Anti-Shale Group to Hold Presser Outside Muskingum Watershed Mtg
For more than a decade, MDN has brought you stories about shale development on and under land controlled by the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District (MWCD), an agency formed in 1933 to help control flooding and promote water conservation in the Muskingum River watershed area of Ohio, an area that covers 8,000 square miles (see our Muskingum Watershed stories here). Over the years, MWCD has leased tens of thousands of acres for Utica Shale drilling and cut deals to sell water to drillers for fracking. It has been one of the biggest success stories in the Buckeye State in the last decade, generating more than $1 billion in economic stimulus (see Muskingum Watershed Generated $1B in Econ Impact from Utica Drilling). Yet anti-fossil fuelers are *still* trying to shut down this success story!
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One of the aspects of the Austin Master Services (AMS) story (from Ohio) that captures people’s attention is that the frack waste at the facility contains drill cuttings, some of it with a low level of radioactivity. The headline-grabbing media touts that aspect of the story, overplaying just how “radioactive” it actually is. “OMG! If that stuff gets into the Ohio River, it’s an ecological disaster!” That sort of thing. While the percent threat to public health from AMS’ stored drill cuttings is not zero, it’s also not 100. We need a little balance added to the discussion. Just how much of a threat is the waste in the AMS facility?
Isn’t this interesting? Two days ago, MDN published a post pointing out that a bill passed by both houses of the New York State legislature to ban so-called carbon dioxide (CO2) fracking had still not been signed into law by Gov. Kathy Hochul (see 
Is there a crack of light, a sliver of hope, that a bill passed by both the New York Assembly and Senate to ban carbon dioxide “fracking” will NOT be signed into law by New York’s left-leaning Governor, Kathy Hochul? The bill was passed by the Senate on March 20 after already passing in the Assembly (see 
Evolution Well Services, headquartered in Houston with a regional office in Pittsburgh, specializes in “electric” fracking — using natural gas from the well pad (instead of diesel fuel) to power turbines to create electricity that drives fracking pumps. Evolution announced yesterday it had successfully deployed two new electric fleets in March, one in Appalachia and one in South Texas, bringing the company total to 12 fully operational crews.
Where do business dreams go to die? New York State, of course. Yesterday, the New York State Senate passed a bill to ban the use of carbon dioxide (CO2) in any process to extract natural gas or oil in the so-called Empire State. The NY Assembly (our state’s lower chamber) voted to approve the same bill a week ago (see 
Water use restrictions have finally been lifted at the Beaver Run Reservoir in Westmoreland County, PA (near Pittsburgh). The Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County (MAWC), which manages Beaver Run Reservoir, has issued a contract to CNX Resources allowing the company to buy up to 51 million gallons of water to use in fracking at nearby gas wells. CNX will pay $12,855 for every 1.5 million gallons of water it buys. If the company ends up buying the full 51 million gallons, it will pay the MAWC $437,000.
Last year, University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) researchers released three studies commissioned by the State Dept. of Health supposedly investigating whether or not there is a connection between shale drilling and childhood diseases, including cancer (see 
A group of so-called environmental advocates (old hippies) gathered in Albany at the Capitol yesterday to continue their call to ban all “fracking,” including CO2 (carbon dioxide) used to extract natural gas. We wonder if they know that a total ban on “all” fracking includes a ban on fracking geothermal wells being pushed by the governor.
The Washington County (PA) Chamber of Commerce held an event last week with a panel of experts involved with the Appalachian Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub (ARCH2) to discuss the long-term impacts of the project on the local economy and job market. ARCH2 was first proposed by (mainly sponsored by) West Virginia. Ohio and Pennsylvania later joined in supporting the ARCH2 proposal, which was selected by the Bidenistas as one of seven regional hydrogen hubs to share in a $7 billion pot o’ gold (see