PA Companies Create Innovative New Shale-Related Products

Our feel-good, cool new innovation story of the week: Two State College, PA-based businesses are sharing a $50,000 award for Marcellus Shale-related products they have created. The new producst include a leak-proof mat for containing fracking fluid and drilling mud and a systyem for retrofitting diesel trucks to run on compressed natural gas. Read on for more details.

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Local companies awarded $50,000 for innovative Marcellus Shale products

CENTRE DAILY TIMES
By Cliff White
Thursday, May 24, 2012

Two collaborations between Penn State and local companies are sharing $50,000 in awards for creating innovative products related to the development of the Marcellus Shale natural gas play.

The Ben Franklin Shale Gas Innovation and Commercialization Center announced the winners of its shale gas innovation contest as State College-based Polymics Ltd. and the team of State College-based Glenn O. Hawbaker and Penn State’s Larson Transportation Institute.

The contest was designed to “identify, support and commercialize technologies and early-stage businesses that enhance responsible stewardship of the environment while properly utilizing this transformative energy asset,” according to the news release announcing the winners.

Polymics, a developer and manufacturer of high-tech polymers, created a lightweight, reusable, leak-proof mat system designed to contain drilling mud and fracking fluid produced during the gas drilling process.

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Great Shale Drilling Industry Video

Our friends at Northeast Natural Energy created this great video about how shale drilling works and about the industry’s commitment to the environment. We thought we’d share. Check it out here.

N.C. Debating Allowing Fracking In the State

Not to be left behind, North Carolina is debating a bill to legalize hydraulic fracturing in the state. The NC Department of Environment and Natural Resources has weighed in with 484 pages of recommendations. As written, the current bill under debate would, among other things, prohibit local fracking ban ordinances, which would hopefully prevent the types of litigation that have occurred in other states. Read on for more details on regulations under consideration.

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Controversial fracking bill advances in N.C. legislature

CHARLOTTE OBSERVER
By John Murawski
Wednesday, May 16, 2012

The state’s debate over fracking resumed Wednesday with the advance of a bill that would legalize the natural gas mining method within two years in this state, giving agency officials until 2014 to come up with provisions to protect the public health and the environment.

The bill, sponsored by Republican Sen. Bob Rucho of Mecklenburg County, is controversial even within the Republican-dominated legislature. It will compete for votes against a more moderate approach expected from Sen. Mitch Gillespie, a McDowell County Republican who favors greater public safeguards.

Some say the technology is so dangerous and risky it should never be allowed in this state.

Fracking, a shorthand for hydraulic fracturing, is illegal in North Carolina but some are pushing for legalization to access a cheap cleaner-burning domestic fuel as an alternative to imported oil and dirty coal. Fracking refers to pumping several million gallons of water and chemicals underground at high pressure to flush out natural gas trapped in prehistoric shale rock formations.

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Harmful Environmental Impacts of Fracking Greatly Declining in PA

A new study by New York’s University at Buffalo’s Shale Resources and Society Institute has found that environmental issues in Pennsylvania’s fracking industry have been greatly reduced across the past four years, thanks to a combination of increased regulation and improved technologies. Read on for more details.

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Gas Drillers in Pennsylvania Trim Risks of Harm, Study Finds

BLOOMBERG
By Jim Efstathiou Jr.
Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Natural-gas drillers in Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale reduced the rate of blowouts, spills and water contamination by half since 2008, according to a study based on state-agency actions.

State regulators issued environmental violations at 27 percent of the wells drilled in the first eight months of 2011, 54 percent below the full-year rate in 2008, according to the study today from New York’s University at Buffalo’s Shale Resources and Society Institute, which opened last month. Stronger regulations, tougher enforcement and improved industry practices helped trim the violations, researchers found.

Technological advances in hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, have opened vast oil and gas deposits from North Dakota to West Virginia. In Pennsylvania, the Department of Environmental Protection reports more than 4,000 wells since 2009 were drilled by fracking, a technique in which millions of gallons of chemically treated water are forced underground to free trapped gas.

“The odds of non-major environmental events and the much smaller odds of major environmental events are being reduced even further by enhanced regulation and improved industry practice,” according to the study. Pennsylvania managed “the brisk pace of unconventional gas development, while preserving the economic opportunity that development has afforded the community.”

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Ohio Debates Shale Industry Water Usage and Sources

Ohioans are concerned about managing water resources in such a way as to ensure enough sources of water to meet industry needs, as well as to continue to supply all other needs. Legislators are working on laws requiring close monitoring of industry water sources as usage. Read on for more.

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Debate Rages Over Source

TRIBUNE CHRONICLE
By Dan Pompili
Monday, May 14, 2012

With more than 2,000 horizontal natural gas wells expected to be drilled by 2015 into northeast Ohio’s Utica shale – each projected to use between 2 million and 6 million gallons of water – state experts and naturalists are working to ensure there are sufficient sources of water to supply the industry’s demands and other needs.

At the same time, Ohio legislators are working on laws that would more closely monitor where drillers are getting the water and how much they are taking.

“Essentially Ohio is looking to manage water resources based on availability and use,” said Dave Anderson, senior geologist at Moody & Associates Inc., an environmental and hydrological consulting company that recently opened an office in Canton to support Utica shale industrial development.

Anderson said he does not expect water access to be an issue in Ohio because there are so many options and resources.

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New Shale Drilling Guidelines Approved in PA

The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission has approved guidelines for the new Marcellus Shale drilling law – with the exception of zoning rules, which are still being contested in court. Read on to learn more about the provisions. Click through to read the full order.

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PUC approves guidelines for most of Marcellus Shale drilling law

PITTSBURGH POST-GAZETTE
By Laura Olson
Thursday, May 10, 2012

HARRISBURG — The state Public Utility Commission this morning approved final guidelines for most of the new Marcellus Shale drilling law, though rules regarding the zoning provisions being challenged in the state court system were put on hold.

Approval of those rules allows the commission to collect information from local governments so that it can distribute drilling impact fee dollars this fall. Among the provisions were finalizing the reporting forms that township officials will use to relay their budget information and producers will use to indicate their number of wells liable for the fee.

The zoning-related rules likely will not be finalized until the pending lawsuit seeking overturn that section of the law is decided. A Commonwealth Court judge issued a 120-day halt last month to the section outlining how local governments must adapt their drilling-related ordinances to comply with state law.

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Marcellus & Utica Shale: The Litigation Landscape for Midstream Operators

Spilman Thomas & Battle, PLLC-hosted event:

The economic and environmental implications of the Marcellus & Utica Shale developments are magnified by fast-moving legal changes – especially for infrastructure firms.

Join attorneys from Spilman Thomas & Battle, PLLC, a leading Marcellus & Utica Shale law firm, for a highly informative and hands-on workshop that will analyze state and federal laws and regulations affecting midstream operations, with particular emphasis on recent developments in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio. The session is designed to be interactive and will help you to navigate the legal landscape with concepts and strategies essential to shale gas development, transportation and storage.

When
Tuesday, May 29
2:00 – 5:00 p.m.

Where
Hilton Garden Inn
Canonsburg, Pa.

Visit Spilman’s website to register.