The Battelle Memorial Institute is going to give the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (OEPA) and the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) a hand with figuring out which shale gas wastewater treatment technologies will work for Ohio.
Battelle, OEPA and ODNR issued a joint press statement yesterday outlining the collaboration:
Read More “Battelle to Assist OH in IDing Shale Wastewater Technologies”
Piedmont Natural Gas, a natural gas utility with more than one million customers in North and South Carolina and Tennessee, has decided they want a piece of the Marcellus Shale gas action. Piedmont is investing $180 million in the yet-to-be-built Constitution Pipeline that will run from Susquehanna County, PA to Schoharie County, NY. Williams, the company building the new pipeline, and Piedmont collaborate on other projects too. Piedmont is also a customer of Williams’ Transco natural gas pipeline.
Here’s the announcement from Piedmont on why they’ve decided to invest in the Constitution Pipeline project:
Read More “Southern Gas Utility Invests in NE Constitution Pipeline”
Drilling mud manufacturer Anchor Drilling Fluids USA has just opened a new facility in Wellsville, Ohio—the first such facility in Ohio’s Utica Shale region. Anchor sited the plant next to a barite processing plant which they’ve invested in. Barite is one of the compounds used to make drilling mud.
From the press announcement about the new plant opening:
Read More “Drilling Mud Manufacturer Opens Plant in Wellsville, OH”
At a petrochemical industry conference last week in Philadelphia, a senior ExxonMobil executive said shale gas in general, and the Marcellus Shale in particular, is revitalizing the petrochemical industry in this country.
Comments from Lynne Lachenmyer, senior vice president, ExxonMobil Chemical Company:
Read More “ExxonMobil: Shale Gas is Revitalizing U.S. Petrochemical Industry”
Grassroots Environmental Education, a leftist anti-drilling organization in New York State, released a biased report last week that says, in essence, if fracking is allowed in New York, radiation will poison us all for centuries to come. Another week, another faux report issued by a “scientist” with the viewpoint that all fossil fuels are evil. Film at eleven.
(Yes, we grow tired of reporting this claptrap, but you need to know about it because mainstream media is too lazy to evaluate it critically.)
Read More “Yet Another Faux Report on Radiation Danger from NY Fracking”
Duquesne University (Pittsburgh) is hosting a conference on the effects of shale gas drilling in a “Boom and Bust” conference being held today and tomorrow at the university. Although the conference flies under the banner of “science” and will share the results of a “scientific study,” it is any but. It’s about the findings of a so-called study that interviewed 14 hand-picked anti-drilling women about their feelings and attitudes toward drilling. They were interviewed twice each.
So much for scientific inquiry at Duquesne.
Read More “Duquesne U Anti-Drilling “Study” Based on 14 Interviews”
MDN has shared its view—for years—that the federal Environmental Protection Agency under Obama has become a rogue agency, attempting to usurp the U.S. Constitution by taking over regulation of that which belongs to the states. Namely, oil and gas drilling. How? By using the federal Clean Water Act and federal Clean Air Act to control drilling (among a plethora of other federal laws). The EPA’s favored target is and has been hydraulic fracturing.
The EPA is currently conducting a multi-year study on fracking. An interim report will be released in the next month or so, and if a high-ranking EPA official’s comments about it are any indication, the energy industry has reason to be concerned:
Could Ohio (and for that matter West Virginia) still get their own ethane cracker plant? That would be a “yes” according to Cal Dooley, CEO of the American Chemistry Council. He was interviewed last week by Columbus Business First reporter Jeff Bell.
This is what Dooley had to say:
According to Dan Fitzsimmons from the Joint Landowners Coalition of New York (JLCNY), the elections last week produced an excellent result—at least locally in the Southern Tier of New York State. The most visible anti-drillers—candidates running on an anti-drilling platform—went down to defeat.
Here’s the letter sent out by the JLCNY late last week:
Read More “JLCNY Declares Victory over Anti-Drillers in NY Elections”
A sobering and excellent article in the Coshocton Tribune takes a look at how the re-election of Barak H. Obama will negatively impact small businesses and the Utica Shale drilling industry in Ohio. We highly recommend you read the entire article to gain an understanding of the implications for all types of small businesses—businesses that are the economic backbone of our country.
Here’s a small portion of the article that deals with federal impacts on shale gas drilling in Ohio:
Read More “Obama’s Re-election Impact on Ohio’s Utica Shale Drilling”
In May 2012, MDN told you about a new $400 million cryogenic processing plant to be built in Hanoverton (Columbiana County), Ohio by a joint venture between Chesapeake Energy, M3 Midstream and EV Energy Partners (see this MDN story). The plant will collect and process shale gas, separating out natural gas liquids like propane, butane and ethane. In early October we told you construction had begun and the first phase of the new plant is due to come online in May 2013 (see this MDN story).
Last week an official for M3 Midstream, one of the partners in the project, visited the construction site and said things are track to meet the “very aggressive” May 2013 opening date:
Read More “Hanoverton, OH NGL Processing Plant on Track for May 2013”
Here’s a contrary view if ever we’ve seen one: Bill Powers, editor and writer of the Powers Energy Investor newsletter and someone who has sat on the board of three oil and gas companies and has been an active investor for 25 years, says shale gas supplies in the U.S. have been vastly overhyped. Over the past three years Powers researched and next spring will publish a new book called: Cold, Hungry and in the Dark: Exploding the Natural Gas Supply Myth. In the book he argues that contrary to the popular belief that the U.S. has a 100-year supply of natural gas due to shale gas fracking, he believes it’s more on the order of 5-7 years. Say what??
Powers was interviewed by The Energy Report and the interview was posted on the Seeking Alpha website. Here’s a brief excerpt:
Read More “Energy Industry Expert Says Shale Gas Will Last <10 Years”
Not long after Michael Krancer was appointed Secretary of the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection, he “requested” (which was more order than request) that municipal sewage treatment plants still accepting and processing Marcellus drilling wastewater stop the practice. At the time there were 15 plants accepting Marcellus wastewater. Under pressure from Krancer, they ended the practice in May of last year (see this MDN story).
The reason Krancer wanted the practice to end was because the plants were discharging wastewater with high concentrations of bromides which, when combined with chlorine, can produce harmful compounds. It looks like Krancer’s directive has worked. Bromide levels in the Monongahela River have come down:
Read More “Marcellus Wastewater Ban Leads to Lower Bromide in PA Rivers”
Broadview Heights, OH (Cuyahoga County) voters passed a measure on Tuesday that bans any further oil and gas drilling in the city limits. There are currently 90 oil and gas wells drilled in Broadview Heights. Problem is, the new measure, which becomes part of the city’s charter, is in violation of Ohio law which states only the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR)can regulate oil and gas drilling.
It’s another “home rule” lawsuit in the making…
Read More “OH City Bans Drilling in City Limits – Legality Questioned”
ESI Enviro wants to build a new $5 million Utica and Marcellus Shale wastewater treatment facility in Campbell, Ohio, along the Mahoning River. The mayor of Campbell, Bill Vansuch, is in favor it. The city has been under water financially (in receivership) since 2004 and the revenue from the plant would be a big boost in revenue for the city.
Here’s the details:
Read More “New Shale Wastewater Plant Planned for Mahoning County”
South Avis, in Clinton County, PA, will get a new Marcellus Shale wastewater treatment facility in about a year if all goes according to plan:
Read More “Clinton County, PA to Get New Marcellus Wastewater Plant”