Marcellus Drilling News

PA Town to Vote on Fracking Ban

August 15, 2012August 15, 2012

In New York State, it’s not uncommon to read about two or three misinformed town board members voting to ban drilling for all of its citizens. But it’s not something you read about happening in Pennsylvania all that often. So when it does happen in PA, it’s news.

No, a PA town has not recently voted to ban fracking, but Ferguson Township in Centre County will have a referendum on the ballot in the November election asking citizens whether or not they want to strip away the property rights of their neighbors. Ferguson residents who favor the U.S. Constitution, make sure you get out and vote!

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

NY Anti-Driller Cuckoo Birds on Full Display

August 15, 2012August 15, 2012

There’s no nice way of saying this, so I won’t. The closer we get to the release of new rules that will allow the 60-year old technology of hydraulic fracturing to be used in New York, more and more nut jobs will come out of the New York woodwork.

The latest case in point comes from Paul Bray, columnist for the Albany Times Union:

Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Research

Soros-backed PAI Makes University of Texas Look Foolish

August 15, 2012August 15, 2012

In the ongoing drive to smear shale oil and gas any way they can, anti-drillers have turned to attacking research from respected universities, like research from the University of Texas. If the research doesn’t reflect their own biases, they attempt to discredit it any way possible. You don’t agree with my “enlightened” view? Your independent research is wrong! That’s the anti-scientific attitude of these politically-motivated hucksters.

Along the way, innocent people (and their reputation) become roadkill. Like Dr. Charles Groat, one of the authors of the University of Texas (UT) study titled “Fact-Based Regulation for Environmental Protection in Shale Gas Development,” released in February (see this MDN story).

Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Wed, Aug 15, 2012

August 15, 2012August 15, 2012

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

Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

Drilling Opponents Use AP to Smear PA Gov. Corbett

August 14, 2012August 14, 2012

smear campaign Once again opponents of Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett are using the Associated Press to try and smear him over the issue of drilling. The latest “hit piece” against the governor comes over the issue of a recent Executive Order (EO) he issued which a) requires drillers and others requiring permits—pipelines, compressors, etc.—to supply fully completed paperwork, and b) if they do, encourages DEP employees to process that paperwork and respond in a timely manner.

So the AP is going after Gov. Corbett for his desire to provide good customer service. You just have to shake your head. Here’s the background and details:

Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | Tompkins County

Town of Caroline, NY Prepares to Strip Away Landowner Rights

August 14, 2012August 14, 2012

Landowners in the Town of Caroline (Tompkins County, NY) are about to have their constitutionally protected property rights stripped away by the anti-drilling town board. Elections do have consequences, and last November two level-headed pro-drilling board members were tossed in favor of anti-drillers. What follows? Citizens are denied their constitutional rights.

Thursday night the town board will hold a freak show public hearing on their proposed fracking ban:

Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues

New Day/New Bloomberg Frack Attack on Shale Drillers

August 14, 2012August 14, 2012

Bloomberg, perhaps the most anti-drilling large media company aside from Reuters, targets FracFocus.org in an elaborately long negative article. FracFocus is a website sponsored by the drilling industry where companies either voluntarily, or by state mandate, list the chemical composition of the fracking fluids they use for individual wells they drill. The public can find out what chemicals are used in well drilling nearby.

Bloomberg wants you to believe the website is just a sham, a pretense offered by the drilling industry in an attempt to cover up the dirty, filthy drilling they really do. And while Bloomberg is driving their anti-drilling message down the highway at 120 mph attempting to run over FracFocus, they swerve into the other lane and try to hit as many drilling companies head-on as they can along the way, just for good measure.

Industrywide Issues | Jobs

AP Says Shale Drilling Provides Too Many High Paying Jobs

August 14, 2012August 14, 2012

A new story from the AP is just so bizarre, it’s actually funny. The theme of the story? The shale energy industry is providing too many good paying jobs. Yep—you read that right. At a time when both Republicans and Democrats talk about jobs, jobs, jobs, the AP says if an industry provides too many jobs, and they pay too well, that’s actually a bad thing. What kind of mental gymnastics do you have to go through to arrive at that conclusion?

Here’s how the AP “story” starts—the setting is Woodward, Oklahoma:

Newfield Plugs 3 Exploratory Wells in Wayne County, PA

August 14, 2012August 14, 2012

Newfield Exploration is plugging three exploratory wells they drilled in Wayne County, PA in 2010. Why? They won’t comment on what they found in the wells, but the fact is, the Delaware River Basin Commission controls drilling in most of Wayne County and the DRBC has so far not allowed drilling in the Marcellus Shale. They currently have an ongoing review process for new rules to allow drilling, but the sitting members of the Commission have not voted to release the rules.

So to comply with PA Dept. of Environmental Protection rules, Newfield is plugging the wells—at least for now.

Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Regulation | Statewide VA | Virginia

Fracking Battle Heats Up in…Virginia?

August 14, 2012August 14, 2012

The Marcellus and Utica Shale formations only just skirt the outer edge of the State of Virginia—almost following a path along it’s western border with West Virginia and Kentucky. So the great debate over drilling and fracking has not really touched Virginia in a significant way—until now.

The Roanoke Times reports there is now a “battle” over fracking in The Old Dominion state:

Energy Companies | Lone Pine Resources | Utica Shale

U.S. Driller Sitting on Big Canadian Utica Shale Reserve

August 14, 2012October 2, 2017

The Utica Shale underlies part of the Canadian province of Quebec. But development of the Utica is currently on hold while a government panel studies and reviews the miracle of hydraulic fracturing, just to be sure it’s safe.

In the meantime, drillers like Lone Pine Resources, with leased acreage in Quebec’s Utica Shale, wait. While they’re waiting, they’ve sized up the potential reserves they own in the Utica, and for Lone Pine, it’s big.

WV Energy Exec Says Marcellus Will Last 100+ Years

August 14, 2012August 14, 2012

David Drennon is marketing and transportation manager with H.G. Energy LLC in Parkersburg, West Virginia. He spoke yesterday at the Parkersburg Rotary Club weekly meeting about development of natural gas from Marcellus Shale deposits and oil from Utica Shale deposits. He offered these observations and predictions about shale development in WV:

Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Tue, Aug 14, 2012

August 14, 2012August 14, 2012

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

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

Bombshell: NY DEC Head Martens Started Anti-Fracking Group

August 13, 2012August 13, 2012

Big news Well well. Jon Campbell from the Gannett News Service wrote an article yesterday about New York Dept. of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Joe Martens. It has a surprising revelation in it.

If you’ve read MDN for any length of time, you no doubt will know we have said we believe Joe Martens to be the fox in the henhouse—that is, the man put in charge of hydraulic fracturing in the state is a committed opponent of it (see this MDN story). Were we wrong?

Antero Resources | Energy Companies

Antero 2Q12 Update: More Marcellus/Utica Drilling Ahead

August 13, 2012August 13, 2012

Antero Resource released their 2Q12 financial and operating update this morning. Among the highlights: They’re operating 10 drilling rigs in the Marcellus, all of them in northern West Virginia. They plan to add two more rigs in the near future to the 10 already there. To date, Antero has drilled and completed 88 Marcellus Shale gas wells. They’ve completed two Utica Shale wells in eastern Ohio and are right now drilling a third.

Below are the relevant portions from the update for this very active Marcellus/Utica driller:

Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Regulation | Statewide OH

Ohio Drought: Does Fracking Use Too Much Water?

August 13, 2012August 13, 2012

Like Pennsylvania, Ohio is experiencing drought conditions this summer. With drought conditions comes concerns that drilling companies use too much water from local rivers and streams (and other sources) for fracking. But also like PA, the amount of water used for fracking in Ohio is truly miniscule compared with other uses.

Until the recent passage of Senate Bill 315, Ohio could not control access to how much water is used by drilling companies. That’s now changed: