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    PA State Treasurer Rob McCord Unveils Gas Death Plan

    Poor old “Pass a Joint for John” Hanger dropped out of the race to be the Democrat nominee for governor in PA. Who will be next? Apparently not State Treasurer Rob McCord. Get this, he’s just released an utterly brilliant natural gas plan–tax the whole darned thing 10%…on everything produced. According to McCord, that will raise $1.63 billion for the state in just the first year.

    Of course the plan is, in reality, utterly brain dead and moronic. If such a plan were ever to see the light of day it would effectively kill all shale drilling in the state. Done. Finished. Over. And then instead of the $200 million+ PA now extracts in a reasonable impact fee–they would get nothing. How on earth do these people keep getting elected to office? Here’s more of the moronic McCord gas death plan:
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    PA Game Commission Stops Promotion of Moonlighting Staffer

    Last week MDN told you about the moonlighting head of oil and gas leasing for the Pennsylvania Game Commission and his impending promotion (see PA Gov Corbett Blocks Promotion of Moonlighter at Game Commission). The independent 8-member board that runs the commission was about to promote William A. Capouillez to the top job of executive director. Capouillez manages the Commission’s 1.4 million acres of land for leasing by day, but in his off hours he assists private landowners with leasing their land to some of the same companies he brokers deals with during his day job. In other words, it has the appearance, if not the realistic possibility, for a conflict of interest.

    Gov. Tom Corbett put the breaks on Capouillez’s promotion. He also put the breaks on a deal the Game Commission had cooked up to give it’s outgoing executive director a $220,000 severance package. (Hey, where do we sign up to be members of the PA Game Commission board?) Yesterday the Game Commission said they would not promote Capouillez and they have put a stop payment on the $220K check to outgoing director Carl Roe due to objections from the governor…
    Read More “PA Game Commission Stops Promotion of Moonlighting Staffer”

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    Childlike Green Groups Continue Letter Writing Campaign to Feds

    A handful of loud-mouthed anti-drillers with printed letterhead, pretending to represent a popular uprising–a veritable horde–sent yet another ninny nanny letter to Obama’s Secretary of Energy Ernest Moniz–because they’re not getting invited to private talks about methane pollution.

    Here’s what petulant, ill-raised children grow up to do:
    Read More “Childlike Green Groups Continue Letter Writing Campaign to Feds”

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    New Research: US/Canada Need $30B/Year on Midstream Investment

    billions and billionsIn September 2013 MDN published Vol. 2 of the 2013 Marcellus and Utica Shale Databook series. In that volume we included a comprehensive list of 111 announced infrastructure (pipeline related) projects for the northeast. When we tallied it all up, the numbers were that projects in our neck of the woods will result in about $40 billion being spent over the next five years or so (see MDN’s 2013 Databook Vol 2 Finds Staggering $40B in NE Midstream Projects). The INGAA Foundation (Interstate Natural Gas Association of America) and ANGA (America’s Natural Gas Alliance) yesterday released a study they commissioned that tops our estimates–by a lot. The study is titled, “North America Midstream Infrastructure through 2035: Capitalizing on Our Energy Abundance” (full copy embedded below). Researched and prepared by ICF International, the new study shows that the U.S. and Canada together will need to spend $30 billion per year from now until 2035 on pipelines and related infrastructure just to keep pace with shale development.

    ICF’s numbers add up to $641 billion in 2012 dollars over 22 years. But get this: $70 billion of that $641 will be spent in the Marcellus, according to the study. Nationwide the new spending will generate more than 432,000 jobs, add approximately $885 billion to U.S. and Canadian economies, and bring in over $300 billion in federal, state/provincial and local taxes. Truly staggering numbers. Immediately below we have the quick hit, bulleted conclusions of the report, for the time-pressed, so you can scan it. Below that the press release announcing the new study–and finally, a full copy of the study with some great charts and graphs (be sure to check out their Henry Hub price forecast through 2035 on page 24)…
    Read More “New Research: US/Canada Need $30B/Year on Midstream Investment”

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    OH State Geologist Predicts 19K New Utica Wells in Next 19 Years

    The Ohio State Geologist, Mike McCormac, predicts that 19,000 new Utica Shale wells will be drilled in Ohio in the next 19 years. Which sounds a bit ambitious to us–but then he’s the geologist and expert and we are not. We did, however, check the most recent available ODNR numbers and as of last Friday there have been 770 Utica wells drilled–in the last 3+ years. Hmmm. A thousand wells a year for 19 years?

    McCormac has drafted a new report with his predictions. It’s not been released to the public–yet. But apparently a copy was released to the Akron Beacon Journal. Intrepid reporter Bob Downing files this report, with a number of other interesting predictions and observations:
    Read More “OH State Geologist Predicts 19K New Utica Wells in Next 19 Years”

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    Leatherstocking to Tap Constitution Pipeline for Local Deliveries

    Rural residents (and an aerospace manufacturer) located in New York’s Southern Tier and Central New York areas have a lot to be thankful for with the upcoming Constitution Pipeline–a natural gas pipeline that will deliver natural gas from the Marcellus Shale gas fields of Susquehanna County, PA all the way to two major interstate pipelines near Schoharie, NY (see New Marcellus Constitution Pipeline Announces “Final” Route). Williams is building the 124-mile pipeline with backing from Cabot Oil & Gas, whose gas will flow through it.

    However, a regional gas pipeline company (think gas utility) founded just a few years, Leatherstocking Gas, will tap into the Constitution at (so far) four different locations along the pipeline so they can deliver that homegrown Marcellus gas to rural customers who are not being served by the big utilities like New York State Electric & Gas (NYSEG, owned by Iberdrola). Yesterday Williams and Leatherstocking announced the deal to tap into the Constitution Pipeline in four locations…
    Read More “Leatherstocking to Tap Constitution Pipeline for Local Deliveries”

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    Penn Virginia the Latest Plaything for Billionaire George Soros

    Penn Virginia is an interesting company. They are an independent E&P (exploration and production) company incorporated in Virginia in 1882–but their headquarters is in Radnor, PA (near Philly). They drill for oil, NGLs and natural gas mostly in…Texas and Oklahoma! They also have operations and acreage in the Mid-Continent, Mississippi and last (and sorta least)–the Marcellus Shale. According to NGI’s Shale Play Factbook, Penn Virginia has leased 38,000 in the Marcellus. According to the latest MDN Databook, Penn Virginia has received permits for two well sites in the past two years–precisely squat. We don’t think they’ve actually drilled a single well in the Marcellus.

    Why are we going on about who Penn Virginia since (so far) they are a bit player in the Marcellus? Because yesterday liberal Democrat billionaire George Soros got his claws into the company. Why did he invest? To instill good LibDem values like lifetime employment, free condoms, etc. in the capitalist heathens at the company? Nope. Soros invested $29.1 million in Penn Virginia, grabbing a 9.1% ownership, so he can force them to sell themselves…
    Read More “Penn Virginia the Latest Plaything for Billionaire George Soros”

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    Small Marcellus Drill Cuttings Company Gobbled Up by Bigger Fish

    A small and rapidly growing company–Susquehanna Services, Inc.–uses a special process to safely process and dispose of drill cuttings (leftover rock and dirt) from shale drilling in the Marcellus, Utica and Green River (WY) shale plays. The company was founded in 2010 (near Scranton, PA) and it’s been nothing but rapid expansion ever since. The founder and president of Susquehanna Services, John Yarosz, has just realized his American Dream. His company was bought out by a bigger fish: Specialty Waste Operating Partners. Yarosz will stay on as president and continue to run the operation day to day–at least for now.

    Here’s the press release announcing the deal:
    Read More “Small Marcellus Drill Cuttings Company Gobbled Up by Bigger Fish”

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    PA NARO Alert: Tell Your State Rep to Vote YES on HB 1684

    The Pennsylvania chapter of the National Association of Royalty Owners (NARO) sent out a flash alert email yesterday asking members to contact their state representatives to encourage a “yes” vote on House Bill (HB) 1684–the Guaranteed Minimum Royalty Act. This bill is partially in response to the apparent gouging Chesapeake Energy has done with respect to royalty payments. A vote may come as early as TODAY.

    Here is the text of the email from PA NARO president Jackie Root:
    Read More “PA NARO Alert: Tell Your State Rep to Vote YES on HB 1684”

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    Marcellus Midstreamers Turn to Calif. Company for Compressor Power

    Even companies as far away as California are successfully selling their manufactured products to the Marcellus and Utica Shale industry–albeit the products they manufacture are pretty specialized. Capstone Turbine Corporation of Chatsworth, CA issued a press release yesterday to announce three midstream operators in the Marcellus/Utica have placed orders with the company for power plants that will power multiple compressor stations and pipeline interconnections. Captstone doesn’t name the customers, but we can certainly guess who they may be (although we won’t).

    To be honest, this is pretty obscure (i.e. uninteresting) stuff for most. Our point? Big supply chain bucks (millions) have just been spent–and it’s money that could potentially be spent with manufacturers closer to home, if those manufacturers exist, and if they get plugged into the northeast shale supply chain. So pay attention companies that manufacture power plants! Here’s the Capstone press release with a few more details…
    Read More “Marcellus Midstreamers Turn to Calif. Company for Compressor Power”

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    Chesapeake Climate Action Asks Obama to Nix Cove Point LNG Exports

    The unreasonable (not able to be reasoned with) and irrational (incapable of rational thought) fossil fuel-haters of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network (CCAN) and other similar-minded groups sent President Obama a letter requesting that he should (surprise!) slow down/reconsider/kill exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Dominion’s planned Cove Point, MD LNG export facility (see Celebrate! Dominion Wins DOE Approval for MD LNG Export Facility). Why? Global warming, of course.

    Yes boys and girls, so-called environmentalist organizations like CCAN, 350.org, the Sierra Clubers and other unheard of groups just blame it all on global warming. Drill in shale deposits? Nope–too much global warming. Encourage electric generating facilities to convert from polluting coal to cleaner-burning natgas? Nope. That’ll lead to global warming. Build new pipelines to New England to relieve sky high natgas prices for consumers? Nope–global warming. Export some of our huge abundance of natgas to places like India and Japan (U.S. allies) who desperately need it? Nope! That will increase global warming too. You see just how unreasonable and irrational they really are. Below is the press release and letter from the unreasonable and irrational who oppose Cove Point…
    Read More “Chesapeake Climate Action Asks Obama to Nix Cove Point LNG Exports”

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    RIT Professor Says Jail Those Who Don’t Believe in Global Warming

    This is not out of the Spanish Inquisition folks–this is today. Now. A so-called professor of philosophy at the Rochester Institute of Technology says people like MDN editor Jim Willis should go to jail because we’re not Kool Aid drinkers who believe in the myth of man-made global warming. First Amendment free speech? Nah, that Constitution is just a musty old document. Time to leave it behind. All men are created equal and have certain inalienable rights like liberty? What a fanciful, outdated notion.

    When the high priests of Science declare “the time for debate is over, the SCIENCE is settled”–by God, it’s over. So says RIT prof Lawrence Torcello. You disagree? Off to jail with you, you heretic! Next step is “Off with their heads,” or maybe, “Burn them at the stake.” You think we’re joking?…
    Read More “RIT Professor Says Jail Those Who Don’t Believe in Global Warming”

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    Pittsburgh TODAY’s CSSD Propaganda Piece – Gag Me with a Spoon

    like gag me with a spoonA masterful piece of propaganda written by Pittsburgh TODAY appears on the Washington Observer-Reporter website promoting the so-far underwhelming Center for Sustainable Shale Development (CSSD). The CSSD, announced exactly one year ago this week, is a joint effort between a few big drilling industry players and a few environmentalist organizations–an uneasy partnership created to make shale drilling palatable to crazy anti-drillers (see Important: Drillers & Enviros Form New Group, Launch Cert Program). If we might summarize, the article about the CSSD on the anniversary of its debutante ball adopts the the classic “against all odds” storytelling formula.

    According to PT, the CSSD is the story of a (very few) brave men and women who dared to buck the odds and sit down at the table to discuss their differences on shale drilling–people from both the industry and (more importantly of course) from environmentalist wacko groups. These brave men and women faced challenges, both internal (they agonized in their souls, am I selling out?) and external (they fought their own organizations and their brethren in other companies/green organizations). Against all odds, they stuck to it, found “common ground” (i.e. industry caved), and in the end, they “hammered out” 15 standards that if adopted (at extreme cost by the industry) will mean precious Mother Earth will survive this nasty, filthy activity called shale drilling after all. The End.
    Read More “Pittsburgh TODAY’s CSSD Propaganda Piece – Gag Me with a Spoon”

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    Happy 65th Birthday…Fracking!

    happy birthdayIf it were a person, fracking would now be eligible to start receiving Social Security checks. According to the American Petroleum Institute, what MDN calls the miracle of hydraulic fracturing (fracking for short) turned 65 years old yesterday. And we celebrate it. We are jumping up and down and hollering. Way to go! Glad you were born! We hope you’re around another 65 years!!

    Regardless of the constant lies from anti-drillers like Josh Fox and his fictional Gasland flicks, the loony left has not been able to fully demonize fracking (partially, but not fully). The process of fracking a well is actually a very small part of shale drilling–but because the word itself sounds so naughty it’s used as a proxy to mean all of the shale drilling process. (As an aside, anti-drillers have never been able to successfully demonize “horizontal drilling” the way they have fracking. We tried to help them out. See our story MDN Proposes a New Phrase for Anti-Drillers to Use, sure to give you a smile.) Here’s the birthday announcement from API for our beloved fracking…
    Read More “Happy 65th Birthday…Fracking!”