Stop the Hogs!

Marcellus Shale Gas Drilling near Hickory, Pa

http://www.donnan.com/Marcellus-Gas_Hickory.htm

INTRODUCTION April 2009

My first Donnan ancestor emigrated from Scotland via Ireland to Hickory nearly 200 years ago, back in 1817. In my lifetime, Hickory has always been a pastoral rural town, surrounded by farm fields growing corn, soybeans and hay, with livestock grazing.
Washington County was once the biggest wool producer in the nation, but the livestock is now more likely to be Holsteins or Herefords. The back roads out in the country around Hickory are nice for Sunday car cruises or motorcycle rides, with winding and rolling asphalt roads, usually just wide enough for two cars to pass.
The biggest annual event in Hickory, Pa used to be the annual fall Apple Festival. That is, until the Marcellus Shale gas boom came to town a few years ago. My first heads-up came from a landscaping client who works in the legal end of mineral and gas rights. While discussing the vast reserves of gas in Marcellus Shale underlying Washington County, Pennsylvania she said "Hickory is the epicenter" of the Marcellus Shale gas reserves. I became personally interested in this rapidly unfolding gas drilling story when our drinking water turned putrid last fall.

HERE AND NOW

A business trip took me into the Hickory area last week, my first visit in 6 months. When someone coined the expression "changing landscape" they must have been thinking of Hickory Pennsylvania in the early stages of this Marcellus gas drilling boom!
The first thing that caught our attention as we headed out Route 519 from Houston, Pa wasn't your typical road sign warning of workers ahead. Instead of saying Road Work Ahead, it said Seismic Crew Ahead. What the heck does that mean?? As we drove further, on down back country roads, there were orange extension cords crossing the roads every half-mile or so.
We noticed many more gravel roads cut into farm fields than we had seen when we were out there last fall. Some of the areas that didn't show much development last year now looked like excavations for a new shopping mall or grouping of Big Box stores. Changing landscape indeed!
Driving through that area starts to give you an uneasy feeling, not just the feeling you get when you see pristine fields turned into housing developments. This is more the feeling you get when reading about Love Canal or seeing film footage of Operation Ranch Hand in Vietnam. The more you learn about hydraulic fracturing in the states ahead of us in these fast moving gas ventures, the more concern you have for our local environment.

MORE: http://www.donnan.com/Marcellus-Gas_Hickory.htm

Shell pays $4.7 billion for shale gas company

http://in.reuters.com/article/idINIndia-48878420100528

Fri May 28, 2010 11:12pm IST By Ben Berkowitz

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Royal Dutch Shell said it would pay $4.7 billion cash to buy privately held East Resources Inc, giving it more exposure to promising shale gas reserves in North America.

The deal would raise Shell's daily gas production in North America by about 7.5 percent and give it access to a swathe of the Marcellus Shale, the northeastern U.S. rock formation that is a crucial source of future U.S. gas production.

Shale gas accounts for between 15 percent and 20 percent of U.S. gas production, but is expected to quadruple in coming years, touching off a scramble among producers large and small for access to resources.

Analysts cautioned the deal would put pressure on Shell's balance sheet at a time the company already is planning to spend plenty of money on other projects.

"Although this is a good move, it will put further pressure on the balance sheet, which is weakening with the high level of organic capital expenditure the group has committed to," Panmure Gordon analyst Peter Hitchens said in a note.

Hitchens said that weakened balance sheet would keep Shell from increasing its dividend over the next two years.

A Shell spokeswoman said the company was not commenting on how it intended to finance the purchase. Shell had $8.45 billion cash and equivalents on its balance sheet at March 31 and generated nearly $4.8 billion in cash flow from operating activities in the first quarter.

Shell shares rose 0.41 percent to close at 1,822 pence on the London Stock Exchange.

MORE: http://in.reuters.com/article/idINIndia-48878420100528

Pittsburgh Takes a Stance Against Fracking; Who's Next?

http://www.alternet.org/story/147914/

By Rachel Cernansky, Planet Green
Posted on August 20, 2010, Printed on August 21, 2010

As the debate over fracking intensifies across the U.S., opponents are finding different ways to fight the expansion of the natural gas drilling method that so many people feel is unsafe for the environment and human health.

In Pittsburgh this week, that opposition has come in the form of a proposed ban: city City Councilman Doug Shields plans to introduce a bill next month that would prohibit corporations from drilling in Pittsburgh.

Some feel it's unlikely to pass. But an interesting point that works in the bill's favor: authority to regulate the industry lies with the state—not the city—but an outright ban would not count as regulation.

Ben Price, who works with a local nonprofit law firm and who helped draft the bill, believes that could make all the difference: the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette writes, "a ban is not a regulation, Mr. Price said, suggesting that distinction opens the door for Mr. Shields' legislation."

MORE: http://www.alternet.org/story/147914/

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Pittsburgh councilman proposes natural gas drilling ban in wake of Marcellus boom

http://www.canadianbusiness.com/markets/market_news/
article.jsp?content=D9HLCGKG0

Associated Press 08/17/10 10:41 AM PDT

PITTSBURGH — City Councilman Doug Shields will introduce a bill next month that would ban corporations from drilling for natural gas in the city.

Shields' proposal, which one fellow councilman suggested might not survive a court challenge, comes as the number of leases signed by property owners to allow drilling for has boomed in recent years.

About 7 percent of Allegheny County's land parcels have been leased for drilling, mostly for Marcellus Shale exploration, according to the University of Pittsburgh Center for Social and Urban Research. In the city, only about 362 acres has been leased, said Bob Gradeck, the research project's manager said.

Still, Shields said it's time to act. He plans to introduce the bill Sept. 5 when council reconvenes after the summer break.

"We as a city don't want to have drilling operations going on in the city of Pittsburgh," Shields said at a news conference Tuesday. "Because they're adverse to our rights to the use and enjoyment of our property; they're adverse to our rights to our health and welfare, because of the environmental degradation that it produces."

The bill is being drafted by the nonprofit Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund.

MORE: http://www.canadianbusiness.com/markets/market_news/
article.jsp?content=D9HLCGKG0