Industrywide Issues

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

Expert Says Binghamton Fracking Ban is “Legally Dubious”
January 24, 2012January 24, 2012

Robert Alt, a Fellow in Legal and International Affairs at The John M. Ashbrook Center for Public Affairs at Ashland University (Ohio) has written an op-ed article in the Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin on the topic of “legally dubious” moratoriums like the one recently passed by the City of Binghamton. Given that according to forthcoming new drilling regulations from the state Department of Environmental Conservation there would be no drilling in Binghamton anyway, Alt asks the question, just what “message” did City Council send?

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Chesapeake Energy | Commodity Price | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues

NG Prices React to Chesapeake’s Announcement to Cut Production
January 24, 2012January 24, 2012

Yesterday, MDN told you about Chesapeake Energy’s major announcement that they will reduce capital spending on dry natural gas, or methane-only production, by 70 percent this year (see this MDN story). Chesapeake is also shutting down 9 percent of their domestic production, some 0.5 billion cubic feet of natural gas per day, which represents 1.5 percent of the entire natural gas output in the U.S. The result is predictable—less supply and steady demand equals higher prices. And that’s just what happened:

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Accidents | Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Susquehanna County

EPA Starts Water Deliveries in Dimock, PA
January 23, 2012January 23, 2012

The federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is getting itself involved in the ongoing situation in Dimock, PA by delivering water to four households that were affected by methane migration (see MDN’s recent Weekly Update for our view on EPA sticking its nose in). After the EPA told these same families two months ago their water was safe, they reversed course and now say they want to run some water tests themselves, and in the meantime they’ll deliver water to four of eleven families who have refused the Pennsylvania DEP’s settlement of the matter.

The EPA promised water to these same families a few weeks ago and reneged within 24 hours. This time they kept their promise.

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Education | Industrywide Issues | Jobs

Some Grad Students Make $120K per Year in Shale Gas Industry
January 23, 2012January 23, 2012

Heading to grad school and want to make $120K a year when you graduate? You might consider an advanced degree in geology or geophysics and working in the shale gas industry.

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Meetings | Regulation

Five States Require Drillers to Use FracFocus.org Registry
January 23, 2012January 23, 2012

FracFocus.org, the national hydraulic fracturing chemical registry where the public can look up information about the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing on a well-by-well basis, is co-sponsoring a “Let’s Talk About It” meeting in Williamsport, PA this Wednesday (see this page for more details). The meeting runs from 5-7:30 pm and will provide details on how hydraulic fracturing works. Note: FracFocus.org via Energy in Depth is currently a sponsor advertising on MDN.

Many drilling companies voluntarily use FracFocus.org to disclose the volumes of chemicals and water they use in the process of fracking, and do so for each well they drill. Four states already require drillers within their borders to use FracFocus.org. You can now add Texas as the fifth state to that list.

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Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Pipelines | Washington County (OH)

Mini-Economic Boom from Pipeline Workers in Marietta, OH
January 23, 2012January 23, 2012

Local pipeline work in the Marietta (Washington County), Ohio area has brought an influx of pipeline workers from out of town. Along with those workers has come a mini-economic boom for Marietta with money being spent at local RV parks, grocery stories, restaurants and other area businesses.

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Baker Hughes | Economic Impact | Frac Tech | Halliburton | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Schlumberger

Record-Breaking 19K New Wells to be Fracked in 2012
January 23, 2012January 23, 2012

Hydraulic fracturing, the process used to break apart shale rock deep below the earth’s surface to allow natural gas and oil to flow, will increase in 2012 some 19 percent from last year according to Spears & Associates, a research and consulting company for the worldwide petroleum industry. Almost 19,000 new wells will be fracked in 2012, compared with 16,000 in 2011. Halliburton is the largest U.S. fracking services provider with 18 percent of the market.

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Industrywide Issues | Luzerne County | NG Vehicles | Pennsylvania

PA Town Buys NG-Powered Recycling Truck, Will Save $8K/Year
January 23, 2012January 23, 2012

Plains Township, located near Wilkes-Barre in Luzerne County, PA, has just become the first municipality in northeastern PA to purchase a recycling truck powered by Marcellus Shale natural gas. Plains has also installed a new natural gas filling station at the town garage.

Is there a natural gas-powered vehicle in your town’s future? With natural gas at $1.50 per gallon vs. diesel fuel at $4 per gallon, just maybe.

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Accidents | Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Susquehanna County

EPA to Start Water Deliveries in Dimock, PA – Pinky Swear
January 20, 2012January 20, 2012

The flakey federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) continues its interference in Dimock, PA. Yesterday they announced (once again) they would start water deliveries to homes in the Dimock area—this time the commitment is to four homes. Recall that they made the same promise two weeks ago, then rescinded their promise within 24 hours (see this MDN story for their broken promise and a Dimock backgrounder). This time they’re going to do it, pinky swear promise. That is…unless they decide not to do it.

PA Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Michael Krancer has warned the EPA to not try and pull a “Pavillion” in Dimock, referring to the sloppy research the EPA has done in Pavillion, Wyoming and their cheeky attempt to try and tie fracking to groundwater contamination, even though the drilling in Pavillion is not shale drilling (see this MDN story).

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Caiman Energy | Economic Impact | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Marshall County | Processing Plants | West Virginia

Caiman Energy Investing $1.3B in Midstream Facilities in WV
January 20, 2012January 20, 2012

Caiman Energy plans to bring its total investment in natural gas processing (“midstream”) facilities in Marshall County, WV to $1.3 billion by the end of 2014. At midstream processing plants like the ones operated by Caiman, raw natural gas is processed to separate out methane from other components like ethane, propane, butane and pentane, or “natural gas liquids.” The liquids are sent to another facility for fractionation, to separate them from one another. Ethane then goes to a cracker plant where it is “cracked” or transformed into ethylene, used for making plastics.

Caiman is expanding its current processing facilities and building a new fractionation facility in Marshall County and spending nearly as much on their projects ($1.3 billion) as the much anticipated cracker plant that will be built by Shell somewhere in the Marcellus Shale region ($1.5-$2.0 billion).

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

NY Landowner Coalitions Push Back Against Home Rule Bill
January 20, 2012January 20, 2012

The fight to allow safe natural gas drilling to commence in New York State is being fought on multiple fronts. One of the most prominent groups standing up for landowner rights in New York is the Joint Landowners Coalition of New York (JLCNY). The group is in essence a “coalition of coalitions,” representing 38 landowner coalitions with an aggregate 800,000 acres of land in the Marcellus Shale.

The JLCNY issued the email below, outlining their opposition to yet another attack on drilling in the state—new legislation proposed by State Senator James Seward (Republican) that would tie up drilling in the state by allowing local municipalities to ban and regulate drilling within their borders.

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Exporting | Industrywide Issues

New EIA Study Says Exporting Shale Gas Raises Prices at Home
January 20, 2012January 20, 2012

In August 2011, the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy (DOE/FE) requested from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) an analysis of what exporting natural gas will do to the domestic market and consumers. The DOE is responsible for reviewing and approving applications to export oil and natural gas, hence the request.

Yesterday the EIA delivered their analysis (a copy of the 43-page report is embedded below). Their conclusions? Increased natural gas exports lead to higher domestic natural gas prices, increased domestic natural gas production, reduced domestic natural gas consumption, and increased natural gas imports from Canada via pipeline.

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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Luzerne County | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Susquehanna County | Williams | Wyoming County (PA)

Williams Springville Gathering Pipeline Goes Operational
January 20, 2012January 20, 2012

The Williams Springville natural gas gathering pipeline in Susquehanna County, PA has just gone operational. From a Williams press release issued yesterday:

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Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Lackawanna County | Luzerne County | Pennsylvania

Passenger Increase at WB/Scranton Airport from Gas Drilling
January 20, 2012January 20, 2012

There are many positive economic effects from shale gas drilling on nearby communities. Hotels and motels are some of the first to feel the effects, and restaurants. Grocery stores see an increase, as well as stores that sell clothes and shoes and other supplies. Short-line railroads also see a pickup in business from hauling materials, especially sand.

You can also add airports to the list of those organization that see a positive impact from shale gas drilling. The latest example: the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport has seen an uptick in passengers in the past year, due to Marcellus Shale gas drilling.

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues

New Cornell Study Says Coal is Not Cleaner than Natural Gas
January 19, 2012January 19, 2012

In March 2011, Cornell professors Robert Howarth, Renee Santoro and Tony Ingraffea published a peer-reviewed study in the journal Climatic Change titled, “Methane and the greenhouse-gas footprint of natural gas from shale formations” (see this MDN story). The study makes the claim that shale gas extraction is actually worse for the environment than burning coal because of greenhouse gases. Howarth et al’s conclusions were roundly refuted by both the U.S. Dept. of Energy (see this MDN story) and by a Carnegie Mellon University study (see this MDN story).

You can now add another group of Cornell professors to the list of those refuting the poor quality of the Howarth study. Cornell professors Lawrence M. Cathles, Larry Brown, and Andrew Hunter, along with Milton Taam (Electric Software, Inc.) have just published an article in the very same journal responding to the Howarth article. This new peer-reviewed article appears in the January 2012 issue of Climatic Change (a copy of the full article is embedded below).

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Economic Impact | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Processing Plants | Shell

New Timeline for Shell Cracker Plant Announcement
January 19, 2012January 19, 2012

MDN has extensively covered Shell’s plan to build a $1.5-$2.0 billion ethane cracker plant somewhere in the Marcellus region (see MDN’s previous coverage here). A cracker plant “cracks” ethane, a component of raw natural gas, into ethylene, a raw material used to manufacture plastics. West Virginia has been perhaps the most vocal and energetic of prospective locations in their efforts to attract Shell’s investment inside their borders. But Ohio and Pennsylvania are also making a serious effort to attract it as well.

Until now, the word was that Shell would likely make their announcement in mid- to late January. The timeline has apparently changed to be mid- to late February, according to West Virginia officials who remain jazzed about their possibilities in winning the cracker plant sweepstakes.

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