Dr. Terry Engelder, geologist and professor at Penn State University, is one of two men who first calculated and publicized the enormous potential Read More “Prof Terry Engelder: Marcellus Rock Star”
Bloomberg news service has published a yellow journalism hit piece about NY State Senator Tom Libous (Republican from Binghamton) Read More “Bloomberg Hit Piece on Pro-Fracking NY State Senator”
Unlike the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC), the Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC) refuses to be pushed around by mouthy anti-drillers. Read More “SRBC Tells Anti-Drillers “We’ll Stay in Our Lane” on Water Study”
The Nexus Gas Transmission line keeps popping up in the news. Read More “Nexus Pipeline May Also Run Through Lorain & Medina Counties, OH”
The Millennium Pipeline, an interstate natural gas pipeline that spans most of New York State running from Corning to Rockland County, is expanding Read More “The Irony: Millennium Pipeline Expanding in NY for More Shale Gas”
Seismic testing is coming very soon “across Fayette County [PA]” by a company hired by Chevron as they prepare to drill. Read More “Chevron to Drill in Fayette County, PA – Seismic Testing First”
Sometimes the government has trouble filing paperwork for itself on time–we all know how that feels! Last year the state of Pennsylvania passed some of the most Read More “Some PA Towns Fail to File Impact Fee Paperwork with State”
Are you a landowner with an old, abandoned railroad bed running across your property? You might want to check your deed very closely, especially if you’ve signed a gas lease for “your” property.
What you thought was your property may not be your property when it comes to large sums of lease and royalty payments, as some landowners in Susquehanna County, PA are learning the hard way…
Read More “Landowners: Watch Out for Old RR Easements – You May Owe Them $”
The schizophrenic behavior of Cecil, PA town supervisors… Earlier this week Cecil town supervisors voted to have a closed door meeting with Range Resources to assess the “relationship” between the company and the town (see When We Get Behind Closed Doors…Range Resources & Cecil Twp). It looked to MDN like perhaps, just perhaps, the supervisors were making an attempt to patch things up. Range has them in court, after all.
But maybe not. We now learn that at the same meeting, the same supervisors want to shut down a local Range water impoundment:
Read More “Cecil, PA Supervisors Want Better Relations with Range, but…”
We’ve heard for months now that the Dept. of Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is really really close to releasing their new “rules for fracking on federal lands” (see New Interior Secretary Jewell Says BLM Fracking Rules Coming Soon). These are the same rules that Barack Obama would like to see used as a model for the states to use on non-public lands too (see Feds ‘Hope’ States will Use BLM Rules for ALL Fracking).
Must be this time the new rule release really is close, because Congress is held a hearing yesterday and the new rules, still unreleased, are receiving fire from both Republicans and Democrats…
Read More “BLM Rules for Fracking on Federal Land Criticized in DC”
Yesterday was D-Day, Decision-Day in the City of Youngstown, Ohio. Would the citizens of the city vote to commit economic suicide by adopting an amendment to the city’s charter that would not only ban fracking in the city, but also ban just about any activity related to shale drilling? A group of anti-fracking zealots, aided and abetted by Democrat city council members, were pushing for just that (see Youngstown, OH to Commit Utica Suicide with Vote to Ban Drilling).
Good news: Wiser heads have prevailed in Youngstown. Rational-thinking people voted down the ban by a vote of 57% to 43%. Closer than we’d like to see, but a convincing win nonetheless:
Read More “Youngstown, OH Votes Down Fracking Ban Amendment”
For the second year running, the Ben Franklin Technology Partners’ Shale Gas Innovation & Commercialization Center selects three winners from a field of 12 entrants to award a $25,000 prize in its Shale Gas Innovation Contest–a contest that recognizes startups and small businesses and gives them visibility and encouragement for their efforts.
MDN previously highlighted this year’s entrants, particularly because we’re acquainted with one of them (see REV LNG, 11 Others Finalists in Shale Gas Innovation Contest for the entire list of this year’s entrants). We won’t keep you waiting any longer. The envelope please! This year’s three winners are…
Read More “Envelope Please: Winners of Shale Gas Innovation Contest are…”
Sometimes anti-drillers become unhinged and behave very badly. Case in point: Susquehanna County’s most famous anti-driller Vera Scroggins, who used her potty mouth on FrackNation filmmaker Phelim McAleer in January when Phelim tagged along to ask Yoko Ono and Susan Sarandon about fracking when they came to Susquehanna County (in a Mercedes bus) to promote Artists Against Fracking. Scroggins didn’t like McAleer posing tough questions to the goddesses she worships, so she made it her mission to use every foul word and anti-Irish, prejudiced comment she could think of to insult McAleer, making a video of it and posting it on Youtube (see “The Final Ploy of the Desperate” Natural Gas Opponents).
You can appreciate that the normally patient folks of rural Susquehanna County grow tired of Vera’s antics. At a recent county commissioners meeting, a Susquehanna County official had had enough of Vera’s tiresome antics and actually called her “stupid” before the assembled audience. Cool! Wish we had been there to video it and put it on Youtube. Here is what prompted the outburst:
Read More “PA County Official Calls Local Anti-Driller “Stupid” at Meeting”
There’s certainly no love lost between Range Resources and the supervisors of Cecil Township in Washington County, PA. Range has repeatedly requested the supervisors consider granting a conditional use permit to drill a new well, the supervisors say Range has not provided “full information” on the application, and the whole matter eventually ended up in court–before a judge whose wife is anti-drilling (see Court Fight: Range Resources v Robinson, PA Twp).
But what’s this…are Cecil officials finally willing to call a truce? The supervisors voted on Monday night to schedule a private “behind closed doors” meeting with Range to “discuss their relationship.” Sounds more like marriage counseling than governing to us, but hey, if getting behind closed doors is what it takes…
Read More “When We Get Behind Closed Doors…Range Resources & Cecil Twp”
Even though New York State is an economic and jobs-creating disaster area with no prospect of shale drilling to lift it from the economic basement any time soon, some New York-based companies are still profiting from the shale boom–that is the shale boom happening across the border in Pennsylvania. One such company is R3 Fusion, Inc. in Troy, NY. R3 makes technology that recycles fracking wastewater for reuse, and they’ve just sold an installation of their technology to Hydro Recovery in Blossburg, PA.
The R3 announcement:
Read More “NY Company Sells Frack Wastewater Technology to PA Site”
The Altoona (PA) Water Authority is hoping to sell water for Marcellus Shale drilling to Chevron for drilling they have planned in the Coupon, PA area. There is no agreement yet, but the signs are there: Chevron is in talks with the City of Altoona to arrange a highway maintenance agreement…
Read More “Altoona, PA Plans to Sell Water to Chevron for Fracking”