Marcellus Drilling News

Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Research | Trucking

Three Ways the Shale Boom will Impact the Trucking Industry
April 22, 2013April 22, 2013

In January, MDN told you about the results of a survey conducted by Benesch, a large law firm with offices in Ohio, Pennsylvania and other oil and gas states, the National Tank Truck Carriers association and the Ohio Trucking Association (see Marcellus/Utica Shale Drilling is Good for Trucking Industry). The survey found shale activity is having a positive impact on the trucking industry, creating an increase in opportunities and profits that is expected to continue into the future. The survey also found significant job growth is a byproduct of shale drilling.

Benesch has written and released a new white paper based on the findings of the survey (embedded below), titled: “3 Ways the Shale Boom Will Impact the Trucking Industry.” The paper is short, well-written, and shows how the growth in trucking is directly tied to the growth in shale drilling—and a harbinger of economic growth for the future…

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Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

Higher Marcellus Permit Fees Coming for PA Drillers
April 22, 2013April 22, 2013

The Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) wants to hike permit fees for Marcellus and other horizontal or “unconventional” wells by $1,000 to $1,800 above the current $3,200 (a 56% increase). The DEP says more work is required for each well under new legislation passed in 2012, and new permits have slowed a bit, meaning less revenue for the agency. More work to do but less revenue from new permits—something’s gotta give…

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About MDN | Calendar

Calendar of Events for Apr 22 – May 5, 2013 [Free]
April 22, 2013April 22, 2013

Below are upcoming events for this week and next.

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Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Mon, Apr 22, 2013
April 22, 2013April 22, 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 | New York | Pennsylvania | Statewide NY | Statewide PA | Uncategorized

So-Called "List of the Harmed" Exposed
April 19, 2013April 19, 2013

This is the glorious day and age of the Internet when you can start a group and call it something like, oh, The Pennsylvania Alliance for Clean Water and Air (PACWA), and claim it’s a large group when in fact it’s one person (or a few people), launch a website with a catchy slogan, and pretend to be a grassroots “movement.” Such is the case with PACWA and their so-called “The List of the Harmed”—those who claim to have been harmed by hydraulic fracturing, supposedly in Pennsylvania (although many anti-drilling New Yorkers, where there is no fracking, also appear on the list).

Intrepid MDN reader and occasional contributor Victor Furman called up Jenny Lissac, the keeper of The List, back when it was under 200 people, and gave her an outrageous song and dance about how he had been harmed (here in NY). She bought it hook, line and sinker and was about to publish it on her list when he fessed up that none of what he had told her was true—attempting to illustrate for her that anyone can lie about how they’ve been harmed. Apparently Vic’s lesson was lost on Ms. Lissac as she continues to compile and promote a list that, while it may have a few legitimate cases of negative impacts from fracking, is mostly full of false information.

Vic recently put The List under the microscope for an analysis. This is what he found…

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Crime | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Violence

Disturbing: Remains of Small Bombs Found at 2 NE PA Drill Sites
April 19, 2013April 19, 2013

A very disturbing report from AP about the charred remains of “small explosive devices” found at two inactive Marcellus Shale drilling sites in northeastern PA:

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

NY Sen. Grisanti’s Office Responds to MDN on Fracking Legislation
April 19, 2013April 19, 2013

Yesterday, MDN told you that Buffalo-area State Sen. Mark Grisanti had re-introduced several bills from last year that deal with fracking. Specifically, his bills would treat fracking wastewater as hazardous waste, disallow wastewater to be used as a de-icer on roads, and prohibit wastewater from treatment at municipal sewage plants (see NY Senator Grisanti Introduces 3 Fracking Bills – Is it a Sign?).

MDN concluded there was really nothing new or noteworthy about the re-introduction of the bills—it’s not a “sign” that fracking is about to be allowed in the state. However, we sent off a question to Grisanti’s office, just to be sure. We got back this response:

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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Companies | EQT Corp | Industrywide Issues

PA Anti-Drilling Groups Demand EQT Give Up Right to Free Speech
April 19, 2013April 19, 2013

A group of extremist anti-drilling organizations, including PennPIRG, PennEnvironment, Public Citizen, Keystone Progress, One Pittsburgh, Common Cause PA, University of Pittsburgh students and “others” held a press conference outside EQT’s annual shareholder meeting in Pittsburgh on Wednesday to unilaterally call for EQT to forfeit their rights to free speech under the U.S. Constitution. These extremist groups want to muzzle EQT’s right to contribute money to political candidates who would stick up for the legal rights of industry to drill for natural gas and oil. Thing is, these extremist groups aren’t willing to give up their right to free speech (i.e. spending money on political campaigns), so why should EQT?

A very twisted press release from said groups:

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Ohio | Statewide OH | Utica Shale

Ohio Passes “Magic 600” Utica Shale Permits Issued
April 19, 2013April 19, 2013

The most recent weekly report from the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) shows that Ohio has now issued 605 Utica Shale permits to drill. Of those, 297 wells have been/are being drilled, and 89 wells are now producing. Although recent talk from Bloomberg and others has attempted to throw cold water on the Utica Shale, there’s no denying it’s still white hot.

Here are the the numbers from the latest report, and the grand tallies for where all those permits have been issued—by county, and by driller:

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Butler County | Energy Companies | Lease & Royalty Payments | Pennsylvania | Rex Energy

Rex Energy Makes Lease Offers to Western PA Towns
April 19, 2013April 19, 2013

You don’t read much these days about new land deals and offers being made in the PA Marcellus. Oh it happens, but not nearly as much as it used to. So when MDN runs across mention of a new offer, we figure that’s news you want to know about—particularly where and how much?

Rex Energy has just made an offer to Middlesex Township (Butler County), PA to lease some or all of the town’s 20-plus acres located on Browns Hill Road. Rex is just floating the idea at this stage to Middlesex—no specific numbers were thrown on the table. However, Rex did recently make an offer to neighboring Clinton Township, so it stands to reason the numbers for lease bonus and royalties would be similar. Here’s the details:

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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Broome County | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | New York | Regulation

Sanford Rescinds No Frackspeak at Meetings, Lawsuit Dropped
April 19, 2013April 19, 2013

MDN previously told you the story of Sanford (Broome County), NY town officials who had grown tired of the ceaseless, endless droning of anti-drilling wackos at every single town meeting. In Sept. 2012, Sanford town officials voted to forbid frackspeak (pro or anti) at future town meetings so they could actually get town business done instead. Big mistake—never deny a wacko time to vent. Sanford’s action to “limit free speech” precipitated a lawsuit by the National Resources Defense Council and Catskill Citizens for (So-Called) Safe Energy (see NRDC & CCSE Sue Sanford, NY over No-Frackspeak Resolution).

Update: In light of the deep-pockets lawsuit by these well-funded (with out-of-state money) organizations, Sanford has reversed course and rescinded its ban on frackspeak. The lawsuit has now been dropped by NRDC and CCSE. Cue music to “Send in the clowns“…

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Regulation

U.S. House Hearing: States (Not Feds) Should Regulate Oil & Gas
April 19, 2013April 19, 2013

A couple of recent law school grads from SUNY Buffalo now work as environmental, health, and safety regulatory analysts researching New York’s proposed regulations to allow fracking. They launched a blog site in February called New York State Fracking Unplugged. It’s a very informative blog site (be sure to bookmark and read it). On Wednesday, one of the lawyer/authors, Robert Grimaldi, penned a post covering a story that’s received very little mention in the mainstream press: this week the U.S. House of Representatives held a hearing to examine whether or not individual states can handle their own oil and gas regulatory oversight without the need for the feds to butt in (which is contra to the U.S. Constitution).

Grimaldi’s report:

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Regulation | Statewide WV | West Virginia

WV Drillers Say Permits Take Too Long to Get Approved
April 19, 2013April 19, 2013

West Virginia drillers were not happy last year that it was taking three, sometimes four months to get a new Marcellus or Utica Shale drilling permit approved by the state Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP). DEP Secretary Randy Huffman pledged to trim that number to 60 days. However, he now says 75 days is a more realistic target for drilling approvals given the complexities of horizontal drilling.

More than two months to approve a permit is still not good enough, according to Corky DeMarco, executive director of the WV Oil & Natural Gas Association…

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Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Fri, Apr 19, 2013
April 19, 2013April 19, 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: Fri, Apr 19, 2013”
Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY | Wastewater

NY Senator Grisanti Introduces 3 Fracking Bills – Is it a Sign?
April 18, 2013April 18, 2013

Buffalo-area State Senator Mark Grisanti, a Republican, recently re-introduced several bills he previously introduced last year about this time, dealing with hydraulic fracturing in New York State. MDN received a tip from a Norse Energy investor forum that Grisanti had introduced a bill that creates a high volume hydraulic fracturing waste tracking system at the Dept. of Environmental Conservation. True, he did indeed introduce that bill (again) and the bill has been sent on to the Senate Environmental Conservation committee. Norse investors, among others, are attempting to read any tea leaves they can find for news that New York is about to allow horizontal fracking. Is this such a sign?…

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Energy Companies | EnerVest | EV Energy Partners | Ohio | Statewide OH | Utica Shale

EVEP’s Utica PR Offensive: Good Oil Pressure, Low Drilling Costs
April 18, 2013April 18, 2013

Yesterday, MDN told you about EV Energy Partners/EnverVest’s (EVEP) mission to sell at least some of the 539,000 acres of Utica Shale leases they hold in Ohio (see EV Energy Partners Deal to Sell 104K Utica Acres Dead, What Now?). As part of the investor update call with EVEP on Tuesday, company chairman John Walker went on a PR offensive by saying drillers are watching how much oil will be produced by a well in Tuscarawas County (where EVEP is trying to unload acreage), and by saying the cost to drill a Utica well has come down, by up to 50%, from what it was when drillers first started in the Utica just a few years ago.

Walker’s comments from Tuesday:

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