New York

Education | Erie County (NY) | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Research

Univ at Buffalo President Shuts Down (Censors) Shale Institute
November 20, 2012November 20, 2012

The ignorant mob have won. A group of 83 anti-drilling, enviro-left faculty and staff at the University at Buffalo (UB), with the help of left-leaning mainstream media, have brought enough pressure to bear that UB’s president announced yesterday he is immediately shutting down the seven-month old UB Shale Resources and Society Institute. It’s a sad day for academic freedom and free speech. The inmates now run the asylum at UB.

UB President Satish Tripathi has proven that after a year and a half at the helm, he is not equal to the task of running a large university. Here is his “I’ve caved” announcement from yesterday, sprinkled with MDN’s snarky comments and observations:

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

IOGA of NY to Gov. Cuomo: Enough is Enough
November 20, 2012November 20, 2012

Brad Gill, Executive Director of the Independent Oil & Gas Association of New York (IOGA of NY) sent a scalding letter yesterday to NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo (see a full copy below) expressing deep disappointment that it now appears new drilling rules will not be released by Nov. 29. He points out, as of yesterday, it’s been 4 years, 3 months and 27 days since the moratorium went into effect. In essence, “Enough is enough.” He told Andy, “our trust in our state government [is] now exhausted.” Gill concludes by urging the governor to release the new rules—now—so the industry can attempt to recover from the staggering losses already endured because of the moratorium.

MDN’s view: Don’t count on it Brad—Andy is just another garden-variety, prevaricating politician who is decision-challenged. If the new rules are not released by Nov. 29, the rulemaking process begins all over again and more public hearings (i.e., freak shows) will need to be held—delaying the new rules by months, perhaps years. Which of course has been the game plan by DEC Commissioner Joe Martens all along.

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Broome County | Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Inflection Energy | Litigation | New York | Statewide NY | Tioga County (NY)

More on the NY Force Majeure Ruling Against Chesapeake
November 20, 2012November 20, 2012

MDN headlined a story yesterday about last week’s decision by a federal judge that went in favor of landowners and against Chesapeake Energy and Inflection Energy. The case found that Chesapeake and Inflection could not use the legal clause in their signed leases called “force majeure” to extend previously signed leases beyond the original 10-year term (see this MDN story for background).

One of the lead attorneys who brought the case on behalf of New York landowners is Scott Kurkoski, from the Vestal, NY law firm Levene, Gouldin & Thompson, LLP. Scott sent along a statement (below) along with a copy of the judge’s decision (also below).

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Broome County | Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Inflection Energy | Lease & Royalty Payments | Litigation | New York | Statewide NY | Tioga County (NY)

Judge Rules Against Chesapeake, Inflection in NY Lease Case
November 19, 2012November 19, 2012

An important court case has ruled in favor of landowners against energy companies in New York State. Last Thursday, U.S. District Court Judge David Hurd ruled against Chesapeake Energy and Inflection Energy (and in favor of landowners) in a case where the companies had tried to extend leases beyond the original term by invoking “force majeure,” a legal phrase that means the terms of the lease could not be carried out due to extenuating circumstances.

Chesapeake and Inflection had argued that New York State’s moratorium on hydraulic fracturing of shale meant they could not drill on New York land for which they hold leases. But as with many things legal, the story is not so simple…

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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Orange County | Statewide NY | Sullivan County | Ulster County

Mid-Hudson Valley NY Towns For and Against Drilling
November 19, 2012November 19, 2012

Where do Orange, Ulster and Sullivan county towns (in New York State) stand on the issue of fracking and gas drilling? All three of them could conceivably see drilling of some kind should it be allowed, although only Sullivan is squarely in both the Marcellus and Utica Shale boundary (Orange has just a small slice within the boundary, and perhaps half of Ulster, see the Marcellus and Utica Shale Databook Volume 2 for a map showing the boundaries). However, anti-drilling sentiments run deep the closer you get to the orbit of New York City, and all three counties are in that orbit.

The Middletown Times Herald-Record takes a look at the latest towns for and against fracking in Orange, Ulster and Sullivan counties:

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

New York Post: Andy Lacks Leadership on Fracking Issue
November 19, 2012November 19, 2012

An editorial in yesterday’s New York Post takes aim at New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s indecisiveness on the issue of fracking. They mince no words when they say the problem is, in a word, “leadership.” Here’s a portion of the editorial:

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

NY Fracking Rules Won’t be Released in 2012
November 16, 2012November 16, 2012

Is there any chance that New York will move forward with releasing new shale gas drilling rules by Nov. 29, the one year anniversary after the last public hearing on the new rules (and by which the rules must be released or the rulemaking process restarts)? No. Not a chance.

Why? NY State Health Commissioner Nirav Shah has only just yesterday named three outside “experts” to help conduct a “health review” of New York’s proposed drilling regulations. The deadline given the experts to complete their review? “Mid-February.”

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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Broome County | Industrywide Issues | New York | Statewide NY

NY Politicians Say Drilling will Bring an “Invasion”
November 14, 2012November 14, 2012

Binghamton’s failed mayor, Matt Ryan, was in Albany yesterday to stir up trouble on the fracking issue. (First Dimock, now Albany…seems Mayor Ryan’s pass time is to cause trouble somewhere else while your own city is crumbling around you.)

Mayor Ryan has started his own cultic anti-fracking group called Elected Officials to Protect New York. The group, meeting in Albany yesterday, said that if drilling is allowed in New York, it will create an “invasion” of crime and social unrest. Here’s the scoop:

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Chemung County | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York

Elmira, NY Mayor Comes Out Against Fracking
November 14, 2012November 14, 2012

The mayor of Elmira, NY has outed herself as anti-drilling. Mayor Sue Skidmore attended an anti-fracking event in Albany yesterday and went on record against drilling:

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Statewide NY

Newspaper Says Recent Election is Proof NYers Want Fracking
November 14, 2012November 14, 2012

An editorial in today’s Jamestown, NY Post-Journal endorses shale gas drilling in New York. The editorial writers rightly point to the overwhelming results from last week’s election in which the pro-drilling candidate won in every major, and in most minor, races where drilling was an issue. The P-J conclusion? Cuomo needs to wake up and get off the dime:

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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | New York | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Statewide NY | Susquehanna County | Williams

Southern Gas Utility Invests in NE Constitution Pipeline
November 13, 2012November 13, 2012

Piedmont Natural Gas, a natural gas utility with more than one million customers in North and South Carolina and Tennessee, has decided they want a piece of the Marcellus Shale gas action. Piedmont is investing $180 million in the yet-to-be-built Constitution Pipeline that will run from Susquehanna County, PA to Schoharie County, NY. Williams, the company building the new pipeline, and Piedmont collaborate on other projects too. Piedmont is also a customer of Williams’ Transco natural gas pipeline.

Here’s the announcement from Piedmont on why they’ve decided to invest in the Constitution Pipeline project:

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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Research | Statewide NY | Wastewater

Yet Another Faux Report on Radiation Danger from NY Fracking
November 12, 2012November 12, 2012

Grassroots Environmental Education, a leftist anti-drilling organization in New York State, released a biased report last week that says, in essence, if fracking is allowed in New York, radiation will poison us all for centuries to come. Another week, another faux report issued by a “scientist” with the viewpoint that all fossil fuels are evil. Film at eleven.

(Yes, we grow tired of reporting this claptrap, but you need to know about it because mainstream media is too lazy to evaluate it critically.)

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Broome County | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Statewide NY

JLCNY Declares Victory over Anti-Drillers in NY Elections
November 12, 2012November 12, 2012

According to Dan Fitzsimmons from the Joint Landowners Coalition of New York (JLCNY), the elections last week produced an excellent result—at least locally in the Southern Tier of New York State. The most visible anti-drillers—candidates running on an anti-drilling platform—went down to defeat.

Here’s the letter sent out by the JLCNY late last week:

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Energy Companies | New York | Norse Energy | Statewide NY

Norse Energy 3Q12: Revenue Down 33%, Waiting on NY Moratorium
November 9, 2012November 9, 2012

Norse Energy is the plucky drilling company still holding on in New York State. MDN has written quite a bit about Norse. They rolled the dice and bet on acreage in New York State (brave people). Norse currently holds some 130,000 acres of leased land in New York. Problem is, there’s no shale gas drilling in New York and there hasn’t been for 4 1/2 years. All of which has caused Norse to do everything but sell off the kitchen table in an effort to “hang in there” until the day New York does finally allow drilling.

Yesterday Norse released their third quarter financial and operational update. Oil and gas revenue for Norse was down 33% from one year ago. The company says they produced less gas, and the gas they did produce was sold for less money (due to the low commodity price) than gas from a year ago, which led to the decrease in revenue.

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Industrywide Issues | Landfills | New York | Steuben County | Wastewater

Does Steuben County, NY Landfill Accept Drilling Wastewater?
November 7, 2012November 7, 2012

The Steuben County landfill in Bath, NY was approved and ready to accept shale cuttings (leftover soil and rock from drilling) at the landfill in early August of this year (see this MDN story). They now are accepting some shale cuttings. Earlier this week a local environmental lawyer raised concerns at a meeting of the county Legislature’s Public Works Committee that the landfill may also be receiving flowback water—water that comes back up out of the bore hole after drilling—in the landfill along with shale cuttings. Flowback has high concentrations of minerals making it salty or “briny.”

County Public Works Commissioner Vince Spagnoletti said the landfill does not accept flowback direct from drillers. However, the landfill does accept some treated wastewater from another landfill. Here’s the details:

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

Town of Onondaga, NY Votes to Extend Fracking Ban 1 Month
November 6, 2012November 6, 2012

The Town of Onondaga, a bedroom community for Syracuse, NY, voted on Monday night to extend the fracking moratorium they previously enacted. The vote continues the moratorium for another month until board members meet again Dec. 3 and will presumably vote at that meeting to either further extend the moratorium or let it die.

From the Syracuse Post-Standard:

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