New York

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

Sullivan County, NY Township Votes to Ban Fracking
July 12, 2012December 19, 2012

Another one bites the dust. A township in Sullivan County—the Catskill region of New York State—has voted to ban hydraulic fracturing ahead of the state allowing it (if they allow it). The Town of Highland board voted 5-0 to ban fracking Tuesday night.

What you don’t hear about so often in the press are all of the towns voting in favor of drilling—or at least in favor of letting the DEC do it’s job and not prejudging the outcome. Anecdotal evidence MDN has heard is that something over 100 townships have voted to ban fracking (most of them not in the Marcellus Shale region), while perhaps 50 have voted to allow the DEC to do it’s job—what anti-drillers view as being supportive of drilling. Most of those are in the Marcellus Shale region.

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Statewide NY

NY Anti-Frackers are Getting Desperate, and it Shows
July 11, 2012December 19, 2012

Organized opposition to hydraulic fracturing in New York—mostly located in New York City—is getting desperate, and it shows in the shrill tenor of their rallies. They sense that the state Department of Environment Conservation (DEC) is about to release the final final final final version of New York’s drilling rules, called the SGEIS (Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement). And so to turn up the heat, they rally and protest.

Their latest target/tactic? Demand that Gov. Andrew Cuomo withdraw the SGEIS and send it to someone else for an “independent review.” Why?

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Statewide NY

Fracking Ban in NY Town Closes Conventional Wells Too
July 10, 2012December 19, 2012

The rabid, frothing-at-the-mouth frenzy to try and ban fracking by New York municipalities has now not only claimed possible future shale drilling, it’s also claimed casualties in traditional natural gas drilling. Collateral damage. Most New Yorkers are completely ignorant that fracking has been going on in New York for decades—fracking of vertical, conventional gas and oil wells. But they don’t (or won’t) bother to study the issue and try to understand it. It’s much easier to attend rallies and get worked up than it is to actually THINK.

And so the “wise leaders” of Avon Township in Livingston County, NY (western part of the state), against plenty of warning, passed a drilling ban on June 28 that includes not only shale gas horizontal drilling, but also includes conventional gas wells, pipelines and storage facilities. So a local driller has shut down their 16 gas wells in the township along with a pipeline, turning off low-cost gas that was flowing to the township itself. Way to go town board! Cut that nose off to spite your face. Dunderheads.

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

Cuomo Inches Closer to Fracking in NY, Supports “Home Rule”
July 10, 2012December 19, 2012

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo inched closer to endorsing fracking in the state in an interview on New York Public Radio yesterday. This is what he said:

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Broome County | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York

Paladino Says NY Sen. Libous (Ab)using Fracking to Fundraise
July 9, 2012December 19, 2012

Carl Paladino, a conservative who ran as the Republican candidate against Democrat Andrew Cuomo in the 2010 gubernatorial election in New York, isn’t a fan of New York State Senator Tom Libous. Libous is a Binghamton resident and the number two senator in the Republican-controlled (yes you read that right, Republican-controlled) New York State Senate.

If fracking begins in New York, much of it will be in the counties Libous represents. He’s been on record mostly supporting fracking in New York State, but there have been the odd statements here and there when he seems to back away from a full-throated endorsement. Paladino says Libous is a RINO (Republican In Name Only) who is manipulating the fracking issue to get more campaign money. Ouch. Tell us what you really think Carl!

He does just that. From an open letter issued by Paladino to the “222 Committeemen in Senate District 52” (which is Libous’ district):

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Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | New York | Shell | Steuben County

Sierra Club Sues to Stop Water Sales in Steuben County, NY
July 9, 2012December 19, 2012

In March 2012, the village board in Painted Post (Steuben County), NY voted to sell water to Shell for use in fracking operations across the border in Pennsylvania. The Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC) gave its blessing to Painted Post to sell up to 1 million gallons of water day. But the decision doesn’t sit well with anti-drillers.

According to NGI’s Shale Daily, the Sierra Club and several area organizations sued the village board in late June to stop the sale from taking place.

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Chenango County | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Landowner Coalition News | New York | Regulation

Will NY Gov. Cuomo’s Fracking Plan be Limited to 4 Counties?
July 6, 2012December 19, 2012

Is the Lucky Five counties in New York that will see drilling now the Lucky Four? You may recall a few weeks ago the New York Times, using an unnamed source inside Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration (cough *Andy* cough), floated a “trial balloon” plan that will allow high volume hydraulic fracturing, i.e. fracking, for a limited number of permits in five Southern Tier counties for a two-year period: Broome, Chenango, Chemung, Steuben and Tioga (see this MDN story).

One of New York’s largest landowner coalition groups, CNY Landowner’s Coalition, represents Chenango County—one of the Lucky Five. They have reliable “inside” sources that tell them Chenango County may not be included in the limited, two-year experiment. And they are marshaling their members to make noise about it.

Below is an email received by MDN on July 3 from the CNY Landowner’s Coalition outlining the rumor they’ve heard, and what they want members to do about it.

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New York | Statewide NY

New Shale Oil Well Just Drilled…in NY?!
July 6, 2012December 19, 2012

This story caught MDN’s eye because it involves drilling an oil and gas well, in New York State, in a shale layer, using horizontal drilling. But not fracking:

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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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Energy Companies | New York | Norse Energy | Statewide NY

Norse Energy Special Shareholder Appeal – Sneak Preview
July 3, 2012July 3, 2012

On July 5, Norse Energy Corp will hold what they call an “Extraordinary General Meeting” (EGM) for shareholders in Oslo, Norway. Norse Energy’s CEO Mark Dice will present to shareholders using the PowerPoint embedded below. MDN has included a rundown of what’s in the slides.

For better or worse, Norse has most of its investments in leases in New York State, and the now four-year long delay in adopting new drilling rules, called the SGEIS, has strained the company’s resources. They’ve refinanced debt, sold off assets, taken on investors and have done whatever they can to “hang in there” until drilling finally begins in New York. The slides in the presentation show just how key New York’s decision is to Norse’s future.

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Forced Pooling | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Statewide NY

NY and Compulsory Integration – MDN Agrees with Slottje (!)
July 3, 2012July 3, 2012

David Slottje and his wife Helen are both lawyers funded in part by the Park Foundation (in Ithaca, NY) to run around trying to convince local town boards in New York to ban hydraulic fracturing. They are, in a word, the enemies of landowner property rights. They seek to deny landowners who want to lease their land for gas drilling the right to do so.

So when MDN read an editorial (not surprisingly) in the Ithaca Journal written by David Slottje that makes reference to the rumored plan by Gov. Cuomo to allow limited drilling in five counties as being “devastating” to landowner property rights, it was a laugh-out-loud moment. The height of hypocrisy and arrogance to say landowner rights will be devastated by the very person doing the most to devastate them.

But what wasn’t so funny was that getting beyond the rank hypocrisy and looking at the substance of what Slottje wrote, MDN had to agree with his viewpoint—on this one particular issue.

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Erie County (NY) | New York

UB Issues Supportive Statement for its Shale Institute
June 29, 2012June 29, 2012

You may recall that recently the brand new Shale Resources and Society Institute at the University at Buffalo (UB) published a 52-page study that found environmental problems caused by Marcellus Shale gas drilling in Pennsylvania were isolated, mostly minor and on the decline. The enviro-left perceived a threat. This is a major university coming out in support of drilling—something that cannot stand. So the enviro-left flew into action to try and shame, cajole and bully UB into retracting support for its own newly established Institute. And it seemed to work (see this MDN story).

But what’s this? Yesterday UB issued a press statement that supports the Institute. Sort of. Lukewarm. Half-heartedly. UB defended the Institute by saying the university does not and will not dictate the positions taken by its faculty members on controversial topics, and that UB has no plans to get rid of the Institute. Here’s the full statement:

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Pennsylvania | Statewide NY | Statewide PA

SRBC Suspends Water Withdrawals in Some Areas
June 29, 2012June 29, 2012

The Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC), unlike the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC), actively manages water withdrawals for shale drilling from the rivers and streams that are a part of its jurisdiction. The DRBC allows no water withdrawals at all—yet.

Yesterday the SRBC suspended withdrawals at 37 different locations because water levels have dropped from lack of rain. This happens periodically. Withdrawals in some locations are suspended for a time, and then allowed to restart when levels rise again. The SRBC continues to do a good job of managing water supplies throughout the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

Here’s the press release and list of affected areas:

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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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Chemung County | Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Talisman Energy

Hit and Run Protest at Talisman Office in Big Flats, NY
June 28, 2012June 28, 2012

Here’s the non-news news: About 100 protesters from Ithaca and New York City showed up for a 30-minute “hit and run” protest in front of Talisman Energy’s offices in Big Flats, NY (near Corning, in Chemung County). The rabble rousers, led by Shaleshock, made wild claims about Talisman polluting the environment and read a statement claiming they’ll lay down in front of trucks if drilling begins in New York. In less than a half hour from the time they arrived, they were “escorted” from the premises, where they were illegally protesting (it’s private property).

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Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | New York | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Statewide NY | Statewide OH | Statewide PA | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Energy Execs Rank Drilling Locations Including WV, OH, PA, NY
June 27, 2012June 27, 2012

Each year, the Canadian-based Fraser Institute surveys petroleum industry executives and managers (623 of them for 2012) asking them their opinions on the barriers to investing in exploration and production in various geographies across the globe. That is, what makes them more likely or less likely to spend money drilling in a particular location?

The Global Petroleum Survey, as it’s called, tallies the survey responses and ranks each geography from most desirable place to invest, to least desirable. The rankings for this year are interesting and illustrative that politicians’ words and legislation have a direct bearing on where, and how much, drilling companies are willing to spend.

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