Here Comes Another “National Day of Action” Against Fracking
Get ready. Here it comes! Throngs of anti-drillers rising up to show their opposition to clean-burning natural gas. Break out the tie dye psychedelic shirts and hippie beads. It’s time to protest, maaan. Dig it! It’s like, whoa, tomorrow is “Freedom From Toxic Fracking Waste and Earthquakes: A National Day of Action.” Here’s our prediction: There will be two or three protest locations with about dozen people each–most of them hippie has-beens. Nobody outside of Democrat media will even notice the so-called protests. Below is the call to protest, naming the nutter groups behind it (the usual suspects)…
Read More “Here Comes Another “National Day of Action” Against Fracking”
Last week Gulfport Energy released their third quarter 2015 financial and operations results (see today’s companion story). If you read the full update, you notice Gulfport is not taking delivery of a fifth Utica Shale drilling rig in early 2016 as previously planned–which connotes they will continue to operate the four rigs currently in operation now. But therein lies the rub. MDN received a tip last Thursday from a reader that said: “I received word last night that Gulfport Energy is going to suspend operations in Ohio until the END of 1Q 2016. This would also include their service provider company, Stingray, which just had approximately 150 layoffs already. This news should break today once they inform the employees of the ‘layoff’.” MDN has not seen nor heard anything in the news about Gulfport suspending all drilling operations. We did find mention from September that Stingray had filed a WARN notice they would be laying off 47 employees in Pennsylvania and Ohio. We’re not sure what to make of the rumor…
In a somewhat related story posted today, MDN tackles the thorny issue of taxing pipelines in Pennsylvania. As serendipity would have it, last week Energy in Depth posted an excellent article on the financial impact pipelines are having in Ohio. Would you believe it if we told you that not only will an astounding $8 billion be spent to build new pipelines in the Buckeye State in 2016, but also an estimated $360 million in ad valorem property taxes (taxes on pipelines) will roll in to local municipal coffers. Next year. And every year thereafter! Here’s the numbers broken down by who is doing the spending and paying the taxes, and which pipelines will generate the most economic activity in Ohio next year…
In March 2014 MDN alerted you to a pitch being made by Gateway Royalty to purchase royalty rights from landowners in eastern Ohio (see 
Another piece of the puzzle slides into place with respect to the $5.7 billion ethane cracker project in Belmont County, OH planned by Thailand-based PTT Chemical and financial partner Marubeni Corp. from Japan (see 
It’s obvious that Hess has pretty much given up on its Utica Shale drilling program. Just last week we told you that Hess is shopping the rest of its remaining Utica acreage (see 
EdgeMarc Energy is a small driller headquartered in the Pittsburgh area, formed in 2012. The company has leased 50,000 acres in the Marcellus and Utica Shales. On Monday EdgeMarc issued a press release to announce they’ve attracted a new investor–the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan–which has promised the company up to $300 million in cash in return for part ownership (called an “equity commitment”). The announcement also says EdgeMarc currently drills and produces natural gas in Monroe and Washington counties in Ohio, and Butler County in Pennsylvania. In checking the latest issue of our 
May we paint with broad brush-strokes for a moment? It’s been our observation over the years that anti-drillers (and anti-pipeliners, and anti-fossil fuelers) are typically liberal Democrats who have bought into the notion that (a) mankind is catastrophically heating up ole Mother Earth, and (b) they (the lib Dems) are uniquely qualified to run your life for you by choosing your energy sources. They love to tell you how to live your life–i.e. deny you freedom to live your life they way you want to, including selecting your own energy sources. It’s also been our observation that many (not all, but many) of the most vocal antis are hippie retreads who haven’t been this jazzed about a “cause” since the end of the Vietnam war. Yes that’s a very broad generalization and not true in all circumstances–but it’s more true than not. On the other side of the isle, when we’ve attended meetings about fracking and pipelines and FERC scoping hearings–we’ve noticed landowners and small business owners and pro-drillers are the “gray heads with hats” and blue jeans in the crowd. Typically quiet. Perhaps a bit uncomfortable that they’re in the same room with a largely lawless bunch of mouthy antis. The antis tend to form all sorts of groups with innocuous sounding names (Riverkeeper, Mountainkeeper, Trout, Clean Air, Community Rights, etc.). Pro-drillers and landowners? They don’t form groups so much. They don’t protest so much. They’re too busy working their fingers to the bone–paying for the welfare state anti-drillers avail themselves of! So when a group of pro-energy people DO form a group–that’s news. Such a group has formed in Ohio and Michigan in order to support two much-needed pipeline projects–Energy Transfer’s Rover Pipeline and Spectra Energy’s NEXUS Pipeline…
Here’s something that should scare the #$%@ out of you this Halloween: the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF). The CELDF, based in Pennsylvania, is attempting to interfere in other states like Ohio by fleecing local governments into believing they can pass so-called community bill of rights legislation (i.e. “home rule” laws). Problem is, the local communities who have tried it keep getting sued, and losing in court–and taxpayers end up paying tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees in an empty gesture to make a statement opposing shale energy. Our friends at Energy in Depth have put together a video for this Halloween that exposes the CELDF and should scare you to death, especially if you live in Youngstown, OH where a CELDF ballot initiative will be on the ballot this November (next week), for the FIFTH TIME…