Industrywide Issues

Industrywide Issues | Kanawha County | NG Vehicles | West Virginia

Kanawha County’s First CNG Vehicle: $1.89/Gal. to Fill it Up
September 12, 2012September 12, 2012

Earlier this week Kanawha County, WV got its first county vehicle converted to run on compressed natural gas (CNG)—a 2013 Chevrolet Tahoe. They filled it up for the gasoline equivalent of $1.89 a gallon (gasoline currently runs close to $4 per gallon).

It cost $12,000 to convert it to run on both CNG and gasoline, but the county figures by saving more than 50% on each fill-up, it won’t take long to make that money back.

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Sierra Club, Others Call for Moratorium on New Drilling in WV
September 12, 2012September 12, 2012

Eleven so-called environmental groups, led by the nose by the Sierra Club, held a small anti-drilling protest rally yesterday at the West Virginia State Capitol where they demanded a moratorium on granting any new permits to drill in the Marcellus Shale. They handed Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin and legislators in town for meetings their list of demands.

The groups are anti-drilling and anti-fracking and want stricter rules for drilling than currently exist in WV, among them:

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

Cuomo Says No Immediate Decision on Fracking in NY
September 11, 2012September 11, 2012

Is fracking in New York now effectively dead for the foreseeable future? MDN is pro-drilling, you know that. And we live and work in New York, you know that too. And we have many landowner friends in New York. We love New York!

But after comments made in a radio interview yesterday by Gov. Andrew Cuomo, MDN has to confess we’re concerned about the future of fracking in the state. Here’s how it went:

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Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Taxation

PA Impact Fee Raises More Revenue than Expected
September 11, 2012September 11, 2012

The new Pennsylvania Act 13 drilling law is paying off. Yesterday the PA State Public Utility Commission (PUC), the agency charged will billing and receiving the “impact fee” provided for under the new law, reported how much money was billed, and how much was received. We have the detailed list by drilling company (embedded below).

The original estimate in the spring of this year when the law was passed, is that the first year would raise a total of $180 million in new revenue. The good news? More than $200 million was raised from the impact fee. The PUC billed drillers $205,890,000. So far they’ve paid $197,600,000. The difference is either cases where the driller disputes the PUC’s information about the status of a well, and a few cases of “the check is in the mail.”

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Carrizo Oil & Gas | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Taxation

Carizzo’s Missing Impact Fee Payment – Scofflaw?
September 11, 2012September 11, 2012

Yesterday the Pennsylvania State Public Utility Commission (PUC), the agency in charge of assessing and collecting the new Marcellus Shale Impact Fee, released the figures showing which drillers were assessed the fee, the number of both vertical and horizontal wells they drilled, and most importantly, how much they were assessed and how much they’ve paid (see this MDN story).

One particular company stands out among the list: Carizzo Oil & Gas. They stand out because the PUC says they’ve paid exactly $0 of the $3,060,000 they owe in impact fees. The The Harrisburg Patriot-News calls them a scofflaw and chronicles the back and forth they’ve had with both Carrizo and the PUC over the missing payment:

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Allegheny County | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

South Fayette, PA Accuses PUC of Persecuting Them over Act 13
September 11, 2012October 18, 2013

South Fayette in Allegheny County, PA is one of the seven towns that sued the state of PA over the new Act 13 drilling law that stripped away local municipalities’ ability to zone for oil and gas development. The Act 13 law substitutes a new “one size fits all” statewide version of zoning. The Act 13 lawsuit will be heard by the PA State Supreme Court in mid-October.

A South Fayette resident requested the state Public Utility Commission (PUC), charged with reviewing and determining whether or not local municipalities are in compliance with Act 13 with regard to their zoning laws, asked the PUC to investigate, which they are doing (see this MDN story). A resident of Robinson Township also asked the PUC to investigate that town’s ordinances, making Robinson the second case of PUC review (see this Pittsburgh Post-Gazette story). Attorneys for South Fayette have responded to the review by accusing the PUC of “professional persecution,” “malicious intent,” and taking an “aggressive stance” against the town.

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Housing | Industrywide Issues | Statewide WV | Taxation | West Virginia

Hotel Tax Loophole in WV Benefits Drillers, Ending Soon?
September 11, 2012September 11, 2012

A tax loophole in West Virginia on hotels and motels, designed to benefit politicians, has had an unintended consequence: It’s now benefiting the Marcellus Shale drilling industry.

In 1975 the West Virginia legislature passed a law allowing local municipalities the option of charging up to a 3% tax on hotel and motel rooms. In 2005, they raised it to 6%. However, the politicians included an exemption: No tax on hotel and motel stays of over 30 days.

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Accidents | Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Susquehanna County

Fracking Opponents Craig & Julie Sautner Sell, Leave Dimock
September 10, 2012September 28, 2012

Dimock Proud, a group of homeowners in and around Dimock, PA who have banded together to defend their town’s reputation against mainstream media news attacks painting the area as a contaminated wasteland, report that two residents who have been among the most vocal critics against drilling and against Cabot Oil & Gas, Craig and Julie Sautner, have settled their lawsuit with Cabot and have left town.

This is an email MDN received from Dimock Proud on Saturday:

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

More Details Leak on Secret DEC Meeting with Enviro Groups
September 10, 2012September 10, 2012

Anti-drilling book author and former Gannett reporter Tom Wilbur, who blogs about Marcellus Shale drilling here, still has his sources in Albany. And those sources tell him that Gov. Cuomo remains undecided about releasing new drilling rules for New York (called the SGEIS). They also told him more details about the recent secret meeting held by the Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and virulently anti-drilling groups, a meeting where more delays were discussed, favorably, as it turns out:

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Accidents | Bradford County | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania

AP Says PA DEP Sec. Krancer Wrong about Methane in Leroy Twp
September 10, 2012September 10, 2012

The Associated Press, true to form, continues to take pot shots at hydraulic fracturing whenever it can. In reporting on methane leakage from drilling in Leroy Township, Pennsylvania (see this MDN story for background), the AP breathlessly reports “the problem still isn’t fixed even though PA DEP Sec. Michael Krancer says it’s fixed, so there!” Not in those exact words, but that’s the sum total of their latest drive-by article on fracking in PA.

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Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Trucking

Short Line Railroads to the Midstream Rescue?
September 10, 2012September 10, 2012

One of the recurring stories MDN loves to cover is that of the renaissance of short line railroads, making a comeback because of shale gas drilling in the Marcellus and Utica Shale. Drillers need equipment and sand—lots of sand—hauled on a regular basis, and short line railroads play a key part in that equation.

But hauling equipment and sand may not be the complete picture. Short lines and national rail lines are now eyeing a role in hauling natural gas and oil in the absence of pipelines.

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CNX Resources | CONSOL Energy | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Pipelines | Statewide OH | Utica Shale

CONSOL Exec Says Utica Pipelines are Critical Need
September 10, 2012September 10, 2012

Harry Schurr, general manager of Utica operations for CONSOL Energy’s CNX Gas, puts pipelines at the top of his wish list for what he needs in the Utica Shale. Schurr made the following comments a day after the NEXUS Gas Transmission was announced last week:

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Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Taxation

PA to Release Impact Fee Collection Numbers Today
September 10, 2012September 10, 2012

The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) will release numbers today detailing which drillers have paid what amount in “impact fees” (PA’s version of a severance tax) for 2011. The newly enacted Act 13 drilling law in PA, passed in the spring of this year, calls for an impact fee on each new well drilled, beginning with wells drilled in 2011.

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Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

Date Established for PA Supreme Court Case on Act 13
September 10, 2012September 10, 2012

We now have a specific date and location for when and where oral arguments will be heard in the court case challenging zoning provisions in the newly passed Act 13 drilling law in Pennsylvania:

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

Anti-Drillers Push New Moratorium in Maryland Legislature
September 10, 2012September 10, 2012

Maryland, the only state that’s even more dysfunctional when it comes to drilling in the Marcellus Shale than New York, continues its dysfunction. A committed opponent of drilling in the state, Maryland Del. Heather R. Mizeur (Democrat, from the D.C. suburbs), plans to introduce legislation preventing drilling until studies are conducted first. You may recall Maryland concocted a plan to tax existing leases in an attempt to raise $2 million to study fracking, but that measure died in this year’s 90-day session (see this MDN story).

It seems the Maryland is so broke they can’t even raise $2 million for fracking studies mandated by Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley (Democrat). Del. Mizeur is afraid drillers will run down the clock on the existing moratorium (which expires in 2014) and then begin drilling, so she’s going to push hard for a new moratorium during the next session in 2013.

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

22 NY Town Supervisors to Gov. Cuomo: Drill Here, Drill Now
September 7, 2012September 7, 2012

On Wednesday, a group of 22 State of New York town supervisors, mostly from the Southern Tier area of New York, sent a letter to Gov. Andrew Cuomo strongly encouraging him to release the Dept. of Environmental Conservation’s new drilling rules (called the SGEIS) now. A copy of the letter is embedded below. One of the signatories is Town of Binghamton Supervisor Tim Whitesell, current president of the New York State Association of Towns.

The supervisors’ message to Cuomo: enough with the delay. Further delays only encourage “disruptive acts” by anti-drillers and serve no purpose. Near the end of the letter, in bold, is this paragraph:

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