Contrary to Activists’ Claims, Proposed Water Treatment Facility Will Purify Shale Wastewater

There is a lot of misinformation circulating about a proposed Potter Co, Pa., wastewater treatment facility that a small business from Pittsburgh has designed to support shale development in the region. And unfortunately, an outburst by an anti-fracking activist during a meeting Monday night kept the company that is proposing the new facility from dispelling this misinformation in front of a packed house.

Monday’s meeting had to be cut short after activist filmmaker Josh Pribanic threw a temper tantrum over the order of speakers at the meeting. Pribanic wanted to speak last and threw a fit when he was called to speak sooner, leading to profanities being yelled at the Coudersport Area Municipal Authority (CAMA). You can watch part of the exchange in the following video, but WARNING: The language gets very colorful near the end.

Listen to the full exchange:

https://www.energyindepth.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Josh-Pribanic-Last-Speaker.m4a

Pribanic’s outburst ultimately denied the company that has proposed the new facility, Epiphany Water Solutions, the opportunity to give CAMA updates on the project and address misinformation that continues to circulate. With that in mind, here are the facts on the project.

What the Wastewater Treatment Facility Will and Will Not Do

The proposal is for a $1 million facility that will serve as a centralized location to treat production water from the shale development process. The facility will use a two-step process involving metal precipitation and distillation to treat the water to exceed drinking water standards.

The completion of the treatment process will ultimately result in distilled water, salt and other solids – all of which can potentially be recycled for other uses. Epiphany has volunteered to recycle water back to industry while testing confirms the facility is working as promised.  Only after testing shows the plant works as intended, would Epiphany send any water, not needed for well development activities in the field, to CAMA.

Water Treatment and Recycling Isn’t New In Pa.

One of the oft-repeated claims Monday night was that, because this facility is an improvement on existing technology, it would be turning the region into an “experiment.” It’s important to note that the treatment of produced and flowback water is not new in Pennsylvania. Following a voluntary initiative that began in 2011, the majority of shale waste water in the Commonwealth is treated on site or at centralized facilities to be recycled and reused in future operations or released back into the hydrological cycle.

In fact, just a short distance away in Lycoming County, Eureka Resources has been safely pretreating, recycling and disposing of shale waste water – including distillation – at a centralized facility since 2008. The company has been so successful in handling this water that it has added two additional facilities in Williamsport and one in Bradford County, and is looking to expand into West Virginia and Ohio.

It’s also not a new concept for Epiphany. The company received funding in 2009 from Innovation Works, a partner of the Ben Franklin Institute that holds an annual innovation contest in the Appalachian Basin, to create onsite water treatment units that use concentrated solar energy for distillation. Those units have been used on well sites in the region, including in Potter County, since 2014. This project simply takes the technology Epiphany has already successfully used and builds it in on a grander scale at a centralized location.

Concerns About Radioactivity

The biggest concern expressed Monday night seems to surround the potential for radioactive materials to be on site at the facility or released into the environment. But the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) conducted a study in 2015 that found that “there is little potential for harm to workers or the public from radiation exposure due to oil and gas development.” In particular, the study found, “There is little potential for radiation exposure to workers and the public at facilities that treat O&G wastes.” This part of the analysis, which the Epiphany project would fall under, included Publicly Owned Treatment Works, Centralized Waste Treatment, and Zero Liquid Discharge facilities.

Retired licensed drinking water operator and chemistry instructor Peter Palumbo wrote a letter to the Olean Times Herald recently to correct some of the misinformation about this:

“The difference in these brines is in the proportion of chemical elements that make up the salt. All brine in Pennsylvania and New York contains some radium ions. The deeper the brine source, the more radium ions in the salt. The percentage of ‘good’ salt or ‘bad’ salt does not matter.

“Distillation removes all salts, regardless if the salt is radioactive or not. The nuclear properties of radium does not prevent it from either being precipitated out of solution or being left behind by distillation. The Epiphany plant will actually use a two-step process which essentially removes the poisonous heavy metals from the sodium and potassium salts. This results in a reduction in the bulk waste of solids to be hauled away to disposal sites. (emphasis added)

Andy Lombardo, senior vice president of Perma-Fix Environmental Services, spoke at both meetings to explain that the two-step process being proposed is “the best ever seen” and that frequent testing will occur for traces of radioactivity in the effluent (water), salt and metal cakes. As Salamanca Press reported,

“Lombardo said the risk has been overblown by some opponents.

“‘There’s no getting away from radioactivity,’ he said, with sources of ionizing radiation coming from space and from underground at all times — even the scale inside of a hot water tank is radioactive on low levels. ‘We live in a radioactive world.’

“At similar facilities in the state, Lombardo said he has never seen a facility with released radioactivity issues.” (emphasis added)

Conclusion

Source: Alchetron

Multiple members of the Seneca Nation said Monday night that they will accept no risk and “no levels of contaminants in water.” “Zero risk” is not a realistic approach to anything in life, including the oil and gas industry. And supporting shale development or the Epiphany project certainly does not mean that a person does not also love the environment or want to protect it. Whether you call God’s Country home, have fond memories of childhood visits as many of us do, or have only seen it in pictures, it’s easy to see why it is not only aptly named, but why people in this part of the state are so protective of it. But there is no either-or choice here. As Upper Alleghany Watershed Association President Frank Weeks said during his DEP testimony in January,

“Water quality is number one in Potter County in importance. This is a biggie for us… If Epiphany can deliver what they say they’re going to deliver, this is going to be a win for this watershed.”

And as Trout Unlimited – God’s Country Chapter President Dr. Peter Ryan said during the same DEP hearing,

“Epiphany has a solution. I’ve heard their presentation now four times. And I have a background in education, chemistry and biology, and the process makes sense to return the distilled water back to the industry in a truck, to take it back to the well…that’s one of the options is to recycle that back to the well, and the other is to return it to the river from which this water first came. That’s a win-win.”

https://www.shaledirectories.com/blog/contrary-to-activists-claims-proposed-water-treatment-facility-will-purify-shale-wastewater/

PA Commonwealth Court Shuts Down Fractivists Twice on Pipeline Issues

Jim Willis
Editor & Publisher, Marcellus Drilling News (MDN)

 

Pennsylvania’s Commonwealth Court recently issued two different pipeline decisions, both of which are good news for pipelines and bad news for fractivists.

The entire panel of judges sitting on Pennsylvania’s Commonwealth Court, an appeals court in PA, ruled yesterday that zoning regulations in a local municipality, in this case Middletown (Delaware County),  do not supersede the state Public Utility Commission when it comes to regulating Sunoco Logistics Partners Mariner East 2 (ME2) NGL pipeline.

In May 2017, six anti-pipeline residents, living near the ME2 pipeline route, asked the Middletown town council to reject the path of the pipeline near their property because it would, supposedly, pass closer than town code allows. The town council told the residents they’re out of luck, the town will not pursue any action to block Mariner East 2. Period.

The residents, amped-up, agitated and funded by Big Green groups filed a lawsuit against ME2, to force it to conform with Middletown’s ordinance. The lawsuit was filed in the Delaware County Court of Common Pleas.

The judge dismissed the case in June, so the antis, again funded by Big Green groups, appealed the case to the next higher court, Commonwealth Court. An “en banc” panel (meaning all of the judges) heard the case, indicating its high importance. The en banc panel ruled yesterday, against the Middletown residents.

Here is an article Law360 released:

A Pennsylvania appeals court on Monday issued the second in a set of rulings that a controversial pipeline project being developed by a Sunoco Inc. unit was subject only to state regulation and could not be subjected to local zoning rules.

An en banc Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court panel affirmed a decision finding that the state Public Utility Commission’s regulatory authority superseded zoning rules that residents of a suburban Philadelphia municipality had hoped to apply to Sunoco Pipeline LP’s Mariner East 2 project.

In upholding the decision Monday, the panel pointed to an opinion it handed down last month that rejected a substantially similar attempt by residents in another suburban Philadelphia municipality to apply local zoning rules to the project.

“We hold that the township lacks authority to zone out a public utility pipeline service or pipeline facility regulated by the PUC,” the court said in that opinion.

The lawsuit had been brought by a half-dozen Middletown Township residents in the Delaware County Court of Common Pleas last May alleging that the Mariner East 2 pipeline violated the local 56-year-old Subdivision and Land Development Ordinance, or SALDO, requiring that all gas and oil pipelines must be at least 75 feet from a unit where an individual lives. The Mariner East 2 pipeline is meant to ferry natural gas liquids from the Marcellus and Utica shale in western Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia to a refinery outside of Philadelphia.

The suit mirrored a case brought by the Delaware Riverkeeper Network and a pair of local residents in the Chester County Court of Common Pleas alleging that a zoning law adopted by West Goshen Township in 2014 barred the construction of hazardous gas and liquid pipelines.

Trial judges tossed both cases, leading to appeals before the Commonwealth Court.

The Delaware County residents argued on appeal that the state’s Public Utility Code did not explicitly grant the PUC with exclusive siting authority with regard to pipeline, and that it didn’t forbid municipalities from exercising such authority in order to protect the health, welfare and safety of local residents.

They pointed to the fact that the PUC had issued no regulations governing the siting of pipelines.

In upholding the dismissal of the Chester County case last month, however, the Commonwealth Court ruled that a review of the Public Utility Code and relevant case law revealed that the state legislature “intended the code to occupy the field of public utility regulation, in the absence of an express grant of authority to the contrary.”

And the Commonwealth Court relied upon that reasoning in issuing its decision in the Delaware County case Monday.

“For the reasons set forth in detail in Delaware Riverkeeper , we reach the same conclusion here with regard to plaintiffs’ cause of action to have the SALDO applied to Sunoco’s Mariner East 2 pipeline,” the opinion said. “Accordingly, we affirm.”

You can read a full copy of the en banc panel’s ruling, issued March 26, 2018 here.

Editor’s Note: This wasn’t the only recent Commonwealth Court victory over fractivists. There was also another very revealing decision with respect to compressor station regulation in  Cecil Township, Washington County. It had to do with mid-stream company MarkWest’s long struggle to secure approval from the Township to build a compressor station. It started in 2011 when the Township denied a permit for the use, only to be eventually overturned by the Commonwealth Court, which ordered the Township to treat the compressor station as a permitted use use and to process the application and allowing it to attach conditions under its Unified Development Ordinance (a combined set of subdivision and zoning regulations):

Should the Board determine . . . within the confines of the UDO’s objective standards and criteria that any terms or conditions are needed to attach to the special exception application in order to ensure compliance with the UDO, it shall specify the applicable UDO provision and explain why the term or condition is necessary.

Cecil Township, as instructed, subsequently reviewed the application and attached over two dozen conditions to the approval, many of which had no tangible relationship to the requirements of the Township ordinance. This resulted in the matter eventually reaching the Commonwealth Court once again for a ruling on whether the conditions imposed were lawful and in line with its earlier order.

Many of the conditions were obvious attempts to frustrate the development of the compressor station and pipeline development and the Commonwealth Court dispensed with them, illustrating, in the process some fundamental principles. Among those principles (many from previous case law) were the following:

• If the ordinance’s objective special exception criteria are met, it is presumed that the use is consistent with the health, safety and general welfare of the community.
• To overcome the presumption, objectors’ evidence must “show, to a high probability, that the proposed use would generate adverse impacts not normally generated by this type of use (i.e., natural gas compressor stations), and that those impacts would pose a substantial threat to the health and safety of the community.”
• The burden that is placed upon the objectors requires more than mere speculation of possible harm.
• A zoning hearing board does not enjoy broad, inchoate powers to advance its members’ vision of what constitutes the public welfare or even the public welfare as defined in a variety of environmental protection statutes, be they state or federal.
• Ultimately, the conditions cannot be so onerous as to bar the use, and broad policy statements may not form the basis for such conditions.
• In addition, although Section 601 of the MPC, 53 P.S. § 10601, expressly authorizes municipalities to enact zoning ordinances designating what land uses are permitted in what districts for purposes of planned community development (i.e., the where), the MPC does not authorize those municipalities to dictate specific business operations (i.e., the how) under the guise of zoning regulation. 

There’s more but the reader will get the idea; municipalities are obliged to follow the law and regulators cannot expand on their own authority to appease the phony concerns of fractivists. Neither cannot dictate the business operations of the natural gas industry in a blatant attempt to frustrate it. Those are pretty fundamental and this was a big win, a second big win at Commonwealth Court in recent days in shutting down fractivists , which is encouraging.

For more great articles on natural gas development every single business day, subscribe to Marcellus Drilling News using this convenient link.

The post PA Commonwealth Court Shuts Down Fractivists Twice on Pipeline Issues appeared first on Natural Gas Now.

https://www.shaledirectories.com/blog/pa-commonwealth-court-shuts-down-fractivists-twice-on-pipeline-issues/

Let’s Help Bring Relief to Balkans from High Priced Russian Gas and Blackmail

Rauf Mammadov Resident Scholar on Energy Policy at the Middle East Institute
Ari Mittleman Publisher of BalkanInsider.com

 

The Balkans region of Europe has been forced to depend on Russian gas; by strengthening ties with the U.S. they hope to address this Russian meddling.

One year ago this week, the Senate voted 97-2 to admit Montenegro as the 29th member of NATO. Last week also marked 19 years since NATO planes bombed what was left of Yugoslavia.

The anniversary should serve as a reminder that the fledgling democracies of the six independent republics of the former Yugoslavia need sustained and innovative bipartisan attention from Washington, because they’re definitely getting attention from Moscow.

Our European allies have devoted considerable time and resources to the Balkans. To date, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has invested over $12.3 billion in the Balkans.

Gazprom pipelines in Balkan countries like Serbia illustrate the region’s dependence on Russian natural gas. (AP Photo/ Marko Drobnjakovic)

As the most frigid winter in recent history concludes in the region, the Balkans continue to feature prominently in European energy security. Despite efforts to enhance the legislative framework and its poor pipeline infrastructure, the EU has failed to decrease its dependence on Russian natural gas supplies.

In fact, Gazprom supplied record amounts of gas to Europe the last two years, thanks to increased demand and declining production rates in the North Sea. The Russian budget is dependent on hydrocarbon exports, and the Kremlin is determined to protect the market share of Russian companies.

In an effort to further stabilize the region and promote cross-border coordination, the EU has invested in several infrastructure projects. Last year, the EU granted over $3 million to Montenegro and Albania to prepare a joint feasibility study for construction of a 317-mile pipeline.

The Ionian Adriatic Pipeline, or IAP, once complete, will connect to the existing Croatian gas transmission system. In Albania, plans are well underway for the Trans Adriatic Pipeline, or TAP. TAP links to the Southern Gas Corridor, a vital element of European energy security. This would be the only non-Russian sourced pipeline to Europe.

Congress has devoted tremendous bipartisan efforts to LNG exports. However, the record volume of exported gas in 2017 was not a game changer in Europe, because only 13 percent of American LNG went there. Nevertheless, U.S. exports have allowed Balkan countries a small amount of leverage to renegotiate the price for Russian gas.

Even so, the dearth of infrastructure continues to be the major impediment to improve economic competitiveness. The IAP will not only increase the connectivity in the region, but will also contribute to the overall economic integration into the trans-Atlantic community.

This is not a new or partisan topic for Congress. After the annexation of Crimea, the Senate Subcommittee on European Affairs held a hearing exploring ways the United States can renew its focus on European energy security. Sens. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., and Ron Johnson, R-Wis., addressed “Russian meddling” before the term was a household phrase across Washington.

The combined population of Croatia, Montenegro, and Albania is less than metropolitan Washington, D.C. Yet their importance to Europe’s energy security cannot be ignored. Vice President Mike Pence took the time to visit the region last year and stated his intention “to strengthen the ties between the European community, the Western Balkans, and the United States of America.” Likewise, the Senate should not overlook this fragile region and this critical pipeline.

Rauf Mammadov is resident scholar on energy policy at the Middle East Institute. Ari Mittleman is publisher of BalkanInsider.com.

Reposted from the Washington Examiner by permission of the authors.

The post Let’s Help Bring Relief to Balkans from High Priced Russian Gas and Blackmail appeared first on Natural Gas Now.

https://www.shaledirectories.com/blog/lets-help-bring-relief-to-balkans-from-high-priced-russian-gas-and-blackmail/

WPX Energy completes $700M Gallup sale

Independent oil and gas producer WPX Energy has closed a $700 million deal to sell its holdings in the San Juan Basin’s Gallup oil play to privately-held, EnCap Investments portfolio company, Enduring Resources IV.

The transaction completes WPX’s exit from the San Juan Basin, as it focuses operations on the Delaware (Permian) and Williston basins, Kallanish Energy reports.

“Our path forward is clear and compelling. It’s about consistent execution, sticking with our multi-year plan and continuing to create value by looking ahead,” said Rick Muncrief, chairman and CEO of Tulsa, Okla.-based WPX.

WPX’s production is now roughly 80% liquids (oil and natural gas liquids) and 20% natural gas. Five years ago, it was the opposite, at 80% gas and 20% liquids. WPX has transformed its portfolio through nearly $8 billion of transactions.

A significant portion of the proceeds from this most recent sale is slated for debt reduction. WPX now believes it can reduce its net debt/EBITDAX (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, amortization, and exploration expenses) to a target level of 1.5x during 2019.

CIBC Griffis & Small provided advisory services to WPX for the transaction. Holland & Hart LLP served as WPX’s external legal counsel.

https://www.shaledirectories.com/blog/wpx-energy-completes-700m-gallup-sale/

Oil Backlog Off China Limits Prospects For New Shipments

A backlog of crude cargoes has built up off the coast of China, limiting prospects for new shipments to the world’s largest oil importer, trading and shipping sources said. The amount of oil floating in tankers off China has risen partly due to tax changes and an anti-pollution drive that have depressed oil demand from small, independent refiners, known as “teapots.” Maintenance has curtailed run rates at others. This has combined with aggressive selling, particularly from West Africa, that pushed vessels to the region even when early warning signs showed crude demand could falter.
Source: Daily Dose of ShaleDirectories.com News

https://www.shaledirectories.com/blog/oil-backlog-off-china-limits-prospects-for-new-shipments/

Appalachian Basin Unions Are Winning Big Thanks to Shale

Unions across the Appalachian Basin are experiencing increased employment and other benefits thanks to the multitude of shale-related projects in the region, such as pipelines, natural gas power plants and the Shell ethane cracker under construction in Pennsylvania. As Steamfitters Union 449’s business manager Ken Broadbent told State Impact this week,

“’I’m almost going to double the amount of people when it peaks working out of my union. That is good for our education fund. That’s good for our health coverage. It helps us stay in business,’ Broadbent said.” (emphasis added)

State Impact also reported that “thanks in large part to the oil and gas business,” Steamfitter 449 laborers will be working on natural gas processing plants, power plants, and Shell’s multi-billion dollar ethane cracker in Beaver County, which will employ 1,500 steamfitters at peak construction.

The influx of work has been so significant that it has allowed the Steamfitters to build an $18.5 million training facility in Butler County, Pa. Pittsburgh’s Operating Engineers Local 66’s business manager Jim Kunz told StateImpact that “the natural gas industry helped his union grow from 6,700 in 2010 to 7,400 today.” That echoes what Kunz told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in 2016:

“Half a dozen years ago, Mr. Kunz said his union was nearing 10 percent unemployment. A year later, when the shale industry started to take off, employment ramped up to 100 percent. In fact, Mr. Kunz said, the local had to recruit operators from other areas to fill the need.

“And while he’s seen a dip in jobs in the past year that parallels the oil and gas downturn, he expects to be back up to full employment next year.

“’It’s all driven by this industry,’ he said.” (emphasis added)

And it’s not just in Pennsylvania. The Ohio Laborers District Council reported in 2017 that it surpassed 2016 expectations by more than a million work hours and totaled 4.2 million work hours over a 16-month period from January 2016 to April 2017. Ohio Laborers Training Center executive director Robert Chatterson explained,

“The distribution work in gas pipelines is a 25-year project. Conceivably a young person can go into distribution work and work their whole career and retire with a great pension.”

These opportunities are not limited to just unions, either. As Ohio Laborers District Council Pipeline Specialist Ray Hipsher has said,

“The shale industry is hiring local workforce. That’s going to keep the money in the community and the laborers doing the work are going to take pride and care of the quality of their work, because we are your neighbors. We care about doing this pipeline work right and environmentally sound.”

Hipsher’s 2017 comments were echoed by Kunz this week when he explained to StateImpact,

“We don’t see this industry as the deathknell of the environment as some do…”

As Chatterson noted, these opportunities have barely begun for unions and Appalachian Basin residents. A recent IHS Markit report found that the Appalachian Basin is the most profitable place in the United States to build new petrochemical facilities, and the governors of Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia have all agreed to continue collaborating to ensure there abundant shale development continues to be able to support these types of projects.

It’s a great time to be in Appalachia!

Source: Daily Dose of ShaleDirectories.com News

https://www.shaledirectories.com/blog/appalachian-basin-unions-are-winning-big-thanks-to-shale/

Cracker-related risk impacts project construction

The battle between states in the Appalachian Basin and along the Gulf of Mexico Coast to secure the newest $5 billion ethane cracker is more than building costs, or the cost of transporting raw materials to facilities, and polyethylene-produced pellets to customers.

It’s more than securing enough construction labor at a time when other, large construction projects are vying for the same workers.

Part of the mix in making the FID, the Final Investment Decision, comes down to a single, four-letter word:

Risk, according to Tom Gellrich.

“It may be a $5 billion bet for a company – but if you are the company CEO, you are betting your career on this decision,” according to Gellrich, founder of consulting firm TopLine Analytics.

Gellrich spoke at Kallanish Energy’s half-day program CSP: Crackers, Storage, Pipelines 2018, held last Wednesday in the Southpointe Business Park, south of Pittsburgh.

Gellrich said any new location in the Appalachian Basin contains unknowns when a construction project begins. “There also is the risk of public support or challenges, and local community acceptance,” according to Gellrich.

Shell’s ethane cracker project, located roughly 35 miles northwest of Pittsburgh, in Beaver County, Pa., has been relatively free of major protests by the public, and the community – Western Pennsylvania overall – has been relatively pro-project.

But Gellrich told Kallanish Energy after his presentation there is no question protests are coming as the cracker edges closer to completion.

Unlike the Gulf Coast, the availability of large parcels of land along the Ohio River (used to bring in huge pieces of equipment and possibly polyethylene pellets) are not a sure thing.

“Suppliers, a trained and educated labor pool and needed road, rail and barge infrastructure can be a risk,” according to Gellrich, all of which the Gulf Coast has, but the Appalachian Basin may be lacking.

One of the biggest needs the Appalachian Basin needs, something the Gulf Coast has in abundance, is ethane storage capacity.

The basin has the ethane in the natural gas stream to supply more than one cracker, but the elaborate facility of miles of pipes does not operate on a day-ahead schedule, Gellrich said.

“Shell needs storage for its cracker – you can’t run such a plant with one day of ethane,” Gellrich told his CSP audience.

Two storage facilities have been proposed. A privately-built, 3-million-barrel (MMBbl) project is moving through the Ohio permitting process now, but won’t begin offering storage until the second quarter of 2020. (See accompanying story.)

A giant 75 MMBbl to 100 MMBbl public-private storage project is seeking funding as a definitive location still must be selected.

Source: Daily Dose of ShaleDirectories.com News

https://www.shaledirectories.com/blog/cracker-related-risk-impacts-project-construction/

Locals Lambast the Cleveland Scene’s Depiction of SE Ohio As a Fracking ‘Horror Story’

Oh, do we love to talk about how the people of Appalachia are fighting back against overtly political efforts to exploit the region. And here we go again, as local residents have lambasted the Cleveland Scene, an “alternative” weekly newspaper, for its recently published article headlined “Dennis Kucinich Finds Fracking Facts in Southeast Ohio: A Horror Story.”

Much like Rolling Stone, the Cleveland Scene should really stick to its normal coverage of arts, dining, and music, because it’s clear that any other form of “journalism” is just too much for this paper to handle.

To put it mildly, the Cleveland Scene’s coverage of Kucinich, an Ohio Democratic gubernatorial candidate and former “Moonbeam Congressman,” is so comically over-the-top that it reads like an article from The Onion. But the piece is actually not a parody at all, showing how incredibly arrogant and ignorant Kucinich and this publication are, not to mention wholly disrespectful to the people of Appalachia. But hey, when an urban weekly arts and dining newspaper berates our nation’s veterans as “ex-military men… conscripted into security jobs for the energy companies,” would we expect anything less?

In a nutshell the article basically tells the tale of Kucinich riding around Appalachia Ohio to see the so-called “horror story” fracking has caused. The ridiculous Cleveland Scene article states,

“Then came the shocking stories, with accompanying images, of scuzzy and sometimes flammable water. There was the anecdote from a man near Cambridge who claimed he had to buy six new pairs of Carharrt boots in six months because the mud was chewing through the rubber soles.”

For the record, the author is referring to Carhartt boots, not Carharrt, but with all the other inaccuracies here, who’s counting. The rest of the editorializing went like this,

“That the farm animals could no longer be persuaded to drink the water was a given — much of this land would never be farm-able again. But what of the cow that had been born with two heads? What of the two men who’d mysteriously died baling hay outside a compressor station in Noble County? The cause of death in one case, according to our local guide: a toxic liver.”

The article somehow ends with an even stranger statement from the “horror story” road show, stating that the oil and gas industry has actually “turned a rabbit to glass.”

In response, here are just a few of the best comments from the people who actually live and work in the region to being incredibly disrespected by both Kucinich and the Cleveland Scene in this absurd misrepresentation of Appalachia and shale development.

Top Five Best Cleveland Scene Burns

#1

#2

#3

#4

#5

Honorable Mention

As Ohio’s Democratic primary election draws near, Kucinich and his 15 minutes of newfound fame are winding down, as his failed strategy to use fracking as a red herring has doomed his campaign. Ohio voters have made it abundantly clear that they support oil and natural gas development, and for Appalachia, shale is in fact the greatest economic hope that the region has realized in decades.

Source: Daily Dose of ShaleDirectories.com News

https://www.shaledirectories.com/blog/locals-lambast-the-cleveland-scenes-depiction-of-se-ohio-as-a-fracking-horror-story/

Pa. Governor Works with Ohio, W. Va. To Produce More Natural Gas… And with the DRBC to Ban Fracking?

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf renewed his collaboration with the governors of Ohio and West Virginia to support shale gas development in the Appalachian Basin this week, saying that he’s proud to be a part of ensuring “that we are doing everything we can to support additional development – and the jobs and economic growth that go with it – in a region with an unprecedented natural resource.”

And while he’s right – this collaboration and shale development are creating tremendous opportunities for the Commonwealth – his statements are pretty hypocritical considering he also “proudly” supports a ban on any fracking in Pennsylvania’s Delaware River Basin (DRB).

Gov. Wolf’s support of a DRB fracking ban isn’t new, as it was one of his major campaign promises, but it is simply mystifying that he can acknowledge the “jobs and economic growth” that go with shale development in one part of the state and deny access to these benefits to folks on the wrong side of a water basin line without any rational reason for doing so.

It’s a contradictory position that puts politics ahead of science, as was evident when Gov. Wolf’s representative on the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC), Pa. Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Sec. Patrick McDonnell, recently told Pa. State Senator Lisa Baker (R) that in regard to fracking,

“hat we’ve seen in the studies that we’ve seen are; it has been fine on the side.”

Despite this evidence, Gov. Wolf advised Sec. McDonnell to vote to move forward with draft DRBC regulations that include a ban on fracking in the DRB.

The reality is, as hydrogeologist Blayne Diacont testified at a DRBC hearing earlier this month, “we have the ability to successfully produce clean burning natural gas while also being great stewards of the environment” and that DRBC’s “concerns are grossly overemphasized, misrepresented, and that each one of them can be addressed through appropriate regulation.”

Gov. Wolf’s statements that “he shale gas resources in the Appalachian Basin represent enormous economic opportunity not just for Pennsylvania, but for the region as a whole,” is an admission that he too believes that shale can be safely developed in Pennsylvania in a way that is beneficial for all. And why wouldn’t he, when his own DEP head has acknowledged that is exactly what is occurring in the Susquehanna River Basin.

In light of this, and as the DRBC comment period on its proposed fracking ban comes to a close next week, the question remains: Will Gov. Wolf stick to the science and evidence that his own administration is touting and advise Sec. McDonnell to vote against a ban on natural gas development for nearly half of the state?

Source: Daily Dose of ShaleDirectories.com News

https://www.shaledirectories.com/blog/pa-governor-works-with-ohio-w-va-to-produce-more-natural-gas-and-with-the-drbc-to-ban-fracking/

Russian LNG or Pipelines for New England? Massachusetts AG Picks Russia

“Keep It In the Ground” Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey (D) admitted this week that she’d rather import natural gas from Russia (because climate) than build new pipelines to deliver the abundant supply of Marcellus Shale gas to New Englanders. As E&E News reported on Wednesday:

“Yet many policymakers in the deep-blue region are dead-set against any new gas pipelines, saying that the priority needs to be scaling up renewable energy and phasing out fossil fuels. Buying occasional shipments of LNG in the winter, they argue, is the better way to go.

“’LNG is a more efficient and economical way to meet energy needs during instances of high winter demand than building high-risk and costly pipelines that are not needed to maintain reliability,’ Chloe Gotsis, a spokeswoman for Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey (D), said by email. ‘Continuing to rely on pipelines is too risky for ratepayers and our climate.’” (emphasis added)

Healey, who is also one of the AGs spearheading the #ExxonKnew litigation, has been so vocally opposed to adding needed pipeline infrastructure in New England that the Boston Globe recently said she and other policy makers have “leaned heavily on righteous-sounding stands against local fossil fuel projects, with scant consideration of the global impacts of their actions and a tacit expectation that some other country will build the infrastructure that we’re too good for.”  As the Daily Caller reports,

“Healey has used her office to block pipeline projects energy experts say are needed to relieve supply constraints in New England. The region’s grid operator recently warned that shuttering coal and nuclear power plants will only exacerbate energy security woes.

“A recent ISO New England study found the region ‘could be headed for significant levels of emergency actions, particularly during major fuel or resource outages.’ Recent cold snaps have sent electricity prices surging and forced power plants to burn more oil and coal.” (emphasis added)

As for Healey’s claim that importing LNG is “more efficient and economical” and that using pipelines is “too risky” for both consumers and the climate – well, as the Daily Caller explained, that’s just flat wrong.

• FACT: New England had the highest energy costs in the world this winter. Meanwhile, the rest of America is experiencing record low electricity and natural gas costs.
• FACT: The climate benefits of natural gas are undeniable. Methane leakage rates are far below the threshold for natural gas to maintain its climate benefits over other major fuels, and the switch to natural gas has helped the United States lead the world in decreasing carbon emissions to decades-low levels.
• FACT: During the cold snap, ISO New England not only had to import LNG that included gas from Russia, but had to re-activate higher emitting power plants to maintain grid reliability.
• FACT: Pipelines are a safe, efficient way to transport natural gas. The U.S. Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) credits the fact that most Americans are not even aware of their proximity to the more than 2.5 million miles of U.S. pipelines to the “strong safety record of pipelines.” PHMSA explains that the “the most feasible, most reliable and safest way” to transport oil and natural gas is through pipelines.

This “Keep It In The Ground” strategy in New England has resulted in a very real energy infrastructure problem, no matter what folks like AG Healey say. The Massachusetts Congressional delegation tried to blame this infrastructure problem on the White House, but the reality is it’s been an ongoing issue that Healey and fellow policy makers have been at the center of thwarting efforts by elected officials like Mass. Gov. Charlie Baker. As E&E News reports:

“But the Baker administration also wanted to include measures to expand natural gas capacity, seeing gas as a way to support renewables and keep overall energy costs down.

“‘When you look at the overall dynamic, the overwhelming majority opinion that states we are in desperate need of more natural gas capacity on some level, to address our baseline needs,’ Matthew Beaton, Baker’s energy and environmental affairs secretary, said in a May 2016 hearing. He warned against reliance on LNG. ‘To become reliant on that international market to balance our energy needs is an economically irresponsible approach to do it solely in that regard.’”

As the facts show, it is a completely contradictory agenda to push KIITG policy in the name of saving the climate or keeping rates low. New England is the prime example of this, as EID’s latest infographic shows.

Source: Daily Dose of ShaleDirectories.com News

https://www.shaledirectories.com/blog/russian-lng-or-pipelines-for-new-england-massachusetts-ag-picks-russia/

Dogs Detect Pipeline Leaks

The United States has roughly 1.4 M miles of oil and gas pipelines, with more than 60 percent of these pipelines were built before 1970. And while pipelines remain the safest way to transport crude and other refined petroleum fuels - oil, natural gas, biofuels - across long distances significant pipeline accidents have increased by nearly 60 percent, totaling more than 1,300 spill incidents across the United States since 2010. The combination of increasing pipeline age and increasing spill accidents has resulted in additional regulatory and compliance scrutiny. When such an accident does occur it is important to act expediently to mitigate the regulatory, financial, and environmental impacts. When periodic integrity assessments indicate a flaw within the pipeline, canines can be deployed to quickly pinpoint the exact leak location, reducing the overall costs of repair and downtime of the system.

The K9 Advantage

CDIS K9 Pipeline Leak Inspection assists clients in the Oil and Gas industry to efficiently and accurately detect and pinpoint leaks. CDIS canines are specifically trained to detect the industry standard specialized odorant quickly and accurately. The use of specially trained canines is a cost effective and environmentally friendly way to accurately locate a pipeline leak. With 20 years' experience in canine handling for commercial and industrial service contracts and 10 years’ experience in specialized canine scent detection services, CDIS has the expertise to address your pipeline detection and inspection needs. CDIS maintains multiple canine teams on standby and monitors a 24-hour hotline to enable rapid mobilization swiftly and respond in a timely manner. To learn more about our canine inspection services, please contact us at: (844) 597-4737 or info@canineinspection.com

https://www.shaledirectories.com/blog/?p=3760

Pioneer Deals Eagle Ford Assets To Australia's Sundance

Pioneer Natural Resources Co. (NYSE: PXD) recently made headway on its goal of becoming a Permian pure-play with an agreement to sell a portion of its Eagle Ford assets to Sundance Energy Australia Ltd. (NASDAQ: SNDE). Sundance said March 15 it had agreed to acquire Eagle Ford assets in the volatile oil window from Pioneer and its joint venture partner, Reliance Industries Ltd., for $221.5 million. The deal included 21,900 net acres in McMullen, Live Oak, Atascosa and La Salle counties, Texas, and current production of 1,800 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d). The sale is Pioneer’s first move in a strategy announced in early February to sell all assets outside of the Permian, where the E&P plans to focus its entire $2.9 billion capex in 2018.
Source: Daily Dose of ShaleDirectories.com News

https://www.shaledirectories.com/blog/pioneer-deals-eagle-ford-assets-to-australiaamp039s-sundance/

Cenovus Seeks Partner For Narrows Lake Project

Cenovus Energy Inc. is seeking a partner to fund C$1.3 billion (US$993.1 million) in costs to build the supporting infrastructure at its Narrows Lake oil sands project in Alberta, two people familiar with the matter said on March 16. The Canadian energy firm has been seeking to raise billions to reduce its debt burden after it spent C$17 billion on acquiring oil sands and natural gas assets from ConocoPhillips last year. To counter shareholder concern about that deal, which doubled the company's size but strained its financial position, Cenovus has been cutting jobs and costs and selling assets. It raised nearly C$4 billion from divestments in 2017 and is eyeing further sales from its Deep Basin position this year. To avoid placing further stress on its balance sheet, Cenovus hopes to secure the funds to build infrastructure supporting the first phase of Narrows Lake from an outside partner, which would finance construction in exchange for a long-term agreement with Cenovus to utilize the assets.
Source: Daily Dose of ShaleDirectories.com News

https://www.shaledirectories.com/blog/cenovus-seeks-partner-for-narrows-lake-project/

The Changing Mix Of Energy

The global demand for energy will continue to increase, according to a veteran investor and founder of private equity firm Pine Brook. Howard Newman shares his outlook on commodity prices, the prominence of wind and solar generation.
Source: Daily Dose of ShaleDirectories.com News

https://www.shaledirectories.com/blog/the-changing-mix-of-energy/

ExxonMobil's Mark Albers To Retire As Senior Vice President

ExxonMobil Corp.’s (NYSE: XOM) senior vice president Mark W. Albers intends to retire, effective April 1, 2018, after more than 38 years of service.
Source: Daily Dose of ShaleDirectories.com News

https://www.shaledirectories.com/blog/exxonmobilamp039s-mark-albers-to-retire-as-senior-vice-president/

Wild Goose Chase Celebrates 20th Anniversary

Chicago Ridge, IL (January 11, 2018): Wild Goose Chase, Inc. (WGC), a nuisance wildlife management company, celebrated their 20th year of canine handling for commercial service contracts this week.

Likewise, Canine Detection and Inspection Services (CDIS), a canine scent detection company which is managed by WGC, celebrated their 10th year of specialized canine scent detection services this week. In 1998, WGC started by servicing one golf course in the Chicago suburbs--in 2017, WGC and its sister companies serviced over 400 clients across the Midwest, South, Southwest, and the Northeast, including a number of Fortune 500 companies, major universities, city/ county/ state/ federal government agencies, small businesses, multi-unit residential properties, park districts, and public beaches. WGC's latest venture, CDIS K9 Pipeline Leak Inspection (CDIS K9 Pipes), is a canine scent detection company which assists clients in the Oil and Gas industry to efficiently and accurately pinpoint pipeline leaks by detecting the industry standard odorant. About WGC: Wild Goose Chase protects people and property from the hazards of pest birds, such as Canada geese, gulls, pigeons, sparrows, starlings, and other nuisance birds. About CDIS: Canine Detection and Inspection Services offers effective pest management to hotels, apartment complexes, nursing homes, hospitals, dormitories and residences in bed bug detection and inspection. About CDIS K9 Pipes: CDIS K9 Pipeline Leak Inspection assists clients in the Oil and Gas industry to efficiently and accurately detect and pinpoint oil pipeline leaks.

https://www.shaledirectories.com/blog/?p=3752

Report: Trump Considering Energy Secretary Rick Perry For VA Secretary

President Donald Trump is considering whether to fire his secretary of veterans affairs and replace him with Energy Secretary Rick Perry, a New York Times report said on March 13, citing two sources close to the White House.
Source: Daily Dose of ShaleDirectories.com News

https://www.shaledirectories.com/blog/report-trump-considering-energy-secretary-rick-perry-for-va-secretary/

In Climate Lawsuits, Cities Present Evidence that Differs from Source Documents

U.S. cities suing energy companies over climate change may have mischaracterized their own evidence, casting more doubt on the validity of the litigation and putting an additional spotlight on the environmental activists who are steering the broader campaign.

Continue reading at EID Climate.

Source: Daily Dose of ShaleDirectories.com News

https://www.shaledirectories.com/blog/in-climate-lawsuits-cities-present-evidence-that-differs-from-source-documents/

Mexico Front-Runner Must Respect Oil, Airport Contracts: Business Lobby

Mexico's powerful CCE business lobby on March 12 urged the leftist front-runner for a July 1 presidential election to stop questioning major planks of the government's economic agenda lest it damage investment.
Source: Daily Dose of ShaleDirectories.com News

https://www.shaledirectories.com/blog/mexico-front-runner-must-respect-oil-airport-contracts-business-lobby/

Pa. DEP Secretary Tells Sen. Baker Fracking ‘Has Been Fine on the SRBC Side’

Pennsylvania State Sen. Lisa Baker (R) questioned Pa. Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Secretary Patrick McDonnell at the Senate budget hearings this week, and his answers were a major blow to the Delaware River Basin Commission’s (DRBC) proposed fracking ban. Not only did Sec. McDonnell admit that he is the representative for both the Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC) and the DRBC, but that in regard to fracking, “what we’ve seen in the studies that we’ve seen are; it has been fine on the SRBC side.”

You can watch the entire exchange in the following video courtesy of Natural Gas Now:

After landowners, elected officials and others repeatedly testified at the recent Waymart DRBC hearing about the SRBC’s 2017 study that found “no discernable impacts” from fracking in the basin, activists tried to discredit the findings. During the final phone hearing this week, Delaware Riverkeeper Tracy Carluccio even went as far as to say she had spoken to someone at the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and that USGS discredited the study. That’s a direct contradiction to what Sec. McDonnell told Sen. Baker this week.

And he’s not the only one saying so. One of the authors of that research, hydrogeologist Blayne Diacont, testified in Schnecksville that as someone intimately familiar with the monitoring that has occurred in the Susquehanna River Basin,

“I am in a unique position to state that I strongly believe that concerns are grossly overemphasized, misrepresented, and that each one of them can be addressed through appropriate regulation.  You only need to look at your adjacent basin and sister agency for guidance in this regard.”

You can read his entire testimony here.

Sec. McDonnell also emphasized that here in the Commonwealth, “we have very good oil and gas regulations.” Those same regulations that have safely allowed for the Marcellus Shale to drive U.S. natural gas development, and in turn brought major economic and environmental benefits to Pennsylvania, would also be in place in the Delaware River Basin.

As such, the question remains: What is the DRBC really basing its proposed ban on, because it certainly isn’t the scientific evidence coming out of its neighboring basin.

Source: Daily Dose of ShaleDirectories.com News

https://www.shaledirectories.com/blog/pa-dep-secretary-tells-sen-baker-fracking-has-been-fine-on-the-srbc-side/

New York Governor Requests To Exclude State From Offshore Drilling Program

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on March 9 said he had formally asked for the state to be excluded from a federal offshore drilling program that he said would threaten its ocean resources and endanger efforts toward a cleaner energy economy. "New York State strongly opposes the Department of the Interior's National Outer Continental Shelf Oil and Gas Leasing Program as it poses an unacceptable threat to New York's ocean resources, to our economy and to the future of our children," Cuomo said in announcing the exclusion request. The five-year program, launched by the federal government in early January, proposes to make over 90% of the total U.S. offshore acreage available to oil and gas drilling. The plan would open two areas of the North Atlantic coast adjacent to New York State for fossil fuel exploration, according to a statement from Cuomo's office.
Source: Daily Dose of ShaleDirectories.com News

https://www.shaledirectories.com/blog/new-york-governor-requests-to-exclude-state-from-offshore-drilling-program/

UPDATE: Shell, Blackstone Reportedly Eyeing $10 Billion Bid For BHP US Shale Assets

Royal Dutch Shell Plc (NYSE: RDS.A) and U.S. private equity firm Blackstone Group LP are working on a joint $10 billion bid for BHP Billiton Ltd.'s (NYSE: BHP) U.S. shale assets, Sky News said on March 8. Shell and Blackstone's offer will only be one of several credible proposals that BHP will receive for its U.S. shale operations, Sky News said, citing banking sources. BHP, Shell and Blackstone declined to comment.
Source: Daily Dose of ShaleDirectories.com News

https://www.shaledirectories.com/blog/update-shell-blackstone-reportedly-eyeing-10-billion-bid-for-bhp-us-shale-assets/

CDIS K9 Demonstrates at Midstream PA

The combination of an aging pipeline infrastructure and increasing pipeline leak incidents has resulted in additional regulatory and compliance scrutiny. When such an accident does occur it is important to act expediently to mitigate the regulatory, financial, and environmental impacts. CDIS K9 Pipeline Leak Inspection assists clients in the Oil and Gas industry to efficiently and accurately detect and pinpoint leaks, thereby reducing the overall costs of repair and downtime of the system. CDIS maintains multiple canine teams on standby and monitors a 24-hour hotline to enable rapid mobilization swiftly and respond in a timely manner. We can assist with proactive inspections and emergency call-out inspections. With 20 years' experience in canine handling for commercial and industrial service contracts and 10 years' experience in specialized canine scent detection services, CDIS has the expertise to address your pipeline detection and inspection needs.

Visit us at www.K9pipes.com to learn more!

On Thursday, October 19th, CDIS K9 Pipeline Leak Inspection is honored to be a sponsor of the Midstream PA 2017 in State College, PA. We will also be performing demo with one of our trained canines. Midstream PA brings together midstream operators, commercial suppliers, training providers, and regulatory overseers to discuss opportunities around midstream development throughout Pennsylvania and beyond. In early June 2017, CDIS participated in Utica Midstream, organized by the Canton Regional Chamber of Commerce, where Carla and Linq (pictured, right) demonstrated how canines detect the tracer odorant from a pipeline using a sample pipe. Let us know if you're also participating in Midstream PA and/or would like to learn more about our canine pipeline inspection services by contacting us at:

(844) 597- 4737 or info@canineinspection.com

https://www.shaledirectories.com/blog/?p=3738

Devon Energy To Sell Barnett Shale Chunk For $553 Million

Devon Energy Corp. (NYSE: DVN) propelled itself past a $1 billion divestment goal set less than a year ago with an agreement on March 7 to sell a chunk of assets in the Barnett Shale. Devon said an undisclosed company agreed to buy the southern portion of its Barnett Shale position, primarily in Johnson County, Texas, for $553 million. Net production from the assets currently averages 200 million cubic feet of gas-equivalent per day (MMcfe/d). In conjunction with the asset sale, President and CEO Dave Hager said the Devon board has authorized a $1 billion share-repurchase program and a 33% increase to the company's quarterly cash dividend.
Source: Daily Dose of ShaleDirectories.com News

https://www.shaledirectories.com/blog/devon-energy-to-sell-barnett-shale-chunk-for-553-million/

Fake Ohio Landowner ‘Coalition’ Recruits Kucinich and Earthworks

EID reported last month that fringe environmental extremists are now using fake landowner coalitions to try to bolster efforts to ban fracking and stop pipeline development in Ohio. And even though these front groups are bragging about parachuting in Earthworks operatives, and plan to hold a so-called “leasing forum” headlined by none other than the “Moonbeam Congressman” and current gubernatorial candidate Dennis Kucinich, Ohioans are already proving they are wise to their antics by setting the record straight and continuing to demonstrate that the people who actually live and work here aren’t buying what activists are selling — regardless of how much money and influence out-of-state and out-of-touch groups try to impose on the Buckeye State.

Fake Landowner Groups Launch Misinformation Campaign

It’s been a busy few weeks for the new fake landowner groups EID exposed last month.

The so-called Tri-County Landowners Coalition “representing” three Ohio counties — Richland, Ashland, and Holmes — and including Hayesville Community on Fracked Gas (HCFG), Clear Fork Landowners Group (CFLG), Advocates for Local Land (ALL), and the Monroe Township Landowners Coalition (MTLC), continues to show its true colors in several distinctive ways.

First, ALL penned a letter to the Richland Source calling on readers to “Learn facts about fracking to make an educated decision,” claiming,

“One needs only to visit Carroll County or any other nearby area to witness firsthand these issues. Our past travels in those areas as well as West Virginia and Pennsylvania provide stark examples of what full scale extraction practices have done to those regions, infrastructure, aesthetics, and quality of life. As one example of this devastation, please research the life-changing impact on the local water supplies in the areas where full scale fracking is being done. Where will the millions and millions of gallons of water needed to frack come from? By one estimate, Ohio has forever lost over 16 billion gallons of water due to oil and gas extraction. The resultant toxic water will be poisoned and removed from the water cycle — forever… Advocates for Local Land (ALL) is here to work together to protect and to enhance the health, beauty and sustainability of our community.”

Days later, ALL announced a so-called Tri-County Land Leasing Forum to “provide information to landowners and other concerned citizens regarding some of the issues surrounding subsurface mineral leases and deep horizontal drilling in Ohio.” The forum includes well-known anti-fracking speakers, spearheaded by Kucinich and Tara Samples — candidates for Governor and Lieutenant Governor, respectively — with additional speakers from the Mom’s Clean Air Force, North Central Ohio Land Conservancy, and the so-called Mohican Basin Landowners Association. The entire anti-fracking “leasing forum” charade is “sponsored” by the fake Tri-County Landowners Coalition.

Shortly after ALL announced this forum, one of the “coalition” members, Elaine Tanner, and the Oberlin-based Friends for Environmental Justice announced that it has enlisted the help of Earthworks, one of the most aggressive national “ban fracking” groups, boasting that they plan to again parachute an Earthworks operative into Ohio to campaign and fearmonger local communities through their notorius misuse of FLIR cameras, this time focusing on orphaned and abandoned shallow wells. As you can clearly see, Friends for Environmental Justice is even bragging about its ability to use grants and donations for its anti-fracking campaigns “at no cost to you.”

Ohio Locals and Real Landowners Set the Record Straight

Fortunately, Ohioans are not buying into these groups’ claims and tactics. For example, after learning about the fact that these fake landowner coalitions tried to use Carroll County as “one example of this devastation” in the aforementioned Richland Source letter to the editor, Amy Rutledge, executive director of the Carroll County Convention & Visitors Bureau (who actually lives in Carroll County) set the record straight and responded by saying,

“The letter was both insulting and factually untrue. The author of the letter said ‘one needs only to visit Carroll County or any other nearby areas to witness firsthand these issues.’ Well, as someone who does actually live in Carroll County, I too encourage the readers of the Richland Source to visit Carroll County and other nearby areas to witness firsthand the truth about the oil and natural gas industry. You’ll find that Carroll County has and continues to boast scenic drives with beautiful rolling hills, farmland galore, beautiful lakes and fishing, boating and hiking trails throughout. And yes, there have been a lot of changes too, as the oil and gas industry has become one of our key industries alongside agriculture, manufacturing and tourism. The oil and gas boom in Carroll County has been extraordinary. 2013 sales tax revenues increased by 70 percent versus 2011 ($3.2 million vs. $1.9 million). Two new hotels have been constructed in the county. Drilling companies have spent $40 million upgrading township and county roads. In addition, we have a new school being built, thanks to a new natural gas power plant. To be clear, our county is not an ‘example of devastation’ and as the and as the executive director of the Carroll County Convention & Visitors Bureau, I would invite each and every reader down to our beautiful county any time. Please come see for yourself that the statements made are simply untrue. I too encourage readers to ‘Learn facts about fracking to make an educated decision’ and the recent Letter to the Editor on fracking was not at all factual.”

As for the upcoming so-called Tri-County Land Leasing Forum being headlined by “Moonbeam Congressman” Kucinich, all four of his fellow Democratic gubernatorial candidates have unanimously rejected his “rash” and “naïve” plan to ban oil and gas development in Ohio. As former Ohio Supreme Court Justice Bill O’Neill stated,

“Ending fracking is not the right answer and initiating another class action lawsuit is clearly not the right answer.” (emphasis added)

It’s also ironic that Friends for Environmental Justice would use the issue of orphaned and abandoned wells as an excuse to parachute in Earthworks and fear monger local communities at the exact same time that the Toledo Blade reports that the Ohio Oil and Gas Association and the Ohio Environmental Council have teamed up to cap idled and abandoned wells. That’s right — industry and a key mainstream environmental group are solidly behind bipartisan legislation dedicated specifically to address this issue.

But this is certainly not the first time that Earthworks has been out of touch in Ohio. Recall that just last year, Earthworks staffer Ethan Buckner said to a “huge” crowd of only 15 in Marietta, “I’m from Oakland, California and happy to be here.” While out-of-state Earthworks operatives may be happy to be in Ohio — using fossil fuels to travel as far as 2,500 miles from places like California — local residents have had about enough of them.

Washington County Commissioner and Marietta resident Ron Feathers told EID,

“We don’t need these national groups coming in from out of state, traveling 2,500 miles to try to dictate how we manage our natural resources in Ohio. They have no vested interest here. They are not paying taxes, and they are not supporting our schools or local fire department. I don’t tell people in California how to eat and they shouldn’t be telling me how to use our minerals.”

The actual national landowner advocacy group – the National Association of Royalty Owners (NARO) — agrees, reporting to EID last month,

“This constant drum beat by folks who do not want any fossil fuels developed under the guise of ‘local control’ is tiring, and for those of us who have a national perspective, this is anything but local. Most of the groups claiming to be ‘local grassroots’ organizations may have enlisted a few local residents to carry the banner, but don’t be fooled. The tell on who is behind them is the rhetoric they spew which is the exact same message developed by Food and Water Watch, Food and Water Action, Sierra Club, Green Peace, etc., who are anything but local. Don’t believe me? Just visit any of those organizations’ websites and see what they say about oil and gas, and you will find the exact same talking points these supposed local grassroots groups are using. They all point to lack of federal Safe Drinking Water Act authority over the oil and gas industry as some terrible miscarriage of justice. Look, this is NOT about local control. This is a private property issue.  This is about a few who want to control everyone else for their own selfish reasons.”

Indeed. And it’s taken only a few weeks to prove that our recent blog post headlined “Heads-Up to Ohio Landowners: Beware of Fake Coalitions” has in fact proven to be wholly accurate. As a reminder, these fake groups have no real intention to help landowners navigate leasing questions. They want to ban all oil and gas development, period.

Source: Daily Dose of ShaleDirectories.com News

https://www.shaledirectories.com/blog/fake-ohio-landowner-coalition-recruits-kucinich-and-earthworks/

Anti-fracking Environmentalist Colluding with the Russians.

Anyone who has been involved in the oil and gas industry since fracking became more widely used in developing oil and gas in the U.S. knows the Russians have spent millions of dollars throughout the world to stop fracking. Russians did by supporting groups and organizations that are against fracking. Why? Because America’s success in drilling for oil and gas significantly impacts the price of oil globally and prevents the Russians from charging exorbitant rates oil and NatGas to its customers throughout the world, especially in Eastern Europe. Guess what? The collusion is working. Aren’t power companies in Massachusetts paying the highest price for NatGas in the world from Russian? The Boston Globe editorialized a couple weeks ago the danger that the anti-fracking environmentalist having on well-being of families and businesses in New England. The paragraph below is an article from Energy in Depth published Thursday, March1 which reports that latest findings by a congressional committee on Russian efforts to stop development of oil and gas in the U.S. U.S. House Science, Space, and Technology Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) today released a staff report uncovering Russia’s extensive efforts to influence U.S. energy markets through divisive and inflammatory posts on social media platforms. The report details Russia’s motives in interfering with U.S. energy markets and influencing domestic energy policy and its manipulation of Americans via social media propaganda. The report includes examples of Russian-propagated social media posts. The Internet Research Agency (IRA, the Kremlin’s online trolling organization) targeted pipelines, fossil fuels, climate change and other divisive issues to influence public policy in the U.S. The anti-fracking environmentalists are colluding with the Russians. You are naïve to think they are not.

https://www.shaledirectories.com/blog/?p=3733

David Pursell Joins Apache Corp.'s Executive Management

David Pursell has been named senior vice president, Planning and Energy Fundamentals, at Apache Corporation (NYSE: APA), effective March 12.
Source: Daily Dose of ShaleDirectories.com News

https://www.shaledirectories.com/blog/david-pursell-joins-apache-corp-amp039s-executive-management/

Walk, Don't Run, Before Diving Into The M&A Pool

Thinking about finding a partner and jumping into the energy M&A market? Just be careful how you do it. “The M&A market is pretty frothy right now and in the last quarter we’ve seen it pick up appreciably,” said Nemesio “Nemo” Viso, managing director of Bluehenge Capital Partners at the recent Duff & Phelps and Amegy Bank of Texas Private Capital Conference. “The energy service energy is starting to open up again.” Ryan Franco, managing director of Altos Energy Partners LLC, agreed that now is a good time to bring on a potential partner or partners because valuations across almost all industries in North America are at historic highs, with the possible exception of energy services.
Source: Daily Dose of ShaleDirectories.com News

https://www.shaledirectories.com/blog/walk-donamp039t-run-before-diving-into-the-mampampa-pool/

The Liquids King

—“There is no doubt that the Marcellus-Utica shale play is changing the flow of energy in the United States,” said Tim Aydt, president of Marathon Pipe Line LLC, a subsidiary of MPLX, speaking at Hart Energy’s 2018 Marcellus-Utica Midstream conference. MPLX has jumped right into this changing market, adding new pipelines and revamping existing ones to improve connections and capacities. Additionally, the company has 3.8 Bcf per day of gathering, 6.0 Bcf per day of processing and 531,000 barrels per day (bbl/d) of fractionation capacity in the region, through its subsidiary MarkWest Energy Partners LLC. MPLX, a master limited partnership formed in 2012, and sponsor Marathon Petroleum Corp., started bringing Appalachian assets online and on stream in 2013. Completed projects to date include the Canton and Catlettsburg condensate splitters, Canton condensate truck unload rack, RIO Pipeline Reversal, and a variety of terminals, truck fleets and river barges. But the most significant project for MPLX has been its Cornerstone Pipeline.
Source: Daily Dose of ShaleDirectories.com News

https://www.shaledirectories.com/blog/the-liquids-king/

Dimock’s ‘Sue and Settle’ Litigant’s Next Target: Pennsylvania

EID has spent a lot of time talking about Dimock, Pa., over the years, and every time the saga seems to be coming to a close, someone does something to try to keep it in the headlines. Most recently that someone has been Ray Kemble, who some may remember for being part of the original methane migration claims made in Dimock. First, Kemble sued Cabot Oil and Gas in 2017 over claims regarding methane migration that were resolved in a settlement  in 2012. And now, Kemble is suing the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for what he and his attorneys are claiming is a “criminal conspiracy between state and private actors, to POISON the air, land, water, and people, since the first horizontal well was drilled 2/20/2006 .”

A press release sent out earlier this week by Kemble and activist Craig Stevens notes that Kemble will be sending “a Notice of Claim against the Commonwealth for $38.7 M, for Nuisance, Personal Injury, Complete Loss of Property Value, and other damages, including gross violations of Mr. Kemble’s Civil, Constitutional, and Natural Rights ” (emphasis added).

Kemble’s latest allegations are quite hefty and — quite frankly — have no merit when one considers the events that have led up to this announced litigation.  Let’s take a look:

(Note: The above and following quotes from the press release are copied exactly as they were written, including multiple misspellings, random capitalization, and shorthand.)

Press release: “Mr. Kemble first observed a change in his water quality in October 2008, after Cabot drilled the Costello #1 well 530’ft from Mr. Kemble’s water well. His water was offically determined by PADEP to be contaminated by Cabot Oil and Gas 15 April 2010 .”

For those who haven’t followed this saga over the past decade, Kemble was part of the original group in Dimock that brought allegations of methane migration against Cabot. In Pennsylvania, there is a “presumption of liability,” meaning that an oil and gas company is held responsible for any changes to water quality within six months of a well being drilled for properties in a 2,500-foot radius of the well (it was 1,000 feet when the claims were made). Therefore, because complaints were made following the drilling of its gas wells, and there were no baseline tests to compare water standards prior to that drilling, state law deemed that, by default, Cabot was accountable for elevated levels of methane in water wells near its well sites. As such, the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) reached an agreement, or Consent Order, with Cabot that included settlements in some cases, water deliveries and/or treatment systems for the families involved, and an agreement to shut in wells and halt operations in a nine-square mile area in Dimock.

Kemble was one of the individuals who eventually signed a settlement with the company that included a non-disclosure agreement — which is pretty standard practice in nuisance litigation cases.  It appears he did not, however, accept a treatment system that would have removed the methane from his water.

Press release: “Since Nov 30, 2011, Mr. Kemble has been DENIED his rights to clean water under section 3218 of the 1984 Oil and Gas Act, as amended by Act 13 (2012), by State Actors, including two governors, five DEP secretaries, and principally, Mr. Scott Perry, Deputy Sec. of Oil and Gas .”

This isn’t true at all, as Cabot made every effort to ensure Kemble would have access to potable water.

On Oct. 18, 2011, DEP notified Cabot that it had fulfilled the obligations of the Consent Order and could thus stop delivering water to residents, including Kemble, beginning Nov. 30. Cabot issued a letter shortly after notifying residents that had been receiving water deliveries about what would occur. Notably, Cabot offered to pay for treatment options and a plumber to reconnect water or install treatment systems for up to 60 days, laying out a clear timeline while asking residents to respond with their desired course of action. Here’s a few key excerpts (full letter):

“… Cabot either has installed or remains willing to install a whole-house methane mitigation water treatment system for Property Owners. The whole-house methane mitigation water treatment system removes methane from the water to a level of 5 mg/l (5 parts per million) or less.”

“Homeowners who accept this offer, in writing, prior to November 30, 2011 will continue to receive temporary water supplies until the work is completed…”

“Some homeowners have not permitted Cabot’s consultants to test their water supplies or have failed to allow access on a reasonable schedule. For those Property Owners who refuse to allow testing of their permanent water well supply, Cabot will immediately discontinue delivery of water, and will not wait until November 30, 2011 to discontinue delivery of fresh water.”

“Just to be clear: 1) if you already have a whole-house methane mitigation water treatment system, the temporary potable water will be discontinued as soon as a professional plumber reconnects your water well supply; 2) if Cabot is installing a whole-house methane mitigation water treatment system and for some legitimate reason the work is delayed beyond November 30, 2011, then you will continue to receive temporary potable water until the system is installed; 3) once the whole-house methane mitigation water treatment system is installed, the temporary water will be discontinued; 4) if you fail to make arrangements for a professional plumber to reconnect your water supply or if you request a methane removal system and fail to allow access on a reasonable schedule, then temporary water will be discontinued on November 30, 2011; and 5) if you refuse to allow Cabot’s consultants to test your permanent water well supply, Cabot will immediately discontinue delivery of potable water, and will not wait until November 30, 2011 to discontinue delivery of potable water.” (emphasis added)

Not only were DEP and then Cabot very clear regarding how and when water deliveries would stop, ample opportunity was given to allow Cabot to fix the water issues. Kemble does not appear to have taken advantage of those opportunities, and eventually signed a settlement in 2012.

Press release: “This conspiracy had the effect of subverting the laws of the Commonwealth to deny citizens their natural, constitutioinal, and civil rights. Mr. Kemble futher DEMANDS that the Attorney General complete his criminal investigation which Mr. Kemble instigated in May of 2017, and that a Grand Jury be convened to investigate these charges .”

Press release: “Mr. Kemble has suffered complete loss of his property value, property nuisance, harrassment, stalking, threats, loss of personal income, a $5M SLAPP suit, and chronic and acute health impacts .” (emphasis added)

These two excerpts really go together. If we fast-forward five years from the settlement to April 2017, Kemble reappeared alongside notorious anti-fracking litigation lawyer Charles F. Speer – whose law firm phone number also doubled as the Fracking Senseless (Craig Stevens’ Energy In Denial group) number – and the Pennsylvania law firm Fellerman and Ciarimboli with a second lawsuit against Cabot. This time he claimed to have found new issues with his water that appeared to be similar to claims resolved in the initial settlement and that (unsurprisingly) he once again blamed on the company. That case is still ongoing.

Cabot filed its own lawsuit against Kemble, Speer and the Fellerman and Ciarimboli law firm in August 2017 on the grounds that Kemble was outside the statute of limitations on the claims he made in April that were part of his 2012 settlement, and that he breached the terms of that settlement in filing a second suit.

As Forbes contributor David Blackmon noted shortly after the filing, “this is what it looks like when a U.S. corporation declines to play the ‘sue and settle’ game any longer, and chooses to aggressively defend itself on the merits instead.” Here are some of Cabot’s complaints in that lawsuit that Blackmon highlighted:

1. Prior to 2012, Defendant Speer, a pig farm nuisance lawyer from Missouri, routinely filed suits against those in the agricultural industry based on alleged damages from odors and other purported nuisances.
2. After Missouri enacted legislation at the end of 2011 that put an end to Speer’s pig farm lawsuits, Speer set his sights on Pennsylvania and switched his focus from pigs to rigs.
3. In the process, Speer and Speer Law teamed up Ciarimboli, Boylan, and F & C to commence nuisance claim lawsuits against natural gas operators in Pennsylvania.
4. One of their new Pennsylvania clients, Kemble, had sued Cabot and GDS in 2009 and settled his claims in 2012.
5. Following the 2012 settlement agreement, Kemble spent the next five years breaching its terms.
6. Despite knowing that Kemble had settled his claims against Cabot and GDS in 2012, Speer, Speer Law, Ciarimboli, Boylan, and F & C drafted and filed a 24-page complaint against Cabot and GDS in April of 2017, in the Middle District of Pennsylvania (“2017 Complaint”), for which they had no probable cause. See, Ex. A, a copy of the 2017 Complaint.
7. The 2017 Complaint included irrelevant and inflammatory allegations designed to harass Cabot and GDS, attract media attention, poison the community and jury pool against Cabot and GDS, and extort payment from Cabot and GDS when no legitimate claims existed.
8. As a result of all Defendants’ tortious, intentional, malicious, and wrongful use of process, and Kemble’s multiple breaches of the 2012 settlement agreement, Cabot and GDS are seeking compensatory damages and punitive damages in the amount of $5,000,000.00.

This litigation is also still ongoing.

And that brings us to this week, as Kemble is once again suing – this time the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. This is just the latest example of a six-year saga that has seen Kemble traveling across the state, down to Florida multiple times and even to Paris to exploit an issue that was settled way back in 2012.

Source: Daily Dose of ShaleDirectories.com News

https://www.shaledirectories.com/blog/dimocks-sue-and-settle-litigants-next-target-pennsylvania/