Marcellus News for Pennsylvania Update: June 2-10

Well it looks like I can't count on having enough time to do daily updates, so I will have to go back to weekly roundups.
Prices Fall for Some Gas-Rich Shale Land

The gas-rich land of the Marcellus shale has offered some of the hottest wildcat real estate in recent years. But if Exxon Mobil’s recent $1.7 billion acquisition is any indication, the days of eye-watering prices are over. The oil titan is paying barely half the price such acres were fetching last year, as the frenzy has shifted to Texas.

Pa. Lawmaker Wants Traces on Frack Fluid, Baseline Water Well Tests 

Baseline water tests for those living near new natural gas wells could cost up to $1,000 each. Advocates say it's important for residents to get the tests before any natural gas well is drilled close to their property.
Pennsylvania Rep. Mike Sturla says the state should pay for those tests through a tax or an impact fee on natural gas drillers. Sturla also says the industry should include a chemical tracer in the frack fluid used to drill the well.

Hundreds at Capitol Rally for Action on Marcellus Drilling

Hundreds of Pennsylvania residents rallied at the State Capitol today protesting the state legislature’s inaction on Marcellus Shale drilling. The coalition of groups holding the rally called it the largest that Harrisburg has seen to date protesting Marcellus Shale gas drilling.

Exxon Mobil Pays $1.69 Billion for Natural Gas Companies With Holdings in Marcellus Shale

Irving-based Exxon Mobil Corp., the largest U.S. natural-gas producer, has expanded its gas holdings with the purchase of two companies with reserves in the Marcellus Shale, Bloomberg News reports.

 Bath Forum Will Address Drill Cuttings in Landfill

The Bath Peace and Justice Group and several other organizations will sponsor a forum at 7 p.m. June 13 at the Bath Fire Hall, 50 E. Morris St.

The purpose of the forum is to discuss a recent decision by the Steuben County Department of Public Works to accept Marcellus shale drill cuttings from Pennsylvania at the county landfill.

 Pennsylvania Eyes Natural Gas Tax on Biggest US Find

Accusing the government of being unable to protect the environment or public health, more than 200 people rallied on Tuesday in the Pennsylvania Capitol for tougher laws — if not an outright ban — on natural gas drilling as pressure builds on state lawmakers to approve a levy on the booming industry.

Hunting club contends with spring water contamination from gas drilling

Spring water, cold as winter and clear as a windowpane, gushes out of mossy ground in a clearing sprinkled with blooms of forget-me-not next to Stone Camp, the home of the Sykesville Hunting Club in the Moshannon State Forest.
The bubbling flow has attracted generations of folks from Clearfield County and beyond, but staked into the ground now is a homemade sign bearing the warning: "Contaminated Water."

Officials fear loss of local control: Proposed impact fee bill would standardize gas drilling rules across state

A natural gas impact fee proposal gaining traction in Harrisburg is drawing stiff resistance from some local officials, who are concerned the bill will limit the amount of control they can exert over drilling in their municipalities.

 Cawley: No evidence of pollution from fracking 

Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. Jim Cawley on Friday said that there was no documented evidence of water being affected by the fracking process used in the mining of Marcellus shale natural gas.
Yet his comments come in sharp contrast with recent violations reported by the state Department of Environmental Protection.

Unstable Oil Production and Prices: The New Normal

"How Peak Oil Explains the Past Five Years" is one of the best recent articles I've come across that examines the status of world oil production. It is worth a careful read, Instead of  a sharp peak and precipitous decline that the doom-mongers pitch, Phil Hart believes we have been in undulating plateau that shows a complex relation between production and prices:

My view now is that resources in the ground may be sufficient to allow for global capacity to continue on this ‘undulating plateau’ a little longer, or for decline rates to at least be moderate in the short-term. But the geopolitics of the major oil producers, and Iraq in particular, could mean that actual production capacity falls (just a little) short of what resources in the ground might otherwise sustain. But it is only a hypothetical world where resource limits do not interact with geopolitics and such above-ground factors only become a concern when you're near the below-the-ground limits.

 I suggest that rising and falling production with complex feedback with prices, politics and the economy is going to be the "New Normal" for the upcoming decade. It actually provides breathing room to get stuff done, if we can get the knuckledragging and pandering strains of political thought out of the way.
I suggest that rising and falling production with complex feedback with prices, politics and the economy is going to be the "New Normal" for the upcoming decade. It actually provides breathing room to get stuff done, if we can get the knuckledraggers and pandering strains of political thought out of the way. Of course it doesn't help when you nonsense like this being pushed by a delusional right-wing economist who is often used by Kudlow to justify some of the nonsense he spouts . As geolosist Kenneth Deffeyes once said, "The economists all think that if you show up at the cashier's cage with enough currency, God will put more oil in ground."

UPDATE: OPEC surprisingly fails to boost oil production.  Could be a couple things going on here. Political instabilty in the Middle East is effecting some governments abilities to control production (seems unlikely for the big producers) or maybe some like Saudi Arabia are at a resource peak and cannot easily raise production.

Have some strange, stupid and surreal for your Sunday.

Hey, if alligators can supposedly live in the New York sewers, why not Pennsylvania creeks? While doing some whitewater action no less. That's still not as tough as them there Missourah gators.

 It's a tragedy a man was killed, but at a rodeo..... in Delaware?

"Listen children and you shall hear
of the midnight ride of Paul Revere
who warned, uh, the British that they weren't going to be taking away our arms uh by ringing those bells and making sure as he's riding his horse through town to send those warning shots and bells"....wait...that doesn't sound right.

In this economy, you can never pass up a discount on roasts.

So that's North Korea's plan...

Hmmm, baseball and murder do have things in common.

The future belongs to floating libertarian cities, that must be where John Galt lives.

Something found in Texas. Could it be....Chupacabra?! And what about this in New York?  We need Trump on this!

Saturday Santorum: Wow Again

Another wow...except its not about a natural phenomenon but the thoughts of a very loathsome and hate filled man:

Those few sentences show a president who doesn't believe in American exceptionalism, Santorum said.
"He was talking about Medicare, Medicaid, and unemployment insurance, and it was in response to the Ryan budget," Santorum recalled. "And he said this, talking about these three programs: He said 'America is a better country because of these programs. I will go a one step further: America is a great country because of these programs.'"
"Ladies and gentlemen," Santorum said to applause, "America was a great country before 1965."
What's Obama's mistake? In Santorum's eyes he forgot that America's amazingness was written on the parchment of the Declaration of Independence.

Well, America did have some amazing accomplishments before those programs, but in the background there was always the suffering of the poor and eldery. Some Americans have always seen these problems and the non-sociopaths among us sought to fix them, which is you know, a great thing about America. That is what Obama meant. Not in the Rickster's eyes though, he has both reading comprehension issues and a hatred of helping the weak and downtrodden.

I have only one thing to ask Santorum: what did your parents do to you?

Wow!

Just saw this on a NYT's story and just had to show it. Simply amazing.

"A funnel cloud touching down in Orchard, Iowa, on June 10, 2008. Lori Mehmen took the photo from outside her front door before seeking shelter." (click for a larger image)

Marcellus News for Pennsylvania Daily Update: June 2

Micarrelli proposes gas-drilling tax

State Rep. Nick Miccarelli, R-162, of Ridley Park, announced Tuesday he has plans to introduce legislation that would provide for a severance tax on Marcellus Shale gas drilling.
“I think it’s time for Pennsylvania to have a competitive Marcellus Shale tax,” Miccarelli said.
Miccarelli added that revenue generated from his proposal would be used to reduce the personal income tax for Pennsylvania residents.

IUP students to test Beaver Run Reservoir for drilling problems

Indiana University of Pennsylvania students will begin collecting samples today from the Beaver Run Reservoir to determine whether Marcellus shale deep-well drilling has affected the drinking water supply.

 Lt. Governor Cawley leads Marcellus Shale Comimission on tour to impact of natural gas drilling

Lt. Governor Jim Cawley today led the Marcellus Shale Advisory Commission on a fact-finding mission to see the impact the natural gas industry is having on communities throughout Lycoming County.
"I want commission members to see for themselves how the growing natural gas industry is affecting Pennsylvania and its communities," Cawley said. "This experience will be helpful as we begin work to finalize our recommendations to the governor."
About two dozen members of the commission took part in the tour, which was arranged by the Lycoming County Chamber of Commerce.

 Cohen & Grigsby attorney selected as presenter for upcoming seminar on Marcellus shale

Cohen & Grigsby, a business law firm with headquarters in Pittsburgh, PA and an office in Bonita Springs, FL, is pleased to announce that attorney Clifford B. Levine will serve as an expert panelist for a seminar titled "Emerging Issues in the Law of Marcellus Shale" on Tuesday, June 7, 2011.  

  Pennsylvania's Gas Lust: Species Decline and Forest Fragmentation

Now that they’ve succeeded in drawing attention to hydraulic fracturing’s potential harmful effects on water supplies, activists would be wise to adopt a more broad-based approach in their campaign against natural gas drilling in Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale. Diversification would force the industry to defend itself on multiple fronts. 

Wild Weather: The Beat Goes On

Major tornadoes strike Massachusetts, including TWO in Springfield (pics and video).

Record high temperatures across the southern US.
Record flooding in Montana.

"Nuthin to see here folks, move along" say the denialists.
Update: Half of Texas now in severe drought.

Tough Loss

Hard fought game between the Bs and Canucks last night. It looked like it was going to OT with no score when Vancouver put in what was essentially the game winner with 18.5 seconds left.

Two WTF items from the series so far. First, Game 2 won't be until Saturday.  Then there was this:

Blowing off the working class and the killing of the American Dream

Over at the blog RealityBase, Roger Chittum (aka Skeptic) has some thoughts on a NYT's article on Hubert Humphrey that suggested what killed the American Dream:

His narrative seems to be that in the 1970s, after the shellacking of George McGovern by Nixon in 1972 and the re-writing of the Democratic delegate selection process that gave Carter the nomination in 1976, liberalism in the Democratic Party changed its agenda. It became less about the bread and butter issues of economic security and shared prosperity and more about civil rights, the environment, getting out of Vietnam, and honest and transparent government. The Humphrey-Hawkins legislation in 1978, which nominally requires the Fed to keep both inflation and unemployment low, was so watered down that the Fed has never let itself be influenced in the slightest by the unemployment half of the mandate.

This jibes in some ways with what I wrote earlier about how the post-1968 New Left influence on the Democratic Party steered it away from labor issues and a working-class base.

Skeptic goes on to say,

Perlstein’s explanation—that there was a great political realignment and all of the endless string of tactical defeats for America’s middle and lower class incomes flow from that—seems rather plausible to me. One reason it seems plausible is that it’s a fair description of my own attitudes as a life-long Democrat.  I was not friendly to labor unions but saw them as more powerful than they needed to be, corrupt, bigoted, and on the wrong side about Vietnam, the environment, and civil rights.

The question remains whether the Democratic Party can get over the Sixties, but maybe we are finally see indications it may.

Marcellus News for Pennsylvania Daily Update: June 1

I'm going to try daily updates and use a new format. So without further ado -

Police Prepare for Marcellus Drilling

It hasn't come to Moon yet, but Police Chief Leo McCarthy said his department would be ready.

McCarthy and other law enforcement officials last week received a crash course on the impact of Marcellus Shale drilling on Pennsylvania communities...

More than 200 state and Federal law enforcement officials were briefed on the potential environmental effects of drilling, as well as how it could lead to spikes in community crime rates.

 NY attorney general suing feds over gas drilling

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) — The federal government should conduct a full environmental review that weighs potential damage to the welfare of people in the Delaware River watershed and the drinking water quality for millions of New Yorkers before allowing natural gas drilling in the region, the state's attorney general said in a federal lawsuit filed Tuesday.

Antero will spend more on drilling

Oil and natural gas company Antero Resources on Tuesday said it will spend $126 million more on capital expenses this year than originally forecast as it increases its drilling activity.