Industrywide Issues

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

NY Hydraulic Fracturing Advisory Panel Member Speaks Out
November 2, 2011November 2, 2011

In July, New York Commissioner of the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Joe Martens announced the formation of a Hydraulic Fracturing Advisory Panel to make recommendations to the DEC on how to oversee, monitor and enforce new shale drilling regulations in the state (see this MDN story). The initial panel of 13 members was heavily tilted to anti-drillers, with a few pro-drillers thrown on to make it look good. In August, Martens appointed an additional five members (all pro-drilling) to the panel, to provide balance and give landowners a voice. Those new members include:

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Commodity Price | Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues

Natural Gas Now Least Expensive Way to Generate Electricity
November 2, 2011November 2, 2011

Jack Kelly had an excellent column in Sunday’s Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. It starts out with a brief history of the discovery of oil in the U.S. and moves to shale gas and points out that shale gas is an even bigger game changer than oil was. Did you know that natural gas is now the cheapest way of generating electricity?! Renewable sources like wind cost 1.5 times more, and solar costs 3.3 times more to produce the same megawatt of electricity as natural gas.

Among Jack’s observations:

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Allegheny County | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Public Opinion

Occupy Pittsburgh Protests Marcellus Shale…All 12 of Them
November 2, 2011November 2, 2011

It seems more and more that anti-drillers who need bodies for protests are turning to the Occupy malcontents, who seem to be willing to protest anything, especially things they don’t understand. That is, if you can get them out of bed…

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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Patriot Water Treatment | Trumbull County | Wastewater

Warren OH Fracking Wastewater Treatment Plant Future in Doubt
November 2, 2011November 2, 2011

The future of wastewater treatment plant in Warren (Trumbull County), Ohio that handles fracking wastewater from Marcellus Shale drilling is now in doubt. The state attorney general has ruled that the permit granted to the Patriot Water Treatment plant in Warren was granted illegally.

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El Paso | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Tennessee Gas Pipeline

Tennessee Gas ‘300 Line’ Pipeline Now Complete & Flowing
November 2, 2011November 2, 2011

Tennessee Gas Pipeline Company finished its "300 Line" project Tuesday and started natural gas flowing through the new pipes. The expanded pipeline is an important part of the delivery infrastructure for moving Marcellus Shale gas to market in the northeastern U.S.

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Commodity Price | Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

Marcellus Shale Gas Leads to Lower Prices for PA Consumers
November 1, 2011November 1, 2011

One of the arguments in favor of shale gas drilling is that it will create more supply leading to lower prices for consumers (that’s Economics 101 for the Occupy economic illiterates). Those opposed to drilling scoff and say it won’t happen, that the big, bad energy companies will rig the system to keep prices, and profits, high. Here’s a dose of reality for those who scoff:

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Cattaraugus County | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York

Private Property Rights in Allegany State Park Threatened
November 1, 2011March 24, 2012

Allegany State Park is New York’s largest state park at 67,000 acres. The park is located approximately 60 miles south of Buffalo on the border of New York and Pennsylvania in Cattaraugus County. Before being designated a state park in 1921, more than 200 oil wells were drilled in the area, including the very first oil well completed in New York State in 1864. The state created the park by purchasing surface rights from landowners in the area, but many of the landowners retained the subsurface rights and oil drilling continued in the park for a number of years, until energy companies moved on to more lucrative locations.

Oil drilling has not happened in the park for many years, but now with gas drilling a real possibility, state authorities who want to “protect” the park are making moves to force those who legally own subsurface rights to either register their interest or lose it. That is, the state wants to forcibly take private property rights away from those who legally own it.

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Monongalia County | Regulation | West Virginia

Morgantown Not Ready to Admit Defeat on Fracking Ban
November 1, 2011November 1, 2011

The next chapter for the Morgantown, WV ban on fracking seems to be an official rescinding of the ill-fated ban which included inside and up to one mile outside of the city lines. But Morgantown Mayor Jim Manilla is not ready to throw the towel all the way in just yet. He wants to make another run at a ban, this time only within city limits by using existing zoning laws.

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Casella-Altela | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | McKean County | Pennsylvania | Wastewater

New “Green” Fracking Wastewater Plant in McKean County, PA
November 1, 2011November 1, 2011

A new Marcellus wastewater treatment facility is coming to McKean County, PA, and by using a local railroad spur, owners of the new facility hope to service a large area of Pennsylvania and eventually New York, reducing truck traffic. The facility will use methane from a local landfill for power instead of electricity. Low-grade heat (from the methane) is used to process the wastewater, making it an “environmentally friendly” alternative technology.

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

How Will NY Gov Cuomo Handle the Fracking Mutiny?
October 31, 2011October 31, 2011

An editorial in yesterday’s New York Post says that New York DEC Commissioner Joe Martens is leading a mutiny against Gov. Andrew Cuomo on the matter of allowing hydraulic fracturing to move forward in the state and asks the question, Is Gov. Cuomo up to the task of putting down the mutiny? Good question!

The editorial begins this way:

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Otsego County | Statewide NY

Gas Drilling Debate Gets Personal in Cooperstown, NY
October 31, 2011October 31, 2011

A New York Times article slanted to be anti-drilling, but nonetheless comes out pretty balanced overall, examines the personal nature of the debate over fracking in New York State by examining the neighbor against neighbor conflict in Cooperstown, NY.

From the article:

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Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

Exelon CEO Says Shale Gas Competes with Chinese Nuclear Power
October 31, 2011October 31, 2011

Exelon Corp is the largest owner/operator of nuclear power plants in the United States. John Rowe, CEO of Exelon, said even though his company’s stock price is half what it was since 2008 largely because of the discovery and mining of shale gas, nevertheless, he’s a supporter of shale gas. While attending a conference in Philadelphia recently, he remarked:

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Air Quality | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

PA Clean Air Council Sues EPA, Force Drillers to Reduce Ozone
October 31, 2011October 31, 2011

The Pennsylvania anti-drilling group Clean Air Council is suing the federal EPA in an effort to force the EPA to clamp down on Marcellus drillers who the Clean Air Council says are creating too much ozone during drilling.

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

The Kooky Things Anti-Drillers Say
October 28, 2011October 28, 2011

An excellent commentary in today’s New York Post by Abby Wisse Schachter addresses the fear mongering and just plain kookiness heard from anti-drillers. From the opening:

New York state just announced another delay in what has become a more-than-four-year process to approve widespread natural-gas drilling. Over that time, the state has lost tens of thousands of jobs and millions of dollars of business — and the opposition to drilling has only gotten more entrenched and radical.

Gov. Cuomo should not be swayed by such hysteria.

An Oct. 6 New York Policy Forum panel on gas drilling is a case in point. At it, Binghamton Mayor Matthew Ryan participated in a discussion of hydro-fracking, the process of extracting natural gas from shale rock. He argued that New York doesn’t need natural gas to power its economic future.

“You can do other things … You can save so much energy just by switching to wood pellets,” Ryan claimed. “If you combine that with retrofitting all the rural properties … you’ll produce thousands of jobs.”

Wood pellets. What century does Ryan think this is?*

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Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues

Who Owns U.S. Oil & Natural Gas Companies? You
October 28, 2011October 28, 2011

Who actually owns U.S. oil and natural gas companies? If you’re one of the economic illiterates in the “Occupy” movement, you no doubt believe the oil and gas industry is owned by “the 1 percent”. But you would be wrong. A new study just released proves the middle class (ie you) owns the vast majority of America’s energy companies via pension plans like 401(k)s and IRAs, as well as by individual stock investments. The numbers break down as follows: 50 percent of shares in energy companies are held by public and private pension plans, 20 percent by individual investors who own stock, 27 percent of shares belong to financial institutions and asset management companies, and 3 percent of outstanding shares are held by the officers and board members of the energy companies themselves.

The study, "Who Owns America’s Oil and Natural Gas Companies," was commissioned by the American Petroleum Institute and conducted by Sonecon. The full 22-page study is embedded below.

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

Albany NY Mayor Jerry Jennings (D) Vetoes Fracking Ban
October 28, 2011October 28, 2011

Longtime Albany, NY Mayor (and a Democrat!) Jerry Jennings has just vetoed a City Common Council measure to ban hydraulic fracturing inside the city.

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