Industrywide Issues

Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Statewide NY

Willie Nelson & Friends are No Friends to Farmers
September 25, 2013September 25, 2013

A bunch of once-famous singers took to the stage this past weekend in Saratoga Springs, NY to lend Willie Nelson some help with his annual Farm Aid concert. Willie & friends were there to raise money for farmers and to bash fracking–the very thing that would raise more money for poor farmers than all of Willie’s concerts added together since he began doing them in the last century.

Among the has-beens who took to the stage was 94 year-old Pete Seeger–or a very passable taxidermist’s version of him. Pete had to get his licks in by bastardizing Woodie Guthrie’s song, “This Land is Your Land”…
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Health Impacts | Industrywide Issues | Sand/Proppant

HalenHardy Wins Ben Franklin EHS Award for Silica Air Shower
September 25, 2013September 30, 2013

Congratulations to HalenHardy, a company that makes a mobile air shower to quickly remove silica dust from workers’ uniforms. HalenHardy is the recipient (yesterday) of the Ben Franklin’s Shale Gas Innovation & Commercialization Center’ first annual Shale Gas Environmental, Health, & Safety Award. MDN editor Jim Willis was in the audience at the Shale Insight conference to witness the award.

Jim later spotted and congratulated co-founder and CEO Donnie Beaver as he sat on the exhibit hall floor up to his neck in booth paraphernalia. The company is building a fully operational demo unit for the exhibition hall available starting Wednesday. (Jim plans to take a turn.) The official announcement from the Ben Franklin Center:

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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | TerrAqua Resource Mgmt | Washington County | Wastewater

TerrAqua a Half Step Closer to New Frack Wastewater Facility
September 25, 2013September 25, 2013

TerrAqua Resource Management wants to build a new frack wastewater recycling/treatment plant in Smith Township, Washington County, PA (see Hearing on Proposed TerrAqua Wastewater Recycling Facility in PA). A public hearing was held Monday night, which moves TerrAqua one step closer to gaining permission.

However, the Smith Township public hearing was not without its bumps for TerrAqua…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

JLCNY Asks Why Actors Couldn’t Keep Fracking Out of CA
September 25, 2013September 25, 2013

As MDN noted on Monday, California now has new fracking regulations signed into law by none other than Jerry “Moonbeam” Brown (see CA Gov. Jerry Brown Signs Bill into Law to Allow Fracking).

The Joint Landowners Coalition of New York (JLCNY) also noticed the CA vote and points out the irony of Hollywood actors who preen in New York State who claim that so far they’ve defeated fracking here, but who apparently couldn’t keep fracking from happening in their own state…
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Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Lease & Royalty Payments | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

Lawyers Say Don’t Ignore Chesapeake’s PA Lawsuit Settlement Letter
September 24, 2013September 23, 2013

Chesapeake Energy recently settled a lawsuit with Pennsylvania landowners in which they agree to pay (a pitifully small) $7.5 million to landowners after shorting them on royalty payments (see Chesapeake Settles PA Royalty Lawsuit for Pittance: $7.5M). The National Association of Royalty Owners Pennsylvania chapter is telling landowners to pay “very close attention” to the settlement letter when it comes.

The settlement letter may have much broader implications than just getting a check for a few bucks from Chesapeake. It may set the rules for how your future royalties will be calculated…
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Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

PA Electric Generation Plant Will Get its Own Marcellus Well
September 24, 2013September 23, 2013

GEI Global Energy Corp announced yesterday they have signed a letter of intent (LOI) with Owl Eco Group to build a 100 megawatt electric generation plant in western Pennsylvania that runs on Marcellus Shale gas.

Not only will this be a massive project taking several years and costing $470 million to build, but GEI says the plan calls for the power plant to get its very own Marcellus Shale well drilled to supply it. Smart…
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Air Quality | Industrywide Issues | Regulation

New EPA Carbon Regulations Killing Coal & Our Country
September 24, 2013September 23, 2013

Once again the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proven it’s a rogue, out-of-control agency that needs to be reigned in–now. The EPA has just issued new emissions standards for power plants that will result in massive closures of coal-fired power plants (any volunteers for rolling brownouts?). What’s the big boogeyman they so desperately need to control? Carbon dioxide–the stuff you exhale with each breath. The flatulence that comes from the back-ends of every living mammal. The excuse the rogue EPA is using to “regulate” something that’s not a pollutant? The man-made global warming fairy tale–even though recent scientific evidence proves global warming isn’t happening and hasn’t been for the past 15 years! See Warming whoops: Scientists debate the falling rate of rising temperatures.

Enough is enough. Hopefully the Republicans in Congress will have the spine to stop this lunacy before it progresses any further…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Research | Statewide NY

Ingraffea to Defend the Indefensible: His Own Flawed “Research”
September 24, 2013September 23, 2013

Prof. Tony Ingraffea of Cornell University continues to embarrass his employer. A new study by the University of Texas and the Environmental Research Council was released last week that (gasp!) used actual science–you know, out in the field measurements–instead of fanciful theories like Tony uses (see New Study Final Nail in Coffin of Inflated Fugitive Methane Claims). The real science in this new study completely, utterly refutes the guesswork of Ingraffea and his cohort in less-than-rigorous research, Robert Howarth.

So what does Tony do? He heads back on the lecture circuit with his best-ever dog and pony to try and convince people his guesses really are better than actual scientific measurements. He may also try to sell you a bridge while he’s at it…
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About MDN | Industrywide Issues | MDN Resources | Research

ShaleNavigator Service Adds 10K Acres to Available Property Layer
September 24, 2013September 23, 2013

MDN is happy to give a high-five and shout-out to our Marcellus and Utica Shale Databook co-editor Ed Camp and his excellent ShaleNavigator online shale mapping service. Not long ago Ed added an “Available Property” map layer to the ShaleNavigator service which shows acreage available for leasing. The great thing about ShaleNavigator? You can add other layers, like pipelines, wells permitted/drilled, etc. Add all of those layers together with the Available Property layer–now you’re talking! Is this acreage near other leased acreage? Close to wells already being drilled? Pipelines in the area? Using ShaleNavigator’s Available Property and other layers together is like going from monochrome to full color.

The “new news” from Ed is that he’s just added another 10,000 acres to the Available Property layer. ShaleNavigator is a great service for individual landowners, landowner groups, drillers, midstreamers, landmen–anyone connected to the shale drilling industry in the Marcellus/Utica region. Today’s press release from our friend Ed:
Read More “ShaleNavigator Service Adds 10K Acres to Available Property Layer”
Accidents | Blue Racer Midstream | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Marshall County | Processing Plants | West Virginia

Explosion/Fire at Blue Racer’s Natrium, WV Processing Plant
September 23, 2013September 23, 2013

An explosion and fire was reported at Blue Racer Midstream’s Natrium, WV natural gas processing plant early Saturday morning. Area residents, some of whom were evacuated for several hours, reported an explosion that rattled homes miles away and the night sky lit up with an orange hue.

Fortunately no one was injured in the blast and the fire, which was “isolated to a small area of the plant” burned itself out. No word yet on what caused the explosion and fire…
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American Water Management | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Trumbull County | Wastewater

New OH Injection Well to be Drilled <8 Miles from Earthquake Site
September 23, 2013September 23, 2013

American Water Management Services (of Howland, OH) is certainly braver than we are. In the “new couple months” the company plans to drill a new frack wastewater injection well in Weathersfield, OH. Where is Weathersfield? Close to (under 8 miles away from) the now shuttered injection well operated by D&L Energy–the well that caused earthquakes in the Youngstown, OH area in December 2011 (see ODNR Finds Youngstown Injection Well Caused Earthquakes).

Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) says the new injection well targets a different rock formation than the D&L well that caused the earthquakes around Youngstown. The ODNR has installed seismic monitoring equipment and is watching this new well very closely to ensure there are no tremors being caused. Still, you KNOW if there’s the least little tremor around Youngstown from now until eternity, everyone will blame this new well even if it’s not the cause…
Read More “New OH Injection Well to be Drilled <8 Miles from Earthquake Site”
Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

Vertical/Shallow Gas Wells in PA Try Going Horizontal
September 23, 2013September 23, 2013

A fascinating story in Sunday’s Pittsburgh Post-Gazette about a developing trend in Pennsylvania’s gas (and oil) fields–the trend of smaller drillers and even some larger drillers who are now targeting shallow rock layers with horizontal drilling. Vertical or conventional natural gas drilling produces a lot less gas than deeper unconventional/horizontal drilling. A LOT less. So how can “mom and pop” vertical drillers compete against the big boys? By going horizontal too.

Seems that some vertical drillers are giving horizontal drilling in their existing vertical wells a try. Instead of drilling down 5,000 feet to the Marcellus, they’re drilling down only 2,000 feet before turning the bit horizontal. The rock layers they’re targeting won’t be anywhere near as productive as the Marcellus–but hey, if you can goose production by 5-10X that of a traditional vertical-only well, it’s very profitable for a tiny fraction of the cost it takes to drill a Marcellus well. Thing is, we won’t know just how productive (or profitable) until next year because these shallower wells only self-report annually…
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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

CA Gov. Jerry Brown Signs Bill into Law to Allow Fracking
September 23, 2013September 23, 2013

Last Friday, California Gov. Jerry “Moonbeam” Brown signed Senate Bill 4 into law–a new law that allows fracking in the state. In less than a year California took up the fracking issue, investigated it, debated it, crafted new regulations, and passed it–with Democrats in charge. Credit where credit is due, so our hat is off to them.

New York’s fracking moratorium (and debate) is 5 years 2 months old as of today. We believe California’s actions (and the following article) speaks for itself. However, just so we’re clear on our reason for highlighting the California vote last Friday: New York is broken. Whose fault is it? The person sitting in the governor’s mansion…
Read More “CA Gov. Jerry Brown Signs Bill into Law to Allow Fracking”
Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | TerrAqua Resource Mgmt | Washington County | Wastewater

Hearing on Proposed TerrAqua Wastewater Recycling Facility in PA
September 23, 2013September 23, 2013

A potential new frack wastewater recycling/treatment plant is on the way in Washington County, PA. If it can get zoning approval from Smith Township. TerrAqua Resource Management has applied for a zoning variance that would it allow it to build a Marcellus Shale wastewater fluid recycling facility near the village of Bulger. The original application was turned down by Smith, but TerrAqua refiled for the variance.

No one (from TerrAqua nor the town) is talking about this new request ahead of a public hearing tonight…
Read More “Hearing on Proposed TerrAqua Wastewater Recycling Facility in PA”
Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Statewide WV | West Virginia

What’s the Average Weekly Salary for WV’s Marcellus Workers?
September 23, 2013September 23, 2013

An article from West Virginia does an excellent job of summarizing the wages of the average gas field worker employed during the drilling/extraction phase. WorkForce West Virginia tracks how many workers are employed full-time in various counties in WV in the gas & oil business. If you average it out, workers (mostly manual laborers) are making anywhere from an average $537 per week (in Roane County) to $1,430 per week (in Doddridge County). Guess which county we’d rather be working in?

Here’s a county by county rundown:
Read More “What’s the Average Weekly Salary for WV’s Marcellus Workers?”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Marshall County | Ohio County | Wastewater | West Virginia

The Wheeling Water Warriors Live! Rumored Sighting Today…
September 23, 2013September 23, 2013

We’re glad to see that a complete and utter defeat hasn’t dampened the spirits of the anti-drilling Wheeling Water Warriors (cue echo, Water Warriors, Warriors…). You may recall that a half dozen or so people calling themselves that silly name opposed a new GreenHunter Water frack wastewater recycling facility due to be set up along the Ohio River in Wheeling, WV. The facility recently won approval from the Wheeling Planning Commission (see Wheeling, WV Approves GreenHunter Frack Wastewater Facility). You would think the Water Warriors would throw in the towel after a crushing defeat. Alas, you would be wrong…
Read More “The Wheeling Water Warriors Live! Rumored Sighting Today…”