Frack Check WV » northern WV

Promoting Development, Local Chambers of Commerce Insensitive to Environment

Duane Nichols — Sun, 15 Apr 2018 09:05:02 +0000

North Central West Virginia Business Summit (4/9/18)

“Tearing down the walls” for economic development

Editorial by John Miller (Executive Editor), WV News, April 13, 2018

Since its inception four years ago, we’ve touted the Bridges Without Boundaries Business Summit, which brings together members of four area chambers of commerce: Harrison, Marion, Monongalia and Preston, counties in WV.

The focus of the summit is to bring business and government leaders together to network, looking for opportunities to work together to enhance our economic development efforts.

This year’s event, held Tuesday, was the largest since its beginning and featured a number of guest speakers who shared insight into the region’s economic future as well as ways to partner together.

The summit also featured dozens of booths set up by area businesses, which allowed visitors and participants to stroll the event hall and learn at their own pace.

As would be expected, a good amount of time focused on the region’s role in the Marcellus Shale development, with WVU Energy Institute Director Brian Anderson sharing his expertise.

“We have, in North Central West Virginia, a lot of natural gas resources,” Anderson told the crowd. “There have been some natural gas power plants in various stages of development here in North Central West Virginia. That’s one of the things that could certainly affect the area.”

He stressed the real game changer could be the development of downstream manufacturing associated with the byproducts of the “wet gas” components, which are used in the plastics and chemical industries.

“There’s a real opportunity in the supply chain,” Anderson said. “There’s an opportunity in manufacturing there, because of road connectivity to D.C. and some of the bigger population centers that way across I-68.

“You can imagine that the supply chain goes from (a) cracker near the Ohio River, but then the next level being the dryer and processor can be here in North Central West Virginia. The manufacturer and finished product, as well, and then just ship it into D.C. We can certainly build all of those small manufacturers that are really a big multiplier.”

While Anderson’s vision brings excitement in regards to the region’s potential if parties work together, we were also thrilled to see Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto as a keynote speaker.

That city is one of 20 cities being considered for Amazon’s “second headquarters,” a development that could lead to 50,000 jobs.
Peduto talked about the potential for Pittsburgh to team with the technology sector in North Central West Virginia, based out of the I-79 Technology Park in Fairmont and WVU in Morgantown.

“With the supercomputing center (at the technology park) and with the capacity that it has, it would be a benefit,” Peduto said. “Adding that to our application adds to the potential footprint to come all the way in to West Virginia. On top of that, there are some really great workforce development programs at WVU that have partnered with IBM.

“When you start talking about 50,000 jobs, you’re going to be taking it from a much larger footprint than just one city or county. It’s about having that pipeline of people that they could rely on to be workers. The goal would be to provide as many jobs to people already here as possible.”

If Amazon decides to locate to Pittsburgh, combined with the known uptick coming from natural gas, as well as the state’s commitment to road infrastructure, the demand for good workers will increase dramatically.

That should make West Virginia fertile ground for in-migration, instead of what’s become the norm — people leaving the state.

While we understand much of what was talked about on Tuesday was visionary in nature, the presentations paint a clear picture of what’s possible — if officials and businesses learn to break down traditional walls that constrict us and learn to work together.

Presidents of Four County Chambers

Review of Marcellus Drilling Permits in Northcentral West Virginia

Duane Nichols — Wed, 19 Sep 2012 21:04:08 +0000

: Marion County WV

The following information is from the September 19^th article “Gas permit applications flat in Mon” by David Beard in the Morgantown Dominion Post newspaper. Please consult this source for further details on this topic.

Monongalia County continues to see a lull in horizontal gas well permitting, though neighboring Preston and Marion counties have continued to see growth since The Dominion Post’s last report, in February. Since February, there has been only one new application for a horizontal Marcellus well: Chesapeake Appalachia’s Willard Simpson Mon 8H. The Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) received the application in March and denied it in May.

This is the only permit denial recorded on the Marcellus lists for the three counties. Chesapeake said the denial letter would be on file at the DEP, but noted there were problems with the access road.

The DEP has 15 other Monongalia County permits on file. Chesapeake’s other most recent pending application, for the Leslie Keaton Mon 3H, to be sited south of Goshen Road, was returned to the company in June for further work. During this period, Chesapeake completed work on three wells and put them into production: Reliance Minerals 3H, south of the Keaton site, completion reported in March; and Esther Clark 1H and 3H, near the Mon-Wetzel border, both reported last week.

In February, Preston County had 40 active permits with four more pending. The DEP shows 52 records on file, all in the Marcellus shale, but three of them conventional vertical wells. Four of those are pending — all by Canada-based Enerplus Resources. Enerplus had two other permits approved, one in late February, one in August; three returned for more work, all in June; and one reported complete, also in June. Chesapeake had two permits approved in May and three others reported complete — two in March, one in August. Texas-based Chief Oil & Gas canceled one permit application in February, but had site reclamation of two wells on its Grimm Lumber pad approved in July. Texas-based Novus Operating Co. reported two wells — one of them vertical — approved in July.

February’s report showed 75 permits on file in Marion County with three more pending. As of Tuesday, DEP showed 95 records on file. St. Marys-based Trans Energy has one application pending. Two were approved since last report, and one was returned for more work. Exxon subsidiary XTO had nine permits OK’d and reported six complete. It withdrew one application.

Chesapeake had two permits approved and reported six complete — with site reclamation on five wells OK’d. Glenville-based Waco Oil & Gas reported four permits complete — all on its Donna pad in Plum Run, Marion County. This pad has been the subject of several reports in The Dominion Post: It lies immediately adjacent to the home of Stacie and Casey Griffith, who have recounted the struggles of having a dream home turn into an industrial site. Three of the Donna wells appear twice on the Marion list because Waco bought the land from the original owner.
Pittsburgh-based EQT reported two wells complete with reclamation of one site OK’d.

Low gas prices affecting production

Gas industry officials have attributed the slow activity in this area chiefly to low natural gas prices. They plunged from a fall 2007 peak above $10 per mcf (thousand cubic feet) to about $5 through fall 2010, then continued a steady decline, according to the industry sites themarcellusshale .com and theuticashale .com.

The price fell from $4 a year ago to below $2 in May, then climbed a bit and as of Tuesday stood at $2.77.

At this price, many operators find the return on investment for “dry” gas, mostly methane used for heat and power, too low. Dry gas lies under this area. Some companies, such as Chesapeake, have been turning their attention to the “wet” gas — also containing ethane, propane, butane and oil — west and north of here in the Marcellus and deeper Utica formations. The additional products produce additional revenue for the operators.

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Skytruth.org is reporting on permit activities based upon geographic location. For example, a recent permit approval in Wetzel County was granted to Triad Hunter, LLC, for drilling in the Lantz Farm and Nature Preserve of Wheeling Jesuit University. The property name is given as “WV Conservation Commission.” The well API number is 103-02783. See the Skytruth Alert at the following web-site:

http://alerts.skytruth.org/report/c364c89c-889f-323e-8894-eb48b41434af#c=stae