Morgan County Marcellus Shale Info

Drilling chemicals could move quickly to aquifers, study says
By Ken Ward Jr. – West Virginia Gazette

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Chemicals injected into the ground by natural gas drillers could migrate toward drinking water supplies much more quickly than previously thought, according to a new study that raises questions about West Virginia’s ongoing Marcellus Shale boom.

Some scientists and industry officials have argued that thick layers of impermeable rock would keep “fracking fluids” used by modern natural gas operations tucked safety away underground, far below aquifers used for residential drinking water.

By Bob Downing
Beacon Journal staff writer
Published: April 18, 2012 – 11:34 PM | Updated: April 19, 2012 – 02:20 PM

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday approved the first clean-air rules on drilling for natural gas with hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, but environmentalists expressed dissatisfaction with a 2½-year delay in implementing a key portion of the new rules.

Read the story in the Akron Beacon

The difficulty and uncertainty in predicting natural gas resources was underscored last week when the Energy Information Administration released a report containing sharply lower estimates. Read the article in The New York Times.

WVU sponsored clips by Paul Ziemkiewicz, the Director of the West Virginia Water Research Institute. – Videos with good simple answers to Marcellus Shale questions. View the list of videos

With the recent enactment of rules regulating the extraction of natural gas from Marcellus shale, a process known as “fracking,” some believe West Virginia will experience an economic boom.

But, what if it’s not true?

Read the article in The [Martinsburg] Journal

Wall Street Journal – 23 Dec 2011 – After burning coal to light up Cincinnati for six decades, the Walter C. Beckjord Generating Station will go dark soon—a fate that will be shared by dozens of aging coal-fired power plants across the U.S. in coming years.

This article available in PDF format >>

Their owners cite a raft of new air-pollution regulations from the Environmental Protection Agency, including a rule released Wednesday that limits mercury and other emissions, for the shut-downs.

The following post is from the Rocket Courier. A newspaper in Bradford County, PA, one of the busiest areas for Marcellus Shale.

The Department of Environmental Protection has fined Appalachia Midstream Services LLC of Horseheads, NY, Chesapeake Energy’s pipeline division, $19,510 for numerous erosion- and sediment-control violations originally found last winter at its compressor station in Albany Township, Bradford County. Read the article in The Rocket Courier.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — West Virginia could improve its financial picture by strengthening severance taxes on coal and natural gas, according to a report released Thursday. Read the article in the Charleston Gazette.

GLEN EASTON, W.Va. — From the Charleston Gazette — Regulators have shut down a Chesapeake Energy gas well pad in Marshall County and declared the site an imminent danger to people.

The Intelligencer says the Department of Environmental Protection order affects the Ray Baker pad near Glen Easton.

It’s the same place where state and federal regulators are requiring Chesapeake to repair a land slip. The operation was previously cited for polluting streams.

DEP spokeswoman Kathy Cosco says the site has been a problem from the start.

Supporters and critics of a bill passed Wednesday to regulate Marcellus Shale horizontal drilling agreed on one thing: The legislation is only a starting point for ongoing regulation of the burgeoning new industry. Read the article in The Charleston Gazette.

Read the “engrossed version” of the legislation. When the final signed bill is online, we will post it.