Ever so gradually the “body count” continues to rise in New York. No, not that body count. The body count of municipalities that enact bans against fracking.
Albany County (with a high concentration of liberal Democrats, so it comes as no surprise) is the latest municipality to ban fracking—but at least this ban is confined to county-owned land:
Yesterday Ohio Gov. John Kasich signed new oil and gas legislation into law that will impact shale gas drilling in his state. For a summary of what’s in the new law, see this previous MDN story. Kasich said during the signing ceremony: "We were not going to develop shale gas at the expense of the environment…we have contained in this bill the most aggressive, clearest, fairest and strongest fracking regulations that you can find anywhere in the country." He later claimed that Ohio’s new law is, “the toughest law on fracking fluid in America.”
What happens next? Kasich has promised to return to pushing his plan to tax the shale drilling industry and pass along the proceeds as a small income tax cut to Ohioans:
Read More “OH Gov. Kasich Signs New Drilling Law – Now, Back to Taxes”
Remember J.R. and Bobby and Sue Ellen and Pam? As in, the Ewings? For those of us who came of age during the 70s and 80s, watching Dallas on CBS Friday nights was a given. The original series ran from 1978-1991. Well tomorrow night, Dallas is back. The 80s primetime soap is being remade and will debut on the TNT network.
Here’s the interesting thing about the new series: it pits J.R.’s son as the bad boy who (gasp) likes to drill for oil, and Bobby’s son (adopted) is the good boy who wants to use alternative renewable sources of energy. Oh, and fracking is evil, of course! Pluezz. Talk about a Hollywood, hackneyed caricature that employs all the stereotypes.
Read More ““Dallas” Remake is Anti-Drilling, Anti-Fracking Propaganda”
Oilprice.com conducted a wide-ranging interview of energy trader and author Raymond Learsy ostensibly about his new book, Oil and Finance: The Epic Corruption Continues, which looks at corruption within the oil sector. But the interview turned in an interesting direction: a discussion about how natural gas could conceivably replace gasoline.
During the interview, Learsy takes the New York Times to task for their yellow journalism against the natural gas industry. On the topic of fracking, Learsy said this:
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 12, 2012”
Aubrey McClendon, CEO of Chesapeake Energy, had a tough day last Friday at the annual shareholder’s meeting at Chesapeake’s headquarters in Oklahoma City . Shareholders passed a number of votes against the sitting board and against McClendon. McClendon had previously announced that Chesapeake’s two largest shareholders, Southeastern Asset Management and Carl Ichan will be allowed to nominate four new board members and a new chairperson, replacing more than half of the board. The new members are slated to begin later this month. Still, shareholders withheld approval of two sitting board members up for re-election. They both promptly offered their resignations.
A number of large shareholders addressed McClendon and the current board. Some were rather blunt about McClendon’s doubtful future with the company he founded in 1989:
Read More “The Day Chesapeake CEO McClendon Would Rather Forget”
Over the weekend, the Gannett News Service ran a story in several of its newspapers and TV stations in New York State detailing the contents of emails that have flown back and forth between the NY State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) and the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on the topic of hydraulic fracturing in New York over the past four years. A copy of the emails is embedded below.
There’s really nothing earth shatteringly new in the emails. Some interesting tidbits perhaps, but all of it now ancient history and not worth being hot and bothered about.
Read More “NY DEC and EPA Emails – Interesting, Not Earth Shattering”
Some more details about how the tax break would work that Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett is planning to offer Shell to build it’s ethane cracker plant in PA:
Read More “More Details about Proposed Ethane Cracker Tax Break”
The federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is investigating whether or not drilling activity by Range Resources at their Yeager Marcellus Shale site in Washington County, PA is causing air pollution and groundwater contamination. Range operates a wastewater pond and a drill cuttings pit at the site.
Several families living close to the site filed a personal injury lawsuit last month against Range.
Read More “EPA Investigating Range Drill Site in Western PA”
The House Committee on Science, Space and Technology has a subcommittee called the Subcommittee on Energy and Environment. It’s chaired by Congressman Andy Harris (R-MD). Last week Congressman Harris sent a letter to Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lisa Jackson. The purpose of the letter? Essentially it puts Ms. Jackson on notice that Congress is tired of her agency’s witch hunt with respect to hydraulic fracturing, and encourages the EPA to stop being so sloppy with its work in that regard (MDN’s interpretation of what Harris said).
In essence, Mr. Harris accuses Ms. Jackson and the EPA of promoting a political agenda instead of performing real science. A copy of the full letter is embedded below.
Read More “Congressman Takes EPA’s Jackson to Task over Fracking”
Does nearby drilling have a negative effect on real estate values? It’s a debate that has raged over the past several years. The drilling industry will say that on average, housing prices are unaffected by drilling. But if drilling is close—very close—there seems little doubt that it can negatively impact a homeowner’s property value. It’s one of the issues that those of us who support drilling must face honestly and openly. And figure out how to address it.
A case in point comes from a home owner in the suburbs of Cleveland, Ohio (Cuyahoga County).
Read More “Do Property Values Decrease When Drilling is Nearby?”
West Virginia Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin wants the state-owned vehicles in his state to run on compressed natural gas (CNG) produced right in his own state, and he’s assembled a task force to investigate how to make it happen:
Read More “WV Task Force Investigates CNG for State Vehicles”
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, Jun 11, 2012”
Speculation has run rampant about why Ohio’s official state geologist, Larry Wickstrom, chief of the ODNR’s Division of Geological Survey, was fired in May. Much of that speculation revolves around a PowerPoint presentation he created in March which essentially redrew the lines of where the best/most likely areas in the state would be to drill for oil and natural gas. A copy of Wickstrom’s full presentation, which has a lot of interesting maps and details, is embedded below.
The controversy seems to revolve around one particular map in the presentation (see the map immediately below). The map redrew boundary lines for the best drilling locations, in Wickstrom’s estimation, based on the data. Wickstrom has worked for the ODNR for 29 years. He’s a smart guy. But his map upset the apple cart for some, and less than two months later, he got his walking papers.
Read More “Did This Map Get the Ohio State Geologist Fired?”
Chesapeake Energy announced today that they have sold their midstream assets, including their Chesapeake Midstream subsidiary, to Global Infrastructure Partners for a total deal worth $4 billion. Chesapeake’s midstream assets include pipelines and processing plants. The announcement comes just prior to their annual meeting being held today in Oklahoma City and no doubt is an effort by Aubrey McClendon to tamp down criticism of the mountain of debt the company has piled up under his watch.
The company has also put other assets, including 337,000 acres of Utica Shale acreage, on the auction block in a bid to reduce the debt load.
Read More “Fire Sale Begins: Chesapeake Sells Midstream Assets for $4B”
Two Ohio State University graduate students, under the watchful eye of an advisor, have authored a policy brief titled “Making Shale Development Work for Ohio” which aims to provide politicians with guidance on how to avoid the so-called boom/bust cycle that shale energy “may” create in Ohio (a full copy of the brief is embedded below).
The grad students say Ohio needs to take steps now to ensure the state benefits from the shale energy boom in both the short- and long-term. Failure to do so, according to the brief, will “likely” have long-lasting negative effects. Among the brief’s recommendations are: