Marcellus Drilling News

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

Horseheads, NY Still Considering a Ban on Fracking
June 1, 2012June 1, 2012

As MDN previously reported, the Town of Horseheads (NY) continues to flirt with the idea of enacting a fracking ban (see this MDN story). What makes Horseheads different from the other 90 or so towns that have enacted bans in New York different is that it’s located in prime Marcellus and Utica Shale development territory—in Chemung County, just across the border from the super-hot drilling area of Bradford County, PA. If Horseheads does ban fracking, it would be the second such municipality in the Marcellus “zone” to do so, after the City of Binghamton in nearby Broome County.

Town Supervisor Michael Edwards floated the idea of a fracking ban at a recent Town Board meeting—and he’s still pursuing it:

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues

Cornell Prof Testifies Before Congress on Evils of Fracking
June 1, 2012June 1, 2012

Cornell professors Robert Howarth and Tony Ingraffea have made a cottage industry (and have become minor celebrities) of bashing shale gas drilling. The two of them collaborated on a now discredited article in a so-called “peer reviewed” journal that claimed, fantastically, that burning coal is actually better for the environment than burning natural gas (see this MDN story). Yeah, if they didn’t have “Cornell” next to their names, Howarth and Ingraffea would be laughed out of the room.

Such are the mental gymnastics those who hate all fossil fuels will perform in order to do anything to slow down shale gas drilling. They pedal junk science and try to dress it up. You know the old saw about putting lipstick on a pig…

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Regulation

Senate Bill Would Empower States (Alone) to Regulate Fracking
June 1, 2012June 1, 2012

Recognizing the federal government’s voracious appetite to usurp and seize control of rights that Constitutionally belong to the states—and in an effort to curb those tendencies in the Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Interior, and Department of Energy—Senator Jim Inhofe (R-OK) introduced new legislation on March 28th that will ensure oversight of hydraulic fracturing is done by the states and not the federal government.

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Madison County | New York

Local Groups Discuss Gas Drilling in Madison County, NY
June 1, 2012June 1, 2012

Citizens for Safe Energy of Madison County (NY) and The Madison County Natural Gas Development Working Group held a joint public information session on Wednesday evening to reveal findings of the Working Group’s research. One of the loud and clear messages of the evening was this advice for landowners who are contemplating leasing their land for drilling: get a lawyer first.

Working Group Chairman and Town of Nelson Supervisor Roger Bradstreet explained the geology of Madison County. The Marcellus is too shallow—too near the surface in Madison to be commercially viable—at least in most of the county. However, the Utica Shale is a viable layer to drill in the county. He also had this to say about current drilling and leasing activity in the county:

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Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies

Moody’s Warns Chesapeake Must Sell $7B in Assets This Year
June 1, 2012June 1, 2012

The venerable U.S. credit rating service Moody’s Investor Service said yesterday that Chesapeake will need to sell a minimum of $7 billion in assets this year in order to avoid a credit rating downgrade by their service—and even $7 billion may not be enough.

Moody’s current credit rating for Chesapeake is Ba2, which is considered “speculative grade” (not investment grade) and “judged to have speculative elements and a significant credit risk.” The lower a company’s credit rating goes, the harder (and more expensive) it is to borrow money.

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Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Fri, Jun 1, 2012
June 1, 2012June 1, 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: Fri, Jun 1, 2012”
Broome County | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | New York | Regulation

City of Binghamton Gets Sued Over Fracking Ban
May 31, 2012May 31, 2012

Binghamton Mayor Matt Ryan’s folly, a symbolic ban on hydraulic fracturing within the city, has now come back to bite him in the rear end. His folly will cost Binghamton City taxpayers a lot of money as the city has now been sued over their illegal ban, passed at the eleventh hour last December before Ryan was about to lose a majority of support from the Binghamton City Council in January (voters tossing out some of the all-Democrat council members in the last election).

The Binghamton law firm Hinman, Howard & Kattell filed a lawsuit on Wednesday in state Supreme Court on behalf of five plaintiffs to overturn the Binghamton ban.

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Alternative Energy | Industrywide Issues

Sierra Club’s New Campaign to Kill Natural Gas
May 31, 2012May 31, 2012

An article in yesterday’s Wall Street Journal reports on the Sierra Club’s new campaign to kill the natural gas industry—the same way the group contributed to the demise of the coal industry in the U.S. and the same way they killed off the nuclear power industry for the past 30 years.

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Alternative Energy | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

PPG Columnist “Stuck in the Middle” of Marcellus Debate
May 31, 2012May 31, 2012

Brian O’Neill, a columnist for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and author of the book The Paris of Appalachia: Pittsburgh in the Twenty-first Century, writes in a PPG column today that although his heart is with the enviro-left movement, his head tells him that shale gas is the best option for now.

O’Neill puts himself squarely in the middle of the gas drilling debate with clowns to his left and jokers to his right. He’s a true believer in man-caused global warming but believes that natural gas is the “other” (and preferred) fossil fuel, like pork is the other white meat.

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Energy Companies | New York | Norse Energy | Statewide NY

Norse Energy Shutting Down NY Office, Moving to Houston
May 31, 2012May 31, 2012

For more than year, MDN has periodically reported on Norse Energy as they have struggled to hold on, waiting for New York State to finally start issuing horizontal hydraulic fracturing drilling permits (see MDN’s coverage here). Norse’s strategy has been to roll the dice that New York will allow shale gas drilling. Drilling is always risky, but betting the company on New York politicians is truly a Las Vegas kind of gamble.

In order to keep going, Norse has sold off various assets over the past year. According to their first quarter 2012 update (see below), they at least have enough money in the bank to keep their U.S. operations going through the third quarter of this year. And they still have a controlling interest in 135,000 acres in New York, much of it in the Marcellus and Utica Shale play areas, should New York finally get off the dime. But in a sign that they may be giving up on the Empire State, Norse is shutting down it’s New York office and heading back to Houston.

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Economic Impact | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Jobs

AGA Report: The Profound Impact of Shale Gas
May 31, 2012May 31, 2012

Last week the American Gas Association (AGA) released a new economic report detailing that on average, customers saved $175 on their natural gas bills due to the abundant supplies of natural gas in the U.S., mostly from shale gas. Commercial customers saved an average $1,100 per year (see a copy of the full report embedded below).

The report also shows that for 2011, new jobs generated by the shale industry in this country was 150,000—or 9 percent of all new jobs created. Additionally, another 194,000 jobs were held by people who provide goods and services to the shale industry. Astonishing for a single industry to have such a profound impact. As MDN has recently reported, UGI and other utilities are cutting gas rates for customers—drastically. And all because of hydraulic fracturing of shale gas.

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Economic Impact | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA

Short Line Railroads Roar Back to Life in Marcellus Region
May 31, 2012May 31, 2012

The renaissance in short line railroads because of shale gas drilling continues. Information from a panel presentation at the recent Pennsylvania Rail Freight Seminar brings us this news:

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Coterra Energy (Cabot O&G) | Energy Companies

Cabot Oil & Gas Snags Top Talent for External Affairs Dept
May 31, 2012May 31, 2012

Bill desRosiers has been a good friend and supporter of MDN for more than a year now, and MDN editor Jim Willis has had the pleasure of working with Bill during his tenure with the great people at Energy in Depth – Northeast Marcellus Initiative.

Bill has now changed chairs and he’s working for an equally great group of people at Cabot Oil & Gas as their external affairs coordinator. Cabot is lucky to snag him.

We wish Bill every success in his new position. You can read about what Bill is up to here: Meet the Cabot Crew: Bill desRosiers.
Best of the Rest

Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Thu, May 31, 2012
May 31, 2012May 31, 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: Thu, May 31, 2012”
Chesapeake Energy | Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Regulation

EPA Study: Marcellus Fracking Does NOT Impact Drinking Water
May 30, 2012May 30, 2012

This is big news folks. You may recall that the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is conducting a multi-year study of hydraulic fracturing in a transparent attempt to seize control of oil and gas drilling in the U.S.—grabbing that control away from the individual states who are empowered under the U.S. Constitution to regulate drilling in their own states. As part of the EPA study, they are analyzing water samples in locations where there has been a lot of shale gas fracking (see this MDN story for a copy of the EPA’s study plan).

Chesapeake Energy participated shoulder to shoulder with the EPA by taking water samples at the same time and from the same locations in Bradford County, PA. They then had those water samples analyzed by accredited laboratories, and the results analyzed by an independent specialist. Here’s what they found…

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Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Regulation

IEA Releases “Golden Rules” for Shale Gas Drilling
May 30, 2012May 30, 2012

The International Energy Agency (IEA), an independent organization formed in the early 1970s in response to the oil shortage and composed of 28 member countries including the U.S., released a shale gas report report yesterday they call “Golden Rules for a Golden Age of Gas” (a copy of the full report is embedded below). The new Golden Rules report is the IEA’s attempt at encouraging the growth of the natural gas industry. Their “expert” opinion and prescription? Drillers need to behave themselves, countries and local governments need to highly regulate shale gas drilling, and if those two things happen, the general population will accept it.

Saying that drillers need to “earn and maintain their social license to operate,” the report’s chief author maintains that without public trust the very new and in many ways infant shale gas industry will die. She also admits the prescriptions they outline will increase the cost of drilling by at least 7 percent, but she maintains without these measures, that 7 percent will be better than no drilling at all.

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