The Latest Fracking News

First Up...if you have not yet submitted comments to the NYDEC opposing the inadequate fracking regulations found in the SGEIS, now is the time to do it (deadline is January 11th...this upcoming Wednesday) is now. To make it easier for citizens to submit comments, Catskill Citizens has put up a page with 20 READY TO GO comments here. They are great comments, but if you want some serious IMPACT to your statement, want to have it receive MORE ATTENTION, it is recommended you use their suggested comments as a model to write your own. The more the merrier, so consider to some or even all of them! As a stakeholder, it is also recommended you ask to be put on the document SERVICE LIST.

Catskill Citizens will make sure that anything you send to us by Monday January 9th will be delivered to the DEC on time. After Monday the 9th, use the DEC's web-based comment form.[http://www.dec.ny.gov/energy/76838.html]

Next up...is the US EPA going to start delivering water to the citizens of Dimock, Pennsylvania? Cabot has reneged on doing right by the citizens of Dimock, even though they are the guilty party that has contaminated the community water, and sadly, the state of Pennsylvania's own DEC is letting them get away with it...however, all is not lost. Seems that the US EPA is weighing to their own investigations, and bringing in water.

If the EPA delivers water to the village, it would be the clearest sign yet regulators are concerned about the effect of drilling on drinking water there.
Dimock may become pivotal in a national debate about the environmental impact of fracking, the drilling technique that could unlock decades' worth of natural gas trapped in shale deposits, but which environmentalists say contaminates water supplies.

11 minor earthquakes in Ohio attributed to FRACKING. First, this raises some serious question about allowing fracking anywhere near any earthquake faults. More importantly, it raises a much more serious question...why is the Hydraulic Fracturing industry being allowed to DUMP THEIR CANCER CAUSING WASTE STREAMS into the ground with our potable water supplies. Seriously, how safe can it really be to be dumping all these toxic chemicals into the ground, and will not those toxic chemicals PERCULATE up into the aquifers if said chemicals are causing earthquakes?

Now, seismologists have attributed a recent series of 11 minor earthquakes in Ohio to injection wells that disposed of wastewater byproducts from fracking operations.

Will opponents of Fracking here in New York be successful in getting another one year moratorium on the dangerous industrial drilling practice known as Hydraulic Fracturing, or would such a moratorium amount to putting lipstick on a pig. As it is, the DEC cannot issue permits before 2013, as there is no money in the budget for the added employees needed to enforce the proposed rules moving their way through the process now. Symbolically it would be a big victory for the Anti's, but we need to make sure it is not window dressing meant to appease.

Pointing to experiences in other states, including Pennsylvania and Colorado, critics say the practice could contaminate drinking water and air, cause small earthquakes and lower property values. Supporters say allowing fracking in New York would create an important domestic source of energy and thousands of jobs for depressed rural areas.

State Assembly Environmental Committee Chair Robert Sweeney said on Friday he would soon introduce a proposal to have a moratorium on fracking until June 1, 2013. Sweeney pointed to recent reports that fracking may have caused a series of small earthquakes in Ohio and contaminated drinking water in Wyoming and Dimock, Pennsylvania.

Bottom line is simple...at every step of the way, Fracking seems to get more dangerous, and at some point politicians and regulators have to accept that some risks are not worth taking, and Hydraulic Fracturing is one of those risks that small rural communities like our own cannot afford to have the DEC force us into accepting. How many examples of problems do regulators need to have presented before they just tell the Exxon's, Cabot's and Chesapeake Energy's of the world NO?

Sullivan County, State of New York Risk Our Water For China?

I have in previous articles alleged that Natural Gas companies like Chesapeake Energy, Conoco Phillips and Exxon have no interest in ending America's reliance on foreign oil, have no interest in providing Americans with a cheap source of fuel for their cars. If one follows the money, two basic facts were clear...before the Marcellus Shale here in New York has been radically drilled, many companies were selling huge stakes to foreign countries (CHINA), and while getting politicians to give huge subsidies to the industry, these companies are using their own money to invest in very large expensive LNG EXPORT facilities to send our Natural Gas abroad (CHINA...CNOOC).

China, India 'to lead natural gas demand'

Gulf Times - ‎8 hours ago‎

ExxonMobil Chairman and CEO Rex Tillerson sees “very strong future demand globally” for natural gas, which he said, will be the “fastest growing” among fossil fuels until 2040.

Which should beg the question, should Governor Cuomo, the NYDEC be risking our environment, our water, our health here in New York so that companies can export said natural resource to China? The reality of these large and expensive LNG EXPORT facilities pokes a huge hole in the propaganda that the Natural Gas industry has been feeding us...truth be told, they have NO INTENTION of getting America off of foreign oil, and if truth be known, they know that Natural Gas is not going to be the cheap alternative fossil fuel they keep touting to us, and to states like Pennsylvania who this year approved $50 million in subsidies for things like governmental vehicle fleet change over to Natural Gas.

Rich Gordon of Gordon Energy Solutions, a research firm in Overland Park, Kan., estimated that since 2005, domestic and overseas operators have spent $135 billion securing shale gas acreage in the U.S.

Start doing the math people, look at where the gas is REALLY GOING TO GO, and ask yourselves the all important question, "Are you willing to risk your health, your safe drinking water supplies for China? How many acres of land do companies like Chesapeake Energy already have the rights to drill under? How many acres in addition to the ones they own will the state of New York allow them to drill without buying rights through forced pulling?

Fact is, our Natural Gas that is SUPPOSED TO GET US OFF FOREIGN OIL is already leaving America, and in a BIG WAY. LNG exports rose sharply to 42.4 billion cubic feet the nine months ended Sept. 30, up from 34.5 billion cubic feet for all of 2010, and these Natural Gas companies want to rape our lands, spoil our safe drinking water supplies to get at the Marcellus Shale Gas for one reason, and one reason only...EXPORT. We need to tell Governor Cuomo to BAN FRACKING in New York, but we also have to cut this industry off at the knees by opening up a second front on the regulatory front...DOE FOLKS....and... the (FERC) Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. We can stop them from getting Federal Government permission to EXPORT OUR NATURAL RESOURCES. We need to be filing comments and objections ON EVERY PERMIT REQUEST...this is a WAR TO SAVE OUR WATER. The real BATTLE LINE!

Forget The Cheney Loophole...2005 Energy Act A Financial Gravy Train For Gas Industry

Ever heard of RPSEA? Research Partnership to Secure Energy for America, which was created to fulfill terms of Title IX, Subtitle J, Section 999 (Section 999), of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct), and it seems the BIGGEST JOB of RPSEA in the name of R&D is to throw FIST FULLS OF AMERICAN TAX DOLLARS at both the Oil and Gas industry, why making sure that citizen stakeholders HAVE NOT SEAT AT THE TABLE!  Take a gander at their membership, and then picture millions upon millions upon millions of your tax dollars being handed over to these folks. (on list...BP America, EXXON, Chesapeake Energy)

RPSEA Members
Acute Technological Services, LLC Advanced Resources International, Inc. AeroVironment, Inc. Altira Group LLC
American Gas Association Anadarko Petroleum Corporation Apache Corporation Apex Spectral Technology
APS Technology, Inc.
Baker Hughes Incorporated Bill Barrett Corporation BJ Services
BP America, Inc. Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck, LLP Cameron/Curtiss-Wright EMD
Campbell Applied Physics
Capstone Turbine Corporation
CARBO Ceramics, Inc. Centre For Marine CNG, Inc.
Chesapeake Energy Corporation Chevron Corporation City of Sugar Land Colorado School of Mines
Colorado Oil & Gas Association ConocoPhillips Company Conservation Committee of California Oil & Gas Producers
Correlations Company CSI Technologies, Inc.
DCP Midstream, LLC
Deepwater Structures, Inc.
Deepwater XLP Technology, LLP
Delco Oheb Energy, LLC Det Norske Veritas (USA)
Devon Energy Corporation
Drilling & Production Company
EnCana Corporation
EnerCrest, Inc. Energy Corporation of America Energy Valley, Inc.
ExxonMobil Corporation
Florida International University Gas Technology Institute GE/VetcoGray Granherne, Inc.
Greater Fort Bend Economic Development Council
GSI Environmental, Inc.
Gunnison Energy Corporation Halliburton
Harvard Petroleum Corporation Houston Advanced Research Center Houston Offshore Engineering, LLC Houston Technology Center
HW Process Technologies, Inc. Idaho National Laboratory Independent Petroleum Association of America
Independent Petroleum Association of Mountain States Indepedent Petroleum Association of New Mexico
Integrated Ocean Drilling Program Intelligent Agent Corporation
Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission Jackson State University K. Stewart Energy Group
Knowledge Reservoir, LLC Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory Leede Operating Company
Los Alamos National Laboratory Louisiana State University Marathon Oil Corporation Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Merrick Systems, Inc. Mississippi State University
Nalco Company Nance Resources
NanoRidge Materials, Inc.
National Oilwell Varco, Inc.
Natural Carbon, LLC Nautilus International, LLC
New England Research, Inc. New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology New Mexico Oil & Gas Association
NGAS Resources, Inc. NiCo Resources Noble Energy, Inc.
Novatek, LLC
RPSEA Draft Annual Plan 87 July 2009
Oklahoma Independent Petroleum Association OTM Consulting Ltd.
Oxane Materials, Inc.
Petris Technology, Inc. Petrobras America Inc.
Petroleum Technology Transfer Council
Pioneer Natural Resources Company QO, Inc.
Quanelle, LLC Quest Integrated, Inc.
Rice University Robert L. Bayless, Producer LLC Rock Solid Images RTI Texas Sandia National Laboratories Schlumberger Limited Shell International Exploration & Production Simmons & Company International
SiteLark, LLC Southern Methodist University
Southwest Research Institute
Spatial Energy
Stanford University
StatoilHydro Strata Production Company Stress Engineering Services Inc. Technip Technology International
Tejas Research & Engineering, LP
Tenaris Texas Energy Center Texas A&M University Texas Independent Producers and Royalty Owners Association
Texas Tech University The Discovery Group, Inc.
The Fleischaker Companies
The Ohio State University
The Pennsylvania State University
The University of Kansas
The University of Oklahoma
The University of Texas at Austin The University of Tulsa The University of Utah Titanium Engineers, Inc.
TOTAL Exploration Production USAUniversity of Alaska Fairbanks University of Colorado at Boulder
University of Houston University of Michigan University of South Carolina University of Southern California VersaMarine Engineering, LLC
Watt Mineral Holdings, LLC Weatherford International Ltd. WellDog, Inc. Western Standard Energy Corp.
West Virginia University Williams Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
Wright State University