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    Williams Pipeline Rupture/Fire in Marshall County, WV

    A 12-inch natural gas pipeline owned by Williams Partners in Marshall County, WV ruptured and caught fire Saturday morning around 8 am. The early reporting says a landslide from a nearby hill caused the rupture, which happened to a section of pipeline between Waymans Ridge and Middle Grave Creek. Some residents living near the pipeline were evacuated as a safety precaution.

    We don’t have a lot of details–here is what we know so far:
    Read More “Williams Pipeline Rupture/Fire in Marshall County, WV”

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    OH EPA Issues New Regs for Drillers, Looks for “Fugitive” Methane

    On Friday the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (OEPA) lowered the boom on shale drillers in the state. Although it’s been expected for some time, the OEPA suddenly issued new rules under their General Permit Program that require drillers to use infrared cameras to scan equipment being used at drill sites once per quarter. For what? Methane, of course. So called “fugitive methane” that, you know, contributes to mythical global warming (that doesn’t really exist). Oh the “fugitive” methane may exist–a little bit. But it’s tie to causing non-existent global warming has never been proven. Makes no difference. All the Kool Aid drinkers are so convinced of a tie between methane and warming that it’s an article of scientific faith now–it’s “scientific consensus” so that means it’s real (at least in their minds). Never mind that said drillers are in the business of capturing as much methane as they can because every atom of it they grab they can sell. But hey, such brutal common sense doesn’t play well with the warmists. Nasty drillers can’t be trusted to do a good job.

    The Environmental Defense Fund, the least offensive of the environmentalist wacko groups, was positively gushing with praise for OH Gov. John “foreigner hunter” Kasich and his Republican administration for implementing the new standards–especially since Republicans are such evil, vile things, ya know. Somehow those Republicans swerved into the doing something good for a change, according to the EDF…
    Read More “OH EPA Issues New Regs for Drillers, Looks for “Fugitive” Methane”

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    Blue Racer Natrium Wet Gas Processing Plant Addition Almost Ready

    Last September an explosion and fire at Blue Racer Midstream’s Natrium, WV natural gas processing plant closed the plant (see Explosion/Fire at Blue Racer’s Natrium, WV Processing Plant). The plant remained closed for five long months, causing some of their customers, including Rex Energy and Atlas Resources, to find alternatives to process wet gas (see Blue Racer’s Natrium Plant to Remain Offline Until Jan 2014).

    It certainly was a happy day in January when the facility came back online, with repaired and new equipment, and a new alarm system for the nearby community. Always in the cards was an expansion of the processing capacity at the Natrium facility–doubling the ability to process and separate wet gas from 200 million cubic feet per day to 400 Mmcf/d. Blue Racer, when announcing the re-opening of the original plant in January, also announced they already have four new customers lined up for the extra/new capacity (see Blue Racer: Natrium Plant Back Online, New Customers, Adds Barging). Good news for those new customers–the extra capacity is about to go online…
    Read More “Blue Racer Natrium Wet Gas Processing Plant Addition Almost Ready”

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    2013 PA Impact Fee Sets Record: $224.5M, Grand Total Now $630M

    On Friday, PA Gov. Tom Corbett announced the Act 13 impact fee for 2013 will deliver the biggest haul yet–$224.5 million, which is up 11% from the monies collected under the impact fee for 2012. The official tallies are not yet released by the state Public Utility Commission (PUC), the agency charged with collecting the fees. However, the bills have gone out and drillers have until April 15 to pay the tax man.

    There may be a few quibbles about how the numbers were calculated, but overall, the PUC knows about how much it will receive and so Gov. Corbett, feeling pressured by the tax-and-spend Democrat candidates running for his job (cough *Tom Wolf* cough), wanted to release the good news now…
    Read More “2013 PA Impact Fee Sets Record: $224.5M, Grand Total Now $630M”

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    Debunking the “Fracking Causes Earthquakes” Meme One More Time

    Reuters OK Earthquake Lead on DrudgeIf you check out the Drudge Report from time to time (as we do), you would have noticed the big headline yesterday (Sunday) in 100-point type at the top blaring the news RECORD QUAKE ACTIVITY ROCKS OKLAHOMA. “Oh great” (we thought), “Another story about how fracking causes earthquakes.” We didn’t really expect that to be the story line, but lo and behold, when we clicked to read the story, it was a Reuters article that yes–blames fracking for a rash of earthquakes in Oklahoma, just because there’s active oil and gas drilling in the state.

    We can almost set our calendars now by the media meme of “fracking causes earthquakes.” It comes around, regular as rain, about every three months. And so we feel it necessary to respond about every three months that no, fracking almost never causes earthquakes–three known times we can point to, out of more than 60,000 shale wells drilled (see Fracking has (so far) Triggered Earthquakes 3x – Out of 60K Wells). In other words, it’s statistically zero. However, injection wells that dispose of leftover frack wastewater by pumping it deep below the surface, sometimes do trigger earthquakes. It’s rare, but it happens when an injection well is pumping fluid near an underground fault. Is that what is happening in Oklahoma?…
    Read More “Debunking the “Fracking Causes Earthquakes” Meme One More Time”

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    Wirt County WV Coalition Still in Hunt for a Deal – Who With?

    Last summer it seemed like a deal to lease 241,000 acres of land in the Wood, Ritchie, Calhoun, Roane, Jackson and Wirt County area was imminent (see Wirt County Landowner Group Close to Deal for Huge 241K Acres). But then in October Jim Lydon, chairman of the Wirt County Oil and Gas Group said the deal fell through and they were still shopping for a deal (see Wirt County Landowner Deal Falls Through, Still Searching).

    According to Lydon the land in their massive coalition is in the “super wet area” of both the Marcellus and Utica Shale–and indeed he’s right. The group is still searching for a deal and no one is talking (that we can tell) on the record–although an article published yesterday in the Parkersburg News and Sentinel does mention, in passing, a few possible companies that may be talking with the group about a new deal…
    Read More “Wirt County WV Coalition Still in Hunt for a Deal – Who With?”

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    0.0024 of Berks County Population Opposes New $1B GTL Plant

    Over the past several years MDN has told you about a number of gas-to-liquids (GTL) projects trying to get underway in the Marcellus and Utica Shale region. GTL converts cheap, abundant natural gas into motor oils and diesel fuel. Kind of like spinning gold from hay. One of those projects is a proposal by Canadian company EmberClear Corp. that wants to build such a plant in Berks County, PA–near Philadelphia. EmberClear proposes to spend upward of an eye-popping $1 billion to build a plant that will create 100 permanent jobs when it’s completed–to say nothing of the hundreds of temporary jobs needed to build it (see Another New Gas-to-Liquids Plant Coming in PA – Near Philly).

    As soon as you announce such a project, wacko anti-drillers pop up (like a game of Whack-a-Mole) to oppose it. Such a group has formed in Berks County. Called the South Heidelberg Community Association, the group has gotten 1,000 people to sign a petition against this $1 billion economic miracle that would exist in their area. Let’s see, 1,000 people of the Berks County population of 411,442–or 2/10ths of one percent. Will this infinitesimally small number of people ruin it for everyone?…
    Read More “0.0024 of Berks County Population Opposes New $1B GTL Plant”

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    Anti-Drillers Force 3rd Vote on Frack Ban in Youngstown

    Even the Democrat Mayor of Youngstown, OH knows that passing a fracking ban for the city would be a “job killer.” Too bad the nutters on his side of the political isle don’t listen to reason. In January MDN told you that the nutters had gathered enough signatures to force a third time-and-money-wasting vote on whether or not the city should outright ban fracking within its borders (see Third Time the Charm? Youngstown Anti-Drillers Try Again for Ban). Not that passing a ban would make a difference–there’s little chance of any active drilling in and around Youngstown. It would be a poke in the eye–spit in the face–of the drilling industry. The drilling industry notices such things and elects to take their business elsewhere when it happens. Hence Youngstown Mayor John A. McNally’s comments last week encouraging residents to reject the ban when they vote on May 6th.

    Along with Mayor McNally, local union reps from the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Ohio Council 8 says three votes is enough and it’s time for this crap to stop…
    Read More “Anti-Drillers Force 3rd Vote on Frack Ban in Youngstown”

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    Lawyers Gutting Act 13 Law Claim PA DEP Covers Up Water Problems

    gutted deerThe Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP), along with the Act 13 law, has come under heavy fire from anti-drillers and the seven selfish towns who want to overturn Act 13. Even though the DEP is dedicated to the health and safety of the people and environment in PA, they’re regularly (falsely) accused of colluding with “industry” and throwing both people and the environment under the metaphorical bus. The latest accusations against the DEP stem from the Act 13 lawsuit remanded by the PA Supreme Court back to a lower court. Anti-drillers are doing their best to gut the protections afforded in Act 13 because they want the chance to re-do it and “do it right” (meaning onerous new regulations). And so after the seven selfish towns pulled on one Act 13 thread (zoning) and won, their action now threatens to unravel the entire law (see Ongoing Fallout from PA Supreme Court’s Wrong Act 13 Decision).

    Lawyers for the seven selfish towns who are making an attempt to gut the entire Act 13 law in the lower court are accusing the DEP of intentionally suppressing information about contamination of private water wells due to drilling-related activity. The lawyers, along with a sycophantic media willing to regurgitate their claims, say that DEP regulators don’t keep files or issue violation notices to drillers in cases where the driller reaches a private settlement with a landowner. That is, they say it’s a government cover-up of enormous proportions. Which is, of course, preposterous. But it sure sells a lot of newspapers…
    Read More “Lawyers Gutting Act 13 Law Claim PA DEP Covers Up Water Problems”

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    PA DEP Releases 2012 Air Emissions from Drilling/Pipelines Report

    Yesterday the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) released their annual natural gas drilling emissions inventory data report. The data tabulates air pollution from drilling and pipelines for all of 2012 and came from 56 Marcellus Shale drillers covering 8,800 natural gas wells and from 70 operators of 400 compressor stations, which received gas from Marcellus Shale and traditional oil and gas well sites. Important to note: New to the 2012 report were 250 additional compressor stations that process gas from traditional (not shale) well sites. These compressor stations were not required to report in 2011.

    What does the latest report show? As you might expect, when you drill more wells and move more gas through pipelines, there’s more air pollution. However, the DEP is quick to point out that cumulatively, for all Pennsylvanians, air pollution is down–rather dramatically. Why? Because with more natural gas use in electric generating plants (replacing coal) and as a substitute for diesel fuel, overall pollution drops. Still, as MDN has pointed out on previous occasions, we must keep a close eye on air pollution in heavily drilled areas to ensure residents in those areas are not exposed to unsafe levels of pollutants. Below we have the DEP’s announcement from yesterday, a copy of the 2012 numbers, links back to the 2011 numbers (so you can compare them), and a few more thoughts on drilling and air pollution…
    Read More “PA DEP Releases 2012 Air Emissions from Drilling/Pipelines Report”

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    The Human Cost of Delay in New York — Absentee Husband

    New York’s ongoing delay in allowing shale drilling has very real costs for very real people. Some losers say, “That gas has been in the ground for a million years, it ain’t going anywhere. Let’s take our time and figure this out.” Waiting has a cost too–especially since drilling has proven to be safe in over 60,000 shale wells drilled in other states. The 70,000-member Joint Landowners Coalition of New York has sued Gov. Cuomo because he has, in essence, stolen the football off the field of play and has run out of the stadium with it. Under the rules (i.e. New York law) you can’t do that. You must make a decision in a timely manner because lack of decision is recognized as causing harm. But the JLCNY is not the only party to the lawsuit that would force Cuomo to complete the review process. There are also several individuals suing Cuomo too.

    An article in today’s New York Post looks at one of those individuals–Jon Kark. Jon is the owner, with his dad, of a 353-acre farm in Broome County, NY–just a few miles from where MDN editor Jim Willis is writing this very article. Jon is the sixth generation of Karks to own that land. In order to keep the land and the farm operating, Jon is never home–literally. In 2009 Jon had to leave town for a job that will pay the bills, including steep NY taxes assessed on his property. He gets home one or two weeks every year, and that’s it. He’d rather be at home working the farm, but he can’t afford it. His family can’t afford it. He could be at home working the farm, if Cuomo would get off his rear-end, suck it up and make a manly decision for a change, instead of dithering around, showing total lack of leadership…
    Read More “The Human Cost of Delay in New York — Absentee Husband”

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    Sunoco Logistics’ New Roadblock in Building Mariner East Pipeline

    It appears the PA Supreme Court’s ill-fated decision to toss out zoning provisions in the Act 13 drilling law is now affecting more than just drilling. Sunoco Logistics is trying to build a new natural gas liquids (NGL) pipeline that spans the state–running from western PA all the way to the Marcus Hook refinery near Philadelphia (see Sunoco Logistics Planning Second Mariner East Pipeline for NGLs). MDN reported in January that Sunoco Logistics has a lot riding on a court case in Washington County, PA because they are attempting to use eminent domain to force some landowners to allow the pipeline across their property (see PA Judge Hears Mariner East NGL Pipeline Eminent Domain Case).

    We now throw in a new wrinkle for Sunoco Logistics and the Mariner East NGL pipeline: Sunoco Logistics has made a request to the state Public Utility Commission (PUC) to exempt the pipeline from local zoning regulations in building some 31 pump and valve control stations across the length of the pipeline. Based on the PA Supreme Court decision in December, two Philadelphia state senators say Sunoco Logistics does not have the right to be exempted from local zoning…
    Read More “Sunoco Logistics’ New Roadblock in Building Mariner East Pipeline”

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    Maryland Anti-Drillers Say Fracking Health Report Will Fall Short

    If you’re an objective scientist, you formulate a hypothesis (a “best guess”) and test it. And test it again. And again. The results of science are testable, repeatable and demonstrable. If the results don’t match your original hypothesis, you throw that hypothesis out and get a new one to see if the data fits. That’s how real science works. If you’re a political huckster, you engage in scientific insanity–testing and re-testing and when the outcome doesn’t match your twisted and preconceived notions of what it should be–you tell those doing the testing they’re doing it wrong and to do it again. In other words, you’ve already determined what you want the outcome to be–and anything short of that is not acceptable. It’s not real science but smearing scientific lipstick on an ideological pig. That’s how anti-drillers in Maryland are treating a so-called health study on potential Marcellus Shale drilling in the state.

    A group of ideological, anti-drilling hucksters, including the Alliance of Nurses for Healthy Environments (ANHE), Maryland Environment Health Network (MdEHN), Concerned Health Professionals of New York (CHPNY), the odious Food and Water Watch and Ann Bristow (a member of Gov. O’Malley’s fracking commission), have declared a study that’s not yet completed or released will fall short of their desired, predetermined outcome. That is, they’ve already prejudged the not-yet-finished report and found it lacking. Their erudite (and insane) solution? Delay it even more. Extend it. Test again. And again. And again. And keep testing and researching (and lying) until the report says what they want it to say–that which isn’t true: fracking has negative health impacts on “the public”…
    Read More “Maryland Anti-Drillers Say Fracking Health Report Will Fall Short”

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    Litigious OH Sierra Club Sues ODNR (Again) Over Fracking

    Once again, the ever-litigious, fundraising Ohio Sierra Club (an organization no one should ever support with their money) has sued the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources because the ODNR is not jumping to every Sierra Club demand to provide emails in triplicate on the topic of crafting new fracking regulations. The Sierra Club is on a fishing expedition. They think they can use language in ODNR emails in future fundraising appeals (See! See! The ODNR sent an email to Chesapeake Energy!) The ODNR is not playing along with their scam, and so the Sierra Club has launched yet another lawsuit (third time in two years). Hey, the lawyers are on staff so who cares, right?

    Here’s the latest fundraising press release from the OH Sierra Club:
    Read More “Litigious OH Sierra Club Sues ODNR (Again) Over Fracking”