Statewide PA

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New Marcellus Shale Co-op Created for Local Governments in PA to Share Information and Experience
March 16, 2011March 17, 2011

Jesse White, Pennsylvania State Representative for the 46th Legislative District, which includes portions of Beaver, Washington and Allegheny Counties, has formed a new Marcellus Municipal Co-op for local PA governments to band together as they tackle the tough issues of local zoning ordinances and laws to deal with a very active drilling industry within their borders. The purpose is to share information so each local government does not have to “re-invent the wheel.” The knowledge and hard work from one municipality with regard to Marcellus drilling issues can be shared with other municipalities.

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA Sen. Bob Casey Re-introduces Bill Transferring Control of Marcellus Drilling to the Federal Government
March 15, 2011March 15, 2011

Pennsylvania Senator Bob Casey has re-introduced legislation in the U.S. Senate that would strip away states’ rights, including his home state of Pennsylvania, to manage and protect their own land and natural resources, and instead concentrate that power at the federal level under the Environmental Protection Agency. He calls the legislation “The FRAC Act”—Fracturing Responsibility and Awareness of Chemicals. The bill, if passed (which seems unlikely in the current Congress), would place the practice of high volume hydraulic fracturing (“fracking”) under the provisions of the Safe Drinking Water Act.

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Lease & Royalty Payments | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

PA Court Case Finds in Favor of Landowners, Against Drillers in Lease Extension Case
March 15, 2011March 15, 2011

A legal case that affects Pennsylvania landowners with signed leases to allow Marcellus drilling on their land has just been decided in landowners’ favor in a PA court. But it’s complicated to explain (we’ll do our best).

Read More “PA Court Case Finds in Favor of Landowners, Against Drillers in Lease Extension Case”
Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Taxation

Anti-Drilling Protestors Get Nasty at Shale Coalition Building in Harrisburg, PA
March 10, 2011March 10, 2011

Those in Pennsylvania who oppose drilling in the Marcellus Shale have gotten a bit desperate. They’re unhappy with new Gov. Tom Corbett, especially since the budget he introduced earlier this week contains budget cuts to education and calls for a layoff of state workers in order to plug a massive multi-billion dollar shortfall, without also including a severance tax on Marcellus Shale drilling in the state. Pennsylvania, like New York, California, Wisconsin, Ohio and a number of other states is essentially bankrupt from years of overspending and one-time gimmicks and budget patches. The chickens have finally come home to roost and now state governments have to make some hard decisions. It is in that context that anti-drilling protestors got nasty and thug-like yesterday:

Read More “Anti-Drilling Protestors Get Nasty at Shale Coalition Building in Harrisburg, PA”
Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA Gov. Corbett Creates Commission to Study and Recommend New Marcellus Shale Drilling Rules
March 9, 2011March 9, 2011

In yesterday’s budget address, new Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett announced the formation of a 30-member Marcellus Shale Commission. The members of the commission (listed below) come from a cross-section of government officials, representatives from the drilling industry, and representatives from environmental organizations. The new commission, which will be headed up by Lt. Gov. Jim Cawley, is a balanced cross section representing all interests in the drilling debate. The commission is charged with taking a close look at the issue of Marcellus Shale drilling and producing a report with recommendations for development and regulation of the industry in PA. The report is due on the Governor’s desk on or before July 22.

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Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Wastewater

New York Times Proven Wrong – Marcellus Shale Wastewater Has Not Increased Radioactivity Levels in PA Waterways
March 8, 2011March 9, 2011

It seems that The New York Times’ contention that Pennsylvania is poisoning waterways with radioactivity from Marcellus Shale wastewater was fiction and not science, as is now proven by test results from the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). The DEP conducted tests over the past four months at key locations where wastewater is treated and released into area waterways. Here’s what they found with respect to radioactivity:
Read More “New York Times Proven Wrong – Marcellus Shale Wastewater Has Not Increased Radioactivity Levels in PA Waterways”
Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Wastewater

U.S. EPA Tries to Tell PA DEP How to Do It’s Job – PA Pushes Back
March 8, 2011March 8, 2011

Even though extensive testing done by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has proven Marcellus Shale wastewater does not increase levels of radioactivity in its waterways (see here), that doesn’t stop the over-reaching federal Environmental Protection Agency from interfering in PA’s business:

Read More “U.S. EPA Tries to Tell PA DEP How to Do It’s Job – PA Pushes Back”
Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Wastewater

Was the Pennsylvania DEP Bribed to Avoid Better Tracking of Marcellus Drilling Wastewater?
March 4, 2011March 4, 2011

The latest fallout from The New York Times story is about how wastewater from Marcellus Shale drilling operations in Pennsylvania is tracked as it is disposed. Supposedly the Times has found that there is a conspiracy:

Read More “Was the Pennsylvania DEP Bribed to Avoid Better Tracking of Marcellus Drilling Wastewater?”
Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Wastewater

Former PA Gov. Tom Ridge Says NYT Spreading Disinformation
March 4, 2011March 4, 2011

Former PA Governor Tom Ridge has a new role as spokesman for the Marcellus Shale Coalition. In that role, he met yesterday with local political officials and reporters in Canonsburg, PA, near Pittsburgh. He had some common sense words for those in the audience:

“You cannot eliminate the risk from anything you do,” said Ridge, who was casually dressed in jeans, a blue turtleneck and a blue button-down shirt. “Airplanes crash because pilots make bad judgments, but we don’t stop flying.”(1)

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Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Wastewater

New PA DEP Secretary Krancer Sets the Record Straight, Corrects NYT Errors
March 3, 2011March 3, 2011

It looks like new PA Gov. Tom Corbett’s pick to head the Department of Environmental Protection will soon be confirmed by the State Senate. Michael L. Krancer, 53, of Bryn Mawr in Montgomery County, answered Senators’ questions at his confirmation hearing yesterday. In particular he responded to questions about the recent stories in The New York Times alleging PA has been lax in testing drinking water supplies that The Times claims are now contaminated with high levels of radioactivity from drilling wastewater.

Krancer took the opportunity to set the record straight on a few facts The Times got wrong:

Read More “New PA DEP Secretary Krancer Sets the Record Straight, Corrects NYT Errors”
Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Wastewater

NY Times Keeps Up the Vendetta Against Drilling in the Marcellus Shale with Another Article in the Series
March 2, 2011March 3, 2011

The New York Times continues its vendetta against drilling in the Marcellus Shale—it sells papers and God knows they sell far fewer today than they did even a year ago. MDN wonders what made-up quotes pulled from past public statements adorn this new article? The theme of the new article: “Yes, yes, drilling companies say they’re recycling more wastewater (some even approaching 100 percent), but not all of them do! And even recycling produces nasty stuff that pollutes water supplies anyway. So pay no attention to all that recycling talk.” And of course, Pennsylvania continues to be the whipping boy.

Read More “NY Times Keeps Up the Vendetta Against Drilling in the Marcellus Shale with Another Article in the Series”
Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Launches New Website Dedicated to Drilling in the Marcellus Shale
March 2, 2011March 2, 2011

Pittsburgh is located in the middle of some of the most active drilling in the Marcellus Shale in Pennsylvania. Many drilling and other related companies have located either branch or even headquarters offices in the Pittsburgh area, making it the defacto capital of drilling in the Marcellus Shale. So plenty of news comes out of Western PA to do with drilling in the Marcellus.

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Wastewater

PA Marcellus Gas Drillers Close to Recycling 100 Percent of Wastewater, Now Use Just a Few Chemicals in Fracking
March 1, 2011March 2, 2011

One of the chief objections of those who oppose drilling for natural gas in the Marcellus Shale is the amount of water used in drilling—an average of 3-4 million gallons per well. Environmentalists raise the alarm of sourcing the water from rivers and streams, and the disposal of what’s left over.

Here’s how the numbers break down: It takes between 100,000 and 300,000 gallons of water during the drilling process itself, and another 3-4 million gallons of water gets mixed with sand and chemicals and pumped in under pressure to fracture the shale, releasing the gas. Anywhere from 10 to 50 percent of the water comes back out—something called “flowback.”

Read More “PA Marcellus Gas Drillers Close to Recycling 100 Percent of Wastewater, Now Use Just a Few Chemicals in Fracking”
Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

Will PA Merge DEP and DCNR to Oversee Marcellus Shale Drilling?
March 1, 2011March 1, 2011

The rumor mill has been working overtime in Harrisburg, PA with talk that newly minted Gov. Tom Corbett is planning to merge two state agencies that oversee drilling in the Marcellus Shale into one. Corbett officials are trying to tamp down the rumors:

Read More “Will PA Merge DEP and DCNR to Oversee Marcellus Shale Drilling?”
Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Wastewater

Marcellus Shale Coalition Provides Devastating Critique of NYT Anti-Gas Article
March 1, 2011March 1, 2011

Below is a detailed response from the Marcellus Shale Coalition to the New York Times “hit piece” on gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale (see MDN’s review of that article here).

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Wastewater

New York Times Publishes Hit Piece on Natural Gas Drilling, Quoted Source Responds to the Article
February 28, 2011March 1, 2011

Have no fear, the great New York Times is now on the case of natural gas drilling, and it has “uncovered” some rather disturbing news:

With hydrofracking, a well can produce over a million gallons of wastewater that is often laced with highly corrosive salts, carcinogens like benzene and radioactive elements like radium, all of which can occur naturally thousands of feet underground. Other carcinogenic materials can be added to the wastewater by the chemicals used in the hydrofracking itself.

While the existence of the toxic wastes has been reported, thousands of internal documents obtained by The New York Times from the Environmental Protection Agency, state regulators and drillers show that the dangers to the environment and health are greater than previously understood.(1)

Read More “New York Times Publishes Hit Piece on Natural Gas Drilling, Quoted Source Responds to the Article”