Marcellus Drilling News

Accidents | Bradford County | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania

AP Says PA DEP Sec. Krancer Wrong about Methane in Leroy Twp
September 10, 2012September 10, 2012

The Associated Press, true to form, continues to take pot shots at hydraulic fracturing whenever it can. In reporting on methane leakage from drilling in Leroy Township, Pennsylvania (see this MDN story for background), the AP breathlessly reports “the problem still isn’t fixed even though PA DEP Sec. Michael Krancer says it’s fixed, so there!” Not in those exact words, but that’s the sum total of their latest drive-by article on fracking in PA.

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Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Trucking

Short Line Railroads to the Midstream Rescue?
September 10, 2012September 10, 2012

One of the recurring stories MDN loves to cover is that of the renaissance of short line railroads, making a comeback because of shale gas drilling in the Marcellus and Utica Shale. Drillers need equipment and sand—lots of sand—hauled on a regular basis, and short line railroads play a key part in that equation.

But hauling equipment and sand may not be the complete picture. Short lines and national rail lines are now eyeing a role in hauling natural gas and oil in the absence of pipelines.

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CNX Resources | CONSOL Energy | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Pipelines | Statewide OH | Utica Shale

CONSOL Exec Says Utica Pipelines are Critical Need
September 10, 2012September 10, 2012

Harry Schurr, general manager of Utica operations for CONSOL Energy’s CNX Gas, puts pipelines at the top of his wish list for what he needs in the Utica Shale. Schurr made the following comments a day after the NEXUS Gas Transmission was announced last week:

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CNX Resources | CONSOL Energy | Energy Companies | Mahoning County | Ohio

CNX/CONSOL to Drill Second Well in Mahoning County, OH
September 10, 2012September 10, 2012

CNX Gas, the wholly-owned subsidiary of CONSOL Energy, was just granted a second permit to drill a horizontal well in Mahoning County, Ohio:

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Energy Services | Fayette County | Greene County (PA) | Heckmann | Pennsylvania | Washington County | Westmoreland County

Heckmann Corp Buys Appalachian Water Services
September 10, 2012September 10, 2012

Last week Heckmann Corporation, an environmental services company, announced they were merging with Power Fuels, another enviro services company and moving corporate HQ from Pittsburgh to Scottsdale, AZ (see this MDN story). Heckmann is on a tare—today they’ve announced they bought Appalachian Water Services in Fayette County, PA. Heckmann says the purchase is an important part of their strategy for shale wastewater treatment in the southern Marcellus Shale area.

From the Heckmann press release:

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Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA | Taxation

PA to Release Impact Fee Collection Numbers Today
September 10, 2012September 10, 2012

The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) will release numbers today detailing which drillers have paid what amount in “impact fees” (PA’s version of a severance tax) for 2011. The newly enacted Act 13 drilling law in PA, passed in the spring of this year, calls for an impact fee on each new well drilled, beginning with wells drilled in 2011.

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Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

Date Established for PA Supreme Court Case on Act 13
September 10, 2012September 10, 2012

We now have a specific date and location for when and where oral arguments will be heard in the court case challenging zoning provisions in the newly passed Act 13 drilling law in Pennsylvania:

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

Anti-Drillers Push New Moratorium in Maryland Legislature
September 10, 2012September 10, 2012

Maryland, the only state that’s even more dysfunctional when it comes to drilling in the Marcellus Shale than New York, continues its dysfunction. A committed opponent of drilling in the state, Maryland Del. Heather R. Mizeur (Democrat, from the D.C. suburbs), plans to introduce legislation preventing drilling until studies are conducted first. You may recall Maryland concocted a plan to tax existing leases in an attempt to raise $2 million to study fracking, but that measure died in this year’s 90-day session (see this MDN story).

It seems the Maryland is so broke they can’t even raise $2 million for fracking studies mandated by Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley (Democrat). Del. Mizeur is afraid drillers will run down the clock on the existing moratorium (which expires in 2014) and then begin drilling, so she’s going to push hard for a new moratorium during the next session in 2013.

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Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Mon, Sep 10, 2012
September 10, 2012September 10, 2012

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

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

22 NY Town Supervisors to Gov. Cuomo: Drill Here, Drill Now
September 7, 2012September 7, 2012

On Wednesday, a group of 22 State of New York town supervisors, mostly from the Southern Tier area of New York, sent a letter to Gov. Andrew Cuomo strongly encouraging him to release the Dept. of Environmental Conservation’s new drilling rules (called the SGEIS) now. A copy of the letter is embedded below. One of the signatories is Town of Binghamton Supervisor Tim Whitesell, current president of the New York State Association of Towns.

The supervisors’ message to Cuomo: enough with the delay. Further delays only encourage “disruptive acts” by anti-drillers and serve no purpose. Near the end of the letter, in bold, is this paragraph:

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Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Mahoning County | Ohio | Statewide OH

Interesting News from YOUNG for OH Landowners, Job Seekers
September 7, 2012September 7, 2012

The Youngstown Ohio Utica and Natural Gas Conference and Expo (or the “YOUNG Expo” as it’s called), held yesterday and today at the Covelli Center in Youngstown, OH, has become a major regional event in the Utica Shale. With more than 1,500 people attending yesterday and more than 100 vendors, YOUNG is not only a great place for businesses to connect and job seekers to find work, it’s also a news generator.

The Youngstown Business Journal picked up on the following revelation during a presentation from Nisource that will interest landowners in Mahoning County:

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Crime | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | New York | Pipelines | Spectra Energy | Statewide NY

2 Protesters Arrested in NYC at Spectra Pipeline Site
September 7, 2012September 7, 2012

Yet another case of unhinged anti-drilling protesters, this one in New York City. For some time, protesters have rallied against a new 20-mile, $1.2 billion natural gas pipeline being built from New Jersey to New York City by Spectra Energy (see this MDN story). It’s the first new natural gas pipeline built to NYC in decades. According to NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg, without new sources of natural gas, New York City residents won’t just pay higher rates for heating and electricity, they’ll run out of it (see this MDN story).

Anti-drilling protesters don’t let reality and common sense get in the way of a good protest, however, so they’ve taken to so-called acts of “civil” disobedience—attempting to block workers in NYC as they try to construct the new pipeline. Yesterday, their antics got two of them arrested.

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Crime | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Inergy | New York | Pipelines | Schuyler County

Anti-Drilling Protesters Arrested Near Watkins Glen, NY
September 7, 2012September 7, 2012

Anti-drilling protesters in New York are increasingly becoming unhinged. Midstream company Inergy is working on a gas storage project near Watkins Glen in the Finger Lakes region in New York. The $40 million project will create a storage and transfer station for natural gas and liquid petroleum in underground salt caverns near Seneca Lake. Are anti-drillers concerned that the facility will leak gas into the lake? Nope. They just hate fossil fuels period—and they think this facility will encourage more drilling and fracking in New York and Pennsylvania—so they oppose it.

Yesterday a couple of old hippies protesters handcuffed themselves to a fence at the facility. Here’s what happened:

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Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Warren County | Wastewater

Local Residents Protest 2 Wastewater Injection Wells in NW PA
September 7, 2012September 7, 2012

A battle is heating up over proposed deep injection wells for Marcellus and Utica Shale wastewater in Pennsylvania, specifically in Warren County (northwestern PA). A small conventional natural gas driller, Lyon Energy, owns about 80 natural gas wells in Warren County, some of which are now past their useful life. These are not Marcellus or Utica wells but wells drilled (and fracked) vertically, conventionally. Lyon, through the corporate name of Bear Properties, applied for a permit with the federal Environmental Protection Agency to turn two of its wells into deep injection wells for wastewater.

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

U.S. Sen. Toomey Meets with Wayne County, PA Landowners
September 7, 2012September 7, 2012

U.S. Senator Pat Toomey met with a group of landowners in Wayne County, PA yesterday to hear their concerns and complaints that property owners in Wayne have so far not participated in the rest of Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale drilling boom. Why not? Because Wayne County sits in the Delaware River Basin and comes under the regulatory oversight of the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC). Although the DRBC has drawn up guidelines for drilling, so far it has not had the political spine to implement them, creating an ongoing moratorium.

When/if it grows a spine, the DRBC says it will permit up to 300 wells throughout the region—a number of those (the majority?) will be in Wayne County.

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Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Pennsylvania | Processing Plants | Statewide PA

Labor Unions, Dems Praise PA Gov. Corbett for Cracker Plant
September 7, 2012September 7, 2012

In a deeply divided electorate during a hotly-contested election year, is there anything Republicans and Democrats can agree on? Anything that both business and labor can both support? In Pennsylvania, it seems there is. And that issue is the Marcellus and Utica Shale.

Writing in today’s Harrisburg Patriot-News, a labor union leader praises PA Gov. Tom Corbett (a Republican) for his recent state budget and the tax breaks an incentives provided to ensure that Shell builds an ethane cracker plant in the state. Here’s what he says about bipartisan support for Gov. Corbett’s plan:

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