Officials for the Village of New Waterford, Ohio (Columbiana County) are considering a proposal to supply water from a village well to an unnamed company for drilling in the Marcellus Shale.
Read More “New Waterford, OH Considering Sale of Village Water to Marcellus Shale Driller”
The town of Barrington, NY (Yates County), in New York’s Finger Lakes region, has voted to approve a temporary moratorium on hydraulic fracturing in the township for a one year period to give it time to develop new zoning laws to deal with possible Marcellus Shale drilling, should the New York State moratorium be lifted.
Read More “Township in NY Finger Lakes Region Votes to Ban Hydraulic Fracturing for One Year”
For many, the New York Times is the paragon of virtue, the ultimate source, arbiter of truth, beacon of light in a world of darkness. And of course, everything you read in the Gray Lady is the honest truth—for real!
Sometimes I sigh and wish I too could live inside the liberal bubble and ignore reality and believe everything in the NYT—life would be so much simpler that way. But alas, I’m one of those few who don’t automatically believe what I read. In fact, a lot of what I read I would consider fiction, rather than fact.
Reason is a monthly print magazine with the tagline of “free minds and free markets.” It covers politics, culture, and ideas through a mix of news, analysis, commentary, and reviews. Reason does not lean right nor left, but instead makes “a principled case for liberty and individual choice in all areas of human activity.” Reason also has an operation they call Reason.tv—short online videos. MDN came across a video posted by Reason.tv yesterday called, “The Truth About Fracking.” It’s a short 5 1/2 minute interview conducted by Reason’s Nick Gillespie with science correspondent Ronald Bailey.
Read More “New Video from Reason.tv: The Truth About Fracking”
An editorial in the Charleston (WV) Daily Mail takes the city of Morgantown, WV to task for banning hydraulic fracturing both in and outside of its borders as “nonsense” that should be overturned by a court. The interesting part of the editorial (for MDN) is the opening statement which is a good indicator of the enormous potential of the Marcellus Shale—even larger than most people had dared hope:
Read More “New Numbers Indicate the Enormous Potential of the Marcellus Shale”
The Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC) had a busy quarterly meeting on June 23, held in North East, Maryland. Among the things they did, SRBC commissioners approved 31 water resources projects, the vast majority of which are related to drilling in the Marcellus Shale. The list of new projects approved, previous projects modified and into-basin diversions is detailed below.
Five Democrat and four Republican Congressman have written a joint, bipartisan letter to President Obama encouraging him to move forward with developing natural gas in the United States, particularly by using “unconventional” hydraulic fracturing. Yes, you read that right. Democrats and Republicans together, agreeing on something—and that something is fracking.
The letter states in part:
Read More “Bipartisan Group of Nine Congressman Tell Obama to Get Fracking – Now”
Drillers in Pennsylvania who do not recycle 100 percent of the wastewater from hydraulic fracturing for reuse must dispose of that wastewater somewhere. The options are to haul the wastewater, which is mostly salt water but contains a small amount of chemicals, to certified treatment plants that are specially fitted to treat it and release it into waterways, or haul it to an underground injection well. Most of the injection wells PA drillers have been using are located in Ohio. However, two new injections wells are due to come online in Columbus Township (Warren County), PA this fall, giving drillers in PA a new option.
Read More “Two New PA Injection Wells Will Accept Fracking Wastewater Starting this Fall”
An article written by the Associated Press has been picked up and repeated by hundreds of news outlets across the country over the weekend. It is an interesting story, but there’s really nothing “new” and noteworthy about it. A number of outdoor sportsmen groups have banded together into a coalition to keep an eye on Marcellus drilling activity, to be sure it’s not harming the environment—specifically fishing and hunting—and if they detect problems, to sound the alarm and get authorities to take action before it’s “too late.” Individually the groups involved have been keeping an eye on drilling for some time. The “new news” is that these individual groups have formed an alliance and are now working together.
Read More “Outdoor Sportsmen Groups Band Together to Keep an Eye on Marcellus Drilling”
The man perhaps as responsible as anyone for turning the word Marcellus Shale into a household word along the Atlantic region of the United States will take the reigns of Range Resources as its CEO starting January 1 of next year.
Read More “Range Resources Names Early Marcellus Advocate as Next CEO”
It’s been a few weeks since the last “weekly” update. First, a recap of the previous poll I was running. Thank you to those who voted in that poll. Here are the results:When do you think Marcellus Shale drilling in New York State will begin?
2011 (19%, 58 Votes)
2012 (35%, 109 Votes)
2013 (16%, 51 Votes)
Never (30%, 94 votes)
Total Voters: 312
Here is the relatively good news about the poll (for those who support safe drilling anyway): Put another way, 70% of you think drilling in the Marcellus Shale will happen in New York, while only 30% think it will never happen. I think there’s wisdom in the crowd’s view.
Current Poll
After a lot of thought, earlier this week I posted an appeal and a poll which is still running. That appeal was for your feedback and asks the question, is MDN worth your support? (See MDN Needs Your Feedback to Continue Publishing.) In that post I said the following:
So I have a question for the 18,000 of you who visit this site each month: Is MDN worth a small subscription fee to you, to continue to the service? Please think carefully about it, and please be completely truthful. Perhaps the things I do on this site are “nice” and maybe “interesting” but not really vital or “necessary” for most people with an interest in the drilling issue. If that’s the case, I’m wasting my time and can find other things to do with it.
Here’s the deal, think carefully about the question I’m asking, and then please click on your answer in the poll (found on the right side of any page). The question: Would you be willing to pay $5 per month to continue reading MDN? Your answer is anonymous—I won’t know who you are. If enough people say yes, MDN will continue and I’ll ask you to subscribe using a credit card (or Paypal account) and it will be charged $5 per month with the option to cancel at any time. If there’s little response, or if the vast majority say no, time to fold the tent and move on.
The early results have been encouraging. Thanks to those who have already voted. I’m going to leave this poll open for one more week. The good news is that is I’m leaning toward continuing MDN and introducing a paid option. I’m working on the details now. In the meantime, please keep reading MDN, and if you haven’t already done so, please vote in the poll. Either answer is fine (yes it’s worth $5 a month, or no it isn’t)! I need honest and true feedback about the value of this service.
Below you’ll find the “top 5” lists and this week’s calendar listings.
Happy reading,
Jim Willis, Editor
The federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is conduction a multi-year study of the natural gas extraction method called hydraulic fracturing. See MDN’s coverage of the initial announcement and draft release of the study plan here. Preliminary results of the study are due in 2012, but the final results are not due until 2014.
Yesterday, the EPA announced where it will conduct its case studies. Nearly half of the sites—three of the seven—are in the Pennsylvania Marcellus Shale region in Bradford, Susquehanna and Washington Counties. Below is the full press release from the EPA announcing the locations, followed by a table from the EPA website charting the key issues to be investigated and the potential outcomes for the retrospective case studies.
Morgantown, WV is about to get sued for banning hydraulic fracturing outside of its borders. As MDN previously reported (see here), the Morgantown City Council voted on June 21 to ban hydraulic fracturing within its borders and up to one mile outside of its borders. The decision has shut down an active operation for two wells being drilled by Northeast Natural Energy. WV has a law allowing cities to extend their reach up to a mile in order to carry out city functions. Many think City Council has overreached in this case.
Read More “Update on Morgantown, WV Ban on Fracking Outside its Borders: You’re About to Get Sued”
Ohio’s Attorney General, Mike DeWine, offers the following tips for landowners when they are presented with an offer to lease their land for oil and gas drilling. Although Mr. DeWine is addressing Ohioans, these common sense tips apply to anyone in any geography.
Read More “Ohio Attorney General Shares Landowner Tips for Leasing Your Land”
Yet another hit piece by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (an editorial this time) plays up the “danger” that “the drilling industry” is not maintaining its trucking fleets. The evidence of this danger is not the number of serious accidents nor even a tear-jerker personal story of a mishap with a nasty drilling truck, but this:
Read More “The Top Reason for Ordering Marcellus Drilling-Related Truck Drivers Off the Road is…”
After two years of work and numerous revisions, the supervisors of Mount Pleasant Township in Washington County, PA have finally passed an ordinance that controls oil and gas drilling in the township, although at this point it likely won’t make much of a difference according to Range Resources.