PA Marcellus News Digest: September 2012

Friday, September 28, 2012

PA Marcellus News Digest 9/28/12

PA Marcellus News Digest

September 28, 2012

Articles

MSC president in Philadelphia Inquirer: Marcellus Shale transforming Pa.
NorthcentralPA.com
Kathryn Z. Klaber
Sept 28
Philadelphia’s access to key waterways and markets – bolstered by the commonwealth’s rich natural resources – has long positioned Southeastern Pennsylvania as a powerful economic engine. Philadelphia’s piers, and the region’s economy, have long been sustained by coal, petroleum, and other energy resources.
Link: http://www.northcentralpa.com/feeditem/2012-09-28_msc-president-philadelphia-inquirer-marcellus-shale-transforming-pa

PECO Electric rates to increase more than 20% on October 1st 2012
Examiner
Robert Magyar
Sept 27
Next Monday on October 1st PECO Electric increases their primary residential electric rates by more than 21%. The current PECO price for residential electricity is .0864 cents per kilowatt hour which increases to .1050 cents per kilowatt hour next Monday. After adding transmission, distribution and other charges, PECO customers will be paying around 17 and half cents per kilowatt hour heading into the winter season.
Link: http://www.examiner.com/article/peco-electric-rates-to-increase-more-than-20-on-october-1st-2012

Natural Gas Pipelines to Expand U.S. Supply Glut: Energy Markets
Bloomberg Businessweek
Naureen S. Malik
Sept 26
Natural gas pipelines coming into service by year end may boost deliveries from the Marcellus shale deposit in the U.S. Northeast by 30 percent, extending a supply glut that helped send prices to decade lows.
Link: http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-09-26/natural-gas-pipelines-to-expand-u-dot-s-dot-supply-glut-energy-markets

Fracking Suspense Cuts Into Second-Home Sales
NY Times
Mireya Navarro
Green Blog
Sept 28
As I report in the real estate section of The Times, many would-be buyers are deferring purchases of second homes in upstate New York out of concern that hydraulic fracturing might be allowed nearby. For now, no one knows whether Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s administration will allow this controversial natural gas drilling process to go forward.
Link: http://green.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/28/fracking-suspense-cuts-into-second-home-sales/

Gas industry, anti-drilling group in flap over logos
Inquirer
Andrew Maykuth
Sept 28
The Shale Gas Insight conference ended last week in Philadelphia, but the battle between the natural gas industry and anti-drilling activists goes on.
Link: http://www.philly.com/philly/business/20120928_Gas_industry__anti-drilling_group_in_flap_over_logos.html

Md. gas drilling panel discussing best practices
Bloomberg Businessweek
AP
Sept 28
CUMBERLAND, Md. (AP) — A state panel studying prospects for hydraulic fracturing for natural gas in western Maryland is trying to pinpoint the best practices used elsewhere.
Link: http://www.businessweek.com/ap/2012-09-28/md-dot-gas-drilling-panel-discussing-best-practices

Marcellus production boosts prominence, liquidity of budding Northeast markets
Platts
Samantha Santa Maria
Sept 27
September 27, 2012 - The continued growth of Marcellus Shale gas production is bringing two Northeast pricing hubs — Millennium Pipeline, East receipts, and Texas Eastern Transmission zone M-2 — to the forefront as these new supplies seek alternative transportation options.
Link: http://www.platts.com/newsfeature/2012/naturalgas/gaspricing/index

EdgeMarc Energy Holdings ready to drop anchor in Marcellus
Pittsburgh Business Times
Anya Litvak
Sept 28
Against the backdrop of multinational energy giants gobbling up smaller gas companies to get a bigger share of the Marcellus Shale, a private equity-backed, five-man team is out to build a presence from the ground up.
Link: http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/print-edition/2012/09/28/edgemarc-ready-to-drop-anchor-marcellus.html

Columbia Gas of Pa. seeks 23 percent rate hike
Beaver County Times
AP
Sept 28
CANONSBURG, Pa. (AP) — Columbia Gas of Pennsylvania wants the state to approve a 23.4 percent rate hike the utility says will raise $77.3 million a year to help it replace aging pipelines.
Link: http://www.timesonline.com/news/local_news/columbia-gas-of-pa-seeks-percent-rate-hike/article_967472b0-c993-5b5b-9c57-3e9403e3a5e8.html

Study: States Fail to Enforce Marcellus Shale Drilling Regulations
Sewickley Patch
Amanda Gillooly
Sept 26
Earthworks, a non-profit, released a new research study Tuesday indicating that states across the country—including Pennsylvania—are failing to enforce their own oil and gas development regulations.
Link: http://sewickley.patch.com/articles/study-states-fail-to-enforce-marcellus-shale-drilling-regulations-ea8fde5f

The Marcellus Shale Saves a Refinery
Daily Finance
Aimee Duffy, The Motley Fool
Sept 28
Over the past few years, the U.S. energy scene has been completely turned on its head. Suddenly, there is energy gushing from regions that hadn't produced a thing in decades. As oil and gas flows up from our wells in mind-boggling quantities in non-traditional markets, it isn't unusual to read about pipelines switching directions or converting from oil to natural gas and vice versa.
Link: http://www.dailyfinance.com/2012/09/28/the-marcellus-shale-saves-a-refinery/

The Heron's Nest: In the Hook, We Shale Overcome
Daily Times
Phil Heron
Opinion
Sept 27
[...]Sunoco Logistics yesterday announced plans to go ahead with a plan to convert the refinery to a processing center for Marcellus Shale products, including propane and ethane.
Link: http://www.delcotimes.com/articles/2012/09/27/opinion/doc5064306ddaad2211695773.txt

Sunoco’s Marcus Hook plant gets boost from Marcellus Shale project
Daily Times
Kathleen E. Carey
Sept 27
Sunoco Logistics Partners LP announced they reaped a successful open season for the Mariner East project — a new future for the former Marcus Hook refinery — bringing with it a potential of 450 construction jobs.
Link: http://www.delcotimes.com/articles/2012/09/27/news/doc5063c3a292ded468247308.txt

FW: PA Marcellus News Digest 9/28/12

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Subject: PA Marcellus News Digest 9/28/12

PA Marcellus News Digest

September 28, 2012

Articles

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Thursday, September 27, 2012

PA Marcellus News Digest 9/27/12

PA Marcellus News Digest

September 27, 2012

Special: PBCCG presents: "CAFO and HYDRAULIC FRACTURING CONFERENCE" - Democracy Fractured October 28, 2012 See details following articles

Articles

About 4,500 gallons of treated water enters Pine Creek
Sun-Gazette
Savannah Dempsey
Sept 27
JERSEY SHORE - An unspecified amount of treated frack water ran into Pine Creek following a tractor-trailer crash about 1 p.m. Wednesday just south of Ramsey along Route 44.
Link: http://www.sungazette.com/page/content.detail/id/583822/About-4-500-gallons-of-treated-water-enters-creek.html?nav=5011

Drilling's impact on health ignored
Intelligencer Journal
Letter to the Editor
Sept 26
With all the recent news of the $200 million received in impact fees in Pennsylvania, but with little coverage of where those dollars are spent, I would like to share what I learned from reading Act 13:
Distribution: Conservation districts $2.5 million (2011), $5 million (2012), $7.5 million (2013 and thereafter); gas development, $10 million (2011), $7.5 million (2012) and $2.5 million (2013).
Link: http://lancasteronline.com/article/local/744199_Drilling-s-impact-on-health-ignored.html

Former Sunoco refinery in Marcus Hook will process Marcellus Shale products
Inquirer
Andrew Maykuth
Sept 27
Sunoco Inc. announced Wednesday that its shuttered Marcus Hook refinery would be reborn as a facility to process Marcellus Shale natural-gas products, fueling new construction and traffic through the Delaware River port.
Link: http://www.philly.com/philly/business/homepage/20120927_Former_Sunoco_refinery_in_Marcus_Hook_will_process_Marcellus_Shale_products.html

School drilling lease bill heads to Corbett
Universities will get to share revenues
Post-Gazette
Laura Olson
Sept 27
HARRISBURG -- A bill is headed to Gov. Tom Corbett to allow Pennsylvania's state-owned universities to keep the proceeds if a college decides to lease land for gas drilling.
Link: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/state/school-drilling-lease-bill-heads-to-corbett-655011/

Butler Transit gets $2.4 million for nat gas fueling station
Post-Gazette
Karen Kane
Sept 27
A $2.4 million federal grant to equip the Butler Transit Authority with a natural gas fueling station was thrilling news for authority executive John Paul.
Link: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/neighborhoods-north/butler-transit-gets-24-million-for-fueling-station-655060/

Several express opposition to natural gas pipeline
Times-Tribune
David Falchek
Sept 27
NEW MILFORD - Staff members of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission got an earful of opposition to natural gas at a public hearing Wednesday in New Milford on the proposed Constitution Pipeline.
Link: http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/several-express-opposition-to-natural-gas-pipeline-1.1379639

Resident challenges: PUC to review some local Marcellus drilling laws
Post-Gazette
Janice Crompton
Sept 27
Officials in Robinson, Washington County, have filed a formal, strongly worded response to the state Public Utility Commission, as the agency begins reviews of several local shale gas ordinances.
Link: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/local/neighborhoods-south/resident-challenges-puc-to-review-some-local-marcellus-drilling-laws-655097/

Report criticizes Pa. gas drilling enforcement
Times Leader
Kevin Begos, AP
Sept 26
PITTSBURGH — Pennsylvania regulators aren’t inspecting tens of thousands of oil and gas wells even once a year, a new report says. But state officials say they’re inspecting most new wells in the Marcellus Shale region, which is the right place to focus.
Link: http://www.timesleader.com/stories/Report-criticizes-Pa-gas-drilling-enforcement,209934

The bunker at PA Dept. of Conservation and Natural Resources
Jan Jarrett's Ad Hoc Blog
Sept 27
Dr. Paulette Viola, Professor of Park Resource Management at Slippery Rock University, has served for 19 years through both Republican and Democratic administrations as an official advisor to Pennsylvania’s environmental regulatory and natural resource management agencies. Yesterday she resigned from her advisory position at the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources’ (DCNR) Conservation and Natural Resources Advisory Council (CNRAC) out of her frustration over the current administration’s hostility to public input.
Link: http://jjadhoc.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-bunker-at-pa-dept-of-conservation.html

PBCCG presents: "CAFO and HYDRAULIC FRACTURING CONFERENCE" - Democracy Fractured
(complete information below)
Dickenson College
204 N College St,
Carlisle, Pennsylvania 17013-2304
Sunday, October 28, 2012
12:00pm until 6:30pm

Join us as keynote speakers and community leaders address the challenges to PA’s agricultural heritage, from factory farms to Marcellus Shale natural gas extraction and biosolids. We will examine the economics, public health, animal health, environmental impacts, food safety and the influence of powerful well lobbied industries on our farms, economic policy, regulation and democracy. How do we protect ourselves? What happens when state agencies and government fail to protect us? How do we invest in policies that benefit our independent farms and rural communities? How do we sustain our environment and keep local independent farms viable?

-Patrick Baron: Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health - Public Health Implications and Industrialized Animal Production/ Antibiotics and MRSA

-Kathy Martin: Environmental Specialist - Community and Environmental Impact of CAFOs and Hydraulic Fracturing of Marcellus Shale

-Craig Watts: North Carolina Poultry Contract Farmer - What goes on behind those steel doors? See industrialized animal production through the eyes of a contract farmer.

-Terry Spence: Missouri Beef Cattle farmer /SRAP Consultant –What is preventing progressive changes to our food system? Subsidies and influence in agribusiness.

-Charlie Speer : Speer Law Firm – What happens when federal, state and local governments are not doing enough to regulate pollution from industry?

-Julie Huntsman: Veterinarian and NY Council Woman – Effects on livestock near hydraulic fracturing. What about animal health and food safety?

-Ron Gulla: Ron tirelessly educates about the effects of industrial gas development on his 141 acre farm in Southwestern Pennsylvania. "Marcellus Man of the Year".

-Terry Greenwood: Beef Cattle farmer in SW PA who will talk about his experience with gas drilling, loss of water source and cattle.

-Carol French / Carolyn Knapp: PA Dairy farmers (PLGAS) and co-founders of Pennsylvania Landowner Group for Awareness and Solutions. They will talk about leases and share how drilling has impacted their family, farms and livestock.

Sponsored by: Peach Bottom Concerned Citizens and Socially Responsible Agriculture Project
Contact: Maria Payan to reserve a seat 717-456-5800 email: payans@zoominternet.netOr mail check to: PBCCG, P.O. Box 307 Delta PA 17314 Student - Requested Donation $10 General Public - Requested Donation $20

-or here through our website:http://www.pbccg.com/ https://dl.dropbox.com/u/86279013/PBCCG%202012%20Dickinson%20Conference%20comp%20f.pdf

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

PA Marcellus News Digest 9/26/12

PA Marcellus News Digest

Septermber 26, 2012

Releases

RESOURCE EXTRACTION BILL RECEIVES FINAL APPROVAL
SENATE BILL 367 HEADED TO GOVERNOR FOR ENACTMENT INTO LAW
Wallaby
Sept 26
Legislation introduced by Senator Don White allowing the leasing of property owned by the state and the State System of Higher Education (SSHE) for mining or removal of valuable coal, oil, natural gas, coal bed methane, limestone and mineral resources received final legislative approval Tuesday (September 25) and is headed to the Governor for enactment into law.
Link: http://wallaby.telicon.com/PA/library/2012/2012092572.HTM

Mansfield and Other State-Owned Universities to Benefit from Mineral Extraction on University Property, Says Baker
Wallaby
Sept 25
HARRISBURG – Legislation permitting state-owned universities, such as Mansfield University, to profit from the extraction of minerals on their lands is headed to the governor’s desk, announced Rep. Matt Baker (R-Bradford/Tioga), a supporter of the bill and member of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE) Board of Governors.
Link: http://wallaby.telicon.com/PA/library/2012/2012092560.HTM

Articles

Western Pa. natural gas destined for Europe
Pitt Trib
Tim Puko
Sept 26
More natural gas from Western Pennsylvania will flow to Europe as part of a Philadelphia company’s new export pipeline project, a company official said on Tuesday.
Link: http://triblive.com/business/2669167-74/gas-company-export-propane-europe-markwest-philadelphia-prices-ethane-natural#axzz27bP9t8cI

Newly passed bill will allow mining and drilling near state-owned institutions
Inquirer
Andrew Maykuth
Sept 26
State universities in Pennsylvania could soon get a front-row seat on the Marcellus Shale industry.
Link: http://www.philly.com/philly/business/20120926_Newly_passed_bill_will_allow_mining_and_drilling_near_state-owned_institutions.html

Report criticizes Pa. gas drilling enforcement
Times-Tribune
AP
Sept 26
PITTSBURGH (AP) — A new report says that Pennsylvania regulators aren't inspecting tens of thousands of oil and gas wells even once a year. But state officials say they're inspecting most new Marcellus Shale wells, and that's the right place to focus.
Link: http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/report-criticizes-pa-gas-drilling-enforcement-1.1379113

Shale health advisory panel in works
Times-Tribune
Robert Swift
Sept 26
HARRISBURG - A Senate Republican leader is drafting a bill to create a panel to address public health and safety issues stemming from drilling operations in the Marcellus Shale region.
Link: http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/shale-health-advisory-panel-in-works-1.1378555

Environmental group says states fail to oversee fracking
Post-Gazette
Kasia Klimasinska
Sept 26
WASHINGTON -- States fail to adequately monitor hydraulic fracturing and use outdated fines that are inadequate to deter violations, an environmental group said Tuesday.
Link: http://www.post-gazette.com/stories/news/us/environmental-group-says-states-fail-to-oversee-fracking-654922/

Top Republican Floats Proposal To Create Marcellus Shale Health Panel
NPR State Impact
Scott Detrow
Sept 26
Link: http://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/2012/09/26/top-republican-floats-proposal-to-create-marcellus-shale-health-panel/

Support renewable energy, not gas
Pocono Record
Lynnel Jones
Letter to the Editor
Sept 25
There are things about fracking which amaze me. Like, what happened to the "locals-know-best" policy extolled by our Republican governor and the Republican-controlled legislature? The answer is they decided it's a good idea for wealthy counties in southeast Pennsylvania to establish their own anti-fracking ordinances and equally good for the rest of us to be preempted from local control.
Link: http://www.poconorecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20120925/NEWS04/209250306

Shale Gas Conference in Center City Philadelphia Draws Protesters
CBS Local
John McDevitt
Sept 20
(includes video)
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — Nearly 2,000 members of the natural gas industry are in Philadelphia for the Shale Gas Insight convention, and it’s bringing opposition — with protesters demanding an end to fracking in Pennsylvania.
Link: http://philadelphia.cbslocal.com/2012/09/20/shale-gas-conference-in-center-city-philadelphia-draws-protesters/

In Philly symposium, experts debate health effects of fracking
WHYY Newsworks
Taunya English
Sept 21
Advocates and researchers studying the influence of shale-gas drilling on health gathered in Philadelphia to discuss their work this week. The symposium was scheduled to coincide with the Shale Gas Insight Conference, which is also in town.
Link: http://www.newsworks.org/index.php/homepage-feature/item/44596-in-philly-symposium-experts-debate-health-effects-of-fracking

State oil and gas rules weak with spotty enforcement -- enviro report
E&E News Energy Wire
Ellen M. Gilmer
Sept 26
(full text below)
Environmentalists are again sounding an alarm on lax enforcement of state oil and gas regulations.

A report issued by Earthworks yesterday says more than half of oil and gas wells go uninspected and that fines for violations amount to pocket change for the industry.

The study breaks down enforcement patterns in six states -- Colorado, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas -- and includes recommendations for increased oversight.

"To be honest, it was a little depressing," said Earthworks attorney Bruce Baizel, who described the states' enforcement practices to be "uniformly poor."

The report comes as industry continues its appeal to keep states in charge of oil and gas regulation, and as GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney's energy plan calls for pushing more industry matters to the states. Baizel points to the new report as evidence that states are not equipped to handle increased oversight responsibility.

The Earthworks report recommends a significant increase in penalties, which researchers say could contribute to more stable funding for regulating agencies -- often subject to state budget trimming -- and a resulting decrease in violations.

"You have to make them feel it in the pocketbook, and that'll make them change their behavior," Baizel said.

Industry representatives were quick to defend state regulators, referring also to Obama administration praise of state programs.

"The states are regulating hydraulic fracturing effectively and are fully capable of handling it on a larger scale as shale development expands," top White House aide Heather Zichal said in May.

Elgie Holstein, an energy adviser for the Obama campaign, told "Platts Energy Week" last week that "the states are doing a good job" regulating natural gas development.

"This report mis-represents information to elicit a negative view of natural gas development," wrote Energy in Depth's John Krohn in an email, arguing that violations in Pennsylvania, for example, are in fact decreasing.

The Ohio Oil and Gas Association, too, defended state-level oversight, saying in a statement from Executive Vice President Tom Stewart that the state's oversight agency "is taking the necessary steps to ensure that Ohio's growing oil and gas industry expands in a safe and responsible manner."

Indeed, the state increased the agency's budget and announced that it aimed to triple its staff by early 2013 to 90 inspectors (EnergyWire, May 11).

Earthworks representatives argue that more robust state regulatory programs are in the industry's interest, as they would demonstrate to concerned residents that all possible measures are being taken to ensure safe drilling.

"It just seems to me that if you don't [improve enforcement]," Baizel said, "then you'll see more and more people just saying, 'It can't be done responsibly at all, so let's just ban it.'"

Baizel said New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) was taking the report into consideration as the state develops shale drilling policy, and that Matt Lepore, new director of the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, had read the report and was looking to implement recommendations.

Monday, September 24, 2012

PA Marcellus News Digest 9/24/12

PA Marcellus News Digest

September 24, 2012

Releases

SRBC MET SEPTEMBER 20: APPROVED 22 PROJECTS; WAIVED PARTIAL FEES WHEN APPLICATIONS ARE WITHDRAWNWallaby
Sept 20
HARRISBURG, Pa. – The Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC; www.srbc.net) held its quarterly business meeting today in Harrisburg, Pa. Among its actions, SRBC approved:
- 22 water withdrawal and consumptive use applications and tabled 6 applications (see list below);
- the partial waiver of application fees when a project sponsor withdraws an application prior to SRBC beginning its technical review;
- request by Talon Holdings, LLC for a conditional transfer extension related to the Hawk Valley Golf Course, Lancaster County, Pa.; and
- a corrective docket to Nature’s Way Purewater Systems, Inc. (Covington Springs Borehole), Dupont Borough, Luzerne County, Pa.
Link: http://wallaby.telicon.com/PA/library/2012/2012092067.HTM

Shale Gas Outrage speakers, marchers push to stop fracking, support renewable energy, efficience, conservation
Protesters from shale gas “sacrifice zones” and downstream communities protest industry conference, press for fracking bans and moratoria
Wallaby
Sept 21
People from throughout Pennsylvania and the shale regions of neighboring New York, Ohio, West Virginia and beyond, along with downstreamers from Maryland and Delaware, joined together to protest the Marcellus Shale Coalition’s industry convention in downtown Philadelphia yesterday, making a unified statement to “Stop Fracking Now.”
Link: http://wallaby.telicon.com/PA/library/2012/2012092199.HTM

Articles

Who you callin' 'unreasoning'?
Pocono Record
Editorial
Sept 24
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett is treading dangerous ground by speaking of gas-drilling detractors as "unreasoning opposition." That insult is likely only to inflame anti-drilling sentiment — surely not the result the governor wanted.
Link: http://www.poconorecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20120924/NEWS04/209240329

Public invited to drilling impact discussion
Sun-Gazette
Cheryl R. Clarke
Sept 23
WELLSBORO - A panel discussion about the impact on Tioga County of drilling in the Marcellus Shale natural gas formation and the signing of the Community Compact with the natural gas industry are on the agenda for the Tioga County Partnership for Community Health's annual meeting Thursday from 8 to 10 a.m. at the Deane Center's Grand Community Room, 100 Main St..
The public is encouraged to attend and is asked to reserve a seat by emailing to tiogap@epix.net or calling 723-0520.
Link: http://www.sungazette.com/page/content.detail/id/583619/Public-invited-to-drilling-impact-discussion.html?nav=5014

Carnegie Mellon effort puts shale data online
Pitt Trib
Matthew Santoni
Sept 24
Faced with a scattered body of research and background information about the booming Marcellus and Utica shale industries, officials and students at Carnegie Mellon University have compiled a searchable “bibliography” of more than 1,000 documents online.
Link: http://triblive.com/news/2631884-74/database-brashear-strauss-information-association-category-drilling-knittel-officials-carnegie#axzz27OTsGMYD

Professor urges expansion of DEP’s responsibilities during environmental permitting
Times Leader
Tom Barnard
Commentary
Sept 23
ON AUG. 25 this newspaper published a commentary authored by Michael Krancer, secretary of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection that reviewed his department’s efforts to comply with Governor Corbert’s executive order. That order directed the department to develop and implement procedures to streamline the environmental permitting process. A draft policy has been published and the public has until Oct. 1 to submit comments.
Link: http://www.timesleader.com/stories/Professor-urges-expansion-of-DEPs-responsibilities-during-environmental-permitting-COMMENTARY-TOM-BARNARD,208547

As gas industry heats up, potentially radioactive waste materials are shipped out – but at what cost?
Times Online
Rachel Morgan
Sept 22
As the natural gas industry in Pennsylvania expands at a breakneck pace, drillers are looking outside the state to store radioactive brine wastewater from Marcellus shale well sites.
Link: http://www.timesonline.com/news/local_news/as-gas-industry-heats-up-potentially-radioactive-waste-materials-are/article_a90de208-5c79-5d05-b89a-7468fc1de642.html

Natural-gas impact to last generations
Pitt Trib
Timothy Puko
Sept 21
PHILADELPHIA — The Marcellus shale rock layer is just one of three under the Appalachian region that could produce natural gas for generations, Range Resources Corp. Executive Chairman John H. Pinkerton said at an industry conference here on Friday.
Link: http://triblive.com/home/2645103-74/gas-conference-industry-fund-group-mayor-nutter-philadelphia-protect-shale#axzz2775P0ijV

Protesters urge damage payment
PennEnvironment comes to Wilkes-Barre to call for a halt to gas drilling for now.
Times Leader
Jerry Lynott
Sept 20
WILKES-BARRE – The environmental advocacy group PennEnvironment Policy & Research Center Thursday called for the halt of hydraulic fracturing by natural gas drillers in the state until they can provide long-term coverage of the costs associated with the “dirty drilling” practice.
Link: http://www.timesleader.com/stories/Protesters-urge-damage-payment,207587?category_id=487&town_id=1&sub_type=stories

Shaky Ground: Farmer fears for future as gas drilling begins near scores of abandoned well sites
"I thought Vietnam was the last war I was ever going to have to protest."
Pittsburgh City Paper
Charlie Deitch
Sept 19
[...]What was, in August, a neighbor's smooth dirt field will soon be the site of a natural-gas drilling rig. By Sept. 12, the large white-blue-and-yellow rig was resting on its side, ready to be lifted in position. Once that happens in the next few weeks, a subsidiary of Shell Oil and Gas will begin "fracking" operations: pumping large quantities of water laced with chemicals into the ground under high pressure, fracturing the rock and forcing the natural gas to the surface.
Link: http://www.pghcitypaper.com/pittsburgh/shaky-ground-farmer-fears-for-future-as-gas-drilling-begins-near-scores-of-abandoned-well-sites/Content?oid=1567222

Video, Story: Westminster considers leasing for gas drilling
New Castle News
Sept 21
NEW CASTLE — Westminster College is weighing economic benefits and environmental unknowns as it considers leasing school property to drill gas wells.
Link: http://www.ncnewsonline.com/topstories/x354156932/Video-Story-Westminster-considers-leasing-for-gas-drilling

Enviro group, reps at odds on ANF
Times Observer
Josh Cotton
Sept 20
A Philadelphia-based environmental group is crying foul over measures that, in its estimation, would put the Allegheny National Forest at risk.
Link: http://www.timesobserver.com/page/content.detail/id/559748/Enviro-group--reps-at-odds-on-ANF.html?nav=5006

White joins other lawmakers in Act 13 appeal
Observer-Reporter
Scott Beveridge
Sept 20
State Rep. Jesse White has joined 43 other House Democrats in filing a legal brief before the state Supreme Court supporting those who believe state Act 13 is unconstitutional by eliminating local zoning ordinances regulating the booming Marcellus Shale natural gas industry.
Link: http://www.observer-reporter.com/or/story11/White-Act-13-challenge

At Philly gas conference, fortune, failures and, of course, Dimock
Times-Tribune
David Falchek and Laura Legere
Sept 21
PHILADELPHIA - Big players in the Marcellus Shale industry met in a city far from Pennsylvania's drilling boom towns for the second year in a row on Thursday to project a future for abundant shale gas as a low-cost energy source and savior of the manufacturing sector that will benefit all corners of the commonwealth.
Link: http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/at-philly-gas-conference-fortune-failures-and-of-course-dimock-1.1376709

Environmental group presents study on effects of natural gas drilling
Times-Tribune
Elizabeth Skrapits
Sept 21
WILKES-BARRE - A new study says natural gas drilling can have negative effects down the road, and an environmental group wants the gas companies to stop until they're ready to pick up the tab for future expenses.
Link: http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/environmental-group-presents-study-on-effects-of-natural-gas-drilling-1.1376708

Christie vetoes fracking wastewater ban
Wall Street Journal
AP
Sept 21
TRENTON, N.J. — Gov. Chris Christie vetoed a bill Friday that would have banned wastewater generated by gas drilling from being treated or disposed of in New Jersey.
Link: http://online.wsj.com/article/AP070bafcb3424410a967ecc0fe54492cb.html

Dominion's LNG export bid sparks legal dispute
Debate over 'fracking' tests 40-year pact with environmental groups
Baltimore Sun
Timothy B. Wheeler
Sept 21
LUSBY — — For four decades, the owners of the liquefied natural gas terminal at Cove Point in Calvert County have given a pair of environmental groups a say over expansion of the sprawling complex, originally built to import fuel from abroad via the Chesapeake Bay. By all accounts, it's been a cordial, cooperative relationship.
Link: http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2012-09-21/business/bs-gr-bay-gas-export-terminal-20120921_1_dominion-s-lng-natural-gas-export-plan

Pennsylvania is ‘reaping bounty’ in Marcellus shale
Pitt Trib
Timothy Puko
Sept 20
PHILADELPHIA — The state’s gas industry faces tough new environmental rules, but Gov. Tom Corbett said at a Marcellus shale gas industry conference on Thursday that “Pennsylvania is getting it right” as the industry takes off and manufacturing begins to recover.
Link: http://triblive.com/state/2624176-74/state-industry-shale-corbett-pennsylvania-gas-drilling-marcellus-bounty-conference#axzz27QFA2bpk

NRDC expands effort to strengthen local fracking bans
E&E News Energy Wire
Pamela King
Sept 20
(full text below)
A new program by the Natural Resources Defense Council aims to assist residents looking to increase restrictions on hydraulic fracturing or prevent the energy extraction technology from being used in their communities.

NRDC's Community Fracking Defense Project -- launched yesterday in New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois and North Carolina -- will provide legal and policy advice to fracturing opponents. Critics of fracturing, or fracking, say the process of sending chemical-laced fluid into underground shale fractures poses a risk to the surrounding air and groundwater.

"For too long, communities around the country have had little defense against the oil and gas companies that sweep into their neighborhoods and start fracking without regard for the impacts on the people who live there," Kate Sinding, a senior attorney in NRDC's New York office, said in a statement. "If a city or town decides it doesn't want fracking, or wants to restrict it, their voice should be heard and respected."

The project is an expansion of NRDC's current efforts in Pennsylvania, Ohio and New York.

NRDC's work in the Empire State is heating up as reports circulate that Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) is considering a plan to allow fracturing in communities that are in favor of the technology. Use of the process has been on hold in New York for the past four years as state regulators review environmental impacts.

Anticipating an overturn of the state fracturing moratorium, New York towns like Meredith, Dryden and Middlefield have created or are working on their own local bans. New York judges upheld bans by Dryden and Middlefield, but those cases face industry appeals. NRDC has filed an amicus brief on behalf of the towns.

Colorado-based Anschutz Exploration Corp., which sought to develop leases in Dryden, said the NRDC project could end up hurting rather than helping the residents it is meant to protect.

"Communities in the project's target states should know they risk hindering economic development and job growth where it may be sorely needed," company spokesman Brent Temmer wrote in an email. "Regulation of energy development is handled effectively at the state level, and reputable companies know that they must work responsibly and comply with regulations to remain in business."

John Krohn, spokesman for industry research and outreach group Energy in Depth, also criticized the move.

"NRDC's long-standing opposition to natural gas extraction utilizing hydraulic fracturing is well known and this is just the latest manifestation of their anti-energy agenda," he wrote in an email. "What's interesting is the fact that the very technology they are seeking to curtail, whose safety is affirmed by multiple government regulators and presidential administrations, is the reason the United States is leading the world in carbon emission reductions."

Illinois and North Carolina have so far seen little drilling, but Sinding said including those states provides an "opportunity to get in early and get some protections in place" before industry builds up a bigger presence there.

Although NRDC has not made plans to add other states to the project, Sinding said the council hopes to eventually expand its capacity to reach other parts of the country.

"This is not a five-state issue," she said.
###

Pa. GOP's shale boosters come out swinging against Obama
E&E News Energy Wire
Joel Kirkland
Sept 21
(full text below)
PHILADELPHIA -- With election season in full bloom, Republican politicians in Pennsylvania are taking aim at U.S. EPA and the Obama administration's handling of the natural gas boom in the Northeast.

In comments made at a natural gas industry conference here yesterday, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett (R) trumpeted the economic benefits of the Marcellus Shale gas formation that stretches across the state.

He also accused Pennsylvania residents who criticize the rapid expansion of the industrial drilling process as "unreasoning," just as local opposition groups gathered outside of the city's convention center with placards asserting public health had taken a back seat to energy industry profits in Pennsylvania.

Inside, surrogates for the campaigns of Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney and President Obama fought over the federal government's role in regulating oil and gas drilling.

In Pennsylvania and Ohio, gas drilling is embedded in broader debates about economic growth in Rust Belt areas that have long struggled to replace dying industries and lost jobs. To some towns around Pittsburgh and Youngstown, Ohio, access to cheap natural gas and liquid byproducts in the Marcellus and nearby Utica basins is expected to attract plastics and chemicals makers.

But the rapid expansion of gas production in the state remains a lightning rod for ideological differences about environmental regulation.

Corbett's environmental secretary, Michael Krancer, speaking for Romney's campaign, accused EPA of heavy-handedness and the administration of not doing enough to cut through regulatory barriers to domestic gas production.

Speaking for the Obama campaign, Kathleen McGinty, a former top environmental regulator in Pennsylvania, said the continued development of gas under private land is part of the White House's economic agenda. She and other Democrats talking about energy are trying to beat back Romney campaign assertions that Obama is fundamentally opposed to fossil fuels.

Economic benefits aside, McGinty defended EPA's ongoing study into how the process of cracking gas formations a mile underground could affect freshwater basins, as Krancer put EPA front and center.

"Nobody called EPA into Dimock," Krancer said, referring to EPA's investigation of water wells near gas drilling operations Dimock, Pa. "EPA called EPA into Dimock," he said. "To do what?"

Two years ago, Dimock took center stage for drilling opponents after homeowners in the northeastern Pennsylvania town accused Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. of poisoning water wells. Last month, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) gave Cabot the green light to continue gas production in Dimock after a nearly two-year moratorium imposed by the agency (EnergyWire, Aug. 22).

This summer, EPA found that the water wells had not been tainted by chemicals used in the hydraulic fracturing process of extracting gas. But state officials said methane had found its way from poorly constructed gas wells to water wells (EnergyWire, July 26).

To GOP critics of Obama's environmental policies, EPA's role came to represent an insidious form of federal intervention, despite the agency's finding that widespread contamination had not occurred.

"There's fearmongering going on, and it's coming out of Washington," Krancer told attendees of the conference sponsored by the Marcellus Shale Coalition, which represents most of the state's gas field operators.

McGinty, who was a member of Energy Secretary Steven Chu's advisory panel on shale gas, rejected characterizations suggesting EPA water studies are aimed at sidelining the industry. Rather, she asserted, the administration supports "policies that enable the investments to be made" in domestic energy development.

In an interview with EnergyWire, Krancer pointed to a stage outside the convention center's wall of windows. There, high-profile activists including "Gasland" filmmaker Josh Fox and Bill McKibben, a writer and founder of global warming advocacy group 350.org, had helped lead a rally to drum up support for local and statewide drilling bans.

"Some of the ideological, emotional reaction to this will go away when people see the sky isn't falling," Krancer said.

Placards and speeches spoke about cancer and money. "What we're talking about today is big business, the 1 percent of the 1 percent," Fox said during a press conference across from the convention center.

Contentious state drilling law looms large

Hanging over the debate in Pennsylvania is the state's revised oil and gas law known as Act 13. The law includes a highly contentious provision that strips local governments of the broad discretion to zone land in a way that restricts drilling.

The Pennsylvania Supreme Court is expected to hold a hearing in October after the lower Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court struck down those Act 13 provisions in July, along with another measure in the law that would allow the state to waive certain environmental safeguards for drillers (EnergyWire, July 27).

Municipalities and local grass-roots organizations say those provisions are the product of a Republican-led Legislature and governor's mansion. But yesterday some also blamed one of the nation's largest environmental organizations, the New York-based Environmental Defense Fund.

Increasingly, EDF has come under fire from local organizations calling for bans. They accuse EDF of being too industry-friendly during tough negotiations in state capitals and in Washington about regulations and working too closely with industry to hatch compromises that do not have broader support from within the environmental community.

For its part, EDF in recent weeks has defended its position through press releases and opinion columns. Natural gas is cleaner than coal, EDF officials have said, and it is more useful to help develop regulatory solutions to air- and water-quality issues tied to horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing than to advocate for sweeping bans.