Marcellus Drilling News

Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | CNG/LNG | Industrywide Issues

Anti-Cove Point LNG Protest in DC Flops Bigtime
July 14, 2014July 14, 2014

Well that certainly went bust. Last week MDN told you that anti-drillers would protest yesterday (Sunday) on the Mall in Washington, DC against the already approved Cove Point, MD LNG export facility (see Anti-Drilling Rally Against Cove Point LNG Plant in DC on Sunday). We found one blog site that covered the rally. The only “news” site we could find that ran a story was the terrorist-loving Al Jazeera America (formerly Al Gore’s network). Why no coverage? Because a max of maybe 200 people even bothered to show up. In the same philosophical vein of “If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound?” We ask: “If a protest rally is held in Washington and no reporters show up, did it really happen?”…
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Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Regulation | Statewide OH | Statewide PA

Commerce Dept Slaps Foreign Countries for Steel Pipe Dumping
July 14, 2014July 14, 2014

MDN has kept an eye on the developing story of foreign countries–particular South Korea–“dumping” cheap steel pipes in the U.S., pipes used in the shale drilling industry (see US Senators Join Chorus: “Illegal” Steel Pipe Dumping by S Korea and “Dumping” Leads to 177 Jobs Lost at PA Marcellus Pipeline Plant). Seems that the Obama Commerce Department agrees and has taken decisive action to put an end to it. Last Friday the Commerce Department slapped a stiff tariff (i.e. tax) on tubular goods (steel pipes) coming in to the U.S. from South Korea and eight other countries…
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Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Mon, Jul 14, 2014
July 14, 2014July 14, 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, Jul 14, 2014”
Broome County | Lease & Royalty Payments | New York

Hope for NY Landowners? Kirkwood Coalition Gets Lease Offer
July 11, 2014July 11, 2014

Back in March, MDN started to hear rumors that the Kirkwood, NY Gas Coalition (outskirts of Binghamton, NY, in Broome County) would soon call for an all-hands meeting of coalition members to consider an offer to lease coalition land for drilling (see Kirkwood NY Landowner Group Actively Negotiating Lease Deal). Then all of the wheels fell off the wagon when NY’s highest court decided 3 of 5 town members can, at a whim, decide to ban shale drilling town-wide (see Shale Drilling in NY is Over – High Court Upholds Town Bans). We figured after that debacle the Kirkwood deal and any other pending deals would likely disappear like a summer morning fog when the sun rises. But what’s this? An offer has been made to members of the Kirkwood Coalition–and it appears to be a pretty good one…
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Appalachian Oilfield Services | Crime | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Statewide OH

Feds Slap Appalachian Oilfield Svcs with $129,802 for Back Wages
July 11, 2014July 11, 2014

The federal government has slapped Appalachian Oilfield Services with a hefty fine. The U.S. Dept. of Labor investigated the company and found they were shorting employees by not paying them overtime. So 25 Appalachian employees working in Ohio will be given $129,802 in back wages/overtime according to an announcement by the DOL. Appalachian Oilfield Services is based in Lafayette, LA but as the name suggests, they focus on northeast drilling–providing equipment and personnel to assist with fracking operations. The company has an office in New Matamoras, OH. Here’s the feds tooting their own horn…
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Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA | Taxation

PA Budget Signed by Gov. Corbett – No Severance Tax This Year
July 11, 2014July 11, 2014

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett, a Republican, signed a Republican-passed budget for the state yesterday. The budget, thankfully, does not include a Marcellus Shale severance tax. It does, however, include new regulations that separate drilling standards between conventional (vertical only) and unconventional (shale) drilling. MDN has long chronicled the battle by PA’s Democrats to transfer wealth from the drilling industry to PA schools, and in the process kill the goose laying the golden eggs in PA (see PPG Op-Ed: Don’t Kill the Marcellus Goose Laying the Golden Eggs). In signing the budget, Corbett axed a bunch of money from the legislature’s budget, which has led to a Republican civil war in Harrisburg…
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Blue Ridge Mtn Res/Magnum Hunter | Energy Companies | Monroe County | Ohio | West Virginia | Wetzel County

Magnum Hunter Buys Ormet Property in OH/WV, More Wells Coming?
July 11, 2014July 11, 2014

MDN has chronicled the sad story of the Ormet aluminum smelting plant in Monroe County, OH. The short version is that the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) played a high-stakes game of chicken with Ormet and denied them permission to continuing burning coal to produce their own electricity while they got three Utica Shale wells on their property up and running (Magnum Hunter is the driller). Then PUCO denied Ormet’s request to get a reduced electric rate from the local utility company. Bottom line, more than 900 people are out of work (see Final Chapter of Ormet Plant Closing – Utica Could have Saved It). A reporter from NGI’s Shale Daily has a sharp eye and discovered that Magnum Hunter, the driller of the three Utica wells still operating on the Ormet property, has just purchased Ormet’s property in OH and WV…
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Energy Companies | Gulfport Energy

Top Management at Gulfport Energy Continues to Change – New CFO
July 11, 2014July 11, 2014

In January Gulfport Energy announced the sudden retirement of then-CEO James Palm. In April, interim CEO (formerly the CFO) Michael Moore, a numbers guy, was promoted to the top spot as CEO and Ross Kirtley, formerly COO for Ohio operations, was promoted to COO for the entire company (see New Top Management at Utica Driller Gulfport Energy). The vacant CFO position has now been filled. Gulfport reports that Aaron Gaydosik, most recently VP of Finance at Kodiak Oil & Gas Corp, will become the new CFO. Kodiak is a Bakken driller…
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Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Range Resources Corp | Regulation | Trucking | Washington County

Range’s Next Battle in Robinson Twp: Water Tank Facility
July 11, 2014July 11, 2014

In May MDN told you that after a two-year intentional delay by Robinson Township (Washington County), PA, Range Resources finally won the right to move forward with drilling two wells (see Range Resources Finally Wins Case to Drill 2 Wells in Robinson Twp). Robinson is one of the seven selfish towns that sued Pennsylvania over zoning provisions in the Act 13 law–a case they eventually won. Robinson tries to block drilling as much as they can–but the court has goosed them and told them they can’t stop all of it. Range’s next battle is whether or not Robinson will allow them to build a “tank pad”–a pad with tanks to store fresh water used in drilling and fracking operations…
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Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Lycoming County | Pennsylvania | Wastewater | XTO

XTO Seeks Documents to Prove PA AG Kane Targeted Company
July 11, 2014July 11, 2014

It was obvious from the beginning when Kathleen Kane was elected as Pennsylvania’s Attorney General in 2012 that she had a huge Marcellus Shale chip on her shoulder and that she would go after the drilling industry (see Will New PA AG Go After the Marcellus Drilling Industry?). She’s done just that–targeting the shale drilling industry in several high profile cases. One of those cases–a three-year old accidental spill by XTO in Lycoming County, PA–she reopened after it had been closed. Why? To make an example of XTO (see PA AG Abuses Her Authority, Files Criminal Charges Against XTO). That case is back in the news with a new twist…
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Industrywide Issues | Lease & Royalty Payments | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

Court: PA’s Landlord & Tenant Act Doesn’t Apply to Oil/Gas Leases
July 11, 2014July 11, 2014

A Pennsylvania landowner signed an oil and gas lease on 98 acres and later sold part of that acreage to someone else. The someone else promptly filed a “quiet title action” making the argument that the lease is invalid because of the Landlord and Tenant Act of 1951. The quiet title action put a cloud on the title to the property and the whole thing ended up in court. PA Superior Court recently ruled that “no,” the lease is not invalid and not under the purview of the Landlord and Tenant Act. Our friends at top law firm Babst Calland break it down for us…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Athens County | Energy Services | GreenHunter Resources | Industrywide Issues | Meigs County | Ohio | Regulation | Wastewater

Athens County, OH Anti-Drillers Try to Delay GreenHunter Dock
July 11, 2014July 11, 2014

The anti-drilling nutters of Athens, OH are at it again. They’ve just discovered what MDN told you on Tuesday–that GreenHunter Water has filed an application with the U.S. Coast Guard to get permission to build a barge facility in Meigs County (see GreenHunter Seeks Approval for Barge Facility in Meigs County, OH). The Athens nutters (see Break the Law in OH, Get an Award – Anti-Drilling Nuttery on Display) are now accusing the Coast Guard of undue secrecy because they didn’t beat the drums and sound the gongs that a private company had filed an application with them…
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Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Fri, Jul 11, 2014
July 11, 2014July 11, 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: Fri, Jul 11, 2014”
Accidents | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Wastewater | Westmoreland County | WPX Energy

Important Update on WPX Energy Leaking Impoundment in SWPA
July 10, 2014July 10, 2014

On Monday MDN told you about three families near a WPX Energy wastewater impoundment near Ligonier (Westmoreland County), PA who say their well water has been contamined by frack wastewater leaking from the impoundment (see WPX Wastewater Impoundment Source of Water Contamination in W PA?). We have an important update on that story. WPX spokesperson Susan Oliver contacted MDN and provided details of their strong response to the situation, and new information that we don’t believe anyone else has bothered to publish…
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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Kinder Morgan | MarkWest Energy | NGLs | Pipelines

Kinder Morgan Y-Grade NGL Pipeline from NE to SW Still Alive
July 10, 2014July 10, 2014

In August of last year, Kinder Morgan and MarkWest Energy announced a new natural gas liquids (NGL) pipeline from Ohio to the Gulf Coast (see 2 New OH Projects: Cryo Processing Plant & NGL Pipeline to Gulf). The pipeline will convert some 900 miles of existing Tennessee Gas Pipeline system and build another 200 miles of new pipeline in Texas and/or Louisiana. The project eventually got a nickname–the “Y-Grade Pipeline”–and conducted an open season from last November into December (see Kinder Morgan/MarkWest Proposed NGL Pipeline Gets a Nickname, Map). A sharp MDN reader wrote in to ask, what the heck is going on? Is this project still in the works? So MDN went nosing around…
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Industrywide Issues | Public Opinion

API Issues New Standards for Drillers for “Community Engagement”
July 10, 2014March 14, 2017

With echoes of Fred Rogers singing, “Won’t you be my neighbor?,” yesterday the American Petroleum Institute issued a first-of-its-kind industry standard for how shale drillers should treat the neighbors. The API’s new Community Engagement Guidelines is a template for neighborly etiquette. The API wants their outline to become the “gold standard for good neighbor policies that address community concerns, enhance the long-term benefits of local development, and ensure a two-way conversation regarding mutual goals for community growth,” according to an API director of standards David Miller. Below we have the press announcement and a full copy of the new standard/template for how drillers should treat the neighbors…
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