Online chat about hydro-fracturing with Binghamton journalist Wednesday
Tom Wilber, who has been reporting on the Marcellus Shale drilling and environmental matters for the past 18 months, will host a live chat at noon Wednesday. Come join the discussion, and ask Tom about pressing Marcellus Shale issues.
via Chat with Tom Wilber about the Marcellus Shale at noon Wednesday | stargazette.com | Star-Gazette.
Vestal NY parks to be fracked for gas?
Early discussion of the issue took place Monday night as town Attorney David Berger, who recently attended a Broome County Bar Association seminar on the topic, discussed the options.
Leasing opportunities could give the town up to 50 percent of the royalties from drilling, which could bring substantial revenue to the general fund.
via Vestal parks could be tapped for gas | pressconnects.com | Press & Sun-Bulletin.
Dreams of gas lease wealth dependent on “The Boom”
In New York State, no horizontal wells have been drilled in the Marcellus or Utica shale, though these formations have been tapped in Pennsylvania and Canada. (Horizontal wells access more of the formation, allowing for greater recovery rates of natural gas, but this makes them more likely to contaminate water supplies.)
Tapping these huge reserves helped push natural gas prices down to less than $3 per thousand cubic feet earlier this year. Because of the high production costs of shale plays, some energy analysts say a price of $7 to $8 is needed to turn a profit.
But the price crash hasn’t stopped the gas rush. While the severe recession has reduced consumption, it has made many rural residents look to the gas companies for jobs and royalties to stimulate moribund regional economies.
Companies such as Hess Corp., Chesapeake Energy, Fortuna Energy and XTO Energy are offering hundreds of millions of dollars to lease land in New York State. In one instance, Fortuna Energy offered some landowners in New York State $500 an acre now with an additional $5,000 if the state approve drilling. It was a naked attempt to organize a small, but vocal constituency for unfettered drilling.
Binghamton Mtng on Gas Drilling Nov. 18
Water Contamination from Toxic Gas Drilling
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2009, 7 PM
Unitarian Universalist Congregation/ Sanctuary
183 Riverside Drive, Binghamton, NY 13905
(Next to Lourdes Hospital)
‘Roughnecks’ move in to ‘Man Camp’ in Athens, Pa. | pressconnects.com | Press & Sun-Bulletin
They are roughnecks, and they are bringing a new dimension to the region’s demographic as drilling crews migrate from places like Texas, Oklahoma and Louisiana to pursue the gas-rich Marcellus Shale under the Twin Tiers.
In Athens Township, Pa., Chesapeake Energy and Nomac Drilling are planning a 180-bed gated compound to house their crews when they’re not pulling 12-hours shifts, seven days a week, on derricks being erected throughout the countryside.
Many are expected to show up in Broome County next year, after New York finalizes a regulatory overhaul to accommodate the intensive type of horizontal drilling used to tap the Marcellus.
Water offers link to gas drilling oversight
The county is analyzing data collected in the late 1970s and the 1980s from 150 private wells throughout the county, said Robert Denz, director of environmental health for the Broome County Department of Health.
The effort is a “work in progress,” originally begun as an academic resource with the help of Binghamton University interns, Denz said. It has become more relevant as gas companies look to develop the Marcellus Shale, a large natural gas reserve running under the county and throughout the Appalachian Basin.
via Water offers link to gas drilling oversight | pressconnects.com | Press & Sun-Bulletin.
Drilling Effects for Tioga County | WBNG-TV: Binghamton, New York
“Ultimately, we feel that there’s probably not enough protections of our groundwater and our landscape to make us happy. And the other big thing is that they refuse, it seems, to look at the cumulative effects which from a community standpoint is what we’re really concerned about,” says Burger.
Broome County mum about bids for natural gas drilling at airport, dump | stargazette.com | Star-Gazette
Broome officials, hoping to raise millions of dollars by opening the county airport and landfill for natural gas drilling, are negotiating a deal with an unidentified energy company.
At least one company bid for mineral rights to 2,100 acres of county property over the Marcellus Shale — a gas-rich geological formation attracting multinational energy companies to the Southern Tier.
County officials and an open government advocate disagreed over the public’s right to know details, including the name of the company.
11/18/09: Water contamination and gas drilling: The legal issues
Learn more about water,water contamination and gas drilling, and legal issues associated with this- come to this presentation on 11/18, Wed., 7pm, at the Binghamton Unitarian Universalist church, 183 Riverside Drive, Binghamton 13905, across from Lourdes Hospital.
Helen Slottje, Attorney at Law, Harvard Law School, very active with gas drilling issues / task forces in the Ithaca / Horseheads Schlumberger site areas, and Steve Penningroth, Ph.D, Biochemical Sciences, Executive Director of the non-profit Community Science Institute, a NYS Certified water testing lab in Ithaca.
We’ll learn more about ground water and what gas drilling can and has done to contaminate water; water testing; looking at the legal issues involved in trying to get recourse from gas corporations and organizing communities to try to protect themselves from the devastation that’s already been wreaked in many other places.
Q&A to follow presentations. Only 150 seats available in the sanctuary. Co-sponsored by the UU church, the UU Green Sanctuary Committee, Susquehanna Group Sierra Club, and the Binghamton Regional Sustainability Coalition.
Spills Raise Worries on Water Safety in NY Gas Drilling
Scobie says the potential creation of jobs from natural gas drilling using fracking has to be balanced with a concern for possible threats to health and the environment. Others ask why the focus is on fossil fuels when the emphasis should be on the transition to non-carbon-producing, sustainable energy sources.
via Public News Service.
Road Insurance | WBNG-TV Binghamton, NY | Local Top Stories
Road Insurance
By WBNG News
Story Updated: Feb 17, 2009 at 7:06 PM EST
Broome County wants to ensure it won’t have to pay the bill for potential road damage caused by natural gas drilling.
Drilling along the Marcellus Shale will bring heavy equipment and trucks into the region.
Repairing cracks or major damage would cost thousands of dollars.
County Attorney Joe Sluzar the county is drafting a law to make the drilling companies responsible.
“Most responsible companies would immediately repair that damage. But, if the company can’t or won’t then you would have an insurance policy to protect from that type of accidental damage,” says Sluzar.
Sluzar says it could take months to finalize and pass the law in the Broome County Legislature.
Representatives from Chesapeake and the Independent Oil and Gas Association of New York will meet with Public Works committee on this issue tomorrow.
The meeting starts at 5:30 on the 6th floor of the Broome County Office building.
via Road Insurance | WBNG-TV Binghamton, NY | Local Top Stories.
Gas Drilling Analysis | WBNG-TV Binghamton, NY | Local Top Stories
Local officials take a glance at New York’s preliminary findings on Natural Gas drilling standards.
The Broome County Environmental Council met to look them over tonight.
Some issues raised include the amounts of water used in the drilling process, how it will affect the landscape and noise pollution.
But some members of Broome’s EMC say the state must look further into issues like the social and economic consequences.
“At least be clear in what is not being addressed and have something in mind as to what we would recommend and questions we would ask later and see if anything changes from this to the final document,” said Andre LaClair, EMC Chairman.
Gas drilling will not begin in New York, until drilling standards are agreed upon for natural gas companies.
via Gas Drilling Analysis | WBNG-TV Binghamton, NY | Local Top Stories.
Broome shapes strategy for use of roads by gas-rush trucks | pressconnects.com | Press & Sun-Bulletin
Broome County Attorney Joseph Sluzar has drafted a resolution that in its current form would require natural gas vehicles with a gross weight in excess of state traffic law to pay for a permit to use county roads. The resolution does not propose a dollar amount.
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