Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Mon, Sep 23, 2013
The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading:
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Will Utica Shale Drilling Come to Athens County, OH Soon?
From time to time Athens County, OH pops up on the radar screen–mostly related to a misguided attempt by a few anti-drillers to ban fracking (see last month’s article Athens Election Board Votes Against Anti-Frack Ballot Measure).However, there has been no Utica drilling in Athens County so far. Is that about to change? The Athens News says drilling is inching steadily closer. They take a close look at the prospects (and evidence) that drilling may come to this southeastern Ohio county–soon…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Regulation | Trumbull County
Niles, OH Votes to Lift Frack Ban One Month After Passing It
Well that didn’t last long. One month after Niles, OH City Council voted to spite its face by cutting it’s nose off (i.e., voted to ban fracking), they’ve voted to lift the ban. Why? Because the ban language also bans businesses from selling to the drilling industry–including the city itself (situated in Trumbull County), which sells a lot of water for fracking (see Niles, OH Considers Vote to Rescind Ill-Advised Frack Ban for background).
On Wednesday, Niles City Council voted to lift the ban. Congratulations on wising up!…
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Forbes Article Exposes Cornell Prof Howarth and His “Research”
Earlier this week MDN told you about the newly released Environmental Defense Fund research study that found (surprise!) not nearly as much methane leaks out of shale wells as scaremongers like Cornell professors Robert Howarth and Tony Ingraffea want you to believe (see New Study Final Nail in Coffin of Inflated Fugitive Methane Claims). It won’t surprise you that Prof. Howarth is indignant that his research has been called into question (yet again).
An article on the Forbes website by George Mason University’s Jon Entine does a masterful job of investigating anti-frackers like Howarth and Ingraffea and what really motivates them. Hint: Follow the (Park Foundation) money…
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NJ Company Becomes Agent for NatGas to Power PA Electric Plant
In October 2012, Moxie Liberty LLC of Vienna, VA applied for and received permission from the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) to build Pennsylvania’s first new electric generation plant to use Marcellus Shale gas to power it (see PA DEP Approves 1st New Electric Plant to Use Marcellus Gas). The new plant will be built in Bradford County, PA, the state’s most heavily drilled Marcellus Shale county. A month ago we learned that the project had been sold to Panda Power Funds of Dallas, TX and will now be called Panda Liberty (see Moxie Liberty Sells PA Electric Plant Project to Panda Power). Yes, we childishly made fun of the name!
More “new” news about Panda Liberty. One might think (as we did) that the new power plant will just hook up to whatever local driller or midstream company wants to sell them cheap, locally produced Marcellus Shale gas. However, that would be the wrong conclusion…
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3 New Bills Would Change PA’s 1979 Oil & Gas Lease Act
On Monday, three new bills were introduced into the Pennsylvania House of Representatives that, if passed, will update the state’s 1979 Oil and Gas Lease Act. Two of the new bills were introduced by anti-drilling Rep. Jesse White–he of fake ID shame (see PA Rep. White Says Fake IDs were “Error in Judgment”).
A quick run-down on the proposed new bills and what they do:
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WashPo Turns on Anti-Drilling Friends Over Cove Point LNG Exports
MDN told you the happy news that the Dept. of Energy, under new Secretary Ernest Moniz, has approved a project to build a liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facility in Cove Point, Maryland (see Celebrate! Dominion Wins DOE Approval for MD LNG Export Facility). However, Dominion is not yet out of the woods with respect to putting shovel to ground–there are another 60 or so signoffs required by various agencies before they can begin to build. Anti-drillers, like the Sierra Club, have vowed to fight Dominion tooth-and-nail every step of the way, hoping they can block the LNG export facility.
In an amazing (to us) editorial, the Washington Post editorial board turns on anti-drillers (whom they usually support) and tells them, in essence, to get a life and leave it alone. The Post says we need that LNG export facility and we need it now…
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Chesapeake Axes CNG Vehicle Program Too :-(
It seems that Chesapeake CEO Doug Lawler’s ax-wielding will affect more than just the company’s bottom line–it may affect all of us. The brisk pace of layoffs at the company continues (see God, Veggies & Bees – What’s Next on the Chesapeake Chopping Block?). Sadly, one of the programs deeply affected by these reductions is the division set up to grow usage of compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicles by average consumers.
Chesapeake has been one of the leaders in producing technology to make it possible for consumers to “fill ‘er up” with CNG. However, the company’s CNG division has now also come under the budget ax, which means retail CNG efforts in this country will, at least for a time, be “substantially diminished”…
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Allegheny County | Chevron | Economic Impact | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Pennsylvania
Chevron Wins 1st Approval for New Regional HQ Near Pittsburgh
In May MDN told you about Chevron’s purchase of a 61-acre site in the suburbs of Pittsburgh where they plan to build a huge, 350,000 square foot office complex that will be home to 1,750 people when it’s done (see Chevron to Build New (Big) Regional HQ in Pittsburgh Suburb). It is an important sign that Chevron is committed–in a big way–to the Marcellus and Utica Shale.
On Wednesday the Chevron project moved one step closer to reality when Moon Township officials gave it their thumbs up…
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Economic Impact | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Statewide PA | UGI Energy Services
UGI to Invest $1.2B to Upgrade Pipelines in PA to Deliver NatGas
UGI is Pennsylvania’s largest natural gas distributing utility serving more than 586,000 natural gas customers in 45 counties. Along with that many customers comes a lot of underground pipelines–some of which need to be replaced. So UGI is on a quest to hire at least 100 new full-time workers to help replace them. They plan to spend $1.2 billion on the project to upgrade their infrastructure in PA.
So what does UGI’s new pipeline replacement project have to do with the Marcellus Shale?…
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Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Fri, Sep 20, 2013
The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading:
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA
PA Dems Go Over the Cliff – Introduce Statewide Frack Ban Bill
Stupendously stupid and truly amazing, some Pennsylvania Democrats continue to push a statewide “open-ended” moratorium on shale drilling (in essence a ban). The party voted to adopt a ban as their official position at the statewide meeting in June (see PA Democrat Party Votes to End Marcellus Shale Drilling Statewide). Now, Democrat elected representatives have introduced a bill to do just that.PA State Senator Jim Ferlo (D-Allegheny) has just introduced Senate Bill 1100 which would institute an immediate ban (they call it a moratorium) on issuing new permits to drill until a 7-member panel can study it for “at least three to four years” and make a pronouncement about whether or not fracking is safe. Talk about insanity…
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New Trend? LNG for Domestic Transportation Bursts on the Scene
Is LNG used for domestic transportation in the U.S. about to take off in a big way? We’re not yet sure, but one thing is for sure: there are a number of companies investing in and talking about just that. MDN ran another LNG story today about a new initiative from GDF SUEZ called the advanceLNG Project (see Potential New Market for Marcellus/Utica Gas: LNG for Use in U.S.). And then–seeming out of nowhere–another LNG story. Boone Pickens’ Clean Energy Fuels company is partnering with with Ferus Natural Gas Fuels and GE to build “micro LNG” plants in five states, including Ohio.
So, what’s a micro LNG plant? We explain…
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Potential New Market for Marcellus/Utica Gas: LNG for Use in U.S.
Liquefied natural gas (LNG) isn’t just for exporting to other countries. LNG is increasingly used right here at home, in the U.S. GDF SUEZ Gas has provided LNG to the northeastern U.S. for the past 40 years for use in ships, railroad locomotives, long-haul trucks, and heating/power generation. Earlier this week GDF SUEZ announced a sort of “open season” for bids on a massive increase in their capacity to provide more LNG in the northeast. They call it the advanceLNG Project.
The potential good news for producers of Marcellus and Utica Shale gas is that if the advanceLNG Project moves forward, it will need lots of natural gas from the region to feed it. advanceLNG is a potentially lucrative new market for the northeast’s abundant supplies of natgas…
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Accidents | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Lycoming County | Pennsylvania | Wastewater | XTO
XTO Will Pay $20M+ to Settle PA Frack Wastewater Spill Case
XTO Energy (owned by Exxon) continues to fight against an egregious–perhaps illegal–abuse of power by Pennsylvania Attorney General Kathleen Kane, an anti-driller who is attempting to criminalize an accidental spill of frack wastewater hoping to make “an example” of XTO (see PA AG Abuses Her Authority, Files Criminal Charges Against XTO).
Meanwhile, XTO has just settled the civil side of that accident by agreeing to pay more than $20 million–$100,000 in fines and $20 million to implement new procedures and technologies to ensure such a spill does not happen again…
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Chesapeake Energy | Commodity Price | Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Energy Companies | EQT Corp | Industrywide Issues | Range Resources Corp
Production from 4 Marcellus Drillers Keeps U.S. NatGas Prices Low
An article on the investor website The Motley Fool does a good job of putting into context the enormous importance of the Marcellus Shale. According to the article, even though production from other major U.S. shale plays like the Haynesville has fallen in recent years, Marcellus production is up so dramatically it single-handedly keeps the price of natural gas low in this country.
The article (read it below) also gives a quick roundup of four key drillers driving the success of the Marcellus…
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From time to time Athens County, OH pops up on the radar screen–mostly related to a misguided attempt by a few anti-drillers to ban fracking (see last month’s article 
Stupendously stupid and truly amazing, some Pennsylvania Democrats continue to push a statewide “open-ended” moratorium on shale drilling (in essence a ban). The party voted to adopt a ban as their official position at the statewide meeting in June (see