Marcellus Drilling News

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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Appalachian Resins | Energy Services | Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Marshall County | Ohio County | Processing Plants | West Virginia

“Small” Ethane Cracker Plant Coming to Wheeling, WV
February 11, 2013February 11, 2013

A new polyethelene (PE) manufacturing plant complete with a “small” ethane cracker is coming to West Virginia, somewhere “south of Wheeling.” Appalachian Resins Inc. is the company that will build the new plant with a capacity to produce 500 million pounds of PE per year. They aim to take advantage of Marcellus and Utica Shale gas and its byproduct ethane which is so abundant throughout the region.

Construction on the new plant will begin later this year. Here are the details that we have so far:

Read More ““Small” Ethane Cracker Plant Coming to Wheeling, WV”
Allegheny County | CONSOL Energy | Energy Companies | EQT Corp | Lease & Royalty Payments | Pennsylvania

CONSOL Increases Bonus Offer to Pgh Airport by 2.4 Times to $50M
February 11, 2013February 11, 2013

MDN has been following the deal to lease 9,263 acres of Pittsburgh International Airport land for shale gas drilling. As you may recall, there were two bids submitted in December, one by CONSOL with an 18% royalty and signing bonus of $20.8 million, and one from EQT, also with an 18% royalty but a hefty $44 million signing bonus—more than twice that of CONSOL. Logic would dictate that EQT’s bid would be accepted. But it wasn’t. The Airport Authority chose to accept CONSOL’s bid, leading us to theorize that the “fix” was in (see Inside Job? Pittsburgh Airport Leases Land to CONSOL).

A few weeks later word came out that the Airport Authority was negotiating with CONSOL to get them to raise their signing bonus, which seemed strange to us. We’ve never heard of a government agency accepting a bid and then turning around and renegotiating it (see Pittsburgh Airport Wants More $ from CONSOL…After Accepting Bid). It appears that “further negotiation” was successful. The Airport Authority now reports they’ve approved a renegotiated deal with CONSOL with a $50 million signing bonus—nearly 2 1/2 times the original amount offered when the sealed bids were opened in December. Anyone else smell rotten fish?

Read More “CONSOL Increases Bonus Offer to Pgh Airport by 2.4 Times to $50M”
Health Impacts | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

NY Health Experts Completed Fracking Review >1 Month Ago
February 11, 2013February 11, 2013

This is the week New York landowners will know of Gov. Cuomo’s decision, one way or the other, about whether or not he will allow fracking to proceed in New York. In a big way, this week will determine Cuomo’s future on the national political stage. He (laughingly) thinks he has a shot a running for president in 2016. Let’s not burst his bubble at the moment.

Part of the potential setup to further delay fracking (which is really a decision by the gov to kill it) is to say “we’re waiting for the results of a health review” and blame the delay on three consultants who were hired to conduct a review of the DEC’s work in regard to fracking’s potential impacts on “public health,” whatever that is. It has just come to light those three outside experts turned in their homework more than a month ago, but DEC Commissioner Joe Martens and NYS Health Commissioner Nirav Shah have cagily concealed that little fact in statements given at recent public hearings:

Read More “NY Health Experts Completed Fracking Review >1 Month Ago”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA Anti-Drillers Claim DEP Discriminates Against Poor, Minorities
February 11, 2013February 11, 2013

Anti-drillers in Pennsylvania, including the anti-drilling organization PennFuture, claim that the state Dept. of Environment Protection (DEP) is discriminating against the poor and minorities that live in certain communities because it doesn’t give them “enhanced notification” about Marcellus Shale drilling permits issued in those communities. It’s just the latest in a string of desperate attempts by anti-drillers to slow or shut down the miracle of hydraulic fracturing in PA.

This latest fabricated “crisis” has to do with the nonsensical, gobbledygook concept of “environmental justice communities”…

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Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Taxation

PA Libs Renew Call for Severance Tax, O&G Industry Pushes Back
February 11, 2013February 11, 2013

Liberals everywhere believe that high taxes and massive spending will cure all of society’s ills. Well, they actually don’t believe that, but they do get intoxicated on the power that comes from spending other people’s money—and it tends to keep them in power when they spend enough of it on people who didn’t earn it and won’t work for it.

Such is the situation in Pennsylvania. The new “impact fee” on oil and gas drilling in the state—which is really a tax—is not even five months old, and already the libs (i.e. Democrats) are calling for a new severance tax on oil and gas drilling. The Pennsylvania Oil & Gas Association is pushing back:

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Regulation | Statewide PA

1984 PA Oil & Gas Act Rewrite Delayed but Still Coming
February 11, 2013February 11, 2013

In February 2012, Pennsylvania state lawmakers adopted new shale drilling regulations called Act 13. MDN reported several months later, in August 2012, that Act 13 “didn’t do the whole job” and written into the Act 13 law itself was a requirement that the state’s 1984 oil and gas law undergo a complete regulatory rewrite (see Rewrite of 1984 PA Oil and Gas Act Underway). At that time (in August), the five-member Oil and Gas Technical Advisory Board issued 23 pages of proposed changes to the 1984 law and said they planned to have the rewrite done and dusted by December 2012.

It’s February 2013 and the 23-page draft has now grown to be 73 pages, and the original December deadline for completing the rewrite has now turned into “next winter.” However, progress is being made on what one board member calls a “big deal”…

Read More “1984 PA Oil & Gas Act Rewrite Delayed but Still Coming”
Broome County | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | New York | Regulation

Binghamton Area Union Members Rally to Support Fracking
February 11, 2013February 11, 2013

Some 125 union members gathered in Binghamton last Thursday at a rally to support shale gas drilling and the enormous number of jobs it would bring to New York State if Gov. Cuomo green lights fracking:

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About MDN | Calendar

Calendar of Events for Feb 11-24, 2013 [Free]
February 11, 2013February 11, 2013

Below are upcoming events for this week and next.

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Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Mon, Feb 11, 2013
February 11, 2013February 11, 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, Feb 11, 2013”
Broome County | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York

Join MDN at FrackNation Screening in Binghamton on Feb. 10 [Free]
February 8, 2013February 8, 2013

A quick reminder that in spite of the impending snow storm which will be cleaned up by sometime Saturday, MDN editor Jim Willis will attend the 2pm Sunday, Feb. 10 screening of Phelim McAleer’s new documentary FrackNation at Regal Cinemas Binghamton 12 on Front Street in Binghamton. Phelim will be there! We’d like you to come along and watch it too (free). Here are the details:

Read More “Join MDN at FrackNation Screening in Binghamton on Feb. 10 [Free]”
Brooke County | Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies | Lease & Royalty Payments | West Virginia

WV Park’s Marcellus Signing Bonus the Highest We’ve Seen
February 8, 2013February 8, 2013

In a story about a natural gas pipeline that will be run under a county-owned trail in Brooke County, WV, MDN spotted a brief mention about the signing bonus and royalty rate received by Brooke Hills Park in 2011 for drilling on 100 acres of park land. It is perhaps the highest per acre signing bonus we’ve seen for land in the Marcellus:

Read More “WV Park’s Marcellus Signing Bonus the Highest We’ve Seen”
Crime | Industrywide Issues | Mahoning County | Ohio | Wastewater

OH Company Dumping Frack Wastewater in Drain May Appeal Shut-Down
February 8, 2013February 8, 2013

Yesterday MDN told you about the (likely) criminal act by Hardrock Excavating, a Youngstown, OH company owned by D&L Energy, when it dumped up to 50,000 gallons of fracking wastewater down a storm drain (see OH Company Dumps 50K Gal of Fracking Wastewater in Storm Drain). The fallout from that act continues. Yesterday the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) revoked all operating permits—permanently—for both Hardrock Excavating and D&L Energy. Ouch.

D&L says it may appeal the ODNR decision to permanently shut them down…

Read More “OH Company Dumping Frack Wastewater in Drain May Appeal Shut-Down”
Energy Companies | Energy Corporation of America | Industrywide Issues | Lease & Royalty Payments | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

Federal Judge Upholds Split Decision in PA Royalty Case
February 8, 2013February 8, 2013

A group of landowners who signed leases in western Pennsylvania with Energy Corporation of America (ECA) filed a lawsuit in June 2012 (Pollock, et al v Energy Corporation of America) alleging ECA improperly deducted certain expenses, and didn’t include certain revenues, when calculating and paying royalties. At the time, ECA counter-sued asking for summary judgment that the way they calculate royalties and revenues is OK according to accepted practice and previous court rulings.

Last fall Magistrate Judge Robert Mitchell “partially granted and partially denied” the summary judgment request from ECA. It was mostly a victory for ECA because it dismissed all but one of the charges by the landowners. The case was appealed by both sides to federal court and on Jan. 24, Judge Joy Flowers Conti of the Western District of Pennsylvania said Judge Mitchell’s interpretation of the case is correct. She upheld his decision. This is an instructive case for both landowners and drillers, and a caution to be sure the lease you sign spells out in minute detail how royalties will be calculated…

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Economic Impact | Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues | Lawrence County | Pennsylvania

NW PA Town Approves Site for Marcellus-powered Electric Plant
February 8, 2013February 8, 2013

North Beaver (Lawrence County), PA supervisors have approved a request from LS Power Development to build a new $750 million electric generating plant at a former manufacturing site along the Mahoning River. The new 900-megawatt plant, when built, will be powered by Marcellus Shale natural gas. Current plans call for the new plant to be online by 2016.

More details:

Read More “NW PA Town Approves Site for Marcellus-powered Electric Plant”