Taking upbeat look at gas drilling
http://www.timesleader.com/news/Taking_upbeat_look_at_gas_drilling_10-17-2010.html
Posted: October 18, 2010
Taking upbeat look at gas drilling
Citizens for Cleaner Energy started by Lehman Twp. man who says group does best to convey unbiased data.
MATT HUGHES mhughes@timesleader.com
Citizens for Cleaner Energy secretary Barb Mikielski and president Gary Ide display one of the signs the pro-drilling group is posting throughout the Back Mountain to welcome natural gas driller EnCana to the community.
Lehman Township resident Gary Ide said too much negativity has surrounded the prospect of natural gas drilling in Luzerne County. It prompted him to start a new grassroots organization seeking to put a positive spin on the activity.
Those driving through the Back Mountain lately might have noticed the group’s work already.
Citizens for Cleaner Energy began posting yellow “Welcome EnCana” signs around the Back Mountain about a month ago. The group next plans to distribute “A New Lease on Life” stickers, which might start adorning bumpers throughout the region soon.
Ide said the group seeks to provide unbiased information and combat stereotypes about property owners who have signed leases with natural gas drillers.
Citizens for Cleaner Energy does not take an oppositional stand, Ide said, but it became clear from the group’s first meeting that those who had signed leases were frustrated about how they were being portrayed by those who oppose gas exploration in the Back Mountain.
Ide, a business owner who has leased gas rights on his property to EnCana, said he organized the group to give voice to leaseholders.
The group recognizes the environmental concerns that have led others to oppose drilling in the area, Ide said. Its members are likewise concerned about the state of their drinking water and the environment. He said they are “not just greedy people who signed a lease and are out for as much money as they can get,” but, before his group started, none of them was “coming out and saying, of course we’re for clean drinking water.”
Ide also feels opponents have overhyped the dangers of natural gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale.
The group recognizes that, in Dimock for example, there have been accidents, but that “you can’t impugn all drilling companies because one had a problem,” he said.
“I don’t think (Dimock) is a reason to frighten people; it’s a reason to be cautious,” Ide said.
The group has thus far held two public meetings, on Aug. 13 and Oct. 4. About 100 attended.
Most were from the area in and around Lehman Township and had already signed gas leases with EnCana, Ide said, though the meetings also attracted others from outlying areas who had signed with other drillers.
EnCana is drilling an exploratory well off Route 118 near Ricketts Glen State Park and another off Zosh Road in Lake Township. Organizers said they were impressed with the safety technology employed by EnCana and are happy to have “one of the biggest and best” drillers working with them.
Ide and group vice president Mary Lansberry said their well water was tested before any drilling was done as part of their lease agreement.
“We researched for two, two and a half years before signing with our company,” Lansberry said. “It proves that there are people who’ve signed leases who are worried about their land, who are worried about their neighbors.”
Ide said EnCana tested his water as far as 5,000 feet away from the drill site, five times the range in which they normally test.
“Not all gas companies are the same, as we know now from Dimock,” Lansberry added. “So, I would hope our community would feel better, knowing we have the best.”
Citizens for Cleaner Energy now has a board of directors and will soon apply for non-profit status in order to collect donations. At future meetings the group will invite experts in drilling-related fields as guest speakers to educate the public.
“We’re here to inform, not to refute,” Lansberry said.
The group is planning a meeting in the first week of November in the Outlet Free Methodist Church.
Study: Dense drilling impacting watersheds
http://standardspeaker.com/news/study-dense-drilling-impacting-watersheds-1.1050047
Study: Dense drilling impacting watersheds
By Laura Legere (Staff Writer)
Published: October 17, 2010
A preliminary study of Susquehanna County watersheds has found that high-density Marcellus Shale gas drilling might degrade streams regardless of how carefully that drilling is done.
The tentative findings were released by researchers with the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia on Tuesday to demonstrate the need for studies of the long-term and cumulative impacts of deep-gas drilling on watersheds – an area largely devoid of research despite the rapid expansion of Marcellus Shale gas extraction in the state.
The preliminary study conducted this summer by academy researchers and a graduate student at the University of Pennsylvania looked at small watersheds in and around Dimock Township, an epicenter of shale drilling in the region.
Scientists compared water quality and the presence of environmentally sensitive insects and salamanders in nine similar watersheds, three of which had no drilling, three some drilling and three a high density of drilling.
The watersheds with high-density drilling – defined as four to eight wells per square kilometer – had significant impacts on all measures compared to those with little or no drilling, the researchers found.
Water conductivity – a measure of the dissolved salts and metals in the stream and a potential indicator of the presence of gas drilling wastewater – was almost twice as high in the streams in high-density areas than those in areas with little or no drilling.
In the high-density sites, the number of both sensitive insects and salamanders were reduced by 25 percent.
The findings were first reported Tuesday by The Philadelphia Inquirer.
“The data suggest, on one hand, that you could have a certain level of drilling and be OK,” said Dr. David Velinsky, vice president of the academy’s Patrick Center for Environmental Research. “But if you get to a watershed where you have tons of these well pads and the associated infrastructure, you’ll see some change in the ecosystem health.”
A spokesman for the Marcellus Shale Coalition, an industry group, said the organization does not comment “on preliminary, non-peer-reviewed, unreleased ‘studies’ that we have not even had the opportunity to examine.”
The spokesman, Travis Windle, referred to national and state studies that show a trend of high and increasing levels of total dissolved solids in streams “long before Marcellus production commenced just a few years ago.”
Total dissolved solids, or TDS, can come from many sources, including road salt and fertilizer. Velinsky said the researchers accounted for other sources of TDS, in part by comparing similar streams in the same region.
He also said the main purpose of the preliminary data is to demonstrate the need for funding for a more rigorous field experiment of between 30 to 40 watersheds. The researchers have applied to the state’s Growing Greener program to fund such a study.
llegere@timesshamrock.com
Lawmakers must take action now on fracking
http://www.centredaily.com/2010/10/15/2273735/lawmakers-must-take-action-now.html
Lawmakers must take action now on fracking
October 15, 2010 12:36am EDT
Pennsylvania’s legacy: raped by timber, oil and coal industries. The Boomtown Syndrome should make us cautious about empty job and wealth promises. Visit coal country; canoe the Red (from mine acid) Moshannon to see this legacy.
Industry and political leaders encourage another boom-bust cycle with the rush to drill for natural gas. The advent of horizontal drilling and hydrofracking made deep shale drilling possible; Marcellus Shale lies under 65 percent of Pennsylvania.
Dick Cheney, behind closed doors, exempted this industry from America’s environmental laws — the Clean Air Act, the Clean Water Act, the Safe Drinking Water Act and the Community Right to Know Act. The stage was set for the wild-west mentality of gas drilling. That drama has moved east — epicenter, Pennsylvania.
Pennsylvania government was not prepared. The Department of Environmental Protection issued permits for 4,000 Marcellus wells: 1,435 violations in 2.5 years, 952 likely to harm the environment. So far in 2010, 969 wells drilled and 852 violations.
DEP is playing catch up; they are not protecting us. This industry’s trucks damage our roads; state police found 40 percent had safety violations. Hydrocarbon emissions foul our air. Gas drilling and frack water pollute our water — ever heard of Dimock, Susquehanna County? Treatment of the industry’s wastewater — flowback, which includes a toxic brew of secret proprietary chemicals, salts and possible low-level radioactivity. This mixture is diluted and dumped into our streams.
This is the “treatment” mentality of the industrial revolution from a century ago — just send it downstream. Drill cuttings, possibly low-level radioactive waste, also present a disposal problem.
An industrial grid will be constructed over rural Pennsylvania and our public lands. It will take one pad every square mile, eight wells per pad, 5 million gallons of frack water containing 25,000 gallons of toxic chemicals per well. Do the math: Pennsylvania will be radically, permanently changed. 250,000 wells to get this gas?
The impacts will, by any measure, be huge. A conservative approach would be to slow down, get an accurate picture and decide how to proceed. We ask legislators to take action:
•No additional permits until state government enacts laws and regulations to make Marcellus gas well drilling safe and environmentally sound.
•Reform the Oil and Gas Act: require mandatory inspections, disclose fracking chemicals, extend the presumption of pollution and protective setback distances, adequate bonds, protect municipal zoning and police powers — bonding requirements of $2,500 per well are ridiculously low.
•No leases on public lands until an analysis is conducted on the impact of existing leasing — one-third of the 2.1 million acres of state forests has already been leased.
•Enact a severance tax comparable to other states and provide funding for communities impacted by gas drilling and for environmental conservation — 96 percent of natural gas is produced in states with a severance tax.
•No “forced pooling.” Forced pooling only undermines landowner rights.
Remember, the Pennsylvania Constitution says: “The people have a right to clean air, pure water and to the preservation of the natural, scenic, historic and esthetic values of the environment.
“Pennsylvania’s public natural resources are the common property of all the people, including generations yet to come. As trustee of these resources, the commonwealth shall conserve and maintain them for the benefit of all the people.”
Gary Thornbloom, of Julian, is chairman of the Sierra Club Moshannon Group. He can be reached at bear knob@verizon.net.
Shale seminars being offered
http://www.timesleader.com/news/Shale_seminars_being_offered_10-14-2010.html
Posted: October 15, 2010
Shale seminars being offered
Times Leader staff
Educational seminars are being offered later this month in Williamsport and Mansfield to provide information to landowners in the Marcellus Shale region interested in leasing mineral rights to natural gas companies.
Three regional companies have teamed up to develop a two-hour presentation on the issues. A financial planner with Legacy Planning Partners, two attorneys with Hamburg, Rubin, Mullin, Maxwell & Lupin, and an environmental compliance technician with Brubacher Excavating will be presenters.
Both seminars will be on Oct. 28; The first, from 8 to 10:30 a.m. at Old Corner Hotel, 328 Court St., Williamsport; the second, from 6 to 8:30 p.m. in the North Manser Dining Room at Mansfield University, 39 College Place, Mansfield.
Registration starts a half hour beforehand Free breakfast and refreshments will be provided.
Animations show extent of Marcellus Shale development
http://live.psu.edu/story/48893#nw69
Penn State Ag Sciences Newswire – 10.11.2010
Tuesday, October 5, 2010
Animations show extent of Marcellus Shale development
University Park, Pa. — The pace and extent of Marcellus Shale development across Pennsylvania can be “seen” in animated maps produced by the Penn State Marcellus Center for Outreach and Research.
Based on data from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, the animations (http://www.marcellus.psu.edu/resources/maps.php) show both the number of drilling permits issued for the Marcellus Shale target and the number of wells drilled by year from 2007 through August 2010. Although permits were issued prior to 2007, information on those permits did not include latitude and longitude.
“These animations give people a chance to see how the pace of Marcellus development has accelerated,” said Tom Murphy, co-director of the Marcellus Center and extension educator with Penn State Cooperative Extension. “When you look at these animations, you are able to trace where development is occurring and get a sense of the rate at which it is occurring.”
The two animations also allow comparison between the number of permits issued and the actual number of wells drilled.
The animations show that interest in the Marcellus has skyrocketed with just 99 drilling permits issued in 2007 compared to 2,108 in the first eight months of 2010. A similar surge in the numbers of wells drilled is also evident. In 2010, through August 31, 950 wells had been drilled in the Marcellus Shale while in all of 2007, only 43 wells were drilled.
“We expect that the uptick in Marcellus well drilling activity will continue, given the high production rates being seen in the wells and the relatively low cost to develop this gas resource,” said Michael Arthur, co-director of Penn State’s Marcellus Center and professor of geosciences. “Even with the low natural gas commodity pricing, drilling in the Marcellus can still be profitable for efficient companies.”
The DEP updates its permit and well reports weekly at http://www.dep.state.pa.us/dep/deputate/minres/oilgas/RIG10.htm. A separate spreadsheet identifies Marcellus permits and whether they are for horizontal or vertical wells.
The Marcellus Shale occurs as deep as 9,000 feet below ground surface and covers about 95,000 square miles over six states including Pennsylvania. Its organic carbon-rich, gas-producing layers range from less than five feet thick to more than 250 feet thick. Estimates are that the Marcellus has enough recoverable natural gas to supply the entire U.S. for at least 20 years at the current rate of consumption.
The Marcellus Center for Outreach and Research (www.marcellus.psu.edu) is supported by Penn State Outreach, Penn State Institutes of Energy and the Environment and the colleges of Agricultural Sciences and Earth and Mineral Sciences.
For more information, contact the Marcellus Center for Outreach and Research, marcellus@psu.edu or (814) 865-1587.
Penn State has Marcellus Shale Web tool
http://www.timesleader.com/news/Penn_State_has_Marcellus_Shale_Web_tool_10-08-2010.html
Posted: October 8, 2010
Updated: Today at 5:00 AM
Penn State has Marcellus Shale Web tool
Times Leader staff
Penn State University’s Marcellus Center for Outreach and Research on Tuesday unveiled a new Internet resource that visually tracks the development of natural gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale.
Animated maps display data about drilling permits issued by the state Department of Environmental Protection and wells drilled in Pennsylvania from 2007 through August of this year, visually demonstrating the rapid growth of interest in the Marcellus Shale.
There were just 99 drilling permits issued state wide in 2007 compared to 2,108 in August, 2010.
The maps can be found under the resources tab at http://www.marcellus.psu.edu.
Residents question frack wastewater treatment in valley
http://citizensvoice.com/news/residents-question-frack-wastewater-treatment-in-valley-1.1044925
Residents question frack wastewater treatment in valley
By Erin Moody (Staff Writer)
Published: October 7, 2010
HANOVER TWP. – With the Wyoming Valley Sanitary Authority exploring the possibility of treating natural gas drilling wastewater at its Hanover Township plant, issues that have concerned residents in the Back Mountain are now becoming a concern for residents in the Wyoming Valley.
About 30 people attended an information session Wednesday night at the Hanover Township municipal building regarding drilling and possible treatment facilities.
Gas Drilling Awareness Coalition member Scott Cannon opened the meeting with a showing of his short film, “Frack to the Future: What Luzerne Co. Needs to Know About Gas Drilling.” Fellow member Janine Dymond followed up with a presentation on the natural gas drilling process and information about the size of the water tankers and the contents of the wastewater.
For wells to supply natural gas, they must be hydraulically fractured, which involves blasting millions of gallons of chemically treated water thousands of feet underground to crack the shale rock and release the natural gas.
As to the WVSA treating the wastewater, she listed pros that included the possibility of more jobs, increased revenue to local businesses because of trucks passing through, increased tax or other revenue for the sewer authority and the opportunity to pilot better treatment methods.
The trucks will be carrying 5,000 gallons of water with toxic chemicals through residential areas, roads face damage from those heavy trucks, drilling companies are from out-of state and have “questionable integrity,” solid waste could be radioactive and there are already issues with sewage and storm water drainage, Dymond said.
By her estimations, wells in the Marcellus Shale region could create 4.3 million truckloads of wastewater.
“And even over a five-year period, that’s a lot of heavy trucks,” Dymond said.
John Minora of PA Northeast Aqua Resources attended as a representative from the WVSA and said the authority is looking into the possibility of treating 50,000 to 100,000 gallons a day, or the equivalent of five to 10 trucks.
The water could possibly be cleaned and reused for fracking, and Minora said it would not be dumped into the Susquehanna River. Another option the WVSA is looking into is selling the water it takes in for treatment to drilling companies for use in fracking. Revenue could offset the cost of plant improvements for residents, he said.
“We want to do it in an environmentally responsible way. We’ve always been good neighbors down there,” Minora said.
Awareness coalition raises concerns about gas drilling
http://www.timesleader.com/news/Awareness_coalition_raises_concerns_about_gas_drilling_10-06-2010.html
Posted: October 7, 2010
Updated: Today at 12:30 AM
Awareness coalition raises concerns about gas drilling
Consultant says WVSA is contemplating expansion to process drilling frack water.
By Sherry Long slong@timesleader.com
Staff Writer
HANOVER TWP. – Hanover Township and other parts of the Wyoming Valley have not been affected by the gas drilling centered in the Back Mountain region.
Yet, some might be affected in the future if the Wyoming Valley Sanitary Authority expands its Hanover Township plant to serve the needs of drilling companies.
Gas Drilling Awareness Coalition members Janine Dymond and Scott Cannon each gave presentations Wednesday night on: gas drilling; the fracking process and the dangers involved with the chemicals used; air and water pollution and heavy truck traffic. The coalition is a nonprofit volunteer member organization that works to educate people about gas drilling.
Cannon told the 40 people in attendance at the township building that if the gas drilling companies tap into vast underground gas pockets in Luzerne County as planned, a frack water treatment center might be constructed in Hanover Township by the Wyoming Valley Sanitary Authority (WVSA).
Addressing the crowd, John Minora, a consultant for the WVSA, said the authority is considering expanding its facility to treat used water from the drilling sites or possibly selling wastewater to the drilling companies. No decision has been reached, he said.
He said if an addition is built to process frack water, it would process 50,000 to 100,000 gallons daily. He added that public speculation that a million-gallon-a-day plant may be built is not on the drawing board.
“The water has to go somewhere. It can’t sit out there in those pits (at drilling sites),” Minora said, adding anything the WVSA does will be environmentally friendly and also generate revenue in hope of keeping residential rates low.
In a video shown by Cannon, state Rep. Phyllis Mundy, D-Kingston, stated she introduced a bill to put a one-year moratorium on issuance of new gas-drilling permits, but the state did not enact a moratorium.
Citizen Dave Gutkowski said state lawmakers should pass a moratorium.
He said he doesn’t understand why there is a big rush to start drilling for the gas when he said the shale has been around for 300 million years and will supply gas to the country for decades.
“Let it sit there a bit until we know how to do it safely,” Gutkowski said.
Dymond said a moratorium is a step in the right direction. Yet once one is passed, then lawmakers and state agencies need to begin working to establish new guidelines to monitor and regulate these gas drilling companies and protecting residents’ rights, Dymond said.
Sherry Long, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 829-7159.
Drillers split on Pa. severance tax
http://citizensvoice.com/news/drillers-split-on-pa-severance-tax-1.1044193
Drillers split on Pa. severance tax
By Robert Swift (Harrisburg Bureau Chief)
Published: October 6, 2010
HARRISBURG – Segments of the natural gas industry are taking different positions on acceptance of a severance tax for Pennsylvania.
The diverging views come as House Democratic and Senate Republican leaders face a narrow window to negotiate a compromise severance tax bill on natural gas production as the legislative session winds down.
The industry is united in their opposition to the House-approved bill to levy a significant severance tax rate at 39 cents per thousand cubic feet, or mcf, of natural gas at the wellhead. Senate GOP leaders want a severance tax that sets a lower tax rate during a well’s early – and most productive – years of production.
The Marcellus Shale Coalition, the Pennsylvania Independent Oil and Gas Association and firms like Range Resources-Appalachia criticized the bill approved last week by House lawmakers as setting a tax rate that would hurt development of the Marcellus Shale reserve in Pennsylvania.
But they part company when it comes to opposing any severance tax as a cost of doing business.
The coalition has urged lawmakers to link a severance tax with changes in state law to require the pooling together of land parcels for drilling operations and making drilling a permitted use for local zoning, thus allowing for quicker issuing of local zoning permits.
“A competitively structured tax in Pennsylvania, that allows for critical investment, coupled with smart regulatory and legislative modernizations, is key to ensuring that this historic opportunity is realized in ways that benefit each and every Pennsylvanian,” said coalition executive director Kathryn Klaber.
The Pennsylvania Independent Oil and Gas Association is opposed to any severance tax.
“PIOGA encourages the state Senate to reject, outright, any severance tax on natural gas extraction in Pennsylvania,” said association president Louis D’Amico. PIOGA represents both traditional shallow-well drillers and Marcellus-oriented companies.
A severance tax will eat up too much of the profit from production on natural gas wells and make it more difficult for companies to compete for capital to develop natural gas supplies, D’Amico said.
Somewhere in the middle is Range Resources, a firm with operations in Southwest Pennsylvania and Lycoming County.
“We are not against the severance tax,” spokesman Mike Mackin said.
Pennsylvania should structure a severance tax to allow drillers to recover capital investment spent on drilling a well so companies have money to reinvest, he said. Texas and Arkansas have structured severance taxes along those lines, he said.
“There is some place in the middle,” Mackin said. “All we are saying is, `Let’s be competitive.'”
Senate Republicans have proposed taxing a deep well at 1.5 percent of market value of gas produced for the first five years with a 5 percent tax rate kicking in after that.
Gov. Ed Rendell has said he won’t sign legislation with that specific phase-in, but added he is open to compromise.
rswift@timesshamrock.com
Proposal would allow holdout landowners to be forced to lease below-ground gas rights.
http://www.timesleader.com/news/Polling_for_gas_drilling_not_popular__especially_before_election_10-03-2010.html
Posted: October 4
Updated: Today at 12:20 AM
Polling for gas drilling not popular, especially before election
Proposal would allow holdout landowners to be forced to lease below-ground gas rights.
MARC LEVY Associated Press Writer
HARRISBURG — Pooling isn’t popular.
If you haven’t heard of it, it’s an obscure provision that was at the top of the list of changes to Pennsylvania law being sought this year by companies unearthing natural gas from the rich Marcellus Shale formation that sits below much of the state.
But senator after senator in Harrisburg has voiced opposition to the concept, which, simply put, could be used to force holdout landowners to lease their below-ground gas rights under certain conditions.
Landowners would be paid for the methane sucked from beneath their turf, and no well would be drilled on their land — but they’d be unable to say “No” to a drilling company.
Opponents call it tantamount to government taking property rights to benefit private companies, and say industry representatives could wield it as a weapon to limit a landowner’s ability to negotiate a better lease.
Senate President Joe Scarnati, a key industry ally, said he’ll continue to try to develop a provision that satisfies the concerns of his fellow senators. But he acknowledged that concern regarding taking property rights is a major hurdle.
Citizens “take it seriously and I think that it’s maybe a toss-up — take their property or take their guns,” Scarnati, R-Jefferson, said. “But I’ve got to tell you, you’re treading on some thin ice when you try to take either. So we’re very sensitive to that and we’re going to certainly do the commonwealth right in whatever the final product is.”
Scarnati had hoped to put a pooling provision into a wider bill addressing Marcellus Shale issues, including an extraction tax sought by House Democrats since shortly after the drilling boom began two years ago. However, pooling is likely to be punted into next year.
The Senate’s last scheduled voting day this year is Oct. 14 and no pooling proposal has received a public hearing or even a lengthy floor debate.
The issue is thorny enough, even if legislators were not facing an election in four weeks.
An industry spokesman said Friday that he hadn’t given up on the provision.
“The ongoing negotiations on taxation and modernizations to the statutory framework for our industry will likely ebb and flow over the next two weeks,” said David Spigelmyer, vice chairman of the industry group, Marcellus Shale, and the director of governmental relations for Oklahoma City-based Chesapeake Energy Corp.