Time to Submit Public Comments to the WV DEP on Casing and Safety

August 27, 2011

The West Virginia DEP’s emergency rule issued on August 22nd references i well site safety standards and casing and cementing standards.  To develop these plans, the DEP is seeking input from the public through September 30th.  These may be mailed to the Office of Oil and Gas, 601 57th St., S.E., Charleston, W. Va., 25304 or [...]

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Proposed Plans for the Restoration of Dunkard Creek Presented, Recalling the Fish and Mussel Kill of 2009

August 26, 2011

Restoration plans were described on August 25th in Morgantown for Dunkard Creek.  In September of 2009, some 22,000 fish and thousands of mussels (14 species) were decimated by the toxins from an extensive golden algae bloom. The algae may well have invaded from Texas or Oklahoma where it is rather common, in brackish waters.  The [...]

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Tanker Truck Spill in Marion County

August 25, 2011

Early Wednesday morning a third party tanker truck  hit a tree while on its way to a Chesapeake site on Bunner Ridge.  The collision knocked open a valve, causing 9 barrels of synthetic based oil to spill one and a half miles down the road, and into a stream that leads into White Day Creek. [...]

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Proposed EPA Regulations: Cleaner Air AND More Money?

August 24, 2011

Near the end of the month of July, the EPA proposed new Clean Air Act regulations on the exploration and production of natural gas, aimed at reducing air emissions.  The rules will reduce Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) emissions from fracked wells by 95%.  For the gas industry as a whole, VOC emissions will be reduced [...]

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USGS Ups Estimate of Marcellus Gas

August 23, 2011

While New York awaits documents from three large energy companies in order to review the accuracy of their reserve estimates, the USGS released a new report today that significantly increases its previous estimate of how much natural gas is contained in the Marcellus Shale.  However, the estimate is still far below the 500 trillion cubic feet estimated [...]

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DEP Releases Rule, Citizens’ Groups Still Demand Legislation

August 22, 2011

Last month acting governor Earl Ray Tomblin issued an executive order directing the WV DEP to come up with an emergency rule for increasing regulation on horizontal drilling for natural gas.  Today that rule was filed.  Once approved by the Secretary of State, it will be effective for 15 months.  Details are on the DEP [...]

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Seven Truck Accidents In Twelve Days in the Northern Panhandle

August 21, 2011

WV State Police Are Busy The Wheeling Intelligencer and other news sources have reported seven (7) truck accidents in twelve (12) days, primarily in Marshall and Wetzel counties of the WV northern panhandle.  One was across the Ohio River in Jefferson county, OH.  Six of these trucks are known to have been serving the Marcellus [...]

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Select Marcellus Committee of the WV Legislature Identifies Issues But Delays Action

August 21, 2011

WV State Capitol reflecting in the Kanawha River Delegate Tim Manchin, co-chair of the WV Joint Select Committee on Marcellus Shale is seeing action by the committee this year.  However, Senator Doug Facemire, also a co-chairman, says the there is too much to do in the next few months already. According to the Morgantown Dominion [...]

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CMU Scientists Publish New Study on Life-Cycle Greenhouse Effects from Marcellus Gas

August 20, 2011

Dr. James Hansen of NASA and Columbia University Marcellus gas has less impact on global warming than coal, says the new study from Carnegie Mellon University. This peer-reviewed study was published August 5th in “Environmental Research Letters” and extends the April study from researchers Robert Howarth and Anthony Ingraffea at Cornell University. The Cornell study [...]

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CB&I Lummus Wins Contract for Dominion Fractionation Plant, So “How Many Local Jobs for Local Workers”?

August 20, 2011

CB&I-Lummus Project Dominion Resources has selected CB&I-Lummus, which is a nonunion contractor from Texas, to build the $500 million natural gas processing plant in Marshall County. The news comes as a blow to local union construction workers and contractors who need the jobs such a project will create, although some local crafts may get work [...]

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