Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Wed, Jan 9, 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: Wed, Jan 9, 2013”
-
-
PA Driller Buys Land, Wells from Chesapeake–in NY Finger Lakes
A small independent exploration and production company from Bradford, PA—Minard Run Oil Co.—has just picked up 56,130 acres of leases, 200 miles of pipelines, compressor stations, and 413 natural gas wells—all located in the Finger Lakes region of New York. They purchased the assets from Chesapeake Energy for an undisclosed amount. According to Minard, Chesapeake was “a willing seller,” which kind of feels to MDN like it was a “fire sale” on the part of Chesapeake to get a little more cash on the books before the close of 2012.For now, Minard plans to continue vertical-only drilling and drill another 20-30 wells in 2013. The company did not mention any plans for horizontal fracking in the future.
Read More “PA Driller Buys Land, Wells from Chesapeake–in NY Finger Lakes”
-
NY Politicians Renew Request for Longer Fracking Comment Period
Different day, same old broken tune from Mayors Matt Ryan (Binghamton), Sue Skidmore (Elmira) and an assortment of lefty elected officials, holding offices from mayor to dog catcher, who want to ban fracking.
Yesterday the group Elected Officials to Protect New York (see their website so you know whom to vote against in the next election) issued yet another tiresome nag request at a press conference in Binghamton to Gov. Andrew Cuomo asking him to extend the public comment period on the latest minor revisions to proposed fracking rules from 30 days to 90 days, knowing full well that if he does, it will kill fracking in New York. Thankfully the governor is ignoring the group.
Read More “NY Politicians Renew Request for Longer Fracking Comment Period”
-
Williams Files with FERC for New Access Point to NYC from Transco Pipeline
New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg has said it’s critical that NYC get more supplies of shale gas—in the near future. New York has new rules going into effect starting in 2015 that will ban certain types of fuel oil, which means all of those apartment buildings will need to be heated with an alternative, and windmills won’t do the job (see Why Mayor Mike Bloomberg Suddenly Loves Fracking).
Williams Partners yesterday filed an application with FERC to provide a new delivery point from their Transco pipeline to provide additional natural gas to NYC—but it involves constructing a new 3.2-mile pipeline (mostly offshore) to make it happen. Welcome to the next flashpoint in the anti-fracking wars…
Read More “Williams Files with FERC for New Access Point to NYC from Transco Pipeline”
-
MD Commission Finally Makes Recommendations on Shale Drilling
The Maryland Marcellus Shale Advisory Commission, appointed by MD Gov. Martin O’Malley in 2011 to study natural gas drilling and produce a set of best practices for hydraulic fracturing has finally made a series of recommendations for how to regulate shale gas drilling in the state. It took the Commission 15 months to cast their first vote (see MD Fracking Commission Casts First Vote – in 15 Months!), so let’s just say the Commission isn’t setting any speed records for activity.
The recommendations agreed to today are a first pass and leave out some key provisions. The recommendations, such as they are, will be forwarded to the Maryland state legislature which meets for 90 days each year starting in January.
Read More “MD Commission Finally Makes Recommendations on Shale Drilling”
-
John Hanger: How the U.S. Cut Carbon Emissions 12% in 5 Years
John Hanger, former Secretary of the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP), candidate for the Democrat nomination to run as governor in PA, and MDN’s very first webinar guest (see Webinar Replay: John Hanger on Gas Drilling and Energy Choices), posted his Top Energy Fact of 2012 last Friday on his “Facts of the Day” blog site. And what might his top fact be for all of 2012? The United States has cut carbon emissions from 2007 to 2012 by 12%—while at the same time growing its economy and using more energy.
How is such an incredible feat possible? Glad you asked. John has the answer: shale gas and the miracle of hydraulic fracturing.
Read More “John Hanger: How the U.S. Cut Carbon Emissions 12% in 5 Years”
-
Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Tue, Jan 8, 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, Jan 8, 2013”
-
MDN Goes to the ‘Promised Land’
MDN decided to “take one for the team” and attend Promised Land, the new anti-fracking movie by Matt Damon and Gus Van Sant, this past weekend. Prior to attending, MDN had read a number of reviews from both pro- and anti-fracking writers. Almost all of those reviews said the same thing—this movie was no China Syndrome for the fracking movement. That is, Promised Land will not be a watershed movie that wins the hearts and minds of average Americans, turning them against fracking (see Anti-Drillers Disappointed with Promised Land).We have to agree with that assessment. However, we’ll be more charitable than many anti-fracking critics by saying overall, we thought it was a decent flick, as movies go. But then, we like sentimental “the good guy wins” kinds of movies.
Spoiler Warning: This review gives it all up. If you haven’t seen the movie yet and plan to go, don’t read this review just yet. Go and see the movie, then come back and read this review. So let’s get down to it…
Read More “MDN Goes to the ‘Promised Land’”
-
NY DEC Com. Joe Martens Sends Letter to NY Landowner Group
Dan Fitzsimmons, president of the Joint Landowners Coalition of New York (JLCNY), received a letter from NY Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Commissioner Joe Martens last week (see a copy embedded below). It seems Gov. Andrew Cuomo personally asked Martens to respond, in writing, to the JLCNY’s concerns about the latest delay in the release of new fracking regulations—the delay to allow for a public health review. The latest number on the NY moratorium clock (on the right) shows New York’s ban on high volume hydraulic fracturing is 4 years, 5 months and 15 days old—so far. The patience of New York’s landowners is wearing thin.
According to the letter, Gov. Cuomo and Martens want the JLCNY to know, well, nothing new that we don’t already know! It’s the gesture itself that’s important—the fact that Cuomo and Martens took the time to write. Martens’ gesture in sending the letter gives the JLCNY reason to be “cautiously optimistic that the DEC will soon complete the SGEIS and regulations,” according to an email MDN received from Fitzsimmons.
Read More “NY DEC Com. Joe Martens Sends Letter to NY Landowner Group”
-
Dominion Wins Case, New Cove Point LNG Export Facility Proceeds
A court battle that started in early 2012 has a happy conclusion for energy giant Dominion. More than a year ago, Dominion filed for a permit to liquefy natural gas and export it from their facility at Cove Point, Maryland—60 miles southeast of Washington, D.C. Dominion has Japanese customers ready and waiting to buy natural gas from the U.S. But a 1970s legal settlement granted the Sierra Club with the power to reject significant changes to the facility. True to character, the Sierra Club objected in April (see Sierra Club Will Try to Block Maryland LNG Export Terminal).
On Friday, a Maryland judge ruled in favor of Dominion, which means Dominion can now proceed with their plans to invest up to $3.5 billion in the facility (an regional economic tsunami) to get it ready to export Marcellus Shale LNG from Cove Point.
Read More “Dominion Wins Case, New Cove Point LNG Export Facility Proceeds”
-
Concerns about Radioactive Drill Cuttings in OH Landfill
A controversy is brewing in Stark County where a private landfill wants to build a 12-mile pipeline to carry landfill liquids (called leachate) to the Canton municipal sewage treatment plant for treatment and disposal into the Nimishillen Creek, which in turn runs into the Tuscarawas River. The “problem” is that the landfill accepts Utica Shale drill cuttings—leftover mud, rock and dirt from drilling operations.
One Stark County official, Councilwoman-at-large Mary Cirelli, is concerned the drill cuttings at the landfill will create leachate with high levels of radioactivity and if treated at the Canton sewage plant, it will contaminate the Tuscarawas River. Similar scenarios with concerns over radioactive drill cuttings has played out in Marcellus Shale locations as well (see this MDN story). Those locations, which now accept drill cuttings, have no reported instances of radioactive leachate.
Read More “Concerns about Radioactive Drill Cuttings in OH Landfill”
-
Jefferson County, OH Forces Shale Companies to Use Union Labor
From now on, Jefferson County, OH commissioners will force companies drilling Utica Shale wells in the county or companies building natural gas pipelines in the county that need to construct or repair public roadways, to use higher-priced laborers. Jefferson County commissioners are bowing to pressure from the Laborers International Union.
New road use agreements, which are required for constructing new wells and pipelines, must have a “prevailing wage requirement” according to the Jefferson County engineer, who says it’s a mandate from the state Attorney General’s office:
Read More “Jefferson County, OH Forces Shale Companies to Use Union Labor”
-
Kasich Now 1+ Year Late in Appointing State Land Lease Commission
Ohio Gov. John Kasich, who loves the money from “foreign” oil and gas companies (foreign as in Oklahoma and Texas) flowing into the state, but doesn’t care for “foreign workers” from those states, and Gov. John Kasich who wants to tax gas drillers more so he can spread the wealth around to everyone, is behind the eight ball when it comes to leasing state-owned land for shale gas drilling.
Kasich is more than a year behind in appointing a five-member commission to oversee leasing of state park and state forest mineral rights:
Read More “Kasich Now 1+ Year Late in Appointing State Land Lease Commission”
-
EPA to Release Fracking Study Water Test Results in Few Weeks
A few weeks ago the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a “progress report” on their multi-year study of hydraulic fracturing and it’s potential impact on water supplies (see EPA’s Fracking Study Progress Report – Dec 2012).
Last week, during an online presentation, an EPA official said the water test sample results/data they’ve gathered to date, including results from testing done in Pennsylvania, will be released “a number of weeks from now”:
Read More “EPA to Release Fracking Study Water Test Results in Few Weeks”
-
Chesapeake’s Drilling Security – A Serious Business
Chesapeake Energy takes security in and around it’s drill sites seriously—so much so they employ 24 full-time security officers to conduct roving patrols in an eight-county region in eastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania.
Security for Chesapeake, however, involves far more than driving by a drill site and rattling a chained fence…
Read More “Chesapeake’s Drilling Security – A Serious Business”
-
Calendar of Events for Jan 7-20, 2013 [Free]
Below are upcoming events for this week and next.
Read More “Calendar of Events for Jan 7-20, 2013 [Free]”
A small independent exploration and production company from Bradford, PA—Minard Run Oil Co.—has just picked up 56,130 acres of leases, 200 miles of pipelines, compressor stations, and 413 natural gas wells—all located in the Finger Lakes region of New York. They purchased the assets from Chesapeake Energy for an undisclosed amount. According to Minard, Chesapeake was “a willing seller,” which kind of feels to MDN like it was a “fire sale” on the part of Chesapeake to get a little more cash on the books before the close of 2012.
MDN decided to “take one for the team” and attend Promised Land, the new anti-fracking movie by Matt Damon and Gus Van Sant, this past weekend. Prior to attending, MDN had read a number of reviews from both pro- and anti-fracking writers. Almost all of those reviews said the same thing—this movie was no China Syndrome for the fracking movement. That is, Promised Land will not be a watershed movie that wins the hearts and minds of average Americans, turning them against fracking (see