Plan to Frack Shale Well in New York State Using LPG Still Alive
Whatever happened to the idea of fracking a shale well in Tioga County, NY using liquefied petroleum gas (LPG, or propane)? We sometimes get asked that question. In July 2015 a group of landowners flying under the name of The Snyder Farm Group (five families make up the group) contracted with Tioga Energy Partners (based in Texas) to drill a fracked Utica Shale well, and follow it up with drilling a fracked Marcellus Shale well, using LPG and sand (see NY Landowners File to Frack Horizontal Well w/Waterless Tech and NY Heroes: More Details on NY Propane Fracking Proposal). The wells would not use water for fracking–and therefore, according to the landowners, avoid New York’s ban on high volume fracking imposed by NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo. NY’s corrupt Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DEC) does not disagree with the Tioga landowners. It certainly *may* be possible to use LPG fracking and avoid the prohibition on water-based fracking. Yet the DEC continues its standard operating procedure of delay by declaring they don’t have enough information (we’ve seen this movie before). The last time we reported anything about the Tioga project was May 2016, when the DEC began its latest round of death-by-delay tactics (see NY DEC Calls Propane Fracking “Unique Technology”; Wants More Info). So where does the Tioga project stand now? Same. The DEC says they still don’t have all the answers they want about LPG fracking, leaving the project in limbo. But that’s better than declaring it dead–maybe. The good news is that after 2 1/2 years, the Tioga project is still alive because the farming families involved are still pushing for it have not given up. Neither should we…
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EXCO Resources continues to be a company in trouble. The company flirted with bankruptcy for some time, but in the end they effectively turned over control of the company to creditors this past summer in order to stay out of bankruptcy court (see 
A little-known (outside of northeast Pennsylvania) anti-driller, Vera Scroggins, was fined $1,000 in April 2015 in Susquehanna County court (see 
Events related (or of interest) to the Marcellus and Utica Shale, primarily pro-drilling events.
The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading. In today’s lineup: Shale tax supporters face slow go in PA House; SEPA RINO Congressman attacks Mariner East 2; 2017 is the year shale went global; industry organizations counter activist lies; why condensate flipped from cheap to pricey and why it map flip back; Canada’s first LNG shipment reaches China; the biggest voices in oil disagree on 2018 outlook; and more!
We have been waiting for this day for a LONG time. Yesterday the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued an order to Rover Pipeline allowing Rover to restart all outstanding underground horizontal directional drilling (HDD) projects, including the location at Tuscarawas River. All Rover HDD projects were stopped back in April following a string of “inadvertent returns” (i.e. leaks) of drilling mud, the most serious being a ~2 million gallon spill at the Tuscarawas River HDD location (see 
On Monday MDN shared news with you that we believe was exclusive news–nobody else picked up on it. The news was that Noble Energy’s original plan to sell its 50% stake in CONE Midstream to Quantum Energy Partners for $765 million, announced back in May, is in trouble (see 
Back in June MDN shared some good news for Utica (and Marcellus) drillers: The Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) had approved permits for two new frack wastewater injection wells in Trumbull County, OH (see 
Another 350 acres of mineral rights were just auctioned off yesterday by the Bureau of Land Management in Ohio’s Wayne National Forest (WNF)–for a total of $944,000 raised. What’s that? You haven’t heard or read that news in ANY local or national news outlet? Welcome to the Big Government/Media complex where something isn’t “news” unless Big Lib media says it’s news. And yet, this most recent auction is, for landowners who have mineral rights in WNF and drillers who drill there, really big news. WNF is a “patchwork” of public land scattered among private land. Some 60% of the mineral rights below WNF are privately owned. Those mineral rights owners were denied the use of their property rights for more than a decade–until the BLM finally began auctions of government mineral rights in BLM last year (see 
Yesterday MDN brought you the news that on Tuesday the latest effort to keep debating (and potentially pass) a horrible severance tax bill had failed by a single vote in the PA House (see 
We’re now learning more about how the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) plans to implement Gov. Tom Wolf’s onerous regulations that supposedly will cut down on fugitive methane from escaping from drill pads and pipelines. In December 2016, the DEP unveiled new methane regulations (see 
We have to confess, the LNG (liquefied natural gas) world is sometimes confusing for us. The overall theory is pretty simple. Huge plants super-cool natural gas into a liquid state (called liquefaction) and load it onto tankers. The tankers (typically ships, sometimes rail) convey the LNG to a distant port somewhere and it’s unloaded. At the receiving end, the gas is then reheated back into a gaseous state (called regasification). However, the technology that both cools and reheats the gas is complex. Dominion began working on the Cove Point LNG export plant in October 2014 (see 
Another bought-and-paid-for junk science report has been released and is now grabbing headlines from lazy (or biased) mainstream news organizations. A study by researchers from the University of Chicago and Princeton University, funded by the uber-liberal (and anti-drilling) MacArthur Foundation. The MacArthur Foundation funds some of the worst of the worst Big Green groups, including Earthworks, Natural Resources Defense Council, and the Sierra Club, among others. The “study” looked at health records from Pennsylvania and purports to find that in those locations with fracked shale wells, babies are born with lower birth weights than in areas without fracking. And there’s the headline everyone is grabbing. Here’s how it works: Big donors like the MacArthur Foundation go shopping for scientists at highly respected, reputable universities they can buy off with a research grant. They then tell the researchers what the outcome of the study will be. The researchers then conduct their research and magically come to the predetermined conclusion and get it published in a “peer reviewed” (and obscure) scientific journal. It has just happened again, with a study titled “Hydraulic fracturing and infant health: New evidence from Pennsylvania” (full copy below). How do we know this is actually junk science? Even the left-leaning Science magazine says this about the study: “…there is no smoking gun that proves how fracking impairs infant health.” When the left says that about a study, it’s junk…
The GECF (Gas Exporting Countries Forum) has just released its latest annual report, titled “2017 Global Gas Outlook” (full copy below). The report is remarkable for its prediction that by 2040 demand for natural gas across the globe will increase 53% from what it is today. Staggering! What’s even more remarkable is that the GECF is largely made up of oil producing/exporting countries–including Algeria, Iran, Libya, Nigeria, Russia, the United Arab Emirates and Venezuela. For oil countries to say gas is on fire and going through the roof–now that’s news! Even though these countries secretly hate the U.S. and its abundant shale reserves, they put on a good public face. GECF’s secretary general, Seyed Mohammad Hossein Adeli, said this about American shale gas: “The growth of shale is good because more gas will contribute to the penetration of gas worldwide.” Er, right. Whatever you say, Seyed. Here’s an overview of the report, followed by a copy of the full report…