Marcellus Drilling News

Energy Companies | Pennsylvania | Range Resources Corp | Washington County

Strong Support for Range Drilling in N Strabane Township, PA
June 25, 2014June 25, 2014

Some more good news for Range Resources in Washington County, PA. North Strabane Township, population 13,408 (borders Canonsburg) voted last night to approve Range’s plan to drill five Marcellus Shale wells on a 140-acre property owned by A&S Landscaping along Rout 19. Site prep will begin in the next few weeks and if the schedule holds, the first well will be drilled starting in January…
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Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Protege Energy | Seismic Testing | Washington County (OH)

Seismic Testing Coming in July to Washington County, OH Town
June 25, 2014June 25, 2014

Seismic testing is coming to Fearing Township (Washington County), OH starting in July. Seismic testing usually precedes drilling–so that means drilling is most likely on the way. The testing will allow drillers to “see” the best locations to place wells. So how will Protege Energy III, the company that’s hiring the testing done, go about doing the testing? No big thumper trucks along roadways for Protege. Instead, they favor drilling small holes and putting small explosive charges in the holes and recording the sound waves that bounce from the explosive charges. Protege held a community meeting earlier this month in Fearing to discuss the process and answer questions…
Read More “Seismic Testing Coming in July to Washington County, OH Town”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

NY Group Says EPA “Kill Coal” Regs Not Enough – Kill Natgas Too
June 25, 2014June 25, 2014

Sad and predictable. That’s how we label an article/press release published by the certifiably insane anti-drillers at the Catskill Citizens for (So-Called) Safe Energy. Their latest tirade is against the federal Environmental Protection Agency. You may recall the EPA recently declared war on electricity in this country (see Obama’s Climate Madness Metastasizes – EPA Kills Coal Electricity). It seems the Obama EPA’s plan to destroy electricity in this country by requiring a 30% reduction in carbon emissions (the stuff you breathe out with every breath) from electric plants isn’t good enough for the brainiacs at Catskill Citizens for Safe Energy. They want to drive the nail all the way in the coffin and take everyone back to the stone ages…
Read More “NY Group Says EPA “Kill Coal” Regs Not Enough – Kill Natgas Too”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Kinder Morgan | Pipelines | Tennessee Gas Pipeline

Small Group in Ashfield, MA Vote to Oppose Kinder’s TGP Pipeline
June 25, 2014June 25, 2014

An anti-driller from Ashfield, MA says she wants her chance to stand in front of a Kinder Morgan bulldozer to try and stop the proposed Tennessee Gas Pipeline expansion from coming through their town. We sincerely hope she gets the opportunity. 🙂 Some 200 “voters” who are virulent anti-drillers packed an Ashfield town meeting to vote in favor of two resolutions against the proposed Kinder Morgan TGP pipeline (for background, see Reaction to TGP’s Planned Pipeline Across Massachusetts). The Democrat governor of Massachusetts and the governors of five other New England states want and desperately need that pipeline (see Blue State Blues: 6 New England States Want New Natgas Pipeline). But true to form, at least some towns along the proposed route, including Ashfield, have revived the old hippie brigade to begin a round of new protests (gives their lives a little purpose, a chance to relive the glory years of the 60s)…
Read More “Small Group in Ashfield, MA Vote to Oppose Kinder’s TGP Pipeline”
Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Statewide OH | Taxation

Anti-Drilling Policy Matters Ohio Says Severance Tax Too Low
June 25, 2014June 25, 2014

It probably won’t surprise you to learn that the far left, anti-drilling group Policy Matters Ohio (PMO) doesn’t like the current proposed severance tax of 2.5% for Ohio. It’s not nearly high enough to chase drillers away for PMO, and there’s waaaay too many “tax breaks” in House Bill 375, the severance tax bill, for their taste. But then, every last dime earned by hardworking drillers belongs to the government, right? The government should just let those nasty drillers keep a little bit of it so the government can spend it on people who didn’t earn it, right? That’s the attitude of PMO…
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Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Wed, Jun 25, 2014
June 25, 2014June 25, 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, Jun 25, 2014”
Air Quality | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Regulation

Supreme Court Tells EPA: You Can’t Just Rewrite Law
June 24, 2014June 24, 2014

One of the Obama administration’s favorite tactics to do illegal end-runs around Congress (remember–Congress writes the laws, the President enforces them) is to have rogue agencies like the Environmental Protection Agency claim sweeping powers under older/existing laws. Like the Clean Air Act. Yesterday the U.S. Supreme Court yanked on the EPA’s leash pretty hard and said, “Heal boy, sit down.” The EPA tried to simply rewrite a law passed by Congress in how the agency treats so-called greenhouse gases. The EPA didn’t like what Congress wrote, so they rewrote it. The justices said, “No, you can’t do that,” to the EPA. However, as Justice Antonin Scalia pointed out from the bench, the EPA still got almost all of what it wanted in this decision…
Read More “Supreme Court Tells EPA: You Can’t Just Rewrite Law”
Energy Companies | Pennsylvania | Range Resources Corp | Washington County

2 Range Resources Execs Sell Half Their Stock – Ulterior Motive?
June 24, 2014June 24, 2014

Anti-drilling advocate and Marcellus smearmeister Amanda Gillooly, from southwestern Pennsylvania, is dedicated to trashing Range Resources every chance she gets. (She also appears to be in league with Rep. Jesse “fake ID” White, supporting his anti-drilling tirades against Range on numerous occasions over the past few years.) The latest “trash Range” attempt is her blog post trumpeting that two top Range Resources executives recently sold “more than half their stock,” asking the ominous question, “Why?”…
Read More “2 Range Resources Execs Sell Half Their Stock – Ulterior Motive?”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | New York | Otsego County | Pipelines | Regulation | Statewide NY | Williams

Save the Bald Eagles in NY! Next Hurdle for Constitution Pipeline
June 24, 2014June 24, 2014

You’ve heard of save the whales, save the snail darters, and maybe even save the tree bats (see Natgas Jumps Thru Hoops for Bats While Solar Farm Torches Turtles). The latest anti-drilling faux excuse for stopping the already-authorized, permitted and public hearing’d to death Constitution Pipeline in upstate New York is, yes, save the American bald eagle! We learn from the anti-drilling Oneonta Star that bald eagles are rather discriminating. They don’t mind traffic noise from a busy interstate highway less than a half mile from their nests–but if Williams happens to do a little blasting of bedrock so they can lay pipe–that will scare the bald eagles right out of their tail feathers…
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Commodity Price | Industrywide Issues | Weather

Global Warming, Global Cooling & Natgas Prices
June 24, 2014June 24, 2014

MDN is not a fan of the “man causes global warming by burning fossil fuel” theories that are all the rage these days. The problem, you see, is lack of, well, global warming! No evidence. Take, for example, last winter. Please don’t insult our intelligence by telling us that brutally cold temperatures (the coldest in a generation) are also the result of so-called “global warming.” You don’t get to say that warming also causes cooling–that’s not part of the theory, a theory that says too much carbon in the atmosphere causes temperatures to RISE, not FALL. You don’t get to make up the science as you go to fit your cockeyed beliefs. A flawed theory is a flawed theory. So when we spotted the following summer forecast from Weather Services International, along with their map (below), you’ll understand why we continue to be “warming deniers” and “climate skeptics.” And what does this have to do with Marcellus drilling? A lot, as it turns out…
Read More “Global Warming, Global Cooling & Natgas Prices”
Crime | Erie County | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines

ATVs Damage National Fuel’s Pipeline Routes in Western PA
June 24, 2014June 24, 2014

As so often happens, a few bad apples can spoil it for everyone. We’re speaking of rogue ATV (all terrain vehicle) drivers who have vandalized pipeline routes in northwestern PA, and in the process damaging the top soil and grass along those routes which leads to erosion…
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Industrywide Issues | Research

It’s Working: Iraq Fails to Spike US Oil/Gas Price Thx to Shale
June 24, 2014June 24, 2014

Used to be if there was unrest or the threat of renewed civil war in the perpetually war-torn country of Iraq, or somewhere else in the Middle East (like Syria), oil and gas prices would soar in the U.S. based on the potential threat of a supply disruption. Increasingly that is no longer true. Take the latest Iraq unrest. Oil prices are going up–a little, but not much. Why? Because of shale. The analysts at Deloitte recently published their “2014 Oil and Gas Reality Check” report (full copy embedded below). What does it say? Over the next 5-6 years surging shale oil and natural gas production in the United States will “cut deeply” into OPEC’s influence on the global price of oil and gas…
Read More “It’s Working: Iraq Fails to Spike US Oil/Gas Price Thx to Shale”
BP | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Research

BP Annual World Energy Report Shows Natgas Growth in US
June 24, 2014June 24, 2014

Last week BP released their 63rd annual BP Statistical Review of World Energy report (full copy embedded below). Many of the “majors” like BP and Exxon publish an annual look at world energy supplies. What do the wizards at BP find when peering into their crystal ball? Last year worldwide energy usage rose 2.3%, which is up from 2012. However, it’s still below the historical average increase of 2.5%. Translation: the world economy still sucks with fewer jobs and economic activity happening. Natural gas consumption grew by 1.4% last year, well below the historical average of 2.6%. But there was one place in the world where gas consumption rose–yep, right here at home in the U.S. consumption rose by 2.4%. China and the U.S. together accounted for 81% of the growth in natgas consumption last year. What else did the report find?…
Read More “BP Annual World Energy Report Shows Natgas Growth in US”
Industrywide Issues | Jobs

New Marcellus Jobs Site Helps Job Seekers & Employers
June 24, 2014June 24, 2014

MDN is happy to highlight a new Marcellus jobs website. The brand new MarcellusShaleJobs.com website recently launched and is looking for job listings by employers and corporate recruiters, and job seekers. According to their announcement, the new site brings job opportunities in all segments of the oil and gas industry in the Appalachian Basin–that is, the Marcellus and Utica Shale plays. Post your resume, and search available jobs listed on the site. So far there’s only a single job listing–but it’s a doozy. The job is for a completions engineer in the Pittsburgh area–beginning salary $100K per year…
Read More “New Marcellus Jobs Site Helps Job Seekers & Employers”
Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Tue, Jun 24, 2014
June 24, 2014June 24, 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, Jun 24, 2014”
Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Taxation

3 PA Drilling Assoc. Warn Politicans: Don’t Pass Severance Tax
June 23, 2014June 23, 2014

With Pennsylvania Republicans starting to get weak knees on the issue of a potential sky high severance tax on top of already-high corporate state income taxes, PA’s three big shale drilling industry groups have sent a letter to key state politicians warning them (in flowery language) that if they pass a severance tax, drillers WILL shift their rigs and drilling to Ohio and West Virginia. The letter (copy embedded below) tells House Speaker Sam Smith and Senate President Pro Tempore Joe Scarnati and nine other legislators, with a copy of the letter also going to Gov. Corbett, PA better think twice and thrice before passing a severance tax…
Read More “3 PA Drilling Assoc. Warn Politicans: Don’t Pass Severance Tax”