Regulation

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

NY Politicians Renew Request for Longer Fracking Comment Period
January 8, 2013January 8, 2013

Different day, same old broken tune from Mayors Matt Ryan (Binghamton), Sue Skidmore (Elmira) and an assortment of lefty elected officials, holding offices from mayor to dog catcher, who want to ban fracking.

Yesterday the group Elected Officials to Protect New York (see their website so you know whom to vote against in the next election) issued yet another tiresome nag request at a press conference in Binghamton to Gov. Andrew Cuomo asking him to extend the public comment period on the latest minor revisions to proposed fracking rules from 30 days to 90 days, knowing full well that if he does, it will kill fracking in New York. Thankfully the governor is ignoring the group.

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

MD Commission Finally Makes Recommendations on Shale Drilling
January 8, 2013January 8, 2013

The Maryland Marcellus Shale Advisory Commission, appointed by MD Gov. Martin O’Malley in 2011 to study natural gas drilling and produce a set of best practices for hydraulic fracturing has finally made a series of recommendations for how to regulate shale gas drilling in the state. It took the Commission 15 months to cast their first vote (see MD Fracking Commission Casts First Vote – in 15 Months!), so let’s just say the Commission isn’t setting any speed records for activity.

The recommendations agreed to today are a first pass and leave out some key provisions. The recommendations, such as they are, will be forwarded to the Maryland state legislature which meets for 90 days each year starting in January.

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

NY DEC Com. Joe Martens Sends Letter to NY Landowner Group
January 7, 2013January 7, 2013

Dan Fitzsimmons, president of the Joint Landowners Coalition of New York (JLCNY), received a letter from NY Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Commissioner Joe Martens last week (see a copy embedded below). It seems Gov. Andrew Cuomo personally asked Martens to respond, in writing, to the JLCNY’s concerns about the latest delay in the release of new fracking regulations—the delay to allow for a public health review. The latest number on the NY moratorium clock (on the right) shows New York’s ban on high volume hydraulic fracturing is 4 years, 5 months and 15 days old—so far. The patience of New York’s landowners is wearing thin.

According to the letter, Gov. Cuomo and Martens want the JLCNY to know, well, nothing new that we don’t already know! It’s the gesture itself that’s important—the fact that Cuomo and Martens took the time to write. Martens’ gesture in sending the letter gives the JLCNY reason to be “cautiously optimistic that the DEC will soon complete the SGEIS and regulations,” according to an email MDN received from Fitzsimmons.

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Industrywide Issues | Jefferson County (OH) | Jobs | Ohio | Regulation

Jefferson County, OH Forces Shale Companies to Use Union Labor
January 7, 2013January 7, 2013

From now on, Jefferson County, OH commissioners will force companies drilling Utica Shale wells in the county or companies building natural gas pipelines in the county that need to construct or repair public roadways, to use higher-priced laborers. Jefferson County commissioners are bowing to pressure from the Laborers International Union.

New road use agreements, which are required for constructing new wells and pipelines, must have a “prevailing wage requirement” according to the Jefferson County engineer, who says it’s a mandate from the state Attorney General’s office:

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

Town of Chenango, NY Rejects Fracking Ban in Close Vote
January 4, 2013January 4, 2013

In a major victory for landowners in the Town of Chenango (Broome County), NY, the town board voted 3-2 Wednesday night to reject a moratorium on shale gas drilling and fracking. If it had passed, it would have been the first township in the Southern Tier area of New York, an area thought to hold major quantities of Marcellus and Utica Shale gas, to do so.

One of the main reasons board members voted to reject the moratorium? They didn’t want to pay for expensive lawsuits which were sure to follow a vote to ban:

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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Chenango County | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation

Oxford, NY Moves Closer to a Moratorium (and Lawsuit) on Drilling
January 4, 2013January 4, 2013

It seems the Village of Oxford (Chenango County), NY is still flirting around with Park Foundation funded “pro bono” attorney David Slottje—who’s trying his hardest to get Oxford (in a prime Marcellus/Utica drilling location) to introduce language into their zoning ordinances that would result in a de facto moratorium on fracking and natural gas drilling. Slottje and the Village Planning Board were at it again last weekend in a Saturday meeting.

Wednesday night the village board voted to move forward with another public hearing (later this month) before adopting new zoning language which would, in clear violation of current New York State law, slap tight restrictions and prohibitions on natural gas drilling and related activities:

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

NY 2012 Fracking Health Assessment Continues to Reverberate
January 4, 2013

Yesterday’s revelation that early last year the NY State Health Department and the NY Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DEC) had drawn up a draft 8-page assessment which said fracking is safe for public health in New York continues to reverberate around the state.

There were predictable reactions from both sides of the debate, jockeying to frame the drilling issue before a final final final public health impact review is released sometime later this month (or in February)…

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

PA DEP to Release Marcellus Drilling Air Emissions Data Soon
January 4, 2013January 4, 2013

In the next few weeks, data on air emissions from Marcellus Shale drilling operations will be made public via the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) website. The data, required by the federal Environmental Protection Agency, has sparked a new idea at the PA DEP.

The DEP intends to also require emissions filings from compressor plants on conventional (non-shale) gas pipelines starting in March…

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

2012 NY Assessment – New Fracking Regs Will Protect Public Health
January 3, 2013January 3, 2013

A draft assessment written in early 2012 by the New York State Dept. of Health, at the request of the Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DEC), offers us insight into the state’s thinking about potential public health impacts from fracking. The opinion expressed by the health department (and the DEC), at least at that time? If the DEC’s proposed new fracking regulations are adopted, shale drilling would be safe and public health would be protected.

The New York Times and Gannett recently obtained a copy of the previously unpublished assessment. When asked about it, the DEC was quick to distance itself from the “old” and “outdated” assessment:

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Industrywide Issues | Regulation | Taxation

Accounting Tax Provisions are Not Subsidies for Big Oil & Gas
January 3, 2013January 3, 2013

An important and insightful article appeared on the Forbes magazine website yesterday, detailing the rank hypocrisy by mainstream media in their reporting about “subsidies” for “big oil and gas.” The point of the article: There are no subsidies for oil and gas companies.

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

NY Elected Politicians Make Another Try to Stall Fracking
December 31, 2012December 31, 2012

Once again, anti-fracking elected political leaders in New York (people who need to be voted out of office, see their names below) are trying to pressure the waffling Gov. Andrew Cuomo into extending the new public comment period from 30 days to 90 days. A group of them sent a letter to Cuomo and DEC Commissioner Joe Martens requesting the extension (dated Dec. 21, copy of the letter embedded below).

Why do they want to extend it from 30 to 90 days? To force the restart of the entire process of approving new fracking regulations. If the comment period is extended to 90 days, it will go beyond the end of February forcing the restart of the entire process to evaluate and approve new fracking regulations. Restarting the process would effectively kill any fracking in the state—most likely forever.

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Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Regulation | Statewide OH

Checking Up: Did ODNR Meet Goal of 90 Well Inspectors?
December 31, 2012December 31, 2012

In May 2012, the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR), the state agency that oversees the permitting and drilling of oil and gas wells, set a goal of tripling the number of well inspectors by the end of 2012—which would mean having 90 inspectors on staff. The agency has struggled with a heavy load of inspections due to a ramp up in Utica Shale drilling.

So, did ODNR meet its goal?

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Industrywide Issues | Regulation

EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson Resigns
December 28, 2012December 28, 2012

As MDN had previously speculated, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, under official investigation for using a private email account for official government business in order to avoid archiving requirements, is resigning from the agency she’s headed for the past four (dreadful) Obama years. Jackson has been the leader of what MDN considers to be a rogue government agency—willing to usurp the Constitution and grab power whenever, and wherever it can.

Not everyone on the pro-drilling side of the isle shares MDN’s opinion of Ms. Jackson—some fear a replacement will be even more aggressive—but we don’t see how it could be any worse than the past four years under Jackson.

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Regulation | Research

EPA’s Fracking Study Progress Report (Dec 2012)
December 28, 2012December 28, 2012

Early last week, the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a 278-page “progress report” on it’s multi-year study of hydraulic fracturing (full copy embedded below). The final report is due to be completed in late 2014. The purpose of the study? To try and figure out if there’s any conceivable way the EPA can get its hooks into regulating oil and gas drilling in the U.S.—something Constitutionally left to the individual states to do. The EPA is hoping to prove that fracking somehow, in some way, impacts groundwater, which would let them claim fracking comes under the purview of the Clean Water Act and empower them to regulate drilling.

The Dec. 2012 interim report was issued to keep everyone posted on their progress. It specifically details how the EPA is conducting its research—their methodology—but not any results…not yet. The results of the research and the conclusions/recommendations will come in late 2014. Unfortunately it seems the EPA held private meetings with prominent anti-frackers before releasing the progress report (see Energy in Depth’s excellent analysis here), casting doubt on the EPA’s ability to conduct impartial research.

Here’s the EPA’s press announcement from last week’s release of the progress report:

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Regulation

NJ Bill Would Ban Fracking Until EPA Report is Done
December 28, 2012December 28, 2012

In New Jersey, where even the Republicans are Democrats, it’s no surprise that a Republican Assemblyman—Declan O’Scanlon—has introduced a bill into the state legislature that would ban fracking in the state until the federal EPA is done with its analysis of fracking and water (which won’t happen until late 2014 at the earliest). Not that there’s any frackable shale under NJ anyway. Still, it’s the principle of the thing—and the rank hypocrisy of those who profess to be Republicans.

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

AP: NY Drilling Rules “Likely” to be Released in Feb 2013
December 27, 2012December 27, 2012

What’s this? The mostly-anti-drilling Associated Press appears to be throwing in the towel and admitting the DEC is likely to release new fracking rules in New York in February?! Indeed they are. But at the same time they are only too happy to cast doubt on when drilling might actually begin (hint—don’t plan on it next year):

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