Industrywide Issues

Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Regulation

Three Federal Agencies Announce Partnership to Study Fracking
April 16, 2012April 16, 2012

At the same time The White House was announcing President Obama’s new interagency working group on fracking last Friday, three executive branch agencies were making an announcement of their own. The Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Interior and Department of Energy all released their own press releases with nearly identical language (read it below). The release announces that the three agencies have formed a formal partnership “to coordinate and align all research associated with development of our nation’s abundant unconventional natural gas and oil resources.” That is, all three agencies will share research on shale gas drilling and hydraulic fracturing, with an eye to how they can regulate it.

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Statewide NY

Park Foundation Admits Anti-Fracking Advocacy
April 16, 2012April 16, 2012

Kind of interesting that the anti-drilling Park Foundation has outted itself as one of the major funding sources of anti-fracking movement. An article in the Sunday Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin (and run in other Gannett newspapers) chronicles that the Park Foundation, a foundation started by Roy Park, media mogul, has funneled more than $3 million to anti-drilling groups since 2009. Energy in Depth has long exposed the Park Foundation, headquartered in Ithaca, NY as a major source of funding for anti-drilling groups. Apparently the mainstream media can no longer ignore this 800 pound gorilla in the room, and so has spun a story about how wonderful it is that the tiny Park Foundation is doing this bit of community work as an antidote to the evil, nasty behemoth drilling industry. Nice try MSM.

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Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA | Wastewater

PennFuture Targets Entire Oil & Gas Industry in PA
April 16, 2012April 16, 2012

Anti-drilling “environmental” group PennFuture’s newly appointed President and CEO George Jugovic, formerly the PA Department of Environmental Protection’s (DEP) southwest regional director, is wasting no time in going after the oil and gas industry. Current DEP Secretary Michael Krancer got the drilling industry to stop using municipal sewage treatment plants to process Marcellus drilling wastewater without so much as an edict or lawsuit. Conventional (non-Marcellus) gas drillers have now come under the scrutiny by PennFuture and other anti-drilling groups. They want conventional drillers to stop processing their drilling wastewater via treatment plants that discharge into rivers and waterways.

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

Maryland Legislature Fails to Act on Fracking Bill
April 16, 2012April 16, 2012

Forgive the editorial smirk, but MDN always enjoys reading about the status of fracking in Maryland because Maryland is the only place even more dysfunctional than New York (MDN’s home turf) when it comes to the issue of hydraulic fracturing. The Maryland General Assembly meets in session for 90 days each year to pass new legislation. The session for 2012 has just ended and several bills dealing with hydraulic fracturing did not receive enough support to come to a vote.

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Accidents | Clearfield County | Energy Companies | EXCO Resources | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Wastewater

EXCO Resources Fined $160K by EPA for Injection Well Incident
April 16, 2012April 16, 2012

EXCO Resources was fined $160,000 last week by the federal Environmental Protection Agency for an incident that occurred at an injection well last year in western Pennsylvania.

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Statewide NY

Anti-Drillers Organize to Oppose LPG Fracking in NY
April 13, 2012April 13, 2012

It’s time for MDN to say, “I told you so.” More than two weeks ago MDN said the following when it was announced a group of New York landowners are about to sign a lease and move forward with waterless LPG fracking technology:

So MDN asks, what will the enviro-left do when all of their stated reasons for opposing fracking are gone? That’s right, they’ll invent new reasons to continue covering the ugly fact that they are prejudiced against fossil fuels and that anything not “sustainable” and “alternative” is not acceptable in their worldview. It will be fascinating to watch how this develops. (MDN: Alternative Fracking Method May Soon Debut – in New York!)

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Bucks County | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Public Opinion | Regulation

Anti-Drillers Behave Badly at Act 13 Meeting in Nockamixon
April 13, 2012April 13, 2012

As is typical—and has been the experience of MDN many times—it is the anti-drillers at public meetings who are loud, unruly, offensive and just plain uncivil. The latest example on full display was last night at an educational forum at Palisades High School in northern Bucks County, Pennsylvania where a panel of twelve people had gathered to discuss and answer questions for residents on the new PA Marcellus drilling law called Act 13. Palisades High School is located in Nockamixon Township, one of seven PA townships that recently sued the state over Act 13 provisions that preempt local zoning laws for oil and gas drilling.

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA Act 13 Author Responds to Charge “Doctors Will be Gagged”
April 13, 2012April 13, 2012

Anti-drillers who oppose the new Act 13 drilling legislation in Pennsylvania have focused on a provision in the law that they claim “gags” doctors and health care workers, preventing them from sharing information about the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing if they learn what those chemicals are in the course of treating a patient. Yes, the anti-drilling claims are convoluted and trumped up, but its all about the headlines, and the headlines (courtesy AP and others) almost all manifestly read that “Act 13 gags doctors and enforces secrecy” or some such. The legislative author of Act 13, PA Speaker of the House Sam Smith, called the allegations “outrageous” and issued the following statement yesterday:

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Alternative Energy | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues

Comments from an Environmentalist Oil Industry Geologist
April 13, 2012April 13, 2012

A very interesting interview with someone who works as an exploration geophysicist for the oil and gas industry who considers himself to be an environmentalist—or rather, a “realistic environmentalist”—recently appeared on the Adventure Journal blog. The interviewee, who asked to remain anonymous, responded this way when asked if other environmentalists give him a hard time about his choice of career:

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Commodity Price | Industrywide Issues

NatGas Commodity Price Hits 10-Year Low, Facts & Figures
April 12, 2012April 12, 2012

Yesterday the commodity price of natural gas hit a 10-year low, $1.984 per 1,000 cubic feet. There will be plenty of stories in the press about it. However, in one of those stories, we get this interesting and helpful information about the price, as well as the areas producing the most natural gas and the drillers producing it:

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA Judge Grants Injunction for Zoning Portion of Act 13 Law
April 12, 2012April 12, 2012

Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court Senior Judge Keith Quigley issued a 120-day injunction yesterday to stop a small but important portion of the newly passed Act 13 Marcellus drilling law. Seven PA townships had filed a lawsuit to overturn Act 13 (see this MDN story). As part of their lawsuit, they filed a petition seeking an injunction from stopping the law from going into effect this Saturday, April 14. Judge Quigley’s injunction only deals with the provisions in the law that deal with changes to zoning regulations—the part that would replace local zoning laws with a “one size fits all” state law. Everything else in Act 13, including collection of an impact fee, will go into effect on Saturday.

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Broome County | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | New York

Packed House for First-Ever NY NatGas Career Expo
April 12, 2012April 12, 2012

Jobs in the shale gas industry was the focus of the first ever Natural Gas Career and Education Expo held at Broome Community College in Binghamton, NY yesterday. MDN editor Jim Willis attended.

Upon arriving, there was a line of 50 or more people waiting to get in to a packed exhibition area with more than 40 vendors, most of whom were looking for people to fill open positions. Exhibitors ranged from large oil and gas companies like Williams, Cabot Oil & Gas and Chesapeake Energy, to environmental consulting firms, equipment dealers and educational programs. Much of the time between 3 and 7 pm the exhibit area was packed, elbow to elbow, with job seekers. Early estimates MDN heard were that more than ~~400~~ 2,300 people attended the four hour event (see this article by the Press & Sun-Bulletin).

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

Pittsfield, NY Votes to NOT Ban Fracking
April 12, 2012April 12, 2012

While attending the first ever Natural Gas Career and Education Expo held at Broome Community College yesterday, MDN learned of some good news—news that does not get reported by local or statewide media. Board members for the Town of Pittsfield, NY voted earlier this week to table a measure that would ban fracking. Pittsfield is a small township in Otsego County, not far from Middlefield where a lawsuit is underway to overturn a fracking ban there.

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Energy Services | GASFRAC | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues

Anti-Drillers Now Trashing LPG Fracking
April 12, 2012April 12, 2012

When the announcement that a group of landowners in Tioga County, NY are about to sign sign leases with eCORP to allow drilling on 135,000 acres using waterless LPG fracking, MDN cautioned against euphoria that pro-drillers finally have a method of extracting natural gas that even anti-drillers can’t complain about. We predicted something eminently predictable: They will find things to object to in LPG fracking because, there is not other way to put this, they hate fossil fuels (see this MDN story).

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Broome County | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Meetings | New York

NY’s First NatGas Career Expo Today in Binghamton
April 11, 2012April 11, 2012

If you live anywhere near the Binghamton, NY area, you might want to swing by Broome Community College this afternoon (April 11) between 3-7 pm. The Joint Landowners Coalition of New York together with Broome-Tioga Workforce NY is sponsoring the “Natural Gas Career and Education Expo” – reported to be the first such shale gas career expo in New York State. Over 40 vendors will have booths at the expo. (MDN was at first offered a booth, then the offer was retracted. We’re disappointed, but will still be attending to cover the event.)

There’s a full agenda of seminar sessions—see the agenda and list of vendors lucky enough to get a booth (embedded below). The event will be a great opportunity for those interested in jobs in the shale gas industry to gather and find out more. And yes, there are many New York residents in Broome County and surrounding areas who are landing jobs in the the drilling industry—because of the drilling that’s happening just across the border in Susquehanna County, PA and other northeastern PA counties. Thank you PA!

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

Olive, NY Town Board Votes to Ban Fracking
April 11, 2012April 11, 2012

Another town in New York has decided to ban hydraulic fracturing—this one in Ulster County:

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