Marcellus Drilling News

Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Meetings | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

Shale Insight Philadelphia: Day One (Tuesday)
September 25, 2013September 25, 2013

MDN editor Jim Willis is in Philadelphia for the next few days attending the Marcellus Shale Coalition’s Shale Insight event. Jim is taking copious notes, as he does when visiting such events–so you’ll get to read about it in the coming days. Yesterday (Tuesday) was the “pre-conference” day. Of special interest was the Technology Showcase where established and up-and-coming companies shared their technologies for treating water, dealing with silica dust and a variety of other applications. If you’re “into shale,” it was fascinating.

Rather than recount it all for you right now, we’ll share a good story (very fair and balanced, surprisingly) written by the Philadelphia Inquirer who had a reporter on hand. The write-up does a good job of recounting the Technology Showcase, and in forecasting the coming protest from anti-drillers. One thing we can tell you–security is really, really tight at the Philadelphia Convention Center. They clearly believe there’s going to be a sizable crowd of antis parading out front…
Read More “Shale Insight Philadelphia: Day One (Tuesday)”
Energy Companies | Gulfport Energy

Former Gulfport CEO Gets Millions from Wexford Capital – Improper?
September 25, 2013September 25, 2013

Was former Gulfport CEO Mike Liddell, who stepped down in June, a tad too cozy with an investment company that does business with Gulfport? Gulfport, you may know, is a major Utica Shale driller. A Reuters story takes aim at Liddell, questioning his relationship with investment firm Wexford Capital which has given Liddell “millions of dollars in equity interests at no cost in more than a dozen firms that have done business with Gulfport.” Gulfport says nothing improper was done and all necessary disclosures have been made to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Will this story “have legs” and continue to reverberate in the media? It sure has all the hallmarks of the same kind of treatment the media gave former Chesapeake Energy CEO Aubrey McClendon…
Read More “Former Gulfport CEO Gets Millions from Wexford Capital – Improper?”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues

Food & Water Watch has Sex on the Mind, Says Fracking Leads to STDs!
September 25, 2013September 25, 2013

The toilet continues to flush at the odious (and misnamed) Food & Water Watch and (oops!)…out comes another, uh, well you get the idea. The latest rubbish to emanate from Food & Water Watch (FWW) is a so-called report that says where there’s fracking there’s an increase in sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). Uh, FWW? Maybe you were reading the wrong report? The “f” word in the report you were reading lacked a consonant and had a different vowel. We know–it’s an easy mistake to make.

This is what came out when the toilet flushed at FWW HQ yesterday:
Read More “Food & Water Watch has Sex on the Mind, Says Fracking Leads to STDs!”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

PennEnvironment Supports PA Dem Frack Ban Bill, Gins Up Report
September 25, 2013September 26, 2013

Editor’s Correction: We slipped up! The original version of this story contained a headline and introduction (below) that said PennFuture was the organization that issued the report. It was not. It was PennEnvironment. Our sincere apologies to PennFuture.

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In a pathetic attempt to give political cover to their anti-drilling collaborators in the PA legislature, yesterday anti-drilling group ~~PennFuture~~ PennEnvironment issued a so-called report that demands that Pennsylvania turn the lights out on fracking for shale gas–at least for now and the foreseeable future–until…we don’t know, just until. Until they say so.

Last week MDN told you about PA Democrats who decided to leap over the cliff hoping a net (of public support) would appear by introducing legislation to ban fracking in the state (see PA Dems Go Over the Cliff – Introduce Statewide Frack Ban Bill). Thunk. No net appeared and the Dems now face annihilation at the next election. So ~~PennFuture~~ PennEnvironment is attempting to throw out a lifeline with a ginned up “report” that supports a loony frack ban…
Read More “PennEnvironment Supports PA Dem Frack Ban Bill, Gins Up Report”
Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | TC Energy/TransCanada

TransCanada: Open Season to Pipe Marcellus/Utica Gas West & South
September 25, 2013September 25, 2013

More new pipeline capacity for Marcellus and Utica Shale gas may be on the way for northeast drillers. TransCanada announced two open seasons (times when drillers can contract pipeline capacity) for the ANR Pipeline System.

By using mostly existing pipelines with a few modifications, TransCanada hopes to pipe northeast shale gas to both the Midwest and Gulf Coast…
Read More “TransCanada: Open Season to Pipe Marcellus/Utica Gas West & South”
Forced Pooling | Industrywide Issues | Statewide WV | West Virginia

WV Legislators Hear Presentation on Forced Pooling from SORO
September 25, 2013September 25, 2013

Forced pooling is once again being considered by West Virginia legislators. In the past few years forced pooling (which is sometimes called “lease pooling” or “lease integration” or any of several other terms) has been a non-starter in WV. Each time it comes up for consideration it goes nowhere–no votes, no nothing. So when a committee of WV legislators ask for a briefing on the topic–it’s noteworthy. It’s also very likely to come up again in the 2014 general session…
Read More “WV Legislators Hear Presentation on Forced Pooling from SORO”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Statewide NY

Willie Nelson & Friends are No Friends to Farmers
September 25, 2013September 25, 2013

A bunch of once-famous singers took to the stage this past weekend in Saratoga Springs, NY to lend Willie Nelson some help with his annual Farm Aid concert. Willie & friends were there to raise money for farmers and to bash fracking–the very thing that would raise more money for poor farmers than all of Willie’s concerts added together since he began doing them in the last century.

Among the has-beens who took to the stage was 94 year-old Pete Seeger–or a very passable taxidermist’s version of him. Pete had to get his licks in by bastardizing Woodie Guthrie’s song, “This Land is Your Land”…
Read More “Willie Nelson & Friends are No Friends to Farmers”
Health Impacts | Industrywide Issues | Sand/Proppant

HalenHardy Wins Ben Franklin EHS Award for Silica Air Shower
September 25, 2013September 30, 2013

Congratulations to HalenHardy, a company that makes a mobile air shower to quickly remove silica dust from workers’ uniforms. HalenHardy is the recipient (yesterday) of the Ben Franklin’s Shale Gas Innovation & Commercialization Center’ first annual Shale Gas Environmental, Health, & Safety Award. MDN editor Jim Willis was in the audience at the Shale Insight conference to witness the award.

Jim later spotted and congratulated co-founder and CEO Donnie Beaver as he sat on the exhibit hall floor up to his neck in booth paraphernalia. The company is building a fully operational demo unit for the exhibition hall available starting Wednesday. (Jim plans to take a turn.) The official announcement from the Ben Franklin Center:

Read More “HalenHardy Wins Ben Franklin EHS Award for Silica Air Shower”
Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | TerrAqua Resource Mgmt | Washington County | Wastewater

TerrAqua a Half Step Closer to New Frack Wastewater Facility
September 25, 2013September 25, 2013

TerrAqua Resource Management wants to build a new frack wastewater recycling/treatment plant in Smith Township, Washington County, PA (see Hearing on Proposed TerrAqua Wastewater Recycling Facility in PA). A public hearing was held Monday night, which moves TerrAqua one step closer to gaining permission.

However, the Smith Township public hearing was not without its bumps for TerrAqua…
Read More “TerrAqua a Half Step Closer to New Frack Wastewater Facility”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

JLCNY Asks Why Actors Couldn’t Keep Fracking Out of CA
September 25, 2013September 25, 2013

As MDN noted on Monday, California now has new fracking regulations signed into law by none other than Jerry “Moonbeam” Brown (see CA Gov. Jerry Brown Signs Bill into Law to Allow Fracking).

The Joint Landowners Coalition of New York (JLCNY) also noticed the CA vote and points out the irony of Hollywood actors who preen in New York State who claim that so far they’ve defeated fracking here, but who apparently couldn’t keep fracking from happening in their own state…
Read More “JLCNY Asks Why Actors Couldn’t Keep Fracking Out of CA”
Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Wed, Sep 25, 2013
September 25, 2013September 25, 2013

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: Wed, Sep 25, 2013”
Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Lease & Royalty Payments | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

Lawyers Say Don’t Ignore Chesapeake’s PA Lawsuit Settlement Letter
September 24, 2013September 23, 2013

Chesapeake Energy recently settled a lawsuit with Pennsylvania landowners in which they agree to pay (a pitifully small) $7.5 million to landowners after shorting them on royalty payments (see Chesapeake Settles PA Royalty Lawsuit for Pittance: $7.5M). The National Association of Royalty Owners Pennsylvania chapter is telling landowners to pay “very close attention” to the settlement letter when it comes.

The settlement letter may have much broader implications than just getting a check for a few bucks from Chesapeake. It may set the rules for how your future royalties will be calculated…
Read More “Lawyers Say Don’t Ignore Chesapeake’s PA Lawsuit Settlement Letter”
Ashtabula County | Ohio | Utica Shale

Utica Shale Gas-to-Liquids Plant Planned for Ashtabula, OH
September 24, 2013September 23, 2013

Converting Marcellus and Utica Shale natural gas into liquids like solvents, lubricants and waxes–even diesel fuel–is starting to catch on. MDN previously told you about a “gas-to-liquids” (GTL) plant planned for the Altoona, PA area that will convert natural gas to diesel fuel (see Altoona Area Getting $200M Marcellus Gas-to-Liquids Plant). A chemical manufacturer in western PA is pursuing a GTL plant to create their own “feedstock”–raw chemical materials they need to produce other specialty chemicals (see Chemical Manufacturer to Build Gas-to-Liquids Plant in PA).

Now, word of the first GTL plant we’ve heard of planned in Ohio. The Ohio plant, if built, will also produce specialty chemicals…
Read More “Utica Shale Gas-to-Liquids Plant Planned for Ashtabula, OH”
Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

PA Electric Generation Plant Will Get its Own Marcellus Well
September 24, 2013September 23, 2013

GEI Global Energy Corp announced yesterday they have signed a letter of intent (LOI) with Owl Eco Group to build a 100 megawatt electric generation plant in western Pennsylvania that runs on Marcellus Shale gas.

Not only will this be a massive project taking several years and costing $470 million to build, but GEI says the plan calls for the power plant to get its very own Marcellus Shale well drilled to supply it. Smart…
Read More “PA Electric Generation Plant Will Get its Own Marcellus Well”
Air Quality | Industrywide Issues | Regulation

New EPA Carbon Regulations Killing Coal & Our Country
September 24, 2013September 23, 2013

Once again the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has proven it’s a rogue, out-of-control agency that needs to be reigned in–now. The EPA has just issued new emissions standards for power plants that will result in massive closures of coal-fired power plants (any volunteers for rolling brownouts?). What’s the big boogeyman they so desperately need to control? Carbon dioxide–the stuff you exhale with each breath. The flatulence that comes from the back-ends of every living mammal. The excuse the rogue EPA is using to “regulate” something that’s not a pollutant? The man-made global warming fairy tale–even though recent scientific evidence proves global warming isn’t happening and hasn’t been for the past 15 years! See Warming whoops: Scientists debate the falling rate of rising temperatures.

Enough is enough. Hopefully the Republicans in Congress will have the spine to stop this lunacy before it progresses any further…
Read More “New EPA Carbon Regulations Killing Coal & Our Country”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Research | Statewide NY

Ingraffea to Defend the Indefensible: His Own Flawed “Research”
September 24, 2013September 23, 2013

Prof. Tony Ingraffea of Cornell University continues to embarrass his employer. A new study by the University of Texas and the Environmental Research Council was released last week that (gasp!) used actual science–you know, out in the field measurements–instead of fanciful theories like Tony uses (see New Study Final Nail in Coffin of Inflated Fugitive Methane Claims). The real science in this new study completely, utterly refutes the guesswork of Ingraffea and his cohort in less-than-rigorous research, Robert Howarth.

So what does Tony do? He heads back on the lecture circuit with his best-ever dog and pony to try and convince people his guesses really are better than actual scientific measurements. He may also try to sell you a bridge while he’s at it…
Read More “Ingraffea to Defend the Indefensible: His Own Flawed “Research””