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    PA Democrat Gov Candidates Support Partial/Full Moratorium

    Last night, eight Democrat candidates participated in a forum in Philadelphia, all of them seeking the Democrat nomination for governor to run this November. Pay close attention: Seven of the eight support a shale drilling moratorium–either statewide or in certain parts of the state. This is profoundly bad news if the good citizens of PA are unwise enough to elect one of them to the governorship.

    If you want a good idea of the calamity that awaits PA in choosing a Democrat governor, House and Senate, PLEASE read (or re-read) MDN contributor Chris Acker’s article here: Guest Post: Pennsylvania Drilling Moratorium – Good or Bad?. Here’s how it played out last night in Philly with regard to Democrat support for a moratorium on shale drilling:
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    Utica/Marcellus Construction Spending Rockets in Wheeling Area

    According to McGraw Hill Construction, the Wheeling, WV Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes Ohio and Marshall counties in WV and Belmont County in Ohio, saw construction explode from $60.3 million in 2012 to $1.57 billion in 2013–a 29-fold increase. The vast majority of that explosion in construction came from–you guessed it–the Marcellus and Utica Shale. Midstream companies Williams and Blue Racer spent the majority of that on new processing plants and pipelines in the area.

    This is incredibly good news for that area of the Ohio Valley. The even better news? Ironworkers Local No. 549 predicts this kind of spending by the drilling industry will go on for at least another 5-10 years. Wow!…
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    Fracking Finally on the Way in Virginia? Maybe Yes, Maybe No

    An article out of Virginia caught our eye, about the potential for drilling and fracking in Virginia, which has so far been pretty devoid of horizontal drilling and high volume fracking. In reading the article it was like rewinding the tape and hearing the same concerns and arguments we heard 2-3 years ago in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia. Funny how the same things keep coming around again and again. Folks who watch HBO and Gasland get stirred up and are understandably concerned, afraid their water supplies will become contaminated with nasty chemicals from fracking–which of course has never happened…anywhere. But still, people have to read and understand and become comfortable with an unfamiliar-to-them process.

    The article from Virginia was about potential drilling perhaps a year off–in an area that’s not the Marcellus Shale. The focus of the article–and the potential drilling that will take place–is the Taylorsville Basin along the eastern/central part of the state, around Caroline County, VA. Even though there’s no Marcellus or Utica anywhere in that area, the article still has implications for shale drilling that may one day happen along the western edges of Virginia where there is Marcellus acreage. The implications? Republican state lawmakers seem a bit too eager to introduce legislation that bans fracking in water aquifers–legislation that may have a spillover effect in other areas of the state, including the Marcellus…
    Read More “Fracking Finally on the Way in Virginia? Maybe Yes, Maybe No”

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    Natural Gas’ “Unfair Advantage” over Wind and Solar

    Yet another novel argument is being trotted out by the militant green left–natural gas an an “unfair” advantage. You see, it’s just too darn easy to build a pipeline–compared with putting up an electrical transmission line. That’s the cockamamie argument now being made by renewable energy zealots like Jaafar Rizvi, writing in Grist Magazine.

    As MDN has shouted for years now–the shale drilling debate is not really about water contamination, truck traffic and “fugitive” methane–it’s really about a few misguided people who want to pick your energy source for you–and for everyone else too. They irrationally hate fossil fuels because fossil fuels, including natural gas, threaten to slow the adoption of so-called renewable sources of energy, like wind and solar. How do wind and solar energy get to market? Via high voltage electricity transmission lines. According to Mr. Rizvi, it’s not a fair playing field between natgas pipelines and electric transmission lines…
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    New Fracking Book from ABA Good for Lawyers & Laymen Alike

    The American Bar Association has just published a new book on fracking titled “Beyond the Fracking Wars.” According to the press announcement, the book ($119) strikes a balance between the legal, regulatory, social and technical aspects of fracking. It further explains the numerous policy choices and decisions that influence fracking development and expansion, taking an approach that is neither pro- nor anti-fracking. A “just the facts, ma’am” kind of book.

    The ABA announcement:
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    MoveOn.org Launches FrackingFighter Campaign (Try not to Laugh)

    The extreme left wing group MoveOn.org has spawned a new effort called Fracking Fighters which “seeks to slow down the fracking boom that is anticipated to occur across the United States in 2014 and beyond.” They’ve decided to put a massive $50,000 behind the effort. So far they’ve gotten 100 signups for their trouble. Big whup.

    For those too young to remember, MoveOn.org was started in 1998 to encourage Congress to “move on” and forget about impeaching then President Bill Clinton who lied under oath (perjury) about getting a bj in the Oval Office from intern Monica Lewinski. Getting a bj in the White House is a resume enhancer for the moral-less left–they secretly envied Bill and wanted to be just like him. Long after bj Bill had left town, MoveOn stuck around to support other really important causes, like slowing down fracking. Wait, it’s OK for Bill to frack, but not anyone else? How does that work??…
    Read More “MoveOn.org Launches FrackingFighter Campaign (Try not to Laugh)”

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    Belmont County Continues to be One of Hottest Spots in OH Utica

    hot spotMDN has previously told you, on a number of occasions, that an early indicator of where drilling will soon heat up is to watch the local county land recorder’s office–the place where they keep official copies of property deeds. If it’s crowded in the local land records office, that means drillers are ready to make offers to landowners and want to start drilling. Of course they first have to figure out who owns the mineral rights, hence the activity in title searchers and abstactors checking deeds.

    Over a year ago we told you about the crazy lines and overpacked recorder’s office in Belmont County, OH (see Belmont County, OH Deed Research Impacts Local Library Too). Our prediction held true as Belmont has become one of the hottest hot spots in the eastern Ohio Utica Shale. You might think a year later things would have settled down at the Belmont County Recorder’s Office. Not so. Last Wednesday when Belmont County Recorder Mary Catherine Nixon arrived at the office at 8:30 am, she found 120 people waiting in line to get in. Oy vey!…
    Read More “Belmont County Continues to be One of Hottest Spots in OH Utica”

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    PA Dems Lick Their Chops over Chance to Tax Marcellus Drilling

    Sad and tragic is how we would term it. Pennsylvania’s elected Democrats in both the House and Senate are licking their chops, salivating at the chance to get rid of a mostly fair fee/tax on the Marcellus drilling industry–the “impact fee” created under the now largely gutted Act 13–and replace it instead with a harmful, regressive severance tax they can use to endlessly fund their pork barrel projects and frankly, line their own pockets. The Dems are almost like kids at Christmas, jumping up and down can’t wait to open the presents happy over the possibilities…
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    Blueracer Natrium Wet Gas Plant Remains Offline, How Much Longer?

    Last September there was an explosion and a fire “isolated to a small area” at the Blueracer Natrium processing and fractionation facility in Marshall County, WV (see Explosion/Fire at Blue Racer’s Natrium, WV Processing Plant). The fire, which “burned itself out,” knocked the plant offline until this January. Because of the outage, at least two (and perhaps more) companies found other sources to process their wet gas (see Blue Racer’s Natrium Plant to Remain Offline Until Jan 2014). However, not all drillers have had success in finding other sources to process their wet gas and are stuck, waiting for the Blueracer Natrium plant to re-open.

    The latest word from Blueracer on when they will reopen the plant, which doesn’t seem encouraging…
    Read More “Blueracer Natrium Wet Gas Plant Remains Offline, How Much Longer?”

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    Industry Vet Points Out Error in PA Supreme Court Act 13 Ruling

    Timothy Merrill, a now-retired resident of western Pennsylvania who worked 40 years as a buyer and marketer in the natural gas industry, wrote a sterling analysis of the Act 13 decision by the PA Supreme Court a few days ago in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. In his article, Merrill points out the whopping error upon which Chief Justice Ron Castille (a Republican!) based his decision. Castille states in his decision he believes drilling and fracking are inherently harmful to the environment. Problem is, says Merrill, there’s 60 years of drilling and fracking history in PA that proves just the opposite (something called “evidence,” Mr. Chief Justice). Unfortunately Castille, along with the three anti-drilling Democrats on the high court, have now invented new rights that didn’t exist before–creating bad case law that will have a profound impact for years to come.

    Here’s Merrill’s “what for” article that takes the disappointing Castille to the woodshed for his profound lack of judgment…
    Read More “Industry Vet Points Out Error in PA Supreme Court Act 13 Ruling”

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    Radio Disney Pressured, Pulls Out of OH O&G Education Program

    Radio Disney had been participating in a tour of elementary schools in Ohio as part of an education project that, among other things, educates kids on how oil and gas drilling and pipelines work. Called “Rocking in Ohio” the program’s intent is to foster interest in science and technology. Because the tour is sponsored by the Ohio and Gas Energy Education Program and partially funded by the drilling industry, the anti-drilling brigade came out in force and has now pressured Disney into withdrawing from the program. We can’t have the truth getting out there in song and dance, ya know!

    Few American-based media outlets are covering the story, so we have to get the Disney story from the pro-terrorist Al Jazeera America network. You know, the network that paid Al Gore a gazillion dollars for his dying Current TV network, finally making Al a rich man and giving Al Jazeera access to American airways to spread their garbage. The network that hires CNN has-beens like Soledad O’Brien to put a pretty face on an ugly network. The network that loves to air terrorists beheading people? Yeah, that network–the network owned by Middle Eastern oil sheiks who fear fracking will end their massive wealth gives us the Disney pulling out in Ohio story…
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    Philly Inquirer Misidentifies Photo in Act 13 Article

    The decision in December by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court that essentially guts large portions of the Act 13 Marcellus drilling legislation that all of a sudden anti-drillers have started calling Gov. Tom Corbetts “signature legislation” (funny how they never called it that prior to the ruling in December), continues to stir controversy. Gov. Corbett’s administration has filed a motion with the court to have it reconsider parts of their decision and in the meantime has asked drillers to voluntarily obey certain provisions in the law, like drilling at least 300 feet away from certain areas (see Gov Corbett Requests Drillers Continue to Honor Act 13 Setbacks).

    The Philadelphia Inquirer ran an article yesterday with more analysis of the decision and its repercussions. Interestingly, they either mistakenly, or more likely intentionally, ran a huge picture over the article of what appears to be a large crowd of protesters outside of the Philly Convention Center and identified the picture as being from a protest rally “last year.” It was not. How do we know? MDN editor Jim Willis was there–at the Shale Insight event–and there were no protests last year. There were perhaps a half dozen people standing around with signs at one point. The protest rally in the picture was from two years ago (Jim attended the Shale Insight event two years ago too)–which tells you something. The Marcellus protest movement in PA is losing steam–but it seems the Philly Inquirer editors are happy to lie to support their narrative…
    Read More “Philly Inquirer Misidentifies Photo in Act 13 Article”

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    Sierra Club, LWV Chooses Coal over NatGas in South Jersey

    Hey, the next member of the New Jersey Sierra Club or NJ League of [Liberal Democrat] Women Voters you meet, shake their hand–pump it up and down hard–and congratulate them on damaging the environment in South Jersey, which is what they’ve just done. South Jersey Gas wanted to run a 22-mile natural gas pipeline that would power an electric generating plant–replacing coal that powers the plant now–and also bring natural gas to residential homes in beautiful Cape May County, NJ. But so-called environmental groups like the Sierra Club and members of the LWV objected and pressured regulators to reject the proposal because the pipeline would run through an area of scrub pine trees that happen to grow in sandy soil. It was rejected even though the pipeline would mostly follow roadways and existing rights-of-way and would largely not disturb the so-called forest.

    Nah, this one was far to easy to demagogue with talk about “pristine this” and “undeveloped that.” Throw in some magic phrases, and nag the *#$@ out of regulators, and you have yourself a rejection. So now, residents in Cape May will continue to breathe dirtier air and continue to heat their homes in winter with oil instead of clean-burning natural gas. Thanks Sierra Club and LWV! You’re real champs of the environment…
    Read More “Sierra Club, LWV Chooses Coal over NatGas in South Jersey”

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    Forced Pooling in Ohio Utica Shale on the Rise, Sadly

    Drillers in Ohio’s Utica Shale are increasingly using the state’s “unitization” or forced pooling laws to force landowners who don’t want drilling to be included in drilling units where a majority of the neighboring land is leased. According to an article in the Akron Beacon Journal, 22 such requests have been filed in Ohio to date. Of those 22 filed, 6 were approved, 6 were resolved or dropped, and 10 are pending.

    We know the arguments for and against forced pooling, and you know where we stand on the issue (we take a dim view of it), so we won’t belabor the point. Here’s the Beacon Journal’s update on some of the forced pooling cases in eastern Ohio, including which drillers are doing the forcing, and the results…
    Read More “Forced Pooling in Ohio Utica Shale on the Rise, Sadly”