The Daily Digger

Former PA Governor Ed Rendell From ProPublica: Former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell took to the New York Daily News  op-ed page Wednesday with a message to local officials: stop worrying and learn to love fracking. As New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo  agonizes over whether to allow the controversial natural gas drilling technique, Rendell invoked his own experience as a Democratic governor who presided over a fracking boom. New York state, Rendell argued, has a major part to play in the nation’s fracking “revolution” — and it can do so safely. He rejected what he called the “false choice” of “natural gas versus the environment.” What Rendell’s passionate plea failed to note was this: since stepping down as governor in 2011, he has worked as a paid consultant to a private equity firm with investments in the natural gas industry. Read the whole article here. This isn't the first time lately that Ed Rendell has made news for his industry-friendly behavior. Con...

OEPA Director Scott Nally From Business Journal Daily: BOARDMAN, Ohio – The director of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency said businesses and regulators need to work together in partnership to ensure that the emerging oil and gas industry will be viable for a long time and small businesses can invest here. “It’s important that we don’t put bull's eyes on our foreheads when somebody does it incorrectly,” said Scott Nally, Ohio EPA director, who headlined a breakfast program Monday hosted by the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber’s Government Affairs Council. Click here to read more.  Connect with us on Facebook and Twitter! Follow @EnergyNewsBlog

Columbus, Ohio- A growing movement of grassroots community groups in Ohio released a statement today, which accompanied a letter sent directly to the Center for Sustainable Shale Development (CSSD), calling the “peace” reached by the Oil and Gas industry and environmental groups a complete fabrication. The letter, sent by hundreds of citizens and community groups, stated, “We are in fact quite insulted that you (CSSD), presume to speak for Ohio citizens and Ohio environmental organizations. To date we have not found even one organization in our state that had any knowledge of this agreement, even though you have been working on it for the past two years. If indeed you have been working or communicating with environmental organizations in Ohio, please provide us with the name(s) of these organizations.” Speaking on behalf of No Frack Ohio, a coalition of hundreds of Ohio citizens and grassroots groups, Buckeye Forest Council director, Cheryl Johncox, stated, “This industry ploy sim...

From The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead: Authorities are investigating an explosion at a business in the western North Dakota oil patch that killed one worker and injured another.   Mountrail County Sheriff Ken Halvorson says the blast Wednesday happened while 19-year-old Trevor Davis, of Burlington, was cleaning the inside of an oil tanker trailer at the Plains Trucking yard northwest of Ross. Read the short article here.  Connect with us on Facebook and Twitter! Follow @EnergyNewsBlog

From The Intelligencer/Wheeling News-Register: WHEELING - Not ready to call the measure "forced pooling," Corky Demarco said the bill now under consideration by the West Virginia Senate would allow some unleased land to be included in drilling units. "This does not allow someone to force you into a unit if you refuse to sign a lease. This just allows minerals whose owners are unknown or cannot be found to be included," said Demarco, executive director of the West Virginia Oil and Natural Gas Association. Two years ago, Demarco and other industry leaders advocated a bill that would have permitted forced pooling, which is now illegal for Marcellus Shale drilling in West Virginia. This concept would allow natural gas drillers to draw gas from land they have not leased. Read the whole article by clicking here.  Connect with us on Facebook and Twitter! Follow @EnergyNewsBlog

From The Motley Fool: A couple of years ago,  Chesapeake Energy 's ( NYSE:  CHK     ) outgoing CEO Aubrey McClendon touted the Utica Shale as "the biggest thing to hit Ohio since the plow." In mid-2011, he even went so far as to claim that the 1.3 million acres of Utica property that Chesapeake had leased contained hydrocarbons worth roughly $20 billion.   But since that time, McClendon has scaled back his expectations about the Utica's oil potential substantially, as have executives at some other major companies operating in the play. This waning optimism, fueled by wells that yielded far less oil than initially expected, has led some commentators to question whether or not the play will live up to its initial hype. As Utica drillers continue to derisk their acreage, will they stumble upon huge reserves of oil? Or will the Utica's initial comparison to Texas' prolific Eagle Ford prove overblown? Let's take a look. Read the rest of this article by...

From EID Ohio: Extreme environmental activist groups have been put on  notice  by Ohio’s law enforcement, due primarily to the activities of outside organizations coming into Ohio to disrupt oil and gas development.  Authorities like the  Ohio State Highway Patrol  have begun to acknowledge that these groups’ actions are a threat to human health and safety, and as such are working to ensure they pose no threat to workers or the public in general. As we first  reported  in the fall,  Earth First! Climber’s Guild  held a retreat near Athens, Ohio in order to train extreme activists with the climbing skills needed to temporarily disrupt oil and gas activities in Ohio, much like we saw earlier this month in New Matamoras.  In the beginning, these exercises were little more than a stunt; we never figured they would actually carry out these sorts of activities in Ohio, a state where we have developed oil and gas for over 150 years.  ...

It was to be expected, but it is still odd to watch.  After scientists concluded that a 2011 Oklahoma earthquake was caused by injection wells for conventional oil and gas operations - in other words, injection wells that had nothing to do with any fracking - it was to be expected that environmental groups and sensationalists in the media would ignore those facts and report that fracking is tied to the earthquake. For example, Quartz had this headline : Forget climate change, now we have to worry about fracking earthquakes And from environmentalist site Mother Jones : Fracking's Latest Scandal? Earthquake Swarms Just in an attempt to inject some fact below those misleading headlines:  the fact that injection well disposal can cause earthquakes is not new news.  Studies have concluded as much for some time now, and here in Ohio we have seen new regulations put into place within the past year to provide protection against the possibility of such seismic ac...

From Shale Gas Review: DIMOCK, Pa.  -- More than four years after the explosion of a residential water well called attention to the problem, Pennsylvania environmental officials are still trying to solve water pollution in this small town that has become infamous for shale gas development. Recent cases involve two homes in a gas field where the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has banned drilling of new wells in the wake of chronic water pollution tracked to nearby operations of Cabot Oil & Gas. Cabot crews continue to operate a service rig between gas wells and water wells to diagnose problems in an area where the DEP has found dangerous levels of methane flowing into residential water wells near the junction of Carter Road and State Route 3023. Colleen Connolly, a spokeswoman for the Department of Environmental Protection, said this week that the agency has not determined when the latest round of testing will be released. Read the whole post here. Conn...

From The Intelligencer/Wheeling News-Register: NATRIUM - Still waiting to process its first barrel of ethane, the under construction $500 million Dominion Resources natural gas facility received its second bomb threat in the last two months Tuesday. "The people who do these things are domestic terrorists," said Corky Demarco, executive director of the West Virginia Oil and Natural Gas Association. Marshall County Emergency Management Director Tom Hart said the West Virginia State Police, Marshall County sheriff's deputies, officials with the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources and officials with Dominion explored the construction site Tuesday afternoon. After closing W.Va. 2 between Fish Creek Road and W.Va. 89 for about two hours, officials reopened the road upon determining the threat was not credible. Read the rest of this story here.  Connect with us on Facebook and Twitter! Follow @EnergyNewsBlog

From The Intelligencer/Wheeling News-Register: WHEELING - Councilwoman Gloria Delbrugge, Wheeling Jesuit University biology professor Ben Stout and city resident Tom Triveri are among those strongly opposed to GreenHunter Water's plan to recycle natural gas drilling wastewater in Warwood - but company officials contend the water they want to ship via barge poses less of a threat than other potentially hazardous materials transported on the river every day. Representatives of the Texas-based company met with Wheeling officials Tuesday morning to discuss the company's plan, which they expect will create 15 temporary construction jobs and 12 permanent jobs. Earlier this month, the company announced its acquisition of the former Seidler's Oil Service property on North 28th Street for $750,000, as well as plans for $1.7 million in new construction at the plant, which the company wants to be operational by fall. City Manager Robert Herron described Tuesday's discussion...

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources has released the latest permitting report.  7 new Utica shale permits were issued last week.  4 were to Chesapeake Energy for Carroll County sites, 2 for Gulfport Energy in Harrison County, and BP obtained its first Utica shale permit for the Lennington 1H well in Trumbull County. The total permit count is now 581, with 281 wells drilled and 77 producing. You can view the report for last week here. Connect with us on Facebook and Twitter! Follow @EnergyNewsBlog

From the Carrollton Free Press Standard: Missy Phillips looks like a typical 30-something mother of three. That is, until you see... ...her boots ...her “guns” ...and her truck.   Phillips, 37, is a welding foreman on the pipeline.  The self-proclaimed “Pipeliner with Eyeliner” has worked in the oilfields for almost eight years, as a welding helper the first year, and a welder the remaining time. She also did minor welding on a drilling rig.   Small in stature, she stands only a few inches over five feet tall, but drives a massive Dodge Ram one-ton black four-door dualie with pink pinstriping and big pink eyelashes.  It took her only about one week to build the special welding bed mounted on the truck which holds the Lincoln Arc Welder she uses in the field. Read the whole article about Mrs. Phillips here. Connect with us on Facebook and Twitter! Follow @EnergyNewsBlog

PERRYSVILLE, OH – The Mohican-Memorial Forest and the Ohio Federation of Women’s Clubs have received a contribution of $25,000 from Columbia Pipeline Group (CPG). The funds will benefit the Memorial Forest Shrine and the horseman’s group camp area, which are located in Mohican-Memorial State Forest. The Memorial Forest Shrine is an Ohio war memorial that contains the handwritten names of many Ohioans who have made the ultimate sacrifice defending our freedoms. “We are appreciative of Columbia Pipeline Group’s contribution to the Ohio Federation of Women’s Clubs and to the Mohican-Memorial Forest," said Robert Boyles, chief of the ODNR Division of Forestry. “This contribution will help improve and maintain this historic memorial in a manner befitting the names of the men and women it honors.” CPG's $25,000 contribution was made through the charitable foundation of its parent company, NiSource. The Women’s Clubs will use a majority of the funds for the Memorial Forest Shrine, an...

From The Motley Fool: A joint venture, as you know, is a business agreement between two parties to develop a new entity whereby each party contributes assets. Those assets could be cash, equity, operating assets or intellectual property. The key is that the companies see greater value in combining the assets than in operating them separately. The energy industry is the king of joint ventures. There are two driving forces behind this phenomenon. First, energy exploration and production is very, very expensive. Many smaller firms simply cannot afford to develop the resources they’ve discovered. Energy exploration is also a very risky business. Joint ventures are great for spreading around that risk. Read the whole article here.  Connect with us on Facebook and Twitter! Follow @EnergyNewsBlog

From WTOV 9 News: BARNESVILLE, Ohio —  A  Belmont County  construction company is reaping the benefits from the demands of oil and gas workers. The business builds structures and houses in Barnesville to be used solely by those workers. T.J. Jefferis, a partner with Jeru Real Estate, said his company changed the way they operate to cater to the growing activity. A 4-acre area of their property used to be grass about a week ago, and it's been replaced with gravel and stone for the work site. "We're in a different environment now than what we were in a few years ago. And you've got a lot more businesses coming in and supporting these wells," said Jefferis. Read the rest of the article here.  Connect with us on Facebook and Twitter! Follow @EnergyNewsBlog

From the Associated Press: WASHINGTON (AP) — An unusual and widely felt 5.6-magnitude quake in Oklahoma in 2011 was probably caused when oil drilling waste was pushed deep underground, a team of university and federal scientists concluded. That would make it the most powerful quake to be blamed on deep injections of wastewater, according to a study published Tuesday by the journal Geology. The waste was from traditional drilling, not from the hydraulic fracturing technique, or fracking. Not everyone agrees, though, with the scientists' conclusion: Oklahoma's state seismologists say the quake was natural. Read the whole article here.  Connect with us on Facebook and Twitter! Follow @EnergyNewsBlog

WASHINGTON --  The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) independent Science Advisory Board (SAB) today announced the formation of its Hydraulic Fracturing Research Advisory panel. This panel of independent experts will peer review EPA’s 2014 draft report of results for its national study on any potential impacts of hydraulic fracturing on drinking water resources. Leading up to the peer review, the SAB panel will provide scientific feedback on EPA’s research in an open and transparent manner.  The development of the draft report, which is directed by Congress, is in line with the Administration’s focus on continuing to expand safe and responsible domestic oil and gas production. The SAB has identified an independent panel of 31 experts that meet the SAB’s criteria of having the necessary expertise and breadth of experience to adequately review the EPA hydraulic fracturing study on the potential impacts on drinking water resources, and meet long-standing rules regardi...

From the Tribune Chronicle: BOARDMAN - The director of the Ohio EPA says his goal always has been to reduce millions of gallons of water used in the state's oil and natural gas drilling process, but though it sounds promising, environmentalists, businesses and local government didn't react with great optimism. Ohio Environmental Protection Agency Director Scott Nally spoke Monday at a Youngstown-Warren Regional Chamber breakfast event here. Nally called water usage and disposal the "main issue" raised by opponents of the hydraulic fracturing process, commonly called "fracking." But he said new methods being explored by the industry are replacing the millions of gallons of water with other propellants such as carbon dioxide or propane. Read the entire article here. Connect with us on Facebook and Twitter! Follow @EnergyNewsBlog

From the Weirton Daily Times: GreenHunter Water officials are familiar with opposition, as Washington County, Ohio sheriff's deputies arrested 10 people in February for protesting at the company's natural gas and oil frack water storage site in New Matamoras. Now, Wheeling City Councilwoman Gloria Delbrugge plans to use her authority to try to keep GreenHunter from establishing its new frack water recycling plant at North 28th Street in Warwood. The facility would be located at the former Seidler's Oil Service site, directly adjacent to the Wheeling Heritage Trail. "They say this facility will be the 'first of its kind in the country.' That's because they have been run out of everywhere else," claimed Delbrugge, who represents and lives in the Warwood section of the city. Read the whole article here.  Connect with us on Facebook and Twitter! Follow @EnergyNewsBlog

From The Daily Record: WOOSTER -- A Wooster company could see its work force here more than double over the next three years and add $5.4 million in payroll if its leaders accept a 40 percent, seven-year tax credit offered by the Ohio Tax Credit Authority on Monday. Wooster Tool & Dye, a Westerman company, is looking to add 120 full-time workers over the next three years, spokeswoman Sonya Higginbotham said. The company manufactures gas and oil separation tanks and gas production units that are used by companies drilling for gas and oil in the Marcellus and Utica shale plays. The new hires are a result of the expected continued growth of oil and gas drilling in Ohio, said Higginbotham of Worthington Industries. The company purchased Westerman Inc., the parent company of Wooster Tool & Dye, in September for $70 million. Read the whole article by clicking here. Connect with us on Facebook and Twitter! Follow @EnergyNewsBlog

From Rigzone: The increase in vehicle traffic associated with the exploration and production boom in plays such as the Eagle Ford and Bakken has the oil and gas industry grappling with the issue of driver safety as workers drive long distances and work odd hours on the job. To meet this need, Telogis, a California-based provider of cloud-based location intelligence software, in early February began offering the oil and gas industry a comprehensive cloud-based software suite to not only monitor driver behavior in real-time, but provide training for drivers. The system allows Telogis' oil and gas clients to monitor when drivers employ hard braking, accelerate sharply, speed or fail to wear seat belts, said Geoff Scalf, head of business development for Telogis' oil and gas division, in an interview with Rigzone. Telogis' technology will monitor driver behavior based on a company's safety parameters. A particular driver's behavior can be pinpointed through this t...

CARROLLTON, OHIO: Carroll Concerned Citizens will host Ted Auch, PhD of the FracTracker Allliance at its April 4 meeting to explain the latest effort to document and understand trends in water quality for shale gas regions. According to Dr. Auch, “From across the country in areas where unconventional oil and gas development is occurring, accounts of possible water well contamination have been reported by landowners, but these reports haven’t been collected in one place for research purposes. My background is in ecosystem biogeochemistry and I have always been interested in how science shapes our public policy. This new FracTracker Alliance project will be an ideal opportunity to leverage data from various sources and the latest computer mapping technologies to help local, state and national officials in their decision making.” Paul Feezel, Chair of Carroll Concerned Citizens added, “We’ve been getting quite a few calls lately from researchers interested in studying th...

From Reuters: The share price gain represents perhaps the clearest example of how investors, giddy about an expected boom in Ohio's energy production, have been betting on companies based on some optimistic, but preliminary, production data. But next month a more comprehensive state report will publish new data from Ohio's oil and gas wells that will offer the most insight yet about whether the Utica is the next big thing or a potentially fizzling bust for companies operating there. Energy producers in the Buckeye State have compared the Utica to the giant Eagle Ford shale play in Texas and declared it a boon for a state still weathering an economic downturn. However, enthusiasm has cooled somewhat since drilling began in 2011, after wells produced more cheap  natural gas  than the more lucrative oil. On March 31 this year, data from between 50 and 60 wells drilled in 2012 will be given to the state. It will then be made available on the Ohio Department of Natural Res...

From the Parkersburg News & Sentinel: "A group of well watchers in Wetzel County, W.Va., has had a great deal of success in helping facilitate changes," said Cook. "Especially with regards to traffic related issues." People were sitting in traffic for hours due to trucks blocking portions of the very narrow roads there, according to Cook. "They were able to implement a staging area for the company's trucks rather than leaving them on the road," she said. "Instead of having traffic blocked for hours, they were able to voice their concerns and have them addressed." Bill Hughes, a member of the Wetzel County Action Group, said groups like his are the way that many state organizations find out what is happening. Small issues like muddy roads and blocking traffic often don't seem like big issues, but they can get under the skin of citizens, he said. Read the whole article here.  Connect with us on Facebook and Twitter! F...

From The Motley Fool: Despite increased oil production in the U.S. from unconventional sources such as the Bakken and Eagle Ford shales, oil prices haven't gone down. In fact, the price for a barrel of West Texas Intermediate crude is at about $93 and climbing. What's even worse is that one international group believes that the price of oil is poised to go up -- way up. Who is proclaiming this bad news? The Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development, or OECD. Based on its models, a barrel of oil could be in the range of $150 to $270 by the end of the decade. Let's look at why they could be right and how we could avoid the sting of surging oil prices. Why they could be right Despite the large increase in domestic production, it  costs more to access these new sources , and demand is still outpacing supply. According to EIA, demand for oil was about 1 million barrels per day higher than supply in 2011, and the projections for global demand are expected to c...

Forbes:   The Best Thing About Shale Gas: We Know Where it Is Forbes:   Will Natural Gas Stay Cheap Enough to Replace Coal and Lower US Carbon Emissions? Harrison News Herald:   Bowman Consulting Opens in Cadiz Grist:   Massive Louisiana sinkhole caused by oil industry keeps on growing TribLIVE:   U.S. Steel, Nucor CEOs urge caution on natural gas exports Telegraph:  Fracking film maker accuses IMF of censorship Energy in Depth:   Sierra Club: We Need and Oppose Natural Gas Connect with us on Facebook and Twitter! Follow @EnergyNewsBlog

From the Centre Daily Times: The Sierra Club and some other environmental groups are harshly criticizing a new partnership that aims to create tough new standards for fracking. The criticism Thursday came a day after two of the nation's biggest oil and gas companies made peace with some national and regional environmental groups, agreeing to go through an independent review of their shale oil and gas drilling operations in the Northeast. If Shell Oil, Chevron Appalachia and other companies are found to be abiding by a list of stringent measures to protect the air and water from pollution, they will receive the blessing of the new Pittsburgh-based Center for Sustainable Shale Development, created by environmentalists and the energy industry. Read the rest here. This isn't surprising.  While environmental groups often say that they are seeking to influence officials to pull the reins on drilling until it can be studied more and safer regulations can be assured, it cont...

From TribLIVE: A Washington County couple who claimed gas drilling ruined their property and sickened their family admitted no medical evidence existed to show that drilling harmed them before collecting a $750,000 settlement.  Stephanie and Chris Hallowich sued three companies claiming natural gas drilling and other activity on a neighboring property made their home in Hickory virtually unsalable.  Documents released on Wednesday revealed the Hallowiches stated their children “are healthy and have no symptoms that may allegedly be related” to the drilling.  The Hallowiches could not be reached for comment. Read the whole article here. It doesn't sound like these court records ended up being the smoking gun fracktivists were hoping for. Connect with us on Facebook and Twitter! Follow @EnergyNewsBlog

UPDATE Krancer spoke with the Pittsburgh Business Times about his resignation. “It’s been the greatest honor, the greatest job I’ve ever had, the greatest team I ever worked with,” said  Michael Krancer , who Friday announced he’s leaving the agency after 26 months at the helm. Why? “The time is right for me to go back home. I’ve lived away from home for over two years. I’ve got a wife and two high-school-aged daughters.” He didn’t have a truncated term in mind when he accepted Corbett’s nomination in January 2011, but “living away from home is something that makes you think about what you’re sacrificing to do this,” he said. “I’m not going to get this time back.” Read the whole thing here. ORIGINAL POST: The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection released this press release yesterday: HARRISBURG -- Governor Tom Corbett today announced that Department of Environmental Protection Secretary Mike Krancer will step down April 15 to return home to Montgo...