New York State’s long, ponderous, tedious road to allow Marcellus Shale drilling takes another small step forward—maybe.
Read More “Legislation to Regulate Large Water Withdrawals in NY Waterways Makes Progress”
Supervisors in Ohio Township (Allegheny County), PA last night voted to approve an ordinance that places restrictions on Marcellus Shale drilling in the Township. According to Township Solicitor Mike Witherel, the previous ordinance, passed in 2003, placed no restrictions on drilling. The new ordinance puts in place common sense restrictions on drilling activities.
A new technology funded by the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Energy Technology Laboratory may hold the key to cleaning Marcellus Shale (and other drilling) fracking fluids. According to the press release from the DOE below, this new technology removes 99 percent of oil and grease from the water in fracking fluid, and it removes 90 percent of the nasty stuff: benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylenes. The Osorb technology uses “swelling glass”—silica or sand-like particles—to absorb the chemicals. And it can be re-used over and over again. See a video of it in action below.
Read More “New Technology May Hold Key to Cleaning Fracking Fluids, Early Tests Very Promising”
Now that Michael Krancer has received official confirmation from the Pennsylvania Senate to be the Secretary of PA’s Department of Environmental Protection, he is talking freely with the press and he has plenty to say.
Krancer said the following about his recent “voluntary request” to drillers to stop sending fracking fluid to municipal treatment plants that are not equipped to handle it:
Read More “PA DEP Sec. Michael Krancer Responds to Critics, The Gloves Come Off”
Kathryn Klaber, the president and executive director of the Marcellus Shale Coalition based in Canonsburg, PA, is perhaps the most visible face of the pro-drilling movement in the Marcellus Shale. The Coalition she represents has as its members most of the energy companies who actively drill in the Marcellus. Ms. Klaber is articulate and smart, and not afraid to answer the tough questions about drilling. In a recent interview, she addressed a wide range of issues including how much and what types of investments are being made in the Marcellus, how many jobs it produces, mineral rights vs. surface owners rights, accidents, environmental issues and more.
Among her comments was this exchange about the drilling moratorium in New York State:
Read More “Marcellus Shale Coalition’s Kathryn Klaber Talks about NY Moratorium and Other Issues”
Chesapeake Energy has successfully replaced a wellhead that was defective and had caused a blowout with fracking fluid escaping from a well in Leroy Township near Canton in Bradford County, PA last week. Over a two day period, fracking fluid ran over neighboring land and some of it into a nearby stream that empties into the Towanda Creek. (Read MDN’s original article on the blowout here.)
The PA State Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is investigating the blowout and the potential environmental damage it may have caused. But that’s not good enough for the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The EPA is now throwing its weight around. In a letter to Chesapeake citing the Clean Water Act and various other federal statutes, the EPA is demanding that Chesapeake provide a list of details to the EPA about the incident by May 9.
Forced pooling happens when most landowners in an area have signed leases and want to allow drilling, but one or two have not. If a landowner has not signed a lease but owns land situated between other land already leased, that landowner could be “forced” to allow drilling. The unwilling landowner would not be forced to allow a drill pad, but a driller on a neighboring piece of property would be allowed to drill underneath the landowner with a “minority interest.” Forced pooling is not currently allowed in Pennsylvania, and according to new Gov. Tom Corbett, it won’t be as long as he’s governor.
Read More “PA Gov. Corbett Says “No” to Concept of Forced Pooling of Marcellus Shale Leases”
On April 16, three Democrat Congressional members of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce, Henry Waxman, Edward Markey and Diana DeGette released a report on the chemical contents of hydraulic fracturing products used by the 14 oil and gas service companies. MDN has had a look at that report and finds it confusing, obfuscating and frankly, nothing more than yet another political attempt to bring gas drilling under the oversight of the federal EPA. That is the sole purpose of this report. Let’s dive deeper.
Staffers working for Waxman et al canvassed drilling companies, using the power of the federal government to obtain details on what products and chemicals they use during the process of hydraulic fracturing when drilling for oil or gas. As MDN has described before (but will do so again for those new to the drilling issue), when a company drills first vertically, and then horizontally, it uses a fair amount of water and sand—perhaps 3-4 million gallons of water on average for a single well. Along with the water and sand, which is literally 99.5 percent of what goes down the bore hole, a little bit of chemical mixture is used mostly to lubricate and to prevent bacterial buildup during the drilling process.
Read More “MDN In-depth: A Close Look at the New Democrat Report on Hydraulic Fracturing Chemicals”
A number of stories have circulated since last week when the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) asked Marcellus Shale drillers to voluntarily (or else) stop using municipal sewage treatment plants by May 19 to treat and release drilling wastewater into PA’s rivers and streams (read MDN’s story here). One of the latest articles is (gasp) a pretty balanced article from the Associated Press, so let’s give credit where credit is due since MDN has previously stated almost all of AP’s reporting on the drilling industry is skewed against it.
Below is a list of things we learn from the most recent AP missive, along with MDN’s thoughts. First the background and history, then an examination of the chemistry, and finally what changed the drilling industry’s collective mind about this issue, including who the “real” culprit in all of this may be.
Some empirical data on the positive economic impacts of Marcellus Shale gas drilling in Pennsylvania:
Read More “New Research Details the Positive Economic Impacts from Marcellus Shale Drilling in PA”
A northeastern PA construction company is looking to hire “hundreds” of workers to meet demand for its services in the Marcellus Shale drilling industry:
Chesapeake Energy experienced a blowout at a well being drilled near Canton in Bradford County, PA on Tuesday at 11:45 pm. A blowout occurs when the pressure systems fail and results (in this case) in drilling fracking fluids escaping in an uncontrolled manner. For a time the fluids from the Canton well spread over farm land and into a small stream that empties into the Towanda Creek.
Initially seven families were evacuated from the immediate area. Six of the families have now returned to their homes, but one family will need to stay relocated until the well is 100 percent under control. Crews have significantly decreased the amount of fracking fluid coming from the bore hole, but they have not yet fully stopped it.
It appears that the new New York State Attorney General, Eric Schneiderman, is looking to make a national name for himself, and he’s found his issue: Marcellus Shale drilling.
Read More “NY Attorney General Threatens the Feds with a Lawsuit over Marcellus Drilling”
Crescent Township in Allegheny County, PA (in the Pittsburgh area), will now require all Marcellus Shale drilling companies to file for a permit before they can drill on any property in the Township.
Read More “Western PA Township Votes to Require Permits for Marcellus Shale Drilling”
There are 15 (of an original 27) municipal sewage treatment plants in Pennsylvania that still accept Marcellus Shale drilling wastewater. That is, until May 19 of this year.
Three State Senators from New York City—Liz Krueger (D-Manhattan), Joe Addabbo Jr. (D-Howard Beach), and Tony Avella (D-Bayside)—have banded together and introduced four Marcellus Shale drilling bills in hopes one or more of them will become law. Their ultimate aim? To ban the practice of hydraulic fracturing in New York State on claims it will pollute New York City’s water supplies.