Marcellus Drilling News

Cabot, Southwestern Contract for More Pipeline Capacity in NEPA

May 16, 2014May 16, 2014

An unexpected and pleasant surprise: Cabot Oil & Gas and Southwestern Energy are producing so much Marcellus gas in Susquehanna County, PA (northeastern part of the state), they need extra pipeline takeaway capacity. Even with the forthcoming Constitution pipeline (see New Marcellus Constitution Pipeline Announces “Final” Route), more capacity is still needed. Enter DTE Energy and their Bluestone Pipeline, which is about to get a major expansion…
Read More “Cabot, Southwestern Contract for More Pipeline Capacity in NEPA”

FERC Final EIS: Cove Point Won’t Hurt Environment

May 16, 2014May 16, 2014

Last September the U.S. Dept. of Energy gave it’s blessing to the Cove Point, MD LNG export facility that Dominion wants to build (see Celebrate! Dominion Wins DOE Approval for MD LNG Export Facility). DOE approval was a major hurdle. A second major hurdle has just been spanned. Yesterday the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a Final Environmental Impact Statement (copy below) and found…
Read More “FERC Final EIS: Cove Point Won’t Hurt Environment”

Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Lycoming County | Pennsylvania | Research

Real Science: Comprehensive Water Study in Lycoming County, PA

May 16, 2014May 16, 2014

Finally, some real scientific inquiry is about to take place in the PA Marcellus. Instead of yesteryear hippies who teach at places like Cornell and “analyze” other people’s data, reading into it whatever they want to (cough Ingraffea/Howarth cough), we’re about to have a groundwater quality monitoring program in the heart of the Marcellus Shale–Lycoming County–and they’re going to use real, in-the-field-measurement science…
Read More “Real Science: Comprehensive Water Study in Lycoming County, PA”

Air Quality | Industrywide Issues | Regulation

EPA Power Grab Continues: 813-page Proposed Rule for Refineries

May 16, 2014May 16, 2014

Like an athlete overdosing on steroids to pump up his body mass, the EPA is injecting the Clean Air Act with an equivalent of steroids in order to make itself the regulator of oil and gas in the U.S., countermanding the U.S. Constitution. The latest egregious attempt at a federal takeover comes from EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy who announced yesterday a “proposed” new rule for air monitoring around “refineries”. The proposed new rule (full copy below) is 813 pages long. You know when it’s 813 pages long, it’s going to cost a lot of people a lot of money…
Read More “EPA Power Grab Continues: 813-page Proposed Rule for Refineries”

1st NRG | Energy Companies | Utica Shale

Latest 1st NRG Corp Press Release – Still Want to Drill the Utica

May 16, 2014May 16, 2014

1st NRG Corporation has been saying since October 2012 they want to drill in the Utica Shale, if only they could get a little investor love (see 1st NRG Corp Newest Entrant in OH Utica Shale). At one point they got a $7 million loan to drill in the Utica and other plays. The Utica part never materialized. But 1st NRG is back with a another press release hawking Utica drilling…
Read More “Latest 1st NRG Corp Press Release – Still Want to Drill the Utica”

Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Fri, May 16, 2014

May 16, 2014May 16, 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, May 16, 2014”

Act 13 Goes Back to Lower Court, Disturbing Comments from Judge

May 15, 2014May 15, 2014

Yesterday the seven selfish townships who sued to overturn Pennsylvania’s Act 13 oil and gas law–and won (before the PA Supreme Court)–were back in the lower appellate court at the direction of the Supreme Court, arguing some of the fine points in their attempts to drive the last nail in the coffin to bury Act 13 (see Act 13 Case Goes Back to Court, Drillers Petition to Join Lawsuit)…
Read More “Act 13 Goes Back to Lower Court, Disturbing Comments from Judge”

Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Statewide OH | Taxation | Utica Shale

OH House Passes 2.5% Severance Tax Bill, Where to Now?

May 15, 2014May 15, 2014

As predicted, yesterday afternoon the Ohio House of Representatives passed a bill that will assess a 2.5% severance tax on Utica Shale drilling in the state–raising it from current levels (under 1%). As MDN previously wrote, Ohio’s Republicans caved (see OH Repubs Sell Out on Severance Tax, Kasich Wants Even More!)…
Read More “OH House Passes 2.5% Severance Tax Bill, Where to Now?”

Blowout Preventer Failed at Morgan County, OH Utica Well Site

May 15, 2014May 15, 2014

We now have a few more bits of information about the drilling accident last week in Morgan County, OH (for background, see PDC Accident: Drilling Mud Spills into Creek in Morgan County, OH). At least two safety measures, including the well blowout preventer, failed to contain the gas and drilling mud from coming back out of the borehole after PDC Energy hit a pocket of natural gas while drilling…
Read More “Blowout Preventer Failed at Morgan County, OH Utica Well Site”

More Evidence the Odebrect WV Ethane Cracker Will Happen

May 15, 2014May 15, 2014

MDN continues to be encouraged by what we see happening with Odebrecht and their plans to build a multi-billion dollar ethane cracker plant and petrochemical complex near Parkersburg, WV, the state’s third largest city (see WV Announces Brazilian Company to Build Ethane Cracker Complex). As we previously commented, the WV ethane cracker just feels like it’s going to happen (see Odebrecht’s WV Ethane Cracker has The Big Mo–Momentum). The evidence that it will happen continued this week…
Read More “More Evidence the Odebrect WV Ethane Cracker Will Happen”

NY Dem Senators Admit Hearing on Landfills Meant to Scare

May 15, 2014May 15, 2014

New York’s anti-drilling (and stupid) Democrat State Senators have admitted (more or less) why they held a hearing on Tuesday about frack waste from Pennsylvania coming to NY landfills–to scare the $#%@ out of people (see NY Dem Senators Want to Ban PA Drill Cuttings from NY Landfills). Not only do they not want drilling in the state, they don’t want upstate communities to benefit from drilling in PA either. So pathetically small…
Read More “NY Dem Senators Admit Hearing on Landfills Meant to Scare”

Lebanon County Anti-Pipeline Meeting Yields a Surprise

May 15, 2014May 15, 2014

A group of shrill anti-drillers organized an informational meeting last night at Lebanon Valley College to try and scare landowners into rejecting a proposed Williams Central Penn South pipeline through Lebanon County. Funny thing is, of the 50 or so that showed up, quite a few think it will be built–and if it is, it may not be such a bad thing…
Read More “Lebanon County Anti-Pipeline Meeting Yields a Surprise”

Health Impacts | Industrywide Issues | Research

Yet Another Fundraiser, er, Health Impacts from Fracking Study

May 15, 2014May 15, 2014

The Boston-based non-profit Health Effects Institute has announced they will a) draw together all of the “knowledge” we currently have about health impacts from shale drilling, by late 2014, and b) figure out a plan to research what we don’t know and have the proposed framework for more study sometime in 2015. That is, they’re about to launch a study of how they should study. Er, sort of circular, but that’s what they said…
Read More “Yet Another Fundraiser, er, Health Impacts from Fracking Study”

Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

CSSD Thrown a Lifeline from Richard King Mellon Foundation

May 15, 2014May 15, 2014

The Richard King Mellon Foundation has just awarded a two-year grant (no specific amount mentioned) to the Center for Sustainable Shale Development (CSSD). The Mellon folks apparently like what they see with the CSSD certification program and want to see more of it. So they’re lending a (financial) hand to ensure that happens…
Read More “CSSD Thrown a Lifeline from Richard King Mellon Foundation”

Industrywide Issues | Lycoming County | Pennsylvania | Seismic Testing

Fracking Killed the Rabbits!

May 15, 2014May 15, 2014

Proving anyone can sue anyone else for anything in our litigious society, here’s one we’ve never heard of before: Fracking killed the rabbits. Or rather, helicopters being used for seismic testing flew too low over a rabbit farm and the owners claim the noise essentially scared the rabbits to death. Some 168 (out of 300) rabbits supposedly keeled over after hearing a helicopter. Boo! Whoops. There goes another one!…
Read More “Fracking Killed the Rabbits!”

NY Dem Senators Want to Ban PA Drill Cuttings from NY Landfills

May 14, 2014May 14, 2014

Not only do the anti-drilling Democrats in in the New York Senate want to keep shale drilling banned in the state (lack of drilling is destroying the upstate economy), now they also want to ban drill cuttings (leftover rock and dirt) from Pennsylvania from coming into the state for disposal in NY landfills. This has real implications. Currently, we’re aware of at least one landfill–in Chemung County–that accepts safe drill cuttings (see Radiation Testing Shows Marcellus Shale Drill Cuttings are Safe for Chemung County, NY Landfill). According to the Chemung County Executive Tom Santulli, “a lot of landfills” in upstate NY accept drill cuttings. The landfilling of drill cuttings (mined before fracking takes place and perfectly safe–it’s dirt and rock for heaven’s sake!) benefits all county residents by keeping landfill operating costs lower than they otherwise would be.

Now the radical, vicious anti-drilling Dems in the Senate want to take even that meager revenue away from upstate communities. The only conclusion you can draw is that they intentionally want to harm the residents of upstate NY…
Read More “NY Dem Senators Want to Ban PA Drill Cuttings from NY Landfills”