OH Supreme Court Puts Youngstown Anti-Frack Measure on Ballot
Only in America, and only in Ohio (slowly shaking our heads). Last Thursday, the Ohio Supreme Court voted 7-0 to force an anti-fracking ballot measure that has been on the ballot in Youngstown, Ohio four times previously to be added to the ballot once again in November–for a fifth time. Even though (as the justices acknowledge) the ballot measure itself “may be” unconstitutional, as their own court recently found (see OH Supreme Court Strikes Down Home Rule in Gas Drilling Case). Apparently the justices object to a lowly county board of elections determining whether or not something is legal before it’s been voted on. As we told you in August, the Mahoning County Board of Elections voted unanimously to keep a so-called community bill of rights (i.e. anti-fracking) measure off the November ballot, a measure put forth by the nutters with LogicFree Mahoning Valley (aka FrackFree Mahoning Valley, see Elections Board Strikes Down 5th Youngstown Anti-Frack Ballot). The Ohio Supreme Court slapped the county right across the face and informed them determining legality is the purview of a court, not a board of elections. So the measure will go down to defeat a fifth time, wasting county time and money…
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Over a year ago MDN broke the news that Moxie Energy was in the hunt to begin a third new Marcellus gas-powered electric plant project in Pennsylvania (see 
Question: Where did Robin Hood live? Answer: Sherwood Forest. Everybody knows that! Don’t look now but those evil, vile, filthy frackers want to begin fracking in Sherwood Forest. Yes, THE Sherwood Forest where the mythical Robin Hood once roamed with his merry band of outlaws. Believe it or not, and against all odds, the United Kingdom recently re-elected a conservative government, by a strong majority, and that government is pushing forward with a program to encourage shale drilling in merry ole’ England–including in Sherwood Forest…
Below are upcoming events for the next three months (90 days). To see the full list of future events, visit this page:
The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading. In today’s lineup: Fractivism goes blue; welders needed in Ohio; budget compromise or political suicide in PA; Cabot’s $50K scholoarship; Penguins & PNG partner up; Dominion says no easy fixes for pipelines; pipes in NH; Goldman sees 15 years of cheap oil; and more!
It seems anti-drillers love to launch lawsuits, but when the shoe is applied to the other foot and lawsuits are filed against them, they don’t like it so much. Hypocrites. A small group of anti-drilling parents in the Mars School District in Middlesex Township (Butler County), PA–folks we call Martians–want to prevent the legal, legitimate, and now fully permitted right of Rex Energy to drill a few Marcellus Shale wells three-fourths of a mile away from the Mars School. We’ve long chronicled this battle (see 
Antero Resources announced today it will sell its integrated water delivery business in the Marcellus/Utica to itself for $1.05 billion. That is, Antero Resources (the drilling company) is selling the water business to Antero Midstream (subsidiary pipeline company) in what is called a “drop down” transaction–for more than a billion dollars. All lighthearted joking aside about Antero selling something to itself, this is a big and complex deal. In the announcement below we get a number of details for both Antero the driller and Antero the pipeline company, including how much Antero the driller will pay for the water from Antero the pipeline company ($3.69/barrel in WV, and $3.64/barrel in OH)…
Below are articles written by others who attended this year’s Shale Insight event in Philadelphia. MDN editor Jim Willis sat in on some of the general sessions and took notes. He’ll share his own notes and insights on Shale Insight next week. In the meantime, here’s what mainstream media said about the sessions happening on Day Two…
Good news for the citizens of Ohio. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently released a report on Ohio’s Class II Underground Injection Control (UIC) program–that is, wastewater injection wells–and found that the Ohio Department of Natural Resources’ (ODNR) regulatory program is of “good quality” and continues to provide strong protections for Ohio’s underground sources of drinking water (USDW). The federal EPA just gave Ohio a big, fat, sloppy kiss right on the mouth along with a big two thumbs up that the state is doing it right when it comes to wastewater injection wells…
The Pennsylvania Independent Oil & Gas Association (PIOGA) has been at the forefront in opposing an industry-killing severance tax proposed by new governor Tom Wolf (see 
Fresh back from Shale Insight in Philadelphia, MDN editor Jim Willis is always pumped after hearing about the technology and safeguards and careful treatment the shale energy industry uses in extracting shale gas. These people are true professionals who care about the work they do–and they want to do it right. They care about the environment. They want to protect the land and our natural resources. They live in the communities where fracking is done. On the other hand, the people who profess to care about such things, anti-drillers, repeatedly prove themselves to be a) mind-numbed robots who believe whatever their movement leaders tell them, b) stark raving mad. Example: A group of extremists who happen to be “religious” have penned a letter to Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf asking him to stop all fracking in the state because they fervently believe (wrongly) that fracking contributes to the mythological existence of man-made global warming. Mainstream media picks this garbage up and repeat it, like it’s a real news story…
Let’s be honest, shall we? The Catholic Church has a Marxist as its leader in Pope Francis–which is a truly sad thing for a great and significant denomination. Pope Francis, nee Jorge Mario Bergoglio, is from Argentina and he supports Marxism, as many do in South America. Pope Francis hates capitalism and appears to be more interested in advancing socialist political policies here on earth than he does in serving Jesus Christ and saving souls. The current situation with Pope Francis distresses many Catholics we personally know. The Pope has thrown in his lot with climate change liars–those who say mankind is causing the earth to warm up–because the so-called climate change movement is the new home of anti-capitalists (i.e. Marxists, i.e. Communists). Scientific fact: global average temperatures haven’t risen now for 18 years. Yesterday, The Heartland Institute participated in a Constitution Day event in Philadelphia to call attention to the Pope’s coming visit to Philly (a visit made possible via fossil fuels) and the Pope’s error-filled teachings against fossil fuels and capitalism…
A single professor from Duke University who lives by the motto “publish or perish” is out with yet another “study” published in a so-called peer reviewed journal. From time to time Avner Vengosh, professor of geochemistry and water quality at Duke University’s Nicholas School of the Environment, pops up to smear the Marcellus Shale. He was in league with the Izaak Walton League to attempt to tie Marcellus drilling to water contamination in Ten Mile Creek (see 
MDN is proud to be supporting this year’s Pennsylvania Independent Oil & Gas Association (PIOGA) Eastern Oil & Gas Conference and Trade Show, which will take place Oct 27-28 at the Monroeville Convention Center just outside Pittsburgh. The event features a conference, trade show and networking events–a “must attend” event for those involved with oil and gas drilling in the PA (and associated industries). Below is the just-announced line-up for conference presentations. Oh! And be sure you don’t miss the Halloween-themed mixer Tuesday evening!…