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ICYMI: Criticism of Cornell shale paper “leaks” out from some unlikely places

Posted April 13th, 2011 by Dave McCabe, atmospheric scientist

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FACT CHECK: Huff Post Duo Put Time Magazine in Their Crosshairs, Check Facts at Arianna’s Front Door

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Energy In Depth Responds to NRDC’s Running List of Conjectures & Distortions

Targets Safety, Performance of Hydraulic Fracturing

Over the last year, our friends at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) started up a running tally on their blog identifying “incidents where drinking water has been contaminated and hydraulic fracturing is a suspected cause.”

So we’ve decided to start our own running blog just like NRDC. The only difference? On theirs you’ll find rumor on top of speculation on top of conjecture on top of supposition on top of outright fantasy. On ours you’ll find facts.

The NRDC blog currently lists 34 incidents that it believes are associated with hydraulic fracturing. We address all 34.

But first, we thought the following quotations from NRDC’s Energy Program Co-Director may also be of interest:

CLAIMS:


Arkansas: In 2008, Charlene Parish of Bee Branch reported contamination of drinking water during hydraulic fracturing of a nearby natural gas well owned by Southwestern Energy Company. Her water smelled bad, turned yellow, and filled with silt.

Arkansas: In 2009, a family in Bee Branch, who wishes to remain anonymous, reported changes in water pressure and drinking water that turned gray and cloudy and had noxious odors after hydraulic fracturing of a nearby natural gas well owned by Southwestern Energy Company.

Arkansas: In 2007, a family in Center Ridge reported changes in water pressure and water that turned red or orange and looked like it had clay in it after hydraulic fracturing of nearby wells owned by Southwestern Energy Company. They told their story on YouTube.

Arkansas: In 2008, a homeowner in Center Ridge reported changes in water pressure and water that turned brown, smelled bad, and had sediment in it after hydraulic fracturing of a nearby well owned by Southwestern Energy Company. He also told his story on YouTube.

REALITY: “Tests on complainants’ water found no traces of the chemicals used in the drilling fluids, officials said. Dick Cassat, chief lab supervisor at the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality, said that water he’s tested after residents complained about nearby gas drilling was simply higher in iron and manganese, two naturally occurring substances in Arkansas groundwater sources.” (Northwest Arkansas Newspapers, 7/09)

CLAIM: Arkansas: In 2007, the Graetz family in Pangburn reported contamination of drinking water during hydraulic fracturing of a nearby natural gas well owned by Southwestern Energy Company. The water turned muddy and contained particles that were “very light and kind of slick” and resembled pieces of leather.

REALITY: “Representatives of the Arkansas Oil and Gas Commission and the Department of Environmental Quality told [Jeff Graetz] not to drink the water after they tested it, but they said Southwestern wasn’t responsible.” (Arkansas Democrat Gazette, 7/5/09)

CLAIM: Colorado: In 2001, two families in Silt reported a water well blow-out and contamination of their drinking water during hydraulic fracturing of four nearby natural gas wells owned by Ballard Petroleum, now Encana Corporation. Their drinking water turned gray, had strong smells, bubbled, and lost pressure. One family reported health symptoms they believe are linked to the groundwater contamination.

REALITY: “The Amos/Walker water well has been sampled numerous times since [the Colorado Oil & Gas Conservation Commission] staff received the initial complaints in 2001. Benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylenes (BTEX), frac fluid constituents, or other oil and gas related contaminants have never been detected in any of the water samples collected from the Amos/Walker water well to date.” (7/05)

CLAIM: Colorado: In 2007, the Bounds family in Huerfano County reported a pump house exploded and contamination of drinking water during hydraulic fracturing of nearby wells owned by Petroglyph Energy.

REALITY: “Impossible to prove that fracing created pathways for methane to collect in Bounds’s domestic water system.” (Christina Science Monitor, 2/5/09)

“It’s not clear the drilling caused the methane leaks…Despite the methane mystery, [Petroglyph is] trucking water to 14 area homes and has supplied 15 homes with methane alarm systems.” (USA Today, 11/3/09)

CLAIM: Colorado: In June, 2010, the day hydraulic fracturing began on a nearby gas well in Las Animas County, landowner Tracy Dahl checked his cistern and found approximately 500 gallons of grayish brown murky water where water had previously run clear for years. The Dahls have extensive water testing documentation going back many years, verifying that their water has always been clean and clear. They were told by Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (“COGCC”) staff that the water could not be tested for chemicals in the hydraulic fracturing fluid because there is insufficient information about the chemicals used. Three monitor wells on the ranch are now producing methane at an escalating rate.

REALITY: “’Our environmental staff has investigated hundreds of groundwater complaints over the years, to date we have found no verified instances of hydraulic fracturing harming groundwater,’ [Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission Director Dave Neslin] said.” (Trinidad Times, 7/16/10)

“‘Pioneer has funded hydrologic experts to conduct scientific investigations of domestic water wells in the vicinity of our natural gas wells,’ [Pioneer Natural Resource’s environmental advisor Gerald] Jacob said. ‘These investigations have discovered not impacts from hydraulic fracturing but problems from the ways in which domestic water wells have been drilled, constructed and produced. For example, we have found uncased, uncemented domestic water wells drilled into methane producing formations that provide a direct conduit for methane gas to reach the surface or to connect with shallow groundwater. We have found unsterilized bacteria breach the domestic water wells and produce biogenic methane gas, colonies of bacteria that clog these wells and prevent them from producing water.’” (Trinidad Times, 7/16/10)

CLAIM: New Mexico: A 2004 investigation by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency found two residents who reported that the quality of their water was affected by hydraulic fracturing.

REALITY: Interestingly, the source of this “2004 investigation” is none other than the 2004 EPA report on hydraulic fracturing – the one that found “no evidence” indicating a link between the use of hydraulic fracturing and the contamination of underground sources of drinking water.

As part of the agency’s due diligence in compiling that report, EPA stated in its concluding chapters that some residents with whom it had communicated postulated that hydraulic fracturing may have been the cause of problems with their wells. Although EPA included that testimony as part of its study, as per its charge, it concluded that “no confirmed cases” of water contamination related to hydraulic fracturing could be found.

CLAIM: New York: In 2007, the Lytle family in Seneca County reported contamination of drinking water the morning after hydraulic fracturing of a nearby natural gas well owned by Chesapeake Energy Corporation. The water turned gray and was full of sediment.

REALITY: “[Dept. of Environmental Conservation] Spokesman Yancey Roy said the DEC has a record of the Chesapeake well near Lytle’s house — but no record of a complaint, spill, or problem with Lytle’s well.  ‘It is likely that if any turbidity was experienced in a nearby water well, it occurred when the well was being drilled — not when it was hydraulically fractured. Also, turbidity essentially is stirred up sediment — and problems with turbidity do not involve toxicity,’ Roy said by e-mail.” (Press & Connects, 12/8/09)

CLAIM: New York: In 2009, the Eddy family in Allegany County reported contamination of drinking water during hydraulic fracturing of a nearby well owned by U.S. Energy Development Corporation. The water turned “foamy, chocolate-brown.”

REALITY: “The commissioner of the state Department of Environmental Conservation has asserted that reports of accidents related to natural gas drilling in New York have been overblown and taken out of context.” (Ithaca Journal, 1/11/10)

“In a letter to Assemblyman William Parment, D-150th, a member of the Environmental Conservation committee, DEC Commissioner Pete Grannis said that of the 270 incidents highlighted by an Ithaca researcher, more than half have nothing to do with natural gas drilling — and they occurred while the DEC was overseeing 10,400 wells.” (Ithaca Journal, 1/11/10)

“Requirements in place since the 1980s have successfully rendered drilling associated methane migration so rare that there has not been a reported incident since 1996.” (DEC Comm. Pete Grannis letter to Assemblyman Parment, 12/30/09)

CLAIM: North Dakota: The North Dakota non-profit organization Bakken Watch reports very serious health symptoms in humans, livestock, and pets after nearby hydraulic fracturing. Their website has photos of sick animals, pit leaks, and corroded tanks. North Dakota state legislators admit they are “understaffed and overwhelmed” and “struggling to provide adequate oversight amid an explosion of activity in North Dakota’s oil patch.”

REALITY: “Lynn Helms of the North Dakota Department of Mineral Resources says that there has never been a case of fracturing causing groundwater contamination.  Helms says that in every instance that fracturing has been blamed for contamination has been found to have been caused by other sources like bacteria occurring in the water or poor well construction procedures.” (Plains Daily, 12/1/10)

“Much of our entire regulatory framework, from drilling to completion, production, and finally plugging and abandonment, is centered around measures to prevent any contamination of the water resource. …Regulations alone don’t begin to provide the full measure of a regulatory program. The North Dakota Oil and Gas Division of the Department of Mineral Resources utilizes 8 performance measures to monitor our activity in the areas of drilling permitting, UIC permitting, wellbore construction, well bore mechanical integrity testing, spill containment and clean up, fluid measurement, oil and gas conservation, and customer satisfaction. At least five of these measures are directly related to protection of water resources. These performance measures are backed up by a staff of field inspectors who visit the wells every day from when the drilling rig moves in until the permanent wellhead is installed and at least quarterly after that.” (Lynn Helms, Director, North Dakota Dept. of Mineral Resources, congressional testimony, 6/4/09)

CLAIM: Ohio: “In 2007, there was an explosion of a water well and contamination of at least 22 other drinking water wells in Bainbridge Township after hydraulic fracturing of a nearby natural gas well owned by Ohio Valley Energy Systems. More than two years later, over forty families are still without clean drinking water and are waiting to be connected to a town water system.”

REALITY: On December 15, 2007, an explosion occurred in the basement of a home in Bainbridge, Ohio. Neither the house nor its furnishings suffered any kind of fire or smoke damage. Subsequent to the event, the Ohio Division of Mineral Resources Management (DMRM) conducted an extensive, year-long investigation of the incident – at the end, publishing a report summarizing its findings and describing what it believed caused the incident. DMRM concluded the explosion was not caused by hydraulic fracturing. Moreover: “DMRM has concluded that it is highly unlikely that fluids used in the hydraulic fracturing process, or flow back fluids escaped from the borehole or entered into local aquifers.”

CLAIM: Pennsylvania: In September, 2010, a lawsuit was filed by 13 families who say they have been and continue to be exposed to contaminated drinking water linked to hydraulic fracturing. Eight different properties in Susquehanna County are said to have contaminated drinking water. One child has neurological symptoms consistent with exposure to toxic substances. Southwestern Energy, the company operating the well near these families, responded that it promptly investigated all complaints and that both the company and the Pennsylvania Department of the Environment independently tested the water and found no link between gas operations and the water quality and no problems with the integrity of the gas well.

REALITY: “A cover letter from a DEP water quality specialist on one of the tests indicates that although he found elevated manganese, the department could not determine that the gas exploration activity ‘contributed to the degradation of your water supply.’” (Times-Tribune, 9/15/10)

“’The data that we had from our samples did not allow us to conclude that the well had been contaminated by gas well drilling,’ DEP spokeswoman Helen Humphries said.” (Times-Tribune, 9/15/10)

CLAIM: Pennsylvania: In 2009, the Zimmerman family of Washington County reported contamination of drinking water after hydraulic fracturing of nearby natural gas wells owned by Atlas Energy. Water testing on their farm found arsenic at 2,600 times acceptable levels, benzene at 44 times above limits, naphthalene at five times the federal standard, and mercury and selenium levels above official limits.

REALITY: “A recent blog from an environmentalist points to four cases in Pennsylvania…The Washington County case involved the appearance of arsenic at 2,600 times the EPA levels for safe drinking water.  Arsenic is not an additive in fracture stimulation….there is no physical link to deep hydraulic fracturing.” (Terry Engelder, Professor of Geosciences, Pennsylvania State University)

“Cleason Smith, a consultant with Hydrosystems Management, which tested the soil and water…said further tests are needed to confirm the source of contamination.” (Reuters, 11/9/09)

“George Zimmerman filed suit against Atlas Energy Inc., alleging that Atlas’ hydraulic fracturing methods had caused property damage to Zimmerman’s land…Causation will continue to prove a significant obstacle to plaintiffs’ claims of property damage and groundwater impact, especially since available information concerning the composition of frac chemicals does not generally support allegations of material concentrations of carcinogenic or otherwise toxic compounds.” (11/17/09)

CLAIM: Pennsylvania: In 2008, two families in Gibbs Hill [McKean County] reported contamination of drinking water after hydraulic fracturing of a nearby natural gas well owned by Seneca Resources Corporation. Their water had strong fumes, caused burning in lungs and sinuses after showering, and caused burning in the mouth immediately upon drinking. The state found that the company had not managed the pressure in the well properly and had spilled used hydraulic fracturing fluids that contaminated the drinking water supply.

REALITY: “A recent blog from an environmentalist points to four cases in Pennsylvania but the McKean County case was a clear case of methane migrations from shallow pockets, not deep hydraulic fracturing….there is no physical link to deep hydraulic fracturing.” (Terry Engelder, Professor of Geosciences, Pennsylvania State University)

A Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) investigation into other gas-migration issues in McKean County also demonstrated no link whatsoever to hydraulic fracturing, but rather implicated abandoned wells drilled around the turn of the century…the turn of the twentieth century!

CLAIM: Pennsylvania: In 2009, families in Bradford Township reported contamination of drinking water after hydraulic fracturing of nearby natural gas wells owned by Schreiner Oil & Gas. The drinking water of at least seven families has been contaminated.

REALITY: To be clear, hydraulic fracturing was not to blame in this instance; but rather, the failure was associated with well design and construction:

“The department suspects the stray gas occurrence is a result of 26 recently drilled wells, four of which had excessive pressure at the surface casing seat and others that had no cement returns.” (Bradford Era, 5/4/09)

While the operator was cited under Pennsylvania state law, hydraulic fracturing had nothing to do with these violations.  If well design and construction guidelines in place at the time of the incident had been followed, the incident would not have occurred.  Nonetheless, Pennsylvania has taken this issue head on, recently enacting new standards for well design and construction.

“We strengthened the rules governing the design and construction of gas wells and this rule became effective in January 2011… The standards are much stronger than the pre-existing rules and are now state of the art. The new gas drilling rules are essential to public safety, and they must be rigorously followed and enforced.” (Former Pennsylvania Secretary of Environmental Protection, John Hanger, Business Journal, 1/14/11)

CLAIM: Pennsylvania: “In 2009, the Smitsky family in Hickory reported contamination of their drinking water after hydraulic fracturing of nearby natural gas wells owned by Range Resources. Their water became cloudy and foul-smelling. Testing found acrylonitrile, a chemical that may be used in hydraulic fracturing. The EPA is now investigating this incident.”

REALITY: A review of the MSDS information on-file with the PA Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) reveals that no acrylonitrile was used in the process of fracturing this well. According to reports, Ms. Smitsky expressed her concerns with the well a full five years after the drilling procedure had been completed.

Questions also remain about the quality of the well’s water prior to the operations taking place. According to the Center for Rural Pennsylvania, an agency of the PA General Assembly, “approximately 41 percent of the [private water] wells tested [in PA] failed to meet at least one of the health-based drinking water standards.” Although a final report from DEP has yet to be released, initial drafts from the agency suggest that the company’s activities were performed safely with no impacts to groundwater.

CLAIM: Pennsylvania: A family in Bradford County reports that its water turned black and became flammable from methane contamination in 2009 after hydraulic fracturing of a nearby well operated by Chesapeake Energy. The water cleared for a while but turned black again in 2010. Relatives living down the road also report their water turning black in 2010.

REALITY: “Many wells were never tested before Marcellus Shale drilling began and may have had ‘pre-existing’ problems such as methane contamination, making it difficult to know if the methane in them is the result of methane gas migration from nearby fracking operations, [Bruce Swistock, Ph.D., professor with Penn State University's Water Resources Extension] said.” (3/21/01)

CLAIM: Texas: Larry Bisidas is an expert in drilling wells and in groundwater. He is the owner of Bisidas Water Well Drilling in Wise County, and has been drilling water wells for 40 years. Two water wells on his property became contaminated in 2010. When his state regulator stated that there has been no groundwater contamination in Texas related to hydraulic fracturing, Mr. Bisidas replied: “All they’ve gotta do is come out to my place, and I’ll prove it to them.”

REALITY: “Casing seals wellbores. It prevents contamination of a fresh-water aquifer from non-potable aquifers or chemicals used by the oil and gas industry. The Texas Railroad Commission (TRC) has casing requirements set in place before fracking can occur.  Ramona Nye, spokesperson for the commission, said failure to properly cement or case gas wells has not been a serious problem in Texas.  Nye said there are ‘no documented cases of groundwater pollution’ in the Barnett Shale due to fracking.” (Wise County Messenger, 10/4/10) 

CLAIM: Texas: In Wise County, Catherine and Brett Bledsoe report that their drinking water became contaminated in 2010 soon after hydraulic fracturing began on two natural gas wells bordering their property. The water stung their eyes during showers, and their animals refused to drink the water. Without any assistance from regulators, the Bledsoes paid for their own water testing. The testing found benzene, a known carcinogen, at double the safe levels.

REALITY: “Government and third-party regulators of the natural gas industry take chemical testing and safety seriously. After all, they live and work in the area too. Air testing continues to go on near every drilling location—all over the Barnett Shale area. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) and individual energy companies have each completed studies searching for benzene and all groups are committed to continued, regular testing. The Barnett Shale Energy Education Council plans to conduct its own study as well.  Factual research and unbiased studies demonstrate that residents can be certain that unsafe levels of benzene are not being released into the North Texas environment.” (Barnett Shale Energy Education Council)

CLAIM: Texas: In 2007, three families who share an aquifer in Grandview reported contamination of drinking water after hydraulic fracturing of a nearby well owned by Williams. They experienced strong odors in their water, changes in water pressure, skin irritation, and dead livestock. Water testing found toluene and other contaminants.

REALITY: Toluene is a chemical widely used as an industrial feedstock and as a solvent in common products such as paint thinners; as well as a gasoline additive and a component of dynamite.  Private consultants hired to test the water well in question found toluene levels to be within federal government standards:

the EPA labels as unsafe. ‘” (Ft. Worth Weekly, 4/30/08)

CLAIM: Texas: The Scoma family in Johnson County is suing Chesapeake Energy, claiming the company contaminated their drinking water with benzene and petroleum by-products after hydraulic fracturing of natural gas wells near the Scoma home. The family reports that its drinking water sometimes runs an orange-yellow color, tastes bad and gives off a foul odor.

REALITY: “Based on his role as special projects director for the Ground Water Protection Council, Mike Nickolaus says he doesn’t believe that fracking poses a serious threat to groundwater. ‘Groundwater contamination from other sources is a far greater risk to human health and the environment,’ said Nickolaus, a Granbury resident who has a geology degree and was director of the oil and gas division of the Indiana Department of Natural Resources from 2000 to 2005. Among those other sources, he cites storm water runoff, large septic systems that don’t operate properly and the improper disposal of industrial waste by injecting it into zones above or within underground sources of drinking water. … Nickolaus said the risk of groundwater contamination from fracking is exceptionally remote in areas like the Barnett Shale and the Marcellus Shale, where more than a mile of dense rock typically separates shallow freshwater aquifers from petroleum deposits.” (Star-Telegram, 10/4/10)

CLAIM: Texas: Tarrant County Commissioner J.D. Johnson, who lives in the Barnett shale area, reported groundwater contamination immediately after two gas wells on his property were hydraulically fractured. His water turned a dark gold color and had sand in it.

REALITY: “The Texas Railroad Commission, which regulates the oil and gas industry, investigated but did not find any problems that appeared to be related to drilling and hydraulic fracturing of the gas wells, according to Michael O’Quinn, a commission district director. By the time the commission re-inspected it 40 days later, Johnson told the agency that he had his water tested and that it was drinkable, O’Quinn said.  The specific cause of Johnson’s well problem has not been conclusively determined. …the Barnett drilling boom also has provided ‘lots of pluses,’ [Johnson] said, including jobs, tax revenue and extra income for many thousands of mineral owners.” (Star-Telegram, 9/4/10)

CLAIM: Texas: Carol Grosser, in south Texas, noticed changes in her water after a neighbor told her a nearby well was being hydraulically fractured. Carol noticed changes in her water pressure and rust-colored residue in her stock tanks. The fish in her tanks died, and some of her goats had abnormal milk production and produced kids with unusual birth defects.

REALITY: Many similar allegations have been made in Texas, often producing an outcome such as this: “Texas Railroad Commissioners found that Range Resources’ natural gas wells be allowed to continue to produce as the wells are not causing or contributing to contamination of any Parker County domestic water wells.” (Texas Railroad Commission, 3/22/11)

CLAIM: Texas: The Executive Director of the Upper Trinity River Groundwater Conservation District in north Texas stated that the District “gets ‘regular reports’ from property owners who said that ‘since a particular [gas] well had been fracked, they’ve had problems’ with their water wells, such as sand in them, saltier water or reduced water output….”

REALITY: “Bob Patterson, executive director of the Upper Trinity River Groundwater Conservation District, which encompasses Parker, Wise, Hood and Montague counties, said hydraulic fracturing has never been confirmed as the cause for contamination of any of the 40,000-plus private water wells within the district.” (Star-Telegram, 10/4/10)

CLAIM: Texas: Susan Knoll in the Barnett shale reports that last year her drinking water became foamy right after hydraulic fracturing of a well adjacent to her property. Since that time, additional gas wells have been fractured near her home and her drinking water has continually gotten worse. It sometimes foams, becomes oily, and has strong odors that burn Susan’s nose when she smells her water. Susan has a lot of videos and more information on her blog.

REALITY: “[The Texas Railroad Commission and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality] have visited [Knoll’s] property but have found no violations. … The agency found nothing wrong.” (Denton Record-Chronicle, 3/30/11)

A separate charge of water contamination in Denton County proved unfounded: “At Smith’s well, though, testing by the Texas Railroad Commission, which regulates drilling, found no high levels of toxic materials. Contaminants detected in the water were not at a level that would violate state or federal water quality standards, officials said.  ‘Therefore, we would not expect any adverse health effects after ingestion of water with these concentrations,’ Railroad Commission spokeswoman Stacie Fowler said.” (Star-Telegram, 7/01/10)

CLAIM: Texas: Grace Mitchell, a resident of Johnson County, Texas, is suing Encana and Chesapeake. According to her lawsuit, soon after drilling and hydraulic fracturing took place near her home in 2010, her water became contaminated, feeling slick to the touch and giving off an oily, gasoline-like odor. Testing results performed on her well water confirmed it was contaminated with various chemicals, including C-12-C28 hydrocarbons, similar to diesel fuel.

REALITY: “Although the lawsuit states that Mitchell is a resident of Johnson County and that the property in question is in Johnson County, a map sent to the Times-Review along with a copy of the suit shows that the property is north of Farm-to-Market Road 1187 and west of Crowley in Tarrant County.  ‘We have no record of her ever attempting to contact us with concerns about her water quality, so we have no information to assess her claims at this time,’ [Julie H. Wilson, Chesapeake’s vice president for urban development] said. ‘The lawsuit states her property is in Johnson County, but the map attached to her pleading shows property in Tarrant County, so even the most basic facts contained in this suit are inconsistent.’” (Cleburne Times Review, 12/21/10)

CLAIM: Texas: The Harris family of Denton County, Texas, is suing Devon Energy. They say that their water became contaminated soon after Devon commenced drilling and hydraulic fracturing near their home in 2008, and that their water became polluted with a gray sediment. Testing results performed on the well water found contamination with high levels of metals: aluminum, arsenic, barium, beryllium, calcium, chromium, cobalt, copper, iron, lead, lithium, magnesium, manganese, nickel, potassium, sodium, strontium, titanium, vanadium, and zinc.

REALITY: “The Texas Railroad Commission had the Harris’ water tested for chlorides and a variety of minerals associated with oil and natural gas production, but the test came back negative, according to railroad commission correspondence to Devon provided by Devon spokeswoman Alesha Leemaster. ‘While we cannot comment directly on pending ligation, it is important to note the Harris well was reported and the family’s concerns were investigated by the Texas Railroad Commission in 2009,’ Leemaster said in an e-mail. ‘That investigation found no evidence linking the Harris water well to natural gas drilling operations.’  The Texas Railroad Commission investigation found ‘no past or current oilfield related source’ of contamination in the Harris water…” (Journal Record, 12/17/10)

CLAIM: Virginia: Citizens reported drinking water contamination after hydraulic fracturing. Water was murky and had oily films, black sediments, methane, and diesel odors. Individuals experienced rashes from showering. The Buchanan Citizens Action Group reported over 100 documented complaints of adverse effects of hydraulic fracturing and the Dickenson County Citizens Committee reported ground water quality deteriorated throughout the county as a result of the large number of hydraulic fracturing events.

REALITY: It’s tough to know where to begin here, simply due to the astounding dearth of facts, evidence and science to support the accusation.  It turns out you have to begin in 2000 and 2001 when the aforementioned Buchanan Citizens Action Group and the Dickenson County Citizens Committee provided public comment to EPA during their previous study of hydraulic fracturing.  In 2002 the NRDC prepared and submitted a report to the U.S. Senate while incorporating the Virginia groups’ claims as supposed evidence of fracturing’s liabilities.  But in 2004 upon submitting their final report, EPA “determined that fracturing posed ‘little or no threat’” to groundwater. (E&E News, 2/24/11)

To summarize: this formless claim relies upon decade-old assertions fed into the very 2004 EPA report concluding that fracturing posed “little or no threat” to groundwater.

CLAIM: West Virginia: The Hagy family in Jackson County, West Virginia, is suing four oil and gas companies for contaminating their drinking water. They say their water had ”a peculiar smell and taste” and the parents as well as their two children are suffering from neurological symptoms. A news article reports that the lawsuit makes the connection between the drinking water contamination and the hydraulic fracturing process.

REALITY: “As far as issues with groundwater contamination and some other problems raised by others, [secretary of the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection Randy] Huffman said horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing is ‘not new’ and has been done for some time.  ‘We just haven’t seen the kind of problems that people are raising as issues,’ Huffman said. ‘This fracking is taking place at such depths, we don’t really have a concern or evidence of reason to be concerned over groundwater at a couple hundred feet being impacted by hydraulic fracturing taking place at eight or nine thousand feet.’” (Register-Herald, 2/24/11)

CLAIM: West Virginia: In Marshall County, Jeremiah Magers reported in October, 2010, that “As soon as they ‘fracked’ those gas wells, that’s when my water well started getting gas in it.” He also lost all the water in his well.

REALITY: “’We have been to [Majers’] residence. Comparisons were made between different water samples,’ [West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection's Office of Oil and Gas Chief James] Martin said, noting he cannot yet pinpoint the cause of the methane release.” (The Intelligencer, 10/17/10)

“Our test results, from a third-party lab, indicated that the methane present [in] the water sample did not match the gas from our oil and gas operations.” - Chesapeake Director of Corporate Development Stacey Brodak (The Intelligencer, 10/17/10)

CLAIM: West Virginia: In Wetzel County, Marilyn Hunt reported to the EPA in 2010 that: ”frac drilling is contaminating the drinking water here.” Residents report health symptoms, such as rashes and mouth sores, as well as illness in their lambs and goats, which they suspect is linked to drinking water contamination.

REALITY: “‘People complain a lot about gas in their wells and stuff like that, but in West Virginia that is a fairly common thing,’ said Tim Carr, West Virginia University geology professor.  Carr said that before a nearby gas well can be blamed, the contamination needs to be investigated. Thermogenic natural gas is often found in wells and septic systems.” (Register-Herald, 2/24/11)

CLAIM: Wyoming: Families in the small town of Pavillion have been reporting contamination of their drinking water for at least ten years. Hydraulic fracturing has been used in the many wells in the area owned by Encana Corporation. Drinking water has turned black, smelled bad, and tasted bad. Individuals report medical symptoms they believe are related to water contamination. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is investigating and has found contamination in 11 water wells, including toxic chemicals that may be from hydraulic fracturing fluids. Further tests are needed to determine the source of contamination.

REALITY: “Lind said the [Powder River Basin Resource Council], unlike some nationally based environmental groups, does not allege that fracking fluids are the cause of groundwater contamination anywhere in Wyoming. … [T]he Wyoming-based group is not trying to draw a link between fracking and incidents of groundwater contamination in the small town of a Pavilion, Wyoming … ‘We don’t want to accuse them of something they cannot prove. We’re their neighbors,’ he said.” (Platts’ Gas Daily, 4/20/10)

NOTE: A PDF of this document is available on-line HERE.

Up In Smoke: Natural Gas Opponents, Citing Air Emissions, Come Out Blazing in Support of Carcinogenic Marijuana Use

A tale only believable in Washington. Several outspoken congressmen who are adamantly critical of clean-burning American natural gas development, particularly the use of hydraulic fracturing – a critical oil and natural gas stimulation technology that’s helping the nation realize ‘enormous’ energy security benefits, as President Obama said in a speech this week – have recently introduced legislation, which they claim, would end Clean Air Act “exemptions” governing oil and natural gas development in the United States.

In a March 17 press release, Congressman Jared Polis (D-Colo.), citing the imperative to ensure air quality safety, says this about the BREATHE Act:

“It’s simply common sense to ensure that we monitor extremely dangerous emissions, equip communities in heavy drilling areas with the tools they need to stay safe, and reverse these exemptions to the Clean Air Act.”

Congressman Maurice Hinchey (D-NY), in the same press release, adds this:

“Whether you’re drilling oil or gas, toxic fumes released in the process pollute the air we breathe, causing health problems for workers at the drilling sites and nearby residents. The BREATHE Act is another commonsense bill that will make sure that oil and gas companies use the best available technology to rid their emissions of harmful pollutants and protect our air and the people who breathe it.”

Subsequently, Energy In Depth completely demystified the host of baseless claims put forth by BREATHE Act proponents (all 8 of them in the entire U.S. House of Representatives). As the FRAC Act would fundamentally rewrite the Safe Drinking Water Act, the BREATHE Act aims to give unelected Washington bureaucrats new, unprecedented authority to regulate – and therefore impede – job-creating American energy production.

Fast forward a few weeks. In a speech this week at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, Rep. Polis – flanked by Steve Fox, director of public affairs at the National Cannabis Industry Association (no confirmation on any relation to Gasland’s Josh Fox) – renewed efforts to legalize marijuana.

Politico’s senior political reporter Ben Smith has a great scoop on Rep. Polis’ efforts today (as does the trustworthy “Weed Blog”):

In several interviews this week, Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.) is pushing for marijuana decriminalization or legalization — a fight that has unfolded mostly in the states, attracting few politicians at the federal level willing to talk about the issue.

“Drugs are fundamentally a health issue,” said Polis on MBNBC. “Is there an abuse of drugs? Absolutely. Do people abuse alcohol, tobacco and marijuana? Yes. Should we have a national health strategy around reducing that? Yes. Does throwing people in prison for smoking a joint make sense? No.”

And Polis tells the hip-hop magazine The Source that legalizing marijuana could actually even lead to urban renewal and greening.

“Marijuana farming in major urban centers would increase green space and make urban renewal profitable in the short and long-term,” said Polis.

“Urban renewal”? You can’t make this stuff up.

Importantly, though, how does Rep. Polis square his concerns about the impact clean-burning American natural gas production has on air emissions with the widely accepted fact that marijuana use can be devastating to human health?

Here’s what the American Lung Association has to say about the impact marijuana use can have on health:

Health Hazards of Smoking Marijuana

Marijuana smoke contains a greater amount of carcinogens than tobacco smoke. In addition, marijuana users usually inhale more deeply and hold their breath longer than tobacco smokers do, further increasing the lungs’ exposure to carcinogenic smoke. Marijuana use is not only associated with adverse physical effects, but also mental, emotional and behavioral changes.

People who smoke marijuana frequently, but do not smoke tobacco, have more health problems and miss more days of work than nonsmokers.  Many of these extra sick days are due to respiratory illnesses.

And Harvard University experts determined the following about marijuana use:

The main respiratory consequences of smoking marijuana regularly (one joint a day) are pulmonary infections and respiratory cancer. … It should be noted that one joint has four times more tar than a cigarette, which means that the lungs are exposed four-fold to this toxin and others in the tar.

While today is April Fool’s Day, this is no joke. However, such political grandstanding surely is.

What To Look For From The President This Week

The White House announced today that President Obama will pivot this week from ongoing efforts in the Middle East to focus his energy, well, on energy. Tomorrow, as the Wall Street Journal reports, “President Barack Obama will outline a plan for America’s energy security on Wednesday [at Georgetown University].”

This too from whitehouse.gov: “The President will visit a UPS shipping facility in Landover, MD where he will view vehicles from AT&T, FedEx, PepsiCo, UPS and Verizon’s clean fleets and deliver remarks to the companies’ employees.” No word if Daniel Snyder has received a formal invite yet.

Many of these “clean fleet” vehicles are certainly powered by cleaner-burning, American natural gas. And the president, for his part, and his administration, have been mostly supportive of shale gas production, which is performed overwhelmingly by smaller, independent producers here in America. This from his January 25 State of the Union Address:

Some folks want wind and solar.  Others want nuclear, clean coal and natural gas.  To meet this goal, we will need them all — and I urge Democrats and Republicans to work together to make it happen.

You see, the United States is uniquely positioned to continue to be a global leader in natural gas producing — we have roughly a 100 year supply available. But misguided regulatory and legislative threats persist in Washington that could dramatically and unnecessarily thwart this production, which is helping to stabilize energy prices for struggling American consumers, driving down our dangerous dependence on unstable region’s of the world to fuel our economy and creating tens of thousands of good-paying, blue-collar jobs at a time when they’re most needed.

Hydraulic fracturing – a 60 year old oil and natural gas stimulation technology – remains at the core of this debate. Without this tightly-regulated and environmentally proven process, that abundant, 100 year supply of domestic, job-creating natural gas, as well as hundreds of millions of barrels of American oil, would remain out of reach.

The fact remains that individual energy-producing states close, ably and aggressively regulate well-casing standards and therefore fracturing and other completions technologies. So closely, ably and aggressively that fracturing has never impacted groundwater – but has been used to enhance American oil and natural gas production more than 1.1 million times.

Some in Washington, nonetheless, are seeking to fundamentally rewrite longstanding federal law with the goal of stripping individual states – and their highly-skilled technical experts – of their ability to ensure that fracturing is done safely. The impact could be devastating, both economically and from an energy security standpoint.

In a speech last week, Louisiana Oil and Gas Association president Don Briggs said this about this about these misguided, ‘Washington-knows-best’ efforts:

Briggs said the natural gas market is “coming on strong,” but there are some attempts to have the process of hydraulic fracturing controlled by the federal Environmental Protection Agency. Currently, each state oversees the process.

“If the EPA controls hydraulic fracturing … then all you have to do is have one operator somewhere make a mistake, and they will shut down all exploration,” Briggs said.

“President Obama’s central focus is on stimulating economic recovery and helping America emerge a stronger and more prosperous nation,” reads the White House’s ‘Guiding Principles’, adding this: “President Obama’s first priority in confronting the economic crisis is to put Americans back to work.” Well, Mr. President, look no further than American independent oil and natural gas producers, who are helping to create tens of thousands of jobs. These jobs, however, are tied directly to hydraulic fracturing.

At A Glance: Hydraulic Fracturing-Related Economic Impacts

At a conference yesterday, according the Wall Street Journal, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said this about shale gas development in his country: “The fruits of this debate will be what’s priceless: a feeling of security and a hope for the future for millions of people.”

President Obama has an opportunity to demonstrate real leadership on the issue of responsibly developing job-creating American oil and natural gas this week, just as Prime Minister Tusk and a host of other world leaders have in their countries. In fact, this production is “helping America emerge a stronger and more prosperous nation.”

Press Release: Waxman Memorandum Elicits Detailed Response from Natural Gas Caucus

EID: Boren/Murphy letter fills “factual and historical holes that were unfortunately left agape subsequent to the release of the Waxman memorandum.”

WASHINGTON – Less than a month after Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) sent letters to nine separate service companies seeking additional information on the processes and technologies involved in producing America’s enormous reserves of clean-burning shale gas, U.S. Reps. Dan Boren (D-Okla.) and Tim Murphy (R-Pa.) submitted a letter of their own this past week, reminding the chairman that shale gas is a “proven and powerful engine of economic growth – and one this Congress idles at the peril of those it represents.”

After reviewing the letter, Lee Fuller, executive director of Energy In Depth, released the following statement:

“With more attention being paid on Capitol Hill to the critical role that shale gas can play in securing our nation’s economic and environmental future, it’s natural that additional questions will be raised, and additional information will need to be provided so that lawmakers have access to all the facts, and a full appreciation of the context within which they reside. This letter from Congressmen Boren and Murphy addresses both of those needs, all while filling-in several factual and historical holes that were unfortunately left agape subsequent to the release of the Waxman memorandum.”

The following excerpts were taken directly from the Boren/Murphy letter, which can be downloaded in full here:

On Jobs:

“Consider that in just the past few years, more than 100,000 high-wage jobs have been created in Oklahoma and Pennsylvania alone, all of them tied to the responsible development of American natural gas, and every bit of that made possible thanks to the safe and steady deployment of fracturing technology.”

“At a time of unprecedented economic uncertainty, and in a year in which four million Americans lost their jobs, shale gas exploration represents a proven and powerful engine of economic growth – and one this Congress idles at the peril of those it represents.”

On Shortcomings of the Waxman Memo:

“While a number of the elements contained in your memorandum appear to be sufficiently-researched and adequately sourced, we were nonetheless disappointed to find in the eleven-page document only a single reference to the landmark 2004 study on hydraulic fracturing done by EPA, a reference that does not even acknowledge the core findings and conclusions of the actual report.”

On Relationship between Committee Investigation and EPA’s Pending Study:

“While the agency has yet to formally release details indicating the scope and methodology of that research, it seems likely that much of the information you intend to gather pursuant to your investigation will also be sought, compiled and analyzed by EPA. It’s our hope that you work does not in any way interfere with that process, and our expectation that your course of study meets the same rigorous standards of science, evaluation and peer-review as historically observed by the agency.”

On Waxman Assertion that Fracturing Solutions are Unknown:

“[C]ertainly you must know that federal law mandates that Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) be kept on-hand at every wellsite in America when chemicals are present, and further, that those sheets include an accounting of the identities of those chemicals with identified risks used in the fracturing process.  Indeed, the vast majority of these information sheets can be found readily and easily on the Internet. As you indicate, a number of states today post this information in full view of the public online.”

On the Critical Role that Well Integrity Plays in Safeguarding Drinking Water:

“Unfortunately, those who support the FRAC Act appear to believe the mere existence of small amounts of chemical additives in the fracturing solution represents a circumstance sufficient for public drinking water supplies to become contaminated.

“The reality, however, is that these materials are well known to those who regulate the process, and are managed in a way that eliminates virtually any risk of those components coming into contact with shallow reservoirs bearing potable water. Wells drilled today incorporate thousands of feet (and many layers) of steel casing, and thousands of pounds of cement – every bit of that installed using a time-tested engineering process and precise instrumentation to ensure what’s happening inside the wellbore remains in complete isolation from what naturally exists outside of it.”

Click here to view the letter online.

READ MORE

March Madness: Small Group in Congress Renews Efforts That Could Cost Jobs, Undercut American Energy Security

Unable to pass the bill in the previous two sessions of Congress, or secure even a single committee hearing during that time, proponents of the so-called FRAC Act re-introduced legislation earlier this week that seeks to fundamentally re-write a 37-year-old federal statute – with an eye on assigning the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) direct authority over the regulation of hydraulic fracturing for the first time in the history of the Act, the technology, or the agency itself.

In a statement, Energy In Depth’s Lee Fuller underscored the potential impact this far-reaching, Washington-knows-best policy could have on America’s economy and job creators, as well as our nation’s energy security:

“Hydraulic fracturing is one of the most critical processes that occurs at the wellsite; it’s also among the most stringently regulated. With this technology, it’s possible that literally quadrillions of cubic feet of clean-burning natural gas can be rendered available for American consumers in the future, resources that would otherwise be too deep and diffuse to access. It’s a technology that’s been around a long time, stretching all the way back to the Truman administration. But it’s also a technology that’s never been more important to our nation’s economic and environmental future than it is today. Unfortunately, somewhere along the way, it became a victim of its own success. If hydraulic fracturing weren’t as patently effective as it is, it’s tough to imagine it’d be as strangely controversial as it has become.”

And today’s Wheeling News-Register reports this on the misguided legislation:

Lee Fuller, executive director of Energy In Depth, went further than Klaber, saying the FRAC Act is “based on fundamentally incorrect information,” noting the Safe Drinking Water Act was never used to regulate fracking. “Its backers say it’s about forcing companies to disclose the composition of the … solution that’s not water and sand, even though just about every state regulatory agency in the country will attest that such information is already available,” Fuller added.

Those responsible for regulating oil and natural gas development, and fracture stimulation technologies, are in agreement with energy producers on the facts: this 60 year old technology has never impacted groundwater, thanks in large part to the industry’s commitment to protecting the environment and the common sense state regulations and laws in place. This from Oklahoma’s News On 6 (also on EID’s YouTube page):

Chesapeake Energy’s Chairman and CEO, Aubrey McClendon, said he welcomes the study. “I think the EPA will do a good job of examining it,” McClendon stated, “and if we’re doing something wrong…somehow hurting the environment and we don’t know about it, then we want to fix what we’re doing wrong.”

But McClendon said Chesapeake has hydraulically fractured formations 14,000 times since 1989, and the record shows there isn’t anything wrong.

Larry Nichols, Devon Energy Executive Chairman, agrees. “Show us one single well where hydraulic fracturing has caused any problem,” Nichols said. “I’ve said that in testimony before Congress, and no one has yet to come up with one single well where hydraulic fracturing has caused a problem, that anyone can document with any scientific accuracy.”

The Oklahoma Corporation Commission has oversight of all drilling in the state, including fracking. Commissioner Bob Anthony believes the EPA study is a political scare tactic. “The facts are,” Anthony said in a written statement, “that hydraulic fracturing has been used in Oklahoma about 100,000 times in the last 60 years, with no documented cases of groundwater contamination.”

Nichols worries that the Obama administration’s goal, through the EPA study, is to wrest control of onshore drilling from the states. His fear is that they would then do to onshore drilling what they’ve done to offshore — “Shut it down,” he said.

A quick look around the U.S. at the overwhelmingly positive impacts that hydraulic fracturing – which is tightly and aggressively regulated by energy-producing states – continues to have, all of which would be jeopardized if the FRAC Act were to become law:

MT Gov. Brian Schweitzer, Western Governors Association chair, and fmr. Democratic Governors Association chair: “We’re increasing in Montana by thousands of jobs in drilling in what’s called the Bakken (Shale Formation) in eastern Montana,” the state’s Governor Brian Schweitzer told Fox News. “It is the richest geologic structure in all of the United States. Recent estimates are that there’s about 25 billion barrels of recoverable oil in the Bakken in North Dakota and Montana. To put that in perspective we import about 4 billion barrels a year. We use about 6 billon barrels a year. So this one structure in North Dakota and Montana could be one of the keys to energy independence in the short term.” (Fox News, 3/17/11)

Louisiana Association of Business and Industry (LABI) President Daniel Juneau: The second factor that can greatly expand economic activity in the state is for the federal government to stay out of regulating shale oil and gas drilling activities. In 2004, the EPA concluded a 5-year study that concluded that the hydraulic fracturing process used in shale drilling was safe. Now the current EPA wants to go back and revisit the issue. If the EPA outlaws hydraulic fracturing, it will be the death-knell for shale oil and gas production. There is currently a tremendous amount of economic activity going on in northwest Louisiana from shale gas drilling in the Haynesville Shale play. Across central Louisiana, there is a potential for as much as 70 billion barrels of crude oil from the Tuscaloosa Shale play. Production from these shale plays can be a real shot in the arm to jobs and investment in our state. (Bastrop Daily Enterprise Op-Ed, 3/16/11)

“Penn State study shows sales tax revenue higher in Marcellus counties”: A new Penn State University publication examines state tax collection data and specifically compares counties where there is drilling and production activity in the Marcellus shale play with that of non-Marcellus counties. … The data indicates that local spending has increased in counties with major Marcellus activity. State tax collections of the personal income tax and realty transfer tax show similar differences between Marcellus and non-Marcellus counties. (Oil & Gas Journal, 3/16/11)

“Why North Dakota Is Booming: They’re drilling for oil, attracting high tech, and keeping the tax burden moderate. Result: 3.8% unemployment.” Living on the harsh, wind-swept northern Great Plains, North Dakotans lean towards the practical in economic development. Finding themselves sitting on prodigious pools of oil—estimated by the state’s Department of Mineral Resources at least 4.3 billion barrels—they are out drilling like mad. And the state is booming. Unemployment is 3.8%, and according to a Gallup survey last month, North Dakota has the best job market in the country. Its economy “sticks out like a diamond in a bowl of cherry pits,” says Ron Wirtz, editor of the Minneapolis Fed’s newspaper, fedgazette. (Wall Street Journal Op-Ed, 3/15/11)

PA State Rep.: Marcellus Shale’s “powerful [economic] ripple effects are spreading throughout the commonwealth”: And in those once-depressed counties where clean natural gas trapped in the deep shale rock is now being reached for energy consumers through high-technology horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, residents are enjoying a dramatic rebirth of jobs, business growth, and income. And, as a result, the Pennsylvania state treasury and the municipal governments in those regions are already receiving significant boosts in tax revenue … Pennsylvania natural gas is creating jobs, generating income, and boosting tax revenues. And while much of the economic activity remains concentrated in the Marcellus Shale regions, powerful ripple effects are spreading throughout the commonwealth. (The Sentinel Op-Ed, 3/12/11)

“Increased Drilling Creates Jobs”: An oil drilling boom across the American West is creating a wealth of job opportunities at a time when most segments of the economy remain sluggish. The boom is the result of new and updated technologies allowing companies to go after oil reserves that until recently were trapped in shale formations, making them too expensive and difficult to tap even five or ten years ago. “This is solid rock, so it’s not like a conventional resource where you just drill a well and the oil starts to flow,” Kathleen Sgamma, Director of Government and Public Affairs for The Western Energy Alliance, explained. “We have to crack that rock through a process that we call hydraulic fracturing where we pump high pressure water and a mixture, and sand down into the formation to crack the rock and create micro-fissures in the rock and prop it open with sand.” (Fox News, 3/17/11)

“This is an employment opportunity for the region. It’s going to provide a new workforce opportunity”: This summer, Clarion University’s Venango Campus will begin offering a natural gas technology program. “Obviously the Marcellus Shale industry is emerging in Pennsylvania and beyond, and it is going to be requiring a huge workforce,” said Christopher Reber, Executive Dean of Clarion University-Venango Campus. “There’s already been a phenomenal investment in Pennsylvania.” … “This is an employment opportunity for the region. It’s going to provide a new workforce opportunity, and certainly we’re committed to promoting economic development for the whole area,” Reber said. (WYFX-TV, 3/16/11)

ND’s Oil Boom Has “has created a $1 billion state budget surplus”: North Dakota, the state with the nation’s lowest unemployment rate, capped a decade of economic prosperity with dramatic population growth in its biggest cities. … North Dakota is enjoying an oil boom in the western part of the state, drawing workers from across the country. Williston, in oil country, grew 17.6% to 14,716. The oil windfall has created a $1 billion state budget surplus. … “We feel extremely fortunate for the position we’re in,” says North Dakota Commerce Commissioner Paul Govig. (USA Today, 3/17/11)

Hydraulic Fracturing, American Oil Production Creating Blue Collar Jobs: Increased drilling in the Niobrara Shale Formation in eastern Wyoming and Colorado is also creating job opportunities. “Currently, Noble Energy has over 60 jobs that are available in this area,” according to Stephen Flaherty, Director of Government Relations for Noble Energy. “The opportunities range from field pumpers, which just require a high school degree and no oil field service all the way up to petroleum engineers and everything in between; information technology services and accounting, just about every discipline.” (Fox News, 3/17/11)

Fact Checking The USA Today: Hydraulic Fracturing is a Critical, Environmentally Proven Energy Production Technology

Keep Reading »

EID Statement on Re-Introduction of the FRAC Act

ICYMI – NY State’s Top Geologist: “No Cases in Which [Hydraulic Fracturing] Has Led to Groundwater Contamination”

Fmr. NY DEC Commissioner & Fmr. State Rep. for Manhattan’s Upper East Side:
“Dangers of [Hydraulic Fracturing] Are Overblown”

Scientist says the spin is on
James M. Odato
Albany Times Union
Monday, March 14, 2011

 

Key Excerpts:

NOTE: Click HERE to view this story online.

 

READ MORE

Welcome to Urbina Island

Keep Reading »

Market Rate for Bald-Faced Lies About Hydraulic Fracturing? $7,500.

Earlier this week, after hobnobbing with Hollywood’s elite, New York City filmmaker Josh Fox made the trek to Conway, Arkansas to spread misinformation about the responsible development of clean-burning, job-creating American natural gas development.


(facebook.com/gaslandmovie; accessed 2/3/11)

At a Hendrix College panel on Tuesday, sponsored by the school’s Environmental Concerns Committee, the Gasland director, true to form, lodged a host of unfounded claims about hydraulic fracturing. “Some critics doubt some of Fox’s finding, but he stands by his research,” reports KATV.

And speaking of critics, John Hanger, who served as the top environmental watchdog under former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell and previously as president of the state’s leading environmental organization, PennFuture, has been less than shy about this sentiments toward Josh Fox and his hatched job of a documentary. In the lead up to the Oscars, the former Department of Environmental Protection secretary writes this on his blog about Gasland’s bogus and debunked claims regarding shale gas development:

The film presents a selective, distorted view of gas drilling and the energy choices America faces today. If Gasland were about the airline industry, every flight would crash and all airlines would be irresponsible. … Gasland treats cavalierly facts both by omitting important ones and getting wrong others.

While Gasland “is dedicated to the non-profit organization Damascus Citizens for Sustainability,” according to the film’s Wikipedia page, director Josh Fox is demanding top-dollar for appearances.

In minutes from a November Hendrix College Student Senate meeting, it’s noted that Fox’s “original standard fee is $7,500, but the lowest he will go is $5,000.” In addition to the requested fee, Fox requested airfare from, yes, New York City. Clearly the most logical region for any Pennsylvanian to travel through. This from the minutes:

Requesting: $5,304.20

For: Speaker Josh Fox, director and creator of GasLand

When and where this event will occur: Worsham, next semester

Master Calendar Confirmation: Dependent on Josh Fox’s schedule

Details: We want to show the movie GasLand about natural gas drilling. This is a pertinent issue to the students at Hendrix and the community of Conway. … The ECC will pay for the film rights and Josh’s food and lodging.

Budget Breakdown:

$304.20 – Roundtrip flight from New York City to Little Rock, AR

$5,000 – Josh Fox’s fee

His original standard fee is $7,500, but the lowest he will go is $5,000.

But hey, it’s not as if “America’s Enemies Don’t Want U.S. Drilling,” right?

 

Just The Facts: Northeast Professors Confirm Hydraulic Fracturing’s Environmental Safety Record

“New production data shows shale’s promise and growth,” reports the Scranton Times-Tribune over the weekend. Reports the Beckley Register-Herald today: “Natural gas big, thriving and growing across W.Va.” Investor’s Business Daily, in a recent editorial, goes with this headline: “A Shale Of A Difference.”

Modern shale gas and oil production – enabled by the 60 year-old environmentally proven oil and natural gas stimulation process called hydraulic fracturing – continues to make waves across the nation and throughout the media, for sure.

And as this tightly-regulated production continues to help create tens of thousands of good-paying jobs at a time when they’re most needed, while protecting the environmental and stabilizing energy costs for struggling consumers, academic experts – in addition to a host of environmental regulators – are speaking out, specifically about fracturing’s long and clear record of environmental safety.

Here’s just the latest installment:

Donald Siegel, Professor of Earth Science at Syracuse University: Siegel says he thinks it is very unlikely that the possible harmful impacts of drilling will effect area waters. “It is highly improbable and probably implausible that we would see such a thing happen. We might still see a case of bad cementing fluids moving up the outside of the well, as in Dimock,” said Siegel. (WBNG-TV, 2/20/11)

V. K. Mathur, Professor Emeritus at the University of New Hampshire: Drilling has been done safely and efficiently. Regrettably, there is a move by some environmental groups concerned about possible pollution of groundwater systems to ban shale-gas drilling altogether. Short of that, they want shale-gas regulation turned over from state governments to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, but that isn’t necessary. The states do an effective job. (Foster’s (NH) Daily Democrat, 2/20/11)

EID Statement on Josh Fox, Mark Ruffalo Capitol Hill Press Conference

WASHINGTON – At a Capitol Hill press conference today, a small group of critics opposed to the responsible development of job-creating American oil and natural gas – including U.S. Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-NY), actor Mark Ruffalo, and GasLand filmmaker Josh Fox – are poised to renew calls for a one-size-fits-all, federal takeover of hydraulic fracturing, a 60 year-old energy stimulation technology used to enhance 90 percent of the nation’s onshore wells.

Lee Fuller, executive director of Energy In Depth, issued this statement regarding the event:

“It’s clear that this event, scripted by a Hollywood publicist one week before the Academy Awards, is focused on achieving staged drama and inside-the-beltway chatter about a ‘documentary’ that’s been debunked in its entirety.

“Refusing to engage in a fact and science-based dialogue, New York City stage director Josh Fox, his Hollywood friends, and a few congressmen are more concerned with stunts and scare tactics than working to address critical energy security issues. The American people deserve and expect nothing less than a serious discussion and common sense solutions regarding national energy policy, not tired, misleading talking points from Hollywood elite who’ve never been on a drilling rig.

“American natural gas and oil production must absolutely be done safely and in way that protects our environment and water. And for more than 60 years, state governments have ably and effectively regulated hydraulic fracturing. Energy-producing states, who understand their unique geology best, have inspectors and expert scientists in place to ensure that fracturing is done safely not impact groundwater.

“EPA is once again studying hydraulic fracturing, and we support a straightforward, scientific examination of this environmentally proven technology. Input from state regulators, natural gas and oil producers, scientists and other independent stakeholders will be critical to this undertaking’s objectivity, and ultimately its success.

“Any congressional efforts to give EPA outright authority to regulate fracturing – which could hamper American energy production and job growth – would be absolutely premature until this study is completed and thoroughly peer-reviewed.”

NRDC’s About Face

Nat’l Environmental Group “Gushes” Over Economic, Environmental Benefits of Shale Gas, Then “Lauds” Gasland Filmmaker’s Efforts to Halt its Responsible Production Two Days Later

Keep Reading »

EID to the Academy: Consider GasLand’s “Many Errors, Inconsistencies, Outright Falsehoods”

“The oil and gas industry doesn’t want a golden Oscar statuette to grace the mantle of ‘Gasland’ filmmaker Josh Fox.,” reports E&E News today. Why? Well, according to the Academy’s official website, a feature-length documentary film must maintain an “emphasis … on fact and not on fiction.” As we know, however, independent experts, film critics, environmental regulators, and elected officials from across the political spectrum have called attention to fact that GasLand is a work of “fundamentally dishonest” “hatched job.”

Energy In Depth – a national coalition leading the efforts of debunking GasLand and holding its Manhattan-based director and anti-natural gas activist Josh Fox accountable – has taken these facts directly to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. EID’s executive director, Lee Fuller, sent a letter earlier today to the Academy. This from E&E News:

An industry group sent a letter today to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, saying that a litany of errors in the anti-drilling film should render it ineligible for best documentary feature.

“The filmmaker alternates between misstating and outright ignoring basic and verifiable facts related to the impact of these activities on the health and welfare of humans, wildlife and the environment,” said Lee Fuller, executive director of Energy In Depth (EID), in a letter today to the academy.

Fuller wrote that the errors he cites demonstrate that the film does not live up to the academy’s requirement that award winners must maintain an “emphasis … on fact and not on fiction.”

Key Letter Excerpts (NOTE: Click HERE to view):

ICYMI – More GasLand Reviews Emerge: “You can’t ignore the evidence that ‘Gasland’ is pure propaganda, not a documentary”

http://www.denverpost.com/carroll/ci_17222056

“Gasland” vs. Colorado
By Vincent Carroll
The Denver Post
01/30/201

When President Obama challenged Congress last week in his State of the Union to set a goal that “80 percent of America’s electricity will come from clean energy sources” by 2035, he pointedly included natural gas in the mix. So would anyone remotely familiar with the obstacles to relying solely upon renewables.

But don’t tell that to Josh Fox, director of the film “Gasland,” which has been nominated for an Oscar. Natural gas “contributes to global warming and climate change,” he told reporter David Brancaccio last year on “NOW” on PBS. “It will run out. . . . We’re transitioning from fossil fuels to other fossil fuels? It doesn’t make sense to me.”

Perhaps this attitude explains the liberties Fox takes. In one scene replayed in the PBS report, for example, a man puts a flame to his faucet, which bursts into a ball of fire. Talk about fallout drilling fallout!

Except for one problem: The man lives in Weld County, and his well has been thoroughly investigated by Colorado regulators — and specifically by scientists at the Colorado Oil & Gas Conservation Commission. Their verdict, issued Sept. 30, 2008: “There are no indications of any oil- and gas-related impacts to your water well.”

So is the commission in bed with industry? Hardly. When the legislature revamped the agency in 2007 and ordered a rewrite of drilling rules, the industry threw a fit. Their complaints reverberated so loudly that Republicans thought they had an issue to exploit against former Gov. Bill Ritter — until he decided not to run for a second term.

So what does explain a faucet bursting into flame? As the commission explains in its “Gasland Correction Document” (see it at cogcc.state.co.us), “Methane gas is common in water wells in Colorado. It occurs naturally . . . as a gas in coal or black shale seams” and “as a byproduct of the decay of organic matter.”

Commercial natural gas is also created by the decomposition of organic matter, but in “rocks buried deeper within the Earth.” It also consistently contains “heavier hydrocarbons such as propane, butane, pentane and hexanes.”

The well in question extended 530 feet into the Laramie-Fox Hills aquifer, which contains methane gas, and had “penetrated at least four different coal beds.” Tough luck, but no scandal.

In reading the commission’s reports, you can’t help but be impressed by its thoroughness. When gas drilling is implicated, its analysts say so. “Gasland” depicts three Weld County landowners and one in Garfield County with wells allegedly polluted by gas development. The state linked one of those cases — and only one — to drilling.

The filmmaker claims that the remarkable surge in drilling across the nation and soaring estimates of recoverable gas reserves represent not a boon, as most energy realists believe, but a threat.

“It’s looking like this is at the expense of our water throughout America,” he told Brancaccio, pointing in particular to hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, as the culprit. Yet when contamination has occurred in Colorado, it’s been linked to spills or unauthorized releases, for example, or failures in the cement or casing in a well. But fracking itself, in which high-pressure fluid (typically 99 percent or more water but also various chemical compounds) is injected into rock formations containing natural gas, has not been implicated.

Colorado has had “no verified incident of hydraulic fracturing harming groundwater,” commission director David Neslin told me — either from fracking chemicals or methane from the gas well itself. Which is not surprising, since the chemicals or gas would usually have to migrate through thousands of feet of impervious shale first.

Neslin said he was “disappointed” in “Gasland,” noting his agency receives “dozens of complaints every year that water wells have been impacted. All are investigated. A relatively small number result in confirmation that the problem is attributable to gas development.” When that occurs, his outfit orders remedial action.

Meanwhile, as Neslin told an Environmental Protection Agency hearing last year, the commission requires periodic tests for “over 2,000 water wells in the San Juan Basin in Southwestern Colorado . . . . Thousands of oil and gas wells in that basin have been hydraulically fractured, and if fracturing fluids were reaching these water wells, then you would expect changes in the chemical composition of the water.”

And yet no such changes have been detected.

Energy production is an industrial process that involves its share of problems, accidents and, yes, pollution. We can try to deal with those side effects reasonably, as Colorado and many states do, or we can spread fear. But if we want to take the reasonable approach, it will require first of all a recognition, in Neslin’s words, that “just because someone can light their tap on fire doesn’t mean their water has been contaminated by an oil or gas well.”

http://washingtonexaminer.com/print/opinion/columnists/2011/01/nothing-hot-air-gasland

Nothing but hot air in ‘Gasland’
By Mark Hemingway
Jan 30 2011 – 8:05pm

For anyone who cares about the environment and the economy over glamour and gossip, the biggest Oscar surprise of 2011 is that the film “Gasland” was nominated for best documentary.

While Hollywood is typically in the business of creating legends, one would expect films nominated for this particular Oscar to have some tangible relationship to the truth. You’d be very hard-pressed to say that about “Gasland.”

The film explores the practice of hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking.” This is a process in which a solution that is 99 percent water and sand — along with tiny amounts of chemicals — is pumped into rock strata deep underground at very high pressure to help extract natural gas.

According to Gasland, fracking pollutes groundwater with terrible consequences. But there’s no credible evidence that this is happening. None.

Oil and natural gas engineers have used this process more than a million times in this country to harvest otherwise unreachable oil and natural gas deposits. A thorough EPA study has concluded fracking is safe.

And the head of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Drinking Water Protection Division told Congress last year that there’s not a single documented instance of fracking polluting groundwater.

Nonetheless, it’s generally agreed that “Gasland” is a slick piece of agitprop. The film’s pivotal scene involves a Colorado family turning on their water taps and so much gas comes out that they light them on fire.

However, the state of Colorado’s Oil and Gas Conservation Commission issued a press release stating that they had investigated the flaming water taps of the landowners in 2008 and 2009 and concluded it was naturally occurring methane, unrelated to oil and gas drilling.

“Unfortunately, ‘Gasland’ does not mention our … finding and dismisses our Markham finding out of hand,” notes the commission.

One of the subjects of the film is John Hanger, head of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, Hanger is “a liberal who spent years in the mainstream environmental movement.”

After watching it, Hanger called the film “fundamentally dishonest” and “a deliberately false presentation for dramatic effect.”

Shortly after “Gasland” premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and won a special jury prize last year, Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., then head of House Energy and Commerce Committee, ordered hearings about the safety of fracking and the need for federal regulations of the process.

Waxman is one of Congress’ most tenacious liberals, and after issuing subpoenas to eight energy companies, he mysteriously dropped the probe pending further study.

Then last October, Scott Anderson, a senior policy adviser for the Environmental Defense Fund, told the publication Energy and Environment that “in the vast majority of cases, if wells are constructed right and operated right, hydraulic fracturing will not cause a problem.”

As for the need to federally regulate fracking, Anderson was not concerned about it.

“The states actually have a lot of knowledge and experience in regulating well construction and operation. We think that states have every reason to be able to tackle this issue and do it well,” he said.

The Environmental Defense Fund is one of the country’s biggest and most liberal activist organizations. If they say fracking is not a problem, it’s not a problem.

Of course, we all know why “Gasland” was nominated. Hollywood is largely comprised of bleeding-heart environmentalists. But a bleeding heart shouldn’t make you soft in the head.

Whatever your political sympathies, you can’t ignore the evidence that “Gasland” is pure propaganda, not a documentary.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has already damaged its reputation by nominating “Gasland.” It would truly be embarrassing if they actually gave it the award.

MORE INFO DEBUNKING GASLAND

EID Fact-Check: Debunking GasLand (Fact Sheet)
Frm. PADEP Sec. John Hanger: GasLand’s Josh Fox is a “Propagandist”
Fact-Check: Colorado State Regulatory Office Debunks Gasland
Denver Business Journal: “In Colorado, COGCC officials have said repeatedly that the state agency — after years of testing — has never found a link between fracking and groundwater contamination.” (11/1/10)
Financial Times: Claims in the film are “Absurd”
Longtime NYT Editor, Columnist on GasLand: “One-sided, flawed … in the Michael Moore mode”
Towanda (PA) Daily Review: “If you want a relatively quick overview of the natural gas phenomenon, watch the 60 Minutes program. And by way of contrast, see “Gasland” and learn for yourself the difference between a responsible report and a hatchet job.” (Editorial, 1/19/10)
Wash. Examiner Columnist: “Gasland is more agit-prop than factual documentary”

Touch ‘Em All: EID Strikes Hard, Fast With the Facts on Gasland’s Oscar Nod

Yesterday, the HBO film GasLand, produced by Manhattan-based stage director and anti-natural gas activist Josh Fox, was nominated by the Academy Awards for an Oscar in the documentary feature category. Energy In Depth’s Lee Fuller (full EID statement HERE) is quoted in a host of local, regional and national media outlets regarding the nomination, including (our Twitter account, @EnergyinDepth, was also in overdrive yesterday, debunking @gaslandmovie):

Just The Facts: Anti-Marcellus Activist’s Distortions About Natural Gas Jobs Unsupported by the Facts

As reported by New York’s WBGH-TV, Jannette Barth – a leading voice against responsible, job-creating Marcellus Shale gas development – is set to again question the thousands of blue-collar, natural gas-related jobs being created in the region at a New York Residents Against Drilling (NYRAD)-sponsored forum later this week.

Keep Reading »

ICYMI – Key Excerpts From This Week’s Texas Railroad Comm. Hearing

Mike Middlebrook, petroleum engineer and Range’s Vice President of Operations

Question: “Throughout the process of drilling those wells and completing them and producing them in the summer of 2009, were there any problems or issues that developed in real-time as those wells were being drilled and completed and developed?” Answer. “Not at all. We had zero issues while drilling the wells. The completions went flawless. No problems whatsoever.” (pg. 20)

Q: “Prior to the issuance of the EPA order … did the EPA provide Range any data on which it based the December 7th order?” A. “No, they did not.” Q. “Prior to issuance of the December 7th order by the EPA, had Range been continuing to work with the Texas Railroad Commission on the investigation related to the Lipsky water well issue?” A. “Yes, we had.” (pg. 36)

Q: “Was there discussion about hydraulic fracturing in the meeting with the EPA?” A. “Yes.” Q. “What was the EPA’s response to that?” A. “Mr. [Chris] Lister [of EPA] acknowledged that hydraulic fracturing likely had nothing to do with it based on the distance of the Barnett Shale from the water aquifer, in this case over a mile.” (pg. 43)

Q: “Between December 16, 2010 and today, has Range been able to actually accomplish all of this testing, sample all those water wells and do all the gas testing and get the results back to be able to present here today?” A: “Yes, we have.” Q. “Has this protocol — or what does it cost to do all this?” A: “Extremely expensive … Almost unprecedented with the time frame and the dollars that we spent to do this work. In my 19 years I have never witnessed the kind of work that has gone on in the last 30 days.” (pg. 47)


Mark McCaffrey, Ph.D., geochemical gas fingerprinting expert

“We found that nitrogen … can be used to distinguish Barnett formation reservoir gas from Pennsylvanian Strawn reservoir gas. Specifically high nitrogen, low CO2 samples are characteristic of gasses produced from the shallower Pennsylvanian reservoirs. The natural gas component of the most recently collected Lipsky well headspace gas samples, which is the two that were shown in the previous table on the previous slide, contain higher nitrogen than is in Barnett gas.” (pg. 12)

“[The EPA order] does indicate that there is thermogenic [natural gas], but it doesn’t indicate that they are likely to be from the same source anymore than the presence of wings can tell you whether it’s a bat or a bird because the other sources also have the same carbon isotopic composition. It is not distinctive between the different sources. So it is not a basis for linking the Lipsky gas to the Range gas at all.” (pg. 39)

“[I]t’s hard to imagine a scenario by which the Barnett gas is migrating to the shallow aquifer and yet the bradenhead gas that is open to the whole — this thousands of feet of Pennsylvanian section, that bradenhead gas sample doesn’t contain Barnett gas. It clearly contains Pennsylvanian reservoir gas. It also … contains some bacterial gas as well, which is also not in the Barnett.” (pg. 27)

“[I]t calls into question any scenario whereby gas would be migrating from the Barnett up to a shallower aquifer. … The approach used by the EPA to correlate the Lipsky gas sample to Range Resources production was fundamentally flawed.” (pg. 31-33)

“[T]he two most recently collected Lipsky samples lay in the zone of higher nitrogen, indicating a Pennsylvanian [Strawn] origin. The sample that the EPA collected has lower nitrogen … Lipsky, two most recent samples, Pennsylvanian gas. Purdue well, the well closest to the Range wells, Pennsylvanian gas. The bradenhead of the Butler well, Pennsylvanian gas. How can it be that gas is migrating from the Barnett to this much shallower aquifer and yet all of these samples are showing up Pennsylvanian gas?” (pg. 28-29)

“[T]hey … indicate that both gasses are thermogenic in origin. If you were to stop there it is absolutely true. But then whoever wrote it says, ‘and likely to be from the same source.’ They can’t know that from the data they have. They can’t know that because they do not know if these parameters that they measured here would distinguish Barnett gas from shallower reservoirs. Therefore they have no foundation to say that — there is no support for saying that they are likely to be from the same source.” (pg. 37)Q. “Based on your study, based on the study undertaken by you and Dr. Kornacki, based on your over 20 years of experience in geochemical gas fingerprinting, did the EPA use a scientifically correct method to attempt to fingerprint the Lipsky gas as being sourced from either the Barnett Shale or from Range’s wells?” A. “No.” (pg. 40)


John McBeath, P.E., expert petroleum engineer

“Basically from the information we have in these wellbores, there is no evidence of faulting that could be — that could join up with a potential hydraulic fracture even if you could get past the physics of not having enough volume or enough pressure to reach all the way from the Barnett through a mile of rock up to the surface.” (pg. 5)

 

Q. “Do you have an opinion whether there is any scenario in which hydraulic fracturing could be a source for contamination in the freshwater wells in this area?” A. “With the facts that I have looked at, I have been able to rule that out also.” (pg. 6)

“I don’t see how [EPA]s order] can be justified … based on the actions that have gone on through the fall of 2010, and the ongoing investigation. So I am somewhat confused by that finding. I certainly don’t agree with it.” (pg. 16)

“I have concluded that the presence of gas in the Lipsky well and the other wells in the area is due to a natural connection between the Cretaceous and the Strawn that is probably exacerbated with the water wells being drilled either too deep.” (pg. 18)

READ MORE:

Bipartisan House Lawmakers: New, “Hastily Proposed” Hydrofracturing Regs Will “Increase Energy Costs for Consumers, Suppress Job Creation”

Just hours into the first session of the 112th Congress, a strong, bipartisan chorus of House lawmakers underscored how critical domestic energy production, enabled by the 60 year old technology called hydraulic fracturing, is for our nation’s economic competitiveness, security and environmental objectives. More than 30 House Democrats and Republicans – members of the bipartisan House Natural Gas Caucus – penned a letter to Interior secretary Ken Salazar, urging “Restraint from Interior Before Ordering Any New Hydraulic Fracturing Rules.”

This from Congressman Tim Murphy (R-Pa.), co-chair of the caucus and vice chair of the House Environment and Economy panel:

Congressman Tim Murphy said the decision would discourage domestic natural gas production at a time when the country needs it more than ever. “The Administration has already decided to block offshore oil and gas exploration. Making it more difficult to safely access America’s natural gas supply will only serve to enrich OPEC and stymie job growth.”

Congressman Dan Boren (D-Okla.), also a co-chair of the Bipartisan Natural Gas Caucus, weighed in on the Obama Administration’s “bad policy”:

“Circumventing the United States Congress by carte blanche issuing new burdensome regulations on natural gas development will not only hurt the economic recovery – it’s bad policy,” said Congressman Dan Boren.

Here are key excerpts from the bipartisan letter to Secretary Salazar:

We also would note that the vast majority of scientific evidence shows hydraulic fracturing to be safe, less resource-intensive for the environment than traditional methods, and properly managed and regulated at the state level. Consequently, hastily proposed regulatory burdens on natural gas will increase energy costs for consumers, suppress job creation in a promising energy sector, and hinder our nation’s ability to become more energy independent.

We entrust that you will proceed in a manner that respects the legislative process and yields to the Congressionally-directed study that the Environmental Protection Agency is currently conducting. Our Caucus looks forward to working with you on this issue during the 112th Congress.

And while Congressman Doc Hastings (R-Wash.), chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, and Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), a key member of the Senate Energy panel, have urged the Interior Department to not move forward hastily with new and unnecessary hydraulic fracturing regulations that could undermine job creation without adding environmental benefits, state lawmakers are also making the case for responsible shale gas development.

A pair of Maryland state lawmakers – Sen. George C. Edwards and Del. Wendell R. Beitzel, both of Annapolis – write this about hydraulic fracturing’s long and clear record of environmental safety in a recent Baltimore Sun column:

Natural gas has been drilled in Garrett County since the 1950s. … Further exploration into the Marcellus Shale could have a positive impact on our local economy by providing much needed jobs and added revenue.

According to the U.S. Department of Energy’s April 2009 report entitled “Modern Shale Gas Development in the United States: A Primer,” water and sand make up over 98 percent of the fracturing fluid used to extract natural gas. Also, in Maryland the drill sites will be encased with cement and other materials to minimize the risk of escaping gas. The thousands of feet of rock and the hard shale itself also act as a buffer to minimize this risk. Further, shale gas extraction has developed to the point that horizontal wells can be drilled into the shale formation and numerous wells can be drilled from one well site. This minimizes the overall surface footprint needed for gas exploration.

Through our conversations, it is apparent that Marcellus Shale exploration can be done while still protecting the environment.

Though this technology is still developing on a daily basis, such fear and misinformation expressed by our colleague does nothing to further this developing resource for Maryland. It is a disservice to our constituents and our local economies. Yet, even more dangerously, the half-truths spread nationally ensure that we will continue to rely on foreign sources of yet another energy commodity.

Aflockalypse Now?

Scientists have yet to determine what might have caused nearly 5,000 red-winged blackbirds, starlings, grackles, and brown-headed cowbirds to fall out of the sky on New Year’s Eve. But that hasn’t stopped experts from offering a host of potential contributing factors, with some of the leading theories currently focused on the impact of fireworks, thunderstorms, cold weather patterns, parasites, pumpkin seeds and even a slight shift to the east of the earth’s magnetic North Pole toward Russia.

All that said, absent a sudden and widespread deluge of floods, frogs and/or locusts, scientists have been quick to assure the public that the world as we know it is not quite coming to an end. The National Geographic News captures the consensus view held by renowned experts examining the phenomenon:

[T]he in-air bird deaths aren’t due to some apocalyptic plague or insidious experiment—they happen all the time, scientists say. The recent buzz, it seems, was mainly hatched by media hype.

At any given time there are “at least ten billion birds in North America … and there could be as much as 20 billion—and almost half die each year due to natural causes,” said ornithologist Greg Butcher, director of bird conservation for the National Audubon Society in Washington, D.C.

For most folks, that would seem a reasonable explanation. But if you happen to be someone whose day rises and sets around an obsession aimed at preventing the responsible development of natural gas from taking place in America – well, let’s just say you might have a different point of view. Bird deaths in Arkansas? Must be because of hydraulic fracturing. Dove deaths in Italy? Must be the same. Fish kills in the Chesapeake Bay. You guessed it. Here’s just a sampling of some of the stuff you’ll see these days from a few fringe folks on the blogs:

Is this a cover up? Is it denial? Fracturing is unregulated and utilized globally. Is it possible that the turtle doves in Italy, the fish in Chesapeake Bay, the birds of New Zealand and Switzerland succumbed due to the use of fracturing? Until in-depth analysis of the dead wildlife is conducted, the world will not know.

Of course, all this would make for a good laugh and not a whole lot more if these unsubstantiated (and irresponsible) charges remained confined to the outer-reaches of the Internet. But would you believe that EID has now gotten three separate press inquiries from otherwise serious reporters asking whether the accusations – even absent a single shred of scientific corroboration – might be true?

Our response, of course, is as you’d expect: No truth to the rumors that the 60-year-old well-stimulation technology called hydraulic fracturing suddenly caused thousands of birds to simultaneously drop from the sky. But as for last weekend’s victory by the Seahawks over the heavily favored Saints — that’s got hydraulic fracturing written all over it. No use trying to deny it.

Truth be told, the Arkansas bird story isn’t even the first time we’ve had to deal with this particular brand of ridiculousness. Remember last year’s tragic earthquakes in Haiti? The ones that resulted in the direct loss of at least 230,000 human beings and the injury and displacement of hundreds of thousands more? Looking for a little insight into the lengths that some folks will go to use a tragedy as a means of advancing specific political ends? Go to Google and type “Haiti earthquake” and “hydraulic fracturing” in the search field, and what you’ll find looks something like this:

The earthquakes may have just been a large hydraulic fracturing or “fracking” operation designed to release the hydrocarbons from isolated pockets … Or, perhaps drilling at the existing wellheads in Port au Prince some 20 to 30 miles North of the fault line or offshore in the Bay of Port au Prince may have linked up with existing fractures and interconnected to affect the fault-line and cause the earthquake as an unintended consequence.

Seriously, guys? Is this what this debate has come to?

What They’re Saying: Domestic Energy Production Strengthening U.S. Economy, Security, Putting Thousands to Work

On Hydraulic Fracturing’s Critical Role for U.S. Energy, Economic Security

Top ND Oil, Gas Regulator: “We don’t think the EPA should regulate hydraulic fracturing”: Lynn Helms, director of the ND Dept. of Mineral Resources’ Oil and Gas Division, said disclosure is already required in the event of a spill. “The Industrial Commission and the Department of Mineral Resources have made it no secret that we don’t think the EPA should regulate hydraulic fracturing,” Helms told The Minot Daily News in October. (Minot Daily News, 12/26/10)

Fmr. White House Energy Adviser: Hydraulic Fracturing “Can fuel economic growth”: As a clean-burning fuel, [natural gas] can reduce greenhouse-gas emissions. And because hydraulic fracturing has enabled extraction of “tight gas” from resources across the country, from New York’s Marcellus Shale to the Barnett Shale in Texas, these huge new gas reserves provide promise for economic growth. (Washington Times Op-Ed, 12/23/10)

Facts About Shale Gas Development, Hydrofracturing Are Relevant (Even in Annapolis & Dallas)

Top PA Environmental Watchdog Slams MD Del. Who Parrots Debunked Gasland Claims: She ignores the reality that no other state since 2008 has added more staff or strengthened and enforced its rules governing natural gas drilling more than Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania now requires a water plan controlling water withdrawals associated with drilling; prohibits drillers from dumping wastewater into waterways without first treating it to the safe drinking water standard; mandates a 150-foot buffer along 20,000 miles of streams from all development; and enforces state-of-the-art rules for designing, building and operating all gas wells. Additionally, we’ve more than doubled our oversight staff during the past two years to 202 employees. … Natural gas production offers significant economic and energy security benefits. (Baltimore Sun, PADEP Sec. John Hanger, 12/22/10)

Wash. Ex. Fact-Checks MD Del.’s Baseless Claims on Hydrofracturing: “Mizeur’s argument is nothing more than a regurgitation of the HBO “Documentary” Gasland, a greatly flawed Michael Moore-style polemic. In Gasland the flim’s director, Josh Fox traipsing through the Marcellus Shale region filming residents, who claim fracking, has contaminated their well water, setting the water from their kitchen faucets afire. John Hanger, the Pennsylvania secretary of the environment featured in the movie, labeled it “fundamentally dishonest, a deliberately false presentation for dramatic effect.” (Washington Examiner, 12/23/10)

EPA Overreaches, Swings and Misses on the Facts in Texas: The Environmental Protection Agency and Region 6 Director Al Armendariz have once again abused the agency’s massive powers. Evidence collected after the EPA issued an emergency order against a natural gas exploration company in early December shows that it prematurely determined, and without sufficient evidence, that the company polluted nearby water wells. In effect, the EPA tried, convicted and sentenced the company, Range Resources in Fort Worth, without any notice or opportunity to appear before the EPA to show that it was not at fault. … The RRC tested the water and soil around the wells, and it performed pressure tests on the wellhead of Range’s two wells. The wells passed pressure tests, showing that the leak did not come from the gas wells drilled by Range. (San Angelo Standard Times, Alex Mills, 12/25/10)

Tightly-Regulated Shale Gas Production Revitalizing Rural America, Driving Down Energy Costs for Struggling Consumers

 

Responsible Shale Gas Development Creating Opportunity for Small, Family-Owned Businesses: Local businessman Nick Hurley runs the cafeteria at the complex, serving 700 meals a day, including lunches that workers grab on their way out the door. Hurley also provides janitorial and laundry services for the facility. He can’t believe his good fortune. His family owns two grocery stores, but business was suffering before the gas boom hit last year. “Our backs were against the wall,” said Hurley, 36. He started catering to gas rigs, and the business kept growing. His family’s companies now employ 160 people, up from 90 before the boom, including 35 at the Man Camp alone. “This is wonderful,” he said. “We grew up in kind of a repressed area. There is no way we could have built this up without natural gas.” (Philadelphia Inquirer, 12/27/10)

 

Pa. Paper: “The Economic Development is Obvious”: The region’s landscape in 2010 was painted literally and figuratively by the advent of the natural gas industry. The industry’s development of the Marcellus Shale deposits underneath our Earth took full flight during the year, with varied impact emerging. The economic development is obvious. Jobs and opportunity are springing up like mushrooms throughout our region. … The industry’s positive impact on the economy was a big part of the local portfolio in 2010 and a major reason why the region showed signs of recovery from the nation’s economic malaise. (Williamsport Sun-Gazette Editorial, 12/24/10)

“AP: Oil voted top story” in North Dakota: North Dakota’s oil patch, which has helped the state boast a near billion-dollar budget surplus and a booming economy, has been voted the state’s top news story of 2010 by print and broadcast members of The Associated Press. North Dakota is on pace to pump a record 110 million barrels of oil in 2010, up from 79.7 last year and more than double the amount produced less than three years ago. More than 95 percent of the rigs drilling in North Dakota are aiming at the rich Bakken shale and Three Forks-Sanish oil reservoirs in western North Dakota. (Associated Press, 12/27/10)

 

 

Local Pa. Resident, Mayor on Job-Creating Marcellus Development: “It’s a very safe industry.” … “There is a safe way to extract this gas,” Mayor Marc Mantini said. (Leader Times, 12/28/10)

Hydraulic Fracturing Helping to Create Thousands of Good-Paying Jobs, Driving Down Unemployment Throughout Rural America: Not so long ago, this town was just the seat of Bradford County. Now, it lies at the epicenter of natural gas development in the Marcellus Shale region. It used to be a sleepy little place on the Susquehanna River. Now, it’s a boom town. Help-wanted signs plead for waitresses, mechanics, truck drivers. Once-empty storefronts are now occupied in this hilly borough, population 3,000. … According to the state Department of Environmental Protection, 355 of the 1,368 Marcellus wells drilled in Pennsylvania this year were drilled in this rural county on the New York border. Bradford County also leads the state in gas production. … Unemployment is dropping faster here than in any other county in Pennsylvania – the jobless rate was 6.8 percent in October, fourth best in the state, down from 8.1 percent a year ago. (Philadelphia Inquirer, 12/27/10)

Hydraulic Fracturing-Enabled Shale Gas Production Lowering Energy Costs for Hoosiers, All American Consumers: “Last winter, as you know, it was a colder than normal winter. So far this winter, it’s maybe a little bit warmer than normal,” Atmos Energy V.P. David Park says. … So the average consumer could see their bill drop about $17 per month through February. You can thank the large amount of gas in storage. Park says, “It’s abundant. We’re seeing a lot of production from the shale plays – Barnett and Marcellus and others – that have produced more gas in the market.” (WFIE-TV (IN), 12/26/10)

Science, Hard Work and American Ingenuity Putting Nation on Path Toward Energy Security, Helping Law Enforcement

Bill Nye Isn’t the Only Science Guy: “Geophysicist helps map where to drill for oil, gas deposits”: Drilling for oil or natural gas is too expensive to leave to chance, so energy companies rely on employees like Ryan Miller to point them in the right direction. Miller is a geophysicist at Devon Energy Corp. His job is to interpret scientific data from seismic tests that can send sound waves as deep as 30,000 feet below ground and identify oil and gas deposits. “We can’t drill on imagination or hopes and dreams,” he said. (The Oklahoman, 12/26/10)

Clean-Burning Shale Gas Development in La. Giving Law Enforcement the Resources They Need to Keep Us Safe: Bank deposits of the Red River Parish sheriff’s office exceeded Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. coverage and the banks did not pledge sufficient securities to cover the funds, according to an annual audit released recently. It’s the second year for the same finding for the office that’s flush with cash from the Haynesville Shale activity. Total revenues for year ending June 30 topped $10.8 million, representing an increase of $5.6 million, or 109 percent, from the prior year. (Shreveport Times, 12/27/10)

STEAL CITY

Faced with state takeover of city pension fund, Pittsburgh City Council opts for massive increase in parking-meter fees – while spending time and money on bizarre crusade against Marcellus

Keep Reading »

• BREAKING: “Shale gas extraction is safe”; Helps Create American Jobs

Now we know why Maryland’s called the “Old Line” state. Following up on a column in the Baltimore Sun this week that was filled with tired old talking points on hydraulic fracturing and shale gas, some actual honest-to-goodness facts were put forth in today’s paper by Erik Milito of the American Petroleum Institute (API). In his must-read Baltimore Sun response, Mr. Milito – a retired U.S. Army Major who directs API’s upstream division – writes this under the headline “Shale gas extraction is safe”:

Del. Heather Mizeur fails to account for previous studies by the EPA and what natural gas development has the potential to do for Marylanders. Just last month, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson noted to NBC Nightly News that previous federal studies have shown no scientific evidence of contamination and that hydraulic fracturing can be done responsibly to develop the energy resources we need to keep our homes comfortable and get to work every day.

Delegate Mizeur is correct in stating that the vast natural gas reserves found in the Marcellus Shale region are a game changer. There is enough natural gas to create hundreds of thousands of well-paying jobs and provide Americans with a stable, domestic energy source for generations to come.

Repeating unproven accusations about the hydraulic fracturing process does a disservice to those searching for ways to boost state revenue and get Americans back to work.

And while we’re on the subject of correcting the record and debunking unsubstantiated claims regarding the tightly-regulated development of clean-burning, homegrown energy resources, Colorado Oil & Gas Association’s Tisha Schuller separates fact from fiction in response to Josh Fox’s latest iteration of smears. Here are highlights from Ms. Schuller’s AskMen.com piece:

On Fluids Used in Fracturing, the Technology’s Importance to Energy Security

Hydraulic fracturing can sound frightening, however, I want you to know that this is a highly engineered, managed and monitored process. Truly, for over 60 years, the process of hydraulic fracturing has been conducted safely. But don’t take my word for it. Lisa Jackson, the head of the EPA, recently said so on national television. Currently, over 90% of wells are hydraulically fractured. Hydraulic fracturing is important to all of us because, without hydraulic fracturing, we don’t have access to domestic natural gas resources.

I have two small children and live in the mountains where we drink from a domestic well. I get the concerns about hydraulic fracturing fluids — so here are a few facts to remember. The hydraulic fracturing process uses a mixture comprised almost entirely (99.5%) of water and sand. The remaining materials, used to condition the water, are typically found and used around the house. The most prominent of these, a substance known as guar gum, is an emulsifier commonly found in ice cream. (Emulsifier, by the way, is something that makes something gooey.) The average fracturing operation uses fewer than 12 of these additives, according to the Ground Water Protection Council — not 600. I don’t want 600 chemicals injected at one time into the ground either.

The entire universe of additives used in the fracturing process is known to the public and the state agencies that represent them. Here in Colorado, for example, operators must maintain safety sheets for any chemical products brought to a well site.

On Tired, Debunked Claims About the “Halliburton Loophoole”

Opponents of hydraulic fracturing often blame the so-called “Halliburton Loophole” in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 for protecting hydraulic fracturing from federal regulation and exempting it from restrictions of the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA).

Remember: Hydraulic fracturing fluids are not being injected into drinking water. They are being injected into the oil- and gas-bearing formation, the one that has been geologically isolated for millions of years. The shallow drinking water aquifers are protected by layers of metal pipe and cement that make up the well bore.

Hydraulic fracturing was never intended to be subject to the Safe Drinking Water Act and it has never been regulated under SDWA — not in the 60-year history of the technology, the 36-year history of the law or the 40-year history of the EPA. … The 2005 Energy Policy Act was nothing more than a restatement of current and practiced law.

Every step of drilling, including hydraulic fracturing, is regulated carefully and with pride in Colorado by our Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC).

State Regulators Confirm That Fracturing Has Never Impacted Groundwater

The Environmental Protection Agency, Ground Water Protection Council, Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission, and others have all examined the process and found it to be safe. In Colorado, operators have to apply to get a permit to drill, describing all of their surface and downhole activities through the COGCC.

Despite the assertions in the movie Gasland, the COGCC has investigated hundreds of cases and to date has found no water well contamination attributable to hydraulic fracturing. And these include the flaming faucets and the bubbling surface water in West Creek Divide wetland, both of which were determined to be naturally occurring methane or gas unrelated to drilling.

State regulators in Pennsylvania, New York, Texas, Ohio, New Mexico, and Alabama have also stated the same conclusion that not one case of contaminated groundwater has been caused by hydraulic fracturing.

The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

This past weekend, New York Gov. David Paterson vetoed a misguided bill that would’ve established a blanket ban on responsible energy development all across the state – effectively bringing to an end an industry that’s been in place in New York for more than 170 years. This directly from the governor’s office:

“The Governor vetoed legislation that would have placed a moratorium on high-volume, horizontal hydraulic drilling and more conventional vertical drilling. The Governor’s order obviates the need for a moratorium on high-volume fracking. However, vertical drilling has been a fact in this State for 40 years without demonstrable environmental damage. Permitting for such drilling will continue unless the DEC’s comprehensive review requires it to be stopped.”

Our friends at Independent Oil and Gas Association of New York (IOGA of NY) also weighed-in on the governor’s decision. In a statement, IOGA-NY executive director Brad Gill said:

“We are grateful to Governor Paterson for his courage and clear-headed judgment in vetoing S.8129-B (Thompson)/A.11443-B (Sweeney). This bill would have had far-reaching consequences to the state’s oil and natural gas industry, and to the communities in which our member companies work.

“We are very pleased that the governor saw the bill for what it was – a flawed piece of legislation replete with unintended and dire consequences for the people and businesses in our industry. Our members are aware of the considerable pressure put upon lawmakers and the governor to approve this bill. We’re hopeful that the governor’s veto today will set the stage for a more reasoned and rationale public discussion about these issues going forward.”

Unfortunately, many claims continue to be made about the safety, effectiveness and overall ability for domestic energy producers to ensure that the process is done right, which will ultimately help deliver affordable supplies of homegrown energy to American consumers who continue to face historic unemployment rates.

Here’s a few recent claims, and actions, that are flatly disconnected with the reality and the facts as it relates to the overwhelmingly positive economic impact of shale gas production and fracturing’s long and clear record of environmental safety.

CLAIM

Doug Shields, Pittsburgh City Council

Three weeks after enacting a ban on natural-gas drilling in Pittsburgh, city council on Tuesday voted to discourage Marcellus Shale production farther afield.

The nonbinding resolution, called a “will of council,” urges the trustees of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History not to allow drilling or extraction on the 2,200-acre Powdermill Nature Reserve in Westmoreland County. … It can allow extraction without allowing drilling on the property because of horizontal drilling, which would allow a company to drill a well off of the Powdermill property and extend the line horizontally underneath the site to extract its gas.

The resolution says Carnegie trustees may lease Powdermill land “for shale gas exploitation” because of a potential royalty windfall. The resolution urges the trustees to “reject any and all offers” from gas companies. The resolution was introduced by Councilman Doug Shields, the sponsor of council’s recently enacted law banning gas extraction citywide. (Post-Gazette, 12/11/10)

FACT

The Pittsburgh City Council isn’t at all bashful when it comes to passing misguided – and unconstitutional – bans on job-creating shale gas production, for sure. But why is the council working aggressively to ban clean-burning natural gas production outside of its city-limit jurisdiction in other Pennsylvania counties, as well as in other local and municipal governments across the Commonwealth?

FLASHBACK:

The lure of millions of dollars in natural gas royalties has prompted officials at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History to study whether to permit drilling on the Marcellus shale range at its Powdermill Nature Reserve in Westmoreland County. Carnegie spokeswoman Betty Momich said trustees of the Pittsburgh-based museum are a long way from deciding whether to allow drilling on the 2,200-acre preserve in Cook Township.

“We are a science-based organization that is very passionate about environmental and conservation issues,” she said. … “It’s a tremendous opportunity for the state, private landowners and organizations like ourselves. But that’s not the only consideration here,” Momich said. (Tribune-Review, 8/25/10)

CLAIM

Cornell Prof., who runs a university-funded ‘green jobs’ site:

Susan Christopherson, an economic geographer at Cornell, said that almost 70 percent of the economic gains would go to upstate landowners and that most of the industry jobs and long-term economic gains would go elsewhere.

“The oil and gas industry is much more like financial services than manufacturing,” she said. “You don’t have continuous jobs and long-term production. What you usually get is a boom and bust cycle.” (New York Times, 12/12/10)

FACT

Study: Marcellus Production in NY Could Create 16,000 In-State Jobs Over 10 Years

Over a 10-year period the economic impact of drilling alone could exceed $15 billion, supporting more than 16,000 person-years of employment and generating salaries and wages of $792 million. State and local tax coffers would receive $85 million of new revenues. (Potential Econ. & Fiscal Impacts from Natural Gas Production in Broome Co., NY; 7/09)

New Fed. Govt. Report Highlights Hydrofracutring’s Postitive Energy Security, Environmental Impact

Yesterday, the Energy Information Administration, an independent arm of the U.S. Department of Energy, released its Annual Energy Outlook anaylsis. Key findings? “Significant update of the technically recoverable U.S. shale gas resources, more than doubling the volume of shale gas resources assumed in” last year’s report. How’s this possible? Hydraulic fracturing, a 60 year-old oil and natural gas stimulation technology, coupled with advacnements in horitzontal drilling techniques.

Here are just a few highlights from the news cycle regarding the se preliminary findings:

But despite the fact that fracturing and expanded shale gas production is putting the United States on stronger economic footing and helping to slash greenhouse gas emissions, some in Washington remain committed to thwarting this positive progess, and the tens of thousands of good-paying jobs being created through this production. And here’s what academics and editorial pages are saying about responsible shale gas production enabled by tightly-regulated, environmentally proven fracturing technologies:

Barrasso “The Lasso” Finds His Mark Once Again

In a letter today to Interior secretary Ken Salazar, U.S. Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) underscores the fact that Wyoming, as well as other oil and natural gas producing states, are best equipped to effectively regulate hydraulic fracturing. The senator “opposes adding any burdensome, job killing federal regulations on American energy producers,” according to a press release from his office.

Barrasso, a member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources panel, writes this to the Interior secretary:

I oppose adding burdensome, new red-tape that will further discourage oil and gas production on public lands in the West.

The states have primary experience regulating oil and gas development, including hydraulic fracturing. Their regulations have defined the management structures to protect the environment. The State of Wyoming recently updated its oil and gas regulations to increase transparency for chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing.

Citing the fact that “Oil and natural gas production is critical to jobs and economic development in Wyoming and throughout the western United States,” the senator requests that the secretary answer these crucial questions promptly:

  1. What specific changes to existing federal onshore oil and natural gas policies is the Department of the Interior considering?
  2. Has the Department compiled existing state oil and gas regulations related to hydraulic fracturing?
  3. What substantive evidence has the Department collected to suggest the existing state and federal regulatory process does not adequately function?
  4. Will the Department commit to conducting an economic analysis prior to finalizing any changes to the federal onshore oil and natural gas program?
  5. Is the Department planning to solicit input from impacted state regulatory agencies and the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission?

Sen. Barrasso isn’t alone in his fight to ensure that misguided federal laws and regulations do not undermine Wyoming’s economy, its workforce or our nation’s ability to remain competitive in the global marketplace.

At an Interior Department forum last Tuesday, entitled “Forum on Natural Gas Hydraulic Fracturing on Public Lands,” deputy secretary David Hayes said this in introducing forum panelist Tom Doll of the Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission:

And then we have Tom Doll who’s supervisor of the Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, a position he’s held since March 2009 after being appointed by Governor Freudenthal.

He’s a veteran of Wyoming’s Soil and Gas Industry with more than 37 years of experience in engineering, project management and supervision in field operations, has a petroleum engineering degree from the University of Wyoming. And as you know, Wyoming has been a real leader in terms of disclosure issues and regulatory issues associated with hydraulic fracking.

Here are key excerpts from Mr. Doll’s remarks:

If we weren’t able to use hydraulic fracturing in the state of Wyoming, our wells would not be economic by any stretch of the imagination. These are tight reservoirs. They’re thin. They require hydraulic stimulation to be economic.

That would be, without hydraulic fracturing, that would be a negative impact on Wyoming’s economy. We gain tax revenues from severance ad valorem sales tax and other sources. And, in fact, my agency is funded completely from industry on a conservation tax.

Wyoming has no income tax and low property and sales taxes and so hydraulic fracturing is the reality and it means something to each individual in the state of Wyoming.

Since 1950s, when we got our oil and gas conservation commission set up, we have had no confirmed cases of ground water well contamination due to well stimulation in the state of Wyoming. We do require that we will approve federal wells via these applications for permit to drill and sundry notices prior to any work commencing on federal minerals as well. And our Web page provides all of our disclosure information for the public.

Energy In Depth, for its part, is also working aggressively to inform elected officials, concerned citizens, and other key stakeholders of fracturing’s long and clear record of environmental safety, as well as the key role that this tightly regulated technology will continue to play in meeting our nation’s increasing energy needs.

Under the headline “With fracturing, energy security is on the horizon,” EID’s Chris Tucker writes this in today’s The Oklahoman:

An energy revolution is under way in the U.S. thanks to hydraulic fracturing, a 60-year-old oil and natural gas stimulation technology that — coupled with advancement in horizontal drilling — is making the development of energy from underground shale formations economical for the first time. … The U.S. State Department is aggressively promoting shale gas exploration throughout Asia and Europe as a way to reduce global carbon emissions.

While one bureaucracy in Washington is promoting natural gas abroad, another is angling to hamstring production at home, citing claims that it contaminates groundwater. Despite how fracturing has been portrayed in Hollywood and by some national media, it’s been tightly regulated by energy-producing states for more than six decades, and safely used more than 1.1 million times without impacting groundwater. Top EPA officials have confirmed this fact.

For decades, politicians have touted “energy independence.” As modern shale gas development continues to expand, energy security is now truly on the horizon. Oklahomans reside atop the Woodford Shale, whose development has contributed ample jobs and revenue to the state. Even President Obama recently cited natural gas as an area for congressional bipartisanship.

Let’s hope for the sake of Oklahoma — and for the nation — that EPA abandons misguided regulations that won’t provide any additional environmental benefits.

Live From New York…

Jobs, affordable energy and robust economic development – that’s what New York will be leaving on the table if Governor Paterson signs symbolic legislation into law that would effectively ban the basic technologies needed to deliver clean-burning natural gas resources to the folks who need them. That’s our position on the matter – and it’s also the position of New York state assemblyman Michael Benjamin, Democrat from the Bronx.

In a letter he sent this week to the governor, Asm. Benjamin makes reference to the growing economic development and jobs being created just across the border in Pennsylvania.

New York could also benefit by taking a page from Pennsylvania’s book when it comes finding a revenue stream to hire additional inspectors and regulators to oversee Marcellus development. In Pennsylvania, the natural gas industry worked with the state Department of Environmental Protection and proactively agreed to increase permitting fees from $100 to about $4,000 per well so that additional inspectors and engineers could be hired, at no expense to the taxpayer, to regulate all aspects of the industry.

Hats off to Assemblyman Benjamin for standing up at an important time to serve as the voice of reason in a debate that’s often lacked facts and basic civility. Here’s to hoping the governor sees the many benefits of responsible production and heeds the advice laid out in the letter below.

November 30, 2010

Governor David Paterson
Executive Chamber
Albany, NY 12224

Dear Governor Paterson:

I strongly urge you to veto A.11433-B/S.8129-B, which would suspend hydraulic fracturing for the extraction of natural gas or oil until May 15, 2011.  This bill is flawed because it is overbroad and will cause an unnecessary halt to gas exploration in Western NY and areas outside the Marcellus Shale.  I am opposed to a moratorium on hydrofracking in New York.  I believe that natural gas exploration will provide our State with desperately needed jobs in these tough economic times.  To arbitrarily suspend drilling without any evidence of danger to our water supply would not be in the best interest of our economy.  I believe that New York’s current regulations, along with pending DEC rule changes, are sufficient to protect New York’s natural resources and to prudently dispose of wastewater.

In addition to the state DEC and EPA reviews already underway, there is a de facto moratorium on natural gas exploration in the Marcellus Shale because funding for 29 additional DEC inspectors was not included in the FY 2010-2011 state budget.  Without the added inspectors, no new permits can be issued for expanded natural gas exploration in the Southern Tier, which makes this legislation redundant.  In addition, recent budget cuts have decimated DEC and will slow the permitting process for new and existing wells.

If passed, these bills will act as an unnecessary deterrent to New York’s ability to keep and create jobs, and provide cheaper natural gas to our residents.  Today, I received an email from Mr. John Holko, President of Lenape Resources, Inc., who informed me that a blanket moratorium on natural gas exploration will force his company to close. Mr. Holko’s assertion supports a study by the American Petroleum Institute that found in 2009 alone, natural gas production in the Marcellus Shale yielded 57,000 new jobs in Pennsylvania and West Virginia.  It also found that New York’s reluctance to exploit the Marcellus Shale has already resulted in $11 billion in lost economic output. This figure is staggering considering our current fiscal situation.

Instead of passing legislative impediments, we should allow the DEC to continue to revise regulations for exploration in the Marcellus Shale area.  Once the DEC’s review is released, we will have a greater understanding of the impact of hydraulic fracturing on the quality of the local water supply and the surrounding environment.  Until then, I recommend that we avoid a rash and unnecessary moratorium that will undoubtedly impact this important economic opportunity.  Instead, we should protect our future by becoming less dependent on foreign sources of energy, while we continue to develop alternative energy sources in America.  And New York can be a leader in the safe extraction of natural gas.

For the aforementioned reasons, I strongly urge you to veto A.11433-B/S.8129-B.

Sincerely,

Michael Benjamin
Member of Assembly

What You Should Know: Tomorrow’s Dept. of Interior Forum on Hydraulic Fracturing

Tomorrow, the U.S. Department of Interior (DOI) – which oversees energy development on federal, taxpayer-owned land – will hold a forum focused on the 60 year-old oil and natural gas stimulation technology called hydraulic fracturing. This from DOI on the forum entitled “Natural Gas Hydraulic Fracturing on Public Lands,” which is set to go live at 1pm tomorrow:

As recently as November 3, 2010, President Obama reiterated his commitment to the development of natural gas resources. The Department of the Interior shares that commitment and wants to ensure that natural gas is developed in a safe and environmentally sustainable manner so that the U.S. can fully realize the economic, security, and environmental benefits of this important energy resource.

Energy In Depth will be on site, live-blogging the forum via our Twitter page, ensuring that the facts about this critical technology, and its long and clear record of environmental safety, are echoed and reinforced.

That said, it’s important for folks to understand how transformational – from an economic, environmental, energy security and geopolitical standpoint – this technology is, has and continues to be for our nation. Here’s a quick run-down about what they’re saying about fracture stimulation from the past few days:

Fmr. Top Mich. Environmental Watchdog: Since the ‘40s, Fracturing’s “Been done safely, without environmental damage”

In a recent white paper analysis, under the headline “Hydraulic Fracturing the Key to Michigan’s Energy Future,” Russ Harding of the Midland, Michigan-based Mackinac Center for Public Policy writes that hydraulic fracturing has “been done safely and without environmental damage in America dating back to the 1940s.”

Harding — who served as director of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality from 1995 through 2002, having previously held senior management posts in environmental and natural resources departments in Arizona, Alaska and Missouri — writes this in his analysis about hydraulic fracturing’s long and clear record of environmental safety:

Fracking is the process of creating fissures in underground formations to allow natural gas to flow. Horizontal drilling is utilized to access deep shale formations that contain natural gas. Fluid comprised of 99 percent water and sand and containing small amounts of chemicals found in common consumer products is injected into formations to create fissures from which the natural gas can be economically recovered. The wells are encased in multiple layers of steel and surrounded by cement to protect groundwater.

But natural gas development activities, including fracking, are already subject to several federal and state environmental laws. Regulators at the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment should be allowed to do their job without political interference. Fracking operations to recover natural gas have been done safely and without environmental damage in America dating back to the 1940s.

Safely developing the country’s vast natural gas reserves is critical to both the nation’s economy and national security. It is also important to hold the oil and gas industry to the highest safety and environmental standards in developing deep shale reserves. Oil and gas development is never 100 percent free from environmental risk, but fracking has proven to be a safe and effective technology in helping to meet the nation’s energy needs. Efforts to prevent use of the technology by overregulation will increase energy costs and decrease jobs.

But Mr. Harding isn’t alone in his efforts to better inform and educate folks about the overwhelmingly positive economic, environmental and national security benefits associated with domestic oil and natural gas production enable by fracture stimulation technologies. Here’s what other scientific experts are saying about fracturing and job-creating domestic energy development:

Given these facts, it’s no wonder why film critic (not the bourbon) Evan Williams of The Australian writes this in a critique of the anti-clean-burning natural gas development film Gasland:

I wish I could say that GasLand is a well-made film, that it does justice to its story. But it doesn’t. It has all the hallmarks of today’s self-consciously improvised documentary style: erratic camera work, jerky editing, tiresomely repetitive shots of unrolling backwoods highways, all accompanied by bursts of hillbilly music. No shot of a rig is too blurred or unsteady to be cut. … GasLand would have been a more powerful and effective film had Fox shown more professional discipline and the opposing arguments had at least been heard

From Williamsport to Watford City: Thanks to HF, “Anyone in the region who wants a job can find one”

Thanks to advancements in horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing technology, America’s oil and natural gas industry is doing its part to put folks back to work by leveraging our nation’s vast energy reserves into jobs, revenue and opportunity for those who need it. Whether it’s natural gas from the Marcellus or oil from the Bakken, thousands of jobs are being created, local economies are suddenly flourishing and America is strengthening its energy security by the day.

At a public hearing yesterday (click HERE for video) in Williamsport, Pa., members of the state senate heard from local economic and workforce development officials on the economic impact that the natural gas industry is having on the state’s economy. Larry Michael, executive director of Penn College’s Workforce & Economic Development program, summed it up best in this morning’s Williamsport Sun-Gazette:

“We believe that the economic and workforce opportunities are huge,” he said. “The magnitude of this opportunity will not only transform this region of the state but will provide the foundation resources to greatly enhance the overall economic health and job creation opportunities of the commonwealth.”

Industry representatives testifying at the hearing laid out in detail the number of jobs being created:

Perry Harris, northeast U.S. district manager of Halliburton, said the company has 750 state residents on its payroll and is looking for new workers every day. He noted recent development by the company with its facility near Montgomery, where 181 people are employed, and more will be hired.

Michael Narcavage, manager of corporate development for the Chesapeake Energy Corp., said… In the past year, the company has expanded its statewide workforce from about 250 full-time personnel to more than 1,100, many of those jobs in Bradford County, where the majority of the company’s operations are located.

Just to the west of Williamsport in Clinton County, the Lock Haven Express reports today that hundreds of new jobs have arrived in their community as well, thanks entirely to the responsible development of shale gas:

The Marcellus Shale natural gas play dominated Wednesday’s Clinton County Economic Partnership meeting. Partnership President and CEO Mike Flanagan reported about a dozen Marcellus gas-related companies have located in Clinton County, resulting in 200 new direct jobs and having a positive, indirect impact on trucking and construction-related companies in the area.

So what’s at stake if Washington moves to halt or restrict the use of HF?

U.S. Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.), senior member of the Energy and Natural Resources panel, summed it up best yesterday on the Senate floor: Domestic oil and gas development “will stop very quickly if we can’t continue what is called hydraulic fracturing”

Click HERE to watch this speech

“There is up to 4.3 billion barrels of recoverable oil using today’s technology [in the Bakken formation], according to the U.S. Geological Survey. That, plus the gas shale plays in much of the country and others, we’re beginning to produce a bit more oil and gas at this point in the country. That will stop very quickly if we can’t continue what is called hydraulic fracturing. That’s a big problem that we have to deal with.”

He went on to defend the safety record of 60-year-old fracturing technology, citing its importance to all states that rely on the successful production of our nation’s natural resources:

“I think most of us in this Senate who come from areas where we produce this fossil energy believe that [hydraulic fracturing] has been done for 50 years without a problem and now it is under some siege. … But we need to continue — and we will — with the production of oil in this country and natural gas.”

Clean Meets Green: U.S. Natural Gas Production Helping to Slash CO2, Create American Jobs

How does the United States start down the path of seriously addressing its nation’s energy crisis, reduce its deep and growing dependence on unstable regions of the world for energy, and at the same time maintain our competitive edge in the global marketplace? And oh, how do we put tens of thousands of Americans back to work who are struggling during one of the most drawn out economic downturns in a generation?

Keep Reading »

60 Minutes Takes a Look at Critical 60 Year Old Energy Technology

“It’s an American energy renaissance”

“Shale Gas Drilling: Pros & Cons,” was the title that CBS’s Lesley Stahl went with in her 60 Minutes segment last night on natural gas development in America from shale rock formations that have been around for hundreds of millions of years. Thanks to advancements in horizontal drilling technologies coupled with the 60 year old energy stimulation process called hydraulic fracturing, natural gas is not longer “the ugly stepchild of our national energy debate.”

In a Wilkes Barre Times-Leader story today, under the headline “TV report focuses on gas drilling,” Energy In Depth weighs-in on last night’s CBS segment:

Chris Tucker, of EnergyInDepth.org, an organization that promotes the benefits of natural gas drilling, said the segment was “fairly balanced,” although the show didn’t get everything right.

“I think they did a great job of telling the story of real people, everyday people, all across the country whose lives have changed for the better thanks to the development of this clean, American resource,” Tucker said.

“They didn’t quite get it right when they attempted to venture into the regulatory history of hydraulic fracturing. The reality is that fracturing technology is among the most thoroughly regulated procedures that takes place at the wellsite, which is a big reason why it’s been able to compile such a solid record of safety and performance over the past 60 years of commercial use.”

Here are key experts from the CBS segment:

On America’s Abundance

On the Economic Promise

On Hydraulic Fracturing

 

However, there’s some outstanding facts that didn’t make it into last night’s segment. For instance, Sierra Club’s Michael Brune claims that natural gas production is “under-regulated,” and that “the first thing that the industry should do is disclose what chemicals are being used in fracking.” “The 2005 energy bill completely exempted the natural gas industry and fracking technology from any regulation under the Safe Drinking Water Act. It’s an outrage,” continues Mr. Brune.

 

But here are several critical facts that CBS viewers, and Mr. Brune, should be aware of:

Rock Around the Clock

How does the United States start down the path of seriously addressing its nation’s energy crisis, reduce its deep and growing dependence on unstable regions of the world for energy, and at the same time maintain our competitive edge in the global marketplace? And oh, how do we put tens of thousands of Americans back to work who are struggling during one of the most drawn out economic downturns in a generation?

Loaded question, you say. In reality though, because of the 60 year old oil and natural gas stimulation technology called hydraulic fracturing – coupled with advancements in horizontal drilling techniques – these difficult and long-debated national problems are being addressed before our eyes.

Here’s what they saying about job-creating unconventional oil and natural gas production in America enable by fracture stimulation technologies:

Hollywood, National Media “Trying to make an issue out of something we’ve been doing since the 1940s”

A Cleaner, More Secure Energy Future

Hundreds of Jobs in Rural America at a Time When They’re Most Needed

 

EID Reinforces the Imperative to Continue to “Let states handle fracking” Effectively

As the debate over responsible oil and natural gas development continues, particularly as it relates to the 60 year old process called hydraulic fracturing – the critical technology used more than 1.1 million times nationally in energy-producing states without ever impacting groundwater – Energy In Depth remains at the tip of the spear. In a Casper Star-Tribune letter to the editor today, EID’s executive director Lee Fuller writes this under the headline “Let states handle fracking”:

Tom Doll, supervisor of Wyoming’s Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, understands that hydraulic fracturing is an effective, environmentally sound and critical energy production technology. “The Commission has regulated hydraulic fracturing since 1954,” Mr. Doll, a petroleum engineer, has said. “Contrary to what has recently been in the press, the Commission has no documented cases of hydraulic fracturing negatively impacting ground water.”

What does Mr. Doll think about a one-size-fits all Washington, D.C., takeover of hydraulic fracturing currently being pursued by some in Congress? “We feel that we should administer our rules and regulate [fracturing] and we don’t need the help of the federal government in this regard,” Doll says, adding that states are “doing a good job.”

Wyoming, and a host of other energy-producing states, are doing a good job of regulating fracturing. Fracturing has been used to stimulate oil and natural gas production in more than 1.1 million wells since it came into commercial use in 1949 and it has never impacted or contaminated groundwater. The EPA, top state environmental regulators and a host of independent academics and energy experts have also confirmed this fact.

Mr. Fuller’s comments follow similar comments from the top energy production watchdog in North Dakota. This from the Minot Daily Times over the weekend:

“The Industrial Commission and the Department of Mineral Resources have made it no secret that we don’t think the EPA should regulate hydraulic fracturing. This is a way for the average citizen of North Dakota, if they feel that way or if they feel the opposite way, to voice their opinions to EPA,” Lynn Helms [director of the Department of Mineral Resources] said.

You see, individual states are best positioned and situated to regulate fracturing, as state regulators have the best ‘know-how’ of local and regional geology. And energy-producing states are taking commonsense steps to ensure that this process is tightly and effectively regulated. This from the Associated Press under the headline “Arkanasas board set to create rule on fracking”

Commission Director Larry Bengal says under the Arkansas rule, the operator would report the specific names and concentrations of the chemicals used during fracking. That information would be on the commission’s website. The rule also would require operators to provide information before starting the fracking process to prove that well casings can withstand pressure and won’t leak.

The hydraulic fracturing process uses millions of gallons of water, mixed with chemicals and sand, which are pumped at high pressure thousands of feet underground to create fissures in the rock — known as shale — and release the gas. According to the Oil and Gas Commission’s website, 99.5 percent of fracking fluid is sand and water. But small amounts of chemicals also are used to reduce bacteria buildup in the well, reduce friction and prevent corrosion.

This is a story of American ingenuity, driven by technological advancements. The results? Expanded access to reliable supplies of homegrown oil and natural gas and tens of thousands of good-paying American jobs at a time when they’re most needed. Here’s what they’re saying:

ICYMI – EDF Advisor Says HF Can be Done Safely, is Critical to Development of Natural Gas

Environmental Defense Fund: “Our natural gas supplies would plummet precipitously without hydraulic fracturing”

This from EDF’s Scott Anderson’s appearance on E&E TV’s On Point program this morning:

E&E TV

 

 

E&E TV

: “Do you believe that [hydraulic fracturing] can be used safely?” (5:23)

EDF’s Scott Anderson

 

 

EDF’s Scott Anderson

: “Yes I do. I think in the vast majority of cases, if wells are constructed right and operated right, that hydraulic fracturing will not cause a problem.” (5:19)

E&E TV: “How difficult is it for states to regulate this practice? And should it be done on a state-by-state bases, a region-by-region bases or nationally?” (2:11)

EDF’s Scott Anderson

 

 

EDF’s Scott Anderson

: “The states actually have a lot of knowledge and experience in regulating well construction and operation. We think that states have every reason to be able to tackle this issue and do it well. We also think that if states fail in that and the federal government has to takeover, the states will have no one but themselves to blame.” (2:00)

E&E TV: “Without this practice of hydraulic fracturing, what would our natural gas supplies look like?” (1:38)

EDF’s

 

 

EDF’s

Scott Anderson: “Our natural gas supplies would plummet precipitously without hydraulic fracturing. About 90 percent of gas wells in the United States are hydraulically fractured, and the shale gas that everyone talks about as being a large part of the future of natural gas production is absolutely dependent on fracturing in each case.” (1:33)

E&E TV: “So you would say that this is a necessary part of our energy future?” (1:09)

EDF’s Scott Anderson

 

 

EDF’s Scott Anderson

: “Yes. At the Environmental Defense Fund we don’t pick fuels, we are realist, we recognize that fossil fuels will be around for a while, a long while most likely. We recognize that natural gas has some environmental advantages compared to other fossil fuels, so we do believe that natural gas will be around, and has a significant role to play….” (1:05)

NOTE: The full interview can be viewed HERE.

What Budget Shortfall?

Spiraling deficits, worker furloughs, budget cuts, and tax and fee hikes are common these days in state capitals across the nation. Unemployment remains near double-digits nationally, home foreclosures continue to skyrocket and a fear of a double-dip recession persists. And as economic growth continues to lag, stagflation remains a very serious threat to our economy, and to American families.

Thanks to the tightly-regulated 60 year-old oil and natural gas stimulation technology called hydraulic fracturing, however, tens of thousands of good-paying Americans jobs are being created and billions in much-needed revenues are being generated. At the same time, enormous amounts of reliable homegrown energy resources are being safely delivered to American consumers and small businesses, helping to drive down our nation’s dependence on unstable regions of the world to fuel our economy.

In North Dakota, where there’s virtual full employment, the responsible development of the state’s oil-rich Bakken Shale formation, enabled by hydraulic fracturing, continues to be an economic boon for the region. This from a Minot (ND) Daily News story this week under the headline “Oil revenue plays big role in state budget”:

Tax collections from oil and gas totaled nearly $583 million in 2010, a 43 percent increase from 2009 and a 250 percent increase since 2006, said Cory Fong, state tax commissioner. Biennium oil and gas tax collections are expected to total $1.4 billion for 2009-2011 and more than $2 billion during 2011-2013, he said. The state’s general fund budget this biennium is $2.7 billion.

Oil and gas tax revenues that have helped create a $1 billion state surplus also are pulling duty to support several spending areas, from property tax relief to schools and local infrastructure.

And in Pennsylvania, where the Mighty Marcellus Shale – the second largest natural gas field in the entire world – is being responsibly developed thanks to fracture stimulation technologies, the Associated Press reports today that the Commonwealth’s “unemployment rate fell for a second straight month in September, as employers added more than 7,000 jobs to their payrolls.”

Today’s Wilkes-Barre Times-Leader puts the historic economic opportunity into perspective, reporting this under the headline “Drilling backer sees 90,000 new Pa. jobs by end of year”:

Natural gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale is not a “flash-in-the-pan gold rush,” Klaber said, but an industry that will add 90,000 jobs to Pennsylvania’s work force by the end of the year and will produce steady employment for decades to come.

Such activity will not only produce drill site jobs, which Klaber said will move from site to site, but will also create careers at drilling company regional offices, many of which have already opened shop in Pennsylvania.

“I think it has happened quickly, but I think the coverage of it has been pervasive. I mean the interest in it has made it seem faster than it really is,” Marcellus Shale Coalition President Kathryn Klaber told The Times Leader on Wednesday.

PA DEP Continues to Confirm the Fact that Hydraulic Fracturing Has Never Impacted Groundwater

The tightly-regulated, 60 year-old energy stimulation technology call hydraulic fracturing – which has been used safely more than 1.1 million times throughout the United States – has never in its history been found to adversely impact sources of underground drinking water. Independent scientific experts and state regulators from energy-producing confirm this fact, over and over again. A national organization of state groundwater water regulators has, as well. This year, the EPA told Congress that hydraulic fracturing has never resulted in a single case of groundwater contamination.

And in Pennsylvania, where the responsible development of the Marcellus Shale’s abundant, clean-burning natural gas reserves – enabled by fracture stimulation technologies coupled with horizontal drilling – are helping to put tens of thousands to work, top environmental regulators also continue to ensure that these critical facts are known.

Here’s a quick and recent snapshot of what PA DEP is saying about hydraulic fracturing’s long and clear record of environmental safety:

“Jennifer Means, a representative from the state DEP’s Eastern Oil and Gas Region Office in Williamsport, later substantiated Mr. Chacon’s statements. ‘So far it has not been our experience that the fracking process has caused any water-supply issues,’ Ms. Means said.” (Scranton Times-Tribune, 10/20/10)

“Thus far, the DEP says they’ve found not one instance of underground contamination of well water from fracking. ‘We haven’t had frack fluid come back from thousands of feet down and get into people’s drinking water supply,’ [DEP secretary John] Hanger said.” (KDKA-TV, 10/16/10)

“‘It’s our experience in Pennsylvania that we have not had one case in which the fluids used to break off the gas from 5,000 to 8,000 feet (1,500-2,400 m) underground have returned to contaminate ground water,’ said John Hanger, secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).” (Reuters, 10/1/10)

FRAC Act supporters claim that fracturing is unregulated and unsafe, and therefore Congress must fundamentally rewrite federal law to give EPA outright authority to oversee this process. Inherently, though, energy-producing states are best situated to regulate this technology, and the 60 year track record of environmental safety underscores that fact. Put simply, the FRAC Act is yet another Washington ‘solution’ in search of a problem.

From Toronto to Richmond, EID’s Gettin’ the Facts Out

Formed two years ago to separate fact from fiction about our nation’s oil and natural gas industry – particularly as it relates to the tightly regulated 60 year-old energy stimulation technology called hydraulic fracturing – Energy In Depth has established itself as a reliable resource for folks interested in learning more about this process, for academics and for the media.

Our work takes us to small towns, state capitals and rural communities. We go where the debate is, but more importantly, we seek to educate and engage policymakers, the press and the public on the facts about responsible energy exploration and production here in the United States — and in Canada.

This week, we had the opportunity to participate in two events: one at the University of Toronto; the other closer to home in Richmond, Va.

Yes, EID has officially gone global. We’ve even translated Gasland Debunked into French for those in parts of Canada seeking to understand the facts about this tightly-regulated technology that has been used to stimulated oil and natural gas production in the United States for more than 60 years without ever impacted groundwater.

In Toronto, we participated in a panel discussion entitled, “Fracture Lines: Will Canada’s water be Protected in the Rush to Develop Shale Gas?” Here’s a photo from that event (EID’s Chris Tucker, second from the right):

And at the Governor’s Conference on Energy in Richmond, EID spoke about fracture stimulation’s long and clear record of environmental safety on a panel entitled “Expanding Natural Gas – Supplies and Opportunities.”

These forums offered EID the opportunity to share the work we do, separate fact from fiction about fracturing and tell the incredible story of job creation, economic develop, and increased energy security that the shale gas revolution continues to make possible.

Here’s a quick snapshot of how American-made energy production technologies, like hydraulic fracturing, are benefiting consumers and our economy:

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ICYMI: Criticism of Cornell shale paper “leaks” out from some unlikely places

Saturday, April 16th, 2011

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FACT CHECK: Huff Post Duo Put Time Magazine in Their Crosshairs, Check Facts at Arianna’s Front Door

Wednesday, April 6th, 2011

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Energy In Depth Responds to NRDC’s Running List of Conjectures & Distortions

Tuesday, April 5th, 2011

Targets Safety, Performance of Hydraulic Fracturing

Over the last year, our friends at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) started up a running tally on their blog identifying “incidents where drinking water has been contaminated and hydraulic fracturing is a suspected cause.”

So we’ve decided to start our own running blog just like NRDC. The only difference? On theirs you’ll find rumor on top of speculation on top of conjecture on top of supposition on top of outright fantasy. On ours you’ll find facts.

The NRDC blog currently lists 34 incidents that it believes are associated with hydraulic fracturing. We address all 34.

But first, we thought the following quotations from NRDC’s Energy Program Co-Director may also be of interest:

CLAIMS:


Arkansas: In 2008, Charlene Parish of Bee Branch reported contamination of drinking water during hydraulic fracturing of a nearby natural gas well owned by Southwestern Energy Company. Her water smelled bad, turned yellow, and filled with silt.

Arkansas: In 2009, a family in Bee Branch, who wishes to remain anonymous, reported changes in water pressure and drinking water that turned gray and cloudy and had noxious odors after hydraulic fracturing of a nearby natural gas well owned by Southwestern Energy Company.

Arkansas: In 2007, a family in Center Ridge reported changes in water pressure and water that turned red or orange and looked like it had clay in it after hydraulic fracturing of nearby wells owned by Southwestern Energy Company. They told their story on YouTube.

Arkansas: In 2008, a homeowner in Center Ridge reported changes in water pressure and water that turned brown, smelled bad, and had sediment in it after hydraulic fracturing of a nearby well owned by Southwestern Energy Company. He also told his story on YouTube.

REALITY: “Tests on complainants’ water found no traces of the chemicals used in the drilling fluids, officials said. Dick Cassat, chief lab supervisor at the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality, said that water he’s tested after residents complained about nearby gas drilling was simply higher in iron and manganese, two naturally occurring substances in Arkansas groundwater sources.” (Northwest Arkansas Newspapers, 7/09)

CLAIM: Arkansas: In 2007, the Graetz family in Pangburn reported contamination of drinking water during hydraulic fracturing of a nearby natural gas well owned by Southwestern Energy Company. The water turned muddy and contained particles that were “very light and kind of slick” and resembled pieces of leather.

REALITY: “Representatives of the Arkansas Oil and Gas Commission and the Department of Environmental Quality told [Jeff Graetz] not to drink the water after they tested it, but they said Southwestern wasn’t responsible.” (Arkansas Democrat Gazette, 7/5/09)

CLAIM: Colorado: In 2001, two families in Silt reported a water well blow-out and contamination of their drinking water during hydraulic fracturing of four nearby natural gas wells owned by Ballard Petroleum, now Encana Corporation. Their drinking water turned gray, had strong smells, bubbled, and lost pressure. One family reported health symptoms they believe are linked to the groundwater contamination.

REALITY: “The Amos/Walker water well has been sampled numerous times since [the Colorado Oil & Gas Conservation Commission] staff received the initial complaints in 2001. Benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylenes (BTEX), frac fluid constituents, or other oil and gas related contaminants have never been detected in any of the water samples collected from the Amos/Walker water well to date.” (7/05)

CLAIM: Colorado: In 2007, the Bounds family in Huerfano County reported a pump house exploded and contamination of drinking water during hydraulic fracturing of nearby wells owned by Petroglyph Energy.

REALITY: “Impossible to prove that fracing created pathways for methane to collect in Bounds’s domestic water system.” (Christina Science Monitor, 2/5/09)

“It’s not clear the drilling caused the methane leaks…Despite the methane mystery, [Petroglyph is] trucking water to 14 area homes and has supplied 15 homes with methane alarm systems.” (USA Today, 11/3/09)

CLAIM: Colorado: In June, 2010, the day hydraulic fracturing began on a nearby gas well in Las Animas County, landowner Tracy Dahl checked his cistern and found approximately 500 gallons of grayish brown murky water where water had previously run clear for years. The Dahls have extensive water testing documentation going back many years, verifying that their water has always been clean and clear. They were told by Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (“COGCC”) staff that the water could not be tested for chemicals in the hydraulic fracturing fluid because there is insufficient information about the chemicals used. Three monitor wells on the ranch are now producing methane at an escalating rate.

REALITY: “’Our environmental staff has investigated hundreds of groundwater complaints over the years, to date we have found no verified instances of hydraulic fracturing harming groundwater,’ [Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission Director Dave Neslin] said.” (Trinidad Times, 7/16/10)

“‘Pioneer has funded hydrologic experts to conduct scientific investigations of domestic water wells in the vicinity of our natural gas wells,’ [Pioneer Natural Resource’s environmental advisor Gerald] Jacob said. ‘These investigations have discovered not impacts from hydraulic fracturing but problems from the ways in which domestic water wells have been drilled, constructed and produced. For example, we have found uncased, uncemented domestic water wells drilled into methane producing formations that provide a direct conduit for methane gas to reach the surface or to connect with shallow groundwater. We have found unsterilized bacteria breach the domestic water wells and produce biogenic methane gas, colonies of bacteria that clog these wells and prevent them from producing water.’” (Trinidad Times, 7/16/10)

CLAIM: New Mexico: A 2004 investigation by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency found two residents who reported that the quality of their water was affected by hydraulic fracturing.

REALITY: Interestingly, the source of this “2004 investigation” is none other than the 2004 EPA report on hydraulic fracturing – the one that found “no evidence” indicating a link between the use of hydraulic fracturing and the contamination of underground sources of drinking water.

As part of the agency’s due diligence in compiling that report, EPA stated in its concluding chapters that some residents with whom it had communicated postulated that hydraulic fracturing may have been the cause of problems with their wells. Although EPA included that testimony as part of its study, as per its charge, it concluded that “no confirmed cases” of water contamination related to hydraulic fracturing could be found.

CLAIM: New York: In 2007, the Lytle family in Seneca County reported contamination of drinking water the morning after hydraulic fracturing of a nearby natural gas well owned by Chesapeake Energy Corporation. The water turned gray and was full of sediment.

REALITY: “[Dept. of Environmental Conservation] Spokesman Yancey Roy said the DEC has a record of the Chesapeake well near Lytle’s house — but no record of a complaint, spill, or problem with Lytle’s well.  ‘It is likely that if any turbidity was experienced in a nearby water well, it occurred when the well was being drilled — not when it was hydraulically fractured. Also, turbidity essentially is stirred up sediment — and problems with turbidity do not involve toxicity,’ Roy said by e-mail.” (Press & Connects, 12/8/09)

CLAIM: New York: In 2009, the Eddy family in Allegany County reported contamination of drinking water during hydraulic fracturing of a nearby well owned by U.S. Energy Development Corporation. The water turned “foamy, chocolate-brown.”

REALITY: “The commissioner of the state Department of Environmental Conservation has asserted that reports of accidents related to natural gas drilling in New York have been overblown and taken out of context.” (Ithaca Journal, 1/11/10)

“In a letter to Assemblyman William Parment, D-150th, a member of the Environmental Conservation committee, DEC Commissioner Pete Grannis said that of the 270 incidents highlighted by an Ithaca researcher, more than half have nothing to do with natural gas drilling — and they occurred while the DEC was overseeing 10,400 wells.” (Ithaca Journal, 1/11/10)

“Requirements in place since the 1980s have successfully rendered drilling associated methane migration so rare that there has not been a reported incident since 1996.” (DEC Comm. Pete Grannis letter to Assemblyman Parment, 12/30/09)

CLAIM: North Dakota: The North Dakota non-profit organization Bakken Watch reports very serious health symptoms in humans, livestock, and pets after nearby hydraulic fracturing. Their website has photos of sick animals, pit leaks, and corroded tanks. North Dakota state legislators admit they are “understaffed and overwhelmed” and “struggling to provide adequate oversight amid an explosion of activity in North Dakota’s oil patch.”

REALITY: “Lynn Helms of the North Dakota Department of Mineral Resources says that there has never been a case of fracturing causing groundwater contamination.  Helms says that in every instance that fracturing has been blamed for contamination has been found to have been caused by other sources like bacteria occurring in the water or poor well construction procedures.” (Plains Daily, 12/1/10)

“Much of our entire regulatory framework, from drilling to completion, production, and finally plugging and abandonment, is centered around measures to prevent any contamination of the water resource. …Regulations alone don’t begin to provide the full measure of a regulatory program. The North Dakota Oil and Gas Division of the Department of Mineral Resources utilizes 8 performance measures to monitor our activity in the areas of drilling permitting, UIC permitting, wellbore construction, well bore mechanical integrity testing, spill containment and clean up, fluid measurement, oil and gas conservation, and customer satisfaction. At least five of these measures are directly related to protection of water resources. These performance measures are backed up by a staff of field inspectors who visit the wells every day from when the drilling rig moves in until the permanent wellhead is installed and at least quarterly after that.” (Lynn Helms, Director, North Dakota Dept. of Mineral Resources, congressional testimony, 6/4/09)

CLAIM: Ohio: “In 2007, there was an explosion of a water well and contamination of at least 22 other drinking water wells in Bainbridge Township after hydraulic fracturing of a nearby natural gas well owned by Ohio Valley Energy Systems. More than two years later, over forty families are still without clean drinking water and are waiting to be connected to a town water system.”

REALITY: On December 15, 2007, an explosion occurred in the basement of a home in Bainbridge, Ohio. Neither the house nor its furnishings suffered any kind of fire or smoke damage. Subsequent to the event, the Ohio Division of Mineral Resources Management (DMRM) conducted an extensive, year-long investigation of the incident – at the end, publishing a report summarizing its findings and describing what it believed caused the incident. DMRM concluded the explosion was not caused by hydraulic fracturing. Moreover: “DMRM has concluded that it is highly unlikely that fluids used in the hydraulic fracturing process, or flow back fluids escaped from the borehole or entered into local aquifers.”

CLAIM: Pennsylvania: In September, 2010, a lawsuit was filed by 13 families who say they have been and continue to be exposed to contaminated drinking water linked to hydraulic fracturing. Eight different properties in Susquehanna County are said to have contaminated drinking water. One child has neurological symptoms consistent with exposure to toxic substances. Southwestern Energy, the company operating the well near these families, responded that it promptly investigated all complaints and that both the company and the Pennsylvania Department of the Environment independently tested the water and found no link between gas operations and the water quality and no problems with the integrity of the gas well.

REALITY: “A cover letter from a DEP water quality specialist on one of the tests indicates that although he found elevated manganese, the department could not determine that the gas exploration activity ‘contributed to the degradation of your water supply.’” (Times-Tribune, 9/15/10)

“’The data that we had from our samples did not allow us to conclude that the well had been contaminated by gas well drilling,’ DEP spokeswoman Helen Humphries said.” (Times-Tribune, 9/15/10)

CLAIM: Pennsylvania: In 2009, the Zimmerman family of Washington County reported contamination of drinking water after hydraulic fracturing of nearby natural gas wells owned by Atlas Energy. Water testing on their farm found arsenic at 2,600 times acceptable levels, benzene at 44 times above limits, naphthalene at five times the federal standard, and mercury and selenium levels above official limits.

REALITY: “A recent blog from an environmentalist points to four cases in Pennsylvania…The Washington County case involved the appearance of arsenic at 2,600 times the EPA levels for safe drinking water.  Arsenic is not an additive in fracture stimulation….there is no physical link to deep hydraulic fracturing.” (Terry Engelder, Professor of Geosciences, Pennsylvania State University)

“Cleason Smith, a consultant with Hydrosystems Management, which tested the soil and water…said further tests are needed to confirm the source of contamination.” (Reuters, 11/9/09)

“George Zimmerman filed suit against Atlas Energy Inc., alleging that Atlas’ hydraulic fracturing methods had caused property damage to Zimmerman’s land…Causation will continue to prove a significant obstacle to plaintiffs’ claims of property damage and groundwater impact, especially since available information concerning the composition of frac chemicals does not generally support allegations of material concentrations of carcinogenic or otherwise toxic compounds.” (11/17/09)

CLAIM: Pennsylvania: In 2008, two families in Gibbs Hill [McKean County] reported contamination of drinking water after hydraulic fracturing of a nearby natural gas well owned by Seneca Resources Corporation. Their water had strong fumes, caused burning in lungs and sinuses after showering, and caused burning in the mouth immediately upon drinking. The state found that the company had not managed the pressure in the well properly and had spilled used hydraulic fracturing fluids that contaminated the drinking water supply.

REALITY: “A recent blog from an environmentalist points to four cases in Pennsylvania but the McKean County case was a clear case of methane migrations from shallow pockets, not deep hydraulic fracturing….there is no physical link to deep hydraulic fracturing.” (Terry Engelder, Professor of Geosciences, Pennsylvania State University)

A Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) investigation into other gas-migration issues in McKean County also demonstrated no link whatsoever to hydraulic fracturing, but rather implicated abandoned wells drilled around the turn of the century…the turn of the twentieth century!

CLAIM: Pennsylvania: In 2009, families in Bradford Township reported contamination of drinking water after hydraulic fracturing of nearby natural gas wells owned by Schreiner Oil & Gas. The drinking water of at least seven families has been contaminated.

REALITY: To be clear, hydraulic fracturing was not to blame in this instance; but rather, the failure was associated with well design and construction:

“The department suspects the stray gas occurrence is a result of 26 recently drilled wells, four of which had excessive pressure at the surface casing seat and others that had no cement returns.” (Bradford Era, 5/4/09)

While the operator was cited under Pennsylvania state law, hydraulic fracturing had nothing to do with these violations.  If well design and construction guidelines in place at the time of the incident had been followed, the incident would not have occurred.  Nonetheless, Pennsylvania has taken this issue head on, recently enacting new standards for well design and construction.

“We strengthened the rules governing the design and construction of gas wells and this rule became effective in January 2011… The standards are much stronger than the pre-existing rules and are now state of the art. The new gas drilling rules are essential to public safety, and they must be rigorously followed and enforced.” (Former Pennsylvania Secretary of Environmental Protection, John Hanger, Business Journal, 1/14/11)

CLAIM: Pennsylvania: “In 2009, the Smitsky family in Hickory reported contamination of their drinking water after hydraulic fracturing of nearby natural gas wells owned by Range Resources. Their water became cloudy and foul-smelling. Testing found acrylonitrile, a chemical that may be used in hydraulic fracturing. The EPA is now investigating this incident.”

REALITY: A review of the MSDS information on-file with the PA Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) reveals that no acrylonitrile was used in the process of fracturing this well. According to reports, Ms. Smitsky expressed her concerns with the well a full five years after the drilling procedure had been completed.

Questions also remain about the quality of the well’s water prior to the operations taking place. According to the Center for Rural Pennsylvania, an agency of the PA General Assembly, “approximately 41 percent of the [private water] wells tested [in PA] failed to meet at least one of the health-based drinking water standards.” Although a final report from DEP has yet to be released, initial drafts from the agency suggest that the company’s activities were performed safely with no impacts to groundwater.

CLAIM: Pennsylvania: A family in Bradford County reports that its water turned black and became flammable from methane contamination in 2009 after hydraulic fracturing of a nearby well operated by Chesapeake Energy. The water cleared for a while but turned black again in 2010. Relatives living down the road also report their water turning black in 2010.

REALITY: “Many wells were never tested before Marcellus Shale drilling began and may have had ‘pre-existing’ problems such as methane contamination, making it difficult to know if the methane in them is the result of methane gas migration from nearby fracking operations, [Bruce Swistock, Ph.D., professor with Penn State University's Water Resources Extension] said.” (3/21/01)

CLAIM: Texas: Larry Bisidas is an expert in drilling wells and in groundwater. He is the owner of Bisidas Water Well Drilling in Wise County, and has been drilling water wells for 40 years. Two water wells on his property became contaminated in 2010. When his state regulator stated that there has been no groundwater contamination in Texas related to hydraulic fracturing, Mr. Bisidas replied: “All they’ve gotta do is come out to my place, and I’ll prove it to them.”

REALITY: “Casing seals wellbores. It prevents contamination of a fresh-water aquifer from non-potable aquifers or chemicals used by the oil and gas industry. The Texas Railroad Commission (TRC) has casing requirements set in place before fracking can occur.  Ramona Nye, spokesperson for the commission, said failure to properly cement or case gas wells has not been a serious problem in Texas.  Nye said there are ‘no documented cases of groundwater pollution’ in the Barnett Shale due to fracking.” (Wise County Messenger, 10/4/10) 

CLAIM: Texas: In Wise County, Catherine and Brett Bledsoe report that their drinking water became contaminated in 2010 soon after hydraulic fracturing began on two natural gas wells bordering their property. The water stung their eyes during showers, and their animals refused to drink the water. Without any assistance from regulators, the Bledsoes paid for their own water testing. The testing found benzene, a known carcinogen, at double the safe levels.

REALITY: “Government and third-party regulators of the natural gas industry take chemical testing and safety seriously. After all, they live and work in the area too. Air testing continues to go on near every drilling location—all over the Barnett Shale area. The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) and individual energy companies have each completed studies searching for benzene and all groups are committed to continued, regular testing. The Barnett Shale Energy Education Council plans to conduct its own study as well.  Factual research and unbiased studies demonstrate that residents can be certain that unsafe levels of benzene are not being released into the North Texas environment.” (Barnett Shale Energy Education Council)

CLAIM: Texas: In 2007, three families who share an aquifer in Grandview reported contamination of drinking water after hydraulic fracturing of a nearby well owned by Williams. They experienced strong odors in their water, changes in water pressure, skin irritation, and dead livestock. Water testing found toluene and other contaminants.

REALITY: Toluene is a chemical widely used as an industrial feedstock and as a solvent in common products such as paint thinners; as well as a gasoline additive and a component of dynamite.  Private consultants hired to test the water well in question found toluene levels to be within federal government standards:

the EPA labels as unsafe. ‘” (Ft. Worth Weekly, 4/30/08)

CLAIM: Texas: The Scoma family in Johnson County is suing Chesapeake Energy, claiming the company contaminated their drinking water with benzene and petroleum by-products after hydraulic fracturing of natural gas wells near the Scoma home. The family reports that its drinking water sometimes runs an orange-yellow color, tastes bad and gives off a foul odor.

REALITY: “Based on his role as special projects director for the Ground Water Protection Council, Mike Nickolaus says he doesn’t believe that fracking poses a serious threat to groundwater. ‘Groundwater contamination from other sources is a far greater risk to human health and the environment,’ said Nickolaus, a Granbury resident who has a geology degree and was director of the oil and gas division of the Indiana Department of Natural Resources from 2000 to 2005. Among those other sources, he cites storm water runoff, large septic systems that don’t operate properly and the improper disposal of industrial waste by injecting it into zones above or within underground sources of drinking water. … Nickolaus said the risk of groundwater contamination from fracking is exceptionally remote in areas like the Barnett Shale and the Marcellus Shale, where more than a mile of dense rock typically separates shallow freshwater aquifers from petroleum deposits.” (Star-Telegram, 10/4/10)

CLAIM: Texas: Tarrant County Commissioner J.D. Johnson, who lives in the Barnett shale area, reported groundwater contamination immediately after two gas wells on his property were hydraulically fractured. His water turned a dark gold color and had sand in it.

REALITY: “The Texas Railroad Commission, which regulates the oil and gas industry, investigated but did not find any problems that appeared to be related to drilling and hydraulic fracturing of the gas wells, according to Michael O’Quinn, a commission district director. By the time the commission re-inspected it 40 days later, Johnson told the agency that he had his water tested and that it was drinkable, O’Quinn said.  The specific cause of Johnson’s well problem has not been conclusively determined. …the Barnett drilling boom also has provided ‘lots of pluses,’ [Johnson] said, including jobs, tax revenue and extra income for many thousands of mineral owners.” (Star-Telegram, 9/4/10)

CLAIM: Texas: Carol Grosser, in south Texas, noticed changes in her water after a neighbor told her a nearby well was being hydraulically fractured. Carol noticed changes in her water pressure and rust-colored residue in her stock tanks. The fish in her tanks died, and some of her goats had abnormal milk production and produced kids with unusual birth defects.

REALITY: Many similar allegations have been made in Texas, often producing an outcome such as this: “Texas Railroad Commissioners found that Range Resources’ natural gas wells be allowed to continue to produce as the wells are not causing or contributing to contamination of any Parker County domestic water wells.” (Texas Railroad Commission, 3/22/11)

CLAIM: Texas: The Executive Director of the Upper Trinity River Groundwater Conservation District in north Texas stated that the District “gets ‘regular reports’ from property owners who said that ‘since a particular [gas] well had been fracked, they’ve had problems’ with their water wells, such as sand in them, saltier water or reduced water output….”

REALITY: “Bob Patterson, executive director of the Upper Trinity River Groundwater Conservation District, which encompasses Parker, Wise, Hood and Montague counties, said hydraulic fracturing has never been confirmed as the cause for contamination of any of the 40,000-plus private water wells within the district.” (Star-Telegram, 10/4/10)

CLAIM: Texas: Susan Knoll in the Barnett shale reports that last year her drinking water became foamy right after hydraulic fracturing of a well adjacent to her property. Since that time, additional gas wells have been fractured near her home and her drinking water has continually gotten worse. It sometimes foams, becomes oily, and has strong odors that burn Susan’s nose when she smells her water. Susan has a lot of videos and more information on her blog.

REALITY: “[The Texas Railroad Commission and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality] have visited [Knoll’s] property but have found no violations. … The agency found nothing wrong.” (Denton Record-Chronicle, 3/30/11)

A separate charge of water contamination in Denton County proved unfounded: “At Smith’s well, though, testing by the Texas Railroad Commission, which regulates drilling, found no high levels of toxic materials. Contaminants detected in the water were not at a level that would violate state or federal water quality standards, officials said.  ‘Therefore, we would not expect any adverse health effects after ingestion of water with these concentrations,’ Railroad Commission spokeswoman Stacie Fowler said.” (Star-Telegram, 7/01/10)

CLAIM: Texas: Grace Mitchell, a resident of Johnson County, Texas, is suing Encana and Chesapeake. According to her lawsuit, soon after drilling and hydraulic fracturing took place near her home in 2010, her water became contaminated, feeling slick to the touch and giving off an oily, gasoline-like odor. Testing results performed on her well water confirmed it was contaminated with various chemicals, including C-12-C28 hydrocarbons, similar to diesel fuel.

REALITY: “Although the lawsuit states that Mitchell is a resident of Johnson County and that the property in question is in Johnson County, a map sent to the Times-Review along with a copy of the suit shows that the property is north of Farm-to-Market Road 1187 and west of Crowley in Tarrant County.  ‘We have no record of her ever attempting to contact us with concerns about her water quality, so we have no information to assess her claims at this time,’ [Julie H. Wilson, Chesapeake’s vice president for urban development] said. ‘The lawsuit states her property is in Johnson County, but the map attached to her pleading shows property in Tarrant County, so even the most basic facts contained in this suit are inconsistent.’” (Cleburne Times Review, 12/21/10)

CLAIM: Texas: The Harris family of Denton County, Texas, is suing Devon Energy. They say that their water became contaminated soon after Devon commenced drilling and hydraulic fracturing near their home in 2008, and that their water became polluted with a gray sediment. Testing results performed on the well water found contamination with high levels of metals: aluminum, arsenic, barium, beryllium, calcium, chromium, cobalt, copper, iron, lead, lithium, magnesium, manganese, nickel, potassium, sodium, strontium, titanium, vanadium, and zinc.

REALITY: “The Texas Railroad Commission had the Harris’ water tested for chlorides and a variety of minerals associated with oil and natural gas production, but the test came back negative, according to railroad commission correspondence to Devon provided by Devon spokeswoman Alesha Leemaster. ‘While we cannot comment directly on pending ligation, it is important to note the Harris well was reported and the family’s concerns were investigated by the Texas Railroad Commission in 2009,’ Leemaster said in an e-mail. ‘That investigation found no evidence linking the Harris water well to natural gas drilling operations.’  The Texas Railroad Commission investigation found ‘no past or current oilfield related source’ of contamination in the Harris water…” (Journal Record, 12/17/10)

CLAIM: Virginia: Citizens reported drinking water contamination after hydraulic fracturing. Water was murky and had oily films, black sediments, methane, and diesel odors. Individuals experienced rashes from showering. The Buchanan Citizens Action Group reported over 100 documented complaints of adverse effects of hydraulic fracturing and the Dickenson County Citizens Committee reported ground water quality deteriorated throughout the county as a result of the large number of hydraulic fracturing events.

REALITY: It’s tough to know where to begin here, simply due to the astounding dearth of facts, evidence and science to support the accusation.  It turns out you have to begin in 2000 and 2001 when the aforementioned Buchanan Citizens Action Group and the Dickenson County Citizens Committee provided public comment to EPA during their previous study of hydraulic fracturing.  In 2002 the NRDC prepared and submitted a report to the U.S. Senate while incorporating the Virginia groups’ claims as supposed evidence of fracturing’s liabilities.  But in 2004 upon submitting their final report, EPA “determined that fracturing posed ‘little or no threat’” to groundwater. (E&E News, 2/24/11)

To summarize: this formless claim relies upon decade-old assertions fed into the very 2004 EPA report concluding that fracturing posed “little or no threat” to groundwater.

CLAIM: West Virginia: The Hagy family in Jackson County, West Virginia, is suing four oil and gas companies for contaminating their drinking water. They say their water had ”a peculiar smell and taste” and the parents as well as their two children are suffering from neurological symptoms. A news article reports that the lawsuit makes the connection between the drinking water contamination and the hydraulic fracturing process.

REALITY: “As far as issues with groundwater contamination and some other problems raised by others, [secretary of the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection Randy] Huffman said horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing is ‘not new’ and has been done for some time.  ‘We just haven’t seen the kind of problems that people are raising as issues,’ Huffman said. ‘This fracking is taking place at such depths, we don’t really have a concern or evidence of reason to be concerned over groundwater at a couple hundred feet being impacted by hydraulic fracturing taking place at eight or nine thousand feet.’” (Register-Herald, 2/24/11)

CLAIM: West Virginia: In Marshall County, Jeremiah Magers reported in October, 2010, that “As soon as they ‘fracked’ those gas wells, that’s when my water well started getting gas in it.” He also lost all the water in his well.

REALITY: “’We have been to [Majers’] residence. Comparisons were made between different water samples,’ [West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection's Office of Oil and Gas Chief James] Martin said, noting he cannot yet pinpoint the cause of the methane release.” (The Intelligencer, 10/17/10)

“Our test results, from a third-party lab, indicated that the methane present [in] the water sample did not match the gas from our oil and gas operations.” - Chesapeake Director of Corporate Development Stacey Brodak (The Intelligencer, 10/17/10)

CLAIM: West Virginia: In Wetzel County, Marilyn Hunt reported to the EPA in 2010 that: ”frac drilling is contaminating the drinking water here.” Residents report health symptoms, such as rashes and mouth sores, as well as illness in their lambs and goats, which they suspect is linked to drinking water contamination.

REALITY: “‘People complain a lot about gas in their wells and stuff like that, but in West Virginia that is a fairly common thing,’ said Tim Carr, West Virginia University geology professor.  Carr said that before a nearby gas well can be blamed, the contamination needs to be investigated. Thermogenic natural gas is often found in wells and septic systems.” (Register-Herald, 2/24/11)

CLAIM: Wyoming: Families in the small town of Pavillion have been reporting contamination of their drinking water for at least ten years. Hydraulic fracturing has been used in the many wells in the area owned by Encana Corporation. Drinking water has turned black, smelled bad, and tasted bad. Individuals report medical symptoms they believe are related to water contamination. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is investigating and has found contamination in 11 water wells, including toxic chemicals that may be from hydraulic fracturing fluids. Further tests are needed to determine the source of contamination.

REALITY: “Lind said the [Powder River Basin Resource Council], unlike some nationally based environmental groups, does not allege that fracking fluids are the cause of groundwater contamination anywhere in Wyoming. … [T]he Wyoming-based group is not trying to draw a link between fracking and incidents of groundwater contamination in the small town of a Pavilion, Wyoming … ‘We don’t want to accuse them of something they cannot prove. We’re their neighbors,’ he said.” (Platts’ Gas Daily, 4/20/10)

NOTE: A PDF of this document is available on-line HERE.

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Up In Smoke: Natural Gas Opponents, Citing Air Emissions, Come Out Blazing in Support of Carcinogenic Marijuana Use

Friday, April 1st, 2011

A tale only believable in Washington. Several outspoken congressmen who are adamantly critical of clean-burning American natural gas development, particularly the use of hydraulic fracturing – a critical oil and natural gas stimulation technology that’s helping the nation realize ‘enormous’ energy security benefits, as President Obama said in a speech this week – have recently introduced legislation, which they claim, would end Clean Air Act “exemptions” governing oil and natural gas development in the United States.

In a March 17 press release, Congressman Jared Polis (D-Colo.), citing the imperative to ensure air quality safety, says this about the BREATHE Act:

“It’s simply common sense to ensure that we monitor extremely dangerous emissions, equip communities in heavy drilling areas with the tools they need to stay safe, and reverse these exemptions to the Clean Air Act.”

Congressman Maurice Hinchey (D-NY), in the same press release, adds this:

“Whether you’re drilling oil or gas, toxic fumes released in the process pollute the air we breathe, causing health problems for workers at the drilling sites and nearby residents. The BREATHE Act is another commonsense bill that will make sure that oil and gas companies use the best available technology to rid their emissions of harmful pollutants and protect our air and the people who breathe it.”

Subsequently, Energy In Depth completely demystified the host of baseless claims put forth by BREATHE Act proponents (all 8 of them in the entire U.S. House of Representatives). As the FRAC Act would fundamentally rewrite the Safe Drinking Water Act, the BREATHE Act aims to give unelected Washington bureaucrats new, unprecedented authority to regulate – and therefore impede – job-creating American energy production.

Fast forward a few weeks. In a speech this week at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, Rep. Polis – flanked by Steve Fox, director of public affairs at the National Cannabis Industry Association (no confirmation on any relation to Gasland’s Josh Fox) – renewed efforts to legalize marijuana.

Politico’s senior political reporter Ben Smith has a great scoop on Rep. Polis’ efforts today (as does the trustworthy “Weed Blog”):

In several interviews this week, Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.) is pushing for marijuana decriminalization or legalization — a fight that has unfolded mostly in the states, attracting few politicians at the federal level willing to talk about the issue.

“Drugs are fundamentally a health issue,” said Polis on MBNBC. “Is there an abuse of drugs? Absolutely. Do people abuse alcohol, tobacco and marijuana? Yes. Should we have a national health strategy around reducing that? Yes. Does throwing people in prison for smoking a joint make sense? No.”

And Polis tells the hip-hop magazine The Source that legalizing marijuana could actually even lead to urban renewal and greening.

“Marijuana farming in major urban centers would increase green space and make urban renewal profitable in the short and long-term,” said Polis.

“Urban renewal”? You can’t make this stuff up.

Importantly, though, how does Rep. Polis square his concerns about the impact clean-burning American natural gas production has on air emissions with the widely accepted fact that marijuana use can be devastating to human health?

Here’s what the American Lung Association has to say about the impact marijuana use can have on health:

Health Hazards of Smoking Marijuana

Marijuana smoke contains a greater amount of carcinogens than tobacco smoke. In addition, marijuana users usually inhale more deeply and hold their breath longer than tobacco smokers do, further increasing the lungs’ exposure to carcinogenic smoke. Marijuana use is not only associated with adverse physical effects, but also mental, emotional and behavioral changes.

People who smoke marijuana frequently, but do not smoke tobacco, have more health problems and miss more days of work than nonsmokers.  Many of these extra sick days are due to respiratory illnesses.

And Harvard University experts determined the following about marijuana use:

The main respiratory consequences of smoking marijuana regularly (one joint a day) are pulmonary infections and respiratory cancer. … It should be noted that one joint has four times more tar than a cigarette, which means that the lungs are exposed four-fold to this toxin and others in the tar.

While today is April Fool’s Day, this is no joke. However, such political grandstanding surely is.

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What To Look For From The President This Week

Tuesday, March 29th, 2011

The White House announced today that President Obama will pivot this week from ongoing efforts in the Middle East to focus his energy, well, on energy. Tomorrow, as the Wall Street Journal reports, “President Barack Obama will outline a plan for America’s energy security on Wednesday [at Georgetown University].”

This too from whitehouse.gov: “The President will visit a UPS shipping facility in Landover, MD where he will view vehicles from AT&T, FedEx, PepsiCo, UPS and Verizon’s clean fleets and deliver remarks to the companies’ employees.” No word if Daniel Snyder has received a formal invite yet.

Many of these “clean fleet” vehicles are certainly powered by cleaner-burning, American natural gas. And the president, for his part, and his administration, have been mostly supportive of shale gas production, which is performed overwhelmingly by smaller, independent producers here in America. This from his January 25 State of the Union Address:

Some folks want wind and solar.  Others want nuclear, clean coal and natural gas.  To meet this goal, we will need them all — and I urge Democrats and Republicans to work together to make it happen.

You see, the United States is uniquely positioned to continue to be a global leader in natural gas producing — we have roughly a 100 year supply available. But misguided regulatory and legislative threats persist in Washington that could dramatically and unnecessarily thwart this production, which is helping to stabilize energy prices for struggling American consumers, driving down our dangerous dependence on unstable region’s of the world to fuel our economy and creating tens of thousands of good-paying, blue-collar jobs at a time when they’re most needed.

Hydraulic fracturing – a 60 year old oil and natural gas stimulation technology – remains at the core of this debate. Without this tightly-regulated and environmentally proven process, that abundant, 100 year supply of domestic, job-creating natural gas, as well as hundreds of millions of barrels of American oil, would remain out of reach.

The fact remains that individual energy-producing states close, ably and aggressively regulate well-casing standards and therefore fracturing and other completions technologies. So closely, ably and aggressively that fracturing has never impacted groundwater – but has been used to enhance American oil and natural gas production more than 1.1 million times.

Some in Washington, nonetheless, are seeking to fundamentally rewrite longstanding federal law with the goal of stripping individual states – and their highly-skilled technical experts – of their ability to ensure that fracturing is done safely. The impact could be devastating, both economically and from an energy security standpoint.

In a speech last week, Louisiana Oil and Gas Association president Don Briggs said this about this about these misguided, ‘Washington-knows-best’ efforts:

Briggs said the natural gas market is “coming on strong,” but there are some attempts to have the process of hydraulic fracturing controlled by the federal Environmental Protection Agency. Currently, each state oversees the process.

“If the EPA controls hydraulic fracturing … then all you have to do is have one operator somewhere make a mistake, and they will shut down all exploration,” Briggs said.

“President Obama’s central focus is on stimulating economic recovery and helping America emerge a stronger and more prosperous nation,” reads the White House’s ‘Guiding Principles’, adding this: “President Obama’s first priority in confronting the economic crisis is to put Americans back to work.” Well, Mr. President, look no further than American independent oil and natural gas producers, who are helping to create tens of thousands of jobs. These jobs, however, are tied directly to hydraulic fracturing.

At A Glance: Hydraulic Fracturing-Related Economic Impacts

At a conference yesterday, according the Wall Street Journal, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said this about shale gas development in his country: “The fruits of this debate will be what’s priceless: a feeling of security and a hope for the future for millions of people.”

President Obama has an opportunity to demonstrate real leadership on the issue of responsibly developing job-creating American oil and natural gas this week, just as Prime Minister Tusk and a host of other world leaders have in their countries. In fact, this production is “helping America emerge a stronger and more prosperous nation.”

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Press Release: Waxman Memorandum Elicits Detailed Response from Natural Gas Caucus

Sunday, March 20th, 2011

EID: Boren/Murphy letter fills “factual and historical holes that were unfortunately left agape subsequent to the release of the Waxman memorandum.”

WASHINGTON – Less than a month after Chairman Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) sent letters to nine separate service companies seeking additional information on the processes and technologies involved in producing America’s enormous reserves of clean-burning shale gas, U.S. Reps. Dan Boren (D-Okla.) and Tim Murphy (R-Pa.) submitted a letter of their own this past week, reminding the chairman that shale gas is a “proven and powerful engine of economic growth – and one this Congress idles at the peril of those it represents.”

After reviewing the letter, Lee Fuller, executive director of Energy In Depth, released the following statement:

“With more attention being paid on Capitol Hill to the critical role that shale gas can play in securing our nation’s economic and environmental future, it’s natural that additional questions will be raised, and additional information will need to be provided so that lawmakers have access to all the facts, and a full appreciation of the context within which they reside. This letter from Congressmen Boren and Murphy addresses both of those needs, all while filling-in several factual and historical holes that were unfortunately left agape subsequent to the release of the Waxman memorandum.”

The following excerpts were taken directly from the Boren/Murphy letter, which can be downloaded in full here:

On Jobs:

“Consider that in just the past few years, more than 100,000 high-wage jobs have been created in Oklahoma and Pennsylvania alone, all of them tied to the responsible development of American natural gas, and every bit of that made possible thanks to the safe and steady deployment of fracturing technology.”

“At a time of unprecedented economic uncertainty, and in a year in which four million Americans lost their jobs, shale gas exploration represents a proven and powerful engine of economic growth – and one this Congress idles at the peril of those it represents.”

On Shortcomings of the Waxman Memo:

“While a number of the elements contained in your memorandum appear to be sufficiently-researched and adequately sourced, we were nonetheless disappointed to find in the eleven-page document only a single reference to the landmark 2004 study on hydraulic fracturing done by EPA, a reference that does not even acknowledge the core findings and conclusions of the actual report.”

On Relationship between Committee Investigation and EPA’s Pending Study:

“While the agency has yet to formally release details indicating the scope and methodology of that research, it seems likely that much of the information you intend to gather pursuant to your investigation will also be sought, compiled and analyzed by EPA. It’s our hope that you work does not in any way interfere with that process, and our expectation that your course of study meets the same rigorous standards of science, evaluation and peer-review as historically observed by the agency.”

On Waxman Assertion that Fracturing Solutions are Unknown:

“[C]ertainly you must know that federal law mandates that Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) be kept on-hand at every wellsite in America when chemicals are present, and further, that those sheets include an accounting of the identities of those chemicals with identified risks used in the fracturing process.  Indeed, the vast majority of these information sheets can be found readily and easily on the Internet. As you indicate, a number of states today post this information in full view of the public online.”

On the Critical Role that Well Integrity Plays in Safeguarding Drinking Water:

“Unfortunately, those who support the FRAC Act appear to believe the mere existence of small amounts of chemical additives in the fracturing solution represents a circumstance sufficient for public drinking water supplies to become contaminated.

“The reality, however, is that these materials are well known to those who regulate the process, and are managed in a way that eliminates virtually any risk of those components coming into contact with shallow reservoirs bearing potable water. Wells drilled today incorporate thousands of feet (and many layers) of steel casing, and thousands of pounds of cement – every bit of that installed using a time-tested engineering process and precise instrumentation to ensure what’s happening inside the wellbore remains in complete isolation from what naturally exists outside of it.”

Click here to view the letter online.

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March Madness: Small Group in Congress Renews Efforts That Could Cost Jobs, Undercut American Energy Security

Thursday, March 17th, 2011

Unable to pass the bill in the previous two sessions of Congress, or secure even a single committee hearing during that time, proponents of the so-called FRAC Act re-introduced legislation earlier this week that seeks to fundamentally re-write a 37-year-old federal statute – with an eye on assigning the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) direct authority over the regulation of hydraulic fracturing for the first time in the history of the Act, the technology, or the agency itself.

In a statement, Energy In Depth’s Lee Fuller underscored the potential impact this far-reaching, Washington-knows-best policy could have on America’s economy and job creators, as well as our nation’s energy security:

“Hydraulic fracturing is one of the most critical processes that occurs at the wellsite; it’s also among the most stringently regulated. With this technology, it’s possible that literally quadrillions of cubic feet of clean-burning natural gas can be rendered available for American consumers in the future, resources that would otherwise be too deep and diffuse to access. It’s a technology that’s been around a long time, stretching all the way back to the Truman administration. But it’s also a technology that’s never been more important to our nation’s economic and environmental future than it is today. Unfortunately, somewhere along the way, it became a victim of its own success. If hydraulic fracturing weren’t as patently effective as it is, it’s tough to imagine it’d be as strangely controversial as it has become.”

And today’s Wheeling News-Register reports this on the misguided legislation:

Lee Fuller, executive director of Energy In Depth, went further than Klaber, saying the FRAC Act is “based on fundamentally incorrect information,” noting the Safe Drinking Water Act was never used to regulate fracking. “Its backers say it’s about forcing companies to disclose the composition of the … solution that’s not water and sand, even though just about every state regulatory agency in the country will attest that such information is already available,” Fuller added.

Those responsible for regulating oil and natural gas development, and fracture stimulation technologies, are in agreement with energy producers on the facts: this 60 year old technology has never impacted groundwater, thanks in large part to the industry’s commitment to protecting the environment and the common sense state regulations and laws in place. This from Oklahoma’s News On 6 (also on EID’s YouTube page):

Chesapeake Energy’s Chairman and CEO, Aubrey McClendon, said he welcomes the study. “I think the EPA will do a good job of examining it,” McClendon stated, “and if we’re doing something wrong…somehow hurting the environment and we don’t know about it, then we want to fix what we’re doing wrong.”

But McClendon said Chesapeake has hydraulically fractured formations 14,000 times since 1989, and the record shows there isn’t anything wrong.

Larry Nichols, Devon Energy Executive Chairman, agrees. “Show us one single well where hydraulic fracturing has caused any problem,” Nichols said. “I’ve said that in testimony before Congress, and no one has yet to come up with one single well where hydraulic fracturing has caused a problem, that anyone can document with any scientific accuracy.”

The Oklahoma Corporation Commission has oversight of all drilling in the state, including fracking. Commissioner Bob Anthony believes the EPA study is a political scare tactic. “The facts are,” Anthony said in a written statement, “that hydraulic fracturing has been used in Oklahoma about 100,000 times in the last 60 years, with no documented cases of groundwater contamination.”

Nichols worries that the Obama administration’s goal, through the EPA study, is to wrest control of onshore drilling from the states. His fear is that they would then do to onshore drilling what they’ve done to offshore — “Shut it down,” he said.

A quick look around the U.S. at the overwhelmingly positive impacts that hydraulic fracturing – which is tightly and aggressively regulated by energy-producing states – continues to have, all of which would be jeopardized if the FRAC Act were to become law:

MT Gov. Brian Schweitzer, Western Governors Association chair, and fmr. Democratic Governors Association chair: “We’re increasing in Montana by thousands of jobs in drilling in what’s called the Bakken (Shale Formation) in eastern Montana,” the state’s Governor Brian Schweitzer told Fox News. “It is the richest geologic structure in all of the United States. Recent estimates are that there’s about 25 billion barrels of recoverable oil in the Bakken in North Dakota and Montana. To put that in perspective we import about 4 billion barrels a year. We use about 6 billon barrels a year. So this one structure in North Dakota and Montana could be one of the keys to energy independence in the short term.” (Fox News, 3/17/11)

Louisiana Association of Business and Industry (LABI) President Daniel Juneau: The second factor that can greatly expand economic activity in the state is for the federal government to stay out of regulating shale oil and gas drilling activities. In 2004, the EPA concluded a 5-year study that concluded that the hydraulic fracturing process used in shale drilling was safe. Now the current EPA wants to go back and revisit the issue. If the EPA outlaws hydraulic fracturing, it will be the death-knell for shale oil and gas production. There is currently a tremendous amount of economic activity going on in northwest Louisiana from shale gas drilling in the Haynesville Shale play. Across central Louisiana, there is a potential for as much as 70 billion barrels of crude oil from the Tuscaloosa Shale play. Production from these shale plays can be a real shot in the arm to jobs and investment in our state. (Bastrop Daily Enterprise Op-Ed, 3/16/11)

“Penn State study shows sales tax revenue higher in Marcellus counties”: A new Penn State University publication examines state tax collection data and specifically compares counties where there is drilling and production activity in the Marcellus shale play with that of non-Marcellus counties. … The data indicates that local spending has increased in counties with major Marcellus activity. State tax collections of the personal income tax and realty transfer tax show similar differences between Marcellus and non-Marcellus counties. (Oil & Gas Journal, 3/16/11)

“Why North Dakota Is Booming: They’re drilling for oil, attracting high tech, and keeping the tax burden moderate. Result: 3.8% unemployment.” Living on the harsh, wind-swept northern Great Plains, North Dakotans lean towards the practical in economic development. Finding themselves sitting on prodigious pools of oil—estimated by the state’s Department of Mineral Resources at least 4.3 billion barrels—they are out drilling like mad. And the state is booming. Unemployment is 3.8%, and according to a Gallup survey last month, North Dakota has the best job market in the country. Its economy “sticks out like a diamond in a bowl of cherry pits,” says Ron Wirtz, editor of the Minneapolis Fed’s newspaper, fedgazette. (Wall Street Journal Op-Ed, 3/15/11)

PA State Rep.: Marcellus Shale’s “powerful [economic] ripple effects are spreading throughout the commonwealth”: And in those once-depressed counties where clean natural gas trapped in the deep shale rock is now being reached for energy consumers through high-technology horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, residents are enjoying a dramatic rebirth of jobs, business growth, and income. And, as a result, the Pennsylvania state treasury and the municipal governments in those regions are already receiving significant boosts in tax revenue … Pennsylvania natural gas is creating jobs, generating income, and boosting tax revenues. And while much of the economic activity remains concentrated in the Marcellus Shale regions, powerful ripple effects are spreading throughout the commonwealth. (The Sentinel Op-Ed, 3/12/11)

“Increased Drilling Creates Jobs”: An oil drilling boom across the American West is creating a wealth of job opportunities at a time when most segments of the economy remain sluggish. The boom is the result of new and updated technologies allowing companies to go after oil reserves that until recently were trapped in shale formations, making them too expensive and difficult to tap even five or ten years ago. “This is solid rock, so it’s not like a conventional resource where you just drill a well and the oil starts to flow,” Kathleen Sgamma, Director of Government and Public Affairs for The Western Energy Alliance, explained. “We have to crack that rock through a process that we call hydraulic fracturing where we pump high pressure water and a mixture, and sand down into the formation to crack the rock and create micro-fissures in the rock and prop it open with sand.” (Fox News, 3/17/11)

“This is an employment opportunity for the region. It’s going to provide a new workforce opportunity”: This summer, Clarion University’s Venango Campus will begin offering a natural gas technology program. “Obviously the Marcellus Shale industry is emerging in Pennsylvania and beyond, and it is going to be requiring a huge workforce,” said Christopher Reber, Executive Dean of Clarion University-Venango Campus. “There’s already been a phenomenal investment in Pennsylvania.” … “This is an employment opportunity for the region. It’s going to provide a new workforce opportunity, and certainly we’re committed to promoting economic development for the whole area,” Reber said. (WYFX-TV, 3/16/11)

ND’s Oil Boom Has “has created a $1 billion state budget surplus”: North Dakota, the state with the nation’s lowest unemployment rate, capped a decade of economic prosperity with dramatic population growth in its biggest cities. … North Dakota is enjoying an oil boom in the western part of the state, drawing workers from across the country. Williston, in oil country, grew 17.6% to 14,716. The oil windfall has created a $1 billion state budget surplus. … “We feel extremely fortunate for the position we’re in,” says North Dakota Commerce Commissioner Paul Govig. (USA Today, 3/17/11)

Hydraulic Fracturing, American Oil Production Creating Blue Collar Jobs: Increased drilling in the Niobrara Shale Formation in eastern Wyoming and Colorado is also creating job opportunities. “Currently, Noble Energy has over 60 jobs that are available in this area,” according to Stephen Flaherty, Director of Government Relations for Noble Energy. “The opportunities range from field pumpers, which just require a high school degree and no oil field service all the way up to petroleum engineers and everything in between; information technology services and accounting, just about every discipline.” (Fox News, 3/17/11)

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Fact Checking The USA Today: Hydraulic Fracturing is a Critical, Environmentally Proven Energy Production Technology

Wednesday, March 16th, 2011

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EID Statement on Re-Introduction of the FRAC Act

Tuesday, March 15th, 2011

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ICYMI – NY State’s Top Geologist: “No Cases in Which [Hydraulic Fracturing] Has Led to Groundwater Contamination”

Monday, March 14th, 2011

Fmr. NY DEC Commissioner & Fmr. State Rep. for Manhattan’s Upper East Side:
“Dangers of [Hydraulic Fracturing] Are Overblown”

Scientist says the spin is on
James M. Odato
Albany Times Union
Monday, March 14, 2011

 

Key Excerpts:

NOTE: Click HERE to view this story online.

 

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Welcome to Urbina Island

Tuesday, March 8th, 2011

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Market Rate for Bald-Faced Lies About Hydraulic Fracturing? $7,500.

Friday, March 4th, 2011

Earlier this week, after hobnobbing with Hollywood’s elite, New York City filmmaker Josh Fox made the trek to Conway, Arkansas to spread misinformation about the responsible development of clean-burning, job-creating American natural gas development.


(facebook.com/gaslandmovie; accessed 2/3/11)

At a Hendrix College panel on Tuesday, sponsored by the school’s Environmental Concerns Committee, the Gasland director, true to form, lodged a host of unfounded claims about hydraulic fracturing. “Some critics doubt some of Fox’s finding, but he stands by his research,” reports KATV.

And speaking of critics, John Hanger, who served as the top environmental watchdog under former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell and previously as president of the state’s leading environmental organization, PennFuture, has been less than shy about this sentiments toward Josh Fox and his hatched job of a documentary. In the lead up to the Oscars, the former Department of Environmental Protection secretary writes this on his blog about Gasland’s bogus and debunked claims regarding shale gas development:

The film presents a selective, distorted view of gas drilling and the energy choices America faces today. If Gasland were about the airline industry, every flight would crash and all airlines would be irresponsible. … Gasland treats cavalierly facts both by omitting important ones and getting wrong others.

While Gasland “is dedicated to the non-profit organization Damascus Citizens for Sustainability,” according to the film’s Wikipedia page, director Josh Fox is demanding top-dollar for appearances.

In minutes from a November Hendrix College Student Senate meeting, it’s noted that Fox’s “original standard fee is $7,500, but the lowest he will go is $5,000.” In addition to the requested fee, Fox requested airfare from, yes, New York City. Clearly the most logical region for any Pennsylvanian to travel through. This from the minutes:

Requesting: $5,304.20

For: Speaker Josh Fox, director and creator of GasLand

When and where this event will occur: Worsham, next semester

Master Calendar Confirmation: Dependent on Josh Fox’s schedule

Details: We want to show the movie GasLand about natural gas drilling. This is a pertinent issue to the students at Hendrix and the community of Conway. … The ECC will pay for the film rights and Josh’s food and lodging.

Budget Breakdown:

$304.20 – Roundtrip flight from New York City to Little Rock, AR

$5,000 – Josh Fox’s fee

His original standard fee is $7,500, but the lowest he will go is $5,000.

But hey, it’s not as if “America’s Enemies Don’t Want U.S. Drilling,” right?

 

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Just The Facts: Northeast Professors Confirm Hydraulic Fracturing’s Environmental Safety Record

Monday, February 21st, 2011

“New production data shows shale’s promise and growth,” reports the Scranton Times-Tribune over the weekend. Reports the Beckley Register-Herald today: “Natural gas big, thriving and growing across W.Va.” Investor’s Business Daily, in a recent editorial, goes with this headline: “A Shale Of A Difference.”

Modern shale gas and oil production – enabled by the 60 year-old environmentally proven oil and natural gas stimulation process called hydraulic fracturing – continues to make waves across the nation and throughout the media, for sure.

And as this tightly-regulated production continues to help create tens of thousands of good-paying jobs at a time when they’re most needed, while protecting the environmental and stabilizing energy costs for struggling consumers, academic experts – in addition to a host of environmental regulators – are speaking out, specifically about fracturing’s long and clear record of environmental safety.

Here’s just the latest installment:

Donald Siegel, Professor of Earth Science at Syracuse University: Siegel says he thinks it is very unlikely that the possible harmful impacts of drilling will effect area waters. “It is highly improbable and probably implausible that we would see such a thing happen. We might still see a case of bad cementing fluids moving up the outside of the well, as in Dimock,” said Siegel. (WBNG-TV, 2/20/11)

V. K. Mathur, Professor Emeritus at the University of New Hampshire: Drilling has been done safely and efficiently. Regrettably, there is a move by some environmental groups concerned about possible pollution of groundwater systems to ban shale-gas drilling altogether. Short of that, they want shale-gas regulation turned over from state governments to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, but that isn’t necessary. The states do an effective job. (Foster’s (NH) Daily Democrat, 2/20/11)

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EID Statement on Josh Fox, Mark Ruffalo Capitol Hill Press Conference

Thursday, February 17th, 2011

WASHINGTON – At a Capitol Hill press conference today, a small group of critics opposed to the responsible development of job-creating American oil and natural gas – including U.S. Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-NY), actor Mark Ruffalo, and GasLand filmmaker Josh Fox – are poised to renew calls for a one-size-fits-all, federal takeover of hydraulic fracturing, a 60 year-old energy stimulation technology used to enhance 90 percent of the nation’s onshore wells.

Lee Fuller, executive director of Energy In Depth, issued this statement regarding the event:

“It’s clear that this event, scripted by a Hollywood publicist one week before the Academy Awards, is focused on achieving staged drama and inside-the-beltway chatter about a ‘documentary’ that’s been debunked in its entirety.

“Refusing to engage in a fact and science-based dialogue, New York City stage director Josh Fox, his Hollywood friends, and a few congressmen are more concerned with stunts and scare tactics than working to address critical energy security issues. The American people deserve and expect nothing less than a serious discussion and common sense solutions regarding national energy policy, not tired, misleading talking points from Hollywood elite who’ve never been on a drilling rig.

“American natural gas and oil production must absolutely be done safely and in way that protects our environment and water. And for more than 60 years, state governments have ably and effectively regulated hydraulic fracturing. Energy-producing states, who understand their unique geology best, have inspectors and expert scientists in place to ensure that fracturing is done safely not impact groundwater.

“EPA is once again studying hydraulic fracturing, and we support a straightforward, scientific examination of this environmentally proven technology. Input from state regulators, natural gas and oil producers, scientists and other independent stakeholders will be critical to this undertaking’s objectivity, and ultimately its success.

“Any congressional efforts to give EPA outright authority to regulate fracturing – which could hamper American energy production and job growth – would be absolutely premature until this study is completed and thoroughly peer-reviewed.”

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NRDC’s About Face

Thursday, February 17th, 2011

Nat’l Environmental Group “Gushes” Over Economic, Environmental Benefits of Shale Gas, Then “Lauds” Gasland Filmmaker’s Efforts to Halt its Responsible Production Two Days Later (more…)

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EID to the Academy: Consider GasLand’s “Many Errors, Inconsistencies, Outright Falsehoods”

Tuesday, February 1st, 2011

“The oil and gas industry doesn’t want a golden Oscar statuette to grace the mantle of ‘Gasland’ filmmaker Josh Fox.,” reports E&E News today. Why? Well, according to the Academy’s official website, a feature-length documentary film must maintain an “emphasis … on fact and not on fiction.” As we know, however, independent experts, film critics, environmental regulators, and elected officials from across the political spectrum have called attention to fact that GasLand is a work of “fundamentally dishonest” “hatched job.”

Energy In Depth – a national coalition leading the efforts of debunking GasLand and holding its Manhattan-based director and anti-natural gas activist Josh Fox accountable – has taken these facts directly to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. EID’s executive director, Lee Fuller, sent a letter earlier today to the Academy. This from E&E News:

An industry group sent a letter today to the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, saying that a litany of errors in the anti-drilling film should render it ineligible for best documentary feature.

“The filmmaker alternates between misstating and outright ignoring basic and verifiable facts related to the impact of these activities on the health and welfare of humans, wildlife and the environment,” said Lee Fuller, executive director of Energy In Depth (EID), in a letter today to the academy.

Fuller wrote that the errors he cites demonstrate that the film does not live up to the academy’s requirement that award winners must maintain an “emphasis … on fact and not on fiction.”

Key Letter Excerpts (NOTE: Click HERE to view):

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ICYMI – More GasLand Reviews Emerge: “You can’t ignore the evidence that ‘Gasland’ is pure propaganda, not a documentary”

Monday, January 31st, 2011

http://www.denverpost.com/carroll/ci_17222056

“Gasland” vs. Colorado
By Vincent Carroll
The Denver Post
01/30/201

When President Obama challenged Congress last week in his State of the Union to set a goal that “80 percent of America’s electricity will come from clean energy sources” by 2035, he pointedly included natural gas in the mix. So would anyone remotely familiar with the obstacles to relying solely upon renewables.

But don’t tell that to Josh Fox, director of the film “Gasland,” which has been nominated for an Oscar. Natural gas “contributes to global warming and climate change,” he told reporter David Brancaccio last year on “NOW” on PBS. “It will run out. . . . We’re transitioning from fossil fuels to other fossil fuels? It doesn’t make sense to me.”

Perhaps this attitude explains the liberties Fox takes. In one scene replayed in the PBS report, for example, a man puts a flame to his faucet, which bursts into a ball of fire. Talk about fallout drilling fallout!

Except for one problem: The man lives in Weld County, and his well has been thoroughly investigated by Colorado regulators — and specifically by scientists at the Colorado Oil & Gas Conservation Commission. Their verdict, issued Sept. 30, 2008: “There are no indications of any oil- and gas-related impacts to your water well.”

So is the commission in bed with industry? Hardly. When the legislature revamped the agency in 2007 and ordered a rewrite of drilling rules, the industry threw a fit. Their complaints reverberated so loudly that Republicans thought they had an issue to exploit against former Gov. Bill Ritter — until he decided not to run for a second term.

So what does explain a faucet bursting into flame? As the commission explains in its “Gasland Correction Document” (see it at cogcc.state.co.us), “Methane gas is common in water wells in Colorado. It occurs naturally . . . as a gas in coal or black shale seams” and “as a byproduct of the decay of organic matter.”

Commercial natural gas is also created by the decomposition of organic matter, but in “rocks buried deeper within the Earth.” It also consistently contains “heavier hydrocarbons such as propane, butane, pentane and hexanes.”

The well in question extended 530 feet into the Laramie-Fox Hills aquifer, which contains methane gas, and had “penetrated at least four different coal beds.” Tough luck, but no scandal.

In reading the commission’s reports, you can’t help but be impressed by its thoroughness. When gas drilling is implicated, its analysts say so. “Gasland” depicts three Weld County landowners and one in Garfield County with wells allegedly polluted by gas development. The state linked one of those cases — and only one — to drilling.

The filmmaker claims that the remarkable surge in drilling across the nation and soaring estimates of recoverable gas reserves represent not a boon, as most energy realists believe, but a threat.

“It’s looking like this is at the expense of our water throughout America,” he told Brancaccio, pointing in particular to hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, as the culprit. Yet when contamination has occurred in Colorado, it’s been linked to spills or unauthorized releases, for example, or failures in the cement or casing in a well. But fracking itself, in which high-pressure fluid (typically 99 percent or more water but also various chemical compounds) is injected into rock formations containing natural gas, has not been implicated.

Colorado has had “no verified incident of hydraulic fracturing harming groundwater,” commission director David Neslin told me — either from fracking chemicals or methane from the gas well itself. Which is not surprising, since the chemicals or gas would usually have to migrate through thousands of feet of impervious shale first.

Neslin said he was “disappointed” in “Gasland,” noting his agency receives “dozens of complaints every year that water wells have been impacted. All are investigated. A relatively small number result in confirmation that the problem is attributable to gas development.” When that occurs, his outfit orders remedial action.

Meanwhile, as Neslin told an Environmental Protection Agency hearing last year, the commission requires periodic tests for “over 2,000 water wells in the San Juan Basin in Southwestern Colorado . . . . Thousands of oil and gas wells in that basin have been hydraulically fractured, and if fracturing fluids were reaching these water wells, then you would expect changes in the chemical composition of the water.”

And yet no such changes have been detected.

Energy production is an industrial process that involves its share of problems, accidents and, yes, pollution. We can try to deal with those side effects reasonably, as Colorado and many states do, or we can spread fear. But if we want to take the reasonable approach, it will require first of all a recognition, in Neslin’s words, that “just because someone can light their tap on fire doesn’t mean their water has been contaminated by an oil or gas well.”

http://washingtonexaminer.com/print/opinion/columnists/2011/01/nothing-hot-air-gasland

Nothing but hot air in ‘Gasland’
By Mark Hemingway
Jan 30 2011 – 8:05pm

For anyone who cares about the environment and the economy over glamour and gossip, the biggest Oscar surprise of 2011 is that the film “Gasland” was nominated for best documentary.

While Hollywood is typically in the business of creating legends, one would expect films nominated for this particular Oscar to have some tangible relationship to the truth. You’d be very hard-pressed to say that about “Gasland.”

The film explores the practice of hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking.” This is a process in which a solution that is 99 percent water and sand — along with tiny amounts of chemicals — is pumped into rock strata deep underground at very high pressure to help extract natural gas.

According to Gasland, fracking pollutes groundwater with terrible consequences. But there’s no credible evidence that this is happening. None.

Oil and natural gas engineers have used this process more than a million times in this country to harvest otherwise unreachable oil and natural gas deposits. A thorough EPA study has concluded fracking is safe.

And the head of the Environmental Protection Agency’s Drinking Water Protection Division told Congress last year that there’s not a single documented instance of fracking polluting groundwater.

Nonetheless, it’s generally agreed that “Gasland” is a slick piece of agitprop. The film’s pivotal scene involves a Colorado family turning on their water taps and so much gas comes out that they light them on fire.

However, the state of Colorado’s Oil and Gas Conservation Commission issued a press release stating that they had investigated the flaming water taps of the landowners in 2008 and 2009 and concluded it was naturally occurring methane, unrelated to oil and gas drilling.

“Unfortunately, ‘Gasland’ does not mention our … finding and dismisses our Markham finding out of hand,” notes the commission.

One of the subjects of the film is John Hanger, head of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, Hanger is “a liberal who spent years in the mainstream environmental movement.”

After watching it, Hanger called the film “fundamentally dishonest” and “a deliberately false presentation for dramatic effect.”

Shortly after “Gasland” premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and won a special jury prize last year, Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., then head of House Energy and Commerce Committee, ordered hearings about the safety of fracking and the need for federal regulations of the process.

Waxman is one of Congress’ most tenacious liberals, and after issuing subpoenas to eight energy companies, he mysteriously dropped the probe pending further study.

Then last October, Scott Anderson, a senior policy adviser for the Environmental Defense Fund, told the publication Energy and Environment that “in the vast majority of cases, if wells are constructed right and operated right, hydraulic fracturing will not cause a problem.”

As for the need to federally regulate fracking, Anderson was not concerned about it.

“The states actually have a lot of knowledge and experience in regulating well construction and operation. We think that states have every reason to be able to tackle this issue and do it well,” he said.

The Environmental Defense Fund is one of the country’s biggest and most liberal activist organizations. If they say fracking is not a problem, it’s not a problem.

Of course, we all know why “Gasland” was nominated. Hollywood is largely comprised of bleeding-heart environmentalists. But a bleeding heart shouldn’t make you soft in the head.

Whatever your political sympathies, you can’t ignore the evidence that “Gasland” is pure propaganda, not a documentary.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has already damaged its reputation by nominating “Gasland.” It would truly be embarrassing if they actually gave it the award.

MORE INFO DEBUNKING GASLAND

EID Fact-Check: Debunking GasLand (Fact Sheet)
Frm. PADEP Sec. John Hanger: GasLand’s Josh Fox is a “Propagandist”
Fact-Check: Colorado State Regulatory Office Debunks Gasland
Denver Business Journal: “In Colorado, COGCC officials have said repeatedly that the state agency — after years of testing — has never found a link between fracking and groundwater contamination.” (11/1/10)
Financial Times: Claims in the film are “Absurd”
Longtime NYT Editor, Columnist on GasLand: “One-sided, flawed … in the Michael Moore mode”
Towanda (PA) Daily Review: “If you want a relatively quick overview of the natural gas phenomenon, watch the 60 Minutes program. And by way of contrast, see “Gasland” and learn for yourself the difference between a responsible report and a hatchet job.” (Editorial, 1/19/10)
Wash. Examiner Columnist: “Gasland is more agit-prop than factual documentary”

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Touch ‘Em All: EID Strikes Hard, Fast With the Facts on Gasland’s Oscar Nod

Wednesday, January 26th, 2011

Yesterday, the HBO film GasLand, produced by Manhattan-based stage director and anti-natural gas activist Josh Fox, was nominated by the Academy Awards for an Oscar in the documentary feature category. Energy In Depth’s Lee Fuller (full EID statement HERE) is quoted in a host of local, regional and national media outlets regarding the nomination, including (our Twitter account, @EnergyinDepth, was also in overdrive yesterday, debunking @gaslandmovie):

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Just The Facts: Anti-Marcellus Activist’s Distortions About Natural Gas Jobs Unsupported by the Facts

Monday, January 24th, 2011

As reported by New York’s WBGH-TV, Jannette Barth – a leading voice against responsible, job-creating Marcellus Shale gas development – is set to again question the thousands of blue-collar, natural gas-related jobs being created in the region at a New York Residents Against Drilling (NYRAD)-sponsored forum later this week. (more…)

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ICYMI – Key Excerpts From This Week’s Texas Railroad Comm. Hearing

Friday, January 21st, 2011

Mike Middlebrook, petroleum engineer and Range’s Vice President of Operations

Question: “Throughout the process of drilling those wells and completing them and producing them in the summer of 2009, were there any problems or issues that developed in real-time as those wells were being drilled and completed and developed?” Answer. “Not at all. We had zero issues while drilling the wells. The completions went flawless. No problems whatsoever.” (pg. 20)

Q: “Prior to the issuance of the EPA order … did the EPA provide Range any data on which it based the December 7th order?” A. “No, they did not.” Q. “Prior to issuance of the December 7th order by the EPA, had Range been continuing to work with the Texas Railroad Commission on the investigation related to the Lipsky water well issue?” A. “Yes, we had.” (pg. 36)

Q: “Was there discussion about hydraulic fracturing in the meeting with the EPA?” A. “Yes.” Q. “What was the EPA’s response to that?” A. “Mr. [Chris] Lister [of EPA] acknowledged that hydraulic fracturing likely had nothing to do with it based on the distance of the Barnett Shale from the water aquifer, in this case over a mile.” (pg. 43)

Q: “Between December 16, 2010 and today, has Range been able to actually accomplish all of this testing, sample all those water wells and do all the gas testing and get the results back to be able to present here today?” A: “Yes, we have.” Q. “Has this protocol — or what does it cost to do all this?” A: “Extremely expensive … Almost unprecedented with the time frame and the dollars that we spent to do this work. In my 19 years I have never witnessed the kind of work that has gone on in the last 30 days.” (pg. 47)


Mark McCaffrey, Ph.D., geochemical gas fingerprinting expert

“We found that nitrogen … can be used to distinguish Barnett formation reservoir gas from Pennsylvanian Strawn reservoir gas. Specifically high nitrogen, low CO2 samples are characteristic of gasses produced from the shallower Pennsylvanian reservoirs. The natural gas component of the most recently collected Lipsky well headspace gas samples, which is the two that were shown in the previous table on the previous slide, contain higher nitrogen than is in Barnett gas.” (pg. 12)

“[The EPA order] does indicate that there is thermogenic [natural gas], but it doesn’t indicate that they are likely to be from the same source anymore than the presence of wings can tell you whether it’s a bat or a bird because the other sources also have the same carbon isotopic composition. It is not distinctive between the different sources. So it is not a basis for linking the Lipsky gas to the Range gas at all.” (pg. 39)

“[I]t’s hard to imagine a scenario by which the Barnett gas is migrating to the shallow aquifer and yet the bradenhead gas that is open to the whole — this thousands of feet of Pennsylvanian section, that bradenhead gas sample doesn’t contain Barnett gas. It clearly contains Pennsylvanian reservoir gas. It also … contains some bacterial gas as well, which is also not in the Barnett.” (pg. 27)

“[I]t calls into question any scenario whereby gas would be migrating from the Barnett up to a shallower aquifer. … The approach used by the EPA to correlate the Lipsky gas sample to Range Resources production was fundamentally flawed.” (pg. 31-33)

“[T]he two most recently collected Lipsky samples lay in the zone of higher nitrogen, indicating a Pennsylvanian [Strawn] origin. The sample that the EPA collected has lower nitrogen … Lipsky, two most recent samples, Pennsylvanian gas. Purdue well, the well closest to the Range wells, Pennsylvanian gas. The bradenhead of the Butler well, Pennsylvanian gas. How can it be that gas is migrating from the Barnett to this much shallower aquifer and yet all of these samples are showing up Pennsylvanian gas?” (pg. 28-29)

“[T]hey … indicate that both gasses are thermogenic in origin. If you were to stop there it is absolutely true. But then whoever wrote it says, ‘and likely to be from the same source.’ They can’t know that from the data they have. They can’t know that because they do not know if these parameters that they measured here would distinguish Barnett gas from shallower reservoirs. Therefore they have no foundation to say that — there is no support for saying that they are likely to be from the same source.” (pg. 37)Q. “Based on your study, based on the study undertaken by you and Dr. Kornacki, based on your over 20 years of experience in geochemical gas fingerprinting, did the EPA use a scientifically correct method to attempt to fingerprint the Lipsky gas as being sourced from either the Barnett Shale or from Range’s wells?” A. “No.” (pg. 40)


John McBeath, P.E., expert petroleum engineer

“Basically from the information we have in these wellbores, there is no evidence of faulting that could be — that could join up with a potential hydraulic fracture even if you could get past the physics of not having enough volume or enough pressure to reach all the way from the Barnett through a mile of rock up to the surface.” (pg. 5)

 

Q. “Do you have an opinion whether there is any scenario in which hydraulic fracturing could be a source for contamination in the freshwater wells in this area?” A. “With the facts that I have looked at, I have been able to rule that out also.” (pg. 6)

“I don’t see how [EPA]s order] can be justified … based on the actions that have gone on through the fall of 2010, and the ongoing investigation. So I am somewhat confused by that finding. I certainly don’t agree with it.” (pg. 16)

“I have concluded that the presence of gas in the Lipsky well and the other wells in the area is due to a natural connection between the Cretaceous and the Strawn that is probably exacerbated with the water wells being drilled either too deep.” (pg. 18)

READ MORE:

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Bipartisan House Lawmakers: New, “Hastily Proposed” Hydrofracturing Regs Will “Increase Energy Costs for Consumers, Suppress Job Creation”

Tuesday, January 11th, 2011

Just hours into the first session of the 112th Congress, a strong, bipartisan chorus of House lawmakers underscored how critical domestic energy production, enabled by the 60 year old technology called hydraulic fracturing, is for our nation’s economic competitiveness, security and environmental objectives. More than 30 House Democrats and Republicans – members of the bipartisan House Natural Gas Caucus – penned a letter to Interior secretary Ken Salazar, urging “Restraint from Interior Before Ordering Any New Hydraulic Fracturing Rules.”

This from Congressman Tim Murphy (R-Pa.), co-chair of the caucus and vice chair of the House Environment and Economy panel:

Congressman Tim Murphy said the decision would discourage domestic natural gas production at a time when the country needs it more than ever. “The Administration has already decided to block offshore oil and gas exploration. Making it more difficult to safely access America’s natural gas supply will only serve to enrich OPEC and stymie job growth.”

Congressman Dan Boren (D-Okla.), also a co-chair of the Bipartisan Natural Gas Caucus, weighed in on the Obama Administration’s “bad policy”:

“Circumventing the United States Congress by carte blanche issuing new burdensome regulations on natural gas development will not only hurt the economic recovery – it’s bad policy,” said Congressman Dan Boren.

Here are key excerpts from the bipartisan letter to Secretary Salazar:

We also would note that the vast majority of scientific evidence shows hydraulic fracturing to be safe, less resource-intensive for the environment than traditional methods, and properly managed and regulated at the state level. Consequently, hastily proposed regulatory burdens on natural gas will increase energy costs for consumers, suppress job creation in a promising energy sector, and hinder our nation’s ability to become more energy independent.

We entrust that you will proceed in a manner that respects the legislative process and yields to the Congressionally-directed study that the Environmental Protection Agency is currently conducting. Our Caucus looks forward to working with you on this issue during the 112th Congress.

And while Congressman Doc Hastings (R-Wash.), chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee, and Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), a key member of the Senate Energy panel, have urged the Interior Department to not move forward hastily with new and unnecessary hydraulic fracturing regulations that could undermine job creation without adding environmental benefits, state lawmakers are also making the case for responsible shale gas development.

A pair of Maryland state lawmakers – Sen. George C. Edwards and Del. Wendell R. Beitzel, both of Annapolis – write this about hydraulic fracturing’s long and clear record of environmental safety in a recent Baltimore Sun column:

Natural gas has been drilled in Garrett County since the 1950s. … Further exploration into the Marcellus Shale could have a positive impact on our local economy by providing much needed jobs and added revenue.

According to the U.S. Department of Energy’s April 2009 report entitled “Modern Shale Gas Development in the United States: A Primer,” water and sand make up over 98 percent of the fracturing fluid used to extract natural gas. Also, in Maryland the drill sites will be encased with cement and other materials to minimize the risk of escaping gas. The thousands of feet of rock and the hard shale itself also act as a buffer to minimize this risk. Further, shale gas extraction has developed to the point that horizontal wells can be drilled into the shale formation and numerous wells can be drilled from one well site. This minimizes the overall surface footprint needed for gas exploration.

Through our conversations, it is apparent that Marcellus Shale exploration can be done while still protecting the environment.

Though this technology is still developing on a daily basis, such fear and misinformation expressed by our colleague does nothing to further this developing resource for Maryland. It is a disservice to our constituents and our local economies. Yet, even more dangerously, the half-truths spread nationally ensure that we will continue to rely on foreign sources of yet another energy commodity.

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Aflockalypse Now?

Tuesday, January 11th, 2011

Scientists have yet to determine what might have caused nearly 5,000 red-winged blackbirds, starlings, grackles, and brown-headed cowbirds to fall out of the sky on New Year’s Eve. But that hasn’t stopped experts from offering a host of potential contributing factors, with some of the leading theories currently focused on the impact of fireworks, thunderstorms, cold weather patterns, parasites, pumpkin seeds and even a slight shift to the east of the earth’s magnetic North Pole toward Russia.

All that said, absent a sudden and widespread deluge of floods, frogs and/or locusts, scientists have been quick to assure the public that the world as we know it is not quite coming to an end. The National Geographic News captures the consensus view held by renowned experts examining the phenomenon:

[T]he in-air bird deaths aren’t due to some apocalyptic plague or insidious experiment—they happen all the time, scientists say. The recent buzz, it seems, was mainly hatched by media hype.

At any given time there are “at least ten billion birds in North America … and there could be as much as 20 billion—and almost half die each year due to natural causes,” said ornithologist Greg Butcher, director of bird conservation for the National Audubon Society in Washington, D.C.

For most folks, that would seem a reasonable explanation. But if you happen to be someone whose day rises and sets around an obsession aimed at preventing the responsible development of natural gas from taking place in America – well, let’s just say you might have a different point of view. Bird deaths in Arkansas? Must be because of hydraulic fracturing. Dove deaths in Italy? Must be the same. Fish kills in the Chesapeake Bay. You guessed it. Here’s just a sampling of some of the stuff you’ll see these days from a few fringe folks on the blogs:

Is this a cover up? Is it denial? Fracturing is unregulated and utilized globally. Is it possible that the turtle doves in Italy, the fish in Chesapeake Bay, the birds of New Zealand and Switzerland succumbed due to the use of fracturing? Until in-depth analysis of the dead wildlife is conducted, the world will not know.

Of course, all this would make for a good laugh and not a whole lot more if these unsubstantiated (and irresponsible) charges remained confined to the outer-reaches of the Internet. But would you believe that EID has now gotten three separate press inquiries from otherwise serious reporters asking whether the accusations – even absent a single shred of scientific corroboration – might be true?

Our response, of course, is as you’d expect: No truth to the rumors that the 60-year-old well-stimulation technology called hydraulic fracturing suddenly caused thousands of birds to simultaneously drop from the sky. But as for last weekend’s victory by the Seahawks over the heavily favored Saints — that’s got hydraulic fracturing written all over it. No use trying to deny it.

Truth be told, the Arkansas bird story isn’t even the first time we’ve had to deal with this particular brand of ridiculousness. Remember last year’s tragic earthquakes in Haiti? The ones that resulted in the direct loss of at least 230,000 human beings and the injury and displacement of hundreds of thousands more? Looking for a little insight into the lengths that some folks will go to use a tragedy as a means of advancing specific political ends? Go to Google and type “Haiti earthquake” and “hydraulic fracturing” in the search field, and what you’ll find looks something like this:

The earthquakes may have just been a large hydraulic fracturing or “fracking” operation designed to release the hydrocarbons from isolated pockets … Or, perhaps drilling at the existing wellheads in Port au Prince some 20 to 30 miles North of the fault line or offshore in the Bay of Port au Prince may have linked up with existing fractures and interconnected to affect the fault-line and cause the earthquake as an unintended consequence.

Seriously, guys? Is this what this debate has come to?

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What They’re Saying: Domestic Energy Production Strengthening U.S. Economy, Security, Putting Thousands to Work

Wednesday, December 29th, 2010

On Hydraulic Fracturing’s Critical Role for U.S. Energy, Economic Security

Top ND Oil, Gas Regulator: “We don’t think the EPA should regulate hydraulic fracturing”: Lynn Helms, director of the ND Dept. of Mineral Resources’ Oil and Gas Division, said disclosure is already required in the event of a spill. “The Industrial Commission and the Department of Mineral Resources have made it no secret that we don’t think the EPA should regulate hydraulic fracturing,” Helms told The Minot Daily News in October. (Minot Daily News, 12/26/10)

Fmr. White House Energy Adviser: Hydraulic Fracturing “Can fuel economic growth”: As a clean-burning fuel, [natural gas] can reduce greenhouse-gas emissions. And because hydraulic fracturing has enabled extraction of “tight gas” from resources across the country, from New York’s Marcellus Shale to the Barnett Shale in Texas, these huge new gas reserves provide promise for economic growth. (Washington Times Op-Ed, 12/23/10)

Facts About Shale Gas Development, Hydrofracturing Are Relevant (Even in Annapolis & Dallas)

Top PA Environmental Watchdog Slams MD Del. Who Parrots Debunked Gasland Claims: She ignores the reality that no other state since 2008 has added more staff or strengthened and enforced its rules governing natural gas drilling more than Pennsylvania. Pennsylvania now requires a water plan controlling water withdrawals associated with drilling; prohibits drillers from dumping wastewater into waterways without first treating it to the safe drinking water standard; mandates a 150-foot buffer along 20,000 miles of streams from all development; and enforces state-of-the-art rules for designing, building and operating all gas wells. Additionally, we’ve more than doubled our oversight staff during the past two years to 202 employees. … Natural gas production offers significant economic and energy security benefits. (Baltimore Sun, PADEP Sec. John Hanger, 12/22/10)

Wash. Ex. Fact-Checks MD Del.’s Baseless Claims on Hydrofracturing: “Mizeur’s argument is nothing more than a regurgitation of the HBO “Documentary” Gasland, a greatly flawed Michael Moore-style polemic. In Gasland the flim’s director, Josh Fox traipsing through the Marcellus Shale region filming residents, who claim fracking, has contaminated their well water, setting the water from their kitchen faucets afire. John Hanger, the Pennsylvania secretary of the environment featured in the movie, labeled it “fundamentally dishonest, a deliberately false presentation for dramatic effect.” (Washington Examiner, 12/23/10)

EPA Overreaches, Swings and Misses on the Facts in Texas: The Environmental Protection Agency and Region 6 Director Al Armendariz have once again abused the agency’s massive powers. Evidence collected after the EPA issued an emergency order against a natural gas exploration company in early December shows that it prematurely determined, and without sufficient evidence, that the company polluted nearby water wells. In effect, the EPA tried, convicted and sentenced the company, Range Resources in Fort Worth, without any notice or opportunity to appear before the EPA to show that it was not at fault. … The RRC tested the water and soil around the wells, and it performed pressure tests on the wellhead of Range’s two wells. The wells passed pressure tests, showing that the leak did not come from the gas wells drilled by Range. (San Angelo Standard Times, Alex Mills, 12/25/10)

Tightly-Regulated Shale Gas Production Revitalizing Rural America, Driving Down Energy Costs for Struggling Consumers

 

Responsible Shale Gas Development Creating Opportunity for Small, Family-Owned Businesses: Local businessman Nick Hurley runs the cafeteria at the complex, serving 700 meals a day, including lunches that workers grab on their way out the door. Hurley also provides janitorial and laundry services for the facility. He can’t believe his good fortune. His family owns two grocery stores, but business was suffering before the gas boom hit last year. “Our backs were against the wall,” said Hurley, 36. He started catering to gas rigs, and the business kept growing. His family’s companies now employ 160 people, up from 90 before the boom, including 35 at the Man Camp alone. “This is wonderful,” he said. “We grew up in kind of a repressed area. There is no way we could have built this up without natural gas.” (Philadelphia Inquirer, 12/27/10)

 

Pa. Paper: “The Economic Development is Obvious”: The region’s landscape in 2010 was painted literally and figuratively by the advent of the natural gas industry. The industry’s development of the Marcellus Shale deposits underneath our Earth took full flight during the year, with varied impact emerging. The economic development is obvious. Jobs and opportunity are springing up like mushrooms throughout our region. … The industry’s positive impact on the economy was a big part of the local portfolio in 2010 and a major reason why the region showed signs of recovery from the nation’s economic malaise. (Williamsport Sun-Gazette Editorial, 12/24/10)

“AP: Oil voted top story” in North Dakota: North Dakota’s oil patch, which has helped the state boast a near billion-dollar budget surplus and a booming economy, has been voted the state’s top news story of 2010 by print and broadcast members of The Associated Press. North Dakota is on pace to pump a record 110 million barrels of oil in 2010, up from 79.7 last year and more than double the amount produced less than three years ago. More than 95 percent of the rigs drilling in North Dakota are aiming at the rich Bakken shale and Three Forks-Sanish oil reservoirs in western North Dakota. (Associated Press, 12/27/10)

 

 

Local Pa. Resident, Mayor on Job-Creating Marcellus Development: “It’s a very safe industry.” … “There is a safe way to extract this gas,” Mayor Marc Mantini said. (Leader Times, 12/28/10)

Hydraulic Fracturing Helping to Create Thousands of Good-Paying Jobs, Driving Down Unemployment Throughout Rural America: Not so long ago, this town was just the seat of Bradford County. Now, it lies at the epicenter of natural gas development in the Marcellus Shale region. It used to be a sleepy little place on the Susquehanna River. Now, it’s a boom town. Help-wanted signs plead for waitresses, mechanics, truck drivers. Once-empty storefronts are now occupied in this hilly borough, population 3,000. … According to the state Department of Environmental Protection, 355 of the 1,368 Marcellus wells drilled in Pennsylvania this year were drilled in this rural county on the New York border. Bradford County also leads the state in gas production. … Unemployment is dropping faster here than in any other county in Pennsylvania – the jobless rate was 6.8 percent in October, fourth best in the state, down from 8.1 percent a year ago. (Philadelphia Inquirer, 12/27/10)

Hydraulic Fracturing-Enabled Shale Gas Production Lowering Energy Costs for Hoosiers, All American Consumers: “Last winter, as you know, it was a colder than normal winter. So far this winter, it’s maybe a little bit warmer than normal,” Atmos Energy V.P. David Park says. … So the average consumer could see their bill drop about $17 per month through February. You can thank the large amount of gas in storage. Park says, “It’s abundant. We’re seeing a lot of production from the shale plays – Barnett and Marcellus and others – that have produced more gas in the market.” (WFIE-TV (IN), 12/26/10)

Science, Hard Work and American Ingenuity Putting Nation on Path Toward Energy Security, Helping Law Enforcement

Bill Nye Isn’t the Only Science Guy: “Geophysicist helps map where to drill for oil, gas deposits”: Drilling for oil or natural gas is too expensive to leave to chance, so energy companies rely on employees like Ryan Miller to point them in the right direction. Miller is a geophysicist at Devon Energy Corp. His job is to interpret scientific data from seismic tests that can send sound waves as deep as 30,000 feet below ground and identify oil and gas deposits. “We can’t drill on imagination or hopes and dreams,” he said. (The Oklahoman, 12/26/10)

Clean-Burning Shale Gas Development in La. Giving Law Enforcement the Resources They Need to Keep Us Safe: Bank deposits of the Red River Parish sheriff’s office exceeded Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. coverage and the banks did not pledge sufficient securities to cover the funds, according to an annual audit released recently. It’s the second year for the same finding for the office that’s flush with cash from the Haynesville Shale activity. Total revenues for year ending June 30 topped $10.8 million, representing an increase of $5.6 million, or 109 percent, from the prior year. (Shreveport Times, 12/27/10)

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STEAL CITY

Wednesday, December 29th, 2010

Faced with state takeover of city pension fund, Pittsburgh City Council opts for massive increase in parking-meter fees – while spending time and money on bizarre crusade against Marcellus (more…)

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• BREAKING: “Shale gas extraction is safe”; Helps Create American Jobs

Tuesday, December 21st, 2010

Now we know why Maryland’s called the “Old Line” state. Following up on a column in the Baltimore Sun this week that was filled with tired old talking points on hydraulic fracturing and shale gas, some actual honest-to-goodness facts were put forth in today’s paper by Erik Milito of the American Petroleum Institute (API). In his must-read Baltimore Sun response, Mr. Milito – a retired U.S. Army Major who directs API’s upstream division – writes this under the headline “Shale gas extraction is safe”:

Del. Heather Mizeur fails to account for previous studies by the EPA and what natural gas development has the potential to do for Marylanders. Just last month, EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson noted to NBC Nightly News that previous federal studies have shown no scientific evidence of contamination and that hydraulic fracturing can be done responsibly to develop the energy resources we need to keep our homes comfortable and get to work every day.

Delegate Mizeur is correct in stating that the vast natural gas reserves found in the Marcellus Shale region are a game changer. There is enough natural gas to create hundreds of thousands of well-paying jobs and provide Americans with a stable, domestic energy source for generations to come.

Repeating unproven accusations about the hydraulic fracturing process does a disservice to those searching for ways to boost state revenue and get Americans back to work.

And while we’re on the subject of correcting the record and debunking unsubstantiated claims regarding the tightly-regulated development of clean-burning, homegrown energy resources, Colorado Oil & Gas Association’s Tisha Schuller separates fact from fiction in response to Josh Fox’s latest iteration of smears. Here are highlights from Ms. Schuller’s AskMen.com piece:

On Fluids Used in Fracturing, the Technology’s Importance to Energy Security

Hydraulic fracturing can sound frightening, however, I want you to know that this is a highly engineered, managed and monitored process. Truly, for over 60 years, the process of hydraulic fracturing has been conducted safely. But don’t take my word for it. Lisa Jackson, the head of the EPA, recently said so on national television. Currently, over 90% of wells are hydraulically fractured. Hydraulic fracturing is important to all of us because, without hydraulic fracturing, we don’t have access to domestic natural gas resources.

I have two small children and live in the mountains where we drink from a domestic well. I get the concerns about hydraulic fracturing fluids — so here are a few facts to remember. The hydraulic fracturing process uses a mixture comprised almost entirely (99.5%) of water and sand. The remaining materials, used to condition the water, are typically found and used around the house. The most prominent of these, a substance known as guar gum, is an emulsifier commonly found in ice cream. (Emulsifier, by the way, is something that makes something gooey.) The average fracturing operation uses fewer than 12 of these additives, according to the Ground Water Protection Council — not 600. I don’t want 600 chemicals injected at one time into the ground either.

The entire universe of additives used in the fracturing process is known to the public and the state agencies that represent them. Here in Colorado, for example, operators must maintain safety sheets for any chemical products brought to a well site.

On Tired, Debunked Claims About the “Halliburton Loophoole”

Opponents of hydraulic fracturing often blame the so-called “Halliburton Loophole” in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 for protecting hydraulic fracturing from federal regulation and exempting it from restrictions of the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA).

Remember: Hydraulic fracturing fluids are not being injected into drinking water. They are being injected into the oil- and gas-bearing formation, the one that has been geologically isolated for millions of years. The shallow drinking water aquifers are protected by layers of metal pipe and cement that make up the well bore.

Hydraulic fracturing was never intended to be subject to the Safe Drinking Water Act and it has never been regulated under SDWA — not in the 60-year history of the technology, the 36-year history of the law or the 40-year history of the EPA. … The 2005 Energy Policy Act was nothing more than a restatement of current and practiced law.

Every step of drilling, including hydraulic fracturing, is regulated carefully and with pride in Colorado by our Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (COGCC).

State Regulators Confirm That Fracturing Has Never Impacted Groundwater

The Environmental Protection Agency, Ground Water Protection Council, Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission, and others have all examined the process and found it to be safe. In Colorado, operators have to apply to get a permit to drill, describing all of their surface and downhole activities through the COGCC.

Despite the assertions in the movie Gasland, the COGCC has investigated hundreds of cases and to date has found no water well contamination attributable to hydraulic fracturing. And these include the flaming faucets and the bubbling surface water in West Creek Divide wetland, both of which were determined to be naturally occurring methane or gas unrelated to drilling.

State regulators in Pennsylvania, New York, Texas, Ohio, New Mexico, and Alabama have also stated the same conclusion that not one case of contaminated groundwater has been caused by hydraulic fracturing.

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The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

Tuesday, December 14th, 2010

This past weekend, New York Gov. David Paterson vetoed a misguided bill that would’ve established a blanket ban on responsible energy development all across the state – effectively bringing to an end an industry that’s been in place in New York for more than 170 years. This directly from the governor’s office:

“The Governor vetoed legislation that would have placed a moratorium on high-volume, horizontal hydraulic drilling and more conventional vertical drilling. The Governor’s order obviates the need for a moratorium on high-volume fracking. However, vertical drilling has been a fact in this State for 40 years without demonstrable environmental damage. Permitting for such drilling will continue unless the DEC’s comprehensive review requires it to be stopped.”

Our friends at Independent Oil and Gas Association of New York (IOGA of NY) also weighed-in on the governor’s decision. In a statement, IOGA-NY executive director Brad Gill said:

“We are grateful to Governor Paterson for his courage and clear-headed judgment in vetoing S.8129-B (Thompson)/A.11443-B (Sweeney). This bill would have had far-reaching consequences to the state’s oil and natural gas industry, and to the communities in which our member companies work.

“We are very pleased that the governor saw the bill for what it was – a flawed piece of legislation replete with unintended and dire consequences for the people and businesses in our industry. Our members are aware of the considerable pressure put upon lawmakers and the governor to approve this bill. We’re hopeful that the governor’s veto today will set the stage for a more reasoned and rationale public discussion about these issues going forward.”

Unfortunately, many claims continue to be made about the safety, effectiveness and overall ability for domestic energy producers to ensure that the process is done right, which will ultimately help deliver affordable supplies of homegrown energy to American consumers who continue to face historic unemployment rates.

Here’s a few recent claims, and actions, that are flatly disconnected with the reality and the facts as it relates to the overwhelmingly positive economic impact of shale gas production and fracturing’s long and clear record of environmental safety.

CLAIM

Doug Shields, Pittsburgh City Council

Three weeks after enacting a ban on natural-gas drilling in Pittsburgh, city council on Tuesday voted to discourage Marcellus Shale production farther afield.

The nonbinding resolution, called a “will of council,” urges the trustees of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History not to allow drilling or extraction on the 2,200-acre Powdermill Nature Reserve in Westmoreland County. … It can allow extraction without allowing drilling on the property because of horizontal drilling, which would allow a company to drill a well off of the Powdermill property and extend the line horizontally underneath the site to extract its gas.

The resolution says Carnegie trustees may lease Powdermill land “for shale gas exploitation” because of a potential royalty windfall. The resolution urges the trustees to “reject any and all offers” from gas companies. The resolution was introduced by Councilman Doug Shields, the sponsor of council’s recently enacted law banning gas extraction citywide. (Post-Gazette, 12/11/10)

FACT

The Pittsburgh City Council isn’t at all bashful when it comes to passing misguided – and unconstitutional – bans on job-creating shale gas production, for sure. But why is the council working aggressively to ban clean-burning natural gas production outside of its city-limit jurisdiction in other Pennsylvania counties, as well as in other local and municipal governments across the Commonwealth?

FLASHBACK:

The lure of millions of dollars in natural gas royalties has prompted officials at the Carnegie Museum of Natural History to study whether to permit drilling on the Marcellus shale range at its Powdermill Nature Reserve in Westmoreland County. Carnegie spokeswoman Betty Momich said trustees of the Pittsburgh-based museum are a long way from deciding whether to allow drilling on the 2,200-acre preserve in Cook Township.

“We are a science-based organization that is very passionate about environmental and conservation issues,” she said. … “It’s a tremendous opportunity for the state, private landowners and organizations like ourselves. But that’s not the only consideration here,” Momich said. (Tribune-Review, 8/25/10)

CLAIM

Cornell Prof., who runs a university-funded ‘green jobs’ site:

Susan Christopherson, an economic geographer at Cornell, said that almost 70 percent of the economic gains would go to upstate landowners and that most of the industry jobs and long-term economic gains would go elsewhere.

“The oil and gas industry is much more like financial services than manufacturing,” she said. “You don’t have continuous jobs and long-term production. What you usually get is a boom and bust cycle.” (New York Times, 12/12/10)

FACT

Study: Marcellus Production in NY Could Create 16,000 In-State Jobs Over 10 Years

Over a 10-year period the economic impact of drilling alone could exceed $15 billion, supporting more than 16,000 person-years of employment and generating salaries and wages of $792 million. State and local tax coffers would receive $85 million of new revenues. (Potential Econ. & Fiscal Impacts from Natural Gas Production in Broome Co., NY; 7/09)

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New Fed. Govt. Report Highlights Hydrofracutring’s Postitive Energy Security, Environmental Impact

Tuesday, December 14th, 2010

Yesterday, the Energy Information Administration, an independent arm of the U.S. Department of Energy, released its Annual Energy Outlook anaylsis. Key findings? “Significant update of the technically recoverable U.S. shale gas resources, more than doubling the volume of shale gas resources assumed in” last year’s report. How’s this possible? Hydraulic fracturing, a 60 year-old oil and natural gas stimulation technology, coupled with advacnements in horitzontal drilling techniques.

Here are just a few highlights from the news cycle regarding the se preliminary findings:

But despite the fact that fracturing and expanded shale gas production is putting the United States on stronger economic footing and helping to slash greenhouse gas emissions, some in Washington remain committed to thwarting this positive progess, and the tens of thousands of good-paying jobs being created through this production. And here’s what academics and editorial pages are saying about responsible shale gas production enabled by tightly-regulated, environmentally proven fracturing technologies:

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Barrasso “The Lasso” Finds His Mark Once Again

Tuesday, December 7th, 2010

In a letter today to Interior secretary Ken Salazar, U.S. Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) underscores the fact that Wyoming, as well as other oil and natural gas producing states, are best equipped to effectively regulate hydraulic fracturing. The senator “opposes adding any burdensome, job killing federal regulations on American energy producers,” according to a press release from his office.

Barrasso, a member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources panel, writes this to the Interior secretary:

I oppose adding burdensome, new red-tape that will further discourage oil and gas production on public lands in the West.

The states have primary experience regulating oil and gas development, including hydraulic fracturing. Their regulations have defined the management structures to protect the environment. The State of Wyoming recently updated its oil and gas regulations to increase transparency for chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing.

Citing the fact that “Oil and natural gas production is critical to jobs and economic development in Wyoming and throughout the western United States,” the senator requests that the secretary answer these crucial questions promptly:

  1. What specific changes to existing federal onshore oil and natural gas policies is the Department of the Interior considering?
  2. Has the Department compiled existing state oil and gas regulations related to hydraulic fracturing?
  3. What substantive evidence has the Department collected to suggest the existing state and federal regulatory process does not adequately function?
  4. Will the Department commit to conducting an economic analysis prior to finalizing any changes to the federal onshore oil and natural gas program?
  5. Is the Department planning to solicit input from impacted state regulatory agencies and the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission?

Sen. Barrasso isn’t alone in his fight to ensure that misguided federal laws and regulations do not undermine Wyoming’s economy, its workforce or our nation’s ability to remain competitive in the global marketplace.

At an Interior Department forum last Tuesday, entitled “Forum on Natural Gas Hydraulic Fracturing on Public Lands,” deputy secretary David Hayes said this in introducing forum panelist Tom Doll of the Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission:

And then we have Tom Doll who’s supervisor of the Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, a position he’s held since March 2009 after being appointed by Governor Freudenthal.

He’s a veteran of Wyoming’s Soil and Gas Industry with more than 37 years of experience in engineering, project management and supervision in field operations, has a petroleum engineering degree from the University of Wyoming. And as you know, Wyoming has been a real leader in terms of disclosure issues and regulatory issues associated with hydraulic fracking.

Here are key excerpts from Mr. Doll’s remarks:

If we weren’t able to use hydraulic fracturing in the state of Wyoming, our wells would not be economic by any stretch of the imagination. These are tight reservoirs. They’re thin. They require hydraulic stimulation to be economic.

That would be, without hydraulic fracturing, that would be a negative impact on Wyoming’s economy. We gain tax revenues from severance ad valorem sales tax and other sources. And, in fact, my agency is funded completely from industry on a conservation tax.

Wyoming has no income tax and low property and sales taxes and so hydraulic fracturing is the reality and it means something to each individual in the state of Wyoming.

Since 1950s, when we got our oil and gas conservation commission set up, we have had no confirmed cases of ground water well contamination due to well stimulation in the state of Wyoming. We do require that we will approve federal wells via these applications for permit to drill and sundry notices prior to any work commencing on federal minerals as well. And our Web page provides all of our disclosure information for the public.

Energy In Depth, for its part, is also working aggressively to inform elected officials, concerned citizens, and other key stakeholders of fracturing’s long and clear record of environmental safety, as well as the key role that this tightly regulated technology will continue to play in meeting our nation’s increasing energy needs.

Under the headline “With fracturing, energy security is on the horizon,” EID’s Chris Tucker writes this in today’s The Oklahoman:

An energy revolution is under way in the U.S. thanks to hydraulic fracturing, a 60-year-old oil and natural gas stimulation technology that — coupled with advancement in horizontal drilling — is making the development of energy from underground shale formations economical for the first time. … The U.S. State Department is aggressively promoting shale gas exploration throughout Asia and Europe as a way to reduce global carbon emissions.

While one bureaucracy in Washington is promoting natural gas abroad, another is angling to hamstring production at home, citing claims that it contaminates groundwater. Despite how fracturing has been portrayed in Hollywood and by some national media, it’s been tightly regulated by energy-producing states for more than six decades, and safely used more than 1.1 million times without impacting groundwater. Top EPA officials have confirmed this fact.

For decades, politicians have touted “energy independence.” As modern shale gas development continues to expand, energy security is now truly on the horizon. Oklahomans reside atop the Woodford Shale, whose development has contributed ample jobs and revenue to the state. Even President Obama recently cited natural gas as an area for congressional bipartisanship.

Let’s hope for the sake of Oklahoma — and for the nation — that EPA abandons misguided regulations that won’t provide any additional environmental benefits.

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Live From New York…

Thursday, December 2nd, 2010

Jobs, affordable energy and robust economic development – that’s what New York will be leaving on the table if Governor Paterson signs symbolic legislation into law that would effectively ban the basic technologies needed to deliver clean-burning natural gas resources to the folks who need them. That’s our position on the matter – and it’s also the position of New York state assemblyman Michael Benjamin, Democrat from the Bronx.

In a letter he sent this week to the governor, Asm. Benjamin makes reference to the growing economic development and jobs being created just across the border in Pennsylvania.

New York could also benefit by taking a page from Pennsylvania’s book when it comes finding a revenue stream to hire additional inspectors and regulators to oversee Marcellus development. In Pennsylvania, the natural gas industry worked with the state Department of Environmental Protection and proactively agreed to increase permitting fees from $100 to about $4,000 per well so that additional inspectors and engineers could be hired, at no expense to the taxpayer, to regulate all aspects of the industry.

Hats off to Assemblyman Benjamin for standing up at an important time to serve as the voice of reason in a debate that’s often lacked facts and basic civility. Here’s to hoping the governor sees the many benefits of responsible production and heeds the advice laid out in the letter below.

November 30, 2010

Governor David Paterson
Executive Chamber
Albany, NY 12224

Dear Governor Paterson:

I strongly urge you to veto A.11433-B/S.8129-B, which would suspend hydraulic fracturing for the extraction of natural gas or oil until May 15, 2011.  This bill is flawed because it is overbroad and will cause an unnecessary halt to gas exploration in Western NY and areas outside the Marcellus Shale.  I am opposed to a moratorium on hydrofracking in New York.  I believe that natural gas exploration will provide our State with desperately needed jobs in these tough economic times.  To arbitrarily suspend drilling without any evidence of danger to our water supply would not be in the best interest of our economy.  I believe that New York’s current regulations, along with pending DEC rule changes, are sufficient to protect New York’s natural resources and to prudently dispose of wastewater.

In addition to the state DEC and EPA reviews already underway, there is a de facto moratorium on natural gas exploration in the Marcellus Shale because funding for 29 additional DEC inspectors was not included in the FY 2010-2011 state budget.  Without the added inspectors, no new permits can be issued for expanded natural gas exploration in the Southern Tier, which makes this legislation redundant.  In addition, recent budget cuts have decimated DEC and will slow the permitting process for new and existing wells.

If passed, these bills will act as an unnecessary deterrent to New York’s ability to keep and create jobs, and provide cheaper natural gas to our residents.  Today, I received an email from Mr. John Holko, President of Lenape Resources, Inc., who informed me that a blanket moratorium on natural gas exploration will force his company to close. Mr. Holko’s assertion supports a study by the American Petroleum Institute that found in 2009 alone, natural gas production in the Marcellus Shale yielded 57,000 new jobs in Pennsylvania and West Virginia.  It also found that New York’s reluctance to exploit the Marcellus Shale has already resulted in $11 billion in lost economic output. This figure is staggering considering our current fiscal situation.

Instead of passing legislative impediments, we should allow the DEC to continue to revise regulations for exploration in the Marcellus Shale area.  Once the DEC’s review is released, we will have a greater understanding of the impact of hydraulic fracturing on the quality of the local water supply and the surrounding environment.  Until then, I recommend that we avoid a rash and unnecessary moratorium that will undoubtedly impact this important economic opportunity.  Instead, we should protect our future by becoming less dependent on foreign sources of energy, while we continue to develop alternative energy sources in America.  And New York can be a leader in the safe extraction of natural gas.

For the aforementioned reasons, I strongly urge you to veto A.11433-B/S.8129-B.

Sincerely,

Michael Benjamin
Member of Assembly

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What You Should Know: Tomorrow’s Dept. of Interior Forum on Hydraulic Fracturing

Monday, November 29th, 2010

Tomorrow, the U.S. Department of Interior (DOI) – which oversees energy development on federal, taxpayer-owned land – will hold a forum focused on the 60 year-old oil and natural gas stimulation technology called hydraulic fracturing. This from DOI on the forum entitled “Natural Gas Hydraulic Fracturing on Public Lands,” which is set to go live at 1pm tomorrow:

As recently as November 3, 2010, President Obama reiterated his commitment to the development of natural gas resources. The Department of the Interior shares that commitment and wants to ensure that natural gas is developed in a safe and environmentally sustainable manner so that the U.S. can fully realize the economic, security, and environmental benefits of this important energy resource.

Energy In Depth will be on site, live-blogging the forum via our Twitter page, ensuring that the facts about this critical technology, and its long and clear record of environmental safety, are echoed and reinforced.

That said, it’s important for folks to understand how transformational – from an economic, environmental, energy security and geopolitical standpoint – this technology is, has and continues to be for our nation. Here’s a quick run-down about what they’re saying about fracture stimulation from the past few days:

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Fmr. Top Mich. Environmental Watchdog: Since the ‘40s, Fracturing’s “Been done safely, without environmental damage”

Monday, November 22nd, 2010

In a recent white paper analysis, under the headline “Hydraulic Fracturing the Key to Michigan’s Energy Future,” Russ Harding of the Midland, Michigan-based Mackinac Center for Public Policy writes that hydraulic fracturing has “been done safely and without environmental damage in America dating back to the 1940s.”

Harding — who served as director of the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality from 1995 through 2002, having previously held senior management posts in environmental and natural resources departments in Arizona, Alaska and Missouri — writes this in his analysis about hydraulic fracturing’s long and clear record of environmental safety:

Fracking is the process of creating fissures in underground formations to allow natural gas to flow. Horizontal drilling is utilized to access deep shale formations that contain natural gas. Fluid comprised of 99 percent water and sand and containing small amounts of chemicals found in common consumer products is injected into formations to create fissures from which the natural gas can be economically recovered. The wells are encased in multiple layers of steel and surrounded by cement to protect groundwater.

But natural gas development activities, including fracking, are already subject to several federal and state environmental laws. Regulators at the Michigan Department of Natural Resources and Environment should be allowed to do their job without political interference. Fracking operations to recover natural gas have been done safely and without environmental damage in America dating back to the 1940s.

Safely developing the country’s vast natural gas reserves is critical to both the nation’s economy and national security. It is also important to hold the oil and gas industry to the highest safety and environmental standards in developing deep shale reserves. Oil and gas development is never 100 percent free from environmental risk, but fracking has proven to be a safe and effective technology in helping to meet the nation’s energy needs. Efforts to prevent use of the technology by overregulation will increase energy costs and decrease jobs.

But Mr. Harding isn’t alone in his efforts to better inform and educate folks about the overwhelmingly positive economic, environmental and national security benefits associated with domestic oil and natural gas production enable by fracture stimulation technologies. Here’s what other scientific experts are saying about fracturing and job-creating domestic energy development:

Given these facts, it’s no wonder why film critic (not the bourbon) Evan Williams of The Australian writes this in a critique of the anti-clean-burning natural gas development film Gasland:

I wish I could say that GasLand is a well-made film, that it does justice to its story. But it doesn’t. It has all the hallmarks of today’s self-consciously improvised documentary style: erratic camera work, jerky editing, tiresomely repetitive shots of unrolling backwoods highways, all accompanied by bursts of hillbilly music. No shot of a rig is too blurred or unsteady to be cut. … GasLand would have been a more powerful and effective film had Fox shown more professional discipline and the opposing arguments had at least been heard

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From Williamsport to Watford City: Thanks to HF, “Anyone in the region who wants a job can find one”

Friday, November 19th, 2010

Thanks to advancements in horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing technology, America’s oil and natural gas industry is doing its part to put folks back to work by leveraging our nation’s vast energy reserves into jobs, revenue and opportunity for those who need it. Whether it’s natural gas from the Marcellus or oil from the Bakken, thousands of jobs are being created, local economies are suddenly flourishing and America is strengthening its energy security by the day.

At a public hearing yesterday (click HERE for video) in Williamsport, Pa., members of the state senate heard from local economic and workforce development officials on the economic impact that the natural gas industry is having on the state’s economy. Larry Michael, executive director of Penn College’s Workforce & Economic Development program, summed it up best in this morning’s Williamsport Sun-Gazette:

“We believe that the economic and workforce opportunities are huge,” he said. “The magnitude of this opportunity will not only transform this region of the state but will provide the foundation resources to greatly enhance the overall economic health and job creation opportunities of the commonwealth.”

Industry representatives testifying at the hearing laid out in detail the number of jobs being created:

Perry Harris, northeast U.S. district manager of Halliburton, said the company has 750 state residents on its payroll and is looking for new workers every day. He noted recent development by the company with its facility near Montgomery, where 181 people are employed, and more will be hired.

Michael Narcavage, manager of corporate development for the Chesapeake Energy Corp., said… In the past year, the company has expanded its statewide workforce from about 250 full-time personnel to more than 1,100, many of those jobs in Bradford County, where the majority of the company’s operations are located.

Just to the west of Williamsport in Clinton County, the Lock Haven Express reports today that hundreds of new jobs have arrived in their community as well, thanks entirely to the responsible development of shale gas:

The Marcellus Shale natural gas play dominated Wednesday’s Clinton County Economic Partnership meeting. Partnership President and CEO Mike Flanagan reported about a dozen Marcellus gas-related companies have located in Clinton County, resulting in 200 new direct jobs and having a positive, indirect impact on trucking and construction-related companies in the area.

So what’s at stake if Washington moves to halt or restrict the use of HF?

U.S. Sen. Byron Dorgan (D-N.D.), senior member of the Energy and Natural Resources panel, summed it up best yesterday on the Senate floor: Domestic oil and gas development “will stop very quickly if we can’t continue what is called hydraulic fracturing”

Click HERE to watch this speech

“There is up to 4.3 billion barrels of recoverable oil using today’s technology [in the Bakken formation], according to the U.S. Geological Survey. That, plus the gas shale plays in much of the country and others, we’re beginning to produce a bit more oil and gas at this point in the country. That will stop very quickly if we can’t continue what is called hydraulic fracturing. That’s a big problem that we have to deal with.”

He went on to defend the safety record of 60-year-old fracturing technology, citing its importance to all states that rely on the successful production of our nation’s natural resources:

“I think most of us in this Senate who come from areas where we produce this fossil energy believe that [hydraulic fracturing] has been done for 50 years without a problem and now it is under some siege. … But we need to continue — and we will — with the production of oil in this country and natural gas.”

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Clean Meets Green: U.S. Natural Gas Production Helping to Slash CO2, Create American Jobs

Friday, November 19th, 2010

How does the United States start down the path of seriously addressing its nation’s energy crisis, reduce its deep and growing dependence on unstable regions of the world for energy, and at the same time maintain our competitive edge in the global marketplace? And oh, how do we put tens of thousands of Americans back to work who are struggling during one of the most drawn out economic downturns in a generation? (more…)

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60 Minutes Takes a Look at Critical 60 Year Old Energy Technology

Wednesday, November 17th, 2010

“It’s an American energy renaissance”

“Shale Gas Drilling: Pros & Cons,” was the title that CBS’s Lesley Stahl went with in her 60 Minutes segment last night on natural gas development in America from shale rock formations that have been around for hundreds of millions of years. Thanks to advancements in horizontal drilling technologies coupled with the 60 year old energy stimulation process called hydraulic fracturing, natural gas is not longer “the ugly stepchild of our national energy debate.”

In a Wilkes Barre Times-Leader story today, under the headline “TV report focuses on gas drilling,” Energy In Depth weighs-in on last night’s CBS segment:

Chris Tucker, of EnergyInDepth.org, an organization that promotes the benefits of natural gas drilling, said the segment was “fairly balanced,” although the show didn’t get everything right.

“I think they did a great job of telling the story of real people, everyday people, all across the country whose lives have changed for the better thanks to the development of this clean, American resource,” Tucker said.

“They didn’t quite get it right when they attempted to venture into the regulatory history of hydraulic fracturing. The reality is that fracturing technology is among the most thoroughly regulated procedures that takes place at the wellsite, which is a big reason why it’s been able to compile such a solid record of safety and performance over the past 60 years of commercial use.”

Here are key experts from the CBS segment:

On America’s Abundance

On the Economic Promise

On Hydraulic Fracturing

 

However, there’s some outstanding facts that didn’t make it into last night’s segment. For instance, Sierra Club’s Michael Brune claims that natural gas production is “under-regulated,” and that “the first thing that the industry should do is disclose what chemicals are being used in fracking.” “The 2005 energy bill completely exempted the natural gas industry and fracking technology from any regulation under the Safe Drinking Water Act. It’s an outrage,” continues Mr. Brune.

 

But here are several critical facts that CBS viewers, and Mr. Brune, should be aware of:

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Rock Around the Clock

Wednesday, November 17th, 2010

How does the United States start down the path of seriously addressing its nation’s energy crisis, reduce its deep and growing dependence on unstable regions of the world for energy, and at the same time maintain our competitive edge in the global marketplace? And oh, how do we put tens of thousands of Americans back to work who are struggling during one of the most drawn out economic downturns in a generation?

Loaded question, you say. In reality though, because of the 60 year old oil and natural gas stimulation technology called hydraulic fracturing – coupled with advancements in horizontal drilling techniques – these difficult and long-debated national problems are being addressed before our eyes.

Here’s what they saying about job-creating unconventional oil and natural gas production in America enable by fracture stimulation technologies:

Hollywood, National Media “Trying to make an issue out of something we’ve been doing since the 1940s”

A Cleaner, More Secure Energy Future

Hundreds of Jobs in Rural America at a Time When They’re Most Needed

 

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EID Reinforces the Imperative to Continue to “Let states handle fracking” Effectively

Monday, November 1st, 2010

As the debate over responsible oil and natural gas development continues, particularly as it relates to the 60 year old process called hydraulic fracturing – the critical technology used more than 1.1 million times nationally in energy-producing states without ever impacting groundwater – Energy In Depth remains at the tip of the spear. In a Casper Star-Tribune letter to the editor today, EID’s executive director Lee Fuller writes this under the headline “Let states handle fracking”:

Tom Doll, supervisor of Wyoming’s Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, understands that hydraulic fracturing is an effective, environmentally sound and critical energy production technology. “The Commission has regulated hydraulic fracturing since 1954,” Mr. Doll, a petroleum engineer, has said. “Contrary to what has recently been in the press, the Commission has no documented cases of hydraulic fracturing negatively impacting ground water.”

What does Mr. Doll think about a one-size-fits all Washington, D.C., takeover of hydraulic fracturing currently being pursued by some in Congress? “We feel that we should administer our rules and regulate [fracturing] and we don’t need the help of the federal government in this regard,” Doll says, adding that states are “doing a good job.”

Wyoming, and a host of other energy-producing states, are doing a good job of regulating fracturing. Fracturing has been used to stimulate oil and natural gas production in more than 1.1 million wells since it came into commercial use in 1949 and it has never impacted or contaminated groundwater. The EPA, top state environmental regulators and a host of independent academics and energy experts have also confirmed this fact.

Mr. Fuller’s comments follow similar comments from the top energy production watchdog in North Dakota. This from the Minot Daily Times over the weekend:

“The Industrial Commission and the Department of Mineral Resources have made it no secret that we don’t think the EPA should regulate hydraulic fracturing. This is a way for the average citizen of North Dakota, if they feel that way or if they feel the opposite way, to voice their opinions to EPA,” Lynn Helms [director of the Department of Mineral Resources] said.

You see, individual states are best positioned and situated to regulate fracturing, as state regulators have the best ‘know-how’ of local and regional geology. And energy-producing states are taking commonsense steps to ensure that this process is tightly and effectively regulated. This from the Associated Press under the headline “Arkanasas board set to create rule on fracking”

Commission Director Larry Bengal says under the Arkansas rule, the operator would report the specific names and concentrations of the chemicals used during fracking. That information would be on the commission’s website. The rule also would require operators to provide information before starting the fracking process to prove that well casings can withstand pressure and won’t leak.

The hydraulic fracturing process uses millions of gallons of water, mixed with chemicals and sand, which are pumped at high pressure thousands of feet underground to create fissures in the rock — known as shale — and release the gas. According to the Oil and Gas Commission’s website, 99.5 percent of fracking fluid is sand and water. But small amounts of chemicals also are used to reduce bacteria buildup in the well, reduce friction and prevent corrosion.

This is a story of American ingenuity, driven by technological advancements. The results? Expanded access to reliable supplies of homegrown oil and natural gas and tens of thousands of good-paying American jobs at a time when they’re most needed. Here’s what they’re saying:

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ICYMI – EDF Advisor Says HF Can be Done Safely, is Critical to Development of Natural Gas

Wednesday, October 27th, 2010

Environmental Defense Fund: “Our natural gas supplies would plummet precipitously without hydraulic fracturing”

This from EDF’s Scott Anderson’s appearance on E&E TV’s On Point program this morning:

E&E TV

 

 

E&E TV

: “Do you believe that [hydraulic fracturing] can be used safely?” (5:23)

EDF’s Scott Anderson

 

 

EDF’s Scott Anderson

: “Yes I do. I think in the vast majority of cases, if wells are constructed right and operated right, that hydraulic fracturing will not cause a problem.” (5:19)

E&E TV: “How difficult is it for states to regulate this practice? And should it be done on a state-by-state bases, a region-by-region bases or nationally?” (2:11)

EDF’s Scott Anderson

 

 

EDF’s Scott Anderson

: “The states actually have a lot of knowledge and experience in regulating well construction and operation. We think that states have every reason to be able to tackle this issue and do it well. We also think that if states fail in that and the federal government has to takeover, the states will have no one but themselves to blame.” (2:00)

E&E TV: “Without this practice of hydraulic fracturing, what would our natural gas supplies look like?” (1:38)

EDF’s

 

 

EDF’s

Scott Anderson: “Our natural gas supplies would plummet precipitously without hydraulic fracturing. About 90 percent of gas wells in the United States are hydraulically fractured, and the shale gas that everyone talks about as being a large part of the future of natural gas production is absolutely dependent on fracturing in each case.” (1:33)

E&E TV: “So you would say that this is a necessary part of our energy future?” (1:09)

EDF’s Scott Anderson

 

 

EDF’s Scott Anderson

: “Yes. At the Environmental Defense Fund we don’t pick fuels, we are realist, we recognize that fossil fuels will be around for a while, a long while most likely. We recognize that natural gas has some environmental advantages compared to other fossil fuels, so we do believe that natural gas will be around, and has a significant role to play….” (1:05)

NOTE: The full interview can be viewed HERE.

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What Budget Shortfall?

Thursday, October 21st, 2010

Spiraling deficits, worker furloughs, budget cuts, and tax and fee hikes are common these days in state capitals across the nation. Unemployment remains near double-digits nationally, home foreclosures continue to skyrocket and a fear of a double-dip recession persists. And as economic growth continues to lag, stagflation remains a very serious threat to our economy, and to American families.

Thanks to the tightly-regulated 60 year-old oil and natural gas stimulation technology called hydraulic fracturing, however, tens of thousands of good-paying Americans jobs are being created and billions in much-needed revenues are being generated. At the same time, enormous amounts of reliable homegrown energy resources are being safely delivered to American consumers and small businesses, helping to drive down our nation’s dependence on unstable regions of the world to fuel our economy.

In North Dakota, where there’s virtual full employment, the responsible development of the state’s oil-rich Bakken Shale formation, enabled by hydraulic fracturing, continues to be an economic boon for the region. This from a Minot (ND) Daily News story this week under the headline “Oil revenue plays big role in state budget”:

Tax collections from oil and gas totaled nearly $583 million in 2010, a 43 percent increase from 2009 and a 250 percent increase since 2006, said Cory Fong, state tax commissioner. Biennium oil and gas tax collections are expected to total $1.4 billion for 2009-2011 and more than $2 billion during 2011-2013, he said. The state’s general fund budget this biennium is $2.7 billion.

Oil and gas tax revenues that have helped create a $1 billion state surplus also are pulling duty to support several spending areas, from property tax relief to schools and local infrastructure.

And in Pennsylvania, where the Mighty Marcellus Shale – the second largest natural gas field in the entire world – is being responsibly developed thanks to fracture stimulation technologies, the Associated Press reports today that the Commonwealth’s “unemployment rate fell for a second straight month in September, as employers added more than 7,000 jobs to their payrolls.”

Today’s Wilkes-Barre Times-Leader puts the historic economic opportunity into perspective, reporting this under the headline “Drilling backer sees 90,000 new Pa. jobs by end of year”:

Natural gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale is not a “flash-in-the-pan gold rush,” Klaber said, but an industry that will add 90,000 jobs to Pennsylvania’s work force by the end of the year and will produce steady employment for decades to come.

Such activity will not only produce drill site jobs, which Klaber said will move from site to site, but will also create careers at drilling company regional offices, many of which have already opened shop in Pennsylvania.

“I think it has happened quickly, but I think the coverage of it has been pervasive. I mean the interest in it has made it seem faster than it really is,” Marcellus Shale Coalition President Kathryn Klaber told The Times Leader on Wednesday.

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PA DEP Continues to Confirm the Fact that Hydraulic Fracturing Has Never Impacted Groundwater

Wednesday, October 20th, 2010

The tightly-regulated, 60 year-old energy stimulation technology call hydraulic fracturing – which has been used safely more than 1.1 million times throughout the United States – has never in its history been found to adversely impact sources of underground drinking water. Independent scientific experts and state regulators from energy-producing confirm this fact, over and over again. A national organization of state groundwater water regulators has, as well. This year, the EPA told Congress that hydraulic fracturing has never resulted in a single case of groundwater contamination.

And in Pennsylvania, where the responsible development of the Marcellus Shale’s abundant, clean-burning natural gas reserves – enabled by fracture stimulation technologies coupled with horizontal drilling – are helping to put tens of thousands to work, top environmental regulators also continue to ensure that these critical facts are known.

Here’s a quick and recent snapshot of what PA DEP is saying about hydraulic fracturing’s long and clear record of environmental safety:

“Jennifer Means, a representative from the state DEP’s Eastern Oil and Gas Region Office in Williamsport, later substantiated Mr. Chacon’s statements. ‘So far it has not been our experience that the fracking process has caused any water-supply issues,’ Ms. Means said.” (Scranton Times-Tribune, 10/20/10)

“Thus far, the DEP says they’ve found not one instance of underground contamination of well water from fracking. ‘We haven’t had frack fluid come back from thousands of feet down and get into people’s drinking water supply,’ [DEP secretary John] Hanger said.” (KDKA-TV, 10/16/10)

“‘It’s our experience in Pennsylvania that we have not had one case in which the fluids used to break off the gas from 5,000 to 8,000 feet (1,500-2,400 m) underground have returned to contaminate ground water,’ said John Hanger, secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).” (Reuters, 10/1/10)

FRAC Act supporters claim that fracturing is unregulated and unsafe, and therefore Congress must fundamentally rewrite federal law to give EPA outright authority to oversee this process. Inherently, though, energy-producing states are best situated to regulate this technology, and the 60 year track record of environmental safety underscores that fact. Put simply, the FRAC Act is yet another Washington ‘solution’ in search of a problem.

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From Toronto to Richmond, EID’s Gettin’ the Facts Out

Monday, October 11th, 2010

Formed two years ago to separate fact from fiction about our nation’s oil and natural gas industry – particularly as it relates to the tightly regulated 60 year-old energy stimulation technology called hydraulic fracturing – Energy In Depth has established itself as a reliable resource for folks interested in learning more about this process, for academics and for the media.

Our work takes us to small towns, state capitals and rural communities. We go where the debate is, but more importantly, we seek to educate and engage policymakers, the press and the public on the facts about responsible energy exploration and production here in the United States — and in Canada.

This week, we had the opportunity to participate in two events: one at the University of Toronto; the other closer to home in Richmond, Va.

Yes, EID has officially gone global. We’ve even translated Gasland Debunked into French for those in parts of Canada seeking to understand the facts about this tightly-regulated technology that has been used to stimulated oil and natural gas production in the United States for more than 60 years without ever impacted groundwater.

In Toronto, we participated in a panel discussion entitled, “Fracture Lines: Will Canada’s water be Protected in the Rush to Develop Shale Gas?” Here’s a photo from that event (EID’s Chris Tucker, second from the right):

And at the Governor’s Conference on Energy in Richmond, EID spoke about fracture stimulation’s long and clear record of environmental safety on a panel entitled “Expanding Natural Gas – Supplies and Opportunities.”

These forums offered EID the opportunity to share the work we do, separate fact from fiction about fracturing and tell the incredible story of job creation, economic develop, and increased energy security that the shale gas revolution continues to make possible.

Here’s a quick snapshot of how American-made energy production technologies, like hydraulic fracturing, are benefiting consumers and our economy:

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