Marcellus Drilling News

Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Processing Plants | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Ethane Cracker Plant Question Prompts Smile from WV Gov. Tomblin
February 13, 2013February 13, 2013

MDN has been reporting about West Virginia’s prospects to get an ethane cracker plant, like, forever. Every few months we hear a rumor of “we’re talking with companies about a cracker plant.” But a deal to actually build a cracker plant in WV never seems to materialize. Two days ago we reported on the first really solid, possible cracker deal we’ve heard of in some time (see “Small” Ethane Cracker Plant Coming to Wheeling, WV). As we stated in the article, we’re cautiously optimistic, but still a tad skeptical.

However, Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin and his big smile may know something we don’t:

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Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | RETTEW | Roads | Statewide PA

Engineering Firm Receives Award for Road Project in Marcellus
February 13, 2013February 13, 2013

Engineering firm RETTEW, a firm that does a lot of work in the Marcellus and Utica Shale drilling industry, has just received an award for their work on a Chesapeake Energy project to reconstruct more than 400 miles of rural roads in Pennsylvania at no cost to the public while reducing waste by nearly 100 percent. A hearty congratulations to RETTEW for their innovative approach, and to Chesapeake for their proactive program to preserve rural roads in active drilling areas.

From the press announcement:

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Alternative Energy | Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues

The Great and Powerful BHOz Threatens Edict on Global Warming
February 13, 2013February 13, 2013

Apologies in advance to MDN subscribers who voted for and/or support our petulant man-child president with tyrannical tendencies, Barack H. Obama. You’re excused from reading this post. It may give you a stroke.

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues

MDN Reviews New Documentary FrackNation
February 12, 2013February 12, 2013

We won’t keep you in suspense. Run!—don’t walk—to attend a screening, watch on cable television or purchase a DVD of the new documentary FrackNation. This is hands down the most important documentary on an environmental topic made in the last decade or more. It exposes the fabrications found in the documentary Gasland, and tells the truth about what MDN calls the miracle of hydraulic fracturing.

Phelim McAleer is an investigative journalist and documentary filmmaker—someone who speaks truth to power. In Phelim’s case, he’s made a career of challenging accepted environmentalist orthodoxy. He delights in laying bare the misstatements and outright lies told by the so-called green movement. His newest documentary, FrackNation, tackles the hottest environmental topic currently being debated not only in the U.S., but around the world—hydraulic fracturing for oil and natural gas.

Phelim is originally from Ireland, but he’s a citizen of the world having worked for The London Sunday Times, the Financial Times and the Economist. For the past decade or so he’s been a freelance journalist and filmmaker. So how did an Irishman living in Los Angeles come to make a documentary about fracking in Pennsylvania? In the beginning was Gasland…

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Crime | Industrywide Issues | Mahoning County | Ohio | Wastewater

Youngstown Business Dumped >200K Gal of Untreated Wastewater
February 12, 2013February 12, 2013

The case of a company dumping shale drilling wastewater down a sewer drain in Youngstown, OH—wastewater that has made it’s way to the Mahoning River—keeps getting worse. The owner of Hardrock Excavating (part of D&L Energy) says he thought he was “doing the right thing” by having his employees dump the wastewater at nighttime—to prevent an uproar. Little did he know the uproar he would create.

The owner, Ben Lupo, now admits his company dumped wastewater on at least six occasions, meaning the amount of untreated wastewater entering the water system in the Youngstown area exceeded 200,000 gallons—not the previously reported 40,000 gallons.

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Energy Companies | Gulfport Energy | Lease & Royalty Payments | Ohio | Statewide OH | Utica Shale

Gulfport Purchases More Utica Shale Leases for $10K/Acre
February 12, 2013February 12, 2013

$10,000 per acre seems to be the price Gulfport is willing to pay other energy companies to take over their acreage in the Ohio Utica Shale. Last December Gulfport paid $10K/acre for 30,000 acres (see Gulfport Adds Another 30K Utica Net Acres, Pays $10K/Acre). Yesterday Gulfport announced they’ve purchased another 22,000 acres from the same company, Windsor Ohio (a division of Wexford Capital), also for $10K/acre. This new acreage bumps Gulfport’s Utica Shale lease holdings to 137,000 acres.

Yesterday’s Gulfport announcement about their latest Utica purchase:

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

NY Groups Want Cuomo Aide with “Ties” to Fracking Investigated
February 12, 2013February 12, 2013

Seven anti-drilling groups held yet another press conference yesterday in Albany, which is like saying the sun came up in Albany yesterday. This time the groups went a tad too far on the bizarro spectrum—even for other anti-drillers. Breathless in their charge, the assembled anti-drilling groups claimed (trumpet fanfare, ta da da da)…that Lawrence Schwartz, Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s chief of staff, has $3,000-$4,000 invested in the stock market in oil and gas companies. (Gasp!)

Yes ladies and gentlemen, that puny investment means Schwartz has run a mind-fake on Cuomo, and like Svengali of old, he’s hypnotized Cuomo into allowing fracking which will poison the good citizens of New York in order to boost the value of oil and gas companies and thus his personal holdings by what, maybe $500? The price of a single bottle of fine wine at one of Cuomo’s power lunches? But hey, this is “a really serious charge,” so these fine, upstanding groups—with no conflicts of interest of their own (*cough*)—are calling on the Albany County District Attorney General’s office to investigate…

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Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Regulation | Statewide OH | Wastewater

OH Agencies Propose New Law for Disposing “Radioactive” Shale Waste
February 12, 2013February 12, 2013

Three Ohio government agencies—the Dept. of Health, Environmental Protection Agency and Dept. of Natural Resources—have cooperated to produce proposed legislation that will tighten regulations around low-level radioactive waste from shale drilling. The three agencies released their proposal yesterday:

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Blue Ridge Mtn Res/Magnum Hunter | Economic Impact | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Triad Hunter | Washington County (OH)

Magnum Hunter Spends $1M on Office in OH, Here for “Long-Term”
February 12, 2013February 12, 2013

Magnum Hunter Chairman and CEO Gary Evans was on hand Monday in Marietta, Ohio for the grand opening of the new regional office building for Magnum’s Marcellus and Utica Shale subsidiary Triad Hunter. Triad has (so far) leased 85,500 acres in the Marcellus Shale and 81,800 acres in the Utica Shale. The new office is located centrally to both the Marcellus and Utica plays—together referred to as Appalachia.

Triad spent $1 million to remodel a downtown Marietta building that will be their Marcellus/Utica regional headquarters. So far over 40 Triad employees have moved in. Magnum Hunter, through subsidiaries including Triad Hunter, Alpha Hunter, Eureka Hunter, Green Hunter Water and Viking International Resources has its fingers in a lot of different pieces of the drilling pie. According to Gary Evans, their commitment to Appalachia is long-term…

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Education | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Research | Statewide OH | Statewide WV | West Virginia

OSU and WVU Join Forces to Research (Promote?) Shale Energy
February 12, 2013February 12, 2013

Two major universities in the Marcellus and Utica Shale have signed a “memorandum of understanding” (MOU) pledging to pool academic resources and work together on projects to research and leverage the rapidly expanding shale energy industry. Ohio State University and West Virginia University announced their new compact yesterday. Part the arrangement includes possibly developing shale energy field laboratories.

The attitude on the part of both institutions seems to be, “Let’s figure out how we can promote shale energy so it’s safe, and so everyone benefits.” Right attitude, right approach. Now, any bets as to how long before anti-fracking malcontents among the faculty and staff at those fine institutions begin a fracking witch hunt like happened at University at Buffalo? (See UB CLEAR: Burn the Fracking Witches and Their Castle.)

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Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Ohio | Research | Statewide OH

OH Report Details Shale Drilling’s Huge Impact on Jobs, Economy
February 12, 2013February 12, 2013

The Ohio Dept. of Job and Family Services (Ohio’s welfare agency) issued the very first edition of a new quarterly publication yesterday which tracks the changes in Ohio’s oil and gas industry (see a copy of the first issue embedded below). What did ODJFS find with regard to the oil and gas industry’s impact on Ohio? Jobs in the oil and gas fields are up 17% from 2011 to 2012. The average salary across all the shale-related industries in Ohio is $73,934 per year. Those with jobs extracting oil in Ohio’s shale are making over $100K per year.

In short, the Utica and Marcellus Shale in Ohio has been a jobs and economic boom for the state:

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Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Research Shows WV Marcellus Drilling Equals High Paying Jobs
February 12, 2013February 12, 2013

According to Jeffrey Green, director of research for WorkForce West Virginia, oil and gas jobs, mostly in the Marcellus Shale, grew by 9.5% from 2008 to 2011. The average annual wage for gas industry workers in West Virginia? $70,082 per year—and increasing each year.

Green share a number of statistics with WV lawmakers on Monday:

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Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Tue, Feb 12, 2013
February 12, 2013February 12, 2013

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

MDN Interviews Phelim McAleer, Creator of FrackNation Documentary
February 11, 2013February 11, 2013

MDN editor Jim Willis had the pleasure of interviewing Phelim McAleer, creator, director and star of the documentary FrackNation, yesterday (watch the interview below). Phelim attended a screening of his new film in Binghamton, NY on Sunday, Feb. 10. He was joined by over 400 area residents, a surprising number given Binghamton is not all that large a city and the screening was held the day after a major snow storm had dumped more than 7 inches of snow in the area.

MDN will provide a full review of the documentary in a separate article. This article is about meeting Phelim in person…

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

77K NY Landowners Prepare Lawsuit Against DEC
February 11, 2013February 11, 2013

MDN editor Jim Willis caught up with the attorney for the Joint Landowners Coalition of New York (JLCNY) at the Sunday, Feb. 10 screening of FrackNation in Binghamton, NY (video of the interview is embedded below). The JLCNY represents 77,000 New York landowners with over 1 million acres of land who are interested in leasing their land for natural gas drilling. New York State has not allowed those landowners to move forward with shale drilling for more than 4 1/2 years. Landowners, according to Kurkoski, are ready to take action if Gov. Cuomo delays it yet again this week.

MDN received a notice last Friday that the JLCNY is laying the groundwork for a lawsuit against the state for “de facto taking.” Kurkoski explains exactly what that means…

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Carroll County | Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies | Ohio

Man Who Fell Through Ice Saved by 3 Chesapeake Energy Workers
February 11, 2013February 11, 2013

Three Chesapeake Energy shale drilling workers and a local businessman put their own lives in jeopardy to save a man who had fallen through the ice in Atwood Lake in Carroll County, OH last week. We sometimes hear about an infrequent case of a drilling worker who engages in a criminal activity like dumping wastewater or getting into a fight at a local bar—it’s front page news. But when was the last time you heard about a drilling worker who saved someone’s life? Good news stories from the gas field do happen—you just never hear about them.

A huge congratulations to Chesapeake Energy workers Jason Rickman, Tyler Trammel and Jim Ray, and to Zielger Tire employee John Streb. They’re all heroes. Here’s their story:

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