Regulation

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

DRBC Says No Marcellus Vote Until Nov. 2012 Earliest
July 6, 2012December 19, 2012

Eastern parts of Pennsylvania that sit within the boundaries of the Delaware River Basin have been locked in a drilling moratorium since the Marcellus drilling boom began. Eastern PA has the misfortune of sitting inside the boundaries of the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC), which delayed a vote to allow drilling in November 2011. That vote has still not taken place.

Carol Collier, executive director of the DRBC, made an impromptu visit with Wayne County, PA landowners while in the area last week, and updated them on the “progress” being made on adoption of new drilling rules. She told landowner coalition representatives there are two reasons why new drilling rules for the Delaware River Basin will not be voted on before November 2012 at the earliest: (1) They’re waiting to see what New York does, and (2) they’re waiting for the Nov. 6 election.

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Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Regulation | Statewide OH

Ohio Beefs Up Inspection Force, Numbers will Triple by 2013
July 6, 2012December 19, 2012

One more sign that Utica Shale drilling in Ohio is heating up: By the end of this year, the state will add as many as 70 new field inspectors, tripling the size of its inspection team.

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Air Quality | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Regulation

EPA’s Draconian Air Pollution Rules Go into Effect, Sort of
July 5, 2012July 5, 2012

Marcellus Shale operations in Pennsylvania—and oil and gas operations nationwide—will need to reduce so-called air pollution emissions to comply with new federal rules issued yesterday. And even though the “fix” in “air pollution” regulations was mandated by a ~~kangaroo~~ federal court, the EPA autocratically delayed implementation for parts of the new standards for more than two years, to Jan. 1, 2015. Why? The stated reason from the EPA is that the equipment drillers will need for “green completions” is not yet widely available.

The real reason for the delay is because Obama wants to remove it as a political issue during his re-election campaign. Just like the tragedy that is nationalized health care, the real “bite” from the new EPA “fix” won’t take effect until midway through what Obama hopes is his second term, when the unpopular parts and the massive expense of the EPA ruling becomes apparent, but it can’t touch Obama politically. Sleazy.

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

Morgantown, WV Passes New Marcellus Drilling Ban
July 5, 2012July 5, 2012

The Morgantown, WV City Council is at it again. You may recall they tried to ban hydraulic fracturing last year both inside and up to one mile outside of the city limits. A judge struck down the law (see this MDN story). Council members aren’t about to give up though. On Tuesday, they passed six new ordinances that will “limit” drilling to areas immediately surrounding the Morgantown Municipal Airport.

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

When Will Fracking Begin in New York?
July 5, 2012July 5, 2012

When will fracking begin in New York? When MDN editor Jim Willis speaks with friends and family, perhaps that is the question he gets most often. Most New Yorkers and even most non-New Yorkers Jim talks with believe it’s going to happen, it’s just a question of when. Jim just has to shrug his shoulders when asked and says, “Your guess is as good as mine.”

The question on the minds of many New Yorkers is the object of endless speculation on radio talk shows and in newspaper articles. North Country Public Radio ran a segment yesterday speculating on the “when” question. They had some interesting points to make on the topic, pointing out that the New York legislature is now in recess for the rest of the year (sure wish we only had to work half a year!), and the legislature recessed without voting on key legislation that would need to be in place if drilling were going to begin this year:

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Regulation

The Accidental Fracker – Stories from NC
July 5, 2012July 5, 2012

Typically MDN does not cover the (plentiful) news about shale gas drilling in other parts of the US or even the world—unless the story has a direct bearing somehow on drilling in the Marcellus or Utica Shale. Or unless it’s about fracking technology/issues in general, which of course do have a bearing on Marcellus and Utica drilling.

But every now and again we’ll throw in a story for pure entertainment value. This time, it’s a story about North Carolina, where the fracking debate has heated up. The NC legislature recently voted to allow fracking. The Democrat governor, Bev Perdue, vetoed the legislation. And a vote was just taken to override her veto. The veto, we’re happy to report, has been overridden, and the deciding vote was cast by a Democrat who had campaigned against fracking—Becky Carney. It seems it was past Ms. Carney’s bedtime and she was so sleepy she hit the wrong voting button by mistake. Oops.

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Berks County | Bucks County | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Montgomery County | Pennsylvania | Regulation

Republicans Sneak SE PA Drilling Ban into Budget Deal
July 2, 2012July 2, 2012

An eleventh hour deal was snuck into the Pennsylvania budget signed into law by Gov. Tom Corbett late Saturday night. On Friday, an amendment was introduced to the budget that would establish a moratorium on drilling in southeastern Pennsylvania in the South Newark Basin, a small area which stretches from New Jersey through Bucks, Montgomery and Berks counties in PA.

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) recently completed an evaluation of the South Newark Basin, which contains both shale and coal bed methane deposits, along with four other East Coast basins and issued a report showing how much natural gas each basin contains (a copy is embedded below). The report says the South Newark Basin contains a minimum of 363 billion cubic feet of natural gas deposits, and their best guess is it contains around 876 billion cubic feet. It’s much smaller than the Marcellus, but certainly nothing to sneeze at.

With all of the gas drilling in the rest of the state, and with new drilling laws now in place, why place a temporary moratorium that expires in 2018 on the southeast region of the state? That’s where politics rears its ugly head—and this time it’s the Republicans who are to blame.

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Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Washington County

The Politics of Shale Energy
June 29, 2012June 29, 2012

There is a brutal fact of politics no candidate can escape (try as they might): People vote their pocketbooks. The quintessential example of that that political axiom is Washington County, Pennsylvania. Heavily Democrat in voter registration, Washington County voters did something 3 1/2 years ago they haven’t done in over 40 years—they voted for a Republican for president (John McCain). And you can bet your bottom dollar Romney will be their choice this time around.

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

DEC Seeks Industry Feedback, Antis Throw a Temper Tantrum
June 28, 2012June 28, 2012

There’s a storm brewing you need to know about. But it’s actually more like a tempest in a teapot. There’s nothing “there” in this story, except posturing by anti-drillers. With that proviso…

The Albany Times Union reports in today’s edition (in a story posted online last night) that last year, the New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) sent preview drafts for a few sections of the proposed new drilling rules (called the SGEIS) to “the industry” in August, a few weeks before the official release of the latest version of the SGEIS in September. Why would the DEC “leak” it to the industry first? Conspiracy? Cozy relationship? No. The DEC shared a few select portions because state law requires the DEC to seek feedback from those who would be regulated by the new rules.

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Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Regulation

DC Court Clears Way for EPA to Regulate Methane
June 27, 2012June 27, 2012

Welcome to the USSA – the United Socialist States of America. Just think USSR updated, because that’s what we’ve now become.

The reason for this latest MDN tirade? Yesterday the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C. ruled in favor of the rogue, power-hungry so-called Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in a case that will allow unelected bureaucrats inside the EPA to regulate everything—all human activity—under the guise that said activity produces greenhouse gas emissions (a copy of the ruling is embedded below).

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

NY Anti-Frackers Take Aim at Pro-Drilling Town Boards
June 26, 2012June 26, 2012

In a preview of things to come for New York should fracking be allowed by Gov. Cuomo, an article in today’s Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin asks whether or not town board members who own land and stand to profit from leasing have a conflict of interest. The unstated answer, according to the article, is that they do.

It is the anti-drillers in New York who a) want fracking banned completely, and if that doesn’t work, b) want local municipalities to have the right to ban it. Either way they figure they’ve got their bases covered—except there are a number of municipalities where the town boards are in favor of drilling.

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Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA Supreme Court Rules Industry Can’t Join Act 13 Lawsuit
June 26, 2012June 26, 2012

Last Friday the Pennsylvania Supreme Court denied a request by the Marcellus Shale drilling industry to participate in the lawsuit brought by seven towns, a few individuals and “a non-profit organization” against the new Act 13 drilling law in Pennsylvania. The lawsuit seeks to overturn a portion of Act 13, the part that substitutes statewide zoning regulations for local zoning regulations when it comes to the oil and gas drilling industry.

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Landowner Coalition News | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

Landowner Coalition Statement on Rumored Cuomo Fracking Plan
June 26, 2012June 26, 2012

The Joint Landowners Coalition of New York (JLCNY), a coalition of coalitions representing over 70,000 landowners, issued a statement about the unannounced/announced plan by Gov. Andrew Cuomo to allow hydraulic fracturing in five counties in New York—in a limited fashion—for the next two years. Their statement in full is embedded below.

The short version is: We’re trying to get clarification and determine what’s what, and we’re not going to criticize the governor until we hear more, and certainly not based on a newspaper article.

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

Local Politicians Gather in Albany, NY to Support “Home Rule”
June 21, 2012June 21, 2012

A number of New York State local government officials gathered in Albany on Monday, June 18 to talk about and support a new initiative to grant local municipalities the legal right to control oil and gas drilling in their borders. The concept is referred to as “home rule” and it’s gathering momentum with both Democrats and even with some Republican state legislators.

The event was sponsored by a group of anti-drilling groups, including Sustainable Otsego, Catskill Citizens for Safe Energy, and Otsego 2000. The anti-drilling group Shaleshock was also present and videoed the speakers. They offer the video on their website (click the link below to view it).

This was the press release about the home rule gathering:

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Monroe County (NY) | New York | Regulation

Rochester, NY Votes to Ban Fracking for 1 Year
June 20, 2012June 20, 2012

Et tu Rochester? Rochester, NY is the latest New York municipality to ban hydraulic fracturing. Their ban is for one year.

Seems Cuomo’s trial balloon to allow fracking (nowhere near Rochester) and the soon-to-be-released new drilling rules from the state DEC have scared some uninformed politicians, like those in Rochester, into acting rashly.

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Air Quality | Devon Energy | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Regulation

EPA Air Pollution Rules Targeted at Senate Hearing Today
June 19, 2012June 18, 2012

Today, Devon Energy Corp.’s environmental manager Darren Smith will testify before the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee in Washington, D.C. about the Environmental Protection Agency’s badly overestimated data on the amount of so-called fugitive emissions that escape from a natural gas well when it’s drilled (a copy of his full testimony is embedded below).

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