In a purely symbolic gesture, Vermont has become the first (and likely only) state in union to ban hydraulic fracturing. Gov. Peter Shumlin signed the law yesterday with a crowd of grade school students from Twinfield Union School who have been brainwashed by their teachers into thinking fossil fuels are evil. The ban is symbolic because there is no oil or gas underneath Vermont to drill for.
A new study released by the accounting firm Ernst & Young says that even if Ohio Gov. John Kasich gets his way and boosts the severance tax in the state on oil and gas drilling, Ohio’s severance tax rate would still be less than other states. Kasich wants to rob Peter to pay Paul, taking even more money from energy companies and landowners in the form of higher severance taxes in order to reduce the state income tax for everyone.
Apparently the Ohio Business Roundtable is in Kasich’s hip pocket because they are the ones who commissioned the study. This is the first time MDN has ever heard of a “business group” who wanted higher taxes.
Read More “New Study Says Ohio’s Gas Severance Tax Lowest, Even If…”
Canadian mutual fund giant NEI Investments has joined the Investor Environmental Mafia Health Network (IEHN) of activist investors calling on drillers to adopt “industry-wide standards for shale gas drilling.” (See this MDN story for a background on the IEHN.)
Read More “Canadian Mutual Fund Joins Activists Targeting Shale Gas”
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 17, 2012”
This is technically not a story about the Marcellus or the Utica Shale. But it’s just as critical. North Dakota has just officially become the number two producer of oil in the United States, displacing Alaska for that spot. Texas still leads with the most oil production.
How on earth as ND become number two? It’s simple: shale and the miracle of hydraulic fracturing. What’s even more startling is that as recently as 1999 ND had zero drilling rigs and oil drilling in the state was dead. Just 13 years later, it’s number two in the nation. The importance of this cannot be overstated.
Read More “Behold the Power of Shale Fracking: ND Now #2 US Oil Producer”
A peer-reviewed 52-page study released yesterday by the new natural gas institute at SUNY University at Buffalo (UB) finds that environmental problems caused by Marcellus Shale gas drilling in Pennsylvania were isolated, mostly minor and on the decline (a copy of the full study is embedded below).
The study analyzes the data from more than 3,533 Marcellus wells drilled since 2008 in PA by over 100 drilling rigs. The study makes the following conclusions, including assigning a percentage probability for how likely it is for a major environmental event to occur:
Read More “UB Study Released on Environmental Problems in PA Drilling”
Antero Resources released its first quarter financials and operating results earlier this week. Antero reports their net production of natural gas was up 83 percent when compared to the first quarter of 2011 because of new wells in the Marcellus Shale and the Piceance Basin (Colorado). They also report that the Marcellus Shale is where they will keep their focus with seven drilling rigs and some 233,000 leased acres as compared to two rigs for the Piceance (63,000 acres) and no rigs in the other shale plays where they operate.
The relevant portion of the Antero press release:
Read More “Antero Resources Continues Expansion in the Marcellus”
Siena College Research Institute runs regular polls of New Yorkers to gage their opinion on a variety of topics. One of the long-running topics they poll on is whether or not New York should allow hydraulic fracturing to move forward. The latest Siena poll was just released today. The full breakout is embedded below. Here’s how Siena interpreted the results in their press announcement:
Read More “Siena College Poll – New Yorkers Remain Split on Fracking”
The anti-drilling American Rivers, an organization with a lofty Americana name but with a hard left environmentalist agenda, issues their “top 10” most endangered rivers list each year about this time. It’s an amusing exercise because the list rarely contains any of the same rivers on it from year to year. This year’s list is no different—and of course one of the targets of the list is shale gas drilling.
Read More “American Rivers Yearly Fundraiser/Most Endangered Rivers List”
Chesapeake Energy’s credit rating was downgraded by Standard & Poor’s to BB-, which is defined as, “Less vulnerable in the near-term but faces major ongoing uncertainties to adverse business, financial and economic conditions.” The downgrade caused the stock to tumble to its lowest point since March 2009.
Read More “Chespeake’s Credit Downgraded by S&P, Stock Hits 3-Year Low”
Twenty inspectors with the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) have filed grievances alleging that the DEP is creating a two-tiered (and unfair) system for pay, job qualifications and job requirements in the DEP’s push to hire new inspectors for Marcellus Shale drilling. The inspectors are members of the West Virginia Public Workers Union. The union is lobbying to correct the situation.
Read More “Inspectors Angry with WV DEP Over New Marcellus Hires”
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: Wed, May 16, 2012”
Chesapeake Energy CEO Aubrey McClendon held yet another investor conference call yesterday morning, this one to quell concerns over Chesapeake’s “emergency loan” of $3 billion from Goldman Sachs on Friday. Among the things to come out of the phone conference were two (really) big pieces of news, one of which will directly affect landowners in the Marcellus and Utica Shale, the other which will potentially affect all landowners with Chesapeake leases no matter where they live.
Read More “Monday’s Chesapeake Investor Call: Two Big News Items”
Drilling rig counts are closely watched as an indicator of where, and how much, drilling is happening in a given geography. Last Friday, Baker Hughes reported that rig counts for Pennsylvania continue to decline from a year ago, while the numbers for West Virginia are going up. But that doesn’t quite tell the whole story.
Let’s be honest. Using eminent domain to force landowners to allow interstate pipelines to be run across their property is a bad idea. At least it is in MDN’s opinion. Some pipeline companies have sought and have been awarded public utility status, and that status allows them to use eminent domain to grab property to run pipelines. It’s disgusting. They are not public utilities in the way a power company is a utility that needs to put up electric polls.
Two lawyers from Columbus, Ohio caution landowners to get a second opinion when it comes to negotiating to have pipelines runs across their property, like the ATEX Express ethane pipeline that’s currently being built across Ohio. They also counsel that although eminent domain can force landowners to allow a pipeline, landowners still have at least some rights under eminent domain.
In a recent radio interview, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett spoke about the Marcellus Shale drilling industry and how it positively impacts all Pennsylvanians, not just just a select few:
Read More “PA Gov. Corbett Outlines How Shale Gas Benefits Everyone”