CITIZEN POWER ALLIANCE

In New York, where there's the prospect of a natural gas drilling boom, there's another question: what lessons from the spill can be applied to drilling in the Marcellus Shale? State environmental officials are reviewing new regulations that would apply to deep horizontal wells used in combination with hydraulic fracturing. The unconventional combination has never been used in New York.

(Hydraulic fracturing - hydrofracking, as it's commonly called - is an extraction method where a mix of water, sand, and chemicals is forced down a well at high pressure to break apart the rock and release the gas.)

The BP spill illustrates that it's cheaper and better for the environment to prevent pollution as opposed to cleaning up a disaster, says Dereth Glance, program director for Citizens Campaign for the Environment. And once pollution occurs, she says, there's no guarantee you can clean it up.

Detailed plans need to be prepared in anticipation of any problem that might arise, Glance says.

Sally Howard, a member of the Federation of Monroe County Environmentalists, says there should be safety measures and backup safety measures to protect fresh-water resources from contamination. Howard wasn't speaking on the group's behalf.

(Click to read the entire article)

Pennsylvania environmental officials on Monday suspended drilling operations of a Marcellus Shale natural-gas operator whose Clearfield County well erupted last week into an uncontrolled geyser of gas and wastewater.
Department of Environmental Protection Secretary John Hanger ordered Texas-based EOG Resources Inc. to suspend its drilling activities in Pennsylvania until DEP has completed an investigation into the spill Thursday at the Punxsutawney Hunting Club.

The 16-hour eruption caused no injuries and no fire, and DEP officials on Monday described the environmental damage as "modest" - no fluids reached any streams.

A contractor dug trenches to contain 35,000 gallons of spilled fluid, mostly salt water that was trapped deep underground, but including trace elements of drilling chemicals.

The accident's timing was critical, coming amid Gov. Rendell's effort to push a reluctant legislature to enact a tax on natural gas extracted from the Marcellus Shale, the mile-deep formation that underlies much of Pennsylvania and several surrounding states.

"We needed a severance tax even before the accident," Rendell said, adding he hopes the accident will mean the industry will "stop battling the tax."

The blowout also bore a stark similarity to the BP oil-well disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. In both accidents, a mechanical safety device known as a blowout preventer failed.

(Click to read the entire article)

Chief Oil & Natural Gas LLC said a rig was damaged in a fire after workers hit a pocket of methane while drilling for natural gas in the Marcellus Shale near Moundsville, West Virginia.

“We will be able to continue drilling once we get a new rig in,” Kristi Gittins, a spokeswoman for Chief Oil, said in a telephone interview. Seven workers suffered injuries that are not believed to be life-threatening, she said.

The accident comes after a “blowout” June 3 at a natural gas well operated by EOG Resources Inc. in Pennsylvania. The incident sent natural gas and drilling fluids onto the ground and 75 feet (23 meters) into the air, according to the state’s Department of Environmental Protection.

More accidents will increase pressure on state and federal agencies to create and enforce stronger regulations for the development of onshore oil and natural gas, Amy Mall, senior policy analyst with the Natural Resources Defense Council, a New York-based advocacy group.

(Click to read the entire article)

Winding country roads, abundant wildlife, sprawling farmlands and small-town charm used to be Bradford County's lure.

Today's draw is the natural gas trapped in the Marcellus Shale that lays thousands of feet below the county's 1,161-square-mile surface.

Ten years ago, not a single well was drilled in Bradford County, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.

Last year, 119 wells were drilled, the DEP website reports. This year, 81 wells have been drilled since Jan. 1.

Plenty more are planned.

Since January, 367 gas-well permits were granted in Bradford County, with the largest number — 123 — granted in March.

The county's landscape is changing. Energy companies continue to lease land and drill at a gold-rush pace. Helicopters hover overhead loaded with supplies for survey crews. Well pads are being constructed in old pastures.

(Click to read the entire article)

ALBANY — A bill that could place a lengthy moratorium on natural gas drilling in the Marcellus shale formation came one step closer to making it to the Assembly floor after it was approved by the Environmental Conservation Committee.

In all, 10 bills relating to potential drilling in New York's portion of the gas-rich Marcellus shale were moved out of the Assembly committee, four of which have sponsorship in the Senate.

Gas companies and some landowners are eager to begin drilling. Environmentalists are worried about the effect on groundwater of hydraulic fracturing, the process used to make the gas more accessible.

With strong support from environmental groups, the committee approved a bill 22 to 7 that would place a moratorium on hydrofracking. The bill was sent to the Rules Committee.

If passed by the Legislature and signed by Gov. David Paterson, the moratorium would be enacted until 120 days after a federal environmental impact study is finalized. The report was started in March but is expected to take months, possibly years, to complete.

Another bill approved by the committee would require that gas companies disclose what materials they use during the hydrofracking process.

PENFIELD, Pa. -- An out-of-control natural gas well in a remote area of Pennsylvania shot explosive gas and polluted water as high as 75 feet into the air Friday before crews were able to tame it about 16 hours later.

The gas never caught fire and no injuries were reported, but state officials worried about an explosion before the well could be controlled. The well was brought under control just after noon after it started spewing gas and brine, said Elizabeth Ivers, a spokeswoman for driller EOG Resources Inc.

Houston-based EOG, formerly part of Enron Corp., was drilling into the Marcellus Shale reserve, a hotly pursued gas formation primarily under Pennsylvania, New York, West Virginia and Ohio that some geologists believe could become the nation's most productive natural gas field.

There are more than 1,000 Marcellus Shale wells in Pennsylvania alone, some of them within view of homes, farmhouses and public roads.

(Click to read the entire article)

The New York Power Authority says it has received five proposals to develop wind farms offshore in Lake Erie and Lake Ontario.

NYPA issued a request for proposals for what's known as the Great Lakes Offshore Wind project on Dec. 1, and the proposals were due June 1.

NYPA did not reveal the names of the developers or companies that submitted proposals, but it would be the first project of its kind in New York state, which is seeking to increase its production of electricity from wind turbines.

A preferred developer is expected to be selected late this year or next year, and the selected project is expected to be operational by 2016.

Pennsylvania environmental officials said natural gas and polluted drilling water are pouring from an out-of-control well in rural Clearfield County.

A one-mile radius of Moshannon State Forest was evacuated Friday morning after a gas well ruptured near the Punxsutawney Hunting Club.

The leak happened at a Marcellus drilling operation on McGeorge Road in the forest. The gas well is owned by EOG Resources , Inc., officials said.

Around 10:30 a.m., officials were checking camps to make sure all campers were evacuated around the site of the leak. Officials said they were dealing with gas leaking into the air.

According to state Rep. Bud George's office, initial reports from Process Equipment Manufacturers' Association said three of four wells were secured. The other well was releasing frack water and unignited wet gas, which caused the evacuation. Officials said an estimated 1 million gallons of frack water was uncontrolled as of 11 a.m. in the area of exit 111 on Interstate 80.

Hydraulic fracturing or "fracking" is the process of blasting millions of gallons of water deep underground to break up the shale and release the gas. Most of the frack water stays underground, but what comes up must be treated or disposed of in approved facilities.

The state Senate passed a bill this week that would require public utility companies, including Rochester Gas and Electric Corp., to pay prevailing wage for cleaners, security guards and other service employees.

Opponents of the measure worry that the added costs might be passed along to consumers, raising their monthly bills.

Lawmakers said the legislation, sponsored by Sen. Eric Schneiderman, D-Manhattan, closes a loophole in state labor law that requires state agencies to pay the standardized rate for service workers but exempts public utilities.

Handymen, janitors, groundskeepers, cooks and other workers providing basic services for the utility companies would be subject to prevailing wage, which is an hourly rate set by the state Labor Department on a county-by-county basis for individual service occupations.

The measure has yet to pass the Assembly.

RG&E and its sister company, New York State Electric and Gas Corp., said the bill "would put upward pressure on energy prices without providing any benefit to consumers."

(Click to read the entire article)

They're betting that the U.S. will pass a law that requires utilities in every state to buy electricity from renewable resources.

State support helped new wind farms match natural-gas plant additions over the past two years even as gas prices sank 59 percent. Absent a federal mandate, wind turbine factories, touted as job creators by President Barack Obama, may sit idle.

"New orders depend a lot on what goes on in Washington over the next 60 days," Steve Dayney, chief executive officer of Repower Systems AG's U.S. unit, said in an interview. Repower, which is 91 percent owned by India's Suzlon, manufactures most of its large components for the U.S. market domestically, he said.

"Right now, there's a lot of uncertainty in the U.S."

With the first annual decline in U.S. electricity demand in 50 years, and with natural-gas prices down 25 percent this year to about $4.20 per million British thermal units, utilities and state regulators are reluctant to spend more for wind power.

(Click to read the entire article)