Regulation

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

Broome County, NY Township to Hold Hearing on Drilling Ban
August 17, 2012August 17, 2012

In a completely unexpected move, the Town of Chenango (Broome County, NY) has scheduled a public hearing on October 1st to consider a proposed one-year moratorium on natural gas drilling. That is, a couple of town board members in Chenango may ruin the ability for all landowners in the the town to allow drilling on or under their land for the foreseeable future. This is bad news for landowners in Chenango (not far from where MDN is written).

Broome County is likely one of the places where initial permits to drill will be issued, but DEC Commissioner Joe Martens and Gov. Andrew Cuomo have both said communities that don’t want drilling won’t get it. A vote to ban it—even temporarily—is a loud and clear message to the DEC to stay away.

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

Judge Rules Act 13 Zoning Unconstitutional During Appeal
August 17, 2012August 17, 2012

The ongoing and currently unresolved court case in Pennsylvania over PA’s newly passed Act 13 law has an interesting new twist. You may recall a few weeks ago the middle-level Commonwealth Court in PA upheld a lower court ruling striking down the zoning provisions in the new Act 13 drilling law (see this MDN story). Those provisions under Act 13 substitute statewide zoning rules for oil and gas drilling in place of any local restrictions. Seven townships sued to have that portion of the law struck down and so far two courts have agreed. It’s now on appeal to the PA Supreme Court.

However, while the decision of the lower courts is on appeal to the Supreme Court, the original zoning portion of Act 13 was still in effect—until a judge’s order on Wednesday.

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

PA Town to Vote on Fracking Ban
August 15, 2012August 15, 2012

In New York State, it’s not uncommon to read about two or three misinformed town board members voting to ban drilling for all of its citizens. But it’s not something you read about happening in Pennsylvania all that often. So when it does happen in PA, it’s news.

No, a PA town has not recently voted to ban fracking, but Ferguson Township in Centre County will have a referendum on the ballot in the November election asking citizens whether or not they want to strip away the property rights of their neighbors. Ferguson residents who favor the U.S. Constitution, make sure you get out and vote!

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

NY Anti-Driller Cuckoo Birds on Full Display
August 15, 2012August 15, 2012

There’s no nice way of saying this, so I won’t. The closer we get to the release of new rules that will allow the 60-year old technology of hydraulic fracturing to be used in New York, more and more nut jobs will come out of the New York woodwork.

The latest case in point comes from Paul Bray, columnist for the Albany Times Union:

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

Town of Caroline, NY Prepares to Strip Away Landowner Rights
August 14, 2012August 14, 2012

Landowners in the Town of Caroline (Tompkins County, NY) are about to have their constitutionally protected property rights stripped away by the anti-drilling town board. Elections do have consequences, and last November two level-headed pro-drilling board members were tossed in favor of anti-drillers. What follows? Citizens are denied their constitutional rights.

Thursday night the town board will hold a freak show public hearing on their proposed fracking ban:

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Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Newfield Exploration | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Wayne County

Newfield Plugs 3 Exploratory Wells in Wayne County, PA
August 14, 2012August 14, 2012

Newfield Exploration is plugging three exploratory wells they drilled in Wayne County, PA in 2010. Why? They won’t comment on what they found in the wells, but the fact is, the Delaware River Basin Commission controls drilling in most of Wayne County and the DRBC has so far not allowed drilling in the Marcellus Shale. They currently have an ongoing review process for new rules to allow drilling, but the sitting members of the Commission have not voted to release the rules.

So to comply with PA Dept. of Environmental Protection rules, Newfield is plugging the wells—at least for now.

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Regulation | Statewide VA | Virginia

Fracking Battle Heats Up in…Virginia?
August 14, 2012August 14, 2012

The Marcellus and Utica Shale formations only just skirt the outer edge of the State of Virginia—almost following a path along it’s western border with West Virginia and Kentucky. So the great debate over drilling and fracking has not really touched Virginia in a significant way—until now.

The Roanoke Times reports there is now a “battle” over fracking in The Old Dominion state:

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

Bombshell: NY DEC Head Martens Started Anti-Fracking Group
August 13, 2012August 13, 2012

Well well. Jon Campbell from the Gannett News Service wrote an article yesterday about New York Dept. of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Joe Martens. It has a surprising revelation in it.

If you’ve read MDN for any length of time, you no doubt will know we have said we believe Joe Martens to be the fox in the henhouse—that is, the man put in charge of hydraulic fracturing in the state is a committed opponent of it (see this MDN story). Were we wrong?

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

Ohio Drought: Does Fracking Use Too Much Water?
August 13, 2012August 13, 2012

Like Pennsylvania, Ohio is experiencing drought conditions this summer. With drought conditions comes concerns that drilling companies use too much water from local rivers and streams (and other sources) for fracking. But also like PA, the amount of water used for fracking in Ohio is truly miniscule compared with other uses.

Until the recent passage of Senate Bill 315, Ohio could not control access to how much water is used by drilling companies. That’s now changed:

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

Oxford, NY Decides to Stay Neutral in Drilling Debate
August 10, 2012August 10, 2012

It’s not exactly a ringing endorsement, but it’s also not a vote to ban fracking. The town board for Oxford (Chenango County, NY), decided at a meeting Wednesday night to not vote one way or the other on drilling, but instead to wait for the Dept. of Environmental Conservation to issue its new drilling guidelines. Oxford sits squarely in both the Utica and Marcellus Shale zones of New York State.

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Regulation | Trucking

U.S. DOT Trucking Rule Clarification Targets Shale Drilling
August 10, 2012August 10, 2012

Back in June, MDN wrote about a new “rule clarification” by the U.S. Dept. of Transportation that disallows truckers from subtracting down time as they wait for trucks to be loaded/unloaded when it comes to hauling water and sand for fracking oil and gas wells (see this MDN story).

The rule clarification has been controversial (and costly). More than 60 Congressmen sent a letter to Transportation Sec. LaHood last week requesting the rule clarification be reversed because it targets a particular industry: shale drilling. Some say the DOT is giving the EPA and DOE an assist since those federal agencies are having a hard slowing down natural gas development in favor of so-called alternative energy development. The rule change helps put the brakes on (pun intended).

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

More Details on Gov. Cuomo’s Plan to Start Fracking
August 9, 2012August 9, 2012

We have a lot more insight into what Gov. Cuomo is planning thanks to Tom Wilbur, former environmental reporter for Gannett News and the Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin. Tom is a confirmed anti-driller. He won’t tell you that, but we will. We’ve read his writing for years, and it’s evident that he’s opposed to shale gas drilling.

However, he has his sources in Albany, and they’ve come through for him big-time. Tom writes about many of the details Gov. Cuomo and the Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DEC) are revealing to anti-drilling environmental groups ahead of the public release of new drilling rules for New York (called the SGEIS). He chronicles the details on his blog.

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

Caton, NY Decides to Stay Neutral in the Fracking Debate
August 9, 2012August 9, 2012

The town board for the Town of Caton (Steuben County, NY) decided last night to not cast a vote either way in the fracking debate. They won’t vote on a resolution in favor of drilling, nor will they vote for a ban, according to Town Supervisor Kate Hughes. Instead, they’ll remain neutral on the issue.

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

NY to Release New Fracking Regulations by Labor Day
August 8, 2012August 8, 2012

A major announcement is on the way in New York State about fracking and and the now four year-old moratorium on horizontal drilling: The fracking ban is about to end. According to a commentary published in the Albany Times Union last Saturday, top officials from the Cuomo administration are briefing “selected environmental groups” about his plan to allow fracking in New York State—a plan which he’ll release before Labor Day.

Here’s what’s being reported:

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

NY Town with Permits wants Food Grade Fluids in Fracking
August 7, 2012August 7, 2012

The Town of German, NY, located in Chenango County—one of the “Lucky Five” counties that may see limited fracking if Gov. Cuomo signs off on it—took a vote and sent a letter to both Gov. Cuomo and Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Commissioner Joe Martens asking them to require drillers to use “food grade fluids” when and if fracking begins. Why is that letter important for this tiny town with a population of 370? Because three permits to drill in the Utica Shale are pending for the Town of German, and the town board’s letter to the DEC may be interpreted as a “don’t drill here” indication.

Both Com. Martens and Gov. Cuomo have stated when and if drilling permits are issued, they’ll go only to “supportive” communities. Sure sounds like German is not being all that supportive with their letter.

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Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA DEP Sec. Michael Krancer Takes the Gloves Off
August 6, 2012August 6, 2012

When you’re effective at your job and your enemies don’t like it, they call you mean. Case in point: Michael Krancer, Secretary of the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP). He’s very effective in his job as the state’s top regulator of oil and gas drilling. And anti-drillers just hate him.

The Philadelphia Inquirer published a story yesterday outlining just how mean he is (no doubt a badge of honor for Mr. Krancer). The story starts this way:

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