Cancelled--->>>>>Petroleum Engineer to weigh in on discussion about Natural gas

UPDATED...------>THIS MEETING IS CANCELLED
The Otsego Proactive Network will be sponsoring another information session on Wednesday, June 1^st at 6pm. This presentation is a part of the group's effort to encourage local discussion. This week’s presentation will feature Dr. Scott Cline a consulting geologist/petroleum engineer.  There will be an opportunity for county residents to ask Dr. Cline questions after his presentation.  The presentation will be held at the Springfield Community Building, in Springfield which is located on Route 29A.

Dr. Cline has a bachelor’s degree in geological science from Penn State University, and a master’s and Ph.D. in petroleum engineering from University of Oklahoma. He began his career in 1976 as a geophysicist for Gulf Oil Corporation (now Chevron). He has experience as a geologist, petroleum engineer and senior manager for several oil and gas companies based in Houston and Oklahoma City.

Everything in Life has some risks even drilling

It's obvious following the recent failure of the Binghamton-Johnson City Joint Sewage Treatment Plant that the governor must issue a moratorium on all such plants in New York. Additionally, the governor should suspend all sewage treatment plant operations for the next three years while a study can be conducted to determine if such plants are truly the safest way to handle the treatment of our waste.
The state Department of Environmental Conservation or the federal Environmental Protection Agency cannot protect us from failures such as the one on May 16 that released more than a half- million gallons of sewage materials into a local creek, then into the Susquehanna River. The release undoubtedly threatens the drinking water supply of thousands of people.
Sounds silly, doesn't it? Well, the argument I pose above is the exact same argument we have heard from the anti-natural gas drilling folks for the past three years

http://www.pressconnects.com/article/20110528/VIEWPOINTS02/105280307/Everything-life-has-some-risks-even-drilling?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|Viewpoints

OkEPA chief Lisa Jackson says natural gas production is ‘a good thing'

Posted by Matt Dempsey Matt_Dempsey@epw.senate.gov

In Case You Missed It... 

Oklahoman 
EPA chief Lisa Jackson says natural gas production is ‘a good thing'
EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson tells House Oversight and Government Reform Committee she knows of no proven cases that "fracking" had harmed water
BY CHRIS CASTEEL
May 25, 2011
Link to Article 
WASHINGTON - The head of the Environmental Protection Agency told a House committee Tuesday that she favored natural gas production and said she didn't know of any "proven case" in which hydraulic fracturing had affected drinking water.
Lisa Jackson,  the EPA administrator, also told Rep. James Lankford that natural gas companies should be well aware of the study being done by the agency on hydraulic fracturing because their input has been solicited.
Jackson testified before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, which released separate reports on energy this week.
The Republican majority report accused the Obama administration of trying to raise energy prices by stifling domestic oil and gas production and pursuing climate change policies, while Democrats said excessive speculation in the oil futures market was behind recent spikes in oil prices.
The reports, and the committee hearing, extended the partisan debate that has been ongoing in Washington since gasoline prices started rising weeks ago.
Jackson and an Interior Department official defended the Obama administration's record in approving new leases and permits for offshore drilling in the year since the BP spill in the Gulf of Mexico. David Hayes, deputy Interior secretary, said production in the Gulf had been essentially stable since the accident.
Jackson sought to counter Republican charges that the EPA wanted to slow natural gas production by seeking to regulate hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. The process, in use for decades, involves injecting chemicals, water and sand into a well to fracture rock and release gas.
Jackson said natural gas creates less air pollution than other fossil fuels "so increasing America's natural gas production is a good thing."
She said Congress told the EPA to study the relationship between fracking and drinking water.
"We are doing that, with input from technical experts, the public and industry," she said.
"In the meantime, EPA will step in to protect local residents if a driller jeopardizes clean water and the state government does not act."
Under questioning from a Pennsylvania Republican, Jackson said she was "not aware of any proven case where the fracking process itself" had affected water.
Oklahomans react
Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Tulsa, said later that other EPA officials have said the same thing in recent years.
"Lisa Jackson's statement today that she does not know of any proven cases of water contamination further demonstrates that states are regulating hydraulic fracturing effectively and efficiently, and there is no need for the federal government to step in," Inhofe said.
Lankford, R-Oklahoma City, told Jackson that natural gas companies in his district told him they had "no idea" what was happening in regard to the EPA's study on hydraulic fracturing.
Jackson said she was "perplexed" that the companies wouldn't know about a study that has been transparent from the outset and involved industry input. She said the scope of the study is still being defined. It is not expected to be completed until late next year.

Administrator Lisa P. Jackson, Testimony Before the U.S. House Oversight and Government Reform Committee

Release date: 05/24/2011
Contact Information: EPA Press Office, press@epa.gov, 202-564-6794

As prepared for delivery.

Thank you for inviting me to testify. Americans are again suffering at the pump. Gasoline and diesel cost more today than they did a year ago.

As ExxonMobil’s CEO recently testified, the prices of those fuels are a function of crude oil prices, which are set by global supply and demand. As a matter of geology, America will never control more than a tiny fraction of the world’s oil supply. Therefore, America cannot prevent gasoline and diesel prices from rising. Still, all else being equal, buying a barrel of American oil is better than buying a barrel of foreign oil.
Last year, American oil production reached its highest level since 2003, and President Obama recently announced steps that the Interior Department is taking to increase safe and responsible oil production here at home. Deputy Secretary Hayes will describe those steps today.

For parts of the Outer Continental Shelf, Congress has declared that a company cannot operate drilling equipment that emits large amounts of air pollution without first demonstrating, through EPA permitting, that the emissions will not harm Americans. That requirement is not simply red tape, because a single exploratory drilling operation can emit as much air pollution on a daily basis as a large oil refinery.
In 2007, Shell Oil began seeking from EPA’s Region 10 office air permits for exploratory drilling operations on the Outer Continental Shelf off Alaska. Region 10 has since issued five permits to Shell. An administrative court called the Environmental Appeals Board remanded two of the permits last December, after Alaska residents had challenged them.

I am confident that we will give the Board the analysis it has called for, in time for the permits to be upheld before the start of the next drilling season. I should note that, on average, the Board decides air permit appeals in just over 5 months – that only 4 of the Board’s more-than-100 air permit decisions have ever been appealed to a federal court – and that none of the Board’s air permit decisions has ever been overturned. Currently, there are only 4 pending air permit applications for drilling on the Arctic OCS. That includes the 2 that I just mentioned. We anticipate many more, though.

So, at the President’s direction, the White House has formed a team of relevant bureaus at the Department of Interior, the Department of Commerce, and EPA to coordinate closely and prevent unnecessary delays.

Thanks to advances in drilling technology, including hydraulic fracturing – or “fracking” – America’s potential natural gas resource is nearly 50 percent larger than we believed it was just a few years ago. The price we pay for natural gas is not set on a global market the way the price of oil is, and burning natural gas creates less air pollution than burning other fossil fuels. So increasing America’s natural gas production is a good thing.
Fracking involves injecting chemicals underground at high pressure, and various substances come back to the surface with the gas. It is not surprising, then, that Congress has directed EPA to study the relationship between fracking and drinking water. We are doing that, with input from technical experts, the public, and industry.

In the meantime, EPA will step in to protect local residents if a driller jeopardizes clean water and the state government does not act. President Obama has made clear that we need to extract natural gas without polluting our water supplies.

We can mitigate the impact of high fuel prices on American families and businesses by enabling them to travel the same distances and conduct the same commerce on less gasoline and diesel. The fuel efficiency standards that EPA and the Department of Transportation established last year for new cars and light trucks will save the average American driver $3,000 over the life of the car and conserve 1.85 billion barrels of oil.

Additional standards that we will set this summer for heavy-duty trucks will save a tractor-trailer operator up to $74,000 dollars over the life of the rig and conserve another half a billion barrels of oil. The increased bio-fuel production mandates that EPA set last year will displace 7 percent of America’s expected gasoline and diesel consumption in 2022 while decreasing oil imports by 41.5 billion dollars.

I am proud of the role EPA is playing to shield Americans from the harmful economic impact of high gasoline and diesel prices. EPA’s core mission, though, is protecting Americans from harmful pollution. That is what Congress has ordered EPA to do, and that is what the American people expect. Even when gas prices are high and the economy is still recovering, Americans do not like it when their families and livelihoods are harmed by industrial pollution that could have been avoided.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Windsor group finalizes huge gas lease deal

Inflection Energy signs $8.25 million agreement

WINDSOR -- After a brief hiccup, a group of 40 Windsor landowners and a Denver-based energy company have finalized the area's largest gas lease deal in more than a year.
The $8.25 million lease agreement for drilling rights on 3,000 acres of land was struck in January, but became snared when Inflection Energy asked an Albany-based lawyer to review the legal documents before the company signed off on them.
read more: http://www.pressconnects.com/article/20110524/NEWS01/105240385/Windsor-group-finalizes-huge-gas-lease-deal?odyssey=nav%7Chead

Study Suggests Businesses Benefitting from Marcellus Shale Development

May 20, 2011 at 5:30 PM

Marcellus Shale development is likely to affect local businesses across Pennsylvania, according to Timothy Kelsey, professor of agricultural economics. (Photo courtesy of Penn State Live)

By Chuck Gill, Penn State

UNIVERSITY PARK – A survey of businesses in two Pennsylvania counties where natural-gas drilling is occurring suggests that the Marcellus Shale boom is having a positive net effect on business activity.
Summarized in a fact sheet, “Local Business Impacts of Marcellus Shale Development: The Experience in Bradford and Washington Counties, 2010,” the survey was part of a larger economic impact study being done by the Marcellus Shale Education and Training Center, a partnership between Penn State Extension and the Pennsylvania College of Technology in Williamsport.
Partial funding for the study came from the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development.
“The Marcellus Shale gas boom clearly has the potential to affect local businesses across Pennsylvania,” said Timothy Kelsey, professor of agricultural economics in Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences and a lead author of the publication.

read more: http://gantdaily.com/2011/05/20/study-suggests-businesses-benefitting-from-marcellus-shale-development/

Treating Produced Water and Frac Fluids in New York

I keep hearing that New York State is not ready to treat natural gas development wastewater. I found this document dated December 2008.

Did you know the NYSDEC's DOW has standards in place for wastewater treatment for produced water? Unlike the common misconception that wastewater will be just diluted or dumped into streams?

Find a copy of the guidance here: Division of Water's Guidelines for Disposal of Spent Drilling Fluids to Publicly Owned Treatment Works (POTWS) and Pretreatment Requirements for Hydrofracturing Gas Well Facilities

At the end of the guidance is a list of wastewater treatment plants that could potentially receive the wastewater from hydraulically fractured wells.

Natural gas drilling informational events set

The Westford meeting offers a change of pace from the normal intensive "fact" filled meetings. However, there will be another meeting in Westford in June dedicated to the environmental implications of natural gas development activities. This meeting information will be announced on Thursday.

May 21, 2011

Anonymous Staff Report The Daily Star Sat May 21, 2011, 11:02 PM EDT

Three programs this week will offer information about natural gas drilling to area residents.

On Tuesday, an informational meeting about gas drilling and it's impact on our community will be held at the Worcester Women's Club Meeting Room 168 Main St. in Worcester from 7 to 9 p.m. The speakers scheduled are Dr. Ron Bishop, Lou Allstadt and Michelle Kennedy.

.......

Also Thursday, the Otsego Proactive Network will present an information session at the Westford Town Hall. The program will address the economic potential of gas development, featuring presentations by Carolyn and Aaron Price.

The Prices' company, Red Dragon Inc., produced the 2010 documentary film "Gas Odyssey."

Public Hearing: Health Impacts of Hydraulic Fracturing Techniques

ASSEMBLY STANDING COMMITTEE ON ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION
ASSEMBLY STANDING COMMITTEE ON HEALTH
NOTICE OF PUBLIC HEARING

SUBJECT:

Health Impacts of Hydraulic Fracturing Techniques

PURPOSE:

To review the potential health effects of hydraulic fracturing techniques used in natural gas and oil drilling.

ALBANY
Thursday
May 26, 2011
9:30 a.m.
Hamilton Hearing Room B, 2nd Floor
Legislative Office Building
(Oral Testimony by Invitation Only)

Hydraulic fracturing involves the high-pressure injection of water and chemicals into rock to stimulate the production of oil and gas. There are a number of concerns regarding the potential health effects of exposure to such chemicals. This hearing will examine those potential health effects.
Oral testimony will be accepted by invitation only. Ten copies of any prepared testimony should be submitted at the hearing registration desk. The Committees would appreciate advance receipt of prepared statements.
In order to meet the needs of those who may have a disability, the Assembly, in accordance with its policy of non-discrimination on the basis of disability, as well as the 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), has made its facilities and services available to all individuals with disabilities. For individuals with disabilities, accommodations will be provided, upon reasonable request, to afford such individuals access and admission to Assembly facilities and activities.

Robert K. Sweeney
Member of Assembly
Chairman
Committee on Environmental Conservation

Richard N. Gottfried
Member of Assembly
Chairman
Committee on Health

County Residents Seek More Information about Natural Gas Drilling Development

County residents will have another opportunity to learn more information about some of the potential impacts associated with natural gas development. An informational session sponsored by the Otsego Proactive Network is scheduled to take place at the Westford Town Hall on May 26 at 7 pm. This information session will specifically address the potential economic implications brought on by gas development. The session will feature presentations by Carolyn Price and Aaron Price.

Carolyn Price- Production Assistant – “Gas Odyssey” As an educator, Carolyn Price has taught at the elementary school level and has worked in central office administration in New York State and Pennsylvania.  She is a college lecturer at the graduate level in educational leadership.

Carolyn is a business specialist in the private sector, using those skills in the family’s corporation, Red Dragon, Inc.  The corporation produced its first feature length documentary, Gas Odyssey in 2010.  She was the production assistant for the movie.

Aaron Price-Producer – “Gas Odyssey” At a young age Aaron Price moved with his family from Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania to Broome County, New York.  After working in the Los Angeles, California area in film and hospitality, he returned to his roots in Broome County.

Aaron was heartsick to see the economic decline in his home areas.  He remembered how his grandfathers had been successful in dairy farming and lumbering in Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania.  He saw dairy farms disappearing and the lumber business declining.  He remembered the worldwide success of IBM and Endicott Johnson only now to see them gone as he remembered.

When Aaron heard about the Marcellus Shale, he was motivated to find out all he could about it, especially its economic potential for the areas he grew up in.  That, coupled with the misinformation he heard about natural gas development from the Marcellus Shale, drove him to make his first documentary, Gas Odyssey.

Chesepeake Fined for Contaminated Groundwater

Note: Contamination was by gas migration fron non-shale formations (gas did not come from the marcellus) caused by bad cementing in shallow regiosn of the well. Extracted natural gas in certain areas of PA contain benzene, Toluene, ethyl benzene  and/or xylenes (wet gas)
Gas around here is dry gas containing mostly only methane.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

05/17/2011

CONTACT:

Katy Gresh, Department of Environmental Protection

717-787-1323

 

DEP Fines Chesapeake Energy More Than $1 Million

Penalties Address Violations in Bradford, Washington Counties

HARRISBURG -- The Department of Environmental Protection today fined Chesapeake Energy $1,088,000 for violations related to natural gas drilling activities.

Under a Consent Order and Agreement, or COA, Chesapeake will pay DEP $900,000 for contaminating private water supplies in Bradford County, of which $200,000 must be dedicated to DEP’s well-plugging fund.  Under a second COA, Chesapeake will pay $188,000 for a Feb. 23 tank fire at its drilling site in Avella, Washington County.

“It is important to me and to this administration that natural gas drillers are stewards of the environment, take very seriously their responsibilities to comply with our regulations, and that their actions do not risk public health and safety or the environment,” DEP Secretary Mike Krancer said. “The water well contamination fine is the largest single penalty DEP has ever assessed against an oil and gas operator, and the Avella tank fire penalty is the highest we could assess under the Oil and Gas Act. Our message to drillers and to the public is clear.”

At various times throughout 2010, DEP investigated private water well complaints from residents of Bradford County’s Tuscarora, Terry, Monroe, Towanda and Wilmot townships near Chesapeake’s shale drilling operations. DEP determined that because of improper well casing and cementing in shallow zones, natural gas from non-shale shallow gas formations had experienced localized migration into groundwater and contaminated 16 families’ drinking water supplies.

As part of the Bradford County COA, Chesapeake agrees to take multiple measures to prevent future shallow formation gas migration, including creating a plan to be approved by DEP that outlines corrective actions for the wells in question; remediating the contaminated water supplies; installing necessary equipment; and reporting water supply complaints to DEP. The well plugging fund supports DEP’s Oil and Gas program operations and can be used to mitigate historic and recent gas migration problems in cases where the source of the gas cannot be identified.

The Avella action was taken because on Feb. 23, while testing and collecting fluid from wells on a drill site in Avella, Washington County, three condensate separator tanks caught fire, injuring three subcontractors working on-site. DEP conducted an investigation and determined the cause was improper handling and management of condensate, a wet gas only found in certain geologic areas. Under the COA, Chesapeake must submit for approval to the department a Condensate Management Plan for each well site that may produce condensate.

“Natural gas drilling presents a valuable opportunity for Pennsylvania and the nation,” Krancer said. “But, with this opportunity comes responsibilities that we in Pennsylvania expect and insist are met; we have an obligation to enforce our regulations and protect our environment.”

John Stossel Natural Gas Extraction

http://www.foxbusiness.com/on-air/stossel/index.html#/v/4692844/fracking-fears-unfounded/?playlist_id=87530

Leave hydraulic fracturing fight to states

By Michael J. Economides - 05/11/11 11:06 AM ET

More than 60 years ago when the technique was first pioneered, discussion of hydraulic fracturing was limited to a small cabal of engineers and academics. After it evolved as the premier oil and gas production technique and a $13 billion industry, the term is now echoing through the halls of Congress and beyond.

Already this year, numerous regional meetings, congressional hearings, expert task forces, and federal workshops have been convened to address the issue. Treatment of fracturing as a new technology by these numerous panels is telling. Despite decades of use in millions of wells, many public officials and opinion leaders have been caught off guard by the ever expanding opportunity to apply the fracturing process to extract previously unobtainable supplies of natural gas.

Not everyone’s surprised, though. For instance, this week’s House hearing on best practices and standards for fracturing turned to those who have been most engaged with it in the field – state oil and gas regulators.

Despite controversy over the status of state regulations, when our leaders wish to put politics and posturing aside and learn the true state of affairs, it is these local officials -- rather than EPA regulators or NGOs -- they turn to for answers.

It’s important that these experts continue to be the main source for directing natural gas development as well.
http://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/energy-a-environment/160483-leave-hydraulic-fracturing-fight-to-states

Gas driller resumes work three weeks after accident

Saturday, May 14, 2011

By Laura Olson, Post-Gazette Harrisburg Bureau

HARRISBURG -- Three weeks after the gas-well blowout at one of its Bradford County sites, Chesapeake Energy announced it will resume well-completion operations in Pennsylvania.

The company had voluntarily halted hydraulic fracturing and other procedures to prepare a well for production following an April 19 accident. As workers attempted to seal that well, briny wastewater spilled for several hours into a nearby creek tributary.

Chesapeake's well-completion work resumed in late April at its West Virginia and Ohio sites, but sites here remained idle as state Department of Environmental Protection officials sorted through company paperwork detailing what happened.

DEP spokeswoman Katy Gresh said the agency also was waiting on "assurances" from Chesapeake that they would use local well-control specialists if the company has an accident requiring such assistance. In the Bradford incident, the company called the Houston-based company Boots and Coots, who did not arrive on the scene for 12 hours.

Ms. Gresh said Chesapeake agreed to local well-control specialists in the future, which the company also noted in its statement.

Read more: http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/11134/1146540-454.stm#ixzz1MNkQrNKo

Poland to push ahead with shale gas exploration

Poland said Friday it will push ahead with shale gas exploration despite France's recent ban over concerns that hydraulic fracturing used in extraction is environmentally risky.
"I already know who is lobbying against the extraction of shale gas. Please don't tell me it's Europe. There are people, institutions, interests which also manage to create effective lobbying in Europe," Prime Minister Donald Tusk told reporters, without elaborating who he had in mind.
"But we will proceed according to our own terms," he added.
Poland has already granted over 90 shale gas exploration licences to major international energy companies in the hope of bringing its considerable reserves to market.
According to Polish media reports, Russia's giant state natural gas monopoly Gazprom and France's nuclear energy lobby oppose the development of the shale gas market, fearing it could cut into their bottom line.

To read more:http://www.expatica.com/fr/news/french-news/poland-to-push-ahead-with-shale-gas-exploration_148784.html

NYTimes Article: Baffled About Fracking? You're Not Alone

By MIKE SORAGHAN of Greenwire

Published: May 13, 2011

Hydraulic fracturing, or "fracking," got a clean bill of health this week in the first scientific look at the safety of the oil and production practice.

But the headlines about the study did not always reflect that. Many, such as "Scientific Study Links Flammable Drinking Water to Fracking," pointed toward the fracturing process as a culprit. Even the press release accompanying the study was titled "Hydrofracking Changes Water Wells."

Confused? Many people are, even some in the thick of the debate.

The problem is that "fracking" means different things to different people.

People in the oil and gas industry commonly say "fracking" to describe just one part of the whole gas exploration and production process. Chemical-laced water and sand are blasted underground to break apart rock and release gas. Purists would say it is not really even part of "drilling" but actually the "completion" phase.

"Fracking and drilling are not the same thing," said University of Houston engineering professor Michael Economides, who consults for drillers on fracturing. "We drill wells. Then we frack."

To read more: http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2011/05/13/13greenwire-baffled-about-fracking-youre-not-alone-44383.html?pagewanted=1

EPA Seeks More Information from Natural Gas Drilling Operations to Ensure Safety of Wastewater Disposal

Release date: 05/12/2011
Contact Information: David Sternberg sternberg.david@epa.gov (215) 814-5548

PHILADELPHIA (May 12, 2011) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency today directed six natural gas drillers to disclose how and where the companies dispose of or recycle drilling process water in the region. EPA continues to work with the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PADEP) to ensure that natural gas production takes place safely and responsibly. These actions are among the ongoing steps EPA is taking to ensure drilling operations are protective of public health and the environment. Natural gas is a key part of our nation’s energy future and EPA will continue to work with federal, state and local partners to ensure that public health and the environment are protected.

“We want to make sure that the drillers are handling their wastewater in an environmentally responsible manner,” said EPA mid-Atlantic Regional Administrator Shawn M. Garvin. “EPA is continuing to work with PADEP officials who are on the frontlines of permitting and regulating natural gas drilling activities in Pennsylvania.”

EPA’s action follows a request by PADEP asking drillers to voluntarily stop taking wastewater to Pennsylvania wastewater treatment plants by May 19. EPA wants to know where drillers are now going to dispose of their wastewater and will work with PADEP to ensure EPA has access to this information. The companies must report back to EPA by May 25 with information on the disposal or recycling of their drilling process water.

The companies receiving the information requests are: Atlas Resources L.L.C; Talisman Energy USA; Range Resources – Appalachia, L.L.C.; Cabot Gas and Oil Corporation; SWEPI, LP; and, Chesapeake Energy Corporation. These six companies account for more than 50 percent of the natural gas drilling in Pennsylvania.

EPA has also requested that PADEP:

· Notify EPA when facilities are accepting hydraulic fracturing wastewater so EPA can assess if a pretreatment program or additional permit limits are needed; · Apply water quality standards for the protection of drinking water at the point of wastewater discharge, rather than at the point of first downstream drinking water intake; · Consider more “representative” sampling where drinking water facilities are downstream of treatment plants accepting Marcellus Shale gas wastewater; and · Be aware that EPA has sent a letter to PADEP’s southwest regional office clarifying that Federal Underground Injection Control permits are required for any placement of hydraulic fracturing wastes in injection wells or bore holes.

EPA requested these actions in a letter to PADEP Secretary Michael Krancer dated May11. The letter also asked the state agency take action to ensure that any new practices for disposing of drilling wastewater are legally enforceable.
In another action related to the energy extraction industry, EPA has issued a proposed order to the Tunnelton Liquids Company to stop the underground injection of waste treatment into an abandoned mine in Saltsburg, Indiana County, Pa. EPA issued the order under the Safe Drinking Water Act, which requires company to cease its unauthorized discharge waste, including wastewater related to oil and gas production.

For more information visit http://www.epa.gov/region03/marcellus_shale/

Gas-drilling advocates present their case in Albany

http://www.pressconnects.com/article/20110511/NEWS10/105110358/Gas-drilling-advocates-present-their-case-Albany?odyssey=tab%7Ctopnews%7Ctext%7CFRONTPAGE

ALBANY -- After groups opposing hydraulic fracturing swarmed Albany three times in the past two months, the natural gas industry got its day at the Capitol on Wednesday.
About 50 members of industry and other pro-gas groups met with lawmakers on the Legislature's environmental conservation committees, urging them to stand back and let the state Department of Environmental Conservation complete its review of permitting guidelines for hydrofracking, the technique in which chemical-laced water is injected deep into tight shale formations to release gas.

Former PA DEP Officials, Industry Group Point Out Problems with Duke University Study Linking Methane in Water with Fracking

More questions cast doubt on the Duke study which claims to prove there is a link between gas drilling and high concentrations of methane in nearby well water, including from someone quoted in the Duke study itself:

http://marcellusdrilling.com/2011/05/former-pa-dep-officials-industry-group-point-out-problems-with-duke-university-study-linking-methane-in-water-with-fracking/

"fracking nation"

http://discover.coverleaf.com/discovermagazine/201105/?pg=64#pg64

Discover magazine article.
The last paragraph is very illuminating

Tracking fracking water goes high-tech

PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Water, as much as natural gas, is the lifeblood of the Marcellus Shale play. Drillers need millions of gallons of water to flush the gas out of its hiding spot, deep below ground. Water is hauled by truck, imported by pipeline, collected on-site by retention impoundments and spirited away to a treatment or disposal facility once the fracking fluid has been spent.
Not only do drillers need a lot of water, they also need a very specific amount of water -- per week, per day, even per hour.
So how do they track all that water?
Increasingly, by computers, using a complex network of software, GPS devices and electronic manifests. The more transport and trucking companies that adopt such real-time tracking technologies, the less chance of a rogue hauler taking wastewater where he's not supposed to or dumping it in a river.
That's what's alleged to have happened between 2003 and 2009. In March, Robert A. Shipman was arraigned on charges related to illegal dumping by his company, Allan's Waste Water Services Inc. of Greene County, and related companies. In all, Shipman and his company face 175 criminal charges, as recommended by a grand jury.

read more: http://www.pressconnects.com/article/20110510/NEWS1101/105100335/Tracking-fracking-water-goes-high-tech?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|FRONTPAGE

Brown Bag Lunch Panel

http://oneontastatetimes.com/content/gas-drilling-panelists-provide-expert-opinions
"and yes, I am taking the human factor into serious consideration - I do live in this community and I am raising my family here"

The Duke Study is out... and

Makes for an intersting read.  I have been waiting to see what the findings of the Duke Study.
Here is the link to the article:
http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2011/05/02/1100682108.full.pdf+html


It is a shame that no baseline testing for isotopic methane or for even methane in the drinking water wells were taken before any drilling activity. That data would remove or solidify any uncertainty or certainty.

Baseline studies are needed to remove uncertainity.

Hartwick's Forum on Gas Drilling 5/4/2011

Last night the Hartwick Town Board and residents had an opportunity to listen to three speakers present information on the proposed natural gas development in the area.

Dr. Scott Cline, a petroleum engineer talked about various topics ranging from well casing design to the economic benefits associated to natural gas development. He stressed that the economic benefits would not only be felt by the landowners but by the Towns and County.  He showed numbers of the Town of Worcester’s potential financial gain from one Marcellus well. He discussed reasons why fluids are not expected to migrate from the Marcellus to drinking water aquifers. There is technology that exists and that can be developed to streamline the development processes. Bottom line: Estimates of the gas in place are huge and have a national significance; the gas is there and it will be developed. Problems are there but are minor or can be fixed.

Greg Sovas’ information was equally interesting. He talked about the intent of the mining law and the oil and gas law was to preclude zoning from natural gas development. He was pretty firm on this. The State had good reason to insist on this; one had to do with safety. The idea of towns trying to ban the industry or zone it out based on the mining law does not make sense. Surface mining have a longer surface disturbance when compared to the temporal effects of a subsurface extraction of natural gas.

These two were people who have had personal experience working with or in the industry and also in the state environmental agency.

My presentation on the other hand was academic. I wanted to really hammer the message home that the chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing have little impact on human health when in the flowback/produced water. I aslo wanted to lay to rest the issue of Gastem's /watertown / water treatment issue.

Those opposed to natural gas development saw the presentations differently. They saw it as the industry’s attempt to green wash a sinister message.

The one big problem that keeps resurfacing, that is the somewhat mislabeling of PA’s, WY’s Canada’s and CO’s problems as NY’s future. NY has been extremely diligent in outlining information for the supplement to the natural gas impact statement.  Someone asked at the meeting last night; Why not require impacts statements for each well site? There is some validity to that statement; however, it would be redundant. EIS are saved for sites where the agency feels there could be higher potential for an impact to groundwater quality (Shallower wells).  The dsGEIS is comprehensive on how it deals with air quality impacts and also on how the state deals with the chemical additive situation. If one read through the sGEIS and GEIS one can really appreciate the scope and depth of the work that went into writing the conditions attached to the regulations. The GEIS are NOT the regulations BTW but conditions attached to the permits.

Hydraulic Fracturing Still Suspended at Chesapeake Operations

Pa. Well Blowout Tests Natural Gas Industry on Voluntary Fracking Disclosure

By MIKE SORAGHAN of Greenwire

Published: May 4, 2011

Chesapeake Energy Corp., whose gas well blew out during hydraulic fracturing last month in northeastern Pennsylvania, hasn't publicly disclosed chemicals that spilled, setting up the first test of an industry-backed voluntary disclosure program.

An official in charge of the disclosure registry said the chemicals should be disclosed in such a situation.
"You'd have to treat it like one that was completed," Mike Paque, executive director of the Ground Water Protection Council (GWPC), said in an interview. "The chemicals were down the hole."
Chesapeake has led the drive within the industry for disclosure and was among the first to join the FracFocus registry initiative. But company spokesman Jim Gipson said the company doesn't plan to file a report until it is done with "completion," the preparation of production after drilling.
http://www.nytimes.com/gwire/2011/05/04/04greenwire-pa-well-blowout-tests-natural-gas-industry-on-36297.html

Shale gas 'revolution' impacts to vary across globe: OTC panelists

Houston (Platts)--5May2011/544 am EDT/944 GMT

The impacts that the international liquefied natural gas market will see from shale gas production growth in North America and across the globe will vary widely according to local market conditions, members of a panel at the Offshore Technology Conference in Houston said Wednesday.

In the US, where the "shale gas revolution" first started and already is well under way, domestic gas supplies have severely cut into the demand for imported LNG, Emma Cochrane, manager of gas power and marketing for ExxonMobil, said.

With ample gas supplies to meet US gas demands most of the time, LNG imports will largely serve to meet seasonal balancing needs, she said.

read more: http://www.platts.com/RSSFeedDetailedNews/RSSFeed/NaturalGas/8852601

"Imports will mostly come in the summer, where there is nowhere else for the gas to go," Cochrane said. As a result of the inflow of gas supplies from shale plays across the nation, "the US becomes almost self-sufficient" in meeting its gas demand in the future.

In other regions of the world, however, the growth of shale gas production will be less of a factor in supply-and-demand dynamics than more localized factors, Rafael McDonald, associate director of global gas research, IHS CERA, said.

Gas Odyssey Movie Showing

Tomorrow night at Schenevus School, the proactive network will be sponsoring the first of our public information sessions.
We will be presenting the film by Aaron Price "Gas Odyssey"

Aaron Price tells the story of a struggling community whose future he believes could be dramatically improved if natural gas development were permitted in New York’s Marcellus Shale. The film chronicles the struggles of upstate New Yorkers facing economic hardships and how the production of natural gas in their backyards could dramatically improve their lives.

The following people will be at the showing to answer questions after the film is shown:

Aaron Price, Director of Gas Odyssey, Windsor, NY
Bob Williams, Environmental Consultant, Binghamton, NY
Loren Salsman, Environmental Engineer, Dimock, PA

Join us May 3rd, Tuesday at Schenevus Central School, Schenevus, NY

Exit 18 off I-88

Trip to PA by local Gas Committee

What to expect as a result of this trip.

Local forums on issues that we should be talking about.
Being proactive takes center stage in local discussions

http://thedailystar.com/localnews/x2080975923/Pa-trip-offers-locals-food-for-thought