An opinion piece published in today’s New York Post succinctly (and with attitude) makes the case that hydraulic fracturing is safe and Marcellus Shale drilling should go forward in New York State. A brief extract for your reading pleasure:
Read More “Memo to Actor Mark Ruffalo: Fracking Chemicals are in Your Cosmetics”
One of the issues raised in Marcellus Shale drilling is a concern that pumping water into, and then extracting it out of the ground will bring with it radioactivity from naturally occurring sources deep underground. In particular, the “cuttings” or leftover rock and dirt that come out of the bore hole might contain higher than normal levels of radioactivity. Officials in West Virginia say there’s no reason for concern in their state:
Read More “West Virginia Officials Say Radioactivity from Gas Drilling a Non-Issue”
Marist College (Poughkeepsie, NY) just completed a statewide poll in New York State to find out if residents generally support or generally oppose hydraulic fracturing. MDN has embedded the poll results below so you can read it for yourself. The standard coverage of this poll in the media, the “big news” if you will, is that New Yorkers are about evenly split: 41 percent generally oppose hydraulic fracturing, and 38 percent support it—a statistical dead heat with the margin of error +/- 5 percent. Marist says a “notable” 21 percent are unsure. But MDN believes the “real news” in this poll is confirmation that the shale gas drilling debate in New York—and nationwide—is (sadly) more about politics than science and common sense. The proof is in the numbers.
The first question asked those who were surveyed was:
Groups that oppose drilling in Pennsylvania, under the guise of “let’s be reasonable here,” have been proposing wish lists of new regulations for several years now. Some of their proposals make sense and should be carefully considered. But in considering their proposals, you must realize those organizations have ulterior motives—to completely ban gas drilling. It’s interesting to note their pronouncements lately have gone up an octave on the shrillness scale.
These groups could not get new legislation and regulations passed under Gov. Ed Rendell, a Democrat, with both houses of the PA legislature controlled by Democrats. So now that a Republican (Tom Corbett) is governor, someone they consider “in the pocket” of the drilling industry, and with both houses of the legislature controlled by Republicans, these groups say now is the time to reform the PA Oil and Gas Act. Something does not add up with this picture.
Read More “Will There be New Marcellus Drilling Regulations Passed by the PA Legislature This Year?”
At a small meeting last week at Washington & Jefferson College (in Washington, PA, near Pittsburgh), representatives from Columbia Gas of Pennsylvania, Range Resources and Pittsburgh Regional Clean Cities presented to several area fleet operators. They were making the case for the economics of switching their cars and trucks to compressed natural gas, or CNG. Widespread use of natural gas to power vehicles will likely start with “fleets” of vehicles—taxis, trucks, buses—and the early adopters will likely be schools, government and larger companies.
We get the following figures on conversion costs from Dan Cotherman, business development manager for driller Range Resources:
Read More “The Economics of Converting Vehicles to Natural Gas”
Columbia Gas, a major supplier of natural gas in Pennsylvania and a company that owns and uses a lot of gas pipelines, is training firefighters in how to handle natural gas fires:
Read More “Columbia Gas Working to Train Firefighters to Handle Natural Gas Fires”
Thank you to all of you who voted in last week’s (and MDN’s first-ever) online poll. Here are the results from 403 MDN readers:
Are You in Favor of Shale Gas Drilling?
Yes – with safeguards in place (69%, 278 Votes)
No – can’t be done safely (26%, 103 Votes)
Not sure – still forming an opinion (5%, 22 Votes)
Total Voters: 403
This Week’s Poll
I’ve made no bones about the fact that I believe the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is “out of bounds” in trying to regulate hydraulic fracturing. It is my opinion that regulation of gas drilling is best left to the individual states. Others will argue that water crosses boundaries in the form of rivers and streams and aquifers, and therefore a federal role is important to protect water supplies. I’m interested in knowing what you think. So this week’s question, as plainly and succinctly as I can ask it (no hidden agendas, no attempt to manipulate the outcome for those who like to needle me) is: Should the federal EPA regulate hydraulic fracturing? Go to any page on the website and click to vote on the right-hand side of the page. I’ll report the results next week.
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) continues to assert itself into states’ business by claiming authority of the federal Safe Water Drinking Act. The latest example was yesterday. The EPA requested (ie demanded) details from six drillers who operate in Pennsylvania on where they will dispose of fracking fluid wastewater now that the PA Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has told drillers that certain municipal sewage treatment plants not specially equipped will no longer be able to accept fracking wastewater. The EPA wants to know where that wastewater will now go.
But the PA DEP itself has not escaped the heavy hand of the federal EPA either. The EPA has “requested” (ie demanded) PA DEP provide a list of facilities that accept fracking wastewater. And the EPA has other “requests” for the DEP on how to do things better (see the EPA press release below).
Read More “Federal EPA Continues to Bully Pennsylvania Using the Safe Water Drinking Act”
Richard Smith, vice president of land for Carrizo Oil & Gas, spoke to the Wyoming County Chamber of Commerce at a luncheon yesterday outlining Carrizo’s plans for drilling in the Pennsylvania Marcellus Shale. He said that Carrizo will have five well pads “fully developed” in Wyoming County by September 2012. He also said Carrizo would begin drilling in Sullivan County by the end of this year.
Smith offered these facts and figures about Carrizo’s Marcellus drilling operations:
United Local Schools in Hanoverton (Columbiana County), Ohio approved a Marcellus Shale gas drilling lease with DPS Penn yesterday:
The standard operating procedure for groups opposed to Marcellus Shale drilling in New York State is to organize protests. The protests in Albany and other locations have been small in numbers, but those opposed have been “loud” in their opposition. Supporters of drilling, on the other hand, are taking a different approach. Instead of protest rallies, they arrange private meetings and go for small group discussions. That strategy was on display Wednesday in Albany:
City council members from Wellsburg, West Virginia, located in the panhandle area of the state (in Brooke County), on Tuesday voted to ban natural gas drilling and hydraulic fracturing both inside the city limits and outside city limits within a mile.
Ultra Petroleum’s growth continues to be double-digit, largely because of it’s Marcellus Shale gas drilling operations. From Ultra’s recent press release on first quarter activity we get the following Marcellus operational update:
EQT Corporation has just sold a gas pipeline in Kentucky for $390 million to Spectra Energy Partners so it can invest the money in Marcellus (and Huron) shale gas drilling. From EQT’s press announcement about the sale we also learn EQT is on track to drill 100 Marcellus gas wells this year. EQT has revised their projected shale gas output upward from 180 billion cubic feet equivalent (Bcfe) to 185-190 Bcfe for 2011, and expects output to grow to 250 Bcfe in 2012.
Heckmann Corporation, a water solutions company focused on water issues and, in particular, oil and natural gas exploration and production, has completed four acquisitions that substantially expand the Company’s water solutions for energy development business segment, including a major presence in the Marcellus Shale region. Within the past year, the California-based company has grown from 30 employees to over 750, and from $8.6 million in revenue for the first quarter of 2010 to $23.8 million for the first quarter of 2011.(1) Heckmann has a small but rapidly growing operational base in Pittsburgh for it’s Marcellus Shale operations.
More questions cast doubt on the Duke study which claims to prove there is a link between gas drilling and high concentrations of methane in nearby well water, including from someone quoted in the Duke study itself: