Fracking in New York: Risk vs. Reward

(CNN) -- The battle over hydraulic fracturing in the state of New York pits farmers against environmentalists, neighbor vs. neighbor, as gas companies wait to find out if they'll be able to unlock the natural gas trapped in the Marcellus Shale formation thousands of feet below the earth's surface.

As a panel appointed by New York's governor looks into whether it can be done safely in New York, landowners look with envy toward neighboring Pennsylvania, where gas companies are paying in excess of $1,000 per acre plus royalties for the right to drill for natural gas on a property.

Hydraulic fracturing, commonly known as fracking, involves injecting a mixture of water and chemicals deep into the earth. The pressure causes shale rock formations to fracture and natural gas is released in the process. The fluid is then extracted and the natural gas is mined through the well. Some fracking operations have been linked to the contamination of drinking water supplies, and that led to a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing in New York.

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Ohio prepares shale regulatory proposals

Ohio governor John Kasich is preparing to roll out a comprehensive new regulatory plan for oil and gas production in the state that will include an increase in severance taxes on operators.

Ohio is home to the largest swath of the red-hot Utica shale play, an area rich with the oil and gas liquids operators are increasingly chasing amid low North American natural gas prices.

Kasich, a Republican, said his plan, which his administration has been working on “for 16 or 17 months”, will “help the industry be successful but at the same time protect the interests of Ohio and protect the interests of the environment”.

“We’re getting ourselves in a position where we don’t have to choose between good environmental policy and job creation,” he told reporters at the IHS CeraWeek conference on Wednesday in Houston.

He said his proposals, set to be unveiled next week, will require companies to disclose the chemicals used during hydraulic fracturing and impose tighter rules on gathering lines and high-pressure pipelines.

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Ohio earthquakes linked to deep injection of Marcellus Shale drilling waste

COLUMBUS, Ohio — A dozen earthquakes in northeastern Ohio were almost certainly induced by injection of gas-drilling wastewater into the earth, state regulators said today as they announced a series of tough new rules for drillers.

View full sizeThe Patriot-News, 2009A towering gas-drilling rig is shown in Susquehanna County in September 2009.

The state announced the tough new brine injection regulations because of the report’s findings on the well in Youngstown, which it said were based on “a number of coincidental circumstances.”

For one, investigators said, the well began operations just three months ahead of the first quake.

They also noted that the seismic activity was clustered around the well bore, and reported that a fault has since been identified in the Precambrian basement rock where water was being injected.

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New Report: Fracking Could Cause a New Global Water Crisis

New technology enabling the extraction of large quantities of oil and natural gas from shale and other rock formations could drive the world’s next great global water crisis unless it is banned, according to a new report released today by national consumer group Food & Water Watch. Hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, combined with horizontal drilling, is poised to become a global environmental and public health threat as the oil and gas industry seeks more access to oil and gas trapped in rock formations far beneath the ground.

“Fracking is a dangerous American export that should be viewed critically by countries just starting to engage in the practice,” says Wenonah Hauter, Executive Director of Food & Water Watch. “Modern drilling and fracking have caused widespread environmental and public health problems, as well as posed serious, long-term risks to vital water resources.”

According to the report, Fracking: The New Global Water Crisis, countries around the world are grappling with how to address the push to drill and frack. In Europe, while France and Bulgaria have banned fracking in the face of strong public opposition, Poland has welcomed the industry. In China and Argentina, shale gas extraction is being developed with government support. In South Africa, pending an environmental review, a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell may be granted permission to extract shale gas.

The report also notes that while natural gas has been touted as a low-carbon fuel, recent scientific studies have shown that the growing dependence on shale gas is likely to accelerate global climate change in the coming decades.

http://www.northcentralpa.com/feeditem/2012-03-07_new-report-fracking-could-cause-new-global-water-crisis

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/

Md. Senate committee hears fracking fee bill

ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Opponents of using new hydraulic fracturing drilling techniques in western Maryland joined state officials Tuesday in asking lawmaker to support a fee to fund a study of potential environmental impacts.

Industry officials, meanwhile, turned out in Annapolis to warn members of a Senate committee not to turn away what could be an economic boon for two western counties.

The $10-an-acre fee would apply to lands leased for hydraulic fracturing, a drilling method that extracts the gas by blasting through layers of shale rock with a combination of water and chemicals. The bill would use the fee to pay for a study commissioned by Gov. Martin O'Malley.

Sen. Brian Frosh, a bill sponsor, said the governor has asked a state panel to examine the impacts "but it can't fully do its work because it doesn't have the money."

Frosh told the Senate's Education, Health, and Environmental Affairs Committee that the bill authorizes the return of any money that isn't used.

The bill, however, also says owners can be asked to pay more if the study costs more than the fee raises.

Drew Cobbs of the Maryland Petroleum Council told the panel he was concerned the bill could hurt the state's ability to compete with surrounding states. West Virginia and Pennsylvania are already seeing a boom in the new drilling technique, but also complaints about its impact on the environment, particularly ground water.

Farmers who turned out for the hearing took both sides of the issue.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505245_162-57392381/md-senate-committee-hears-fracking-fee-bill/

MarkWest JV to build Utica natural gas gathering system

MarkWest Utica EMG LLC, a joint venture of MarkWest Energy Partners LP and Energy & Minerals Group, signed a letter of intent with Gulfport Energy Corp. to provide gathering, processing, fractionation, and marketing services in the liquids-rich southern corridor of the Utica shale.

MarkWest Utica will develop a natural gas gathering system with Gulfport and other producers, primarily in Harrison, Guernsey, and Belmont counties in Ohio. The companies expect the gathering system to come online later this year.

MarkWest Utica will process the gas at its 200-MMcfd Harrison County processing complex, expected to enter service mid-2013, and will provide NGL fractionation and marketing services at the Harrison County fractionator, where NGL purity products will be marketed by truck, rail, and pipeline.

MarkWest last month announced two new processing plants in Harrison and Monroe counties and the 100,000 b/d fractionation, storage, and marketing facility in Harrison County (OGJ Online, Feb. 1, 2012).

NiSource Gas Transmission & Storage’s Midstream Services last week announced plans to build a roughly 90-mile, large-diameter natural gas gathering system extending through Ohio’s Columbiana, Carroll, Jefferson, Harrison, Belmont, and Monroe counties (OGJ Online, Mar. 2, 2012).

http://www.ogj.com/articles/2012/03/markwest-jv-to-build-utica-natural-gas-gathering-system.html