Dip in Natural Gas Prices Will Create Shift in Drilling Focus

January 22, 2012

The going price for natural gas in the United States has continued to drop, making drilling for “dry” gas less appealing.  This means that areas with “wet” gas, containing natural gas liquids which can be used for manufacturing, will gain focus in future drilling activity.  Dry gas areas will still see some drilling– possibly the [...]

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Marshall County gets more Processing, Fractionation Plant

January 22, 2012

Caiman Energy was recently slapped with a $224,000 fine.  The offending incident occurred last year, when a subcontractor of theirs improperly constructed a stream crossing involved with pipeline construction.  ”A sludge blanket” was the result of the stream pollution. Despite this, a spokeswoman of Caiman said that the company, “believes in respect for people and the [...]

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Year-long Marcellus Shale Research Project Releases Results

January 20, 2012

You want to explore this new website: the Marcellus Outreach, from the Paleontological Research Institution (PRI).   Take some time to explore it.  You’ll be glad you did. PRI spent a year researching the Marcellus Shale and the effects of hydrofracking, made possible by a $250,000 grant from the National Science Foundation.  In the write-up [...]

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WV and PA Governors’ Independent Moves to Further Gas Drilling

January 18, 2012

As promised by his recent campaign, West Virginia governor Earl Ray Tomblin proposed more jobs and lower taxes to the legislature today.  Apparently the 5 year break on property taxes approved by the legislature last year was not good enough– the governor proposes a 25 year break from property taxes for any company that will [...]

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Aither Cracker Plant Coming to…. WV, PA or OH?

January 17, 2012

Casey Junkins of the Intelligencer says that West Virginia based Aither Chemicals plans to have a catalytic cracker plant in production by 2016.  The location will be on a river but the state where the plant will be sited has not been announced.  There is no recent press release on the Aither Chemical website.   [...]

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Study Compiles Cases of Animal Toxicity; Calls for “Commonsense Reforms”

January 16, 2012

“ Without rigorous scientific studies, the gas drilling boom sweeping the world will remain an uncontrolled health experiment on an enormous scale”. This is the last line of the abstract of the report by two Cornell researchers which was published in the journal New Solutions this month.  In addition to raising the concern that Rover and Fluffy [...]

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New Technology May Reduce Fracking’s Impacts

January 14, 2012

According to a January 13th article in EE News’ Greenwire (subscription only), a handful of companies touted technologies capable of making fracking quieter, cleaner and more efficient at an unidentified industry conference recently.  Here is an extract of what EE News shared. Fewer Trucks, Less Fuel, Lower Emissions Green Field Energy Services promoted a smaller [...]

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Landslides and S&E Issues Plague Wetzel Co MarkWest Project

January 14, 2012

The Intelligencer reports today that MarkWest Energy Partners has applied for a permit to fill in an unnamed tributary of Fishing Creek as a solution to the landslip that is causing sedimentation of the creek in eastern Wetzel County. Scot Hans, chief regulator of the US Army Corps of Engineers, Pittsburgh District confirmed that the [...]

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Eastern Ohio Well Permits and Their Status, Shown Via an Interactive Map

January 12, 2012

The Cleveland Plain Dealer newspaper has provided very informative data on shale gas wells in Eastern Ohio, as shown below: Permits have been issued for more than 100 wells in Eastern Ohio for the purpose of drilling into Utica or Marcellus shale 3,000 feet or more below the surface. Most of these well sites still are [...]

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What’s Shakin’? More Quakes in Braxton County

January 12, 2012

Yesterday afternoon at 2:38PM, West Virginia experienced a 2.8 magnitude earthquake with an epicenter in Braxton County. Back in April of 2010, there were a series of eight earthquakes averaging 2.7 in magnitude in Braxton County. There was talk then that maybe the Chesapeake Energy deep injection well located in Frametown might be involved.  A [...]

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