Marcellus Drilling News

Dominion Energy | Energy Services | Harrison County | Industrywide Issues | Lease & Royalty Payments | Ohio | Pipelines

Harrison County Landowers Say Dominion Pipeline Offer is Too Low
October 6, 2014October 8, 2014

Dominion wants to widen an existing right-of-way to build a 16.5 mile natural gas pipeline in Harrison County, OH. But according to landowners under whose property the pipeline would sit, Dominion is low-balling them–offering, literally pennies on the dollar. How much is the offer, and what’s the going rate to lease land for a 36″ pipeline in that area of Ohio?…
Read More “Harrison County Landowers Say Dominion Pipeline Offer is Too Low”
Blue Ridge Mtn Res/Magnum Hunter | Energy Companies

Magnum Hunter Shops for New Loans to Pay Old Loans + New Slides
October 6, 2014October 6, 2014

Magnum Hunter, a driller laser focused on the Marcellus and Utica Shale, announced today they are shopping for a couple of new loans in the amount of $390 million to, ah, pay off older loans of $256 million (and give it an extra $134 million of wiggle room for future drilling operations). They also released a new PowerPoint investor presentation with some interesting slides (below)…
Read More “Magnum Hunter Shops for New Loans to Pay Old Loans + New Slides”
Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Maryland | Regulation | Research | Statewide MD

Maryland Risk Assessment for Shale Drilling Finds Little Risk
October 6, 2014October 6, 2014

The Maryland Dept. of the Environment and the Dept. of Natural Resources–the two state agencies charged with researching and evaluating whether or not hydraulic fracturing in shale and tight formations in Maryland should be allowed–turned in an important report on Friday. The report is part of a years-long evaluation process that is, hopefully, nearing an end. We always made fun of Maryland as being “more dysfunctional than New York” when it comes to fracking. Guess what? New York is even more dysfunctional than Maryland! It’s now looking like Maryland may actually begin to frack before New York. The 241-page report released Friday is titled “Assessment of risks from unconventional gas well development in the Marcellus Shale of Western Maryland” (full copy below). In it the two departments break down the drilling process from beginning to end and assess risks, to people and the environment, at each stage of the process. The short version, which won’t make anti-drillers happy, is that shale drilling can be done safely–with minimal risks…
Read More “Maryland Risk Assessment for Shale Drilling Finds Little Risk”
Accidents | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Range Resources Corp | Regulation | Washington County | Wastewater

Hearing on Range Yeager Impoundment/Water Contamination Continues
October 6, 2014October 6, 2014

More from the ongoing hearing into the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection’s actions, or lack of actions, in determining a private water well 2,800 feel (half a mile) downhill from a Range Resources wastewater impoundment that was found to be leaky was fouled by that impoundment. We previously explained that in order for a lawsuit by the landowner Loren Kiskadden against Range for “contaminating” his water well to be valid, the DEP must reverse a previous finding that Range’s Yeager impoundment did not foul his well (see Did DEP Mishandle Range Wastewater Impoundment Investigation?). So one of the DEP’s investigators has been on the hot seat explaining his previous findings and reports…
Read More “Hearing on Range Yeager Impoundment/Water Contamination Continues”
Dominion Energy | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Statewide VA | Virginia

Opposition to Dominion SE Pipeline: Bulldozers & Salamanders
October 6, 2014October 6, 2014

It was just a scant few months ago that Dominion first announced a new pipeline project to carry Marcellus and Utica Shale gas from West Virginia through Virginia and into North Carolina (see Dominion Announces 2 New Pipeline Projects from Marcellus/Utica). Eventually what was a single company building a $2 billion pipeline became four joint venture partners building a 550-mile, $5 billion pipeline with the name Atlantic Coast Pipeline (see Dominion Commits to Major New Marcellus/Utica Pipeline Project). Surveyors are in the field attempting to chart a path for the new pipeline, and some landowners are none too pleased at the prospect. One crotchety old geezer who lives near the fabled Walton’s Mountain area says he’ll lay down under a bulldozer if they show up on his land…
Read More “Opposition to Dominion SE Pipeline: Bulldozers & Salamanders”
Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Ohio | Statewide OH

Failed Drug Tests Continue to Keep Ohioans from Utica Shale Jobs
October 6, 2014October 6, 2014

Back in January 2013 MDN brought you the story of why more Ohioans (instead of “foreigners,” as Gov. John Kasich calls them) don’t work in the flourishing Utica Shale industry (see Why More Ohioans Don’t Work in Utica Shale Industry? Drugs). As the Ohio Oil and Gas Energy Education Program executive director Rhonda Reda puts it, it’s not an “unemployment” issue, it’s an “unemployable” issue. Apparently it’s not getting any better. If anything, the drug problem is getting worse…
Read More “Failed Drug Tests Continue to Keep Ohioans from Utica Shale Jobs”
About MDN | Calendar

Calendar of Events for Oct 6-19, 2014 [Free]
October 6, 2014October 6, 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 Oct 6-19, 2014 [Free]”
Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Mon, Oct 6, 2014
October 6, 2014October 6, 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: Mon, Oct 6, 2014”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA DEP Sec. Chris Abruzzo Resigns Following Porn Email Scandal
October 3, 2014October 3, 2014

We warned you about Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane when she was elected (see Will New PA AG Go After the Marcellus Drilling Industry?). It wasn’t long before she started trolling years-old cases to see what she could turn into big headlines, attempting to damage the Marcellus industry (see PA AG Abuses Her Authority, Files Criminal Charges Against XTO). She not only went after the big players like XTO, she’s done her best to shut down smaller players too (see Minuteman Enviro Says PA AG Office “Terrorized” Family Members, Filing Lawsuit). Now her latest scalp. She went digging through five year-old computer records and found a couple of emails received and sent that contained porn on the computer of PA state employee Chris Abruzzo, back in 2009, when Abruzzo worked for then-Attorney General (and current Governor) Tom Corbett–long before Abruzzo was appointed as Secretary of the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP). A week after she started airing her charges to left-leaning media outlets, Abruzzo resigned…
Read More “PA DEP Sec. Chris Abruzzo Resigns Following Porn Email Scandal”
Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA | Wastewater

PA DEP Sec. Abruzzo’s Last Public Interview…with MDN
October 3, 2014October 3, 2014

Sadly, Pennsylvania’s Sec. of the Dept. of Environmental Protection, Christopher Abruzzo, resigned yesterday. See our lead story today for the details. Below is a podcast/recording of what MDN believes is Abruzzo’s last publicly recorded interview before he resigned–an interview with MDN editor Jim Willis. The interview was conducted at the Shale Insight event on Wednesday, Sept. 24 at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh. It was one day later, on Sept. 25, that news broke of five year-old emails, passed between Abruzzo and friends, that allegedly contained pornographic images. The issue triggered Abruzzo’s resignation yesterday. Regardless of his departure, Jim’s interview concerned important issues for the environment and the drilling industry in PA. Here’s the tough issues Jim tackled during the interview…
Read More “PA DEP Sec. Abruzzo’s Last Public Interview…with MDN”
Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Regulation | Statewide PA | Sunoco Logistics

Major Milestone: PA PUC Rules Mariner East IS a Public Utility
October 3, 2014October 3, 2014

Sunoco Logistics is not home free yet–but almost. As MDN readers will know, for some time anti-drillers have attempted to prevent Sunoco Logistics from repurposing their 400+ mile Mariner East pipeline that stretches from western PA to Philadelphia to begin flowing natural gas liquids–ethane and propane. The legal tussle has been over whether or not the pipeline is a “public utility” with the right of eminent domain and the right to be exempt from local zoning ordinances. Bear in mind the Mariner East pipeline has been in the ground for decades, always considered a public utility in years gone by. Local municipalities are now seeking to stop a string of 18 pump and 17 value stations (in 31 locations) that will be needed along the pipeline’s route in order to flow the ethane and propane. So the municipalities launched a legal fight to remove Mariner East’s classification as a public utility. Yesterday the Commissioners of the PA Public Utility Commission put that issue to rest once and for all…
Read More “Major Milestone: PA PUC Rules Mariner East IS a Public Utility”
Accidents | Beck Energy | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Ohio | Summit County

Beck Energy & Munroe Falls Go to Court – Again
October 3, 2014October 3, 2014

Munroe Falls, a “city” with 5,000 people located near Akron, OH (in Summit County) has a longstanding feud (and court case) with Beck Energy over Beck’s right to drill a shale well on private property within city limits. The drill site was evaluated and properly permitted by the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) in 2012, but as soon as Beck started drilling, the city slapped them with a stop work notice for violating local zoning ordinances. That set off a court battle over “home rule” and the rights local municipalities have over oil and gas activity. An Ohio Appeals Court eventually stuck down home rule (see OH Appeals Court Strikes Down Home Rule for Drilling). The case was appealed and is now before the OH Supreme Court, awaiting a decision (see Home Rule Case Heads to Ohio Supreme Court). A new/second case was filed earlier this week by Beck Energy against the city of Munroe Falls. It seems about three barrels of oil were spilled at the site and the city is (unbelievably) preventing Beck from cleaning it up…
Read More “Beck Energy & Munroe Falls Go to Court – Again”
Chenango County | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Research

Cornell Grad Students Publish Well Water Study from Upstate NY
October 3, 2014October 3, 2014

Some real science coming from Cornell University–who knew it was possible? Normally we associate the discredited theories of professors Robert Howarth and Anthony Ingraffea with the storied Cornell. They claim burning coal is better for the environment than burning natural gas (see Forbes Article Exposes Cornell Prof Howarth and His “Research”). It took a grad student at Cornell to conduct some real, fundamental, in-the-field research that will benefit Marcellus and Utica Shale drilling–IF it ever happens in New York. Doctoral student Lauren McPhillips is the lead author of a research paper recently published in the Journal of Hydrology: Regional Studies. The study is titled “Assessing dissolved methane patterns in central New York groundwater” (full copy below). McPhillips and her fellow researchers recorded the chemicals found in 113 water wells in Chenango County, NY, to serve as a baseline when/if widespread shale drilling comes to the county…
Read More “Cornell Grad Students Publish Well Water Study from Upstate NY”
CONSOL Energy | Energy Companies

CONSOL Energy Adds 2 New Board Members
October 3, 2014October 3, 2014

Marcellus/Utica Shale driller CONSOL Energy has just added a couple of new board members to their Board of Directors–the people that the CEO reports to and ultimately the people charged with ensuring the company grows and flourishes. CONSOL’s executive chairman, Brett Harvey, says the two are coming on the board at a “critical time” for CONSOL. The reason they’re being added? Two current board members are geezers, er hitting retirement age, and won’t be nominated to remain on the board at the next annual meeting. Here’s the details on who is joining the board at CONSOL…
Read More “CONSOL Energy Adds 2 New Board Members”
Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues

O&G Editor Provides Key Insights into Shale Revolution
October 3, 2014October 3, 2014

The editor-in-chief for Oil and Gas Investor, Leslie Haines, has been closely watching the shale revolution since it began in 2005. In a wide-ranging interview with The Energy Report, Haines talks about energy independence, whether or not we’ll ever stop importing fossil fuels, the Marcellus and Utica, depletion rates for shale wells, what constitutes a “monster well” and a whole lot more. It’s an interesting read…
Read More “O&G Editor Provides Key Insights into Shale Revolution”
Ethane | Industrywide Issues

Demystifying Ethane + Let’s Go on a Trip to Saturn
October 3, 2014October 3, 2014

Say it ain’t so. Ethane can be found on Titan–one of Saturn’s moons?! Now how did those nasty, evil frackers already get their claws into Titan? Don’t the Titanians know that faffing about with ethane and methane and all of those “anes” will cause global warming?

We are, tongue-in-cheek, introducing a serious bit of information. In very basic terms ethane–an NGL coming from the ground along with methane–is “cracked” in huge petrochemical plants (“crackers”) to produce ethylene, which is converted into plastic like polyethylene. We’ve been writing a lot about the (now) three cracker plants in various stages of planning for the northeast that will use ethane from Marcellus and Utica Shale drilling (see Thailand & Japan Partner to Build 3rd Big Marcellus Ethane Cracker). We spotted what we consider a really good description of ethane and the cracking process that goes a little beyond the mere basics. We found it enlightening and thought you would too:
Read More “Demystifying Ethane + Let’s Go on a Trip to Saturn”