase in Frack Opposition

    opinion pollA new public opinion poll of New Yorkers was released yesterday by the Wall Street Journal/NBC 4 New York/Marist College. Among the questions asked was this one: “Hydrofracking is a process of splitting rocks underground to remove natural gas. From what you have read or heard, do you generally support or oppose hydrofracking in New York State at the Marcellus Shale?” For years the answers have been roughly even, about 40% for, 40% against and 20% clueless.

    This latest NY poll shows the following statewide average: 37% support fracking, 47% oppose it, and 16% are clueless/unsure. So, a few more of the unsure people have now become sure and it’s breaking against fracking, maybe a few who used to support it no longer do, and those who were against it remain ideologically rigid and impervious to overwhelming evidence that fracking is safe (i.e. willfully stupid). End result: a few more are now in the opposition column. However, it’s when you dig into the numbers and the breakdowns by party, political philosophy, gender and geography that it becomes interesting…
    Read More “Latest Marist NY Poll Shows Slight Increase in Frack Opposition”

  • | | | | |

    Big News: Bloomberg Writes Positive Marcellus Shale Article!

    Whenever we start reading a Bloomberg article about the Marcellus Shale, shale gas drilling in general, or fracking, we just know how skewed to the anti-drilling side of the ledger the story will be. So imagine our surprise when we read an article that actually reports (gasp!) the truth about the Marcellus Shale. Even though Bloomberg usually tells us the low price of natural gas can’t last, the whole shale gas thing is a house of cards waiting to collapse, drillers are trying to hoodwink investors, blah blah blah–this time even Bloomberg can’t ignore the fact that natural gas being piped into New York City is selling below the price of the benchmark Henry Hub in Louisiana–and likely will for years to come. Thanks to the Marcellus.

    The Bloomberg article does a good job of giving the big picture with respect to gas prices and how drilling has become more efficient, how infrastructure (pipelines) are helping to get all that gas to market (abundance of supply equals lower prices), and predicting what’s coming next. At the end of the article is an obligatory few sentences from anti-drillers about how shale drilling will poison all of our water and make farms uninhabitable. Well, it is Bloomberg after all. But on balance, this is a good article and worth your time to read. The article begins this way…
    Read More “Big News: Bloomberg Writes Positive Marcellus Shale Article!”

  • |

    The Sky HAS Fallen! Time Magazine Loves (Waterless) Fracking

    sky is fallingWell lookie here! Just yesterday MDN was waxing eloquent on alternatives to using water in fracking (see CO2 Instead of Water for Fracking – Seriously?!). Little did we know that two weeks ago Time magazine released its list of the “25 Best Inventions of the Year 2013”. Under the category of five “World-Changing” technologies is a listing for…waterless fracking! Wonders never cease.

    This is what Time says about waterless fracking and why it made the list:
    Read More “The Sky HAS Fallen! Time Magazine Loves (Waterless) Fracking”

  • | |

    Eco Group Schisms & The Heart of the Fracking Debate

    An article in the National Journal does a good job of capturing the growing rift among so-called environmentalists on the issue of fracking–or hydraulic fracturing. Every now and again it’s helpful to review the basics here on MDN because we constantly have new readers/subscribers to our service. For years MDN has said the true movement people who oppose fracking (i.e. shale drilling)–people like Josh Fox with his Gasland fictions and the odious Food & Water Watch, and lately even the Sierra Club–oppose fracking not because the practice actually pollutes, but because it frees up large volumes of natural gas, which is a fossil fuel, and they HATE all fossil fuels. Yes, it’s an irrational hatred–but that is what is truly at the heart of this debate: fossil fuel phobia. Movement environmentalists believe humans should stop using fossil fuels now. Bring back the horse and buggy.

    Of course anti-frackers are rankly hypocritical as they jet around the world and drive around the country using fossil fuels to spread their anti-fossil fuel message. They go home at night and turn up the furnace–a furnace that burns fossil fuels–to heat their homes. They turn on their stoves that burn natural gas to cook their food. They use electricity which (coming as a shocking surprise to their parochial worldview) is created by big power plants that burn coal or natural gas. But “do as I say not as I do” has always been the credo for anti-frackers. The article in National Journal is about the “fight” over fracking in Colorado among environmentalists, but the story could easily take place in NY, PA, WV, or OH. The arguments, the lies and deceptions by extremist “environmental” groups, are the same wherever you go…
    Read More “Eco Group Schisms & The Heart of the Fracking Debate”

  • | | | | | | |

    Norse Energy Suing NY Gov Cuomo to Force Release of SGEIS

    Breaking newsThis is BIG news: It seems we haven’t heard the last from Norse Energy–the Norwegian-based driller that just over a month ago converted from Chapter 11 bankruptcy, or “keep the creditors at bay while we reorganize,” to Chapter 7, or “sell off the furniture and turn off the lights” (see Lights Turned Off, Door Closed – Good Night, Norse Energy). There’s still a bit of fight left in Norse–or fight left in its creditors anyway. Late last week MDN received a tip from friend and intrepid blogger Andy Leahy, writer of the excellent NY Shale Gas Now! blog, about some of the biggest New York news we’ve heard in some time: Norse Energy, or what’s left of it, has decided to file a lawsuit against New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Commissioner Joe Martens, and State Health Commissioner Nirav Shah–a lawsuit that will force the release of draft drilling regulations called the SGEIS (Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement).

    The official lawsuit has not yet been filed but according to MDN’s sources, it will be filed in early December. This story is a bit complicated, so we’ll break it down for you and show you the evidence we have that a lawsuit against the Cuomo/Martens/Shah cabal is indeed on the way–very soon…
    Read More “Norse Energy Suing NY Gov Cuomo to Force Release of SGEIS”

  • | | | | | |

    Cabot Buys Second Dimock, PA Property on Carter Road

    Contrary to the desires of Josh Fox and other anti-drillers, the “Dimock” story continues to fade away into obscure history. A month ago MDN told you about the former house of some of the loudest Cabot critics who used to live in Dimock, PA–the Sautners. Craig and Julie Sautner sold their house and 3.6 acres to Cabot last year and snuk out of town with $167,500 (see Fracking Opponents Craig & Julie Sautner Sell, Leave Dimock). Last month, the old Sautner house was leveled and the property was sold to the neighbor for a measly $4,000 (see End of an Era? Sautner’s Dimock Home Leveled, Property Sold).

    Another Dimock property has just been sold to Cabot, albeit for not quite as much. Mike Ely sold his 12-acre property on Carter Road (including double-wide trailer) to Cabot for $140,000…
    Read More “Cabot Buys Second Dimock, PA Property on Carter Road”