Industrywide Issues

Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Warren County | Wastewater

Local Residents Protest 2 Wastewater Injection Wells in NW PA
September 7, 2012September 7, 2012

A battle is heating up over proposed deep injection wells for Marcellus and Utica Shale wastewater in Pennsylvania, specifically in Warren County (northwestern PA). A small conventional natural gas driller, Lyon Energy, owns about 80 natural gas wells in Warren County, some of which are now past their useful life. These are not Marcellus or Utica wells but wells drilled (and fracked) vertically, conventionally. Lyon, through the corporate name of Bear Properties, applied for a permit with the federal Environmental Protection Agency to turn two of its wells into deep injection wells for wastewater.

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

U.S. Sen. Toomey Meets with Wayne County, PA Landowners
September 7, 2012September 7, 2012

U.S. Senator Pat Toomey met with a group of landowners in Wayne County, PA yesterday to hear their concerns and complaints that property owners in Wayne have so far not participated in the rest of Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale drilling boom. Why not? Because Wayne County sits in the Delaware River Basin and comes under the regulatory oversight of the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC). Although the DRBC has drawn up guidelines for drilling, so far it has not had the political spine to implement them, creating an ongoing moratorium.

When/if it grows a spine, the DRBC says it will permit up to 300 wells throughout the region—a number of those (the majority?) will be in Wayne County.

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Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Pennsylvania | Processing Plants | Statewide PA

Labor Unions, Dems Praise PA Gov. Corbett for Cracker Plant
September 7, 2012September 7, 2012

In a deeply divided electorate during a hotly-contested election year, is there anything Republicans and Democrats can agree on? Anything that both business and labor can both support? In Pennsylvania, it seems there is. And that issue is the Marcellus and Utica Shale.

Writing in today’s Harrisburg Patriot-News, a labor union leader praises PA Gov. Tom Corbett (a Republican) for his recent state budget and the tax breaks an incentives provided to ensure that Shell builds an ethane cracker plant in the state. Here’s what he says about bipartisan support for Gov. Corbett’s plan:

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Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Statewide WV | West Virginia

New Study: Decline of Coal/Rise of Shale Gas in WV
September 7, 2012September 7, 2012

The West Virginia Center on Budget & Policy has just published a new report in an ongoing series called “The State of Working West Virginia.” This new report is titled “In Depth: The Gas Boom and Coal Bust” (a full copy is embedded below). The 34-page report, as the title indicates, takes a look at the tax and employment impacts of West Virginia’s coal industry which is sinking fast, and the upcoming Marcellus Shale industry which is rising fast.

The authors of the study advocate a new severance tax on shale gas (and coal) as one way to help the state. They also think the minimum wage should be increased from $7.25 per hour to $9.80. While most of the study centers on jobs and the economy of West Virginia, the section most MDN readers will want to read is Section Five, pages 21-27. That’s the section dealing directly with coal and natural gas in the state, including this interesting graph showing an estimate for natural gas production in WV through 2035:

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Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Statewide OH | Statewide PA | Supply Chain

New Marcellus/Utica Shale Supply Chain Website Launches
September 6, 2012September 6, 2012

The Youngstown Business Journal and Farris Marketing today launch a new Marcellus and Utica Shale supply chain connection website called ShaleLink.com. The website offers free listings for businesses interested in in selling (or buying) services related to the shale oil and gas industry. But there’s a catch: Your business has to be located in either Ohio or Pennsylvania to be listed for free.

Here’s the press release/story from the ShaleLink.com website describing the new service:

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Roads | Steuben County | Tompkins County

Two Views on Road Use Agreements for Drillers in NY
September 6, 2012September 6, 2012

Some counties in Upstate New York are prepared for potential road damage caused by trucks and heavy equipment when and if shale gas drilling begins. Some of those counties are a lot more welcoming of drillers than others.

Steuben County in New York’s Southern Tier area—one of the five named counties likely to receive permits when drilling begins—is one of the counties ready with a road-use agreement for drillers. Interestingly, Vince Spagnoletti, Public Works Commissioner for Steuben County, says the road use agreement in Steuben originated not because of potential gas drilling but because of potential wind farm development:

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DTE Energy | Enbridge | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Spectra Energy

Surprise! EcoNuts Object to Proposed Utica Shale Pipeline
September 6, 2012September 6, 2012

On Tuesday MDN brought you the news of a major new Utica Shale gas pipeline that will be built from Ohio through Michigan and into Canada by DTE Energy, Enbridge Inc. and Spectra Energy Corp (see this MDN story). It didn’t take long for anti-drillers, like EcoWatch, to announce their opposition.

This is what passes for news on MSNBC:

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Allegheny County | Economic Impact | Energy Services | Heckmann | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

Pittsburgh Enviro Services Company Heckmann Merging, Moving
September 6, 2012September 6, 2012

Heckmann Corporation, a publicly traded environmental services company with a major footprint in Pittsburgh and throughout the Marcellus and Utica Shale region, announced on Tuesday they are merging with Power Fuels, a privately held environmental services company based in North Dakota, the largest such firm in the mighty Bakken Shale. The merger puts Heckmann well on the path to their stated goal of becoming the country’s largest environmental services company.

Soon after the announcement, it was disclosed on a conference call to analysts that the new headquarters for Heckmann would be moving from Pittsburgh to Scottsdale, Arizona. That announcement has created a fair amount of angst in Pittsburgh. However, Heckmann says they “anticipate” no layoffs in the Marcellus region:

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Statewide NY

Food & Water Watch Targets NY Gov. Cuomo with Ad in NC
September 6, 2012September 6, 2012

The unreasonable, extremist and increasingly shrill organization Food & Water Watch (FWW), headquartered in Washington, D.C. (and attempting to interfere in New York’s debate over fracking) is targeting New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo with a full page advertisement in today’s Charlotte Observer. Wait, what? A full page ad in a North Carolina newspaper? Yep.

Gov. Cuomo will be in Charlotte today to speak to the New York delegation at the Democrat National Convention. He’ll then stick around to witness the sinking of the Titanic acceptance speech of Barack Obama. FWW apparently thinks Andy wants to run for president in 2016 and they want to run a head-fake on him that if he approves fracking in New York, his chances of winning in 2016 will be about the same as Obama’s chances of winning this year—close to nil. They also think Andy’s bound to pick up a copy of the Charlotte Observer while he’s in town, hence the ad.

Here’s a copy of the FWW propaganda ad appearing today:

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

NY DEC Continues Secret Meetings with Anti-Drilling Groups
September 5, 2012September 5, 2012

It’s now after Labor Day and still no word about a release of new drilling rules in New York State from the Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DEC). Last week MDN passed along word from the Joint Landowners Coalition of New York (JLCNY) sounding the alarm that Gov. Cuomo was being pressured to postpone a decision on releasing new fracking rules until after the November election (see this MDN story).

We may now know why they sounded the alarm. In what appears to be a troubling trend, the DEC continues to have informal (we would call them secret) meetings with anti-drilling environmentalist organizations, like the Sierra Club, NRDC and Riverkeeper. If the DEC were doing this with landowner groups there would be an outcry from those very same organizations. At any rate, the latest attempt by anti-drillers to stall the release of fracking rules seems to center on the call for yet another study—this one on potential so-called health affects from drilling.

From the New York Times late last week:

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Energy Services | GreenHunter Resources | Industrywide Issues | Ritchie County | Wastewater | West Virginia

New Shale Wastewater Injection Well Opens in WV
September 5, 2012September 5, 2012

A new deep injection well for oil and gas drilling wastewater has just opened for business in West Virginia. GreenHunter Energy today announced the beginning of official operations for their new 6,100 foot deep injection well in Ritchie County, WV. According to GreenHunter CEO Jonathan Hoopes, they’re already near full capacity with incoming Marcellus and Utica Shale wastewater.

From the press announcement:

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | Steuben County | Yates County

Anti-Drillers Hijack the Keuka Watershed Improvement Cooperative
September 5, 2012September 5, 2012

The board that oversees the Keuka Watershed Improvement Cooperative has voted to request Gov. Andrew Cuomo grant the Keuka watershed (Finger Lakes area of New York) protection against hydraulic fracturing—to put it “off limits”—as will be done with both the New York City and Syracuse watershed areas (if the draft version of the SGEIS drilling rules are passed as written).

But at least one village trustee in the area is concerned that the board has turned the Keuka watershed group into a lobbying (i.e. political) organization, and Penn Yan’s village attorney says the request’s language goes well beyond drilling restrictions.

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Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA Lawyers in Act 13 Lawsuit Say State Legislature has “Supreme Authority”
September 5, 2012September 5, 2012

A quick update on the Act 13 lawsuit before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court: Lawyers for the state, on behalf of the governor, the Dept. of Environmental Protection and the Public Utility Commission, filed a 45-page brief yesterday defending the law. The seven towns suing the state to overturn the zoning portions of Act 13 (the part that disallows local municipal control over the siting of drilling and compressor plants, etc.) will file their brief later this month.

Among the arguments made by the state in defending the zoning portion of Act 13:

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Dominion Energy | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Statewide PA | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Dominion Turns On Appalachian Gateway Project Pipeline
September 5, 2012September 5, 2012

Dominion Transmission “threw the switch” (or rather opened the valve) to the Appalachian Gateway Project yesterday. The project was 3/4 of a billion dollars spent by Dominion to upgrade and expand existing infrastructure, and to build 110 miles of new pipeline. The end result is a big increase in the amount of Marcellus Shale gas flowing from West Virginia and southwestern Pennsylvania to markets along the eastern seaboard.

From the Dominion press release:

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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Luzerne County | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Regulation | UGI Energy Services

Luzerne County Denies UGI Permit to Build Compressor Station
September 5, 2012September 5, 2012

Sadly, the Luzerne County, PA zoning hearing board has voted to deny UGI Energy Services a permit to build a much-needed compressor station in West Wyoming. The station would help bring low-cost shale gas to local customers. Apparently local customers in Luzerne County prefer paying higher costs for their natural gas.

Here’s what happened last night:

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Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues

Delaware Utility Cuts NatGas Rate 14.4% Thanks to Marcellus
September 5, 2012September 5, 2012

Delmarva Power is a utility company serving over a half million residents throughout the state of Delaware. Some 124,000 of those residents also purchase natural gas from Delmarva, and the price they pay for natural gas is plunging 14.4% thanks to the Marcellus Shale and the miracle of hydraulic fracturing. And no, there is no Marcellus drilling in Delaware! The shale gas comes from Pennsylvania and other states.

This is just one (of many) examples of how shale gas benefits everyone—not just energy companies and the landowners who allow drilling on their land and the hundreds of thousands who have jobs because of drilling. Natural gas customers are big beneficiaries too.

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