Farmers speak out about natural gas drilling via hydrofracking

The Tompkins County Council of Governments (TCCOG) held a public hearing on natural gas last Thursday, drawing a crowd of about 1,000 people and approximately 100 commenters. During the 4-hour hearing, only 1 comment supported natural gas drilling.  The rest of the comments were either critical of the draft Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement (dSGEIS) or hydrofracking itself.  Currently at least 37% of land in Tompkins County is leased to gas companies, and it is owned by about 6% of the adult population.

Click to read more ...

How Marcellus Shale Gas Drilling Will DEPRESS Your Property Values

Imagine this: You lease your land to a gas drilling company, then, before or after drilling,you decide that you want to sell your land. You find plenty of prospective buyers---the problemis that none of them can find a bank to finance a mortgage, because most banks andinsurance companies consider gas-leased land to be an unacceptable risk.Where does this leave you? Most likely stuck. And what does it do to the value of yourproperty? Most likely depreciate it, and the value of neighboring properties, too.

Click to read more ...

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.

Click to read more ...

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 –

Click to read more ...

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. 

Click to read more ...

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