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Athens County, OH Anti-Drillers Try to Delay GreenHunter Dock

The anti-drilling nutters of Athens, OH are at it again. They’ve just discovered what MDN told you on Tuesday–that GreenHunter Water has filed an application with the U.S. Coast Guard to get permission to build a barge facility in Meigs County (see GreenHunter Seeks Approval for Barge Facility in Meigs County, OH). The Athens nutters (see Break the Law in OH, Get an Award – Anti-Drilling Nuttery on Display) are now accusing the Coast Guard of undue secrecy because they didn’t beat the drums and sound the gongs that a private company had filed an application with them…
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GreenHunter Seeks Approval for Barge Facility in Meigs County, OH

Over the past few years GreenHunter Water, a subsidiary of Magnum Hunter Resources, has purchased seven barge facilities along the Ohio River with the stated intent to transport frack wastewater from up the river in places in Pennsylvania and West Virginia and even Ohio, to further down the river in Ohio–where it would be offloaded and disposed by injection well. We wrote in May 2013 of the long road to receiving federal approval for such a plan (see The Long (Federal) Road to Approve GreenHunter’s Barge Terminals). Then in October it seemed like an approval from the U.S. Coast Guard was imminent (see Coast Guard Green Lights Barge Transport of Frack Wastewater). Here we are in July 2014–and still no Coast Guard approval in sight, which is disappointing…
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GreenHunter Opens Brine Injection Well in Meigs County, OH

ribbon cuttingGreenHunter Water’s newest brine injection well has begun operation in Meigs County, Ohio. The well is located close to the Ohio River and GreenHunter hopes to, at some point, receive brine wastewater via barge and pump it directly from barges to the well for disposal, reducing truck trips. GreenHunter now has eight active saltwater (brine) injection wells in the Utica/Marcellus region, five of which are located in Ohio.

Management says they are excited to “be the first to implement a barging program…” However, as far as we know, the Coast Guard (and the White House and a variety of other agencies) have still not given the green light for barge shipments of fracking wastewater, which includes brine (see The Long (Federal) Road to Approve GreenHunter’s Barge Terminals).
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Meigs County, OH “Back on the Map” for Possible Utica Drilling

The prospects for Utica Shale drilling in Meigs County, OH may have just improved. Last year the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) released a revised “best places to drill” map that pretty much removed Meigs County from contention for Utica Shale drilling. Leasing in the county tanked. Two weeks ago, that same map was revised and a good portion of Meigs (located in southeastern OH) is once again “back on the map”…

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Encore Energy to Anadarko: We’ve Got OH Land for You

A for-profit company that pools acreage from both landowners that want to lease their land, and from energy companies with leases who want to re-sell those leases, is trying to get the attention of Anadarko and other drillers in the Ohio Utica Shale. Encore Energy issued a press release yesterday announcing they have land available for lease. They specifically tap Anadarko on the shoulder to tell them they have 1,300 Utica Shale acres “just 3 miles” from land they’re already drilling on in Washington County, OH.

Encore is shopping more than 18,000 acres across a number of Ohio counties, including Morgan, Washington, Noble, Guernsey, Monroe, Athens and Meigs. Here’s their “hey Anadarko, pay attention” press release:

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Large Block of 95K Acres Available for Lease in OH Utica Shale

A private firm representing landowners with 95,000 acres in southeastern Ohio issued a press release yesterday essentially saying, “Hey, we’re still here, and we still have 95,000 acres to lease to some lucky driller.” The land is located in Washington, Athens, Meigs, Muskingum, and Perry counties in southeastern Ohio.

MDN is not in the habit of running this kind of “news,” but we are today because a) it helps the landowners, and b) it’s more or less a large landowner group—even though it’s a for-profit venture. And so, without further ado:

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