Marcellus Drilling News

Chesapeake Energy | Encana Energy | Energy Companies

Did Reuters Break the Law with Latest Chesapeake Story?
June 26, 2012June 26, 2012

Another week, another “cut” at Chesapeake Energy and its flamboyant CEO Aubrey McClendon. Death by a thousand cuts will work, as long as in the end it’s death, right? And that’s exactly what the mainstream media is clamoring for.

A new hit piece by Reuters attempts to smear McClendon and in the process snags Canadian company Encana. The article, published yesterday, tries to portray McClendon and the president of Encana USA, Jeff Wojahn, as colluding to divvy up Michigan state oil and gas leases auctioned in 2010. It was an attempt to suppress prices and control the outcome of the auction, according to Reuters, and if that indeed happened, it would be a violation of federal and state laws.

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Industrywide Issues | Jobs | Ohio | Statewide OH

New OH Drilling Law Tracks Jobs by Resident/Non-Resident
June 26, 2012June 26, 2012

Drillers who operate in Ohio are put on notice that the state is now watching how many Ohio residents are hired by the industry. Ohio State Senator Lou Gentile, Democrat from Steubenville, had the only amendment from his party to be included in the new drilling law signed by Gov. John Kasich earlier this month.

The amendment, called “Ohio Workers First,” requires the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services to track hiring of residents and non-residents and create an annual report showing employment figures for the oil and gas industries in the state. The purpose? To show the “real economic impact” of drilling in the state. And to send a very loud and clear message to the industry.

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Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA

PA Supreme Court Rules Industry Can’t Join Act 13 Lawsuit
June 26, 2012June 26, 2012

Last Friday the Pennsylvania Supreme Court denied a request by the Marcellus Shale drilling industry to participate in the lawsuit brought by seven towns, a few individuals and “a non-profit organization” against the new Act 13 drilling law in Pennsylvania. The lawsuit seeks to overturn a portion of Act 13, the part that substitutes statewide zoning regulations for local zoning regulations when it comes to the oil and gas drilling industry.

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Statewide NY

Washington DC: Ingraffea Discloses Real Reason He’s Anti-Fracking
June 26, 2012June 26, 2012

Sensing “the end is near” in New York, the anti-drilling movement dispatched one of their big guns, Cornell professor Tony Ingraffea, to Washington, D.C. yesterday to stir the scare-you-to-death pot with New York’s congressional delegation.

The end is near for anti-drillers if Gov. Andrew Cuomo moves forward with his unannounced/announced plan to allow limited hydraulic fracturing in five (the “Lucky Five”) counties in New York State, and then only in towns that really really want it. Anti-drillers are hyperventilating over that possibility—so it’s necessary to try and influence Congress to either pressure Cuomo or override him.

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Landowner Coalition News | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY

Landowner Coalition Statement on Rumored Cuomo Fracking Plan
June 26, 2012June 26, 2012

The Joint Landowners Coalition of New York (JLCNY), a coalition of coalitions representing over 70,000 landowners, issued a statement about the unannounced/announced plan by Gov. Andrew Cuomo to allow hydraulic fracturing in five counties in New York—in a limited fashion—for the next two years. Their statement in full is embedded below.

The short version is: We’re trying to get clarification and determine what’s what, and we’re not going to criticize the governor until we hear more, and certainly not based on a newspaper article.

Read More “Landowner Coalition Statement on Rumored Cuomo Fracking Plan”
Industrywide Issues | NG Vehicles | Ohio | Washington County (OH)

Marietta, OH Evaluates Converting All City Vehicles to CNG
June 26, 2012June 26, 2012

Marietta, Ohio Mayor Joe Matthews is looking into converting all of the city’s gasoline powered vehicles to run on compressed natural gas (CNG), to cut down on costs.

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Accidents | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Shell | Tioga County (PA)

PA DEP Investigates Methane Migration from Shell Drilling
June 26, 2012June 26, 2012

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is investigating a possible case of methane migration due to drilling by Shell in Union Township, Tioga County (PA). A drinking water well in the area was reported to be bubbling with methane.

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Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Tue, Jun 26, 2012
June 26, 2012June 26, 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: Tue, Jun 26, 2012”
Accidents | Bradford County | Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania

Chesapeake Pays 3 PA Families $1.6M for Methane Contamination
June 25, 2012June 25, 2012

Chesapeake Energy settled a case with several landowners in the small community of Wyalusing (Bradford County), PA who say their well water was contaminated by Chesapeake’s nearby drilling activity. Three families will receive $1.6 million from Chesapeake which includes buying out their homes so they can move. Some 30 other area families are in various stages of litigation with Chesapeake over the same issue.

For MDN, the fascinating aspect of this story is how the news has been covered by mainstream media. First, the news itself, then “the real news”:

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Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Muskingum County | Ohio

Businesses Form Coalition to Reach Drilling Industry in OH
June 25, 2012June 25, 2012

Businesses in Muskingum County, Ohio are banding together to form a coalition to market themselves to the Utica Shale drilling industry that’s just getting started in the area.

Backed by the Zanesville-Muskingum County Chamber of Commerce, the new group, called the Muskingum Oil and Gas Coalition, currently has 28 member companies. They want to get to 130 members. Members pay $300 per year in dues to fund the new group.

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Energy Companies | Energy Services | GreenHunter Resources | Stone Energy

Who is GreenHunter Water’s New Mystery Marcellus Customer?
June 25, 2012June 25, 2012

GreenHunter Water has picked up a new drilling company for their water management services (see the full press release below). The new customer is an independent driller somewhere in the Marcellus Shale play that owns leases on approximately 90,000 acres in Pennsylvania and West Virginia and is looking to expand. Thing is, GreenHunter won’t (or can’t) disclose the identity of this new mystery customer they’ve just signed on. But MDN thinks it can! There’s one independent driller who claims to have 90,000 acres of leases in PA/WV and is looking to expand, and that company is…

Read More “Who is GreenHunter Water’s New Mystery Marcellus Customer?”
Anadarko | Coshocton County | Energy Companies | Ohio

Anadarko Set to Drill in Coshocton County, OH
June 25, 2012June 25, 2012

It looks like Anadarko is getting ready to drill in the Utica Shale in Coshocton County, Ohio. New blue signs on rural roads have begun to spring up warning Anadarko truckers to not go beyond certain points (to limit road damage). When queried about the signs, Anadarko’s public affairs rep said:

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Energy Services | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Pipelines | Spectra Energy | Statewide NY

Sierra Club Attacks FERC for Approving NYC Pipeline
June 25, 2012June 25, 2012

Recently the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approved the construction of a 20-mile pipeline from New Jersey to New York City (see this MDN story). Spectra Energy is constructing the pipeline to the tune of $1.2 billion (a mini-economic boom for NJ/NY). The new pipeline and the cheap natural gas it will bring to NYC will reduce oil burning, which will be mandated starting in 2015 when NYC residents and landlords will no longer be allowed to burn No. 6 fuel oil. The new pipeline will be the equivalent of taking the emissions of 1 million cars off city streets per year. A good thing, no?

According to Sierra Club, that is a “no.” The Sierra Club doesn’t want cheap natural gas delivered to NYC, saving customers millions of dollars and saving the environment, because they don’t like fracking and the gas will mostly come from the Marcellus Shale. And that doesn’t fit with the the Sierra Club’s “attack everything natural gas” philosophy. So they’ve begun the process of protesting the approval for the pipeline, a process that will eventually end in federal court. Stunningly, in the paperwork they filed last week, they blame FERC for doing its job!

Read More “Sierra Club Attacks FERC for Approving NYC Pipeline”
Commodity Price | Economic Impact | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues

The Reason We Have Low Natural Gas Prices: Marcellus
June 25, 2012June 25, 2012

Startling new statistic from Bloomberg: The United States was able to produce enough energy from homegrown sources to meet 81 percent of our energy demand in 2011. Why? The miracle of hydraulic fracturing of shale.

Second startling new statistic: The Marcellus Shale alone produced 6.3 billion cubic feet per day in March. That’s enough gas to meet 62% of natural gas demand in 11 eastern states from Maine to Maryland. Astonishing.

Read More “The Reason We Have Low Natural Gas Prices: Marcellus”
Dominion Energy | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Marshall County | Pipelines | West Virginia

Marshall County, WV Pipeline Installation Problems
June 25, 2012June 25, 2012

George Lagos and his small staff of water department employees who work at Marshall County (WV) Public Service District No. 4 (PSD No. 4) have a problem—too many gas pipelines being laid, not enough workers to inspect the process.

PSD No. 4 serves a large area of the county between Moundsville and Cameron. Lagos and two others are responsible for inspecting and maintaining 200 miles of water and other types of pipelines. When new natural gas pipelines are installed, Lagos is supposed to get 48 hours notice so they can monitor the installation. According to Lagos, that isn’t happening.

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Air Quality | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues

OSHA Issues Hazard Alert for Sand Used in Fracking
June 25, 2012June 25, 2012

A few weeks MDN wrote about potential health hazards to those who work with hydraulic fracturing from the sand used in the process (see this MDN story). That sand is silica, or crystalline sand. Very very fine—think extremely small like asbestos particles. And like asbestos, proper precautions must be taken when working around it to prevent it from lodging in the lungs and causing lung cancer.

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) along with the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH), both federal agencies, have jointly issued a hazard alert for workers who handle sand during the process of fracking:

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