New York

Broome County | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Landowner Coalition News | New York

MDN Visits Anti-Fracking Big Splash Event in Binghamton
June 6, 2011June 6, 2011

MDN took a field trip on Sunday afternoon to visit Recreation Park in Binghamton, NY (“Rec Park” as it’s known to us locals). The purpose? To see the sights and sounds of the Binghamton Big Splash, a one-day concert with eight local bands, coordinated by the Finger Lakes Clean Water Initiative, designed to oppose Marcellus Shale drilling in New York State.

Of particular interest to MDN was a tent on the premises hosted by the Joint Landowners Coalition of New York (JLCNY), there to present the pro-drilling side of the story. MDN editor Jim Willis had the pleasure of meeting and talking with JLCNY President Dan Fitzsimmons and JLCNY Second VP Bryant La Tourette.

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

Binghamton’s Big Splash Fracking Symposium More Like a Tiny Raindrop
June 6, 2011June 6, 2011

MDN visited an anti-fracking concert called “The Big Splash,” held at Binghamton’s Recreation Park on Sunday afternoon (see today’s companion article). While there were several hundred people on location enjoying music and food—maybe 400 or so by MDN’s count—it certainly wasn’t the “thousands” hoped for at the event. Local bands provided music and anti-fracking groups manned tables around the perimeter of a large tent, providing literature on the “horrors” of hydraulic fracturing.

But the big news of the weekend was from the “warm-up” event on Saturday. The Saturday event was a symposium on hydraulic fracturing held at the Riverwalk Hotel & Conference Center on Water Street in Binghamton. The symposium was hyped by the media in advance, but only 45 people turned up according to press accounts.

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Cayuga County | Industrywide Issues | New York | Public Opinion | Wastewater

Marcellus Drilling Debate Now Affecting Conventional Gas Drilling in New York State
June 3, 2011June 3, 2011

The debate over horizontal hydraulic fracturing in the Marcellus Shale has now spilled over to affect conventional gas drilling in New York State. Protesters rallied outside Auburn City Hall (a small city in Upstate New York) yesterday afternoon to oppose the local municipal sewage treatment plant’s practice of accepting gas drilling wastewater for treatment and release into the Owasco River. None of the wastewater accepted comes from Marcellus Shale drilling—it all comes from conventional natural gas drilling in New York State.

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Broome County | Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | XTO

Large Turnout for DRBC Hearing in Deposit, NY – Last Minute Surprise from DEC Head Joe Martens
June 2, 2011June 2, 2011

The Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin (PSB) reports about 300 people attended last evening’s Delaware River Basin Commission hearing in Deposit (Broome County), NY to consider an application from XTO Energy (now owned by ExxonMobil) to withdraw 250,000 gallons of water per day from the Oquaga Creek in the Town of Sanford to support Marcellus Shale drilling activities in New York, when and if drilling begins. The PSB said, “While both sides enjoyed healthy representation on Wednesday, the majority of the speakers spoke against the withdrawal.”

XTO’s application is the first in New York State, and only the second application in the overall DRBC region. The first application, which was approved in July 2010, was from Stone Energy for water withdrawals in Wayne County, PA.

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Broome County | Delaware County | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | XTO

DRBC Hearing in Deposit, NY Today – JLCNY Encourages Gas Drilling Supporters to Attend
June 1, 2011June 1, 2011

The Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) will hold a hearing today in Deposit, NY to consider an application from XTO Energy to withdraw up to .25 million gallons of water per day from the Oquaga Creek in the Town of Sanford, NY. The water withdrawals are to support XTO’s drilling activities—both exploration and production—in Broome and Delaware Counties (NY). Bear in mind drilling has not yet begun in New York, and further, the DRBC has not yet released drilling guidelines for the area they oversee which includes parts of the Marcellus Shale region in both New York and Pennsylvania.

If the DRBC approves the water withdrawal, that is a good first step for those who support drilling, and (perhaps) a signal that the DRBC will allow drilling to commence soon in Pennsylvania in those areas it controls. (The DRBC has not allowed any drilling in the Marcellus areas under its jurisdiction in PA.)

For more details about today’s DRBC hearing in Deposit, visit this web page: //www.state.nj.us/drbc/XTOEnergy.htm. MDN has embedded the hearing docket below that contains the particulars of XTO’s application to the DRBC.

The following email notification about today’s meeting was received by MDN last evening from the Joint Landowners Coalition of New York (JLCNY).

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

NY Attorney General Sues the Federal Government Over Fracking
June 1, 2011June 1, 2011

In an attempt to stop Marcellus Shale drilling in New York by using the court system, NY Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman announced on Tuesday that he is suing the federal government “to commit to a full environmental review of proposed regulations that would allow natural gas drilling – including the potentially harmful "fracking" technique – in the Delaware River Basin.” AG Schneiderman made his initial threat last month (see MDN’s coverage here). The AG’s announcement seems timed to coincide with a hearing set for today by the Delaware River Basin Commission to consider an application to withdraw water for drilling purposes.

The press statement from the AG’s office (full text below) contains unsubstantiated allegations that fracking poses risks and threats to the environment—the same recitation of inaccurate claims we’ve heard time and again from those who seek an outright ban on gas drilling. It also presumes it is the federal government’s role to regulate drilling—which under current law, it is not. Those who oppose drilling seek to regulate it using the “back door” of the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) and other federal laws. This lawsuit seeks to push a federal takeover of drilling by regulating and controlling it at the federal level.

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Statewide NY

Daily News Columnist Tells New Yorkers to Get a Grip and Stop Freaking Out About Fracking
June 1, 2011June 1, 2011

Columnist Bill Hammond in the New York Daily News has some advice for his fellow New Yorkers: Stop freaking about fracking. In a column published Tuesday, Hammond says, among other things:

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Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

NY Gov. Cuomo Orders DEC Commissioner Joe Martens to Get New Drilling Guidelines Done by July 1
May 30, 2011May 30, 2011

In an interesting development, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has sent along marching orders to the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to complete the next version of the draft Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement (dSGEIS)—the new guidelines to be used in drilling in the Marcellus Shale in New York—by July 1st. The previous deadline was a soft deadline issued by former Gov. David Paterson of “on or about June 1st.” The new deadline issued by Cuomo is July 1st—no waffling. Cuomo has also instructed the DEC to visit a well blowout site in Bradford County, PA to see what can be learned and incorporated into the final document from that accident.

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Broome County | Energy Companies | Inflection Energy | Lease & Royalty Payments | New York

Windsor, NY Landowners Receive $2,750 per Acre and 18 Percent Royalties in Lease Deal with Inflection Energy
May 26, 2011May 26, 2011

Earlier this year, a group of 40 Town of Windsor (NY) landowners with a cumulative 3,000 acres signed a gas lease agreement with Denver-based Inflection Energy to allow Marcellus Shale drilling when New York’s moratorium is eventually lifted. The landowners expected their signing bonus checks by March 3rd, but that didn’t happen due to delays by the lawyers (see MDN story here). The delays are now over the the Windsor landowners have started receiving their bonus checks totaling $8.25 million.

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New York | Pennsylvania | Statewide NY | Statewide PA

Energy in Depth Launches New Website, Major Grassroots Initiative for Northeast PA and Southern Tier of NY
May 23, 2011May 23, 2011

For some time now, MDN has admired (and referenced) the work done by drilling industry group Energy in Depth (EID). Chris Tucker and the people at EID work hard to bring the pro-drilling side of the story to the masses and to counterbalance much of the hype and rhetoric circulated in the media. EID recently launched a new website for the Northeast Marcellus region under the leadership of Tom Shepstone (//eidmarcellus.org).

EID has also launched a major new grassroots initiative now spreading from county to county in the region. EID and the Northeast Marcellus Initiative should be on your list of “must read” resources if you’re interested in the Marcellus Shale drilling debate.

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Statewide NY

Memo to Actor Mark Ruffalo: Fracking Chemicals are in Your Cosmetics
May 20, 2011May 20, 2011

An opinion piece published in today’s New York Post succinctly (and with attitude) makes the case that hydraulic fracturing is safe and Marcellus Shale drilling should go forward in New York State. A brief extract for your reading pleasure:

Read More “Memo to Actor Mark Ruffalo: Fracking Chemicals are in Your Cosmetics”
Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Public Opinion | Statewide NY

The Real News About the Marist Opinion Poll on Marcellus Shale Drilling in New York State
May 19, 2011

Marist College (Poughkeepsie, NY) just completed a statewide poll in New York State to find out if residents generally support or generally oppose hydraulic fracturing. MDN has embedded the poll results below so you can read it for yourself. The standard coverage of this poll in the media, the “big news” if you will, is that New Yorkers are about evenly split: 41 percent generally oppose hydraulic fracturing, and 38 percent support it—a statistical dead heat with the margin of error +/- 5 percent. Marist says a “notable” 21 percent are unsure. But MDN believes the “real news” in this poll is confirmation that the shale gas drilling debate in New York—and nationwide—is (sadly) more about politics than science and common sense. The proof is in the numbers.

The first question asked those who were surveyed was:

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Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

Pro-Drilling Supporters Meet with Legislative Officials in Albany, NY – Gov. Cuomo Stresses Patience
May 12, 2011May 12, 2011

The standard operating procedure for groups opposed to Marcellus Shale drilling in New York State is to organize protests. The protests in Albany and other locations have been small in numbers, but those opposed have been “loud” in their opposition. Supporters of drilling, on the other hand, are taking a different approach. Instead of protest rallies, they arrange private meetings and go for small group discussions. That strategy was on display Wednesday in Albany:

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Chesapeake Energy | Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Exxon Mobil | New York | Schlumberger | Shell | Southwestern Energy | Statewide NY

Surprise! New York State’s Pension Fund Invests $1 Billion in Shale Gas Drilling Companies
May 9, 2011May 9, 2011

In an interesting (some would say hypocritical) twist on New York State’s moratorium against drilling in the Marcellus Shale because of environmental concerns, it seems the state’s comptroller has no problem investing some of the state’s huge $140 billion pension fund in shale gas drilling operations, to the tune of $1 billion:

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Broome County | Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies | Equinor/Statoil | Industrywide Issues | Lease & Royalty Payments | Litigation | New York | Tioga County (NY)

NY Landowners Sue Chesapeake & Statoilhydro Over Force Majeure Lease Extension
May 4, 2011May 4, 2011

A number of landowners in New York’s Southern Tier region (Broome and Tioga Counties) signed leases with gas companies in 2000 for peanuts, $3 per acre, long before shale gas drilling was discovered and used. The technologies of hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling have been around for decades, but it wasn’t until 2006 that the two were combined to tap shale gas.

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Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

Legislation to Regulate Large Water Withdrawals in NY Waterways Makes Progress
May 3, 2011May 3, 2011

New York State’s long, ponderous, tedious road to allow Marcellus Shale drilling takes another small step forward—maybe.

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