Marcellus Drilling News

Education | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Research | Statewide PA

Penn State Establishes New Institute for Natural Gas Research
April 1, 2013April 1, 2013

Penn State is one of only 17 U.S. institutions with an accredited petroleum engineering program. As of March, it’s now one of just two with the term “natural gas” in the title of its program. In early March, Penn State announced the establishment of the Institute for Natural Gas Research (INGaR). The new program is a collaboration of the College of Earth and Mineral Sciences and the College of Engineering with professors from some other departments too.

INGaR’s aim is to keep Pennsylvania “at the forefront” of the shale gas drilling industry:
Read More “Penn State Establishes New Institute for Natural Gas Research”
Dominion Energy | Energy Services | Exporting | Industrywide Issues | Maryland | Processing Plants | Statewide MD

Dominion’s Cove Point LNG Facility Achieves Important Milestones
April 1, 2013April 1, 2013

Dominion announced this morning it has achieved several major milestones for advancing its Cove Point, Maryland LNG export facility, including contracts with Japan and India to take 100% of the LNG they can produce for export. The Cove Point LNG export facility, which includes the capability to liquefy natural gas into LNG, will cost $3.4 – $3.8 billion to build–a staggering number. It will provide jobs and an economic boost to the entire East Coast, especially Maryland and Virginia.

The Dominion press release from this morning:
Read More “Dominion’s Cove Point LNG Facility Achieves Important Milestones”
Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Lebanon County | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Spectra Energy

Spectra to Expand Marcellus Pipeline in Lebanon, Other PA Locales
April 1, 2013April 1, 2013

Texas Eastern Transmission, a division of midstream giant Spectra Energy, plans to expand a natural gas pipeline in the Lebanon Valley (Lebanon County) area of Pennsylvania, as well as other PA counties, in order to transport more Marcellus Shale gas:
Read More “Spectra to Expand Marcellus Pipeline in Lebanon, Other PA Locales”
Landowner Coalition News | Tyler County | West Virginia

New Landowner Group Forms in Tyler County, WV
April 1, 2013April 1, 2013

A new West Virginia landowner group has formed in Tyler County with a mission to educate landowners and non-landowners alike, and to benefit landowners that join the group by pooling their property together to negotiate a lease. The new group, called the Middle Island Marcellus and Utica Mineral and Landowners Group, currently has 85 members and 8,000 acres. Landowners in Tyler are fortunate to be located in an area where both the Marcellus and Utica are oil and liquids rich.

More on the group and its objectives (and how you can join):
Read More “New Landowner Group Forms in Tyler County, WV”
Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Statewide OH | Statewide PA

Phelim McAleer Storms Across PA with FrackNation Screenings
April 1, 2013April 1, 2013

Phelim McAleer, the creator, director and producer of the phenomenal documentary FrackNation, is storming across Pennsylvania starting later this week with personal appearances at a number of PA screenings for his film. MDN has each screening listed on our Calendar page (check for times and locations). FrackNation is also being shown across Ohio during the month of April, although Phelim is not appearing at those screenings.

Here’s the complete list of upcoming cities where Phelim will attend a screening to answering questions from the audience:
Read More “Phelim McAleer Storms Across PA with FrackNation Screenings”
About MDN | Calendar

Calendar of Events for Apr 1-14, 2013 [Free]
April 1, 2013April 1, 2013

Below are upcoming events for this week and next.
Read More “Calendar of Events for Apr 1-14, 2013 [Free]”
Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Mon, Apr 1, 2013
April 1, 2013April 1, 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: Mon, Apr 1, 2013”
About MDN

MDN Takes a Brief Pause for Good Friday & Easter
March 29, 2013March 29, 2013

Marcellus Drilling News is taking today (Friday) off in observance of Good Friday and the Easter holiday. We wish you a blessed Easter, Happy Passover, or just a “best wishes and have a great holiday weekend.” We’ll be back with all of the Marcellus and Utica Shale news on Monday!

Jim Willis, Editor, MDN
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Crime | Harrison County | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Statewide OH

OH State Police Put Extreme Enviro Groups Under Surveillance
March 28, 2013March 28, 2013

Saying that “so far” Ohio has not seen any violence from extremist anti-drilling environmentalist groups—but that they do expect violence—the Ohio State Highway Patrol’s (OSHP) Central Intelligence Unit is now monitoring groups like Earth First! and Appalachian Resist. The OSHP says: “…some of these groups are considered domestic terrorists or vandals.”

At a monthly meeting of first responders in Harrison County, OH who gather to discuss and plan for health and safety emergencies related to shale drilling, Sgt. Greg McCutcheon of the OSHP said the following:

Read More “OH State Police Put Extreme Enviro Groups Under Surveillance”
BP | Energy Companies | Ohio | Trumbull County | Utica Shale

Better Late than Never: BP Gets First Permit for OH Utica
March 28, 2013March 28, 2013

From MDN’s bedtime stories…Once upon a time (in April 2012), a huge international oil and gas company (BP) leased 84,000 acres all at once with landowners in Trumbull County, OH (see BP’s Big Utica Shale Deal, Leases 84K Acres in Ohio). They later tossed out some of the deals (see BP Cancels Deal for 7% of ALOV Leases in Trumbull County, OH). The end.

Whoops! Not much of story—but that’s been the entire story for a year now. After leasing all of that land in Trumbull County, BP has done no Utica Shale drilling. Zip, zero, nada. Earlier this year BP said, in essence, they’re taking their sweet time, but they do intend to drill a few initial wells this year, perhaps starting in April (see BP in OH Utica Shale: The Prospectivity of Producibility). Looks like the wait may be over…

Read More “Better Late than Never: BP Gets First Permit for OH Utica”
Forced Pooling | Industrywide Issues | Statewide WV | West Virginia

WV Legislation Would Create Forced Pooling – with a Twist
March 28, 2013March 28, 2013

A bill just introduced into the West Virginia legislature would allow for “forced pooling” in very specific cases. Forced pooling laws, in case you’re unfamiliar with the term, require or “force” landowners who have not signed a lease to allow drilling because their neighbors have all signed a lease and drilling under the holdout’s property is required in order to access the other leased properties. However, the WV bill adds a big twist: It will allow forced pooling only in cases where the owner of the mineral rights can’t be determined, or the owner can be determined but can’t be found.

Supporters of the bill, introduced by Sen. Brooks McCabe (D-Kanawha), are careful to point out the new bill (unlike previous failed forced pooling bills) does not force known, unwilling landowners to be placed into a “unit” for drilling…

Read More “WV Legislation Would Create Forced Pooling – with a Twist”
Allegheny County | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrialization | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Research | Susquehanna County | Wildlife

USGS Study: Marcellus Drilling Fragmenting Forests in PA
March 28, 2013March 28, 2013

The U.S. Geological Survey earlier this week released a new report raising concerns about Marcellus Shale drilling in the Allegheny Plateau (pretty much the entire Marcellus region). The 38-page report (full copy embedded below) looks at two counties in particular: Susquehanna County in northeastern PA, and Allegheny County in southwestern PA.

Using a series of maps and data, the authors raise concerns that Marcellus drilling, along with drilling for gas in coalbed methane (a similar process), is leading to “forest fragmentation”—a situation where forested areas get “carved up” with roadways and drill pads that lead to limiting the geographic habitat area for some species of animals:

Read More “USGS Study: Marcellus Drilling Fragmenting Forests in PA”
Ohio | Statewide OH

More Angst Over OH Utica’s Oil Prospects
March 28, 2013March 28, 2013

Just a few days ago MDN highlighted a story by Reuters that raises the question of the Ohio Utica Shale’s oil producing potential (see Will OH Utica Turn Out to be Steak, or Just Sizzle? Eye on April). A writer on The Motley Fool website picks up on that theme and makes these observations about the Utica’s oil prospects:

Read More “More Angst Over OH Utica’s Oil Prospects”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues | New York | Tompkins County

NatGas vs Coal for Electricity, What’s an Anti-Driller Do?
March 28, 2013March 28, 2013

An electrical generating power plant located in the most anti-drilling part of Upstate New York—Ithaca and Tompkins County—has filed with the state Public Service Commission to convert the plant from burning coal to burning clean natural gas. This puts anti-drillers like Assemblywoman Barbara Lifton (Democrat from Ithaca) in a quandary. If she supports it, it points out her rank hypocrisy on the drilling issue. If she opposes it and the plant shuts down, she screws a whole bunch of people out of jobs. Not to mention that burning natural gas is a LOT cleaner than burning coal—so opposing it would put her on the side of more air pollution.

Yeah, it’s a real quandary for Ms. Lifton…

Read More “NatGas vs Coal for Electricity, What’s an Anti-Driller Do?”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Health Impacts | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

NY Anti-Drillers Send Letter to Cuomo: Stop the Health Review Now
March 28, 2013March 28, 2013

In yet another public relations stunt, Walter Hang from the Ithaca-based Toxics Targeting group, along with several of his anti-drilling, eco-nut buddies (like failed Binghamton Mayor Matt Ryan), sent Gov. Andrew “Ditherer” Cuomo a rambling 4-page letter on Tuesday requesting that he instruct NY State Health Commissioner Nirav Shah to abandon his current review of fracking rules with an eye on health impacts. Why? Because the current review is “fatally flawed” and “an exercise in futility.”

Instead of the current review, Hang & Co. “request” the Dept. of Health perform a full, years-long public health impact study…

Read More “NY Anti-Drillers Send Letter to Cuomo: Stop the Health Review Now”
Bradford County | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Pennsylvania | Statewide NY | Statewide PA

Support from 2 Prominent Pennsylvanians for Fracking in NY
March 28, 2013March 28, 2013

MDN wasn’t the only one to note the very loud, in-your-face editorial by former PA Gov. Ed Rendell printed in yesterday’s New York Daily News (see Former PA Gov. Rendell to Gov. Cuomo: Get Fracking). Karen Moreau, executive director of the NY State Petroleum Council, released the following statement yesterday noting Rendell’s support for fracking in New York, along with the support from a hospital administrator of a hospital that sits in the middle of the most-drilled county in PA (Bradford):

Read More “Support from 2 Prominent Pennsylvanians for Fracking in NY”