Industrywide Issues

Air Quality | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Regulation

Supreme Court Tells EPA: You Can’t Just Rewrite Law
June 24, 2014June 24, 2014

One of the Obama administration’s favorite tactics to do illegal end-runs around Congress (remember–Congress writes the laws, the President enforces them) is to have rogue agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency claim sweeping powers under older/existing laws. Like the Clean Air Act. Yesterday the U.S. Supreme Court yanked on the EPA’s leash pretty hard and said, “Heal boy, sit down.” The EPA tried to simply rewrite a law passed by Congress in how the agency treats so-called greenhouse gases. The EPA didn’t like what Congress wrote, so they rewrote it. The justices said, “No, you can’t do that,” to the EPA. However, as Justice Antonin Scalia pointed out from the bench, the EPA still got almost all of what it wanted in this decision…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | New York | Otsego County | Pipelines | Regulation | Statewide NY | Williams

Save the Bald Eagles in NY! Next Hurdle for Constitution Pipeline
June 24, 2014June 24, 2014

You’ve heard of save the whales, save the snail darters, and maybe even save the tree bats (see Natgas Jumps Thru Hoops for Bats While Solar Farm Torches Turtles). The latest anti-drilling faux excuse for stopping the already-authorized, permitted and public hearing’d to death Constitution Pipeline in upstate New York is, yes, save the American bald eagle! We learn from the anti-drilling Oneonta Star that bald eagles are rather discriminating. They don’t mind traffic noise from a busy interstate highway less than a half mile from their nests–but if Williams happens to do a little blasting of bedrock so they can lay pipe–that will scare the bald eagles right out of their tail feathers…
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Commodity Price | Industrywide Issues | Weather

Global Warming, Global Cooling & Natgas Prices
June 24, 2014June 24, 2014

MDN is not a fan of the “man causes global warming by burning fossil fuel” theories that are all the rage these days. The problem, you see, is lack of, well, global warming! No evidence. Take, for example, last winter. Please don’t insult our intelligence by telling us that brutally cold temperatures (the coldest in a generation) are also the result of so-called “global warming.” You don’t get to say that warming also causes cooling–that’s not part of the theory, a theory that says too much carbon in the atmosphere causes temperatures to RISE, not FALL. You don’t get to make up the science as you go to fit your cockeyed beliefs. A flawed theory is a flawed theory. So when we spotted the following summer forecast from Weather Services International, along with their map (below), you’ll understand why we continue to be “warming deniers” and “climate skeptics.” And what does this have to do with Marcellus drilling? A lot, as it turns out…
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Crime | Erie County | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines

ATVs Damage National Fuel’s Pipeline Routes in Western PA
June 24, 2014June 24, 2014

As so often happens, a few bad apples can spoil it for everyone. We’re speaking of rogue ATV (all terrain vehicle) drivers who have vandalized pipeline routes in northwestern PA, and in the process damaging the top soil and grass along those routes which leads to erosion…
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Industrywide Issues | Research

It’s Working: Iraq Fails to Spike US Oil/Gas Price Thx to Shale
June 24, 2014June 24, 2014

Used to be if there was unrest or the threat of renewed civil war in the perpetually war-torn country of Iraq, or somewhere else in the Middle East (like Syria), oil and gas prices would soar in the U.S. based on the potential threat of a supply disruption. Increasingly that is no longer true. Take the latest Iraq unrest. Oil prices are going up–a little, but not much. Why? Because of shale. The analysts at Deloitte recently published their “2014 Oil and Gas Reality Check” report (full copy embedded below). What does it say? Over the next 5-6 years surging shale oil and natural gas production in the United States will “cut deeply” into OPEC’s influence on the global price of oil and gas…
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BP | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Research

BP Annual World Energy Report Shows Natgas Growth in US
June 24, 2014June 24, 2014

Last week BP released their 63rd annual BP Statistical Review of World Energy report (full copy embedded below). Many of the “majors” like BP and Exxon publish an annual look at world energy supplies. What do the wizards at BP find when peering into their crystal ball? Last year worldwide energy usage rose 2.3%, which is up from 2012. However, it’s still below the historical average increase of 2.5%. Translation: the world economy still sucks with fewer jobs and economic activity happening. Natural gas consumption grew by 1.4% last year, well below the historical average of 2.6%. But there was one place in the world where gas consumption rose–yep, right here at home in the U.S. consumption rose by 2.4%. China and the U.S. together accounted for 81% of the growth in natgas consumption last year. What else did the report find?…
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Industrywide Issues | Jobs

New Marcellus Jobs Site Helps Job Seekers & Employers
June 24, 2014June 24, 2014

MDN is happy to highlight a new Marcellus jobs website. The brand new MarcellusShaleJobs.com website recently launched and is looking for job listings by employers and corporate recruiters, and job seekers. According to their announcement, the new site brings job opportunities in all segments of the oil and gas industry in the Appalachian Basin–that is, the Marcellus and Utica Shale plays. Post your resume, and search available jobs listed on the site. So far there’s only a single job listing–but it’s a doozy. The job is for a completions engineer in the Pittsburgh area–beginning salary $100K per year…
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Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Taxation

3 PA Drilling Assoc. Warn Politicans: Don’t Pass Severance Tax
June 23, 2014June 23, 2014

With Pennsylvania Republicans starting to get weak knees on the issue of a potential sky high severance tax on top of already-high corporate state income taxes, PA’s three big shale drilling industry groups have sent a letter to key state politicians warning them (in flowery language) that if they pass a severance tax, drillers WILL shift their rigs and drilling to Ohio and West Virginia. The letter (copy embedded below) tells House Speaker Sam Smith and Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati and nine other legislators, with a copy of the letter also going to Gov. Corbett, PA better think twice and thrice before passing a severance tax…
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Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Taxation

PA Gov. Corbett’s Re-election in Doubt if Severance Tax Passes
June 23, 2014June 23, 2014

Let’s speak very plainly. If Republican Gov. Tom Corbett signs a budget with a new high tax aimed at the drilling industry–he’s political toast. He will not win re-election and his political career will be over. Unfortunately it seems he is listening to the RINOs around him and his resolve is wavering. Don’t do it Tom. Don’t listen to them. The future of your state and this country is at stake…
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Economic Impact | Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues | Luzerne County | Pennsylvania

Scranton Newspapers “Me Too” Articles on Moxie Energy Power Plant
June 23, 2014June 23, 2014

It’s not often that MDN “breaks news” as in we bring you the story first. But sometimes we do, as we did last Friday when we told you that Moxie Energy is in the hunt for a third Marcellus gas-fired electric generating plant project–this one in Luzerne County (see Moxie Energy in Hunt for Third Marcellus-Powered Electric Plant?). We spotted a very brief mention from a local Wilkes-Barre TV station and sketched out the story for you, providing the background and detail–connecting the dots no one else noticed. So it gives us great pleasure to point out that after we broke the story, both the Scranton Times-Tribune and the Wilkes-Barre Times Leader then picked it up…
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Accidents | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Morgan County | Ohio | PDC Energy | Utica Shale

Bubblin’ Oil at Site of PDC Well Blowout in Morgan County, OH?
June 23, 2014June 23, 2014

An update to a story we’ve tracked since early May. PDC Energy had begun drilling several Utica wells in Morgan County, OH when one of the wells had an accident and spilled drilling mud on the drill pad, overflowing off the pad (see PDC Accident: Drilling Mud Spills into Creek in Morgan County, OH). A quick investigation determined that the blowout preventer failed (see Blowout Preventer Failed at Morgan County, OH Utica Well Site). We have an update on that well and two other wells located on the same pad…
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Crime | Housing | Industrialization | Industrywide Issues | Noble County | Ohio | Washington County (OH)

OH Newspaper’s Sloppy Reporting on Drilling Workers/Problems
June 23, 2014June 23, 2014

Local newspapers in drilling towns should know better, but sometimes reporters are either snookered, or they have an anti-drilling bent. We’re not sure which it is for The Marietta Times (Washington County, OH), but a recent article uses a so-called research report from the anti-drilling FracTracker that says when drilling comes to town so too does an increase in crime. And on that particular false premise the reporter hangs an entire article full of anecdotes and innuendo. Shame on The Marietta Times…
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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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Industrywide Issues | Nine Energy Services | Supply Chain

4 Companies Merge to Form New Oilfield Services Firm
June 23, 2014June 23, 2014

A new competitor for Halliburton and Baker Hughes? Maybe! Four oilfield services companies, some of which have operations in the Marcellus/Utica, have combined to form a new company. The four companies are: Northern States Completions, Tripoint LLC, CDK Perforating and Integrated Production Services Canada. The new company is called Nine Energy Service and is headquartered in Houston, TX. Why the unusual name Nine? It’s aspirational. On a scale of 1-10 with 10 being perfect, they aspire to be a 9, which is about as good as you can get. Hence the name, which is kind of cool. Here’s the press release announcing the merger of the four into one with hopes of becoming a nine…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Litigation

When Enviros like Greenpeace Don’t Get Own Way, They Bully
June 23, 2014June 23, 2014

When environmentalist wacko “non-governmental organizations” or NGOs like the odious Greenpeace don’t get their way, they resort to threats and intimidation. Kind like a “green” mafia. Recently the green bullies at Greenpeace International, World Wildlife Fund and the Center for International Environmental Law sent threat letters to the CEOs and board members of Exxon Mobil and other oil and gas companies to let them know that they personally–the people running those organizations–may be liable for non-existent global warming. That is, Greenpeace and others intend to launch lawsuits against individuals running the companies to force them–at the gunpoint of the courts–to do or not do the things the bullies want them to do…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Millennium Pipeline | New York | Orange County | Pipelines

NY Anti-Driller Claims Compressor Station Causing Son’s Asthma
June 20, 2014June 20, 2014

A small group of virulent anti-drillers from New York City, who flee the city on the weekends and live in places like Orange County, NY, are once again slandering Marcellus drilling in New York State by targeting industry-related initiatives like pipeline compressor stations. To wit: A family who opposed the compressor station built by the Millennium Pipeline in Minisink, NY (southwest Orange County) now claim their 16-year old son has had a “sudden onset” of asthma which occurs only when they flee the city for the weekends to their summer home in Minisink. They conveniently blame the compressor station. What to do? Hire a so-called consultant to address a small group in the area, get a local reporter to show up and regurgitate a whopping pack of lies to scare everyone who reads the local rag…
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