Research

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    Fracking Shale Will Spur Another 462K Plastics Jobs Next 10 Yrs

    Economists at the American Chemistry Council have just published a new report called “The Rising Competitive Advantage of U.S. Plastics” in which they state over the next 10 years U.S. jobs related to plastics manufacturing are expected to grow by 462,000. Why? Because of plentiful and affordable natural gas and natural gas liquids from shale. A decade ago the U.S. was one of the world’s highest cost producers of plastics. Today, because of shale, we’re one of the lowest cost producers. And it gets better every year. More and more manufacturing plants are relocating to the U.S. to take advantage of a cheap supply of plastics and low cost natural gas, made possible by shale energy. Plastics materials makers pay workers on average nearly $85,000 per year. Made possible by the miracle of fracking…
    Read More “Fracking Shale Will Spur Another 462K Plastics Jobs Next 10 Yrs”

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    Reversal: Media Discredits Penn State Water Contamination Study

    ripping mask offThe mask has been ripped off fractivist liars peddling what they pretend is science–and it’s been ripped off by mainstream media outlets including the Associated Press, USA Today, the International Business Times and (yes) The New York Times. Let us explain. Last week MDN brought you a story about a new research study that was ostensibly authored by Penn State researchers which found, using “non-traditional” methods of research, that wastewater leaking from an above-ground impoundment had migrated up to a mile and a half away and had contaminated three private water wells in PA–five years ago (see Penn State Finds Chemical Migration in 3 PA Water Wells from 2010). We told you how mainstream media, including the AP, had gone wild with excitement, endlessly repeating the story with the implication this is the smoking gun. The so-called research paper was published in the peer reviewed journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences–a gold standard among academic journals. It seems one of the authors of that paper lied…
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    EIA DPR May 2015: Shale Production Slips, But Not in Marc/Utica

    Our favorite government agency, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), released our favorite government report, the Drilling Productivity Report, yesterday. There is important news to report from the DPR. First, the total amount of natural gas produced across all of the seven major commercial shale plays tracked in the DPR slide backward for the second month in a row. Last month, you may recall, was the very first time in the modern shale era when production month to month was not higher than the month before (see First Time Ever: US Shale Produces Less Oil/Gas Month Over Month). That trend continued this month (forecasting for volumes in June). Last month the total volume reduced by 23 million cubic feet per day (Mmcf/d) than the month before. This month? It goes down 112 Mmcf/d. That is, the shrinkage in production is accelerating. Except in two plays. Can you guess which two shale plays are still in positive territory–producing more shale gas this month than last month, hitting new all-time highs? That’s right–the Marcellus and Utica. All other shale plays produced less natural gas this month than last with the exception of the Marcellus, hitting a new high of 16,737 Mmcf/d (or put another way, 16.737 billion cubic feet), and the Utica, hitting a new high of 2,509 Mmcf/d (2.509 Bcf/d)…
    Read More “EIA DPR May 2015: Shale Production Slips, But Not in Marc/Utica”

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    USGS Research – Marcellus Wastewater from 13 PA Wells Tested

    The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) has just published a new research paper on the topic of produced water–the water that comes out of a drilled hole, drilled for an oil or gas well. The paper, titled “Organic and inorganic composition and microbiology of produced waters from Pennsylvania shale gas wells” was published in the journal Applied Geochemistry and looked at produced water samples from Pennsylvania Marcellus Shale wells. The weakness in the research is that it is based on water samples from only 13 wells. Quite frankly, the research (which we think pursues a worthwhile line of inquiry) raises more questions than it answers. What can we divine from this study? In our cursory review, it appears two things stand out: (1) Although the inorganic chemistry of the produced water was pretty consistent across all 13 wells, there were big differences in the organic geochemistry and microbiology (bacteria) from well to well; and (2) volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were found in only a few samples–just 4 of the 13 wells…
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    The #1 Factor in Earth’s Temps/Weather (Hint: It’s Not Mankind)

    Do you know what the single biggest factor is that governs earth’s weather and temperatures across the globe? If you guessed burning fossil fuels and the amount of carbon in the atmosphere–you would be dead wrong. The single biggest factor affecting our climate has nothing to do with mankind–it is the sun. You know, that bright yellow thing in the sky? The sun heats the earth, and when the sun has sunspots–or radiation storms–that activity causes temps on ole Mom Earth to spike up. What happens when there is an absence of sunspots? What has happened over the past 20 years that there have been fewer and fewer sunspots–the earth stops getting warmer and begins to cool. Nearly all of the opposition to natural gas drilling and pipelines comes from people with an irrational hatred of fossil fuels–people who believe we’re about to fry because of “global warming.” That’s what drives opposition to good, wholesome, beneficial use of fossil fuels. So every now and again we highlight stories on so-called climate change–because that’s at the root of why most people oppose natural gas. Paul Driessen, author of the book “Eco-Imperialism: Green Power – Black Death” and Senior Policy Analyst with the Committee For A Constructive Tomorrow has written a top shelf article on the always excellent Natural Gas Now website. We think this article does a great job of explaining why the earth warms and cools–in cycles. So we’re bringing you his article here in total…
    Read More “The #1 Factor in Earth’s Temps/Weather (Hint: It’s Not Mankind)”

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    Rig Counts Continue Big Decline in April, NE May Have Bottomed

    The rotary rig count tabulated by Baker Hughes continued to slide in April. The latest monthly rig count report shows another 134 land-based rigs in the U.S. were laid down between March and April. As of April there were 943 active rigs drilling on land in the U.S., down from 1,067 rigs in March. Ouch. What about the Marcellus and Utica region? MDN has done some analysis and we have reason to hope that we may have hit the bottom in the northeast as far as declining rig counts…
    Read More “Rig Counts Continue Big Decline in April, NE May Have Bottomed”

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    Penn State Uses Anti-Drilling Trout Unlimited for Marcellus Monitoring

    More than a year ago MDN pointed out that a group begun with good intentions but later co-opted by anti-drillers, Trout Unlimited, has been outted as a radical so-called green group (see Trout Unlimited, Other Groups Outted as Radical Green Groups). So it was surprising to read that Penn State researchers, apparently desperate for volunteers for a stream monitoring project, are turning to the anti-drilling “volunteers” of Trout Unlimited to help them collect “scientific” samples from streams located near Marcellus Shale drilling. Anyone else here see a big red flag and potential conflict of interest?…
    Read More “Penn State Uses Anti-Drilling Trout Unlimited for Marcellus Monitoring”

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    Study: If You’s Po’ and Lives in Rural PA, You’s Gettin’ Fracked

    If you’s po’ and lives in Penns’vania, ‘hio or West Gini, you’s gettin’ polluted by that evil, nasty frackin’. And chances are, you’s too stupid to knows it.” That’s the essential conclusion of a highly discriminatory and inaccurate “study” called “Spatial distribution of unconventional gas wells and human populations in the Marcellus Shale in the United States: Vulnerability analysis,” recently published in the so-called journal Applied Geography by so-called researchers from Clark University. The “researchers” don’t bother with fundamental research, like reviewing health records of people who live near active Marcellus Shale drilling areas. That would take waaaay too much work. Instead, they just assume that if you live near drilling, you’re getting polluted. The focus of the “research” is on the cockamamie theory of environmental justice. The “researchers” found that people living out in the country–where this activity typically takes place–by and large are poorer than those living in towns and cities (and on elite college campi). Wow–such a brilliant insight! “Because they po’, they don’t read all that much…they can’t figure out theys gettin’ polluted.” Yes, its disgustingly prejudiced–but that’s what passes for scholarship these days…
    Read More “Study: If You’s Po’ and Lives in Rural PA, You’s Gettin’ Fracked”

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    Media Continues to Demagogue PA “Water Contamination” Research

    acid tripYesterday MDN alerted you to the coming buzz saw of media lies about a new study that reportedly shows three Pennsylvania water wells that may have been contaminated by nearby fracking operations (see Penn State Finds Chemical Migration in 3 PA Water Wells from 2010). As we pointed out yesterday, this is an isolated case from five years ago where a wastewater impoundment was found to be leaking–hardly a smoking gun that “fracking contaminates surface water supplies” (the lie that psychotics like Daily Kos readers chant to themselves every day). Anti-drilling reporters in mainstream media are committing malpractice in their reporting of this study. The reporting has reached a fevered pitch–almost like the reporters are experiencing an ecstatic LSD acid trip. The story has gone worldwide and the headlines (and lies) continue to pour in. We spotted a great analysis of the research and what the research says–and doesn’t say–by the always-excellent Energy in Depth. We think it’s worth repeating here for the MDN audience…
    Read More “Media Continues to Demagogue PA “Water Contamination” Research”

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    Spring 2015 List of Shale-Related Infrastructure Projects in OH

    We’re excited to share with you an update to a report we LOVE. The sharp researchers at law firm Bricker & Eckler produce a twice yearly called “Shale Economic Development Overview.” It is a list of projects details, by county in Ohio, of those projects started or planned because of shale drilling. The Spring 2015 edition is embedded below. The first edition of this list was published in October 2013 and showed projects worth $12.2 billion. Last October that number had risen to a staggering $21.5 billion. For this report, the new total rises to $28 billion–a more modest increase than before, but the fact that it’s increasing is a testament to the fact that although drilling has greatly slowed, the midstream (pipelines and processing plants) have not…
    Read More “Spring 2015 List of Shale-Related Infrastructure Projects in OH”

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    Penn State Finds Chemical Migration in 3 PA Water Wells from 2010

    Media reaction to research findings that trace amounts of chemicals used in Marcellus fracking were found a mile and a half away in three water wells is nearly orgasmic. “Finally! We can shut down this evil, wicked, nasty drilling for fossil fuels!” That’s the unstated (but very clear) reaction from anti-drilling “reporters” at the Associated Press, Bloomberg, StateImpact Pennsylvania and other assorted mainstream media outlets. They do their best to hide all of the pertinent facts in their “reporting.” So MDN is here to set the record straight. First, researchers at Penn State set out to tackle a particularly thorny problem. Back in 2010 (yes, over five years ago) three (yes, only three) property owners near a shale drilling operation reported problems with their drinking water. The researchers, using breakthrough, new “nontraditional” methods have determined that it’s likely (not 100% sure, but reasonably sure) that flowback water that was stored in an open pit leaked out of that pit and hit some underground fractures that allowed the flowback water to travel up to 2 kilometers (1.6 miles) away and contaminate the water wells of those three nearby neighbors. It happened one time, to three water wells, five years ago and was related to a leaky impoundment. Those are the facts. Here’s some of the headlines you’re reading yesterday and today in over 100 major news outlets coast to coast currently bombarding the population with this earth-shattering “news”…
    Read More “Penn State Finds Chemical Migration in 3 PA Water Wells from 2010”

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    MDN Thinks It’s Time to Divest Your Money from HSBC Bank

    If you still do your banking at HSBC (otherwise known as The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation), perhaps it’s time you didn’t. We think it’s time to “divest” from doing business with, and putting your money in this anti-fossil fuel organization. The so-called Climate Change section of HSBC recently circulated a note to investors (copy below) telling them they should divest from fossil fuel companies and if they don’t, they “may one day be seen to be late movers, on ‘the wrong side of history'”. We’d like to make a little history ourselves. If you have your checking and savings account with HSBC, personal or commercial, why not move it now? Don’t be a “late mover” or you may not get your money once the stampede to divest from HSBC begins…
    Read More “MDN Thinks It’s Time to Divest Your Money from HSBC Bank”

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    UMD Junk Science Research “Links” Shale Drilling to Air Pollution

    A new anti-drilling “study” (i.e. junk science) has just been released by anti-drillers at the University of Maryland–pretending to be real science when it’s not. The study claims to show that locations hundreds of miles “downwind” from active shale drilling operations end up with higher levels of ethane in the air than other locations. Of course the “researchers” didn’t bother to conduct similar tests and analysis for locations not downwind from drilling. They found a spike in ethane concentrations in the air in Baltimore and immediately jumped to the conclusion it’s from Pennsylvania Marcellus Shale drilling, and then worked hard to connect a bunch of dots that would “prove” just how nasty and vile this whole Marcellus shale drilling thing really is (and consequently why it should be banned in PA, WV and OH). Predictable, and sad that yet another institution like the University of Maryland has prostituted itself on the alter of Big Green…
    Read More “UMD Junk Science Research “Links” Shale Drilling to Air Pollution”

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    USGS: WV Shale Drilling has No Effect on Mon River Basin Water

    Hey Delaware River Basin Commission–listen up. There’s another river basin not far from you–the Monongahela River Basin in Pennsylvania and West Virginia–that has seen a LOT of Marcellus Shale fracking over the past eight years. Researchers with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) did some water testing, both before fracking began and recently. They compared the results. What do the results show? “No significant difference from historical water samples” between then and now. What about methane in the water. EVERYBODY knows those frackers can’t help themselves and that methane travels like an STD once you start sinking holes all over the place. Methane will spot a surface water source a mile away and make a beeline for it, right? So what about methane levels then and now? “Although methane was detected in samples, the concentrations were similar to those in samples collected prior to intensive shale gas development.” Huh. Can you imagine that? Can you imagine that it’s actually SAFE to drill in a watershed like the Monongahela–or the Delaware? The science says it is, but of course that won’t convince anti-drilling nutters…
    Read More “USGS: WV Shale Drilling has No Effect on Mon River Basin Water”

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    Syracuse Prof Targeted in Effort to Discredit Drilling Research

    How’s this for the pot calling the kettle black: A Syracuse anti-drilling attorney says a Syracuse University professor who co-authored a research report published in the peer reviewed journal Environmental Science & Technology is ethically challenged because the prof didn’t declare a “financial interest” with Chesapeake Energy. Chesapeake is the company providing years and years of data used as the basis for the study (the only available data of its kind). With advance apologies to our many lawyer subscribers…An attorney accusing a professor of being ethically challenged? If that doesn’t beat all! We highlighted the important Syracuse research study in March (see Syracuse U Study: Fracking Doesn’t Cause Methane in PA Water Wells). The lead author is Syracuse University professor Donald Siegel. Dr. Siegel’s good work comes to the “wrong” conclusion (for anti-drillers), so he instantly became a target. Apparently Siegel “has a contract” with Chesapeake and he makes a little extra coin on the side doing work for private companies like Chesapeake (a common practice among professors). Because Siegel didn’t declare the small fees paid to him by Chesapeake as a conflict of interest when filing his research report, he’s now being targeted for reputation assassination by an anti-drilling squad…
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    IHS CERAWeek Prediction: Marcellus will Produce 30 Bcf/d by 2035

    A useful update and prediction on how much natural gas will be produced in the Marcellus by the early 2020s and eventually, by 2035 at the IHS CERAWeek conference in Houston last week. In addition, another analyst outlined the pipeline/midstream situation in the northeast. You’ll want to read what they had to say about how much gas will be produced in the Marcellus, and where it will get used/sold…
    Read More “IHS CERAWeek Prediction: Marcellus will Produce 30 Bcf/d by 2035”