Marcellus Drilling News

US Silica Opens New Frack Sand Storage Facility in Ohio

October 4, 2012October 4, 2012

U.S. Silica, the country’s second largest domestic producer of commercial sand, announced yesterday they’ve partnered with S.H. Bell Company to open a new silica sand storage facility (railroad transload facility) in Columbiana County, Ohio to serve drillers in the rapidly expanding Utica and Marcellus Shale plays.

From the press release:

Allegheny County | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Regulation

Pittsburgh City Council Floats New Law to Allow Fracking

October 4, 2012October 4, 2012

It seems since former Pittsburgh City Council President Doug Shields left that august body the other council members have had a change of heart on fracking. Shields was the ringleader who helped ram through a ban on fracking in the city in 2010. He also tried to get a ban permanently written into the city’s charter, an effort that failed (see this MDN story).

Realizing the ban passed in 2010 is likely illegal and will be overturned, council members are now considering new legislation to allow limited, strictly zoned fracking inside city limits:

Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues

Chesapeake Develops Environmentally “Green” Fracking Fluid

October 4, 2012October 4, 2012

Baker Hughes and Halliburton both have hydraulic fracturing solutions that are “green”—using fluids to frack that contain no harmful chemicals. In fact Halliburton’s solution boasts its fracking mixture contains only compounds that are food-grade.

Chesapeake Energy is the latest entrant into the green fracking fluid club. According to the company, they aren’t quite ready to roll it out just yet, but they’re getting close:

Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues

Waterless Fracking and the Insatiable NRDC

October 4, 2012October 4, 2012

An article in Engineering News does a brief roundup of new waterless (or near waterless) hydraulic fracturing technologies by Baker Hughes and others, pointing out efforts under way within the industry to cut down and in some cases eliminate the water used during fracking. Using less water is a good thing, right? Of course it is, but nothing short of banning fossil fuels will satisfy unreasonable and extreme environmental groups, like the National Resources Defense Council, as evidenced in the final paragraph of the story:

Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Maryland | Regulation | Statewide MD

Maryland’s Continuing Fracking Dysfunction

October 4, 2012October 4, 2012

The only state more dysfunctional about allowing hydraulic fracturing than New York is Maryland. A so-called forum at Frederick Community College (Frederick, MD) sponsored by the Chesapeake Climate Action Network last night illustrates why:

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

NY Pro-Drilling Groups Launch Media Campaign “Honest Debate”

October 4, 2012October 4, 2012

Saying it’s been long enough and asking for “an honest debate,” the Independent Oil and Gas Association (IOGA) of New York, Joint Landowners Coalition of New York and other pro-drilling groups launched a new media campaign this week to get the message out to the public in general, and Gov. Andrew Cuomo in particular, that it’s time to begin drilling in New York State.

Two new radio spots are running (listen below), along with a newspaper ad (embedded below). Here’s the press announcement accompanying the launch of the new campaign:

Carroll County | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Taxation

Carroll County’s Dim View on Higher Severance Taxes

October 4, 2012October 4, 2012

When the miracle of hydraulic fracturing shows up in a community, jobs, money and economic expansion show up too. Not far behind are politicians who want to stick their hands into the pockets of those doing the hard work (the energy companies) and those making it possible (the landowners) so they can “spread the wealth around” to those who don’t do the hard work and don’t make it possible (it’s called buying votes). It’s a powerful temptation that both Democrats and Republicans have a hard time resisting.

Case in point: Ohio.

Economic Impact | Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Processing Plants

Kentucky Ethylene Plant Switches to Marcellus Ethane

October 4, 2012October 4, 2012

Although a very small area of Kentucky is underlain by the Marcellus Shale, to MDN’s knowledge, there is no active shale gas drilling in the state. But that doesn’t mean Kentucky isn’t about to benefit in a big way from the Marcellus Shale.

A few days ago, Westlake Chemical Corporation announced they will convert an ethylene manufacturing plant they operate in Calvert City, KY from using propane to using low-cost ethane from the Marcellus Shale as their raw material or “feedstock.” They’re also increasing the capacity of the plant.

Ohio | Statewide OH | Utica Shale

New IHS Report Compares OH Utica Shale to TX Eagle Ford Shale

October 4, 2012October 4, 2012

IHS Cera, a global consulting and information service, recently published a new report on the Utica Shale and its potential. Although MDN has not seen the full report, the press release announcing the report contains a good bit of useful information about the IHS findings. IHS compares the Utica to the highly productive Eagle Ford Shale in Texas, saying there are many parallels, but cautioning it’s still very early in the game.

Here’s the full release with lots of juicy tidbits, including which well has produced the most oil in the Ohio Utica:

Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Thu, Oct 4, 2012

October 4, 2012October 4, 2012

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

NY Judge Throws Out Binghamton Fracking Moratorium

October 3, 2012October 7, 2012

stop press The City Council for Binghamton, NY passed a de facto drilling moratorium at the end of December of 2011, just before the all-Democrat city council was about to be reconstituted with a few new Republican members (see this MDN story). At the time, Mayor Matthew Ryan and City Council were warned of possible litigation.

The law as passed was not (according to City Council and Ryan) an actual moratorium. Instead, they used the “police powers” of the city to enact a law instead of a zoning ordinance, believing it to be a clever legal maneuver insulating them from meeting the strict requirements for a true moratorium.

Yesterday New York Supreme Court Judge Ferris Lebous threw out the law as invalid, calling it what it really is: a moratorium. A copy of the judge’s ruling is embedded below. MDN will walk you through it…

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

Cuomo Says He Hasn’t Backed Away from Fracking

October 3, 2012October 2, 2012

Gov. Andrew Cuomo made the following comments about fracking yesterday during a tour of Syracuse, NY economic development projects (in order to shore up his sagging support in Upstate):

Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Regulation

5 U.S. Senators Send Letter to EPA About Diesel Rule

October 3, 2012October 2, 2012

On May 10, the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a draft guidance document regarding the use of diesel fuel during the fracking process (see the full document embedded below). This is just another in a series of ongoing attempts by the EPA to federally regulate fracking. Such regulation, according to the U.S. Constitutional, is illegal and only can be done by the individual states. But that doesn’t stop the EPA from trying.

Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

PA Enviro Groups/Politicians Stage Small Rally in Harrisburg

October 3, 2012October 2, 2012

Even though fracking has proven to be safe in Pennsylvania, there are still extreme environmental groups (and legislators) in the state who want to ban it. Leading the pack, as usual, is the Sierra Club and Delaware Riverkeeper. A small group of anti-drillers gathered in Harrisburg yesterday to get a little press attention for their cause:

Air Quality | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Processing Plants | Statewide PA

Not Everyone Happy with Reopening of Philly Refinery

October 3, 2012October 2, 2012

By all accounts the Marcus Hook refinery (near Philadelphia) is a Marcellus Shale success story. Sunoco shut it down in April, but later sold a controlling interest in the facility to the Carlyle Group (see this MDN story), retaining a one-third interest. The deal saves 850 jobs at the plant. Plans from Carlyle (under the name Energy Transfer Partners) are to use the refinery to process and market propane and ethane from western PA’s Marcellus region (see this MDN story).

But not everyone is happy about the refinery reopening. The Clean Air Council has filed an appeal with the state Dept. of Environmental Protection claiming the DEP’s decision (as part of the sale) to consider the refinery part of an existing, currently open refinery for the purposes of air pollution emissions essentially allows it to emit more emissions than if it were treated as a separate facility. The United Steelworkers union says “not so fast.” They disagree with the Clean Air Council.

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

Guest Viewpoint: Time for Cuomo to Set a Deadline [Free]

October 3, 2012October 2, 2012

The following open letter to Gov. Cuomo is written by attorney Christopher Denton from Elmira, NY.

An Open Letter to the Governor of the State of New York