Firm wants to buy city water for drilling

The Finance Committee of city council took no action Tuesday on a proposal for the city to sell water to LBG Land Services which would, in turn, sell the water to oil and gas well drillers expected in the area later this year.

Committee Chair Councilman K. Bret Apple said the proposal will have to be examined further with input from city council's Utilities Committee and the city Utilities Commission.

Capitol Development, Ltd. President Chris Gagin, who previously worked for former U.S. Rep. Charlie Wilson, and the company's chief financial officer, Linda Bolon, who was Columbiana County's former state representative and former treasurer, made the proposal on behalf of LBG Land Services of Cadiz.

They're asking for a two-year water services agreement at a price of $10 per 1,000 gallons of bulk water purchased, with the company picking up the costs for meters and equipment to haul the water. Gagin said the company would be looking to purchase 200,000 to 300,000 gallons of water per day on an as-needed basis, pointing out the water did not have to be potable, or ready to drink. It could be fresh, raw water.

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CALL TO REGULATE DRILLING ON NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGES — To Avert Damage from Shale Gas Boom, Refuges Urged to Adopt Park Service Rules

Washington, DC — The U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service needs rules to protect National Wildlife Refuges from spills and contamination from oil and gas drilling, according to a rulemaking petition filed today by Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility (PEER).  Thousands of wells now operate on refuges, particularly in the south and east where the subsurface rights are privately held, with little regulation.  That number is likely to skyrocket as natural gas from underground shale formations is tapped.

PEER is pressing the Fish & Wildlife Service (FWS) which operates the refuge system to adopt rules modeled on ones the National Park Service has had in effect for more than 30 years.  The rules address spill prevention and response, bonds for reclamation, proper waste disposal and reducing surface impacts. The Park Service is now in the process of updating its rules to close loopholes that exempt more than half of drilling operations; extend incentives for directional drilling; adopt operating standards that minimize effects on park lands; and hike inadequate assurance and bonding requirements as well as the fees and penalties.  PEER is urging FWS to incorporate these improvements, as well.
 
A 2003 report by the Government Accountability Office report found that –

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Guest Editorial: Ohio does not need "fracking"

Posted by Desmond Strooh 

Ohio is bracing itself for a significant increase in drilling operations across the state. Much is yet unknown, because the EPA report on the topic is not due out until 2014.

What we do know right now is that drilling is unnecessary, unwanted and unsafe.

Drilling is unnecessary: If over 99 percent of Ohio is drillable, we do not need to open state lands to drilling.

The state estimates that it owns less than one third of the mineral rights under state parks. The promised revenues are simply not realistic.

Drilling is unwanted: According to the Columbus Dispatch, most Ohioans do not want drilling in their state parks. The drilling legislation actually burdens state agencies and requires them to try to create "drillable parcels" out of land parcels that are currently unqualified for drilling.

Drilling is unsafe: We've heard that this process is completely safe but people all over the continent are taking a step back: New York is trying to stop drilling in the Delaware River basin.

Pennsylvania and Colorado have fined drilling corporations for contamination of water. Texas had to fight a drilling operation fire in a state park. The fire lasted 15 days.

States and provinces are considering moratoriums on drilling.

What are we doing here? If you don't have a lot of resources, you shouldn't gamble away the ones you do have. Opening our state parks to drilling is simply too great a gamble.

Copyright 2011 WTOL. All rights reserved.

Banning Hydrofracking Is Not A “Taking” of Property

As the public sentiment grows for a ban on High Volume Hydrofracking (HVHF), 
lawyers and others who speak for corporate profit-making opportunities in 
natural gas say that laws banning or limiting gas drilling is a “taking” of 
property.  Even some who seem to be on our side make the same claim.  This claim 
is groundless and misguided.  It is a scare tactic to prevent public pressure on 
our elected officials against HVHF. 

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Company Asking For Quick Hearing On Effort To Block Fracking Ban

The Attorney for Northeast Natural Energy says the company wants to stay on schedule with its two drilling projects near Morgantown in Monongalia County.

On Thursday, Attorney Jim Walls with Spillman, Thomas, Battle made several court filings on behalf of Northeast Energy in Monongalia County Circuit Court in an effort to clear the way for those projects despite the new ban on fracking in and near Morgantown city limits.

"We've got to take the action to make sure that we can complete the process that the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection said that we could which was to horizontally drill and frack these wells," Walls said.

http://groups.google.com/group/nofracohio/browse_thread/thread/7d5a8abb29f0950e

Land Application of Hydrofracturing Fluids Damages a Deciduous Forest Stand in West Virginia

In June 2008, 303,000 L of hydrofracturing fluid from a natural gas well were applied to a 0.20-ha area of mixed hardwood forest on the Fernow Experimental Forest, West Virginia. During application, severe damage and mortality of ground vegetation was observed, followed about 10 d later by premature leaf drop by the overstory trees. Two years after fluid application, 56% of the trees within the fluid application area were dead.

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Report: Shale pipeline costs triple since 2004

The Marcellus region in Pennsylvania was the most expensive, averaging about $300,000 per inch-mile. Gas analyst and the report’s lead author Julia Sagidova said the pipelines generally run 120 miles with a diameter between 24 and 36 inches, bringing the price of a new pipeline to $500 million.

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