Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Tue, Mar 13, 2012
The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading:
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ODNR Finds Youngstown Injection Well Caused Earthquakes
A preliminary report released by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) on Friday concludes that a dozen earthquakes in northeastern Ohio were “almost certainly” induced by injection of gas-drilling wastewater (a full copy of the report is embedded below). The evidence is overwhelming: The earthquakes did not begin until three months after the injection well went online; the quakes were all clustered around the well bore; and a new fault has been discovered in the bedrock where the wastewater was being injected. Taken together, the ODNR is as sure as it can get that the injection well was causing the earthquakes.Therefore, the ODNR has issued new regulations for injection wells, what state officials are calling among the toughest rules in the nation. From the ODNR press release:
Read More “ODNR Finds Youngstown Injection Well Caused Earthquakes”
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Shell’s Cracker Plant Actually “Years Away”?
Are we still on track to find out in the next few weeks where Shell plans to build a multi-billion dollar ethane cracker plant? According to a Shell spokeswoman, yes. But in parsing the words of Shell’s CEO at a conference last week, even though the site may be announced, a “final decision” about investing in the site may still be “quite a few years away.” Here’s how it played out last week:
Read More “Shell’s Cracker Plant Actually “Years Away”?”
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Delaware County Asks NY State for $81.3B in Reparations
Paying $9 billion to build a new water filtration plant for New York City may look like a bargain compared to paying New York landowners the value of their mineral rights from shale gas drilling. That’s the point being made by the Delaware County Board of Supervisors with a recent resolution they passed in a 12-4 vote at their February meeting.
Delaware County Resolution No. 40 (copy embedded below) demands that New York State and New York City pay Delaware County landowners $81.3 billion in reparations over 60 years because the proposed new regulations drafted by the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) will effectively prohibit 80 percent of land in Delaware County from being drilled due to enormous setback provisions from the New York City watershed.
Read More “Delaware County Asks NY State for $81.3B in Reparations”
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Dominion Exploration | Energy Companies | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Westmoreland County
Water Tests at PA Reservoir Show No Affects from Gas Drilling
In March 2009, the Westmoreland (PA) County Board of Supervisors voted to lease Municipal Authority property near the Beaver Run Reservoir for shale gas drilling to Dominion Resources. The original plan was to drill five wells (see this MDN story). Two years later, there are 13 working wells on the property with plans for another 14 wells. More importantly, testing done of the water in the reservoir and streams that flow into it show (gasp), there’s been no affect on the water from Marcellus drilling.
Read More “Water Tests at PA Reservoir Show No Affects from Gas Drilling”
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Full Speed Ahead in the Marcellus for Chevron & Exxon Mobil
Not every driller is pulling back from drilling natural gas to focus on oil and gas liquids. In fact, for two of the largest energy companies in the U.S., it’s full speed ahead with drilling in the Marcellus. Those two companies? Chevron and Exxon Mobil. Chevron is planning to double its drilling in the Marcellus in the near term.
From a recent story in the Wall Street Journal:
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Chesapeake CEO Goes Shopping for New Investors in Asia
Chesapeake Energy’s CEO Aubrey McClendon went on a 14-day Asian trip last month looking for new investors for his company.
Read More “Chesapeake CEO Goes Shopping for New Investors in Asia”
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Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Mon, Mar 12, 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: Mon, Mar 12, 2012”
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MDN Weekly Update – Mar 11, 2012: Taxed to Death
This past week brought the news that Ohio Gov. John Kasich will this week unveil a plan to assess a new tax on shale gas drilling (see this MDN story). Unlike Pennsylvania’s recently passed tax (oops, impact fee) where 60 percent stays in the local community to offset the effects of where drilling actually happens and “only” 40 percent goes to Harrisburg for politicians to play with, it appears that 100 percent of this new Ohio tax will go to the general revenue fund so that Kasich can give all residents an Ohio state income tax cut.MDN has been accused of having Tea Party views when it comes to taxes. Guilty as charged. As we pointed out in a second story this week, the Ohio Oil and Gas Association also agrees with MDN’s view that the proposed new tax essentially “spreads the wealth” unfairly from those who own the resource (landowners) and those who work hard to produce it (drillers) to those who have had nothing to do with it. But, it seems, such is the world we’ve come to live in. What’s yours is mine and if you don’t like it, well, we’ll elect people who will forcibly take it from you and give it to me! Welcome to Ameritopia where we’re born free and then taxed to death.
But MDN wonders, is this the price we must pay to develop this natural resource? Do we have to “buy off” the population at large? Would such a strategy work in New York too? If you take a certain percentage of the proceeds from drilling and just hand it out, as Alaska does with oil tax money to its citizens—would that change public opinion toward shale oil and gas drilling? The sad truth is, it might well.
So this week we ask you the question, what do you think? Is it OK to tax shale drilling and share the proceeds with everyone via a personal income tax cut? It will be interesting to see what MDN readers think.
Last Week’s Poll Results
Last week MDN asked a question to find out if you personally know people in the shale drilling industry—or if you work in the industry yourself. By a hefty 3 to 2 margin the answer is “yes” you do personally know people working in the industry.Do you or someone you know (family member, friend, acquaintance) work in the shale gas industry?
Yes (64%, 138 Votes)
No (36%, 77 Votes)Total Voters: 215
Below are the most recent “top 5” lists and the calendar of Marcellus-related events for the next two weeks.
Happy “spring forward”,
Jim Willis, EditorRead More “MDN Weekly Update – Mar 11, 2012: Taxed to Death”
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Details on Ohio Gov. Kasich’s New Tax on Shale Drilling
Details of Gov. John Kasich’s plan to raise taxes on the nascent shale drilling industry in Ohio (see this MDN story) are starting to leak out. Gov. Kasich plans to unveil his plans officially next week, but here’s what we know so far:Read More “Details on Ohio Gov. Kasich’s New Tax on Shale Drilling”
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Cayuga County | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Public Opinion | Regulation | Wastewater
Auburn, NY Rescinds Ban on Gas Drilling Wastewater
Wiser heads have prevailed in the upstate New York Finger Lakes community of Auburn—the Auburn city council has voted to once again allow the municipal sewage treatment plant to accept gas drilling wastewater.
As you may recall, MDN told you about protesters who descended on the tiny city of Auburn last year to protest not Marcellus wastewater being treated at the sewage plant, but local conventional gas drilling wastewater—something that had been going on for 15 years with no adverse effects (see this MDN story). In the rush to condemn fracking and prevent horizontal drilling in the state, ignorant protesters have fallen into the trap of protesting all gas drilling in the state—drilling that has gone on for decades.
Read More “Auburn, NY Rescinds Ban on Gas Drilling Wastewater”
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Sustainable Investments Institute Issues Report on Fracking
The Sustainable Investments Institute (Si2) and the IRRC Institute yesterday released a new report titled “Discovering Shale Gas: An Investor Guide to Hydraulic Fracturing” (a copy of the 74-page report is embedded below). The report provides an in-depth look at the environmental and social impacts of shale gas development, identifies key questions for investors and includes 10 drilling company profiles. An expert panel representing industry, environmental groups and investor activists provided input to the report.
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NY Republican Senator Introduces Fracking Wastewater Bill
On the issue of hydraulic fracturing and shale gas drilling, the New York Republican party keeps shooting itself in the head. The latest example is a ridiculous bill just introduced into the state legislature by Long Island Republican Senator Jack Martins, 7th Senate District:
Read More “NY Republican Senator Introduces Fracking Wastewater Bill”
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Gastar’s Marcellus Production has Huge Increase in Q411
Gastar Exploration released fourth quarter 2011 results yesterday. The fourth quarter was very good for Gastar in the Marcellus, with a 1700 percent increase in average daily gas production from fourth quarter 2010, and a 179 percent increase from just the previous (third) quarter 2011. As is typical of other companies, Gastar is dedicating $88.9 million of a planned $103 million Marcellus budget (86 percent) for drilling in the liquids-rich area of the Marcellus.
Here’s the Marcellus play update from the Gastar press release:
Read More “Gastar’s Marcellus Production has Huge Increase in Q411”
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Exxon, GE Donate $1M Each for Shale Best Practices Training
Exxon Mobil and General Electric announced yesterday that each company is investing $1 million to help fund training in shale development best practices at three universities, including PennState.
Read More “Exxon, GE Donate $1M Each for Shale Best Practices Training”
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OH Bill Tightens Regulation of Wastewater Injection Wells
Ohio State Rep. Jay Goyal introduced legislation yesterday to tighten regulation of injection wells used for disposing Marcellus and Utica Shale wastewater. Key provisions of the bill include:
Read More “OH Bill Tightens Regulation of Wastewater Injection Wells”
A preliminary report released by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) on Friday concludes that a dozen earthquakes in northeastern Ohio were “almost certainly” induced by injection of gas-drilling wastewater (a full copy of the report is embedded below). The evidence is overwhelming: The earthquakes did not begin until three months after the injection well went online; the quakes were all clustered around the well bore; and a new fault has been discovered in the bedrock where the wastewater was being injected. Taken together, the ODNR is as sure as it can get that the injection well was causing the earthquakes.
This past week brought the news that Ohio Gov. John Kasich will this week unveil a plan to assess a new tax on shale gas drilling (
Last week MDN asked a question to find out if you personally know people in the shale drilling industry—or if you work in the industry yourself. By a hefty 3 to 2 margin the answer is “yes” you do personally know people working in the industry.
Details of Gov. John Kasich’s plan to raise taxes on the nascent shale drilling industry in Ohio (