Reel Slanted: Split Estate Movie Long on Anecdote, Hyperbole; Short on Facts, Evidence
Energy In Depth breaks down the anti-energy documentary, separates fact from fiction on history, performance of HF
“Split Estate,” an editorial in Colorado’s Grand Junction paper argued last week, “is a polemic, aimed at highlighting one side’s views … not at presenting a balanced picture of the arguments related to fracking.” But as we lay out in further detail below, “balance” isn’t the only component of responsible story-telling that was left on the cutting room floor by film director Debra Anderson.
Having been screened in near-empty theaters in New York and Los Angeles earlier this summer, and on satellite TV earlier this month, the producers of Split Estate appear now to be focused on advancing their message in a more targeted, overtly political way – asking supporters to demand the film be played at local county commission hearings, and sending out frequent calls-to-action requesting that letters of support for the FRAC Act be mailed to Washington, D.C.
Make no mistake: Every bit of Split Estate is directed at advocating a specific policy position as it relates to responsible energy development in the United States: Stop it. All of it. Smartly, the film’s supporters and director recognize the extent to which attacking hydraulic fracturing can be used to deliver the practical outcomes they seek.
Movies are fun to watch. This is a movie. But none of that should absolve those in positions of responsibility from checking up on some of these assertions for themselves, and perhaps even thinking critically about why they were made in the first place. The fact sheet provided below seeks, in the very least, to begin such a process.
What follows are a few of the most outrageous examples of distortion, disinformation, and outright dishonesty included in the film:
Movie Message #1: The process that led to hydraulic fracturing earning an “exemption” from federal law in 2005 was quite a scandal – and everyone, as it were, was in on it.
Narrator: “In 2004, the Bush-Cheney administration’s Environmental Protection Agency asserted that fracturing does not threaten drinking water.”EPA’s Weston Wilson: “Within a few months of coming into office, [the] vice president was pressuring the administrator of EPA, Christie Todd Whitman, to exempt hydraulic fracturing from Safe Drinking Water Act regulation.”Narrator: “Because of its high cost, [hydraulic fracturing] was not widely used until recently, in the 1990s, when the price of natural gas shot up high enough to make it affordable.”Fact Check:
- Interestingly, the 2004 EPA report that found hydraulic fracturing to be a safe and effective energy technology was initiated not by the “Bush-Cheney” EPA, but by EPA administrator Carol Browner during the Clinton administration. This fact is directly at odds with several assertions made in the film.
- Currently serving in the White House as President Obama’s energy advisor, Ms. Browner wrote in 1995 that there was “no evidence” that hydraulic fracturing contributed to contamination, and that even the possibility of contamination happening in the future was “extremely remote.”
- Hydraulic fracturing did not earn an exemption to federal law under the Bush administration – it was never regulated under federal law to begin with. The 2005 energy bill, supported by then-Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.), simply clarified the reach of the existing statute, making clear that states – who have been regulating fracturing activities for more than a half century – were best-equipped to oversee this process.
- Fracturing first came into commercial use in the late 1940s, and has been used consistently and efficiently over the years not only to produce oil and natural gas, but to tap water wells and even by EPA to clean up Superfund sites. It is not a new technology.
- The EPA study demonstrating the safety of hydraulic fracturing is one of many – all of which conclude that fracturing is environmentally safe as currently regulated.
- It should also be noted that EPA is an independent agency of the federal government, one that exists outside the structure of existing executive departments. It’s an agency with more than 18,000 employees – only a handful of which must be confirmed by the Senate, and even fewer selected by the president.
- To refer to the agency circa 2004 as the “Bush-Cheney administration’s EPA” is an attempt to obfuscate this fact, and to insinuate (without evidence) that the president ordered EPA scientists to produce analysis favorable to hydraulic fracturing.
Message #2: Medical personnel, state regulators, the general public – no one has any way of knowing what sort of materials are used in the fracturing process.
EPA’s Weston Wilson: “We cannot know what the industry injects in our land. It is exempt from being reported.”Activist Theo Colborn: “You may only get five percent of what’s in that product, and the rest is proprietary or they just don’t give it – they don’t have to.”Ms. Colborn: “There is no way a physician can truly treat what he’s seeing. They have not been given a list of these chemicals that are being used.”Fact Check:
- Mr. Wilson’s assertion (echoed by Ms. Colborn) that “we cannot know” what materials are involved in the fracturing process is demonstrably untrue.
- Mandated by the federal government, documents known as Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) are required to be kept on-hand at all well sites. These sheets contain full listings of the materials involved in the fracturing process, and are even available on the Internet. They are also readily available to all medical and emergency response personnel.
- States in which fracturing activities take place have required a complete list of materials used in the process be submitted to state agencies when they have found it necessary.
- Some states, such as Pennsylvania, post those material sheets online (available here). Additional sheets can be accessed from Energy In Depth and the Ground Water Protection Council.
Ms. Colborn: “For people who are telling you that these products are safe, first, ask them what they have been trained in; two, find out who’s paying their salary; and third, actually hand them a real glass full of something that you have taken from an evaporation well, and ask them to drink it.”
- Ms. Colborn, a former zoology professor at the University of Florida, previously drew a salary from the professional environmental interest group WWF.
- Groundwater is not the same thing as drinking water, nor is it similar to the liquids involved in the fracturing of a well. The Safe Drinking Water Act requires groundwater to be treated to meet federal standards before it can be used in public water supplies. One of the treatment chemicals used in public water management is – and has been for over a hundred years – chlorine. It destroys water-borne bacteria; but no one would suggest drinking concentrated chlorine.
- Water residing thousands of feet underground (naturally) and brought to the surface following the fracturing process is called “produced water.” It must be managed to protect the environment under either the federal Clean Water Act or the Safe Drinking Water Act. No one suggests that it should be considered as drinking water.
- According to the Ground Water Protection Council, “[M]ost additives contained in fracture fluids including sodium chloride, potassium chloride, and diluted acids, present low to very low risks to human health and the environment.”
Message #3: The 2004 EPA study proving fracturing to be safe was “unsupportable” – EPA’s own experts said so.
Narrator: “[The 2004 EPA study] was challenged by a 30-year EPA environmental engineer Weston Wilson, acting under protected whistleblower status.”
Fact Check:
- Mr. Wilson does indeed work (to this day) for EPA’s regional office in Denver. His areas of expertise (as defined by himself) are in Clean Air Act and National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) enforcement, not in the Safe Drinking Water Act or hydraulic fracturing. Consequently, Mr. Wilson was not part of the team of scientists and engineers that spent more than five years studying hydraulic fracturing for EPA.
- Wilson has a long and well-documented history of aggressive opposition to responsible resource and mineral development. Over his 35-year career, Mr. Wilson has invoked “whistleblower” status to fight dam construction in Colorado, oil and gas development in Montana, and the mining of gold in Wyoming.
- Wilson in his own words: “The American public would be shocked if they knew we make six figures and we basically sit around and do nothing.”
Message #4: Energy producers in America benefit from unprecedented exemptions to existing federal environmental laws.
Graphic box: “The oil and gas industry is exempt from sections of the following U.S. Laws: Clean Water Act, Safe Drinking Water Act, Clean Air Act, Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, CERCLA, and The Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act”NRDC’s Amy Mall: “What’s most important is for Congress to close these loopholes – and to hold the oil and gas industry to the same standards as other industries.”Fact Check:
- Notice here the documentarian doesn’t say energy producers are exempt from these laws – they’re only exempt from “sections” of them. Obviously, not every section of every environmental law deals with oil and gas production.
- Whereas some sections of the environmental statutes identified by the film’s director do not cover oil and gas, other “sections” in those same laws do. And that’s true for every single one cited in this documentary.
- In fact, federal environmental laws include sections that distinguish between different dischargers – industries, municipalities, agriculture – because no law written can be applied identically to all situations and circumstances.
- The oil and gas industry is among the most heavily regulated sectors in the U.S. economy. Every stage – from the wellhead to the burner tip – is covered extensively by state, local and federal laws.
Message #5: The Amos Well case demonstrates clearly why Congress needs to act to restrict hydraulic fracturing.
Narrator: In 2004, some residents in Garfield County [Colo.] began to complain that they were getting sick as a result of the drilling activities … A young woman from Silt, Laura Amos, was one of the earliest and loudest voices.”
Fact Check:
- In 2001 (not 2004), Ms. Amos first complained to the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC) about a variety of problems associated with her drinking water well, including reduced volume and the suspected presence of methane.
- According to Ms. Amos, these problems were caused by hydraulic fracturing operations conducted on gas wells approximately 1,000 feet from her home. Reports indicate that fracturing operations took place at depths of over 2,000 feet; the Amos well is 225-feet deep.
- COGCC undertook a thorough investigation of Ms. Amos’s complaints. On at least eight occasions between 2001 and 2005, the agency tested the Amos well for contaminants. Nothing of note was ever detected in any of these samples.
Message #6: America’s open spaces are currently under siege – the product of an unprecedented drilling boom initiated by President Bush, and surreptitiously aided by Vice President Cheney.
U.S. Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass): “The attitude of the previous administration was drill, drill, drill – and drill some more.”
Narrator: “Back in 2000, after the Bush-Cheney election, there was a dramatic acceleration in drilling activity.”
Fact Check:
- According to the Congressional Research Service, more federal acreage was offered for lease under the Clinton administration than under the Bush administration – 31.3 million acres more.
- While it’s true that more wells were developed during President Bush’s tenure, that increase reflects a change in the dynamics of price — not a change in national policy.
|
Administration |
Offshore Acreage |
Onshore Acreage |
Total Acreage |
| Clinton (1993-2000) | 420,277,357 | 46,427,365 | 466,704,722 |
| Bush (2001-2008) | 403,953,986 | 31,488,455 | 435,442,441 |
Source: Congressional Research Service (published Jan. 14, 2009)
Odds and Ends
Sen. Kerry: “Sixty-five percent of the current [federal] subsidies go to gas and oil, and you have this imbalance. We ought to have 65 percent or more – 80 percent – ought to be going to alternative, renewable technologies — to energy efficiency.”
Ms. Colborn: “Let’s work on alternatives. Let’s serve the country through alternative energy.”
Fact Check: The Energy information Administration (EIA) estimates that total federal subsidies for electric production are $24.34 per megawatt hour for solar power and $23.37 for wind, compared to 25 cents per megawatt hour for natural gas and petroleum fueled technologies—98 times higher. Yet, even with these subsidies, solar generated only 0.02 percent of U.S. electricity in 2008. Wind barely delivered one percent.
* * *
Narrator: “Industry has brought jobs and money to the county, but for Gilbert Armenta, the price has been much too high.”
Mr. Armenta: “The industry has the mentality that, [the land] is all theirs and it don’t belong to nobody else.”
Fact Check: Mr. Armenta is a fourth generation American who, by his own admission, owns “over 100,000 acres of ranchland” in Bloomfield, New Mexico. In his county, energy development accounts for more than eight percent of the total workforce. Perhaps it’s not unreasonable for residents in his community not fortunate enough to own 100,000 acres of ranchland to pursue high-wage, family-supporting employment opportunities in this field.
* * *
Narrator: “In an effort to convince authorities that the bubbling was not occurring naturally, Lisa [Bracken] and her family demonstrated that the gas would ignite.”
Fact: Gas ignites. That’s true whether the methane found in the Bracken stream arrived there through natural means or not. Once again, the director confuses a basic point of science in her rush to blame hydraulic fracturing for a phenomenon that occurs naturally every single day. This explains why public water systems de-gas their water during treatment; unfortunately, many private wells do not.
Additional resources available at Energy In Depth:
- Editorial: Gas documentary offers anecdotes, not evidence
- Press Release: Duplicative hydraulic fracturing rules could imperil U.S. economy
- Wyoming Memo: Mind the O-Gap
- GWPC Study: State Oil and Natural Gas Regulations Designed to Protect Water Resources
- Graphic: How Far Down Do We Frac?
- Graphic: What’s In Frac Fluids?
- Fact Sheet: New Federal Regulations Will Cost Americans Jobs, Revenue, and Security
- EPA Study: Study to Evaluate the Impacts to USDWs by Hydraulic Fracturing of Coalbed Methane Reservoirs
- Browner Memo: Letter of Support for Hydraulic Fracturing from Carol Browner, Fmr. EPA Administrator
ICYMI: Support for Hydraulic Fracturing, America’s Shale Gas Not a Partisan Affair
Nothing Overstated About the Jobs Being Created Thanks to Hydraulic Fracturing
Economist calls Marcellus Shale development “a game changer”, a “huge economic injection”, and “a huge shot in the arm”
Today, under the headline “Stimulus jobs overstated by thousands,” the Associated Press reported that “An early progress report on President Barack Obama’s economic recovery plan overstates by thousands the number of jobs created or saved through the stimulus program.”
While common errors and simple mistakes may be responsible for what is an honest miscalculation, the fact remains that homegrown energy production continues to create good-paying jobs at breakneck pace, especially throughout the Northeast where clean-burning natural gas trapped in dense rock thousands of feet below the ground in the Marcellus Shale region is now being accessed through hydraulic fracturing.
Below is just a sampling of local and regional news articles from this week, highlighting the uptick in job creation and economic activity throughout the region that is directly tied to natural gas development made possible by hydraulic fracturing:
- Wilkes Barre Times-Leader: “The Marcellus Shale gas play will be “a game changer” for Northeastern Pennsylvania, bringing a “huge economic injection” and making life here very different a decade from now, an economist said Wednesday. … the region will get “a huge shot in the arm” from natural gas drilling. “The economic forecast is very bright.” Gas drilling has boomed in the Northern Tier of Pennsylvania since horizontal drilling technologies using pressurized liquids have made it financially feasible for companies to drill into the Marcellus Shale, a layer of gas-laden rock that runs about a mile underground from New York into Virginia.”
- Buffalo News: “Gary Marchiore, a vice president at Constellation Energy in Amherst, thinks the natural gas-drilling potential of the Marcellus Shale region in northwestern Pennsylvania and the Southern Tier could be an economic boost for the Buffalo Niagara region. … “We have ample resources in this country. The Marcellus Shale is a wonderful example,” [Congressman Chris] Lee said. … Marchiore sees the Marcellus Shale as a great economic opportunity for the Buffalo Niagara region, even if the wells themselves will be in the Southern Tier and northwestern Pennsylvania. Local companies could support the drilling activity, including companies like National Fuel Gas Co., which has extensive drilling plans for the region and plans to expand its pipeline network there, as well. “This is an economic growth engine and proven technology,” Marchiore said.
- Elmira Star-Gazette: “Workers looking to cash in on the Marcellus Shale are lining up. More than 200 of them, resumes in hand Monday, waited in the parking lot of the Riverstone Inn in Bradford County, where Chesapeake Energy recruited workers as it intensifies natural gas production in northern Susquehanna County. Inside, hundreds more circulated, shoulder to shoulder, waiting to shake hands and pitch their credentials to representatives from Chesapeake and various contractors. Engineers, plumbers, machinists, laborers, truck drivers and a legion of other job seekers, 99.9 percent of them men, came from throughout the Twin Tiers, including Broome and Tioga Counties. … “This is kind of in my field,” said Eric Williamson, 46, an unemployed industrial plumber from Kunkletown, Pa., who was decked out in a tailored suit and tie. … The jobs are mostly blue collar. … Since the beginning of the year, Chesapeake‘s labor force in Pennsylvania has increased from 200 to 700, with a similar growth trend expected through 2011, company officials. … Since 2007, it rapidly has gained popularity among energy producers as they honed technology to effectively harness it. That includes horizontal drilling and a controversial process called hydraulic fracturing, which uses a pressurized chemical solution to fracture bedrock to stimulate gas flow.”
- Towanda Daily Review: “So many people attended Chesapeake Energy Corp.’s job fair Monday at the RiverStone Inn in Wysox Township that the line of people waiting to enter the fair extended out the door of the inn, through its parking lot, and halfway into the parking lot of the Dandy Mini Mart next door. “Well over 600 people” attended the job fair, which was held from 1-5 p.m., said Brian Grove, director of corporate development for Chesapeake. “We were really excited about it (the turnout),” Grove said.” … Chesapeake currently has more than 700 employees in Pennsylvania, Grove said.”
However, without the 60-year old environmentally-proven technique known as fracking – which is heavily regulated at the state level – this job creation, economic growth and increase in stable and affordable energy supplies would not be possible. Some in Congress are working hard to undercut this progress, though. Send Congress the message that responsible American energy production must remain a top national priority and that states – who have effectively regulated fracking for 60 years – are best suited and equipped to continue to ensure this process is executed safely and responsibly.
Safe, Responsible Homegrown Energy Production Positively Impacting Livelihoods
Domestic energy production is helping to raise the standard of living for families, small businesses and retirees living on fixed-incomes. The linchpin to this production of job-creating homegrown energy, and the associated positive economic activity, is hydraulic fracturing. Without this environmentally proven 60-year old technique, much of our nation’s resources would remain out of reach.
Major news outlets over the weekend, especially in region’s where an uptick in natural gas production is occurring, are taking notice, too.
In an A-1, above-the-fold Philadelphia Inquirer article yesterday under the headline “Pa. Tapped, Drillers Not”, Andrew Maykuth takes a close look at the financial benefits many struggling families and businesses are now realizing because of energy production in the Marcellus Shale region. Maykuth tells a compelling story about the Barto family of Hughesville, Pennsylvania:
Barto’s wife, Louise, came to the door in a wheelchair. She was disabled 23 years ago in an automobile crash, and Barto quit his county job to care for her. Barto’s health is not so good, either. He lost a finger to a log splitter, got a knee replacement a few years ago, and had a kidney transplant in 1995 that freed him from dialysis.
“The wife and I, we’ve been without for quite a long time,” Barto said last week as he stood by a pen of watchful, mud-caked heifers.
Barto’s luck may have turned. In April, two wells drilled on his farm began producing natural gas, and the royalties started arriving in the summer. He and his neighbors became the latest Pennsylvanians to strike gold in a mile-deep layer of black rock called the Marcellus Shale.
The full scale of the Marcellus gas boom is still coming into focus, but Barto likes what he has seen so far.
In July, four days before Barto’s 67th birthday, he received the first check from Chief Oil & Gas L.L.C., the Dallas company that last year drilled the wells on this hardscrabble farm, 21 miles east of Williamsport.
Barto’s monthly royalty checks now come in at about $7,000. It’s just the beginning. He and 14 neighbors get royalty checks from the sale of the gas, but the wells capture only a fraction of the gas trapped in the rock. Chief plans to drill many more wells on Barto’s land and surrounding properties.
Barto is trying to keep his newfound bounty in perspective. With the compensation he got when Chief drilled on his land, he splurged on a $42,000 McCormick tractor – the first new tractor of his life – and he built a new metal barn.
Maykuth also highlights the critical energy production techniques required to produce the shale gas deep in the otherwise unreachable Marcellus formation:
Though the Marcellus was long known to contain gas, its potential became clear only recently as developers perfected a horizontal drilling technique that allows them to follow the contours of the shale bed. Since horizontal drilling began four years ago in southwestern Pennsylvania, geologists have raised their estimates of the recoverable reserves. By some estimates, the 363 trillion cubic feet of gas could supply the entire country for 15 years at current consumption rates.
Academics, energy experts and editorial boards are weighing in, too, on the critical nature hydraulic fracturing plays in our energy security. In today’s Oklahoman, David Deming – a geologist and associate professor at the University of Oklahoma – writes this in a column entitled “Plenty of oil out there”:
The Williston Basin in Montana and North Dakota contains nearly 4 billion barrels of oil that has yet to be discovered and produced. Oil has been produced from the Williston Basin since the 1920s. But the introduction of horizontal drilling and hydrofracturing have made it possible to exploit resources heretofore unreachable. Among the leaders in using the new technologies is Oklahoma’s own Continental Resources.
New York State Petroleum Council’s executive director, Mike Doyle, appears in Sunday’s New York Times. Doyle writes this:
We can safely develop New York’s extensive clean-burning natural gas supplies while also providing jobs, growth and substantial revenues to the state.
Studies of hydraulic fracturing, a 60-year-old technology crucial to natural gas development and already widely used in New York, strongly suggest that the technology is safe despite recent concerns.
And the Grand Junction Sentinel writes this in an editorial from the weekend:
The Environmental Protection Agency has twice concluded that fracking is not dangerous — once during the Clinton administration and most recently in 2004.
The EPA is also conducting tests on water wells in central Wyoming found to be tainted with a number of chemicals. The wells are in a natural gas field, but despite the claims of some environmentalists, the EPA is a long way from concluding that fracking was the source of the contamination. The EPA is conducting more tests to determine how much contamination there is, whether it poses a health hazard and where it came from.
Over the weekend, regional news outlets highlighted the host of positive economic benefits associated with the environmentally-sound, well-regulated energy production technique known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.
In an in-depth look at fracking – a process that has been around for more than 60 years – South Dakota’s KFYR-TV, under the headline “Energy Insider: Hydraulic Fracturing,” reports this:
A drill rig just south of McGregor will be tapping into oil that’s been known about for decades.
“Everybody knows where it’s at. We’ve known it for a long time,” said Russell Atkins, Area Supervisor for Continental Resources.
But economically, it is just starting to make sense to go after the oil in the Bakken Formation.
That’s because recent developments in horizontal drilling technologies make it easier to drain a larger area underground.
“Instead of just having one well bore that intersects eight to nine feet of rock, you’re intersecting thousands of feet of rock,” said Atkins.
To view this KFYR-TV video, click HERE.
Middletown, New York’s Times Herald-Record evaluated the benefits that safe, well-regulated energy production, enabled by hydraulic fracturing, hold in store for its region. The paper reports this on yesterday’s page:
Unemployment – which hovers around 8 percent in both Sullivan and Susquehanna counties – should drop because of “the dramatic increases in development over the next five years,” according to a Workforce Needs Assessment Study, by the Marcellus Shale Education and Training Center.
By the end of this year, gas drilling will create between 1,300 and 2,100 jobs in Pennsylvania’s northern tier. Estimated wages for those jobs were unavailable.”
And energy experts are making sure the facts are being heard, too. Brad Gill, who serves as the executive director of the Independent Oil & Gas Association of New York (IOGANY), passes along the following quote in an Evening Observer article from yesterday:
The Independent Oil & Gas Association of New York (IOGA of NY) estimates the positive economic impact of 300 Marcellus Shale wells to easily reach or exceed $1.4 billion. Broken down, the wells are projected to provide $108 million to landowners, $19 million in real property tax relief for municipalities, $32 million in state tax revenue, and provide hundreds of new jobs.
“The Marcellus Shale, a geological formation in New York and contiguous states, may well prove to be one of the largest deposits of natural gas in the nation’s history,” said Brad Gill, executive director of IOGA of NY and geologist by trade. “Over the past year, we have witnessed a financial meltdown of not only New York, but of the global marketplace. Now, we have a chance to pull New York – especially the Southern Tier – out of this slump and put New Yorkers back to work.”
And David Hager, executive vice president of exploration and development for the Oklahoman-based Devon Energy, writes this in today’s Oklahoman:
By unlocking the shale, we have opened vast new natural gas supplies that were beyond our reach a decade ago. This would be exciting news at any time, but at a time in history when we are worried about energy independence and clean energy, this new development is better than a ninth-inning homer to win the Series.
The fact is that shale is a proven success story. The Barnett Shale, which Berman targets with his skepticism, has grown from almost nothing 10 years ago to the largest producing gas field in the United States. Today, the Barnett’s annual production is enough to heat 20 million homes for a year.
Because of shale, natural gas production in the United States has been on the increase in recent years, reversing a prolonged trend downward. And, these wells are expected to produce for 40 or 50 years.
Fired Up, Ready To Go! … “Bring on the jobs” & “The economic boom” in Horseheads, NY
The Village of Horseheads, in New York’s Chemung County, gave the green light last night to move forward with the construction of a Schlumberger facility that will support natural gas and hydraulic fracturing activity in the state’s Southern Tier. And while the process up to this long-awaited point has been laborious, time-intensive and at times contentious, the jury has finally spoken with the village’s board voting unanimously in favor of the project.
Horseheads Mayor Don Zeigler said “Little ‘ol sleepy hollow Horseheads is now on the map,” and another local resident said “What we are looking for now is enjoying the economic boom.”
Here’s a sampling of the early news reports on the village’s unanimous vote.
From WENY-TV:
Horseheads Mayor Don Zeigler says the board stuck to its job, addressed the public’s concerns and moved forward with the project. “I’ve had people try to intimidate us, to sway our vote, we stayed the course and I am ashamed for some of the comments,” said Mayor Don Zeigler. “Shame on those people who tried to sway our votes to do an honest job.” Mayor Zeigler says the board did an honest appraisal of the project and as far as he’s concerned it’s a done deal.
Others say, bring on the jobs. “Some of their early projects have already developed with local labor,” said Erin resident, Dave Blauvelt. “Speaking with some of the representatives, they’re very interested in having local labor involved, which is very exciting.” Project representatives say Schlumberger will fill 75 percent of the 400 positions with local workers. Mayor Zeigler says the company will bring more than just jobs. “What we are looking for now is enjoying the economic boom, houses are going, staff is coming in, they’re hiring people, it’s a first class company,” Zeigler said.”
From WBNG-TV:
“Little ‘ol sleepy hollow Horseheads is now on the map,” says Village of Horseheads Mayor Donald Zeigler. After months of study and debate, Schlumberger is coming to Horseheads. “We need new industry in Chemung County and these guys have a really good track record. They’re one of the top 500 greenest companies in America and I couldn’t be happier that this project has been approved,” says Michael Sincock of Pine City. The village board unanimously gave the gas drilling support center the green light Thursday night. It will open an 88 acre site here in Horseheads. And is expected to bring 300 jobs to the area. “What we’re looking forward to now is the economic boom. Houses are going. Some of their staff is coming in. They’re hiring people who have been laid off,” says Mayor Zeigler.”
From the Elmira Star-Gazette:
“Horseheads trustees gave final village approval Thursday to site plans for a proposed Schlumberger Technology Corp. gas drilling service facility. The unanimous vote ends months of review and controversy surrounding the project, which is expected to create 400 jobs, but also stirred environmental concerns. Schlumberger plans to locate its facility on about 90 acres it owns in The Center at Horseheads industrial park. The site will provide support services to natural gas drilling companies operating in the area.
Mayor Don Zeigler said the Schlumberger project is bigger than anything Horseheads has ever dealt with, and that the review of their plans has been exhaustive. “There has been some pressure put on us to do our job,” Zeigler said. “We did our job. We went to the horse’s mouth to check on a lot of stuff. “Some of the misinformation in the public has been an attempt to sway our vote. We came here to do an honest and fair appraisal of what came before us. I know we did it.”
From WETM-TV:
“A natural gas drilling services project in Horseheads that’s expected to create 400 jobs has been given final approval. After months of debate, the board voted to approve the site plan for Schlumberger Thursday night. … “I’m thrilled that they approved the project. I think we need the industry. I think the environmental issues here were overblown by a minority of the people,” said neighbor Michael Sincock. The mayor says the site plan approved addresses all of the concerns raised by neighbors. He says this has been a six month long process of review, discussion and public hearings. “This process started last spring and what is it now? It’s October. This is not rushing a project. We spent a lot of time and money for our engineer,” said Mayor Donald Ziegler.”
Energy, economic, and environmental benefits of fracturing
IOGCC information pamphlet on fracturing process
Clean-Burning, Homegrown American Energy Production Raising Eyebrows Across the Pond
Prominently featured atop the Drudge Report today is an article from the UK Telegraph entitled “Energy crisis is postponed as new gas rescues the world.” The focus of the article, written by Ambrose Evans-Pritchard, is the expansion of American natural gas production from shale rock, miles below the earth’s surface.
Thanks to cutting-edge, 21st century technologies – particularly hydraulic fracturing – gas reserves that were once considered unreachable are now being safely produced. In this process, thousands of American jobs are being created, billions in economic output are being generating, and American energy security is growing stronger.
Here are the key take-aways from the article:
“’There has been a revolution in the gas fields of North America. Reserve estimates are rising sharply as technology unlocks unconventional resources,’ said [Tony Hayward, BP’s chief executive.”
“The common wisdom was that unconventional gas was too difficult, too expensive and too demanding. This has changed. If we ever doubted that gas was the fuel of the future – in many ways there’s the answer.”
The breakthrough has been to combine 3-D seismic imaging with new technologies to free “tight gas” by smashing rocks, known as hydro-fracturing or “fracking” in the trade.
The US is leading the charge. Operations in Pennsylvania and Texas have already been sufficient to cut US imports of liquefied natural gas (LGN) from Trinidad and Qatar to almost nil, with knock-on effects for the global gas market – and crude oil. It is one reason why spot prices for some LNG deliveries have dropped to 50pc of pipeline contracts.
The US Energy Department expects shale to meet half of US gas demand within 20 years, if not earlier. Projects are cranking up in eastern France and Poland. Exploration is under way in Australia, India and China.
Texas A&M University said US methods could increase global gas reserves by nine times to 16,000 TCF (trillion cubic feet).
Needless to say, the Kremlin is irked. “There’s a lot of myths about shale production,” said Gazprom’s Alexander Medvedev.
Other regional newspapers here at home are also taking notice of the economic activity that natural gas production, because of hydraulic fracturing, is helping the US realize.
Today’s Buffalo News reported this under the headline “There’s gold (sort of) in them hills”:
The result is that a horizontal well, in just the right place, can tap into far larger natural gas deposits than a well that just goes straight down. A conventional gas well, costing about $250,000 to drill in less productive portions of the Southern Tier or northwestern Pennsylvania, might produce about 100,000 cubic feet of gas per day, roughly enough to supply 1,000 homes for a year.”
And with the US unemployment rate at a 26-year high, the jobs created though this safe and well-regulated energy production process are especially heartening.
The Danville (PA) Daily Item, under the headline “Official sees 8000 shale drilling jobs,” reported this last week:
Lycoming County Commissioner Rebecca A. Burke told the Greater Susquehanna Chamber of Commerce on Thursday at the Front Street Station that Marcellus Shale could create 8,000 jobs. To date, roughly 400 blue-collar jobs have been created and 30 new businesses started, said Burke, who added that she expects the creation of 8,000 full-time jobs in the next five years. … One drilling site alone requires 410 employees, she added. Landowners also have the potential to make money by leasing land for drilling, she said. Burke recommended that anyone planning to lease land get an attorney who is familiar with leasing and also seek the assistance of a tax expert. … “The hospitality industry will see a lot of growth,” Burke said. “There are few industries that won’t have opportunities.” When Burke was asked if this meant all-around growth for the area, she replied, “Absolutely.”
Despite this huge uptick in American energy production, and its associated economic and energy security benefits, some in Washington are working to halt this progress. A bill authored by Reps. Diana DeGette (D-CO) and Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) and Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) – called the FRAC Act – would undermine the strong current state regulatory frameworks that has led to nearly 60 years of safe hydraulic fracturing and domestic energy production.
Thankfully, as facts continue to surface that far outweighs the hyperbole trafficked in by opponents of the technology, the effort to leverage its use into jobs, revenue and security for Americans continues in earnest.
