Free Republic

A state judge’s decision this week supporting the rights of individual towns to determine whether to allow hydraulic fracturing has added a new wrinkle to the fight over the natural gas drilling process in New York. Parties on all sides are trying to figure out what the ruling will mean, but a consensus emerged on Wednesday that there will be further court challenges and delays over when, how and where the process, known as hydrofracking, will be allowed in the state, and by whom. Officials of natural gas companies voiced concern that such local restrictions could render more areas of...

In response to a petition filed by Earthjustice and several other organizations, the United States Environmental Protection Agency has stated that it will use the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) to draft regulations requiring companies to disclose information regarding "chemical substances and mixtures used in hydraulic fracturing." Although the EPA has not indicated what information will be subject to disclosure, the agency stated that it will attempt to avoid duplication of "the well-by-well disclosure programs already being implemented in several states," and that it anticipates that its regulations will "focus on providing aggregate pictures of the chemical substances and mixtures...

San Leon Energy Plc, the natural gas explorer backed by billionaire George Soros and Blackrock Inc., expects its Polish shale licenses to be more profitable than U.S. gas deposits, the company's exploration director said. Read more: http://blogs.star-telegram.com/barnett_shale/2011/09/firm-backed-by-billionaire-george-soros-says-polish-shale-gas-to-be-more-profitable-than-us-.html#ixzz1YWNZWYM2

Gov. Cuomo is hailing a new Pennsylvania study showing that the huge Marcellus Shale natural-gas field on the New York border could supply 25 percent of the nation's gas needs and create hundreds of thousands of jobs.  Cuomo -- who's weighing a late-June report by the state Department of Environmental Conservation concluding that controversial "hydrofracking" gas drilling could be done safely in most parts of the Southern Tier -- said the Pennsylvania report showed the enormous potential for job creation and economic development that the drilling offered New York. (Investment and production on Pennsylvania’s side of the Marcellus Shale natural-gas...

ALBANY -- Gov. Cuomo is expected to approve "hydrofracturing" to drill for natural gas upstate after yesterday receiving a long-awaited report stating that the controversial process can be used safely outside the city's watershed. The recommendation -- great news for some of the Empire State's most economically hard-pressed areas -- was contained in a nearly-900-page scientific and engineering report from the state Department of Environmental Conservation. Cuomo, who vowed during his campaign to boost upstate economic development, is expected to give the go-ahead to hydrofracturing after a 60-day period of public comment, which begins on Aug. 1 "This report strikes...

New York could see $11.4 billion in economic activity and up to 18,000 new jobs by 2020 if the state allows gas companies to tap the massive Marcellus Shale formation, according to a report released today by a conservative think tank. The report, paid for by the business-backed Manhattan Institute for Policy Research, found that the state and local governments would gain $1.4 billion in tax revenues alone during the same time period. New York currently has a de facto moratorium on high-volume hydraulic fracturing, a technique used in natural gas extraction in which millions of gallons of water mixed...

We can all agree clean water is an absolute necessity for the survival of humanity. Furthermore, we can all agree no person, in good conscience, can promote a process that deliberately contaminates groundwater. Now that we are all in agreement, let us dispel a myth perpetrated by those opposed to energy independence: Hydro-fracking does not pollute groundwater. Hydro-fracking is a process used to drill into underground shale deposits well below the water table and extract natural gas from these deposits. Hydro-fracking has NEVER caused groundwater contamination. Our friends on the other side of this issue would like us to believe...

ALBANY, NY -- Gov. Andrew Cuomo's administration has ordered an expanded environmental review of proposed "hydrofracking" for natural gas in New York after a well in Pennsylvania spilled chemical-laced water for two days. An internal memo obtained by The Associated Press directs the state Department of Environmental Conservation to review and learn any lessons from the April accident in Pennsylvania's Bradford County. A creek was polluted and homes were evacuated. The review will include an on-site inspection by New York officials.

Several Democratic senators said Tuesday that the Environmental Protection Agency should step up regulation of the natural gas industry because they are concerned that toxic chemicals used in drilling could enter the public water supply. In a Senate hearing, Democrats pressed the agency about the consequences of a fast-growing drilling technique called hydraulic fracturing, or hydrofracking, that involves pumping chemicals and water deep underground to release gas deposits. “The industry has failed to meet minimal acceptable performance levels for protecting human health and the environment,” said Senator Benjamin L. Cardin, Democrat of Maryland and chairman of the Water and Wildlife...

Recently I highlighted the thoughts of Taury Smith, New York state's official geologist and self described liberal democrat. In an article posted at the Times Union Mr. Smith argued that the "spin was on" with regard to hydraulic fracturing. He argued that years of research did not support the rhetoric being presented by the opponents of "hydrofracking." That the cited problems are exaggerated and overblown. That true environmentalists should be in strong support of the increased use of natural gas as it is overall much better for the environment than coal and oil. He of course committed the cardinal sin...

The battle over natural gas drilling in the Marcellus shale formation is heating up in upstate New York. Town meetings are filled to overflowing with people adamantly against gas drilling. Rhetoric is more than heated and less than believable, and local town boards are the most recent battleground to ban horizontal gas drilling in upstate New York. This, I believe is a concerted effort to use local ordinances and zoning laws to prohibit drilling at the source. Arguments against drilling continue to evolve and now consist of a "not in my backyard" plea of the mostly affluent to maintain the...

ITHACA-- The future of Marcellus Shale hydraulic fracturing in New York faces more push-back from local politicians. Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) was in Ithaca Wednesday to sign a letter asking Gov. Paterson to withdraw the draft Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement (SGEIS) the state Department of Environmental Conservation released last year. Walter Hang, president of Toxics Targeting, wrote the letter last year. Former congressman Eric Massa and Rep. Mike Arcuri's names are also on that petition.

PITTSBURGH—Around suppertime on June 3 in Clearfield County, a geyser of natural gas and sludge began shooting out of a well called Punxsutawney Hunting Club 36. The toxic stew of gas, salt water, mud and chemicals went 75 feet into the air for 16 hours. Some of this mess seeped into a stream northeast of Pittsburgh. Four days later, as authorities were cleaning up the debris in Pennsylvania, an explosion burned seven workers at a gas well on the site of an abandoned coal mine outside of Moundsville, W.Va., just southwest of Pittsburgh. The back-to-back emergencies were like a five-alarm...

Agriculture officials have quarantined 28 beef cattle on a Pennsylvania farm after wastewater from a nearby gas well leaked into a field and came in contact with the animals. The state Department of Agriculture said the action was its first livestock quarantine related to pollution from natural gas drilling. Although the quarantine was ordered in May, it was announced Thursday. A mere taste of what's to come from natural-gas fracking in the Marcellus Shale, folks. With fracking, or hydraulic fracturing of rock formations to extract natural gas, we're setting ourselves up for an environmental disaster of epic proportions -- and...