Regulation

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

A Reasonable Anti-Driller in New York?!
September 14, 2012September 14, 2012

Is there such a thing as a reasonable anti-driller? MDN doubted it, until we read a guest viewpoint in today’s Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin, by John Orzel. Mr. Orzel is a Democrat, former social studies teacher, resident of Broome County and running against Republican incumbent Tom Libous for the 52nd State Senate seat in New York.

Most anti-drillers attempt to obfuscate the fact they oppose drilling because of their bias against fossil fuels. Mr. Orzel owns up to it. Refreshing! He also owns up to the fact we still live in a free country with the best system known to exist for the fair distribution of wealth: capitalism. In MDN’s book, he constitutes one of the few examples of a reasonable, and truthful, anti-driller.

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Bradford County | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA | Washington County | Wyoming County (PA)

PA PUC Issues more Advisories for Act 13 Zoning Violations
September 13, 2012October 18, 2013

It’s full speed ahead for the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) when it comes to evaluating whether (or not) local zoning ordinances violate portions of the new Act 13 drilling law, thereby making those local municipalities ineligible to receive impact fees.

But wait, isn’t there a case in PA Supreme Court that will be heard in October about the constitutionality of the zoning provisions of Act 13? Indeed there is. So how can the PUC push forward with evaluating zoning ordinances that have been ruled unconstitutional by lower courts? Good question.

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

Anti-Drilling Group Gets Binghamton Univ. to Sign Petition
September 12, 2012September 12, 2012

An anti-drilling group in the Town of Vestal, NY (Broome County) continues to agitate and pressure the town board to enact a moratorium on non-existent fracking in the town. (New York still does not allow high-volume horizontal fracking, and by all accounts, won’t any time soon.)

The latest tactic by Vestal Residents for Safe Energy (VeRSE) is to dupe get 60 Binghamton University employees to sign a petition requesting a fracking moratorium. VeRSE plans to present the petition at tonight’s town board meeting.

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

Cuomo Says No Immediate Decision on Fracking in NY
September 11, 2012September 11, 2012

Is fracking in New York now effectively dead for the foreseeable future? MDN is pro-drilling, you know that. And we live and work in New York, you know that too. And we have many landowner friends in New York. We love New York!

But after comments made in a radio interview yesterday by Gov. Andrew Cuomo, MDN has to confess we’re concerned about the future of fracking in the state. Here’s how it went:

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Allegheny County | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

South Fayette, PA Accuses PUC of Persecuting Them over Act 13
September 11, 2012October 18, 2013

South Fayette in Allegheny County, PA is one of the seven towns that sued the state of PA over the new Act 13 drilling law that stripped away local municipalities’ ability to zone for oil and gas development. The Act 13 law substitutes a new “one size fits all” statewide version of zoning. The Act 13 lawsuit will be heard by the PA State Supreme Court in mid-October.

A South Fayette resident requested the state Public Utility Commission (PUC), charged with reviewing and determining whether or not local municipalities are in compliance with Act 13 with regard to their zoning laws, asked the PUC to investigate, which they are doing (see this MDN story). A resident of Robinson Township also asked the PUC to investigate that town’s ordinances, making Robinson the second case of PUC review (see this Pittsburgh Post-Gazette story). Attorneys for South Fayette have responded to the review by accusing the PUC of “professional persecution,” “malicious intent,” and taking an “aggressive stance” against the town.

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

More Details Leak on Secret DEC Meeting with Enviro Groups
September 10, 2012September 10, 2012

Anti-drilling book author and former Gannett reporter Tom Wilbur, who blogs about Marcellus Shale drilling here, still has his sources in Albany. And those sources tell him that Gov. Cuomo remains undecided about releasing new drilling rules for New York (called the SGEIS). They also told him more details about the recent secret meeting held by the Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and virulently anti-drilling groups, a meeting where more delays were discussed, favorably, as it turns out:

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Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

Date Established for PA Supreme Court Case on Act 13
September 10, 2012September 10, 2012

We now have a specific date and location for when and where oral arguments will be heard in the court case challenging zoning provisions in the newly passed Act 13 drilling law in Pennsylvania:

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

Anti-Drillers Push New Moratorium in Maryland Legislature
September 10, 2012September 10, 2012

Maryland, the only state that’s even more dysfunctional when it comes to drilling in the Marcellus Shale than New York, continues its dysfunction. A committed opponent of drilling in the state, Maryland Del. Heather R. Mizeur (Democrat, from the D.C. suburbs), plans to introduce legislation preventing drilling until studies are conducted first. You may recall Maryland concocted a plan to tax existing leases in an attempt to raise $2 million to study fracking, but that measure died in this year’s 90-day session (see this MDN story).

It seems the Maryland is so broke they can’t even raise $2 million for fracking studies mandated by Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley (Democrat). Del. Mizeur is afraid drillers will run down the clock on the existing moratorium (which expires in 2014) and then begin drilling, so she’s going to push hard for a new moratorium during the next session in 2013.

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

22 NY Town Supervisors to Gov. Cuomo: Drill Here, Drill Now
September 7, 2012September 7, 2012

On Wednesday, a group of 22 State of New York town supervisors, mostly from the Southern Tier area of New York, sent a letter to Gov. Andrew Cuomo strongly encouraging him to release the Dept. of Environmental Conservation’s new drilling rules (called the SGEIS) now. A copy of the letter is embedded below. One of the signatories is Town of Binghamton Supervisor Tim Whitesell, current president of the New York State Association of Towns.

The supervisors’ message to Cuomo: enough with the delay. Further delays only encourage “disruptive acts” by anti-drillers and serve no purpose. Near the end of the letter, in bold, is this paragraph:

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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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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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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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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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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Regulation | Statewide OH

Ohio Home Rule Movement to Regulate Drilling Picks up Steam
September 4, 2012September 4, 2012

The Akron Beacon Journal reports there’s a new movement gaining steam in Ohio to return “home rule” to local municipalities when it comes to oil and gas drilling. Home rule, for those unfamiliar, grants municipalities a say in whether, and where, drilling for natural gas and oil can occur within a township. Think of it as zoning, which is precisely what it is. The home rule debate is currently red hot in New York State where, similar to Ohio, the state previously passed a law removing the right of local municipalities to regulate drilling in any way (including bans). It’s also a hot topic in Pennsylvania where zoning provisions in the newly passed Act 13 law are now in PA Supreme Court awaiting a final decision.

Ohio passed a law in 2004 taking the right away from municipalities to regulate drilling. Now, some residents are trying to get the state legislature to reconsider it:

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

NY Landowner Coalition Sounds Alarm on New Delay Request
August 31, 2012August 31, 2012

The Joint Landowners Coalition of New York (JLCNY) yesterday emailed an “urgent call to action” to New York landowners and those in the state who support natural gas drilling. The JLCNY has received a tip from “credible sources” that Gov. Andrew Cuomo has been asked to once again delay the release of new drilling rules in New York, known as the SGEIS, until after the election on Nov. 6—effectively meaning “not until 2013.” The JLCNY call to action asks landowners and gas supporters to phone the governor’s office, along with the offices of other prominent politicians, asking them to not delay the release of new drilling rules.

The JLCNY does not comment on who the credible sources are, nor who is doing the asking for another delay. MDN has its own theories, but we’ll hold off for now on the speculation. The important thing (for those of us who support drilling and want the new DEC rules released NOW), is to pick up the phone and start calling.

Here’s the call to action email received by MDN:

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