Free Republic

After three years of apocalyptic wailing and gnashing of environmentalist teeth over President Trump’s decision to withdraw from the job and economy killing Paris Climate Accord, it is ironic that the one country that faces the brunt of criticism from climate change zealots such as Greta Thunberg is leading the world and the European Union in lowering emissions and promoting cleaner energy, such as natural gas, all the while not hurting the economy: Despite shrieks of terror from the left about how President Donald Trump’s presidency threatens the existence of Earth and thus mankind, the fact is that under his...

As President Trump's speech at the Shale Insight Conference in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on Wednesday noted, Joe Biden's mythical claim that Trump inherited a booming economy from President Obama falls flat in the face of the reality that this is Trump's economy, fueled by deregulation, tax cuts, cutting of EPA shackles, and a booming energy industry allowed to use the latest technology to free a seemingly endless supply of oil and natural gas from the earth under our feet. The conference was staged by some very appreciative energy groups such as the Marcellus Shale Coalition, the Ohio Oil and Gas Association,...

For a second time in three months, President Donald Trump is headed to Pennsylvania to promote his support for the natural gas industry, making clear that he sees his pro-industry policies as a boost to his chances of winning the battleground state. As some of his leading Democratic opponents are calling for a fracking ban, Trump has been eager to cut a contrast, touting his support for a sector he says brings economic benefits to rural pockets and jobs to construction union workers. But pipeline politics might not be so clear-cut. In the suburbs that might be key to his...

To get a sense of the deep disappointment felt by many here at the twin killings of two potentially lucrative dreams, hydraulic fracturing and a new luxury casino, one needed to look no further than the front-page headline of Thursday’s edition of The Press & Sun-Bulletin. It was two letters, in red type: “NO!” That cry could seemingly be heard all along New York State’s Southern Tier, which borders Pennsylvania and has long been one of the state’s most stubborn economic laggards. In recent years, both hydraulic fracturing — known as fracking — and casinos had been posited as potential...

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — PPL Corp. said Thursday it wants to spend billions of dollars to build a 725-mile system of electric transmission lines that will bring energy from the booming Marcellus Shale natural gas fields to customers on the heavily populated Eastern Seaboard. The Allentown-based utility said the 500-kilovolt line would span much of Pennsylvania and reach into New York, New Jersey and Maryland, although the route has not been determined. The cost was expected to exceed $4 billion, and it could take more than a decade to build....

Anadarko Petroleum, Chesapeake Energy and others will pay the state of Pennsylvania about $225 million in fees this year for drilling in the gas-rich Marcellus Shale — too little, according to critics of the state law setting the fee say. The fees, enacted in 2012, flow to local governments to fund basic needs like bridges, roads, firefighting equipment and environmental programs. By the end of the year, the recurring charges on nearly 6,500 natural gas wells will have brought more than $630 million to state coffers. “We are building a stronger Pennsylvania by harnessing our abundant resources to create jobs...

China’s state-owned coal behemoth is heading to Pennsylvania to learn how to tap into natural gas embedded in shale. China Shenhua Energy Co., the world’s second largest coal company, is planning to create a joint venture between a U.S. subsidiary and a private Pennsylvania natural gas producer to drill 25 natural gas wells in the Marcellus Shale. The $146 million project — which is slated to produce 3.8 billion cubic meters of gas in three decades — is China Shenhua’s first foreign venture into shale gas, according to China Daily. China Shenhua said it aims to learn the trade and...

Drilling efficiency gushing in Marcellus Shale By Andrew Maykuth (The Philadelphia Inquirer) Published: December 20, 2013    TROUT RUN - When David Dewberry landed in Pennsylvania in 2010, the veteran of the migratory worldwide oil-and-gas workforce said he required more than a month to drill a typical Marcellus Shale natural gas well.On Dec. 4, a crew under Mr. Dewberry's direction dug into the mountaintop of a state forest near here with a diamond-studded drill bit. Mr. Dewberry reckons it will require only 16 days to finish drilling the well's full length, more than 2 miles."Since I came up here...

A landmark federal study on hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, shows no evidence that chemicals from the natural gas drilling process moved up to contaminate drinking water aquifers at a western Pennsylvania drilling site, the Department of Energy told The Associated Press. After a year of monitoring, the researchers found that the chemical-laced fluids used to free gas trapped deep below the surface stayed thousands of feet below the shallower areas that supply drinking water, geologist Richard Hammack said. Although the results are preliminary — the study is still ongoing — they are a boost to a natural gas industry that...

The kicker? He’s a supporter of a state cyberbullying bill. A state lawmaker on Thursday acknowledged making “anonymous” and “fictitious” online posts attacking constituents who support shale-gas drilling in Washington County and apologized to two people for any “offensive or hurtful” actions. Residents and the industry group Energy In Depth accused Rep. Jesse White, D-Cecil, of using aliases to call his critics “mouth breathers” and to call industry supporters, including senior citizens, “hucksters.” White explained himself by blaming drilling companies and pro-industry groups for targeting him with “misleading and personal attacks.” “These attacks have included anonymous or fictitious posts on...

New York State's review of high-volume hydraulic fracturing has taken more than four years—and it's not over yet. Right now, all eyes are on the state's health commissioner, Nirav Shah, who has said that he will tell Governor Andrew Cuomo within weeks whether the Department of Environmental Conservation's plan for "fracking" would be sufficient to protect human health. Then it's up to the governor to make a final decision on whether to permit the technique, which involves pumping large volumes of water mixed with chemicals into rock far underground in order to release natural gas. (See related quiz: "What You...

On the same day the Independent Democrat Caucus in New York announced another piece of proposed legislation to delay development of the Marcellus Shale in New York, two representatives from a premiere energy conference in New Mexico heralded success on the radio and praise for energy operators.

The US shale boom has led some to predict that it will overtake Saudi Arabia as world’s largest oil and gas producer by 2020, thanks to the massive reserves found in plays such as the Bakken Shale of North Dakota, the Marcellus Shale in New York, and the Eagle Ford Shale in Texas; even the newly discovered Tuscaloosa Shale formation in Louisiana holds large potential. However there is a new shale formation that has been discovered in West Texas which could dwarf all others being drilled in the US at the moment. The play is known as the Cline Shale...

ALLENTOWN, Pa.-The new movie "Promised Land" digs into the fierce national debate over fracking, the technique that's generated a boom in U.S. natural gas production while also stoking controversy over its possible impact on the environment and human health. Written by and starring Matt Damon and John Krasinski, the film comes at an opportune time for a big-screen exploration of the issues surrounding the shale gas revolution, with cheap natural gas transforming the nation's energy landscape and "fracking" now a household word. But viewers shouldn't necessarily expect a realistic treatment of drilling and fracking. It's not that kind of film...

Drilling companies beginning to explore the Utica shale got a piece of good news Friday when the U.S. Geological Survey estimated the rock formation in Ohio, Pennsylvania and other states holds enormous reserves of natural gas and oil. Releasing its first estimate of the Utica, the USGS calculated the shale formation holds about 38 trillion cubic feet of undiscovered, recoverable natural gas, 940 million barrels of oil and 9 million barrels of natural gas liquids like ethane and propane. The Utica lies beneath the Marcellus shale...

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is currently conducting a national study to determine if hydraulic fracturing has any impact on drinking water sources. As part of a larger study, the EPA is conducting five focused retrospective studies in separate areas across the country including Bradford County, Pennsylvania. Samples were taken in Bradford County during the study’s first round of sampling in October and November 2011. In a collaborative effort, Chesapeake Energy Corporation consultants collected split samples with the EPA from 15 individual drinking water sources for analysis by accredited laboratories. Chesapeake then commissioned WESTON Solutions, Inc. to critically evaluate the...

A new study has raised fresh concerns about the safety of gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale, concluding that fracking chemicals injected into the ground could migrate toward drinking water supplies far more quickly than experts have previously predicted. More than 5,000 wells were drilled in the Marcellus between mid-2009 and mid-2010, according to the study, which was published in the journal Ground Water two weeks ago. Operators inject up to 4 million gallons of fluid, under more than 10,000 pounds of pressure, to drill and frack each well. Scientists have theorized that impermeable layers of rock would keep the...

From Australia and China to South Africa and Eastern Europe, the global economy is being transformed by the extraction of huge amounts of natural gas from shale rock. The United States has played a major part in this revolution; new “plays,” as fields of shale gas are known, are now producing in Texas, Louisiana, Illinois, Arkansas, Colorado, West Virginia, and other states. In the last three years, more than 3,000 gas wells have been drilled in western Pennsylvania’s share of the huge Marcellus shale formation. With more and more producers in the business, the price of natural gas has dropped...

Rick Santorum surged at the last minute to give Mitt Romney a real run for his money in Tuesday's Iowa caucuses, is less green than his rival, and decidedly nuttier when it comes to climate change. But let's not split hairs here. Both men will staunchly defend fossil fuels, and neither is likely to do much of anything to fight global warming. Mitt Romney has expressed qualified concern about climate change over the years, and then vacillated about how much of it is human-caused and whether we should try to do anything about it. No wobbling of that sort from...

The Marcellus Shale field in Ohio, for anybody concerned about finding employment, is creating jobs every day. Lately, the natural gas industry has experienced a boom, and that’s easy to do when finally companies can, while still profiting, be environmentally friendly. For decades, hydraulic fracturing has proved to be one of the safest methods for extracting natural gas. It’s also one of the cleanest methods for extracting natural gas. Believe it or not, Ohio’s state EPA agrees that such a method hasn’t yet proved harmful to anybody within the drilling perimeter of these sites. There are 81,000 wells in total...