Marcellus Drilling News

Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Lackawanna County | Luzerne County | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

Remarkable Change in PA Jobs Since Pro-Gas Corbett Lost Gov Race
December 31, 2014December 31, 2014

Funny how prior to the election on Nov. 4 you couldn’t read, watch or listen to a mainstream media report about employment in Pennsylvania without hearing how the job market under the Satantic Gov. Tom Corbett (Republican) sucked big-time. Ole Tom had sold his soul to Big Gas, ya see, with the promise of jobs jobs jobs. And guess what? No jobs. And if there were more jobs–they all went to foreigners–people from exotic places like Texas and Oklahoma and Louisiana. We can’t count how many such (false) stories we saw. After Nov. 4? Voilà. Something changed. Even though the pure-as-the-wind-driven-snow Angelic Gov.-elect Tom Wolf (Democrat) hasn’t yet taken office–somehow, magically, unemployment is at historic lows and there’s jobs popping up everywhere in the Keystone State. Why? The Marcellus Shale, of course…
Read More “Remarkable Change in PA Jobs Since Pro-Gas Corbett Lost Gov Race”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Dominion Energy | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Statewide VA | Virginia

Rural Virginians Want Internet, but Not Natgas Energy to Access It
December 31, 2014December 31, 2014

The publisher of Virginia Business, Bernie Niemeier, has a fascinating perspective on Dominion’s proposed $4.5 billion Atlantic Coast Pipeline project that would run through the Old Dominion state. Niemeier supports the pipeline, not the least of which because it will provide a huge economic boost ($450 million in direct benefit to the economy) and a jobs creator (2,800 jobs to build it). Niemeier notes the rapid objections to the pipeline–the “not here, not now, not ever” crowd that has come out of the woodwork. He compares their knee-jerk objections to efforts to build out internet access in rural areas, another project that would cut through the same “wilderness” areas and cause environmental “damage”. We love his observation at the short-sighted obtuseness of those who want access to the internet, but not the power that allows them to access it…
Read More “Rural Virginians Want Internet, but Not Natgas Energy to Access It”
Commodity Price | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines

When Will the Price Drillers Fetch for Marcellus Gas Increase?
December 31, 2014December 31, 2014

Why is the price that drillers in the northeast receive for natural gas so much less than what drillers get in other areas of the country? In a word–pipelines. Or rather, lack of them. When will the infrastructure constraints that cause northeast prices to remain low be resolved? At least several years, according to one analyst…
Read More “When Will the Price Drillers Fetch for Marcellus Gas Increase?”
About MDN | MDN Resources

Top 15 Most-Read Stories on MDN for 2014
December 31, 2014December 31, 2014

Yes it’s trite, yes it’s overdone, yes it’s a lazy way for an editor to gin up another story (aren’t you glad we’re honest?)…but we’ll do it anyway. MDN wondered, of the 2,500+ stories we published in 2014, which ones garnered the most views? Bear in mind that non-paying readers sometimes read entire articles (if they find them via a Google search). So we looked at overall, for paying and non-paying readers, what caught your interest in 2014? Here’s the top 15 most-read stories in 2014…
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Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Wed, Dec 31, 2014
December 31, 2014December 31, 2014

The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading:
Read More “Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Wed, Dec 31, 2014”
Bradford County | Health Impacts | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Research | Statewide NY | Statewide PA

PA Public Health Expert Destroys NY Health Study, Frack Ban
December 30, 2014December 30, 2014

The Joint Landowners Coalition of New York (JLCNY) is a 70,000-member group of frustrated landowners who have had their Constitutional property rights stripped away by a spineless governor. In an effort to get the truth out about shale drilling and its affects–both good and bad–the JLCNY has taken to the airways with a periodic (every 3-4 weeks) radio program that airs Sunday evenings for an hour on Binghamton’s WNBF 1290 AM radio station. This past Sunday night the latest program aired and it was a must-listen program. The special guest was Dr. Theodore Them, MD, MS, PhD, MPH. Dr. Them is a specialist in environmental medicine working at Guthrie, the 19th largest health care system in the United States. Dr. Them lives in Bradford County, PA, within five miles of 100+ Marcellus Shale gas wells. Dr. Them was on the program to discuss the so-called “health impacts” report recently delivered by New York State Commissioner of Health Dr. Howard Zucker (see After 6+ Years, Andrew Cuomo Bans Fracking in New York). Dr. Them, in our considered opinion, completely destroyed the “findings” in Zucker’s report. We have the full one-hour program below for your listening edification…
Read More “PA Public Health Expert Destroys NY Health Study, Frack Ban”
Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Lease & Royalty Payments | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

Chesapeake & PA Landowners Settle Royalty Lawsuit…Again
December 30, 2014December 30, 2014

In September 2013 MDN told you that Chesapeake Energy had “settled” a lawsuit that would reimburse Pennsylvania landowners for post-production costs Chesapeake had deducted from royalty checks, leaving some landowners with checks for pennies (see Chesapeake Settles PA Royalty Lawsuit for Pittance: $7.5M). As we said at the time, it was a pittance that Chessy would pay $7.5 million to be shared among “several thousand” landowners, with 1/3 of it going to lawyers. The suit was never settled because some landowners sued to block it while they filed their own, separate lawsuit. The disagreeing landowners have finally joined and have (now) accepted an offer from Chesapeake to settle–for $11 million. Still peanuts if you ask us, but perhaps something is better than nothing?…
Read More “Chesapeake & PA Landowners Settle Royalty Lawsuit…Again”
Statewide WV | West Virginia

WV Sees Slower Drilling, Crews Go Home for Winter
December 30, 2014December 30, 2014

According to an article today in the Logan (WV) Register-Herald, most fracking crews operating in the Mountain State have gone home for the winter with “don’t call us we’ll call you” instructions. Drilling rigs are idled in WV. Why? According to the article, because of the low-and-getting-lower commodity price of natural gas. While the WV economy is still booming, certain businesses, like restaurants and hotels, are taking a hit due to the absence of drilling activity. When will it improve again?…
Read More “WV Sees Slower Drilling, Crews Go Home for Winter”
Dominion Energy | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pipelines | Statewide VA | Virginia

Dominion Sues VA Landowners to Allow Survey for Pipeline
December 30, 2014December 30, 2014

In September, Dominion committed full force to building a 550-mile, $5 billion natural gas pipeline that will run from West Virginia, through Virginia and into North Carolina (see Dominion Commits to Major New Marcellus/Utica Pipeline Project). The project, called the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, will transport Marcellus and Utica Shale gas to the southeast. In November, Dominion asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to begin an environmental review of the project (see Dominion Asks FERC to Start Environmental Review of SE Pipeline). In order to do a proper review and to finalize plans for the route, Dominion surveyors need to get on property of landowners in Virginia who have, so far, refused them entry. So Dominion has now taken 40 Virginia landowners to court to force them to allow a survey…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Kinder Morgan | MarkWest Energy | NGLs | Pipelines

KY Antis Now Opposing Kinder Morgan Y-Grade NGL Pipeline
December 30, 2014December 30, 2014

Will Kentucky scuttle yet another pipeline project? A group of anti-drillers/anti-pipeliners, including a bunch of radical nuns, earlier this year successfully stopped the Bluegrass Pipeline project, a natural gas liquids (NGL) pipeline proposed by Williams and Boardwalk Pipeline Partners that would run from the Marcellus/Utica region to the Gulf Coast (see Williams Stops Work on Bluegrass Pipeline, Boardwalk Says “It’s Not Dead”). In November, Boardwalk agreed with Williams that yes, the project is indeed dead as a doornail. The KY legislature, and later a KY judge, disallowed the use of eminent domain for the project, which effectively killed it (see Kentucky House Votes to End Eminent Domain for Bluegrass Pipeline and Judge Rules Bluegrass Pipeline Cannot Use Eminent Domain in KY). Mission accomplished for the anti-drilling faithful, like the nuns of Marion County (see Thank God the Bluegrass Pipeline will Bypass Marion County Nuns). But then Kinder Morgan and MarkWest came along with a plan to convert some 800 miles of the existing Tennessee Gas Pipeline, which runs through KY, into an NGL pipeline from the northeast to the Gulf (see Kinder Morgan Y-Grade NGL Pipeline from NE to SW Still Alive). The anti-drilling faithful are getting the band back together to go after this effort. They may not find it as easy to scuttle as the Bluegrass…
Read More “KY Antis Now Opposing Kinder Morgan Y-Grade NGL Pipeline”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Research | Statewide OH | Utica Shale

Trout Unlimited Says Lake Erie Threatened by Utica Drilling
December 30, 2014December 30, 2014

Trout Unlimited (TU) might have once been populated with reasonable people, but it long ago left behind reasonableness and became a radical “green” group, funded and controlled by anti-drilling foundations (see Trout Unlimited, Other Groups Outted as Radical Green Groups). Even though TU has been exposed as having a radical, anti-drilling agenda, they still pretend, with the help of PBS and others, to be “reasonable” on the issue of shale drilling. When a member of TU says the group isn’t anti-shale, you know you just heard a 100% lie. They ARE anti-shale–to the core. We find it repugnant when mainstream media unquestioningly reports yet another TU spin story. The latest such story says that Utica Shale drilling in the Buckeye State is a “threat” to Lake Erie. TU has just released a so-called report (PowerPoint presentation, really) called “10 Special Places” (full copy embedded below). The “report” highlights 10 areas in the Eastern U.S. that TU says are threatened by Marcellus and Utica Shale drilling–including Lake Erie…
Read More “Trout Unlimited Says Lake Erie Threatened by Utica Drilling”
Industrywide Issues | Reserves (Proved and Unproved)

Defining O&G Reserves: Proved, Recoverable & In-Place
December 30, 2014December 30, 2014

A handy graphic and article from our favorite government agency, the U.S. Energy Information Administration, explains the differences in what companies call their “reserves”–how much gas and oil they have in the ground, ready to be extracted. You often hear or read of “proved reserves.” How does that category differ from “economically recoverable” and “technically recoverable” reserves? And what about this nebulous “oil and gas in place”? EIA’s helpful primer ‘splains it to us…
Read More “Defining O&G Reserves: Proved, Recoverable & In-Place”
Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

Shale Gas News Radio – December 27, 2014 [Audio]
December 30, 2014December 30, 2014

Every Saturday the one-hour Shale Gas News show airs on Scranton, PA’s 94.3 FM “The Talker” radio station. The show is co-hosted by Kevin Lynn of Linde Corporation and Bill desRosiers from Cabot Oil & Gas. MDN brings you the latest program show notes and recordings for Shale Gas News each week (well worth your time to listen). Here’s the latest program, recorded on Saturday, Dec. 27…
Read More “Shale Gas News Radio – December 27, 2014 [Audio]”
About MDN | Calendar

Calendar of Events for Dec 29, 2014 – Jan 11, 2015 [Free]
December 30, 2014December 30, 2014

Below are upcoming events for this week and next. To see the full list of future events, visit this page: //marcellusdrilling.com/calendar/.

NOTE: To have an item included, please email it to: calendar@marcellusdrilling.com.
Read More “Calendar of Events for Dec 29, 2014 – Jan 11, 2015 [Free]”
Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Tue, Dec 30, 2014
December 30, 2014December 30, 2014

The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading:
Read More “Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Tue, Dec 30, 2014”
Anschutz Exploration | Chemung County | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | New York

Exclusive: Anschutz Wins 4 Yr-Old NY Methane Contamination Case
December 29, 2014December 29, 2014

An MDN exclusive: In 2010, at the beginning of widespread public consciousness about the Marcellus Shale and a time when drilling was just taking off in Pennsylvania, a New York City personal injury law firm smelled opportunity with a group of landowners in Chemung County, NY. Nine families living in Big Flats claimed that nearby gas drilling from Anschutz Corporation had “contaminated” their water wells (see our story at the time, Supposed “First Claim” Filed in New York Alleging Water Contamination from Hydraulic Fracturing Gas Drilling). The NYC law firm claimed in a press release (falsely) that the two wells drilled by Anschutz had been fracked (see Anschutz Exploration Responds to Lawsuit Claiming Drilling Operations Contaminated Water Wells in Big Flats, NY). The case started out in a lower court, called Supreme Court in New York (go figure) and eventually ended up in U.S. District Court in Western NY. Last week, U.S. District Court Judge Charles Siragusa dismissed the case against Anschutz…
Read More “Exclusive: Anschutz Wins 4 Yr-Old NY Methane Contamination Case”