Industrywide Issues

Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Regulation

Feds Win Court Case for Pipeline Agency to Inspect NGL Plants
April 29, 2013April 29, 2013

A recent U.S. District Court case has decided that the U.S. Dept. of Transporation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) has the right not only to inspect pipelines, but also natural gas liquids (NGL) plants as well. ONEOK Partners argued that PHMSA does not have the right to inspect the pipes and equipment inside NGL plant boundaries at its facility in Bushton, Kansas. However, the District Court said “yes they do.” And so just like that, a new law is born (forget about going through proper legislative channels) and the feds now have the right to inspect NGL plants when they want to…

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Industrywide Issues | Regulation | Research

Obama Slashes EIA Budget, Nixes Annual Energy Review
April 29, 2013April 29, 2013

The Obama administration, in a juvenile, punitive exercise to punish as many Americans as possible to make a political point about the recent budget sequestration vote to reduce the rate of increase in federal spending by 2%, continues to select key agencies like the Transportation Safety Administration (TSA) and now the Energy Information Administration (EIA) to make highly visible, draconian cuts, instead of shaving a dollar or two off the monthly welfare checks for those who refuse to work.

Last week the EIA announced because of budget cuts they will no longer publish their Annual Energy Review and its companion publication, Energy Perspectives—publications they’ve issued for decades. Once again the Obama administration behaves like a petulant child…

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Energy Services | GreenHunter Resources | Industrywide Issues | Utica Shale | Wastewater

GreenHunter Water Sells First "MAG Tank" to Utica Driller
April 29, 2013April 29, 2013

GreenHunter Water is crowing about the sale of its first MAG Tank, a new above-ground storage tank that uses a unique design and is modular, letting drillers add to or subtract from the tank as needed at the drill pad site. The new tank was sold to an unidentified “large independent oil and gas producer” that will use the new tank at a multi-well Utica Shale drill pad site in southeast Ohio. MDN’s guess is that it was sold to either Chesapeake Energy or Gulfport Energy. Increasingly, open pits (so-called “frack ponds”) used to store fracking fluids and brine are being regulated out of existence, which means tanks will be required to replace them. Enter the MAG Tank.

Today’s announcement from GreenHunter:

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA | Taxation

John Hanger’s Proposals for PA Shale Drilling: Tax & Regulate
April 26, 2013April 26, 2013

John Hanger is currently a lawyer in private practice in Harrisburg, but previously served as the Secretary of the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection under then Democrat Gov. Ed Rendell, prior to the Republican Tom Corbett administration. Last year, John Hanger was the featured speaker for MDN’s very first webinar (watch it here: Webinar Replay: John Hanger on Gas Drilling and Energy Choices). John is also running for the Democrat nomination for PA governor, to run against Corbett. He’s a serious guy and although the list of Dems running in PA is long, he stands a good chance of being the nominee. When John talks about shale drilling in the state and what he would do if elected governor, you need to pay attention.

John has just released a list of how he would do things differently to restore “public confidence” in the PA drilling industry, should he be elected the Keystone state’s governor this fall. Top of that list? Implement an expensive severance tax. Next in line? Heavy regulation. We’re not quite sure how taxes inspire so-called lost confidence—other than the sleazy aspect of buying off people who didn’t earn it (primarily politicians). As for regulation, air pollution seems to be at the top of his agenda. He also wants to ban drilling in all state parks. Here’s exactly what John says he’ll do if elected:

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Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Lenape Resources | Litigation | Livingston County | New York | Regulation

Lenape Appeals Ruling, Seeks to Overturn Frack Ban in Avon, NY
April 26, 2013April 26, 2013

Lenape Resources Inc., a small independent oil and gas company located in western NY, and its president John Holko, have “guts.” The Town of Avon, NY (Livingston County) where Lenape has a good portion of its operations voted last year to ban fracking. The poorly written law violates existing New York State law which says towns can’t regulate oil and gas drilling. It also was so broadly written it affects conventional/vertical drilling as well as unconventional/horizontal drilling. Lenape has used vertical fracking in Avon for decades (for background, see Fracking Ban in NY Town Closes Conventional Wells Too). Lenape shut down operations in Avon and sued to have the ban overturned.

Unfortunately, in March an “acting” judge in a lower court decision (misleadingly and quirkily called “Supreme” Court in NY) supported Avon’s illegal law (see Third NY Town Wins Court Approval to Ban Fracking). Lenape has received overwhelming support from the oil and gas industry and landowners, so they’ve decided to appeal the lower court ruling to the next level up in an effort to resolve this mess for all drillers in NY:

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Air Quality | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Regulation

New Federal Effort to Regulate Shale Drilling via NETL & NIOSH
April 26, 2013April 26, 2013

The feds are once again sniffing around shale gas drilling done in the individual states with an eye toward regulating it. This latest effort does not come from the EPA, which is on its own mission to regulate shale drilling via the Clean Air and Clean Water Acts, nor does it come from the Dept. of Interior with onerous new rules for fracking on federal lands. This effort comes from the Dept. of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH). The two agencies have signed a “memorandum of understanding” (MOU) to “identify and monitor the potential impact of shale gas production on air quality and [mythical] greenhouse gas emissions.”

Sprinkle in important sounding phrases like “science-based,” “core competencies,” and “human health,” pull in an alphabet soup of other agencies like DOI and EPA, and voilà: A brand new way is born to regulate oil and gas drilling by the feds…

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

JLCNY Provides Extensive Update on NY "Takings" Lawsuit
April 26, 2013April 26, 2013

The Joint Landowners Coalition of New York (JLCNY) recently issued an update on the status of their lawsuit against New York State for “takings,” the legal concept that New York has now entered the status of denying landowners the rightful use of their land with its ongoing moratorium on hydraulic fracturing, and so, under the U.S. Constitution, the state must reimburse them. The lawsuit update is embedded below. The short version? The JLCNY needs more money before it can file the lawsuit…

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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Centre County | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania

State College, PA Mayor Wants City to Dump Fossil Fuel Investments
April 26, 2013April 26, 2013

Long-time readers of MDN know that our theory of the real reason anti-drillers are against fracking and shale drilling is not because of concerns over water contamination and the list of other pretend excuses they spin, but because of their twisted views that all fossil fuels are somehow “evil.” However, that theory bears repeating from time to time for new readers, and to remind people of the fight we face against those who are unreasonable and militant in their opposition to clean-burning natural gas. The latest example comes from the wacky mayor of State College, PA, Elizabeth Goreham, who along with a few other small town mayors, is “urging” municipalities to “divest from fossil fuel companies.”

State College sits in the middle of abundant, cheap Marcellus Shale gas. Perhaps drillers and utility companies should just shut off the natural gas spigot to State College? Maybe they’d rather just burn coal or wood? Yeah, now that would be real environmentally friendly, wouldn’t it? Here’s the latest rant by the irrational and obtuse anti-drilling movement:

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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Chemung County | Industrywide Issues | New York | Steuben County | Tompkins County

Weekend Anti-Gas Propaganda-fest Scheduled for Upstate NY Towns
April 26, 2013April 26, 2013

An all-hands-on-deck anti-drilling propaganda-fest will be held this weekend in Bath, Spencer and Elmira (all in NY state). The so-called “Fracking vs. Human Health Forums” will feature lies and distortions carefully crafted to scare the general public. If you’re a landowner who lives in those areas, attend and make your voice heard to counter the untruths that will be presented.

The details on times and locations:

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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Maryland | Regulation | Statewide MD

Food & Water Watch Tells MD Gov "Not so Fast" on Fracking
April 26, 2013April 26, 2013

The odious anti-drilling group Food & Water Watch (FWW) sent a letter yesterday to Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley expressing “serious concerns” that O’Malley’s Marcellus Shale Advisory Commission’s draft report, while issuing warnings about fracking, seems to be resigned that fracking in Maryland is “inevitable” and therefore should be regulated. That doesn’t sit well with far-out groups like FWW, Josh Fox and a small list of other anti-drillers.

The statement (and letter) issued by FWW:

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Industrywide Issues | NG Vehicles

Have We Reached the Tipping Point for LNG Trucks?
April 26, 2013April 26, 2013

Yesterday MDN brought you the announcement from UPS that they have just committed to adding an additional 700 new LNG tractor trailers to their current fleet of 112 LNG tractors (see UPS to Grow NG Fleet with Additional 700 LNG Tractor Trailers). An article by the New York Times assembles all of the strings that provides in evidence, to MDN, that we may well have just reached a “tipping point” where natural gas vehicles, at least for trucking fleets, and will now start to rapidly expand. What are those strings?…

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Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Susquehanna County

Big News: PA Supreme Court Decides Shale Mineral Rights Case
April 25, 2013April 25, 2013

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has just ruled on a case with huge consequences for the natural gas drilling industry in the state. We won’t keep you in suspense: the ruling is favorable to the drilling industry.

In Butler v Powers, the Supreme Court justices took up the issue of whether or not natural gas rights should be part of the broader concept of “mineral rights” in PA. In most states when a deed or lease agreement is signed for mineral rights it includes natural gas as well, on the theory that the gas comes from a mineral—shale rock. But that has not been the case in PA. Going all the way back to a case in 1882, PA has had “the Dunham rule” which separates natural gas rights from the broader concept of mineral rights (for background on the Dunham rule, see the MDN article PA Supreme Court Hears Arguments in Critical O&G Case).

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Regulation

FracFocus Responds to Flawed Harvard Study + MDN has a Question
April 25, 2013April 25, 2013

Earlier this week Harvard Law School released a so-called study saying the independent FracFocus hydraulic fracturing chemical registry falls short and the federal government should step in to enforce reporting by drillers (see Harvard Law School Says FracFocus “Fails” as Compliance Tool).

The two organizations behind FracFocus, the Ground Water Protection Council and the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission have responded to the charges leveled by Harvard. FracFocus points out Harvard never even talked to them or asked to see the inner workings of the organization and how it operates—so how in the world can Harvard come to the conclusions they did? MDN knows: Lefty bias—how else? Who needs facts when your own anti-drilling opinions will do just fine? Here’s the detailed response from FracFocus utterly refutes and humiliates the “study” from Harvard:

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

NY Consulting Company Successfully Repels Smear-job by NYPIRG
April 25, 2013April 25, 2013

An attempted smearing of the independent consulting company Ecology and Environment, Inc. by Gannett and anti-drilling groups like NYPIRG has not worked. In 2011 E & E authored a study for the state Dept. of Environmental Conservation on the economic benefits of shale drilling and fracking. Earlier this week the Independent Oil & Gas Association of New York (IOGA of NY) sent a letter to Gov. Cuomo telling him his indecision is killing all drilling in the state (see IOGA of NY to Cuomo: Your Indecision is Killing ALL NY Drilling). One of the 200 signatories of the letter was E & E, which Gannett and NYPIRG trumpeted as proof the study was not impartial and that the entire set of draft regulations it’s a part of should be scrapped (see NYPIRG calls on Cuomo to rescind fracking review).

Not so fast, says E & E. They are not members of IOGA of NY and only paid membership dues for one of their employees so that person could monitor the meetings and publications of IOGA of NY, according to a letter they sent to the DEC (letter embedded below). What will anti-drillers use now to try and discredit the DEC’s work on new rules for fracking? Here’s the story on E & E and IOGA:

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Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Public Opinion | Statewide OH

Opinion Shows Strong Majority Favor Fracking/Drilling in Ohio
April 25, 2013April 25, 2013

In New York, public opinion polling shows the state is largely split on the question of whether or not fracking for natural gas should be done. Over the past few years it’s been pretty close to a 50/50 split—which is what keeps Andy “Ditherer” Cuomo up at night agonizing over his presidential aspirations which have gone “poof” because of the drilling issue.

However, the folks in Ohio don’t have freak shows like Yoko Ono wandering around to inspire angst (and if they did, they would ignore her as should be done). In Ohio, public opinion polling shows a strong 2/3 majority favor fracking and drilling…

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Commodity Price | Exporting | Industrywide Issues | Statewide WV | West Virginia

WVU Spring NatGas Conference: $4-$6 Gas for Next "Decade or More"
April 25, 2013April 25, 2013

Several interesting speakers addressed the spring natural gas conference held by West Virginia University in Morgantown on Wednesday. Among them was keynote speaker David McCurdy, president and CEO of the American Gas Association. He told attendees he believes natural gas will stay in the $4-$6 per Mcf range “for a decade or more.”

Dominion Resources was also on hand, talking about their plan to export natural gas to Japan and India from Cove Point, MD. Highlights:

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