Industrywide Issues

CONSOL Energy | Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Mahoning County | Ohio

Illegal Protest Blocks Well Site Near Youngstown, OH
October 15, 2012October 15, 2012

Anti-drilling protesters illegally blocked access to a horizontal shale gas well being drilled in Jackson Township in Mahoning County, Ohio (near Youngstown) on Sunday. The protest went on for five hours, but for some reason the police didn’t seem to think arresting and removing the protesters was a good idea.

The law-breakers, from the group Fracfree Mahoning Valley and Frackfree America, disappointingly included a lawyer and a reverend:

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Alternative Energy | Energy Services | GreenHunter Resources | Industrywide Issues

Sale of CA Wind Farm Benefits/Enables Shale Fracking
October 12, 2012October 12, 2012

This story is an amusement for MDN, one of those deliciously ironic tales that’s sure to tick off the greenies. And that’s precisely why we bring it to you.

This is the story of how the sale of a wind farm in California will benefit shale gas drilling in the Marcellus, Utica and other shale plays.

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Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | New York | Otsego County | Pipelines | Statewide NY | Williams

Who is Behind StopThePipeline.org?
October 12, 2012October 12, 2012

A so-called “grassroots coalition” has formed to oppose the proposed 120-mile Constitution Pipeline. The Constitution will be built by Williams and Cabot Oil & Gas, stretching from the Marcellus Shale gas fields of Susquehanna County in northeaster Pennsylvania through New York State to Schoharie County (see this MDN story for background).

A “group” opposing the new pipeline has sprung up with an impressive web presence at the URL StopThePipeline.org. But who’s behind this group? And what are their true aims? MDN has done a bit of nosing around.

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Industrywide Issues | Jefferson County (PA) | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Taxation

PA County Sees Expected Impact Fee Revenue Cut in Half
October 12, 2012October 12, 2012

Officials in Jefferson County, PA say their predicted portion of the new Marcellus Shale impact fee being collected by the state just went down by half—and they don’t know why. Previous numbers issued by the state Public Utility Commission (PUC) showed Jefferson would receive $160,000-$200,000 in impact fee revenue from the nine wells currently drilled in the county. But as of Tuesday, that number has gone down to $100K or lower.

The unanswered question on everyone’s mind: Will other PA counties share a similar fate? Just what’s going on with the impact fee numbers anyway?

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Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Lawrence County | Pennsylvania

Second Marcellus Gas-Powered Electric Plant Announced for PA
October 12, 2012October 12, 2012

Seems like new natural gas-powered electric generating plants are popping up everywhere in Pennsylvania. Just yesterday MDN told you about the PA DEP approving the state’s first new natural gas electric generating plant to use Marcellus Shale gas, being built in Bradford County in northeastern PA (see this MDN story).

Today brings news that a new Marcellus gas powered electric plant will be built in Livingston County in northwestern PA:

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

NE PA Town Welcomes PUC Review of Shale Zoning Ordinances
October 12, 2012October 12, 2012

The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) continues its activity of reviewing local town ordinances for compliance with the new Act 13 Marcellus Shale drilling law. If a town’s ordinances are found to be in violation of the law, they either will have to change their zoning ordinances or risk not receiving their cut of the Marcellus Shale impact fee (i.e. tax) being collected by the state. Checks are due out in December.

Some townships, like South Fayette, are thin-skinned and have a persecution complex over a PUC review (see this MDN story). Other towns, however, take it in stride and when told their laws need fixing, they fix them—like Roaring Brook Township in Lackawanna County, PA.

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues

Fracking Technology’s Continuous Innovation
October 12, 2012October 12, 2012

An article in today’s Pittsburgh Tribune-Review takes a look at how fracking technology in general—and the chemicals used in fracking in particular—are improving. Companies drilling in Pennsylvania are at the forefront of experimenting with new and improved fracking fluids. The article also takes a look at look at alternatives to using water in fracking—so-called “waterless” fracking.

It begins this way:

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | New York | Regulation | Sullivan County

Town of Highland, NY Gets Sued Over Gas Drilling Ban
October 11, 2012October 11, 2012

MDN is not used to breaking the news, but that’s what we’ll do today. The Town of Highland, located in Sullivan County, NY, is about to be sued by the Highland Field & Stream Club over the town’s vote to ban gas drilling.

MDN received the following email notification from the attorney for the Highland Field & Stream Club:

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Carrizo Oil & Gas | Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Tioga County (NY)

Carrizo Drills Exploratory Marcellus Well – in New York
October 11, 2012October 11, 2012

What does Carrizo Oil & Gas know about the New York moratorium on fracking we don’t? The moratorium has been in place for 4 1/2 long years now. There are some signs the moratorium may soon end—witness the parade of mainstream news sources granting political cover and “permission” to Gov. Cuomo to make a pro-fracking decision. But the standard operating procedure by the DEC’s Joe Martens until now has been stall and delay.

Enter Carrizo. Today’s Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin announces that Carrizo is drilling an exploratory vertical shale gas well outside of Owego, NY (Tioga County), squarely in the “hot zone” of the Southern Tier where gas drilling will take place. Their aim? Find out if shale gas is present in the vertical well, and then turn the well horizontal when and if the moratorium is lifted.

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

Horseheads, NY Board in No Hurry to Ban Fracking
October 11, 2012October 11, 2012

Board members for the Town of Horseheads, NY (Chemung County) are in no hurry to pass a fracking ban or moratorium. They’re waiting to see what the town zoning board says after they’ve studied proposed new drilling rules from the state Dept. of Environmental Conservation. The town board is also waiting to see whether or not the DEC even bothers to release new rules to allow fracking. Until then? No hurry, man.

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Commodity Price | Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Research

EIA Report Predicts Short-Term NatGas Prices/Usage
October 11, 2012October 11, 2012

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) released their Short-Term Energy and Winter Fuels Outlook report yesterday (a copy of full report is embedded below). Even though natural gas inventories are above last year’s levels and the price for natural gas is at historic lows, based on long-range weather forecasts by NOAA, the EIA predicts households will spend more money to heat this winter because it’s going to be a lot colder this winter than it was last.

Here’s the main highlights from the report with respect to natural gas:

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Bradford County | Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania

PA DEP Approves 1st New Electric Plant to Use Marcellus Gas
October 11, 2012October 11, 2012

The Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) yesterday issued a permit for the first new electrical power generating plant to be built in the state that uses clean burning Marcellus Shale gas. The new plant will be built in Bradford County over the next 2-3 years. During construction the project will employ up to 500 people.

The details from the DEP:

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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Sunoco Logistics | Westmoreland County

Meeting about Western PA NGL Pipeline Turns Contentious
October 11, 2012October 11, 2012

Sunoco Logistics held a meeting with landowners in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania last night to discuss plans for a new 45-mile pipeline they will build to carry natural gas liquids (NGLs). The new pipeline is part of the Mariner East project that will carry NGLs from western PA to southeastern PA—to the Marcus Hook refinery near Philadelphia (see this MDN story).

The meeting with landowners about the new pipeline construction turned contentious when landowners demanded to know whether or not Sunoco would invoke eminent domain and “take” the property, even if they don’t want it running across their land. A few of those present said Sunoco had already broken faith by surveying their land without informing the landowners first.

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Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Wyoming County (PA)

PA P&G Plant: 100% Energy Self-Sufficient from Marcellus Gas
October 11, 2012October 11, 2012

By February 2013, the Proctor & Gamble manufacturing plant in Wyoming County, PA will provide 100% of its own energy needs—thanks to the Marcellus Shale beneath plant property. Shale gas under P&G and surrounding properties in Wyoming County is reported to be some of the most prolific in the Marcellus Shale.

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Beaver County | Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania

Landowners Settle with Chesapeake, O&G in Western PA Case
October 11, 2012October 11, 2012

A lawsuit initiated by seven families in Beaver County, PA in March against Chesapeake Energy and O&G Investments of Wooster, Ohio has been settled. The landowners originally signed leases with O&G seven years ago, weren’t paid anything during those seven years, weren’t drilled on, and then O&G sold the leases to Chesapeake who tried to drill in order to hold the leases before they were set to expire. The families were rightly outraged by the treatment they received and sued to dissolve the leases (see this MDN story for background).

Yesterday, the judge in the case issued a closure order after being notified of a settlement:

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Industrywide Issues | NG Vehicles | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | York County

Republic Spends $21M to Convert PA Garbage Trucks to CNG
October 11, 2012October 11, 2012

Republic Services is investing $21 million to convert the majority of its garbage truck fleet from diesel to running on compressed natural gas (CNG) in York, PA. Nationwide, Republic is doubling it’s fleet of CNG-powered vehicles this year to 1,100.

The details on the York, PA project:

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