Environmentalists Lose Their Minds, Strap Methane Backpacks on Cows
Have you ever read an article on The Onion? It’s a faux news site that runs stories that, at first blush, appear to be legitimate–but are in reality spoofs. Jokes. Made-up. That’s what we began to read a story sent along by intrepid MDN news hound Chris Acker, about researchers in Argentina strapping methane backpacks on cows and hooking up hoses to their digestive tracts (reminding us of the Borg in Star Trek) in order to capture global warming methane emissions from bovines. We thought, “This must be a joke, right?” But no! It’s not. It comes from Bloomberg–a legitimate mainstream news agency. Environmentalist wackos are so concerned that cow burps and farts will warm Mom Earth that they’re now driven to turn poor Bessie the cow into a Bovine Borg…
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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: Eric Schneiderman, NY’s tempestuous AG, does NRDC’s bidding in war against Exxon; final DEP Mariner East 2 hearing; TVA natgas-fired electric plant coming in TN; Sierra Clubbers file lawsuit against Sabal Trail pipeline; the coming frac sand boom; Eleventh Circuit Court disappoints, won’t hear WOTUS case; US ethane squeezing out Canadian propane/butane; and more!
Everyone loves a Top 5 or Top 10, including MDN. Who are the Top 5 drillers in the Utica Shale? It depends, of course, on your criteria for selecting such a list. One of MDN’s favorite writers on The Motley Fool website, Matt DiLallo, has just published what he calls “The 5 Companies Dominating the Utica Shale Play.” In other words, the Top 5 Utica drillers. Matt points out that in the span of five short years the Utica has become the nation’s second largest shale gas play, behind only the Marcellus. Matt uses a combination of acres-under-lease and number-of-wells-drilled to come up with his list of five drillers who are leading the charge in the Utica. It won’t surprise you to learn that Chesapeake Energy, which was the first company to drill in the Utica under then-CEO Aubrey McClendon, is head-and-shoulders above the rest as the #1 Dominator in the Utica. Some of the others in the Top 5 list may, however, surprise you. Here’s Matt’s excellent roundup of the Utica…
Ten years is long enough for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) when it comes to an LNG (liquefied natural gas) project. Yesterday FERC pulled the plug on an application from Downeast LNG, telling them their application to build an import/export plant along the shoreline of Maine (in Washington County) has been rejected. In December 2006, Downeast filed applications “for the siting, construction, and operation of an LNG import terminal and associated pipeline take-away facilities in Washington County, Maine.” In July 2014, Downeast filed a letter requesting the Commission initiate the pre-filing process for the conversion of its proposed import project facilities into a bidirectional import/export LNG terminal and associated pipeline facilities. The facility would use Marcellus Shale gas to export–an important new market for our overabundant gas supplies. In August 2014, the FERC approved Downeast’s request to pre-file the bidirectional import/export project. As recently as June 2015, Downeast boasted of plans to begin building the facility in 2017 (see 
Just last week MDN warned that anti-drilling radicals running King George County, VA were contemplating a vote to ban fracking in the county (see 
There’s certainly more than one way to make money on fracking in the Marcellus/Utica. Billionaire hedge fund manager David Tepper (Appaloosa Management) has found such a way. Tepper knows a good company, or four, when he sees them. In the fourth quarter of 2015, when Marcellus/Utica company stocks were at one of their lowest points, Tepper loaded up, buying stock in four leading northeast drillers. Half a year later he turned around and sold that stock, for a 100%+ return on his investment. He doubled his money. Smart man. Which drillers’ stocks did Tepper buy and then sell?…
In May MDN told you that the Penn Township (in Westmoreland County, PA) zoning board voted to refuse to grant a permit to Apex Energy to build a DEP-permitted well pad in the town (see 
The Pennsylvania State Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) keeps track of emissions from various sources–including the shale industry. When drillers drill and pipeline companies pipe, the equipment used leaks nasty stuff into the air. Frankly it’s no different for any industrial activity or business. Even homes. We all emit stuff into the air. The question is, how much do we emit and does it rise to the level of being harmful? Yesterday the DEP released air emissions numbers for the shale industry for 2014–the most recent year in which they have completed data. What does it show? In 2014 the industry was still in an upswing–there were more wells drilled, more pipelines being added, etc. than in 2013. So it’s no surprise to learn that the shale industry as a whole emitted more emissions in 2014 than in 2013. What will be interesting is to see the 2015 numbers when they get released a year from now (the downturn began in 2015). With less drilling and piping, will air emissions go down? Stands to reason. At any rate, here’s what the DEP said yesterday about an increase in emitting nasty stuff by the drilling industry…
In September 2015, MDN told you that the Massachusetts Dept. of Public Utilities (DPU) approved long-term contracts for three utilities–Berkshire Gas, National Grid and Columbia Gas–to buy natural gas supplies from Kinder Morgan’s Northeast Energy Direct (NED) pipeline, IF it gets built (see 
We’re sorry to beat a dead horse (or goat, in this case) to death, but we can’t help it. We have another shining example of far-left environmental radicals who are bleating about the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) change-up in the way they accepted public comments on the PennEast Pipeline project. We first reported the antis are up-in-arms two days ago (see 
A West Virginia University engineering prof has just been awarded $110,000 to study methane aromatization. What’s that? It’s the process of turning methane, or natural gas, into “higher value products” like benzene and hydrogen. It’s not as easy as it may sound. If the good prof is successful, it may open up new markets in the northeast for our overabundant natural gas supplies. Here’s the lowdown…
Last week MDN was the first to share the news that the California-based US Methanol is building at least two, rumored up to five, methanol plants in the Mountain State (see 
In April 2014 MDN brought you the exciting news that a father and son team, Andrew and Matthew Dorn (based in Buffalo, NY) would build a 549-megawatt electric generating plant, powered by Marcellus Shale, in Moundsville (Marshall County), WV (see 
Ultra Petroleum, based in Houston, TX, is an independent exploration and production (E&P) company mainly focused on drilling in the Green River Basin of Wyoming. Ultra also drills for oil in the Uinta Basin/Three Rivers area in Utah. In addition, Ultra maintains a position in the Pennsylvania Marcellus shale with leases on 184,000 gross (91,000 net) acres–no small amount. They aren’t currently drilling on their Marcellus acreage, but if prices change, they likely would. That is, if they make it through bankruptcy. At the end of April Ultra filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy (see 
Earlier this month MDN reported that oilfield services company Seventy Seven Energy (SSE), the former Chesapeake Oilfield Operating company, had popped out of bankruptcy in record time–just two months after declaring bankruptcy (see