Industrywide Issues

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

NY Politicians Renew Request for Longer Fracking Comment Period
January 8, 2013January 8, 2013

Different day, same old broken tune from Mayors Matt Ryan (Binghamton), Sue Skidmore (Elmira) and an assortment of lefty elected officials, holding offices from mayor to dog catcher, who want to ban fracking.

Yesterday the group Elected Officials to Protect New York (see their website so you know whom to vote against in the next election) issued yet another tiresome nag request at a press conference in Binghamton to Gov. Andrew Cuomo asking him to extend the public comment period on the latest minor revisions to proposed fracking rules from 30 days to 90 days, knowing full well that if he does, it will kill fracking in New York. Thankfully the governor is ignoring the group.

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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | New York | Pipelines | Statewide NY | Transco | Williams

Williams Files with FERC for New Access Point to NYC from Transco Pipeline
January 8, 2013

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has said it’s critical that NYC get more supplies of shale gas—in the near future. New York has new rules going into effect starting in 2015 that will ban certain types of fuel oil, which means all of those apartment buildings will need to be heated with an alternative, and windmills won’t do the job (see Why Mayor Mike Bloomberg Suddenly Loves Fracking).

Williams Partners yesterday filed an application with FERC to provide a new delivery point from their Transco pipeline to provide additional natural gas to NYC—but it involves constructing a new 3.2-mile pipeline (mostly offshore) to make it happen. Welcome to the next flashpoint in the anti-fracking wars…

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Maryland | Regulation | Statewide MD

MD Commission Finally Makes Recommendations on Shale Drilling
January 8, 2013January 8, 2013

The Maryland Marcellus Shale Advisory Commission, appointed by MD Gov. Martin O’Malley in 2011 to study natural gas drilling and produce a set of best practices for hydraulic fracturing has finally made a series of recommendations for how to regulate shale gas drilling in the state. It took the Commission 15 months to cast their first vote (see MD Fracking Commission Casts First Vote – in 15 Months!), so let’s just say the Commission isn’t setting any speed records for activity.

The recommendations agreed to today are a first pass and leave out some key provisions. The recommendations, such as they are, will be forwarded to the Maryland state legislature which meets for 90 days each year starting in January.

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Air Quality | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues

John Hanger: How the U.S. Cut Carbon Emissions 12% in 5 Years
January 8, 2013January 8, 2013

John Hanger, former Secretary of the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP), candidate for the Democrat nomination to run as governor in PA, and MDN’s very first webinar guest (see Webinar Replay: John Hanger on Gas Drilling and Energy Choices), posted his Top Energy Fact of 2012 last Friday on his “Facts of the Day” blog site. And what might his top fact be for all of 2012? The United States has cut carbon emissions from 2007 to 2012 by 12%—while at the same time growing its economy and using more energy.

How is such an incredible feat possible? Glad you asked. John has the answer: shale gas and the miracle of hydraulic fracturing.

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues

MDN Goes to the ‘Promised Land’
January 7, 2013January 7, 2013

MDN decided to “take one for the team” and attend Promised Land, the new anti-fracking movie by Matt Damon and Gus Van Sant, this past weekend. Prior to attending, MDN had read a number of reviews from both pro- and anti-fracking writers. Almost all of those reviews said the same thing—this movie was no China Syndrome for the fracking movement. That is, Promised Land will not be a watershed movie that wins the hearts and minds of average Americans, turning them against fracking (see Anti-Drillers Disappointed with Promised Land).

We have to agree with that assessment. However, we’ll be more charitable than many anti-fracking critics by saying overall, we thought it was a decent flick, as movies go. But then, we like sentimental “the good guy wins” kinds of movies.

Spoiler Warning: This review gives it all up. If you haven’t seen the movie yet and plan to go, don’t read this review just yet. Go and see the movie, then come back and read this review. So let’s get down to it…

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

NY DEC Com. Joe Martens Sends Letter to NY Landowner Group
January 7, 2013January 7, 2013

Dan Fitzsimmons, president of the Joint Landowners Coalition of New York (JLCNY), received a letter from NY Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Commissioner Joe Martens last week (see a copy embedded below). It seems Gov. Andrew Cuomo personally asked Martens to respond, in writing, to the JLCNY’s concerns about the latest delay in the release of new fracking regulations—the delay to allow for a public health review. The latest number on the NY moratorium clock (on the right) shows New York’s ban on high volume hydraulic fracturing is 4 years, 5 months and 15 days old—so far. The patience of New York’s landowners is wearing thin.

According to the letter, Gov. Cuomo and Martens want the JLCNY to know, well, nothing new that we don’t already know! It’s the gesture itself that’s important—the fact that Cuomo and Martens took the time to write. Martens’ gesture in sending the letter gives the JLCNY reason to be “cautiously optimistic that the DEC will soon complete the SGEIS and regulations,” according to an email MDN received from Fitzsimmons.

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Dominion Energy | Energy Services | Exporting | Industrywide Issues | Maryland | Statewide MD

Dominion Wins Case, New Cove Point LNG Export Facility Proceeds
January 7, 2013January 7, 2013

A court battle that started in early 2012 has a happy conclusion for energy giant Dominion. More than a year ago, Dominion filed for a permit to liquefy natural gas and export it from their facility at Cove Point, Maryland—60 miles southeast of Washington, D.C. Dominion has Japanese customers ready and waiting to buy natural gas from the U.S. But a 1970s legal settlement granted the Sierra Club with the power to reject significant changes to the facility. True to character, the Sierra Club objected in April (see Sierra Club Will Try to Block Maryland LNG Export Terminal).

On Friday, a Maryland judge ruled in favor of Dominion, which means Dominion can now proceed with their plans to invest up to $3.5 billion in the facility (an regional economic tsunami) to get it ready to export Marcellus Shale LNG from Cove Point.

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Industrywide Issues | Landfills | Ohio | Stark County

Concerns about Radioactive Drill Cuttings in OH Landfill
January 7, 2013January 7, 2013

A controversy is brewing in Stark County where a private landfill wants to build a 12-mile pipeline to carry landfill liquids (called leachate) to the Canton municipal sewage treatment plant for treatment and disposal into the Nimishillen Creek, which in turn runs into the Tuscarawas River. The “problem” is that the landfill accepts Utica Shale drill cuttings—leftover mud, rock and dirt from drilling operations.

One Stark County official, Councilwoman-at-large Mary Cirelli, is concerned the drill cuttings at the landfill will create leachate with high levels of radioactivity and if treated at the Canton sewage plant, it will contaminate the Tuscarawas River. Similar scenarios with concerns over radioactive drill cuttings has played out in Marcellus Shale locations as well (see this MDN story). Those locations, which now accept drill cuttings, have no reported instances of radioactive leachate.

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Industrywide Issues | Jefferson County (OH) | Jobs | Ohio | Regulation

Jefferson County, OH Forces Shale Companies to Use Union Labor
January 7, 2013January 7, 2013

From now on, Jefferson County, OH commissioners will force companies drilling Utica Shale wells in the county or companies building natural gas pipelines in the county that need to construct or repair public roadways, to use higher-priced laborers. Jefferson County commissioners are bowing to pressure from the Laborers International Union.

New road use agreements, which are required for constructing new wells and pipelines, must have a “prevailing wage requirement” according to the Jefferson County engineer, who says it’s a mandate from the state Attorney General’s office:

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Research | Statewide PA

EPA to Release Fracking Study Water Test Results in Few Weeks
January 7, 2013January 7, 2013

A few weeks ago the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a “progress report” on their multi-year study of hydraulic fracturing and it’s potential impact on water supplies (see EPA’s Fracking Study Progress Report – Dec 2012).

Last week, during an online presentation, an EPA official said the water test sample results/data they’ve gathered to date, including results from testing done in Pennsylvania, will be released “a number of weeks from now”:

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Broome County | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation

Town of Chenango, NY Rejects Fracking Ban in Close Vote
January 4, 2013January 4, 2013

In a major victory for landowners in the Town of Chenango (Broome County), NY, the town board voted 3-2 Wednesday night to reject a moratorium on shale gas drilling and fracking. If it had passed, it would have been the first township in the Southern Tier area of New York, an area thought to hold major quantities of Marcellus and Utica Shale gas, to do so.

One of the main reasons board members voted to reject the moratorium? They didn’t want to pay for expensive lawsuits which were sure to follow a vote to ban:

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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Chenango County | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation

Oxford, NY Moves Closer to a Moratorium (and Lawsuit) on Drilling
January 4, 2013January 4, 2013

It seems the Village of Oxford (Chenango County), NY is still flirting around with Park Foundation funded “pro bono” attorney David Slottje—who’s trying his hardest to get Oxford (in a prime Marcellus/Utica drilling location) to introduce language into their zoning ordinances that would result in a de facto moratorium on fracking and natural gas drilling. Slottje and the Village Planning Board were at it again last weekend in a Saturday meeting.

Wednesday night the village board voted to move forward with another public hearing (later this month) before adopting new zoning language which would, in clear violation of current New York State law, slap tight restrictions and prohibitions on natural gas drilling and related activities:

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

NY 2012 Fracking Health Assessment Continues to Reverberate
January 4, 2013

Yesterday’s revelation that early last year the NY State Health Department and the NY Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DEC) had drawn up a draft 8-page assessment which said fracking is safe for public health in New York continues to reverberate around the state.

There were predictable reactions from both sides of the debate, jockeying to frame the drilling issue before a final final final public health impact review is released sometime later this month (or in February)…

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Air Quality | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA DEP to Release Marcellus Drilling Air Emissions Data Soon
January 4, 2013January 4, 2013

In the next few weeks, data on air emissions from Marcellus Shale drilling operations will be made public via the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) website. The data, required by the federal Environmental Protection Agency, has sparked a new idea at the PA DEP.

The DEP intends to also require emissions filings from compressor plants on conventional (non-shale) gas pipelines starting in March…

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Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Williams

NC Utility Signs Deal with Cabot for PA Marcellus Gas
January 4, 2013January 4, 2013

Piedmont Natural Gas, a natural gas utility based in North Carolina, has just signed a 15-year contract with Cabot Oil & Gas to buy a “meaningful portion” of its natural gas supplies from the Pennsylvania Marcellus Shale starting in 2015.

Although the details of the agreement are confidential, Piedmont’s CEO did share the following on an investor’s call yesterday:

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Economic Impact | Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

NJ Electric Generating Plant Powered by PA Marcellus Gas
January 4, 2013January 4, 2013

Although New Jersey seems hell-bent on opposing pipelines for low-cost Marcellus Shale gas (and would never tolerate fracking of their pristine soil), the state continues to benefit from Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale. The latest example is a brand new electrical generating plant currently being built in West Deptford Township. The new 738 megawatt plant will go online in 2014 and will be powered by—yep—PA Marcellus Shale gas, generating low-cost electricity for the residents of New Jersey. Can anyone say “hypocrites?”

An announcement from the company that will supply the new plant with low-cost Marcellus Shale gas to power it for the next 15 years:

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