As MDN reported last week, Ohio Gov. John Kasich introduced a shale gas and oil severance tax overhaul yesterday. The leaked details from last week were correct—but we now have the full proposal (embedded below). Gov. Kasich is tying a revamped severance tax to lowering income taxes for all Ohioans—by up to $1 billion over five years.
Read More “Ohio Proposal for Revamped Severance Tax, New Impact Fee”
Ohio Gov. John Kasich signed an executive order on Monday giving the Ohio Department of Commerce’s Division of Industrial Compliance the sole authority to oversee construction of shale gas processing plants in the state.
Read More “OH Gov. Kasich Signs Exec Order on Shale Processing Plants”
Details of Gov. John Kasich’s plan to raise taxes on the nascent shale drilling industry in Ohio (see this MDN story) are starting to leak out. Gov. Kasich plans to unveil his plans officially next week, but here’s what we know so far:
Read More “Details on Ohio Gov. Kasich’s New Tax on Shale Drilling”
Ohio State Rep. Jay Goyal introduced legislation yesterday to tighten regulation of injection wells used for disposing Marcellus and Utica Shale wastewater. Key provisions of the bill include:
Read More “OH Bill Tightens Regulation of Wastewater Injection Wells”
The question of whether or not Ohio is ready for a drilling boom in the Utica Shale may be moot, since the boom has already started. But an official from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) says with new laws passed last year, and more laws set to be passed this year, Ohio is more than ready to handle a rapid expansion of Utica and Marcellus Shale drilling in the state.
Read More “Can Ohio Regulations Handle the Coming Shale Gas Boom?”
This one is sure to disappoint landowners. In an Obamaesque move, conservative Republican Ohio Gov. John Kasich is set to propose a new tax on Utica and Marcellus shale gas drilling in order to reduce Ohio state income taxes.
Read More “OH Gov. Kasich to Introduce New Tax on Shale Gas Drilling”
Ohio Gov. John Kasich is planning to introduce new energy legislation in the next few weeks that will impact Utica and Marcellus Shale drilling in the state.
Read More “New Shale Gas Drilling Legislation Coming in Ohio”
The Ohio Shale Coalition released a new economic study yesterday prepared researchers from Cleveland State University, Ohio State University and Marietta College. The study projects annual production of oil and gas from the Utica Shale in the state will reach $9.6 billion by 2014 along with an eye-popping 65,000+ jobs. And those jobs will have an average salary of more than $50,000 per year, adding an additional $3.3 billion in labor income in the state. Both a high level overview and a copy of the full 81-page report are embedded below. (MDN is honored to have scored a few mentions in the “News Articles and Web Sources” section of the study.)
MDN particularly likes this graphic from page 39 showing net acreage leaseholds held by drilling companies:
Read More “New Study Predicts 65K Jobs in Ohio by 2014 from Utica Shale”
Dennis Heller is a small business owner—president and CEO of Stephenson Equipment in Harrisburg, PA. Stephenson Equipment employs 120 people selling and renting construction equipment and crane services, parts, and operator training at seven locations in Pennsylvania and New York. Heller recently testified at a U.S. House of Representatives Natural Resources Committee Energy & Mineral Resources Subcommittee field hearing in Steubenville, Ohio, on the impact of shale energy development and what it means for small businesses (a copy of his testimony is embedded below).
Read More “Congressional Hearing: Shale Energy a “Game Changer” for Small Biz”
Enterprise Products Partners recently announced a 1,230 mile ethane pipeline from Pennsylvania to the Gulf Coast (see this MDN story). Dubbed the ATEX Express (Appalachia to Texas), the proposed pipeline includes building 353 miles of new pipeline through Ohio. But the Ohio stretch of construction has hit a potential snag.
Ohio Power Siting Board (OPSB) officials say Enterprise must get their approval before building it, but Enterprise disputes the OPSB has the authority to oversee construction the ATEX Express in the state. The dispute hinges on whether the natural gas liquid ethane that will flow through the pipeline is a liquid or a gas. Ethane under pressure is a liquid, but when it hits the air, it turns into a gas.
Read More “ATEX Express Ethane Pipeline Hits Potential Snag in Ohio”
MDN speculated a few weeks ago that a proposed 240-mile pipeline Kinder Morgan planned to build from West Virginia to Toledo, OH was dead (see this MDN story). Kinder Morgan has now officially said just that:
Read More “Kinder Morgan Officially Cancels OH NGL Pipeline Project”
The executive director of the Ohio Oil and Gas Energy Education Association, Rhonda Reda, predicts that oil and gas drilling rigs will increase 300% in the next five years, and those rigs will create new jobs to operate them:
Read More “OH Drilling Rigs Expected to Increase 300% in Next 5 Years”
Under pressure from low commodity prices for natural gas causing a cash deficit for drilling, Chesapeake Energy is looking to sell off some of its oil and gas fields in Texas, Mexico and Oklahoma so it can continue to concentrate on drilling in eastern Ohio’s Utica Shale and other “wet gas” areas of the country.
Read More “Chesapeake Selling Assets to Concentrate on OH/Wet Gas”
Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine (Republican) said yesterday he wants tougher penalties for Utica and Marcellus Shale drillers who “pollute.”
Read More “OH Attorney General Wants Drillers Who Pollute to Pay More”
Ohio Gov. John Kasich, a Republican in his first term in office, delivered the annual State of the State address yesterday. He chose to do it from the auditorium of a high-performing elementary school in Steubenville. During the 90-minute speech he was briefly interrupted by several hecklers until state troopers removed them from the room. Who were the bad actors? You guessed it—anti-drillers.
Read More “OH Gov. Kasich Heckled by Anti-Drillers During Speech”
West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Ohio are all in the hunt to land an ethane cracker plant in their respective states (see the long list of MDN stories on a potential cracker plant in the Marcellus/Utica Shale region). According to WV Commerce Secretary Keith Burdette, Shell and another unnamed company are now in talks with private property owners. That is, the deals are now being negotiated, and it’s a waiting game to see the outcome.
All three states have offered huge tax incentives to land the plant. Shell originally set January for an announcement, but changed it a few weeks ago to be February.
Read More “Waiting Game: Cracker Plants Talk to Property Owners”