Chesapeake Energy to Build Processing Facility in Ohio's Utica Shale Region

Chesapeake Energy Corp. continues to expand its presence in the Utica Shale region by partnering with two firms to build a complex that will process natural gas and natural gas liquids in eastern Ohio .

Chesapeake along with M3 Midstream and EV Energy Partners will invest approximately $900 million in the midstream services complex, Chesapeake said March 13.

The structure will include natural gas gathering and compression facilities constructed and operated by Chesapeake subsidiary Chesapeake Midstream Development as well as processing, natural gas liquids fractionation and loading and terminal facilities built and operated by Momentum.

The complex will be located in Columbiana County, a region where the company already has several drilling sites. 

Chesapeake announced earlier in the year its plan to shift more production to liquids-rich shale fields as prices for dry gas continue to drop. Chesapeake currently has eight rigs operating in the Utica Shale and plans to have 20 by the end of the year, says company spokesman Pete Kenworthy.

http://www.industryweek.com/articles/chesapeake_energy_to_build_processing_facility_in_ohios_utica_shale_region_26866.aspx?SectionID=5

Pittsburgh-Area Site Is Chosen for Major Refinery

Dan Carlson, Shell's General Manager of New Business Development, said Thursday that the company signed a land option agreement with Horsehead Corp. to evaluate a site near Monaca, about 35 miles northwest of Pittsburgh.

The so-called ethane cracking, or cracker, plant would convert ethane from bountiful Marcellus Shale natural gas liquids into more profitable chemicals such as ethylene, which are then used to produce everything from plastics to tires to antifreeze.

The plants are called crackers because they use heat and other processes to break the ethane molecules into smaller chemical components. A cracker plant looks very similar to a gasoline refinery, with miles of pipes and large storage tanks. The final complex could cover several hundred acres.

Ohio, West Virginia and Pennsylvania had all sought the plant and offered Shell major tax incentives. Monaca is about 15 miles from both the Ohio and West Virginia borders, so workers in all three states are likely to benefit.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/apnewsbreak-pa-site-chosen-major-refinery-15927939#.T2JYFxE7WAg

Appalachia banks on natural gas, chemical plants

The mining and manufacturing industries have a checkered environmental record in the Appalachians, with watershed contamination, chemical spills and river dumping.

Rivers and forests have been degraded by mountaintop removal mining in which the tops of mountains are shaved off to get to the coal below, sending debris into to the valley.

"Don't get me wrong, I want jobs, but I don't want an environmental wasteland when the chemical plants leave," said Steve Terry, a laborer in Moundsville, West Virginia. "I want this area to prosper, not go to hell."

Despite the plans, some are not convinced ground will be broken for the Shell chemical plant, citing decades of broken economic promises to Appalachia by politicians and corporations.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/12/us-appalachia-chemicalplant-idUSBRE82B06820120312

Niagara Falls says ‘no' to fracking wastes

A Niagara Falls water treatment plant won't accept wastewater from hydraulic fracturing after all.

The Niagara Falls Water Board, a public benefit corporation that provides water and sewer services to the city, had considered accepting fracking waste. They were examining the idea because of its revenue potential. In an article last month, the Associated Press said that there are no treatment plants in New York that can handle fracking fluid.� But an official at the Niagara Falls treatment plant told the AP that the facility, which was built to handle chemical waste, could handle fracking waste by adding some equipment.

Monday night, however, the Niagara Falls city council passed a law banning fracking-related activities, including the treatment of used fracking fluid, reports the Niagara Gazette. While the water board, not the city, operates the treatment plant, the ban would still prevent the treatment of fracking wastewater.

Niagara Falls has a long history of chemical production, and it has the infrastructure to go along with it. But the city is also the site of one of the nation's most notorious toxic disasters: Love Canal. If any place is going to be sensitive to new toxic activity, it's probably going to be Niagara Falls.

In fact, city officials have said as much. Consider this quote from City Council member Glenn Choolokian in an Associated Press article about the ban: "We can't be a test case. We've been through Love Canal. We don't want another Love Canal."

http://www.rochestercitynewspaper.com/news/blog/2012/03/Niagara-Falls-says-no-to-fracking-wastes/

Fracking firms eye pipeline to D.C. market

The project, dubbed the Commonwealth Pipeline, would transport gas from the state’s Marcellus Shale region to major markets along the East Coast, including Philadelphia and Baltimore. An exact route hasn’t yet been determined, but the 200-mile line, if built, would begin in rural Lycoming County in north-central Pennsylvania and continue south near Harrisburg.

At maximum capacity, it would transport about 7.8 million cubic feet of natural gas each day - nearly four times what the entire country currently uses per month.

The companies involved - Pennsylvania’s UGI Energy Services andCapitol Energy Ventures Corp. and Kansas City, Mo.-based Inergy Midstream L.P. - hope to complete the project by 2015. Inergy would build and operate the pipeline, while UGI and Capitol would own equal equity interests in it, the companies said in a joint statement.

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Salazar hints at fracking disclosure

CLEVELAND, Feb. 15 (UPI) -- A lack of transparency over the chemical makeup of hydraulic fracturing fluid might strike a blow to the shale gas industry, the U.S. interior secretary said.

The United States has some of the richest deposits of shale natural gas. Critics say that chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, fluid could contaminate waters supplies.

Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said the department was preparing rules that would require companies to disclose the composition of fracking fluids and call for tighter regulations to protect the environment.

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Ohio Residents Share Feelings On Fracking

Columbus, Ohio - Several Ohio families gathered in Columbus Tuesday with Valentines in hand to discuss how much they dislike fracking, reported ONN's Stephanie Mennecke. 

"We have to say what is in our heart. We are unable to sleep at night because these injection wells are close to our lands," Erin Renee Ripple of Amesville said.

Athens resident Sarah Conley said that she is worried the livelihood of local farmers will be jeopardized.

"They can stay on their farms and grow us good food rather than them having to sell their property because their land is being polluted because of the fracking practices. It's scary to us," Conley said.

The two families have been making Valentine's Day cards for Gov. John Kasich that said how much they love their land and water, and that they're against injection wells and fracking. 

"We are here to deliver valentines to governor Kasich on Valentine's Day.  We are bringing our love from our farm land really," Amesville resident Karen Carlson said.

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