• | |

    The Rank Hypocrisy of ‘American Rivers’ on the Marcellus Shale Drilling Issue

    You would have to be blind to have missed the recent announcement from American Rivers, a so-called conservation organization, that the Delaware River is this year’s #1 most threatened river from sea to shining sea in the good ole US of A. The announcement was picked up, according to Google, by no less than 349 news outlets and repeated, almost verbatim, from the American Rivers press release. Here’s how their press release of June 2 beings:

    The Upper Delaware River, the drinking water source for 17 million people across New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania is at risk from shale fracking for natural gas, a process that poisons groundwater and creates toxic pollution. This threat landed the Upper Delaware in the number one spot in America’s Most Endangered Rivers: 2010 edition.

    “Unless we stop the threat of rampant shale fracking, the drinking water for 17 million people across the Northeast will be threatened by toxic pollution,” said Rebecca Wodder, president of American Rivers. “We can’t let natural gas companies fatten their profits by putting our precious clean water at risk.”*

    Frankly, the press release is shot full of lies and the same tired scare tactics that anti-drillers find so effective: Drilling will poison your drinking water. Problem is, it doesn’t. But let’s not let the truth get in the way of a good press release! There is not one documented case of chemicals used in drilling a gas well poisoning ground water supplies across hundreds of thousands of hydraulically fractured wells. What is so mind-boggling is that one organization can create a press release airing nothing more than an opinion, and it gets picked up and run as “news” of an imminent threat across the entire country by the likes of Associated Press and CNN, repeated and amplified, until the general population believes the headline. The headline says the Delaware River is threatened—indeed the “most threatened” river in the entire country for 2010. Why? Because American Rivers doesn’t like gas drilling. It’s all manufactured news. In fact, it’s not really news at all.

    American Rivers is utterly hypocritical in identifying the Delaware River as “threatened.” To wit, in 2005, American Rivers named the Susquehanna River as the #1 most endangered river in the USA. This year? The mighty Susquehanna isn’t on the list at all. Here’s the thing—Marcellus gas drilling hasn’t even happened yet in the Delaware River basin. The Delaware River Basin Commission has not approved a single drilling permit anywhere in the watershed, even though plenty have been submitted. But there’s lots of Marcellus gas drilling going on in the Susquehanna River basin right now! So if gas drilling would be so dreadfully disastrous for the Delaware basin and the millions who get their drinking water from it, why isn’t it equally disastrous for the Susquehanna basin and the millions who get their drinking water from it? I’ll tell you why: Because gas drilling doesn’t pollute groundwater supplies of any kind—including rivers—and if American Rivers mentioned the Susquehanna (where drilling already exists) on this year’s list alongside the Delaware, it might raise some uncomfortable questions for them.

    So what’s really going on here? The people at the top of these so-called “environmental” organizations are trying to manipulate public opinion and stop drilling dead in its tracks. Also from the American Rivers press release:

    American Rivers called on the Delaware River Basin Commission to ban any shale fracking in the Upper Delaware watershed until a thorough study of impacts is completed and the pollution potential of shale fracking is fully documented and assessed.*

    Now we see the real agenda. Stop drilling, and if you can’t stop it, slow it down any way you can. There’s isn’t any evidence that natural gas drilling pollutes water supplies because such evidence does not exist. So instead, manufacture a scare with headlines in hopes you can buy time to figure out a way to get Congress to kill gas drilling for good.

    I can only speculate why anyone would not want cheaper, cleaner energy supplies that benefit everyone, but my guess is that the people running organizations like American Rivers have become so caught up in their philosophy of anti-fossil fuels of any kind, they’re willing to deny their fellow Americans the benefits of cheaper, cleaner energy because they (the self-proclaimed enlightened ones) think we (the great unwashed) should all be driving golf carts for cars and getting energy from wind mills. No thanks. Renewable energy is a part of our future, but it’s not a meaningful and substantial part of our present—and organizations like American Rivers just don’t get that. Don’t fall for their cynical manipulations.

    *American Rivers Press Release (June 2) – Upper Delaware Named America’s Most Endangered River

  • | |

    New President and Board Members for Central New York Landowner’s Coalition

    MDN received the following email noting changes in the leadership of the Central New York Landowner’s Coalition:

    Transition In The Leadership of the Central New York Landowner’s Coalition
    Bringing you up-to-speed on these recent developments.
    June 3, 2010

    Just two weeks ago, a special meeting was held at the office of Levene, Gouldin and Thompson, our coalition’s legal representation. Present at the meeting were our attorney, steering committee members (Todd Barnes, Charlie Rowe, Hank Tumilowicz, Kern Walling, Abbie Tamber and Brian Conover) along with some of the more active members of our landowner forum. After discussing specific ways to help our coalition become stronger, the committee voted on certain leadership changes that you need to be aware of.

    After 2 years of sacrificial and loyal service, Richard Lasky, our coalition president stepped aside from his position. His farewell note follows this notice.  Richard is known for investing his personal time, finances and talents to grow the coalition from the ground up to where it is today. This coalition would not be all it is without his leadership, dedication and sacrifice. Following the acknowledgment of this decision, the steering committee nominated and voted Brian Conover as our current president. Brian has served with Richard and the steering committee for the past two years.

    After much positive discussion between the forum members and the steering committee, the steering committee members present saw an opportunity for the forum individuals to rise to the occasion and give of their energy and perspective to help advance the coalition. The greatest tasks of the coalition have already been accomplished: our lease is completed, our members and community have been educated, our coalition has grown to the largest coalition in New York State, and our hard-working committee members receive credit along with Mr. Lasky for these accomplishments. However, recognizing the future needs of the coalition to grow our political voice and continue to fill in our coalition acreage, the steering committee encouraged these individuals to fill their positions and continue the purposes to which they dedicated over two years of their life advancing. The landowner forum representatives then formed an advisory committee that worked in coordination with our attorneys and Brian Conover to give immediate direction and helped establish a new formal steering committee. The new steering committee members are … Steve Gage, Chris Babcock, Lee Schultz, Scott Utter, Sean Campbell along with Wilma Gorrell and Brian Conover from the previous committee.  Additional committee members will be added in the future as representatives for various areas of the coalition range.

    Please know that our commitments to the landowners of this coalition are unchanged. We do appreciate your loyalty to the coalition purposes as well as your understanding through this transition. Another newsletter update will be arriving in the near future announcing the JLC Albany rally on June 9th and also promoting our coalition values and direction for the future.

    Grateful for all that has been done – excited about our future,

    Brian Conover

    —–

    Farewell Note From Richard Lasky

    Two years ago, a small group of committed landowners assembled in my living room to contemplate a growing crisis: landmen were combing our hills and valleys and leasing land from folks who had no idea of the issues surrounding natural gas, or how to effectively form a business partnership with an energy company. Destitute farmers and elderly people were gleefully signing over their mineral rights without understanding how to ask for protections for land, air and water and for pennies and dollars per acre. As we sat and faced the music – we knew we had a choice: bury our heads in the sand and let the events unfold – or spring into action and create an educational outreach program to make formidable partners of landowners around the central and southern parts of NY who could face energy companies with knowledge, fortitude, and power. Many times in my life I have recalled the words of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, a German playwright and poet who said, “What is my life if I am no longer useful to others.”

    That sentiment in mind, two years later, it is clear which path we struck. Today, I am proud to have presided over the Central NY Landowners Coalition (CNY) which has grown to almost 170,000 acres of land, comprising the largest regional coalition in the state.  To the members of CNY, I pledged to make sure that people who did not know how to protect themselves could be given all the information they needed so that they could make the right choice about leasing their land.

    It has been my passion to bring hope to this area; hope that we can rise above the economic challenges of our day, hope that we can protect our environment and way of life through this drilling endeavor and hope that the future of our great state will, one day, exceed anything in its glorious past. Although I leave behind my term as president of the Central NY Landowners Coalition, that hope in me yet lives on. I thank you for your work, for your support but mostly for your friendship. I wish you all Godspeed.

    Richard Lasky

  • | | | | |

    Western Reserve Petroleum Leases 4,500 Marcellus Shale Acres in Eastern Ohio in Last Two Weeks

    Western Reserve Petroleum has just snapped up lease rights to 4,500 acres in the past few weeks in Jefferson and Harrison Counties in eastern Ohio, located close to the border of West Virginia and not far from Pittsburgh, a prime Marcellus Shale region.

    With one company locking up about 4,500 acres for oil and natural gas exploration over the past two weeks, Jefferson County property owners appear to be getting their own taste of the Marcellus Shale rush.

    While companies such as Chesapeake Appalachia, A B Resources, CNX Gas Corp., Dominion Exploration and others are gobbling up property rights in West Virginia, Western Reserve Petroleum is quickly staking its claim to the oil and gas rights in eastern Ohio.

    “It has taken us less than two weeks to acquire 4,500 acres in Jefferson and Harrison counties,” said Molly Johnson Phillips, lease acquisition manager for Western Reserve. “We are glad to give some smaller landowners a chance to get in on this.”

    Western Reserve is not disclosing how much they are paying for the leases. Recent deals just across the border in West Virginia have seen a signing bonus of $3,600 per acre and royalty payments between 12 and 19 percent.

    *The Intelligencer/Wheeling News-Register (May 30) – Gas Rush On In Jefferson

  • | | | | |

    Marcellus Shale Ethane Headed to the Gulf Coast in a New Plan from MarkWest and Sunoco

    MarkWest Liberty Midstream is partnering with Sunoco Logistics to use existing and new pipelines in a project that will take Marcellus Shale gas liquids (ethane) from the northeast all the way to the Gulf Coast. How’s that for a change?! Ethane is primarily used in manufacturing plastics and is one of the by-products obtained from processing shale gas methane. Range Resources and Chesapeake Energy are among the major Marcellus Shale producers who are supporting the project and will sell processed ethane using the new system offered by MarkWest and Sunoco Logistics. Part of the project includes constructing a new 45-mile pipeline from Houston, PA to Delmont, PA. The ethane arriving at Delmont will then be piped to the East Coast, and from there it will go by ship to the Gulf Coast.

    From the official press release:

    MarkWest Liberty Midstream & Resources, LLC, a partnership between MarkWest Energy Partners, L.P. and The Energy & Minerals Group, and Sunoco Logistics Partners L.P. today announced a combined pipeline and marine project for ethane produced in the Marcellus Shale Basin. The Mariner Project is anticipated to have initial capacity to transport up to 50,000 barrels per day of ethane to Gulf Coast markets as soon as the second quarter of 2012 and could be scaled to transport higher volumes to support additional ethane production in the Marcellus region. MarkWest Liberty has been working with key producers and petrochemical consumers since late 2009 and the project is supported by key producers including Range Resources Corporation and Chesapeake Energy Corporation.

    The Mariner Project includes MarkWest Liberty making minor modifications to its processing facilities to recover sufficient ethane to allow the residue gas to meet interstate gas pipeline specifications and installing additional facilities at its Houston, Pennsylvania processing and fractionation complex to separate the ethane for delivery to downstream Mariner Project facilities. MarkWest Liberty will also construct a 45-mile pipeline from the Houston complex to an interconnection with an existing Sunoco Logistics pipeline at Delmont, Pennsylvania. The ethane will be transported to an existing East Coast facility where Sunoco Logistics will construct refrigerated ethane storage facilities. The ethane will then be transported via marine vessel to premium markets in the Gulf Coast. In addition, the existing Sunoco Logistics pipeline crosses many of the large pipelines transporting natural gas into the northeast, which will provide multiple ethane blending options.

    “We are excited to be able to participate in the Mariner Project and we are especially pleased to partner with MarkWest Liberty due to their extensive experience in the Marcellus Shale Basin,” said Deborah M. Fretz, President and Chief Executive Officer of Sunoco Logistics. “Our existing Pennsylvania active and idle pipeline infrastructure is well-positioned to provide an efficient solution for producers to move ethane across Pennsylvania to a Delaware River marine port to access multiple markets. The combination of MarkWest Liberty’s fractionation complex and Sunoco Logistics’ transportation system offers producers a higher value for their natural gas liquids by transporting only the ethane portion of the liquids and allowing the heavier liquids to remain in the northeast marketplace.”

    Frank M. Semple, Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of MarkWest stated, “We have been working with Sunoco Logistics and our producer customers for a number of months and we believe the Mariner Project provides the most efficient solution to maximize the value of Marcellus ethane, supports the development of more than 2 BCF per day of Marcellus rich gas, and significantly accelerates the in-service date to transport ethane compared to other pipeline projects. MarkWest and The Energy & Minerals Group are very pleased to partner with Sunoco Logistics because of their strong set of assets and significant experience in the storage and transportation of liquefied petroleum gas.”

    *Businesswire (June 1) – MarkWest Liberty Midstream & Resources and Sunoco Logistics Announce New Marcellus Ethane Pipeline and Marine Project

  • | | |

    Encana and Luzerne County Draft Emergency Response Plan for Potential Marcellus Shale Drilling Disaster

    One of the concerns (fears?) expressed by community members when learning there will be a gas well drilled nearby is the question of what happens in the case of a disaster, like a fire or gas leak. Will local first responders be responsible for handling a situation they may not be equipped or trained to handle?

    The off-shore Deepwater Horizon oil drilling disaster in the Gulf makes people concerned about local natural gas drilling. Even though the two forms of energy extraction are vastly different, with completely different levels of risk involved, it makes no difference. It has people spooked. Planning for safety, and how you will respond to a disaster, is a good thing—especially with gas drilling.

    Enter Encana, which is about to drill Luzerne County, Pennsylvania’s first Marcellus Shale gas well. And people are nervous. Working closely with the Luzerne County Emergency Management Agency, Encana is drafting a disaster emergency response plan.

    Wendy Wiedenbeck, public and community relations advisor for EnCana, said local firefighters would not be responsible for containing or fighting a gas well fire or gas release at a well site.

    “In the event of an incident, local emergency responders will be asked to provide support to our operations personnel who are specially trained to deal with incidents at oil and gas locations,” Wiedenbeck said.

    “Should a serious well-control incident occur, such as release of gas or fire, EnCana will look to local emergency responders to provide support while EnCana calls upon well-control experts to assist in addressing such an incident,” she said.*

    So the plan is that if the unthinkable happens, local first responders will provide support, but “experts” will actually handle the emergency. The only problem MDN sees is that the well-control experts Encana will call on have their offices in Texas. The news account does not specify whether or not there is an office closer, or how the experts intend to respond in a timely manner, but presumably that’s outlined in the proposed plan.

    Encana and the Luzerne County Emergency Management Agency are completing the draft disaster response plan now, and as soon as it’s ready, it will be released to the public for comment and feedback. Encana and Luzerne County are showing the way for other energy companies and municipalities. Plan now for the unthinkable, and when/if it happens, the severity will hopefully be less than it otherwise would have been because you have a plan.

    *Wilkes-Barre Times Leader (May 31) – Response to gas disaster in the works

  • | | | | |

    Penn Virginia Corporation Acquires 10,000 Marcellus Shale Acres in PA for $19.5M

    Penn Virginia Corporation (“PVA”) announced it has acquired approximately 10,000 net Marcellus Shale acres primarily in Potter, Somerset and Tioga Counties, Pennsylvania in two transactions for approximately $19.5 million in cash and overriding royalty interests on a portion of the acquired acreage.

    The first acquisition was from a private oil and gas firm who was PVA’s joint venture partner. The acquired leases were located primarily in Potter, Somerset and Tioga Counties, including approximately 7,900 net acres with Marcellus Shale rights and approximately 23,000 net acres with deeper rights. In connection with the acquisition, PVA granted the seller a 1.5 percent overriding royalty interest on the acquired acreage. After taking into account the override, PVA’s net revenue interest in the joint venture acreage is approximately 84 percent.

    The second acquisition was from another private oil and gas firm of leases primarily in Potter County covering approximately 2,100 net acres, with rights to the Marcellus Shale and all other formations.

    A. James Dearlove, President and Chief Executive Officer, said, “We are pleased to have expanded our Marcellus Shale acreage position from approximately 35,000 net acres to 45,000 net acres, and to have accomplished this expansion at a very attractive cost. We plan to begin testing the acreage in these areas later in 2010. In addition, we continue our leasing efforts and our review of other acquisition opportunities, as we seek to establish a significant presence in this emerging play over the next few years.”

    Source: Penn Virginia Corporation Announces Acquisitions in the Marcellus Shale (May 28)

  • | | | | | | | | |

    East Resources Sells to Royal Dutch Shell for $4.7 Billion, Deal Includes All of East’s Marcellus Shale Operations

    East Resources, a major drilling company in the Marcellus Shale, especially in Pennsylvania, is selling itself to Royal Dutch Shell for a whopping $4.7 billion. From drilling a single horizontal Marcellus Shale gas well in 2009, East has drilled some 75 horizontal wells in the past 12 months. East did have plans to drill 6,000-7,000 wells in Tioga County, PA over the next “several years” (see this MDN story). No word on the planned drilling for Tioga County and other regions, but MDN assume Shell did not invest in East to not drill. In fact, the pace of drilling may well pick up with Shell’s investment.

    From the East Resources press release:

    East Resources, Inc., a Pennsylvania-based independent oil and gas producer and one of the most active explorers in the Marcellus Shale, along with its private equity investor Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Company, signed a definitive agreement to sell the company’s principal subsidiaries to an affiliate of Royal Dutch Shell plc (“Shell”) for cash consideration of $4.7 billion. The sale includes East’s natural gas and oil exploration and production operations and most of its holdings in related businesses. With the purchase of East Resources, Shell will acquire approximately 650,000 net acres of Marcellus Shale rights in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and New York, and 1.05 million acres in total.

    East Resources, founded in 1983 by Terrence M. Pegula, has been one of the Appalachian Basin’s most active exploration and production companies for more than 25 years. Since its inception, East has grown primarily through its exploration successes, several strategic acquisitions, and most recently the development of the Marcellus Shale.

    East Resources employs approximately 300 office and field personnel in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, New York and Colorado. Its principal offices are located in Warrendale, PA, Broomfield, CO and Parkersburg, WV. Shell will continue to operate with East’s workforce to ensure continuing success in the growth and development of the reserves it will acquire in the purchase.

    The sale of East Resources to Shell is expected to close in two phases. The first phase of the sale will be completed in mid- to late summer. The second phase of the sale, including the sale of the West Virginia business, will close later this year, pending certain regulatory approvals.

    “The sale of the company to Shell will ensure that the capital needed to develop East’s significant Marcellus Shale holdings will be available,” says Mr. Pegula, East’s owner and Chief Executive Officer. “Shell’s entry into the region should benefit Pennsylvania, West Virginia and New York through significant new capital investment, new jobs and new business opportunities. I am very proud that this transaction has brought Shell into the Appalachian Basin.”

    President of Shell Oil Company, Marvin Odum commented, “East Resources’ management has built an excellent organization which we are pleased to have as we enter the northeast US and specifically the Marcellus Shale play.”*

    *East Resources Press Release (May 28) – East Resources Inc announces sales agreement with Royal Dutch Shell plc

  • | | | | | |

    Gas Drilling & Compressor Plants in DISH, TX Not Poisoning Local Population

    Since February of this year, Mayor Calvin Tillman from DISH, Texas has visited—several times—the Marcellus Shale regions of New York and Pennsylvania, sponsored by groups like Shaleshock and other anti-drilling organizations. Mayor Tillman claims that his small town in Texas, north of the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex area, has been contaminated by shale gas drilling. DISH is located in the Barnett Shale deposit. Some of the drilled gas wells are within the city limits, and others sit just outside of town. MDN attended one of Mayor Tillman’s presentations back in February and you can read about my impressions here. It’s a fair statement that Mayor Tillman has been a popular speaker for those opposed to drilling in the Marcellus Shale, drawing sizable crowds.

    One of the claims made by Mayor Tillman in his talks is that either local gas wells, or the compressor plants used to pressurize shale gas for area pipelines, or both is polluting DISH and its citizens. DISH is unusual in that there are 11 large pipelines in the DISH area, far more than normally found in a single location (the most in one area for shale gas that MDN is aware of). Odors are coming from the compressor plants, so it’s certainly not a stretch to think that if you can smell it, it may be polluting or causing harm. That was Mayor Tillman’s suspicion, so he used city funds to conduct environmental testing in the DISH area, and separately another organization performed a health “survey” of current and former DISH residents (for free). Problem is, both the environmental testing and the health survey were flawed in their methodologies, which casts doubt on the findings. So the Texas Department of State Health Services stepped in to do a scientific health study using blood and tissue samples.

    Agency officials collected biological samples from 28 Dish residents in late January to see whether levels of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in their blood were higher than those in the broader population. “We were looking to see whether a single contaminant or a handful of contaminants were notably elevated in many or all of the people we tested,” said Dr. Carrie Bradford, the toxicologist who led the investigation.*

    And what was the conclusion of the Department of State Health?

    Texas health officials found no connection between pollution from a natural gas compressor station in Dish, Texas and levels of toxins in the blood of people living nearby.*

    The new report from the Department of State Health Services says levels of benzene and other contaminants was no higher in Dish residents than in the nation’s population in general.**

    MDN wonders if the now less than credible Mayor Tillman will still be such a large draw when he comes calling again?

    *Elimra Star-Gazette (May 26) – Texas gas study finds no pattern of elevated toxins near compressor
    **Dallas Fort Worth – Channel 33 News (May 12) – DISH Report: No evidence gas well hurting residents of Dish, Texas

  • |

    New Website Resource for Marcellus Shale Workers Coming to PA

    Marcellus Shale drilling in Pennsylvania continues to bring business, and people, to the state. Now there’s a new website to assist out-of-staters who need a place to stay:

    STATE COLLEGE, Pa.—Workers traveling to the Marcellus Shale natural gas deposit in Pennsylvania now have a valuable online travel guide dedicated to helping find accommodations in Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale region.

    MarcellusShaleHotels.com offers those coming to stay in the area information on hotels with short and long-term stay options. All the hotels featured on the site offer special rates to those coming to work on the Marcellus Shale.

    Michael Szczesny is the Director of Operations at the State College hotels featured on the resource site. He’s eager to assist Marcellus Shale companies with their lodging needs.

    “All our State College properties are either adjacent to or within walking distance to restaurants such as Outback Steakhouse, Olive Garden, Otto’s Microbrewery and Texas Roadhouse,” Szczesny said. “We are offering both short and long-term stays to accommodate the requirements of each company.”

    Each of the hotels featured on the site is just minutes away from various locations in Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale region and offers amenities designed to accommodate every guest.

    Locations of properties on the site range from Lock Haven to State College and down to Pittsburgh. To learn more about hotels in the Marcellus Shale region of Pennsylvania, visit MarcellusShaleHotels.com today.*

    *Business Wire (May 26) – Marcellus Shale Website a Resource to Those Traveling to Work Pennsylvania’s Gas Field

  • | | |

    PA Gas Driller Bonds Will Skyrocket from $2,500 to $150,000 per Marcellus Gas Well Under Proposed Legislation

    Pennsylvania lawmakers, both Democrat and Republican, agree that bonds posted by drillers need to increase—dramatically. The bonds are used to cover the costs of plugging or closing natural gas wells. The current bond requirements date back to 1984.

    Drillers are required to post a $2,500 bond for a single well and $25,000 blanket bond to cover any number of wells under current law. A measure sponsored by Rep. Camille George, D-74, Houtzdale, would require a $150,000-per-well bond for any well in the Marcellus Shale formation and $12,000 bond on other oil and gas wells. George, chairman of the House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee, also proposes setting a $240,000 blanket bond, while prohibiting blanket bonds for wells in the Marcellus Shale formation. He suggested those amounts would cover the actual costs of decommissioning.

    *Hazelton Standard Speaker (May 23) – Marcellus drilling spurs calls for higher bonds

  • | |

    The “Father of the Marcellus Shale” Predicts Marcellus is Only the Beginning – Other Layers Rich with Shale Gas Too

    William Zagorski, Range Resources Vice President of geology in Appalachia and the man known as “the father of the Marcellus Shale” is making some new predictions about the potential for natural gas in the Appalachian (eastern) region of the U.S.

    Zagorski said two new shale formations – the Utica Shale deeper below the surface and the shallower Upper Devonian Shale – were “in the same ballpark” as the [production potential of the] Marcellus.*

    Zagorski is not the only one looking beyond the Marcellus Shale:

    Cabot Oil & Gas Corp., a Houston company, disclosed to analysts last year that it had drilled a successful horizontal well through the Purcell Limestone in its Marcellus acreage in Susquehanna County north of Scranton. The Purcell Limestone is an intermediate stratum sandwiched between two layers of the Marcellus Shale.*

    Cabot is thinking they may be able to run pairs of horizontal wells at different depths from the same bore hole. And all of the infrastructure being built for Marcellus Shale gas can also be used for shale gas from other layers.

    A few months ago at a meeting in Binghamton, NY, James Ladlee from Penn State Cooperative Extension made the prediction that we are only at the beginning of the natural gas boom in the northeast, and it will last for the next 80-100 years. With shale gas being discovered in other layers, it’s easy to see why Mr. Ladlee and others are bullish on the prospects for natural gas in the Marcellus and beyond.

    *Philadelphia Inquirer (May 23) – Firms find more gas beyond the Marcellus field

  • Is Methane Migration from Marcellus Gas Drilling Causing Deaths?

    The May 23 Sunday edition of the Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin (PSB) ran an article titled, “Pa. seeks stronger drilling rules to combat methane migration.” At least the headline is accurate. Pennsylvania is indeed attempting to prevent a recurrence of the situation at Dimock, PA which was a failure to properly case a well that led to methane (natural gas) migration into local groundwater supplies. Nothing wrong with good oversight and slapping the offending driller with fines to make sure it doesn’t happen again. But the PSB started their latest anti-drilling narrative with this opening paragraph:

    Methane migration related to natural gas drilling has caused death, injuries and property damage in Pennsylvania, leading to plans for stronger regulations and enforcement efforts.*

    There you have it—methane migration is causing death. The proof that drilling causes death offered by the PSB? They cite the case of a house explosion in Jefferson County, PA in 2004 due to methane migration that killed three people. That case is a tragedy to be sure and not to be trivialized. But the problem is, it wasn’t due to a horizontally drilled Marcellus Shale gas well like we have today. Horizontally drilled wells did not start to happen until 2006 (with Range Resources). So while it may have been a gas well in Jefferson County that led to an explosion in a nearby house, it was not a horizontally drilled Marcellus gas well. The implied meaning is that the drilling happening today is unsafe and leads to deaths—which is untrue.

    The latest apples and oranges comparison is to equate the tragedy of the oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico and BP’s response with drilling on land for a different fuel—natural gas—and try to infer that all energy companies are greedy and all drilling of any kind is unsafe. “Better to wait until we know more. Better to wait until it’s 100 percent safe. The gas has been there for jillions of years and isn’t going anywhere.” Bunkum.

    Let’s talk about risk

    If you’re alive, you are at risk. Every day you live you experience risk of some type. Risk of getting in a car accident. Risk that lightning will strike you. Risk of a heart attack. How do you deal with it? Minimize the risk if you can, and if you can’t, don’t stress over it. Life is a risk. Here’s the reality: If you drill 10,000 gas wells, one of them will have a problem of some kind. Methane migration, flowback spillage, a truck with chemicals runs off the road and spills something, a worker gets killed. Of all the Marcellus wells drilled, accidents have been very few in number—but they do happen. It’s life. We can ban all drilling, but how would you like to pay double or triple for your energy? How would you like to be cold in the winter? How would you like the government to tell you how many miles you can drive in a day because there isn’t enough energy (oil, gas, natural gas) to meet demand? Or what if the Middle Eastern countries suddenly stopped sending us oil? If that were to happen, there would be far more deaths due to severe energy shortages than you’ll ever have from Marcellus gas drilling. It’s a tradeoff. You don’t simply ban drilling because there will be an accident somewhere, someday.

    A second example: One in every 10,000 bridges will fail. No idea if that’s the real number…again, this is an example. So because one in 10,000 (or 5,000, or 15,000) fails, does that mean we should stop building bridges? Because someone dies, tragically, from a bridge failure, or because there is property damage from a bridge failure, should we immediately cease and perhaps even ban traffic over bridges? Try going one mile from your own home without crossing a bridge—you can’t do it! It’s nonsense. But it’s no more nonsense than what is being peddled by anti-drillers whose aim to ban all drilling.

    No industry, including natural gas drilling, oil drilling and bridge building, can be subjected to a standard of perfection, no matter how much we strive for it and want it. Don’t fall for Chicken Little arguments that the sky is falling.

    *Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin (May 23) – Pa. seeks stronger drilling rules to combat methane migration

  • | | |

    PA DEP Secretary Hanger Summons Marcellus Shale Drillers to Meeting, Asks Them to Comply with Unratified New Drilling Rules

    After the PA Secretary for the Department of Environmental Protection, John Hanger, summoned Marcellus Shale drilling companies to a meeting, he proceeded to “challenge” them to comply with new drilling rules that likely won’t be adopted until this fall. Talk about arrogant.

    “I urged the industry to implement the stronger standards immediately and not wait for the rule to be finalized,” Mr. Hanger said. “I challenged the industry to set a world-class example.”

    The summit came ahead of action by the state Environmental Quality Board on Monday on several proposed regulations to require that oil field-grade cement be used in Marcellus Shale wells, to delineate responsibility and notification procedures for gas migration problems and to strengthen requirements for treating drilling wastewater and limiting sediment erosion from wells. Mr. Hanger expects the rules to be adopted by fall.*

    Certainly nothing wrong with new rules to help prevent a repeat of the situation in Dimock, PA from recurring, which supposedly the new rules will help guard against. However, MDN continues to notice that Hanger’s tone is increasingly confrontational rather than collaborative.

    *Scranton Times Tribune (May 14) – DEP head asks gas drillers to comply with new rules

  • | | | |

    Bradford County, PA Experiencing a Job Boom, Leads Entire State in Net Job Growth

    Bradford County, PA Little, rural Bradford County located in northeastern Pennsylvania is seeing a boom in new jobs:

    According to the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry and the Center for Workforce Information and Analysis, Bradford County led the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in net job growth from March of 2009 to March 2010.

    According to the Northern Tier Regional Planning & Development Commission (NTRPDC), the 2,000 jobs gained represented a 7.2 percent increase while most counties suffered losses in employment. Bradford County saw the unemployment rate drop from 10 percent a year ago to 7.4 percent now.*

    And also this:

    Tioga County [PA] gained 800 jobs, the third-best improvement of the Commonwealth’s 67 counties.*

    How can that be? Simple: Both counties have very active Marcellus Shale drilling.

    *Wyalusing Rocket-Courier (May 13) – Bradford County Leads Commonwealth in Job Growth

  • | | | |

    Steuben County, NY May Accept Marcellus Drill Cuttings in County Landfill

    Like neighboring Chemung County, NY, officials in Steuben County, NY are actively considering accepting Marcellus drill cuttings (leftover dirt and rock from drilling gas wells) in the county landfill. Drillers over the border in Pennsylvania are looking for a location to dump the cuttings. The debate over whether to accept drill cuttings always centers on whether there is radioactivity in the cuttings and if it will become a problem down the road when liquids leach from the landfill into groundwater supplies. Chemung County has done extensive research and finds the radioactivity levels to be very low—and safe. Chemung County currently accepts drill cuttings, and now Steuben County is considering it too.

    “Right now, we’re just talking about relatively small amounts we would bring in, if we brought it in. We want to be sure of ourselves though,” said Steuben County public works commissioner Vince Spagnoletti.*

    As with Chemung County, economics is driving the decision for Steuben County as well:

    Spagnoletti says bringing in around 10,000 tons per year of the drill cuttings could raise around $300,000 to the operational budget of the landfill.*

    That’s a potential $300,000 that taxpayers would not have to pony up.

    *YNN Your News Now (May 11) – Steuben County may allow Marcellus shale debris to be dumped in landfill