Tired of New York municipalities passing ill-advised bans on fracking, and hoping to increase the chances that landowners will be “first in line” for permits when they are finally issued, a group of landowners in New York have launched a campaign to get municipalities to pass a non-binding resolution that they will not enact a ban on fracking—and it’s working.
Read More “NY Towns Pass Resolution They WON’T Ban Fracking”
In a purely symbolic gesture, Vermont has become the first (and likely only) state in union to ban hydraulic fracturing. Gov. Peter Shumlin signed the law yesterday with a crowd of grade school students from Twinfield Union School who have been brainwashed by their teachers into thinking fossil fuels are evil. The ban is symbolic because there is no oil or gas underneath Vermont to drill for.
Yet another New York town, this one squarely in the Marcellus Shale “hot zone” of the Southern Tier area (Chemung County), is considering a ban on fracking if the state moves forward with allowing it.
The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) yesterday finalized provisions of Act 13 of 2012 related to the collection and disbursement of the impact fee for unconventional natural gas well drilling. Known as Chapter 23 of Act 13, the PUC voted 5-0 to finalize the procedures they would use to implement, collect and distribute the impact fee. A copy of the “Chapter 23 Final Implementation Order” as adopted is embedded below.
Because of an active lawsuit by seven townships and others against zoning provisions in Act 13 (known as Chapter 33 of Act 13), the PUC delayed action on that section of the new law.
Read More “PA PUC Adopts Guidelines for Impact Fee Collection/Disbursement”
An update on the Act 13 lawsuit filed by seven Pennsylvania municipalities and the Delaware Riverkeeper Network at the end of March (see this MDN story). Act 13 is a set of new drilling rules and regulations adopted by the PA legislature and signed by Gov. Tom Corbett in February of this year. Part of the new regs included a statute that says state rules on zoning for oil and gas drilling supersede or override local zoning laws. The seven towns and Riverkeeper sued to stop that portion of the new law and Commonwealth Court Judge Keith Quigley granted a temporary, 120 day injunction (see this MDN story).
The case will now be heard by the full nine-member Commonwealth Court between June 4-8. That’s big news. But there’s even bigger news:
Not that it matters beyond PR value, but Vermont will become the first state to ban the practice of hydraulic fracturing, either later this week or next:
In yet another sign that Utica Shale drilling for oil and gas is rapidly expanding in Ohio, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) has hired and is training 70 new field inspectors to help with the well permitting and reviews.
Read More “Ohio DNR Hires 70 New Field Inspectors for Utica Shale”
The Ohio Joint Committee on Agency Rule Review, a committee made up of five Ohio State Representatives and five Ohio State Senators, has approved new rules for constructing oil and gas wells in the state. They also approved new guidelines for Utica and Marcellus Shale drilling permits.
Read More “OH Legislators Vote to Approve New Drilling Rules”
On Friday, the Department of Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) released the long anticipated new rule for hydraulic fracturing on federally-owned and Indian-owned land (see a copy of the proposed new rule embedded below). The question for MDN readers is, does this have any impact on drilling in the Marcellus and Utica Shale? The answer to that question is…
Read More “BLM Issues Proposed New Rule for Fracking Federal Lands”
In a somewhat unique turnabout, some townships in New York State are voting to not adopt a gas drilling ban, preferring to let the state complete it’s now four-year-long review process before making any decisions about drilling. One of those towns is Colesville:
The price for drilling a Marcellus Shale gas well in Pennsylvania that “misses” and is not economically viable may have just gotten a lot steeper. It looks like the state Public Utility Commission (PUC), charged with collecting and distributing the new impact fee under Act 13, is going to levy the fee on exploratory wells that end up not being productive and plugged.
Read More “Unproductive PA Wells Still Liable for Partial Impact Fee”
Friday was document-dump day at the federal government. In addition to the Bureau of Land Management’s new hydraulic fracturing on federal land proposed rule (see this MDN story), the Environmental Protection Agency issued a new policy, or “Guidance” as they call it, for granting drilling permits to drillers who want to use diesel fuel as a component in their fracking fluid mix (a copy of the new Guidance is embedded below).
Read More “EPA Issues Draft Rule on Using Diesel Fuel in Fracking Fluid”
Two Ohio state Democrat representatives have introduced a new bill that would require an “audit clause” to be recorded in every oil and gas drilling lease in the state. The bill is an effort, according to its authors, to insert third party verification of production numbers reported by companies so landowners don’t have to rely on the driller’s “honesty” in reporting those numbers.
Read More “OH Bill Requires 3rd Party Verification of O&G Production”
Al Amrendariz, EPA Region 6 administrator (Texas and surrounding states) has been hoist by his own petard. Yesterday he resigned—in disgrace. It seems nearly everyone (but anti-drillers) were calling for his resignation after a video of Armendariz came to light where he outlined his philosophy of enforcement against energy company “violators” to that of the Romans who used to enter a village, find the first five men, and crucify them—which had the effect of, shall we say, making everyone else behave themselves (see MDN’s previous story on Armendariz to watch the infamous video).
Read More “EPA Administrator Al Armendariz Resigns over Crucify Comment”
MDN reported earlier this week that certain key New York State senators (and others) were signaling that if/when hydraulic fracturing is allowed to go forward in the state, it may only happen in communities that support it (see this MDN story). We now have further confirmation that indeed that will likely be the case from none other than Joe Martens, the Commissioner of the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC).
Read More “NY DEC Chief Says Supportive Towns More Likely to be Drilled”
The Town of Bethel, in Sullivan County, NY, was home to the Woodstock “music festival” in 1969. Bethel is also the latest New York township to ban hydraulic fracturing. Both events have at least one thing in common: They’re both supported by hippies and hippie-wannabes.
Last night, the Bethel town board voted 5-0 to ban fracking before a “crowd” of 70 in attendance: