Marcellus Drilling News

Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

The Andy & Junior Show: Part Deux
March 5, 2013March 5, 2013

If the situation with fracking in New York weren’t so tragic, it would be funny. Shakespearian, even. MDN told you yesterday about the Andy and Junior show—how Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s ex-brother-in-law Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. spilled the beans that Cuomo was ready to allow fracking last month and then it was (trumpet fanfare ta da da da) Junior to the rescue! RFK aka Junior says he talked Andy clean out of it (see The Andy & Junior Show: Why NY Fracking is Delayed Yet Again).

But what’s this? Being stung by having the truth aired to the press by what he thought was his confidant, his amigo (never trust a narcissist like Junior), Gov. Andy told the press yesterday Junior’s talk was not why fracking is still on hold…

Read More “The Andy & Junior Show: Part Deux”
Brooke County | Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies | Lease & Royalty Payments | Ohio County | West Virginia

Chesapeake Energy Tardy with Royalty Payments in WV
March 5, 2013March 5, 2013

According to two at least two West Virginia landowners, Chesapeake Energy has been in no hurry to pay them the royalties they are owed. In each case, the landowner has had to contact Chesapeake. Even after calling Chesapeake, the landowners are still waiting for their first royalty checks to arrive.

Here’s the story of two landowners, one in Ohio County, the other in Brooke County:

Read More “Chesapeake Energy Tardy with Royalty Payments in WV”
Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Kinder Morgan | Ohio | Processing Plants | Tuscarawas County | Utica Shale

Kinder Morgan to Build Processing & Fractionation Plants in OH?
March 5, 2013March 5, 2013

The Akron Beacon Journal reports that Kinder Morgan, the country’s largest pipeline company, is seriously considering Tuscarawas County, Ohio as the location to build both a new natural gas processing plant and a new fractionation (separating) plant. If true, it could mean up to $1 billion in new investment for Tuscarawas County.

Here’s what the Beacon Journal is reporting:

Read More “Kinder Morgan to Build Processing & Fractionation Plants in OH?”
Energy Services | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Winner Water Services

New Venture Converts Acid Mine Drainage to Shale Drilling Water
March 5, 2013March 5, 2013

Battelle, the world’s largest nonprofit research and development organization (based in Columbus, OH), and Winner Global LLC, a privately-held energy and environmental technology company (based in Sharon, PA), formed a joint venture in January called Winner Water Services that will purify acid mine drainage from abandoned coal mines into water that can be used for drilling and fracking operations in the Marcellus and Utica Shale.

Winner has not finalized the site of its first plant, but expects to soon. The first of seven plants should be operational by this fall…

Read More “New Venture Converts Acid Mine Drainage to Shale Drilling Water”
Crime | Industrywide Issues | Mahoning County | Ohio | Wastewater

Youngstown Wastewater Dumper Says He’ll Plead Not Guilty
March 5, 2013March 5, 2013

Ben Lupo, owner of both Hardrock Excavating and D&L Energy in Youngstown, OH, will plead “not guilty” when he appears in U.S. District Court on March 15, according to his lawyer. Lupo has been charged with instructing one of his employees to illegally dump untreated shale drilling wastewater down a sewer drain—after hours and in the dark of night (see Youngstown Shale Wastewater Dumper Faces Jail and Big Fines). The water ended up in the Mahoning River.

Lupo’s lawyer is appealing the decision of the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources to rescind all operating permits for D&L and effectively shut it down. The attorney says the “alleged” actions were done by D&L’s sister company, Hardrock, and D&L should not be penalized for it—even though D&L and Hardrock share the same owner and some of the same facilities. The attorney claims no D&L employees have been charged in the case. Here’s the latest:

Read More “Youngstown Wastewater Dumper Says He’ll Plead Not Guilty”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues

Josh Fox Makes First Public Response to FrackNation
March 5, 2013March 5, 2013

The Washington Examiner picked up on Josh Fox’s first known public response to Phelim McAleer’s documentary FrackNation, the devastating critique of Fox’s documentary Gasland. Fox didn’t say much, but what he did say is illuminating:

Read More “Josh Fox Makes First Public Response to FrackNation”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Maryland | Regulation | Statewide MD

Food & Water Watch Pushes for Fracking Ban in Maryland
March 5, 2013March 5, 2013

The anti-drilling group Food & Water Watch believes they have a sympathetic ear with legislators in the State of Maryland—so they’re making an all-out push to get the miracle of fracking banned in the state. Yesterday they released a faux “report” enumerating what they believe are the negatives of fracking. According to FWW, some of the ills fracking will visit upon the pristine state of Maryland include: “air pollution, water pollution, noise pollution, light pollution, marred landscapes and caravans of trucks full of toxic waste.” You mean, just like it hasn’t in PA, OH and WV?

The propaganda (i.e. press release) issued by FWW yesterday:

Read More “Food & Water Watch Pushes for Fracking Ban in Maryland”
Cumberland County | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Taxation

The Folly of PA’s Impact Fee/Tax
March 5, 2013March 5, 2013

A number of stories coming from PA for the past several months revolve around how towns and counties will spend a windfall they’ve received from the state since instituting the first-ever shale well impact “fee” last year (for background on the fee-which-is-really-just-a-tax, see: List of PA Impact Fee Disbursements by County/Town). We’ve spared you the boring details. However, we bring you one of those stories to illustrate a point.

Cumberland County, PA has no active shale drilling, yet they will receive $200,000 in “walking around” money from the hard work of energy companies and landowners who are drilling. And what do the wise leaders of Cumberland County intend to do with this new-found pile of cash? Buy a new fire truck or two? Refurbish school classrooms? Refit snowplows with new equipment? Maybe convert some county vehicles to run on natural gas? Nope. They plan to put $149,000 of it into a program to give away (blow) on “green projects.” The squabbling over how to distribute it has already begun…

Read More “The Folly of PA’s Impact Fee/Tax”
Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Tue, Mar 5, 2013
March 5, 2013March 5, 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: Tue, Mar 5, 2013”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Health Impacts | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

The Andy & Junior Show: Why NY Fracking is Delayed Yet Again
March 4, 2013March 4, 2013

The truth came out over the weekend from, of all places, the Associated Press (see below). New York Gov. Andrew (“Andy”) Cuomo’s former brother-in-law, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. (we’ll call him “Junior”), couldn’t resist his “the whole world revolves around me” narcissistic tendencies to let the media know that he, Junior, is the real reason fracking in New York is now dead.

Andy was all set to approve up to 40 test wells for fracking just last month, then Andy (a 1-percenter) talked with Junior (another 1-percenter) and that sealed the fate of 77,000 New York landowners (99-percenters) who want to lease their land for drilling.

Read More “The Andy & Junior Show: Why NY Fracking is Delayed Yet Again”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

Anti-Fracking Andy – The Giant (Jobs) Slayer
March 4, 2013March 4, 2013

The ongoing moratorium against the miracle of fracking in New York State for horizontal wells has had a devastating effect on the state’s conventional (vertical) natural gas drilling. The moratorium is, in effect, killing all drilling in the state, according to the Independent Oil & Gas Association of New York (IOGA of NY). It’s also killing thousands of jobs supported by the conventional drilling industry.

Commenting on the “rumor” (blabbed by ex-brother-in-law RFK “Jr”) that Gov. Cuomo will delay a fracking decision until a health study just begun in PA is completed, IOGA of NY said the following:

Read More “Anti-Fracking Andy – The Giant (Jobs) Slayer”
Alternative Energy | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Regulation

Obama to Nominate Moniz for Energy, McCarthy for EPA
March 4, 2013March 4, 2013

It’s official: President Obama will nominate MIT physicist Ernest “Hair” Moniz to be the next Secretary of Energy, and Gina McCarthy to head the Environmental Protection Agency. We call Dr. Moniz “Hair” because of his “wavy mop” of gray hair—you’ll know what we mean when you see his picture.

Details on Dr. Moniz:

Read More “Obama to Nominate Moniz for Energy, McCarthy for EPA”
Energy Companies | EnerVest | EV Energy Partners | Ohio | Stark County | Statewide OH | Tuscarawas County | Utica Shale

EnerVest Strategy: Sell Utica, Drill Vertical, Expand Midstream
March 4, 2013March 4, 2013

In September of last year, EV Energy Partners/EnerVest put 539,000 Ohio Utica Shale acres on the auction block, thinking they would get around $6 billion for it (see EnerVest Puts 539,000 Utica Shale Acres on Auction Block). In November, the company said they should complete the sale of the Utica acreage by the end of 2012 (see EV Energy Selling 539K Utica Shale Acres by Dec 31). That turned out to be a tad optimistic. EnerVest still does not have a deal for their Utica acreage.

An update on the company’s strategy from EV Energy Partners Chairman John Walker and EnerVest President Mark Houser, from Friday’s analyst call:

Read More “EnerVest Strategy: Sell Utica, Drill Vertical, Expand Midstream”
Energy Companies | Halcon Resources | Mercer County | Pennsylvania | Utica Shale | Venango County

Halcón Resources: Full Speed Ahead in Utica Shale for 2013
March 4, 2013March 4, 2013

Houston-based Halcón Resources Corporation issued their fourth quarter and full year 2012 financials and operational update last week. As MDN has been reporting, Halcón is ramping up in the Utica Shale (see Location of Second Halcon Utica Well in Trumbull County, OH). Their 2012 update further confirms that they are making a big push in the Utica for 2013.

In the extract below discussing Halcón’s Utica plans for 2013, we learn they have 130,000 acres, plan to drill 20-25 new wells and will spend $200 million on their Utica drilling program for the year. Interestingly, both of their completed Utica wells are located in the Pennsylvania Utica—not in Ohio…

Read More “Halcón Resources: Full Speed Ahead in Utica Shale for 2013”
Industrywide Issues | Lease & Royalty Payments | Litigation | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Lawsuit: WV Landowners Want Out of $5/Acre Leases
March 4, 2013March 4, 2013

About 120 West Virginia landowners are suing Magnum Land Services and Belmont Resources with the claim the company’s representatives hoodwinked them into signing leases to allow shale drilling for as little as $5 per acre when, at the time (in 2007), other West Virginian’s were getting as much as $5,000 per acre. The case is headed to federal court.

The (few) details as we know them:

Read More “Lawsuit: WV Landowners Want Out of $5/Acre Leases”
Energy Companies | Lawrence County | Pennsylvania | Shell

Lawrence County, PA: Shell Continues Marcellus Drilling
March 4, 2013March 4, 2013

A pair of Marcellus Shale wells drilled by Shell are the first two horizontal wells in Lawrence County, PA to be hooked up to pipelines and selling gas commercially, according a spokesman for Shell.

Details on which two wells are now in production, along with Shell’s 2013 plans for Lawrence County…

Read More “Lawrence County, PA: Shell Continues Marcellus Drilling”