Mark Zuckerberg Goes Fracking in North Dakota, Antis Have Meltdown
Mark Zuckerberg is the very wealthy and quite young founder and CEO of Facebook. As is typical of his generation and in the tech world, Zuckerberg is a flaming liberal. But you have have to give the guy credit. He not only founded Facebook, he grew it–to one of the biggest companies (value-wise) in the world. And he hasn’t screwed it all up. So he’s learned something. He’s teachable. Apparently Zuckerberg thinks if someone like Donald Trump can win the presidency, he might be able to himself. So Zuck has been traveling across the county, visiting various companies/factories/etc. Last week the Zuck was in North Dakota, visiting the Bakken Shale. Which may seem unusual. Zuckerberg is a big renewables guy. However, Zuckerberg wanted to see fracking, its workers and the communities around it, first-hand. He cautioned against the dangers of “demonizing” people who work in the fossil fuel industry. You know, our opinion of Zuck just went up a few notches. Maybe this kid can learn. He’s keeping an open mind. But of course some of his biggest fans, anti-drilling snowflakes, had a meltdown and took to social media to castigate their former hero…
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The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading. In today’s lineup: M-U rig counts double those of a year ago; natgas is saving farms and building communities in PA; discrimination lawsuit in the Marcellus; it’s not your father’s Haynesville Shale; China opening up to US oil; why nuclear is going bust; electric vehicles, breakout or breakdown; drilling costs starting to rise; and more!
The on-again, off-again, on-again construction of the Mariner East 2 pipeline in Chester County, PA (near Philly)…is now off again. At least in West Whiteland Township. Sunoco Logistics Partners was using horizontal directional drilling (HDD) to install pipeline through an area where digging a trench would not work. The HDD work hit a water aquifer that feeds private water wells for homes in the area. Drilling mud used during the work leaked into the aquifer and resulted in cloudy water for some 15 households. MDN previously reported that Sunoco quickly addressed the issue and committed to paying for a municipal water line in the area (see 
In June MDN brought you news about a move by the Borough of Oakmont (suburb close to Pittsburgh, northeast side of the city) to regulate seismic testing in the Borough, essentially to prevent it from happening by Huntley & Huntley (see 
Recently Broome County (NY) Executive Jason Garner sounded the alarm about county finances. He compared Broome County’s economic situation to the Titanic. The New York State Comptroller’s office issued a report in September 2016 that said Broome County has been in fiscal stress over the past three years. Thank you Gov. Cuomo for banning fracking–the one thing that could have pulled us out of the hole. With all of the bad news, you would think Broome County would be a cheerleader for a proposed “virtual pipeline” project from NG Advantage, planned for the Town of Fenton in a Binghamton suburb. In fact, Fenton approved the project (after a detailed review), and construction began in June (see 
Last week the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) held a dedication ceremony for the Paradise Combined Cycle Gas Plant in Drakesboro, Kentucky. The Paradise plant is a natural gas-fired plant that replaces two now-closed coal plants at the site. The new plant is capable of producing 1,100 megawatts of electricity (really big plant). The cool part, for us, is that Marcellus/Utica gas is either already feeding the plant, or soon will. The plant is fed by a 20-mile pipeline connecting to the Texas Eastern pipeline system (Tetco). We don’t know for sure whether Tetco is now carrying Marcellus/Utica gas south, but we do know that last December the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued certificates for three Spectra Energy projects to expand Tetco to carry Marcellus/Utica gas to Ohio, Kentucky and Mississippi (see 
At the G20 summit of industrialized nations in Germany last week, something pretty incredible happened. All of the European nations part of the G20 are attempting to bully the United States into dumping fossil fuels. Donald Trump stood up to them last week and got them to add language to the official communique that Washington will “work closely with other countries to help them access and use fossil fuels more cleanly and efficiently.” Folks, this is major! Europe backed down. Trump stood firm and he stood tall. Europe has been in this fugue of denial, claiming the world will just be able to flip and switch and convert to so-called renewable energy–any year now. Trump got them to admit that false pretense is not reality. He got them to admit that fossil fuels are and will be a part of the world’s energy mix for the foreseeable future (generations, with an “s”). No doubt the Europeans didn’t like being shamed into admitting the renewable emperor has no clothes. Here’s an even bigger surprise. The lib editors at the Detroit News think Trump did the right thing–and say fossil fuels are here to stay for a long time…
Events related (or of interest) to the Marcellus and Utica Shale, primarily pro-drilling events.
Bit by bit, piece by piece, Shell is getting landowners in Beaver County, PA to sign easements for its 94-mile Falcon Ethane Pipeline–a pipeline with two “legs” that will feed Shell’s mighty ethane cracker plant. MDN exclusively broke the news in February 2016 that Shell had begun to sign leases with landowners for the pipeline (see 
Just yesterday MDN reported on a small group of gentry landowners living in the lavish Bent Mountain area of Roanoke County, VA who illegally blocked access to surveyors from Mountain Valley Pipeline (see 