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|  Recent News on Natural Gas DrillingA list of news articles and editorials on the issue of natural gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale and protecting New York’s water supply. Featured News Source on Gas Drilling
Recent News on Gas Drilling (week of May 17, 2013)MANY NEW YORK GAS LEASES EXPIRE AS MORATORIUM REMAINSDaily FreemanNew York’s five-year moratorium on shale gas development promised to be a blessing for many landowners eager to end leases they signed before anyone outside of the oil and gas industry had heard of fracking. But actually getting out of a lease can be tricky. Many have clauses giving the drilling company the right to extend them for another five years. Gas companies have tried to extend thousands of leases by claiming an unforeseen barrier — the moratorium — has prevented them from drilling. And even when a lease has expired, landowners often have to take several legal steps to clear their land of claims. Thousands of leases have reached the end of their five-year term since the moratorium began in 2008. That gives some landowners the chance to get out of a lease they signed for $2 or $3 an acre and 12.5 percent royalties and try to negotiate a new one for the far more favorable terms seen in recent years — potentially thousands of dollars an acre and 20 percent royalties. York land that haven’t been leased before. Two-thirds of the leases people bring to Heath can’t be terminated because they have clauses allowing the company to extend them, he said.
MARCELLUS SHALE GAS PRODUCTION BOOM STIRS DEBATE OVER TAXESTribune ReviewA boom in natural gas drilling in Pennsylvania is generating billions of dollars for companies and private landowners, but some experts question whether the state's low effective tax on the bounty makes long-term sense. Unlike most leading oil- and gas-producing states, Pennsylvania doesn't link fees to how much gas comes out of the well. Instead, each well pays an impact fee no matter how much it produces. That means that even as Marcellus shale gas production has soared, revenue to local and state governments isn't keeping pace. For example, the impact fee generated about $204 million in 2011, when production was about 1 trillion cubic feet of gas. But when production doubled in 2012 to just over 2 trillion cubic feet, the impact fee revenue dropped to about $199 million. One billion cubic feet of gas equals about 180,000 barrels of oil.
AS PA. GAS PRODUCTION SOARS, EXPERTS DEBATE TAXESBusinessweekA boom in natural gas drilling in Pennsylvania is generating billions of dollars for companies and private landowners, but some experts question whether the state's low effective tax on the bounty makes long-term sense. Unlike most leading oil and gas producing states, Pennsylvania doesn't link fees to how much gas comes out of the well. Instead, each well pays an impact fee no matter how much it produces. That means that even as Marcellus Shale gas production has soared, revenue to local and state government isn't keeping pace.For example, the impact fee generated about $204 million in 2011, when production was about 1 trillion cubic feet of gas. But when production doubled in 2012 to just over 2 trillion cubic feet, the impact fee revenue dropped to about $199 million. One billion cubic feet of gas equals about 180,000 barrels of oil.
HOW FRACK WASTE WILL TRAVELThe ChronicleThese maps from a permit application by XTO Energy, a subsidiary of ExxonMobil Corp., were made available by the Damascus Citizens for Sustainability to show transportation plans for fracking wastes across upstate New York and their proximity to New York's reservoirs. The first map shows the path that radioactive drill cuttings will take across New York's southern tier. The cuttings, produced during well drilling in the Marcellus Shale and other deep shale formations, consist of the soil, rock particles, other soil like solids and drilling fluid residues generated from the drilling of wells. According to a May 1 report on timeonline.com, which covers Beaver County and western Allegheny County in Pennsylvania, a truckload of drill cuttings from a gas well in Greene County left Pennsylvania because it was too radioactive for landfills in the state. The state Department of Environmental Protection will this month begin testing for radiation related to fracking, including trucks used in hauling and pumping wastewater. The second map (click arrow to right of the map above) shows water withdrawal sites in Broome and Delaware counties in New York, and the third shows quarry sites
AMID CONCERNS OVER DRILLING, DEP TESTING AIR QUALITY IN SUSQUEHANNA COUNTYNPRThe state Department of Environmental Protection is spending the week testing air quality in Susquehanna County. Residents have raised concerns about the impacts of natural gas drilling operations there, particularly the growth of gas compressor stations. So far, the DEP says preliminary results have not turned up any air quality concerns, but they won’t have full results for about a month. Susquehanna is the fourth most active drilling county in the state, with more than 800 active wells.
FARMERS IN PENNSYLVANIA TAKING PROCEEDS FROM FRACKING AND INVESTING IN SOLARLiving on Earth/PRIFarmers around Pennsylvania, and indeed around the country are increasingly taking the money they make opening their land up to fracking and investing in renewable energy. Specifically, a number of farmers have chosen to plow their windfall into solar panels. Editor's Note: This story comes by way of the Pennsylvania radio program, The Allegheny Front.Supporters of hydraulic fracturing — or fracking — say the increasing availability of natural gas gives the U.S. a way to replace coal and oil and provides a bridge fuel to renewable energy sources.In Marcellus shale country, some farmers with gas leases are using this bridge fuel to get right into solar. | | ||
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