Calendar of Events for Dec 10-23, 2012 [Free]
Below are upcoming events for this week and next.
Read More “Calendar of Events for Dec 10-23, 2012 [Free]”
-
-
Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Mon, Dec 10, 2012
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, Dec 10, 2012”
-
University of Texas Goes Amish, Shuns its Own Fracking Study
The University of Texas (UT) is the latest institution of “higher learning” to succumb to political correctness—they have withdrawn (censored) a previously published study that concludes hydraulic fracturing does not pollute groundwater. Science has gone out the door at UT like it did at the University at Buffalo, over the same issue. Professors and researchers issue a report, based on scientific evidence, that anti-drillers perceive as favorable to fracking—and the rabid anti-drillers form up like a pack of wolves and hunt down and academically kill anyone connected to the research and resulting report. “You say fracking doesn’t contaminate water, that there’s no scientific proof that it does (going against our orthodoxy)? You’re dead meat—we’re coming for you.”Thing is, the chief accuser, the alpha wolf who’s doing the hunting, is the Public Accountability Initiative (PAI). Who are they? An anti-fossil fuel organization funded in the background by ultra-leftist and financial markets manipulator George Soros (see this MDN story for background). Bloomberg and other mainstream media won’t touch that part of the story—the part that those doing the accusing are full of conflicts of interest themselves. That doesn’t fit the template narrative of their reporting.
Read More “University of Texas Goes Amish, Shuns its Own Fracking Study”
-
DOE Study: LNG Exports Under All Scenarios are a Good Thing
The Dept. of Energy – Office of Fossil Fuels commissioned a research report earlier this year by the venerable NERA Economic Consulting. The study, released to the public yesterday and titled, “Macroeconomic Impacts of LNG Exports from the United States” (full copy embedded below), takes a look at liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports from the U.S. NERA considers multiple scenarios of low price/high price, low volumes/high volumes, etc., and concludes that there is no downside to exporting natural gas, and in fact, the more we export, the better.
Why is this NERA report important? Because the DOE will use it as part of their decision-making process about whether or not to approve requests to build LNG export facilities. There are currently 15 such requests before the DOE. If all 15 facilities were approved, it would provide for 8 trillion cubic feet of natural gas to be exported per year.
Read More “DOE Study: LNG Exports Under All Scenarios are a Good Thing”
-
Philly Profs Discriminate Against $15K MSC Shale Scholarship
Two professors at the Community College of Philadelphia (CCP) continue to stir the pot of discontent at the school and have now involved their teacher’s union in an attempt to deny a few lucky students $15,000 in financial scholarships. Say what? Precisely correct. A professor that got his feelings hurt because he wasn’t in the announcement loop, and another professor who’s anti-fossil fuels, joined forces at CCP to oppose a new Energy Training Center at the college because the Marcellus Shale Coalition pledged $15,000 to help with scholarships (see this MDN story for background).
Now the two malcontent profs have enlisted their fellow profs to sign on against it:
Read More “Philly Profs Discriminate Against $15K MSC Shale Scholarship”
-
Samples Provide First Clue to Utica Underneath Athens, OH
Although we don’t have a great deal of information about the Utica Shale in Athens County, Ohio, a recently drilled vertical well targeting the Medina sandstone formation reached all the way down to the Utica.
Samples from that well give us some inkling of what may lie below Athens in the Utica layer, and whether or not the Utica would be productive in that area (hint: it’s good news):
Read More “Samples Provide First Clue to Utica Underneath Athens, OH”
-
PA Pump Manufacturer Invests $2.4M, Adds 50 New Jobs
Yet another Pennsylvania manufacturer is expanding thanks to work coming in from the Marcellus Shale.
K-Fab Inc., located in Berwick (Columbia County), PA is investing $2.4 million and adding 50 jobs to support a new product line for the Marcellus Shale drilling industry: pumps.
Read More “PA Pump Manufacturer Invests $2.4M, Adds 50 New Jobs”
-
Broome County | Health Impacts | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Research | Statewide NY
Lupardo to Martens: What Happened to the NY Fracking Panel?
Binghamton, NY-area Assemblywoman Donna Lupardo, a Democrat who so far has been somewhat non-committal on the fracking debate, but who seems to now tilt firmly in the anti-drilling camp, sent a letter to Dept. of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Joe Martens two days ago. Her letter essentially asks, “What happened to the fracking panel you appointed?” Lupardo is one of the members of the High-Volume Hydraulic Fracturing Advisory Panel, a group appointed by Martens in July 2011. The panel has not held any meetings since December of last year (see this MDN story).
Lupardo wants the panel to meet again so she can go on the record with her “concerns” about fracking and the health review under way now (see her letter to Martens below).
Read More “Lupardo to Martens: What Happened to the NY Fracking Panel?”
-
OH Gov. Kasich Continues Trash Talk Out-of-State Workers
Ohio Gov. John Kasich, a Republican and most of the time a good conservative, inexplicably continues his jingoistic talk about out-of-state oil and gas workers as “foreigners”—even though the companies who hire in his state have pumped more than $3 billion into his state so far.
Kasich started that kind of trash talk earlier this year, in February, but he obviously still feels that way and reiterated it again this week:
Read More “OH Gov. Kasich Continues Trash Talk Out-of-State Workers”
-
Carroll County | Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Statewide OH | Tervita | Wastewater
Chesapeake Hires Tervita Corp to Build OH Wasterwater Plant
Calgary-based Tervita Corporation, an environmental and energy services company, has been selected by Chesapeake Energy to build a wastewater treatment facility in Carroll County, OH. Carroll is the epicenter of Chesapeake’s drilling in the Ohio Utica Shale. The facility will be used to recycle drilling wastewater from Chesapeake’s Utica drilling, as well as other water-related services.
From the Tervita press announcement:
Read More “Chesapeake Hires Tervita Corp to Build OH Wasterwater Plant”
-
Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Fri, Dec 7, 2012
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: Fri, Dec 7, 2012”
-
Allegheny County | CONSOL Energy | Energy Companies | EQT Corp | Lease & Royalty Payments | Pennsylvania
Pittsburgh Airport Offered $44M Shale Drilling Lease Offer
The Pittsburgh International Airport is about to get a huge cash infusion from the shale drilling industry—and it’s not from more passengers passing through the terminal (although that’s happening too). The airport previously floated a request for bids to allow drilling on and under its 9,263 acres. Wednesday morning they opened bids from two drillers: CONSOL Energy and EQT. One bid offered twice the lease payment per acre of the other bid.Here’s the bid details (and a Marcellus and Utica Shale Databook lease offer map to provide context):
Read More “Pittsburgh Airport Offered $44M Shale Drilling Lease Offer”
-
Cuomo Visits Binghamton, (Non)Comments on Fracking Decision
Gov. Andrew Cuomo visited New York’s Southern Tier region yesterday—specifically Binghamton—to get a first-hand update on the Southern Tier’s economic development plan. (Short version: our local economy is and has been in the crapper for years.) Gov. Andy was greeted by anti-drilling and some pro-drilling protesters. During a press conference, he was asked by reporters to comment on whether and when fracking would come to the state. His answer was non-committal—he’s a good politician that way.
Here’s what he did, and did not, say:
Read More “Cuomo Visits Binghamton, (Non)Comments on Fracking Decision”
-
Lawyer Tom West Sees Light at End of NY’s Fracking Tunnel
Albany-area lawyer Tom West addressed the annual meeting of the New York State Association of General Contractors. He gave them his latest thinking on whether, and when, fracking may begin in New York. Why does Tom West’s opinion matter? He’s the lead attorney for two cases working their way through the court system now, both cases dealing with the right (or non-right) of local municipalities to outright ban shale gas drilling in their communities.
Tom has a better insight than most into what’s happening with fracking in New York. And he sees a teeny, tiny light at the end of a very long tunnel…
Read More “Lawyer Tom West Sees Light at End of NY’s Fracking Tunnel”
-
Siena Poll: NY Residents Unchanged, Majority Support Fracking
According to the latest periodic Siena College Research Institute Poll, the trend that started in the previous poll showing a clear majority of New Yorker’s supporting fracking has continued in the most recent poll. In a poll taken Nov. 26-29, 42% of New Yorkers support fracking vs. 36% who oppose it. Those numbers are identical to the poll taken Oct. 22-24 (see this MDN story).
However, if you think that’s the end of the story, you would be wrong. A longer term trend we see in the underlying numbers is that there is stronger support for fracking in both in New York City and the suburbs of NYC than in upstate. In October, 43% of upstaters polled supported fracking vs. 41% who opposed it. In November, 39% of upstaters supported fracking vs. 45% who opposed it. Why the swing against fracking with upstaters?
Read More “Siena Poll: NY Residents Unchanged, Majority Support Fracking”
-
Moon Twp, PA Votes to Ban Fracking in 75% of the Town
The Moon Township Board of Supervisors (Allegheny County, PA) voted last night to ban fracking in areas zoned for residential, commercial or educational uses. The vote revises Moon’s existing zoning ordinance to comply with the new Act 13 law which stipulates local municipalities cannot completely ban fracking.
Since no permits to drill have been applied for nor granted (yet) in Moon, the newly revised ordinance means landowners who previously signed leases and live in one of the banned districts will never be allowed to drill. A map showing where drilling is allowed indicates drilling will only be allowed in perhaps 25% of the town (see map below).
Read More “Moon Twp, PA Votes to Ban Fracking in 75% of the Town”
The University of Texas (UT) is the latest institution of “higher learning” to succumb to political correctness—they have withdrawn (censored) a previously published study that concludes hydraulic fracturing does not pollute groundwater. Science has gone out the door at UT like it did at the University at Buffalo, over the same issue. Professors and researchers issue a report, based on scientific evidence, that anti-drillers perceive as favorable to fracking—and the rabid anti-drillers form up like a pack of wolves and hunt down and academically kill anyone connected to the research and resulting report. “You say fracking doesn’t contaminate water, that there’s no scientific proof that it does (going against our orthodoxy)? You’re dead meat—we’re coming for you.”