Hydraulic Fracturing

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    PA Supreme Court to PUC: Knock Off the Zoning Reviews (for Now)

    Yesterday, the Pennsylvania State Supreme Court issued a ruling quashing (stopping) the state Public Utility Commission from carrying out some of its duties as specified under PA’s 2012 Marcellus Shale Act 13 law–duties tied to Act 13’s zoning provisions. It is a small and perhaps short-lived victory for the towns who had sued the PUC asking for relief from the PUC’s reviews of their zoning laws. It is a short-lived victory for the towns because the Supreme Court is due to decide on Act 13’s zoning provisions soon, so this decision is in effect until that bigger (and final) decision is made.

    That’s the news. Now, to bring you up to speed on the background of this case and what yesterday’s decision means…
    Read More “PA Supreme Court to PUC: Knock Off the Zoning Reviews (for Now)”

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    USGS: Consider Disposing Nuclear Waste in…Shale?!

    radiationThis is truly rich. While anti-drillers prattle on about how a few gallons of chemicals a mile down in the earth will magically defy gravity and climb uphill through a mile of solid rock to contaminate water supplies (yeah, it NEVER happens), the scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey have written a research paper that says shale is so secure, we ought to consider using it to dispose of spent nuclear waste–stuff that hangs around for millions of years!

    You read the above statement correctly. Scientists at the USGS have just published a paper titled “Can Shale Safely Host U.S. Nuclear Waste?” in EOS, a journal by the American Geophysical Union (full copy embedded below). The conclusion of their investigation into whether or not nuclear waste could be disposed of in shale: “Although shales and similar rocks have not been considered for hosting nuclear waste in the United States, recent research points to them as a very promising option.” Note to emergency rooms throughout the Southern Tier of NY: Prepare to receive large numbers of apoplectic anti-drillers when they read about this…
    Read More “USGS: Consider Disposing Nuclear Waste in…Shale?!”

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    Speakers at JLCNY 5-Year Moratorium Event Take Aim at Gov Cuomo

    Yesterday marked the very sad and tragic five-year anniversary of no shale drilling in New York State. The moratorium, first instituted by then-Gov. David Paterson in 2008, has increasingly frustrated the 77,000 members of the Joint Landowners Coalition of New York (JLCNY). The JLCNY and New York elected representatives made their collective displeasure with the ongoing moratorium known at a rally yesterday in Binghamton, NY. Addressing a packed room of some 150 drilling supporters, the JLCNY’s attorney Scott Kurkoski gave a stirring speech, followed by a number of elected state and local officials. Each of them took direct aim at Gov. Andrew Cuomo, telling him “it’s been long enough” and “it’s time to move forward.” Watch a video of the speeches below (22 minutes long), courtesy WIVT/WBGH News Channel 34.

    The JLCNY also released the following statement yesterday:
    Read More “Speakers at JLCNY 5-Year Moratorium Event Take Aim at Gov Cuomo”

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    The One Fracking Poll Gov Cuomo *Should* Be Worried About

    MDN subscriber and friend Ken Kamlet, an attorney with one of Binghamton’s premier law firms–Hinman, Howard & Kattell (HHK), recently wrote an article for the HHK legal blog that takes a close look at public polling in New York State on the issue of shale drilling and fracking. It’s a marvelous article, both in depth and breadth, providing superb insights into what New Yorkers think about the drilling issue (we recommend you read the whole article).

    In Ken’s conclusion, he hits on the one public poll that should matter the most to NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo. And no, it’s not how many New Yorkers are for or against fracking and shale drilling. The poll that Cuomo should pay attention to is the one that shows a convincing majority of New Yorkers on both sides of the drilling issue believe Cuomo is “dragging his feet” on the drilling issue. Rather than being perceived as careful and deliberative on the drilling issue, he is instead perceived as weak and ineffective, lacking leadership–not good qualities for someone who seeks higher office…
    Read More “The One Fracking Poll Gov Cuomo *Should* Be Worried About”

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    Marbletown, NY Frack Ban Passes – 22 Page Manifesto

    Sometimes town leaders in New York State who vote to ban hydraulic fracturing are dullards–they don’t bother to research and understand the legal issues. It makes no difference to them that they’re trampling on the Constitutional property rights of their landowning constituents–the very people they’re sworn to protect (but don’t).

    Other times, town leaders in New York who vote to ban drilling–like those in Marbletown, NY (Ulster County, Middle Hudson Valley area)–are truly, stupendously stupid misguided. What takes most towns a paragraph or two to do, “Don’t drill and frack anywhere in the town,” has taken the brainiacs in Marbletown 22 pages of new regulations to accomplish in their recently enacted fracking ban. And the town supervisor brags about it!…
    Read More “Marbletown, NY Frack Ban Passes – 22 Page Manifesto”

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    New Congressional Report: How Federal Laws Govern Fracking

    Three Congressional Research Service (CRS) researchers–two of them attorneys and one an environmental policy specialist–recently issued a new CRS report titled “Hydraulic Fracturing: Selected Legal Issues” (full copy embedded below). The 37-page report takes a close look at federal legislation and its governance of/relationship to regulation of hydraulic fracturing. Specifically, the report looks at the Safe Drinking Water Act, the Clean Water Act and the Clean Air Act, along with a number of other federal laws.

    The report also takes a look at state preemption of local zoning regulations when it comes to oil and gas drilling–a hot legal issue in many states, with pending court cases in Pennsylvania, Ohio and New York…
    Read More “New Congressional Report: How Federal Laws Govern Fracking”

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    Somber Anniversary: Today NY Fracking Moratorium Turns 5 Yrs-Old

    flag at half staffTime to fly the flags at half staff. Why? It seems that freedom and liberty in New York State have died. Tyranny has slowly crept in and has now taken up residence in the Empire State. For five long years, landowners in New York have been denied their Constitutional property rights to allow shale drilling on and under their land, and frankly, there’s no end in sight to this travesty of justice. Oh, we New Yorkers have not given up! As Winston Churchill once famously said, NEVER!

    But honestly, it’s hard to keep your chin up month after month and year after year, especially when Democrats control so much of the state and just don’t give a darn about individual freedom or the Constitution. It’s especially disheartening when there’s rampant ignorance on the part of many in the general public who only read headlines and don’t bother to try and understand the sometimes complicated drilling issue. As we pointed out yesterday, the drilling issue in New York has devolved into celebrity emotion vs. science (see NY Fracking Debate is Celebrity Emotion vs Scientific Facts).

    To mark today’s somber anniversary, the Joint Landowners Coalition of New York will hold a “Five-Year Anniversary Event” at the Holiday Inn Arena in downtown Binghamton…
    Read More “Somber Anniversary: Today NY Fracking Moratorium Turns 5 Yrs-Old”

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    Study Proves Fracking Didn’t Cause Methane in Dimock Water Wells

    A research study appears in the May-June 2013 issue of Groundwater, a peer-reviewed scientific journal, that completely debunks the notion that fracking was the cause of methane contamination in local water wells in Dimock, PA (as famously claimed by Josh Fox and Gasland). The article, titled “Evaluation of Methane Sources in Groundwater in Northeastern Pennsylvania” (full copy embedded below), has flown completely under the radar and has received, so far as we can tell, no coverage in the mainstream media. It likely hasn’t been been covered because (a) the findings don’t fit the media narrative that fracking contaminates water, and (b) the study’s lead author is the head geologist for Cabot Oil & Gas, the company accused of contaminating some Dimock water wells with methane from nearby drilling activity.

    The study looks at test results for 1,701 water wells around Susquehanna County, PA (where Dimock is located), both close to and far from shale drilling. What does the cold, hard data show? Methane is everywhere in Susquehanna County groundwater–and it has been for hundreds of years. No wonder Susquehanna County is such a productive gas field for Cabot! The study finds that methane in water is more prevalent in certain locations like valleys. Perhaps most importantly–the study finds no correlation between shale drilling and the level of methane in water wells. There’s no more methane in water wells close to drilling than there is in wells far from it. Science is science, and this study cannot be discounted simply because the wizards at Cabot wrote the report…
    Read More “Study Proves Fracking Didn’t Cause Methane in Dimock Water Wells”

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    Anti-Drillers Provide Fraudulent Ban Petition to Covert, NY Board

    An MDN reader has alerted us to some “funny business” going on in the Town of Covert, NY (near Ithaca) on the part of anti-drillers who circulated a petition in support of a town ban on fracking. It appears that at least some of the “signatures” on the petition were fraudulently added by the group circulating the petition, the so-called Concerned Citizens of Covert (CCC). The list of names of those supposedly supporting a ban were presented as a typewritten list to town board members, but (as far as we know), the original signed petitions have not yet been produced by CCC.

    One Covert landowner says she did not sign the petition but her name, along with the names of other family members who also did not sign, appears on the typewritten version of the petition. She said it looks like the CCC simply went through voter registration roles and added a bunch of names, claiming they had all signed. If that’s true, the CCC petition should immediately be investigated by the local and state attorneys general (but don’t hold your breath)…
    Read More “Anti-Drillers Provide Fraudulent Ban Petition to Covert, NY Board”

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    New BLM Fracking Rule will Cost Drillers Nearly $100K per Well

    So just how much will the proposed new fracking rule (for wells fracked on public lands) from the Bureau of Land Management cost drillers? The Western Energy Alliance hired the respected economics firm John Dunham & Associates to run the numbers. What they found was that if the new rule goes into effect as written, it will cost drillers an extra $96,913 per well on average, making it cost prohibitive to even bother drilling some wells. Perhaps that’s the intent? The new BLM rule will likely not affect Marcellus and Utica Shale drilling because there is very little federal/public land in the northeast. So why bother to report on it? Because Obama administration officials have expressed their desire to one day “encourage” (i.e. force) the new BLM rule to be used for drilling on private land as well (see Feds ‘Hope’ States will Use BLM Rules for ALL Fracking).

    The press release from the Western Energy Alliance, along with the full economic analysis from John Dunham & Associates:
    Read More “New BLM Fracking Rule will Cost Drillers Nearly $100K per Well”

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    NY Fracking Debate is Celebrity Emotion vs Scientific Facts

    The following full-throated, pro-drilling op-ed is noteworthy for two reasons. First, it was written by a former Bloomberg reporter, Kelly Riddell (who knew there was even a single pro-drilling person on staff at Bloomberg!). Second, it appeared in the usually anti-drilling Albany Times Union. One pro-drilling article per 50 or so anti-drilling articles is what passes for fair and balanced in the TU.

    Hopefully Gov. Andy will tear himself away from paddling canoes and handing out flood relief money to read it. Riddell’s column is well worth your time to read, especially if you live in the Empire State…
    Read More “NY Fracking Debate is Celebrity Emotion vs Scientific Facts”

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    Predictable: Anti-Drillers Discount Fed Study of Fracking & Water

    Last week MDN brought you the really important news that preliminary results from a federal study of fracking shows…proves…fracking fluid with chemicals does not magically migrate uphill through a mile of solid rock to the surface to contaminate water (see Breaking: Obama DOE Says Study Shows Fracking Fluids Don’t Migrate). In over 50,000 horizontally fracked wells and over 2 million conventionally fracked wells, it’s never been observed. No scientific studies have ever been able to prove it (much as they’ve tried).

    Now we have a study that incontrovertibly proves it doesn’t happen. So what does one Duke University anti-drilling professor with a degree in biology (not geology) say? This study don’t prove nothin’…
    Read More “Predictable: Anti-Drillers Discount Fed Study of Fracking & Water”

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    Breaking: Obama DOE Says Study Shows Fracking Fluids Don’t Migrate

    Stop Press!Those who hate fossil fuels and want to stop all shale drilling because of their irrational beliefs are logic-challenged. Witness their claim/belief that fracking fluid (99.5% water and sand, 0.5% chemicals) pumped a mile or more below the surface will magically travel up to the surface and contaminate groundwater supplies. Never mind that 80% of the fluid disappears into small cracks a mile down. Never mind there’s a mile of solid rock between the fluid and the surface. Never mind there have been more than 50,000 horizontally fracked wells since the early 2000s with not a single case of water contamination from migrating frack fluid. And never mind there have been more than 2 million vertically fracked wells worldwide over the past 60+ years with not a single case of water contamination from migrating frack fluid. Anti-drillers cling to their irrational faith that fluid migration has and continues to happen and hucksters like Josh Fox of Gasland and Gasland 2 fame are all too willing to feed their delusion.

    Enter the federal government–specifically the Dept. of Energy (DOE) under Barack H. Obama, no friend of the oil and gas industry. Exactly one year ago the DOE’s National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) in Pittsburgh began an experiment of injecting tracer chemicals in fracking fluid at an undisclosed drill site with eight wells in Greene County, PA. (The driller cooperating with NETL to conduct the experiment is unidentified, although MDN has a pretty good guess as to who it is–see below.) The NETL monitored (and continues to monitor) the eight wells over the past year and although the data is still preliminary, what have they found? No migration of fracking fluid toward the surface. Zero. It’s called science–but don’t tell Josh Fox and the nuts who believe him…
    Read More “Breaking: Obama DOE Says Study Shows Fracking Fluids Don’t Migrate”

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    PA Problem: Act 13 Zoning Case to be Decided by 6 Supremes, Not 7

    trouble brewing signPotential trouble is brewing for Marcellus drillers in Pennsylvania. As MDN has chronicled since early last year, seven towns (and a few individuals) sued PA over a provision in “Act 13” passed in early 2012 which creates uniform statewide standards for oil and gas zoning regulations–regs that supercede and replace local zoning laws related to oil and gas drilling (see Lawsuit Filed: PA Towns Sue State over Marcellus Act 13 Law). A handful of towns in western PA didn’t like the state telling them where a well can and can’t go. They call it a “one size fits all” solution that doesn’t square with realities in different and varying geographies. The state maintains it has all sorts of safeguards built in and the new uniform standards prevent capricious local town boards from interfering with a legitimate and safe activity. Who’s right? It’s a Solomon kind of conundrum.

    The towns sued and won–in two lower court cases. The case was appealed to the PA Supreme Court–but Houston, we have a problem. The PA Supreme Court heard arguments in the case last October. One of the seven justices has since been convicted on a minor fundraising offense and removed from office (see PA Supreme Court Resignation Affects Act 13 Zoning Decision). If the court had previously decided the case without a seventh justice, it likely would have resulted in a 3-3 split. The new justice, Correale Stevens, was installed in June. We’ve just learned that he will not participate in the Act 13 case, meaning it will definitely be decided by six justices. Unless one of them changes, a 3-3 decision would mean the lower courts’ decision stands and drilling in some locations in PA will be thrown into chaos, affecting landowners, jobs and the local economy…
    Read More “PA Problem: Act 13 Zoning Case to be Decided by 6 Supremes, Not 7”

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    JLCNY to Mark 5-Year Moratorium Anniversary at Binghamton Event

    The 77,000-member Joint Landowners Coalition of New York (JLCNY) will hold at event next Tuesday, July 23 at the Holiday Inn Arena in Binghamton to mark a somber milestone: the five-year anniversary of the shale drilling moratorium in New York State. This is a shout out to drilling supporters in the Southern Tier area of New York to invite you to attend…
    Read More “JLCNY to Mark 5-Year Moratorium Anniversary at Binghamton Event”

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    Interior Sec Jewell Grilled by Congress on New BLM Fracking Rules

    It’s no surprise that newly-minted U.S. Interior Secretary Sally Jewell is sticking up for federal regulation of fracking as proposed by her agency’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM). For now, BLM rules–once in effect–will be used to regulate fracking on public lands, mostly found in western U.S. However, the Obama administration has expressed its desire to grow the BLM regulations to include private land too (see Feds ‘Hope’ States will Use BLM Rules for ALL Fracking). Danger Will Robinson!

    Testifying before the House Natural Resources committee yesterday, Republicans grilled Jewell about the new BLM regulations. Members of her own party (Democrat) chided her over the BLM’s use of FracFocus.org to report chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing fluid. Jewell’s response was less-than-comforting and (we would argue) a veiled threat that the BLM will dump using FracFocus at some point…
    Read More “Interior Sec Jewell Grilled by Congress on New BLM Fracking Rules”