Marcellus Drilling News

Belmont County | Ohio

Belmont County, OH Deed Research Impacts Local Library Too
December 31, 2012December 31, 2012

In November, MDN pointed out you can always tell where drilling will soon begin in earnest by the how busy the local county clerk/deed recorder office is. We predicted that Belmont County, OH would soon see a ramp up in drilling based on the frenzy of activity at the county recorder’s office (see this MDN story).

The activity at the Belmont recorder’s office is as busy as ever, even over the holiday period. It’s standing room only at the office, and that’s now spilled over to the public library across the street. Abstractors have taken to snapping digital photographs of deed books and then relocating to the more spacious facility of the public library. But now that’s creating a problem…

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Crawford County | Pennsylvania

Crawford County: Drilling Recap for 2012, Ahead for 2013
December 31, 2012December 31, 2012

The Meadville Tribune (Crawford County, PA), like many local papers, is counting down their top stories from 2012. Their number 3 top story for the year? Shale gas drilling comes to Crawford County.

The article does a good job of recapping the drilling that happened this year in Crawford—both the who and the where—and makes some predictions about drilling for 2013:

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Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Mon, Dec 31, 2012
December 31, 2012December 31, 2012

The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading:

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Industrywide Issues | Regulation

EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson Resigns
December 28, 2012December 28, 2012

As MDN had previously speculated, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson, under official investigation for using a private email account for official government business in order to avoid archiving requirements, is resigning from the agency she’s headed for the past four (dreadful) Obama years. Jackson has been the leader of what MDN considers to be a rogue government agency—willing to usurp the Constitution and grab power whenever, and wherever it can.

Not everyone on the pro-drilling side of the isle shares MDN’s opinion of Ms. Jackson—some fear a replacement will be even more aggressive—but we don’t see how it could be any worse than the past four years under Jackson.

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Regulation | Research

EPA’s Fracking Study Progress Report (Dec 2012)
December 28, 2012December 28, 2012

Early last week, the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a 278-page “progress report” on it’s multi-year study of hydraulic fracturing (full copy embedded below). The final report is due to be completed in late 2014. The purpose of the study? To try and figure out if there’s any conceivable way the EPA can get its hooks into regulating oil and gas drilling in the U.S.—something Constitutionally left to the individual states to do. The EPA is hoping to prove that fracking somehow, in some way, impacts groundwater, which would let them claim fracking comes under the purview of the Clean Water Act and empower them to regulate drilling.

The Dec. 2012 interim report was issued to keep everyone posted on their progress. It specifically details how the EPA is conducting its research—their methodology—but not any results…not yet. The results of the research and the conclusions/recommendations will come in late 2014. Unfortunately it seems the EPA held private meetings with prominent anti-frackers before releasing the progress report (see Energy in Depth’s excellent analysis here), casting doubt on the EPA’s ability to conduct impartial research.

Here’s the EPA’s press announcement from last week’s release of the progress report:

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Antero Resources | Carroll County | Chesapeake Energy | Columbiana County | Eclipse Resources | Energy Companies | Guernsey County | Monroe County | Ohio | PDC Energy | Utica Shale

11 New Utica Shale Drilling Permits in OH, as of Dec 12
December 28, 2012December 28, 2012

The latest round of permits to drill new Utica Shale wells from the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) includes 11 new permits, 8 of which went to Chesapeake Energy.

Here’s the latest Ohio Utica permit report (with grand totals by county) as of Dec. 12:

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Monongalia County | Research | West Virginia

National Lab Looks for Industry to Fund “Extreme Drilling”
December 28, 2012December 28, 2012

Hey buddy, can you spare a few (million) dimes? The National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) is looking for someone in the oil and gas drilling industry to help get a now four year-old project off the ground. The NETL unveiled, to great fanfare, the Extreme Drilling Laboratory (XDL) in January 2009 in Morgantown, WV. It’s centerpiece of technology is the Ultra-Deep Single-Cutter Drilling Simulator (UDS), which they call their “rock star.” The UDS is an impressive device that can simulate drilling at 30,000 pounds of force per square inch and temperatures exceeding 480 °F – conditions that would be found at the bottom of very deep oil and gas wells.

Just one tiny problem: Industry isn’t using this marvelous technology to figure out better ways to drill. How come?

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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues

Anti-Frackers Energized with New Books
December 28, 2012December 28, 2012

The anti-drillers are having a heyday—when it comes to writing new books. First was The End of Country: Dispatches from the Frack Zone by Seamus McGraw, garnering high praise from Bobby Kennedy, Jr. and Tom Brokaw. Then came Under the Surface: Fracking, Fortunes, and the Fate of the Marcellus Shale by former Gannett reporter Tom Wilbur.

There’s now more anti-fracking books flowing than natural gas. There’s even an anti-fracking book for kids, written (appropriately) by a 12-year-old:

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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues

Anti-Drillers Disappointed with Promised Land
December 28, 2012December 28, 2012

The reviews are in and the new, somewhat anti-fracking movie Promised Land, starring Matt Damon, is being universally panned as a dud. At least, it’s a dud if you’re an anti-driller hoping this movie would change the public debate and sink fracking like the 1979 movie The China Syndrome (starring Hanoi Jane Fonda) sunk the nuclear power industry in this country. Promised Land is no China Syndrome—so says those on both the pro- and anti-drilling side of the debate.

The latest to weigh in with a two-thumbs-down on Promised Land is none other than the (very disappointed) New York Times:

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Regulation

NJ Bill Would Ban Fracking Until EPA Report is Done
December 28, 2012December 28, 2012

In New Jersey, where even the Republicans are Democrats, it’s no surprise that a Republican Assemblyman—Declan O’Scanlon—has introduced a bill into the state legislature that would ban fracking in the state until the federal EPA is done with its analysis of fracking and water (which won’t happen until late 2014 at the earliest). Not that there’s any frackable shale under NJ anyway. Still, it’s the principle of the thing—and the rank hypocrisy of those who profess to be Republicans.

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Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Fri, Dec 28, 2012
December 28, 2012December 28, 2012

The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading:

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

AP: NY Drilling Rules “Likely” to be Released in Feb 2013
December 27, 2012December 27, 2012

What’s this? The mostly-anti-drilling Associated Press appears to be throwing in the towel and admitting the DEC is likely to release new fracking rules in New York in February?! Indeed they are. But at the same time they are only too happy to cast doubt on when drilling might actually begin (hint—don’t plan on it next year):

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Beaver County | Energy Companies | Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Processing Plants | Shell | Statewide PA

Shell Ethane Cracker in PA Still Not a Done Deal
December 27, 2012December 27, 2012

As MDN has cautioned in previous stories, and as Shell themselves have said, the $2 billion ethane cracker plant planned for Monaca (Beaver County), PA is still not a done deal. Yes it’s looking good, yes PA passed the necessary tax incentives, but Shell is still studying the site for the proposed plant. Although Shell was supposed to purchase the land by the end of 2012, that now will not happen.

Like any real estate deal—until the money is in the bank and the deed in your hand, anything can happen…

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Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Statewide OH | Taxation

OH Gov. Kasich Keeps Beating the Higher Drilling Tax Drum
December 27, 2012December 27, 2012

What is it about states like Texas that causes Ohio’s Gov. John Kasich to view them as “foreign” and their citizens as “foreigners” (see this MDN story). An anal retentive fixation on the part of Kasich? Perhaps.

His fixation is in full bloom again. Kasich reports he recently went on some “foreign travel”—to Houston, Texas—where he had private discussions about raising taxes. Kasich also has a fixation on raising taxes on the drilling industry in Ohio so he can “spread the wealth” around to everyone:

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Air Quality | Alternative Energy | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

Climate Change Being Used as Excuse for New Law in PA
December 27, 2012December 27, 2012

In 2009, the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection’s (DEP) Climate Change Advisory Committee released a plan with non-binding recommendations aimed at reducing greenhouse gas emissions 30 percent statewide by 2020. The move was prompted by a 2008 law passed by the state legislature. (Ever notice “global warming” became “climate change” because the earth isn’t actually warming? … but we digress.) Part of the “recommendations” to reduce carbon dioxide is more use of natural gas. But getting natural gas from the ground tends to increase the release of methane, another so-called greenhouse gas.

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Economic Impact | Health Impacts | Industrialization | Industrywide Issues | Lycoming County | Pennsylvania

PA Hospital Loses Money Covering Uninsured Marcellus Workers
December 27, 2012December 27, 2012

A small non-profit hospital in north-central PA will turn in its first operating loss in five years. The main reason for the loss this year, according to the hospital’s CEO? Marcellus Shale field workers who come to the hospital for treatment—workers without health insurance:

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