The New Jersey state legislature, in what many considered to be a symbolic political gesture, voted yesterday to ban all hydraulic fracturing in the state. NJ Gov. Chris Christie has publicly stated support for natural gas energy, but he has not said whether or not he will sign the fracking ban into law. If he does, it would be the first statewide ban of hydraulic fracturing in the nation.
The CEO of drilling company Penn Virginia has expressed disappointment with the output of the first three Marcellus Shale wells they have drilled in Pennsylvania. From a press release issued Tuesday:
New weight restrictions for trucks on roads in Warren County, PA aimed at making Marcellus Shale drillers pay are having unintended consequences for other trucking operators in the county.
In the unforgettable words of Gomer Pyle: Surprise, surprise, surprise! Actually, this one was not so hard to predict. The New York State Commissioner of the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), Joe Martens, is signaling that the new draft regulations for Marcellus Shale drilling won’t be ready by Gov. Cuomo’s deadline of this Friday, July 1.
Read More “NY Draft Marcellus Drilling Regulations Won’t Be Ready by July 1st Deadline”
Predictably, now that the New York Times has delivered a journalistic drive-by hit piece claiming that energy companies are using false data and accounting trickery to overstate shale gas reserves, NYT sycophant leftist politicians in New York State are making political hay from it. For opportunistic politicians, it’s all about the seriousness of the allegation, never mind that the allegation is totally false.
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection assessed a $180,000 fine against Chief Oil & Gas after Chief failed to report the spillage of “a small number of gallons” of oil at a drill site, and because they came close to overflowing a fracking wastewater pit, back in June 2010.
Read More “Chief Oil & Gas Pays $180K Fine for Spilling Oil and Overfilling a Wastewater Pit”
The Pennsylvania Environmental Council, an anti-drilling organization, has published a Marcellus Shale Lease Guide that identifies potential environmental issues that landowners may want to consider when leasing. Of course, inserting all sorts of restrictions and requirements in a contract may mean the drilling company won’t sign it, so a balance must be achieved. Still, there are some good points in the guide that a landowner can use in discussions with their attorney to ensure the landowner is protected from drilling activities.
Download the Marcellus Shale Lease Guide here:
//www.pagreenlease.org/
UPDATE (6/30/11): A representative from the PEC emailed MDN to state that the organization is “not anti-drilling”. Fair enough. MDN will pass that claim along to readers. However, MDN also points out that the PEC, along with PennFuture and other so-called environmental organizations that loudly proclaim they want responsible drilling seem (to MDN) to be using that language to disguise that they would really rather have no drilling rather than safe drilling. In the meantime, ahead of that end-goal, they push for new laws and regulations that will greatly limit drilling in PA. Are some of their proposals good? You bet. Some are common sense and I would support those proposals. But don’t for a minute think there’s not an ulterior motive behind them—the incremental strategy of “a little more here, a little more there”. And so, I maintain, they are in the anti-drilling camp.
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”