Industrywide Issues

CONSOL Energy | Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues

CONSOL Orders Additional 3 Dual Fuel Generators for 2nd Rig
October 5, 2012October 5, 2012

CONSOL Energy has ordered an additional three dual fuel electrical generator conversions at a second drilling rig in the Marcellus Shale. MDN previously reported that CONSOL was experimenting with three dual fuel generator conversions—blending liquefied natural gas with diesel—at one location (see this MDN story). Looks like the experiment is going well enough that CONSOL has ordered another three conversions for a different location.

From the press announcement:

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Air Quality | Energy Companies | EQT Corp | Industrywide Issues | West Virginia | Wetzel County

EQT Converts 2nd Drilling Rig in WV Marcellus to Run on LNG
October 5, 2012October 5, 2012

EQT was the first driller in the Marcellus to convert electrical generators used at a drilling site to burn liquefied natural gas, or LNG (see this MDN story). EQT announced yesterday they’ve commissioned a second drilling rig, located in West Virginia (as was the first converted rig) to be converted to the new LNG technology.

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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Kinder Morgan | Pipelines | Tennessee Gas Pipeline

More Snags for Tennessee Pipeline Expansion in NJ
October 5, 2012October 5, 2012

New Jersey and New York City need more natural gas. There’s plenty of Marcellus natural gas produced in Pennsylvania. There’s also a big interstate pipeline, called the Tennessee (one of many pipelines) that carry natural gas from Pennsylvania and other states into northeastern markets including NJ and NYC. In order to meet growing demand, the Tennessee previously applied for and received approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to expand their pipeline.

The expansion plans have not been without controversy (see this MDN story). The latest controversy revolves around a planned route for a 7-mile portion of the expansion in New Jersey.

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Greene County (OH) | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Regulation

Ohio Village Flouts State Law, Passes Drilling Ban
October 4, 2012October 4, 2012

The so-called home rule issue is cropping up in Ohio. Home rule is when a local municipality believes it has the right to govern or ban oil and gas drilling within its borders, using local zoning laws, even though in most states (like Ohio) the right and responsibility to govern oil and gas drilling is vested in the state and not in municipalities.

Ohio now has it’s first municipality (located in Greene County) to flout state law by passing a drilling ban. It passed 3-2—a single vote stripped away property rights of residents to allow drilling on or under their land. Here’s the details:

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Industrywide Issues | NG Vehicles

Caterpillar Announces Big Push for NatGas-Powered Engines
October 4, 2012October 4, 2012

Caterpillar is a storied American company over 100 years old and the largest manufacturer of construction and mining equipment in the world. So when CAT (as its known) says they’re going “all-in” to start producing equipment powered by natural gas, the world takes notice.

Here’s what went down at a recent conference where a CAT bigwig was the keynote speaker:

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Columbiana County | Energy Services | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | U.S. Silica

US Silica Opens New Frack Sand Storage Facility in Ohio
October 4, 2012October 4, 2012

U.S. Silica, the country’s second largest domestic producer of commercial sand, announced yesterday they’ve partnered with S.H. Bell Company to open a new silica sand storage facility (railroad transload facility) in Columbiana County, Ohio to serve drillers in the rapidly expanding Utica and Marcellus Shale plays.

From the press release:

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Allegheny County | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation

Pittsburgh City Council Floats New Law to Allow Fracking
October 4, 2012October 4, 2012

It seems since former Pittsburgh City Council President Doug Shields left that august body the other council members have had a change of heart on fracking. Shields was the ringleader who helped ram through a ban on fracking in the city in 2010. He also tried to get a ban permanently written into the city’s charter, an effort that failed (see this MDN story).

Realizing the ban passed in 2010 is likely illegal and will be overturned, council members are now considering new legislation to allow limited, strictly zoned fracking inside city limits:

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Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues

Chesapeake Develops Environmentally “Green” Fracking Fluid
October 4, 2012October 4, 2012

Baker Hughes and Halliburton both have hydraulic fracturing solutions that are “green”—using fluids to frack that contain no harmful chemicals. In fact Halliburton’s solution boasts its fracking mixture contains only compounds that are food-grade.

Chesapeake Energy is the latest entrant into the green fracking fluid club. According to the company, they aren’t quite ready to roll it out just yet, but they’re getting close:

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues

Waterless Fracking and the Insatiable NRDC
October 4, 2012October 4, 2012

An article in Engineering News does a brief roundup of new waterless (or near waterless) hydraulic fracturing technologies by Baker Hughes and others, pointing out efforts under way within the industry to cut down and in some cases eliminate the water used during fracking. Using less water is a good thing, right? Of course it is, but nothing short of banning fossil fuels will satisfy unreasonable and extreme environmental groups, like the National Resources Defense Council, as evidenced in the final paragraph of the story:

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

Maryland’s Continuing Fracking Dysfunction
October 4, 2012October 4, 2012

The only state more dysfunctional about allowing hydraulic fracturing than New York is Maryland. A so-called forum at Frederick Community College (Frederick, MD) sponsored by the Chesapeake Climate Action Network last night illustrates why:

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

NY Pro-Drilling Groups Launch Media Campaign “Honest Debate”
October 4, 2012October 4, 2012

Saying it’s been long enough and asking for “an honest debate,” the Independent Oil and Gas Association (IOGA) of New York, Joint Landowners Coalition of New York and other pro-drilling groups launched a new media campaign this week to get the message out to the public in general, and Gov. Andrew Cuomo in particular, that it’s time to begin drilling in New York State.

Two new radio spots are running (listen below), along with a newspaper ad (embedded below). Here’s the press announcement accompanying the launch of the new campaign:

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Carroll County | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Taxation

Carroll County’s Dim View on Higher Severance Taxes
October 4, 2012October 4, 2012

When the miracle of hydraulic fracturing shows up in a community, jobs, money and economic expansion show up too. Not far behind are politicians who want to stick their hands into the pockets of those doing the hard work (the energy companies) and those making it possible (the landowners) so they can “spread the wealth around” to those who don’t do the hard work and don’t make it possible (it’s called buying votes). It’s a powerful temptation that both Democrats and Republicans have a hard time resisting.

Case in point: Ohio.

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Economic Impact | Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Processing Plants

Kentucky Ethylene Plant Switches to Marcellus Ethane
October 4, 2012October 4, 2012

Although a very small area of Kentucky is underlain by the Marcellus Shale, to MDN’s knowledge, there is no active shale gas drilling in the state. But that doesn’t mean Kentucky isn’t about to benefit in a big way from the Marcellus Shale.

A few days ago, Westlake Chemical Corporation announced they will convert an ethylene manufacturing plant they operate in Calvert City, KY from using propane to using low-cost ethane from the Marcellus Shale as their raw material or “feedstock.” They’re also increasing the capacity of the plant.

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

NY Judge Throws Out Binghamton Fracking Moratorium
October 3, 2012October 7, 2012

The City Council for Binghamton, NY passed a de facto drilling moratorium at the end of December of 2011, just before the all-Democrat city council was about to be reconstituted with a few new Republican members (see this MDN story). At the time, Mayor Matthew Ryan and City Council were warned of possible litigation.

The law as passed was not (according to City Council and Ryan) an actual moratorium. Instead, they used the “police powers” of the city to enact a law instead of a zoning ordinance, believing it to be a clever legal maneuver insulating them from meeting the strict requirements for a true moratorium.

Yesterday New York Supreme Court Judge Ferris Lebous threw out the law as invalid, calling it what it really is: a moratorium. A copy of the judge’s ruling is embedded below. MDN will walk you through it…

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

Cuomo Says He Hasn’t Backed Away from Fracking
October 3, 2012October 2, 2012

Gov. Andrew Cuomo made the following comments about fracking yesterday during a tour of Syracuse, NY economic development projects (in order to shore up his sagging support in Upstate):

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Regulation

5 U.S. Senators Send Letter to EPA About Diesel Rule
October 3, 2012October 2, 2012

On May 10, the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a draft guidance document regarding the use of diesel fuel during the fracking process (see the full document embedded below). This is just another in a series of ongoing attempts by the EPA to federally regulate fracking. Such regulation, according to the U.S. Constitutional, is illegal and only can be done by the individual states. But that doesn’t stop the EPA from trying.

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