Two PA Republican state senators have introduced legislation that would grant the state Public Utility Commission (PUC) the power to require utility companies to provide natural gas service to areas that currently lack it:
Read More “PA Bill Would Require Utilities to Extend NatGas Service”
WV Senate Bill 638, introduced on Monday, appears to be on a fast track through the state Senate. The bill would repeal severance tax exemptions for some natural gas wells. In 2000, legislators enacted severance tax exemptions to encourage older natural gas wells that were not producing to re-open. Many of the operators of those wells are mom and pop, small-time operators—so legislators passed a law that said in essence, “If a well has been dormant more than five years, re-open it and we’ll suspend severance taxes on its production for the next 10 years.”
Legislators are now concerned that huge energy companies drilling for shale gas may decide to shut-in a well for five years to let prices rise and then re-open it and get 10 years of tax-free production. Hence Senate Bill 638, to repeal the older legislation and fix the loophole. The balancing act is to not throw the baby out (production from small-time vertical wells) with the bathwater (big-time horizontal shale wells)…
Read More “WV Legislators Fast Track Fix of Severance Tax Exemption Loophole”
Stephen Pryor, president of global plastics and chemicals giant ExxonMobil Chemical Co., recently spoke with Plastics News and boy oh boy did he have a lot to say! Pryor is someone who clearly “gets it” when it comes to the miracle of hydraulic fracturing and its profound impact on the U.S. and around the world. In his remarks, Pryor says fracking is transforming America’s future and the most important thing to happen in the last 150 years. He also says private business (and not government) is responsible for this miracle, and government should stay out of it. In topics ranging from ethane crackers to jobs to exports, he pretty much covers the whole spectrum.
Take a few minutes to soak up Mr. Pryor’s wisdom:
Read More “ExxonMobil Chemical Chief Says Fracking Transforming our Future”
Yesterday, PA Gov. Tom Corbett took a quick trip to tour and host a meet & greet at the Lycoming County Airport (Williamsport, PA). The purpose of the trip was to crow a bit about passing the new Act 13 shale oil and gas drilling law last year, which has resulted in $204 million in new revenue to the state from impact fees. Some of the impact fee money is being used to help fund a $13.6 million renovation project at the Lycoming County Airport.
The governor’s office issued the following press release about the event:
Read More “PA Gov. Corbett Visits Airport Being Renovated with Impact Fee $”
This is a weird one. According to an article on the Fuel Fix blog, in 2012 construction of new major natural gas transmission pipelines plummeted to its lowest rate since 1997. They base their analysis on a recent Energy Information Administration (EIA) report that tracks new pipeline construction.
With all of the new pipelines announced and started last year (many of them in the Marcellus and Utica), it sure seems strange, almost unbelievable, to us. Are these numbers accurate? Did EIA, an organization with a stellar reputation for accuracy, miss something? Here’s the article from Fuel Fix:
Read More “NatGas Transmission Pipeline Construction Went *Down* in 2012??”
Let’s see, if you’re a former reporter who has written a book that trashes fracking and book sales aren’t so great, what can you do? I know! Try to juice sales by invoking two very magical words (be careful children, that you don’t utter these words in public): “fracking” and “Dimock.”
Even though both the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) have investigated Dimock repeatedly and have declared water wells in the area to be free from chemical contamination, perhaps (because of fictitious movies like Gasland), just a little more hay can still be made from Dimock…
A Belmont County, OH construction company that builds homes and commercial buildings reports business is brisk, and the way they do business has now changed—all because of shale drilling:
Read More “OH Company Says Housing Construction is Booming from Shale”
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, Mar 27, 2013”
Landowners and drillers have been waiting since last year for the results of a case before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. Early last year the PA legislature passed the most sweeping new oil and gas drilling regulations in decades, called Act 13. Part of Act 13 replaces a crazy quilt patchwork of local zoning regulations with a set of uniform state zoning regulations. Towns didn’t like being told they can no longer fiddle with where a well can and can’t be drilled in their borders, so just over one year ago they sued (see Lawsuit Filed: PA Towns Sue State over Marcellus Act 13 Law).
Lower courts ruled in favor of the towns, striking down the zoning provisions of Act 13. The state appealed (and expedited) the rulings all the way to the state Supreme Court. The Supremes heard arguments in October (see PA Supreme Court Hears Testimony on Act 13 Zoning). Since then? We’ve waited for their decision on this vitally important case. Now we have a new wrinkle. One of the Supreme Court justices, Joan Orie Melvin, is being removed from office following conviction for a minor offense (she used state staffers and office space to assist her campaign for the high court). That leaves six justices, and a 3-3 decision is no good, and a real possibility…
Read More “PA Supreme Court Resignation Affects Act 13 Zoning Decision”
The 77,000 member Joint Landowners Coalition of New York (JLCNY) is kicking their lawsuit against the state into high gear and asking for donations to help fund litigation. You may recall MDN interviewed Scott Kurkoski, lead attorney for the JLCNY, about their plans to sue New York for “takings” back in February (see video and transcript here: 77K NY Landowners Prepare Lawsuit Against DEC). Since that time, the JLCNY has finalized their plans, all the while hoping New York would change course at the last minute. They finally, reluctantly decided the clock has run out (see JLCNY Loses Faith in Cuomo, Initiates Lawsuit over Fracking Rules).
The lawsuit groundwork is ready. What’s needed now are several good plaintiffs—and money. Hence the fundraising appeal issued yesterday:
Read More “JLCNY Begins Fundraising for Lawsuit Against NY for “Takings””
On Monday in Youngstown, Ohio at a Chamber of Commerce breakfast, the director of the Ohio EPA, Scott Nally, expressed his hope and optimism that fracking technology would quickly evolve and use less water:
Read More “OH EPA Director Says New Fracking Technology a “Game Changer””
The federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is in the midst of a multi-year “research study” of hydraulic fracturing. The aim of the study is to find a way for the EPA to horn in on regulating oil and gas drilling—at the federal level—by using the federal Clean Water Act and Clean Air Act. The feds really really want to find a way to grab away the power to regulate oil and gas drilling from the individual states. The Constitution grants that right to the states alone.
Apparently the EPA study is progressing—to the point they announced yesterday an “independent” panel of experts to “peer review” the EPA’s final report, due in 2014. In advance of looking over the final report, the panel of 31 experts will “provide scientific feedback on EPA’s research in an open and transparent manner.” Yes, let’s hope it is open and transparent.
The EPA announcement from yesterday, including the names of those on the “independent” panel:
Read More “EPA Appoints Panel of Experts to Review Fracking Study Due 2014”
Less than two weeks ago, GreenHunter Water announced they had purchased a 10.8 acre barge terminal site in Wheeling, WV that sits along the Ohio River. GreenHunter has plans to convert the former gasoline storage facility into a shale wastewater handling and storage facility that will recycle wastewater so drillers can reuse it, or ship it by barge to other locations for disposal (see GreenHunter Buys Barge Terminal in Wheeling for Frack Wastewater).
GreenHunter made a mistake. They didn’t first approach Wheeling City Council to ask, “Mother, May I?” If they had, in all likelihood the outcome would have not been any different. At least one council member is strongly anti-drilling—Gloria Delbrugge (Democrat). She’s upset GreenHunter didn’t ask for permission first, and she’s pledging to stop the project altogether:
Read More “Wheeling Councilwoman Vows to Prevent Frack Water Treatment Plant”
More happy news from the Marcellus and Utica supply chain: Wooster Tool & Dye, a company that manufactures gas and oil separation tanks used by shale drilling companies, has been offered a seven-year tax credit to add 120 new full-time jobs to their existing workforce of 110. The new jobs will average $21 an hour. If the company accepts the deal (not yet a done deal, but it looks promising), they will agree to maintain operations in Wooster, OH for at least the next 10 years:
Read More “Supply Chain: OH Company Offered Tax Credit to Create 120 New Jobs”
MDN does not often run press releases from companies that service the drilling industry (supply chain stuff) unless there’s something newsworthy about it. We’ve just run across one such press release, from a company called Ecosphere that produces a technology to allow oil and gas companies to recycle drilling wastewater. The “new and different” thing about Ecosphere is not necessarily their technology (we don’t really know much about it), but instead the news is about who’s promoting it: former NFL superstar quarterback Drew Bledsoe (starting QB for the New England Patriots).
Bledsoe appeared on CNBC last Friday to promote Ecosphere’s fracking wastewater treatment solution, and Ecosphere is leveraging that appearance with a press release:
Read More “NFL QB Drew Bledsoe Stumps for Frack Wastewater Recycling Company”
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: Tue, Mar 26, 2013”