New York State Senator Tom Libous, from Binghamton, a leading politician in New York who supports shale gas drilling, reports he’s received death threats by out-of-control anti-drillers. You know, those peace-loving “civil” disobedient types? Yeah, those people.
From the New York Post:
Read More “NY State Senator Receives Death Threats from Anti-Drillers”
Somewhere, at an undisclosed location “just outside Athens, Ohio” starting on Saturday of this week, anti-drillers will go to camp to learn how to…climb trees? Yeah, climb trees. Apparently people with the anti-drilling gene missed out in their early years and now need corrective instruction to teach them how to “go climb a tree.”
After you stop laughing (like we did), and read a bit further, you’ll find out the intent of the anti-driller tree-climbing camp is a bit more nefarious. It’s to teach people how to engage in civil disobedience (we call it eco-terrorism) by climbing trees, stretching ropes between trees, and oops, guess that nutjob protester just happened to fall on the road right in front of that truck on the way to a drill site. Isn’t that a shame/coincidence? (Yes, that’s exactly what they planned to do near a drill site in central Pennsylvania before it was stopped by the police, read this MDN story.)
Read More “Civil Disobedience, or Eco-Terrorism? Go Climb a Tree”
A group of 60s hippies and hippie wannabes gathered at Otsiningo Park (in Binghamton, NY) over the weekend to hold a press conference and make noise about fracking—anti, of course. Among them were failed Binghamton Mayor Matt Ryan, his failed sidekick (running for County Executive in a laughable campaign), Tarik Abdelazim, socialist Binghamton Council member Leah Webb and others. Read more about the event by clicking for the Press & Sun-Bulletin article the link below.
However, the better and frankly more perceptive coverage of the event, came from a former Press & Sun-Bulletin reporter who’s also anti-fracking, Tom Wilbur. Tom points out the rather small group assembled (maybe 100 people total, out of a metro area of 125,000), are signing pledges that if fracking is allowed in New York, they’re going to try and stop it using so-called “civil” disobedience (we’ve personally never seen the anti crowd act civilly!). In his coverage, Wilbur reaffirms what MDN has said for years now: These people are lost in the 1960s.
Read More “Anti-Fracking Hippies Gather at Otsiningo Park Last Saturday”
The Cornell University Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences along with the Atkinson Center for a Sustainable Future (also a Cornell group) have launched a lecture series for undergraduates they call “Sustainable Earth Energy and Environmental Systems” (see the flier embedded below).
MDN calls it brainwashing sessions for young students to ensure they’re properly indoctrinated into the cult of hating fossil fuels.
Read More “Cornell University’s Anti-Fossil Fuel Brainwashing Sessions”
More than 50 years ago, landowners in a 35,000 acre area of Columbiana County, Ohio signed a lease with Columbia Gas that allows Columbia to store natural gas supplies in the Berea Sandstone formation. Known as the Brinker property back then, today it’s referred to as the Brinker Storage Field. The lease that was signed, and passed on to new landowners purchasing “Brinker” property, means landowners won’t see a penny from drilling that’s about to begin on their property by Hilcorp Energy (see this MDN story for more background). Columbia Gas will keep all of the signing bonus and royalty money for itself. Unless…
Read More “Columbia Gas & Hilcorp Meet with Landowners in Brinker Field”
Once again an abundance of clean-burning Marcellus Shale natural gas is benefiting everyone—not just energy companies and landowners. Mountaineer Gas Company, serving 226,000 residential and business customers and the largest natural gas distribution company in West Virginia, recently filed to lower rates on natural gas for its customers by a substantial amount:
Read More “WV Gas Utility Files to Reduce Rates for All Customers”
Below are upcoming events for this week and next.
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, Sep 17, 2012”
Is Michigan the next place where horizontal drilling and fracking of shale will take off? Maybe. The U.S. has a myriad of shale plays across it. It just so happens the Marcellus is the largest (land-wise) and the Utica is right now one of the hottest (with oil and natural gas liquids).
Part of the Utica formation underlies Michigan. But the formation of note in Michigan is the Collingwood Shale layer. The Utica is above it, so it’s often referred to as the Utica-Collingwood. The Collingwood is two miles (or more) below the surface. Encana and others have been testing the Utica-Collingwood in Michigan, but lately, it seems like activity in the state is picking up beyond the “just testing” stage (see the map below). Is this a sign of things to come?
Read More “Is Michigan the Next State to See Widespread Shale Drilling?”
The third Utica Shale well to be drilled in Mahoning County, Ohio is set to begin any day now. The well is being drilled by CNX Gas (subsidiary of CONSOL Energy). While the fact that a new well is being drilled may not seem like news (it’s the third well to be drilled in Mahoning County), where it’s being drilled in the county is big news: in the watershed of the Meander Reservoir, which provides drinking water to 300,000 people in the Mahoning Valley.
When completed, this will be a great example of the fact that drilling and fracking is safe—even in watershed areas (pay attention New York):
Read More “CNX Gas Starts Utica Well in Meander Reservoir Watershed”
Earlier this year, Enterprise Products Partners announced a 1,230 mile ethane pipeline called the ATEX Express (Appalachia to Texas) that will run from Pennsylvania to the Gulf Coast (see this MDN story). Part of the pipeline repurposes an existing pipeline from Cape Girardeau, Missouri south to Texas. But part of the line is new construction through Ohio.
Not long after the new pipeline was announced, there was a dispute over whether or not Enterprise would need permission from the Ohio Power Siting Board to build new line through the state (see this MDN story). Apparently the issue is now resolved because construction in Ohio is beginning in Coshocton County:
Read More “ATEX Express Ethane Pipeline Begins Construction in Ohio”
Interfax Energy’s Natural Gas Daily ran a highly interesting and useful article on the advantages of the Marcellus Shale, why it’s attracting capital investments, along with who is ramping up and who is scaling back drilling in the Marcellus.
Among the points made in the article:
Read More “Drillers Talk about Marcellus Advantage over Other Shales”
MDN has heard of many uses for natural gas, and of many companies moving to or expanding in states like Pennsylvania to take advantage of the low price of Marcellus natural gas. But this is a new one for us.
Last week, Calumet Special Products, with a chemical plant in Karns City, PA, announced they will likely build a new gas-to-liquids (GTL) plant at their facility in Karns to convert natural gas into feedstock (raw materials) they will then use to manufacture white mineral oils, petrolatums, aliphatic solvents and other gelled hydrocarbon products at the plant. They believe the price of natural gas in the Marcellus is so economical, and will remain so, that they can convert it themselves at a better price than buying the raw materials. How cool is that?
Read More “Chemical Manufacturer to Build Gas-to-Liquids Plant in PA”
Merrick Systems just announced the release of new software to keep track of “produced water” (i.e. wastewater) from shale drilling operations, including wastewater from the Marcellus and Utica Shale. The company says their new software helps measure and track the source, transportation and final disposition of wastewater, which helps with both regulatory compliance and cost savings.
From the Merrick press release:
Read More “Merrick Systems Launches New Software to Track Shale Wastewater”
Is there such a thing as a reasonable anti-driller? MDN doubted it, until we read a guest viewpoint in today’s Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin, by John Orzel. Mr. Orzel is a Democrat, former social studies teacher, resident of Broome County and running against Republican incumbent Tom Libous for the 52nd State Senate seat in New York.
Most anti-drillers attempt to obfuscate the fact they oppose drilling because of their bias against fossil fuels. Mr. Orzel owns up to it. Refreshing! He also owns up to the fact we still live in a free country with the best system known to exist for the fair distribution of wealth: capitalism. In MDN’s book, he constitutes one of the few examples of a reasonable, and truthful, anti-driller.
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, Sep 14, 2012”