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 The remains of a fertilizer plant burn after an explosion at the plant in the town of West, near Waco, Texas, in this April 18, 2013 file photo. REUTERS/Mike Stone/Files WEST, TX — “The fertilizer-plant explosion that killed 14 and injured about 200 others in Texas last month highlights the failings of a U.S. federal law intended to save lives during chemical accidents, a Reuters investigation has found.
Known as the Emergency Planning and Community Right to Know Act, the law requires companies to tell emergency responders about the hazardous chemicals stored on their properties. But even when companies do so, the law stops there: After the paperwork is filed, it is up to the companies and local firefighters, paramedics and police to plan and train for potential disasters.
West Fertilizer Co of West, Texas, had a spotty reporting record. Still, it had alerted a local emergency-planning committee in February 2012 that it stored potentially deadly chemicals at the plant. Firefighters and other emergency responders never acted upon that information to train for the kind of devastating explosion that happened 14 months later, according to interviews with surviving first responders, a failing that likely cost lives.”
— M.B. Pell, Ryan McNeill, Janet Roberts, Reuters
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COLUMBUS — “Natural-gas utilities want to change the law to make clear that consumers rather than shareholders can be charged cleanup costs for about 90 abandoned natural-gas plants in the state, according to an amendment that might get tucked into the state budget.
Some of the gas plants date to the 1800s, when communities used coal and other fuels to manufacture natural gas for use in lighting. The plants have all shut down, leaving polluted sites that have largely been absorbed by the state’s major utilities.
Some of those utilities, led by Duke Energy, are asking lawmakers to approve an amendment that would expand the companies’ ability to charge customers for cleaning up the sites. The proposal is one of more than a thousand items that groups are hoping to add to the budget, often with little discussion of the implications.”
— Dan Gearino, The Columbus Dispatch
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 Fort Collins City Council FORT COLLINS, CO — “The only oil and gas production company working in Fort Collins can go back to work.
The City Council late Tuesday voted to lift a citywide moratorium on oil and gas operations as it applies to Prospect Energy. The vote was 4-3, with council members Ross Cunniff, Bob Overbeck and Lisa Poppaw opposed.
Council members also approved by the same vote an amended operating agreement with Prospect Energy that spells out how it may work in the Fort Collins Field, an oil field on the northeast corner of city limits, as well as a 2-square-mile area near the Anheuser-Busch brewery.
The agreement holds the company to standards that are stricter that those of the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, or COGCC, which regulates the oil and gas industry statewide, city officials said.”
— Kevin Duggan, The Coloradoan
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 Ernest Moniz, Secretary of Energy, speaks before the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, in Washington, April 9, 2013. WASHINGTON D.C. — “On May 16, the Obama Interior Department announced its long-awaited rules governing hydraulic fracturing (‘fracking’) on federal lands.
As part of its 171-page document of rules, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (BLM), part of the U.S. Dept. of Interior (DOI), revealed it will adopt the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) model bill written by ExxonMobil for fracking chemical fluid disclosure on U.S. public lands.
ALEC is a 98-percent corporate-funded bill mill and ‘dating service’ that brings predominantly Republican state legislators and corporate lobbyists together at meetings to craft and vote on ‘model bills‘ behind closed doors. Many of these bills end up snaking their way into statehouses and become law in what Bill Moyers referred to as ‘The United States of ALEC.’”
— Steve Horn, DeSmog Blog
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In the interests of comprehensive coverage, today we include the following May 20 posting from lobbyists for the Ohio Oil and Gas Association. The item addresses an issue that is no longer relevant. Last spring, the Ohio State Medical Association pushed for and won a constructive right-to-know amendment to the oil and gas bill, S.B. 315. We commend them. Could the amendment have been stronger? At this point it no longer matters. In March of this year, we learned that key provisions of S.B. 315 violate federal right-to-know law, and must be fixed to come into compliance. That is the real issue Ohio legislators will have to face this fall.
– Paul Ryder, Assistant Director, Ohio Citizen Action
Ohio State Medical Association debunks public comments about disclosure
COLUMBUS — “One of the most pervasive claims made about shale development has to do with disclosure — namely, that the industry is withholding information from medical professionals about additives used during hydraulic fracturing. This has been advanced by the likes of Ohio Citizens Action, a vocal anti-development group, as well as a handful of other individuals that are actively trying to confuse the public about this issue.”
— Mike Chadsey, Energy in Depth
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 Opponents of fracking legislation pack the Illinois Capitol for hearings Tuesday. SPRINGFIELD, IL — “A bill to regulate horizontal hydraulic fracturing in Illinois sailed through a House committee Tuesday morning in a unanimous vote amid chants of ‘shame’ from a massive opposition group of activists and residents who packed the hearing.
…With his 2010 film about fracking, which documented sickness, contaminated groundwater and the industrialization of communities from such drilling operations, Fox became a lightning rod for debate. Websites and at least one documentary, sponsored by the oil and gas industries, attempt to discredit him.
Sandra Steingraber, an activist, biologist and cancer survivor, told attendees that they’d been abandoned by the same national environmental groups that helped stop fracking in New York.
‘You’ve been dealt a very bad hand in Illinois by people who should be your friends,’ she said.”
— Julie Wernau, Chicago Tribune
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CLEVELAND — “Fri 5/24 @ 9PM
If you like rootsy music and despise fracking, you’ll want to stop by the Beachland Tavern for the benefit for environmental group Ohio Citizen Action, headlined by the Washington D.C.-based Highballers.
…The quintet is known as a exemplar of what’s come to be called ‘alternative country’ — a form of music that skips the pop drivel that passes for country today to honor the genre’s forefathers, while bringing in its modern influences from rock styles like punk and garage. They feature the male/female sparring vocals that make so many practitioners of the genre so appealing.
The group was cofounded in 2007 by guitarist/vocalist/ New Orleans native in Kendall Jackson, who moved to Cleveland in the early ’90s where he formed garage-rockers the Dirty Bottom Boys. Apparently he still cares about clean air and water in his former home state. The Lawton Brothers and Mole People are also on the bill.”
— Cool Cleveland
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 The drilling complaints map reflects the results of Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection investigations at nearly 1,000 properties where water supply owners suspected oil and gas drilling activities polluted or diminished the flow of water to their wells between 2008 and fall 2012. SCRANTON, PA — “More than half of the records of contaminated water supplies confirmed by the state involved gas, loosened by drilling, seeping into drinking water aquifers. Faulty natural gas wells channeled methane into the water supplies for 90 properties, the letters show. Three of those cases were tied to old wells, one of which caused an explosion at a home after gas entered through a floor drain and accumulated in a basement.
Drilling-related road construction contaminated water at two homes, while construction for a large water-storage pond called an impoundment contaminated another. Pipeline construction twice polluted water supplies with sediment. Stray cement or rock waste displaced by drilling, called cuttings, contaminated seven water supplies.
The state has never implicated the underground gas extraction process known as hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, in a contamination incident, but inspectors noted that brine contamination suggesting ‘an infiltration of frac water into the shallow ground water,’ damaged six fresh-water springs used for drinking water in northwestern Pennsylvania.”
— Laura Legere, Scranton Sunday Times
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— Associated Press
 Robert Douglas Lawler OKLAHOMA CITY, OK — “Chesapeake Energy Corp has hired Robert Douglas Lawler of rival Anadarko Petroleum Corp as chief executive, filling the post vacated by co-founder Aubrey McClendon, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing people familiar with the matter.
Chesapeake and Anadarko could not immediately be reached for comment by Reuters outside of regular U.S. business hours.
…Lawler, who is senior vice president of international and deep-water operations at Anadarko Petroleum, will join Chesapeake on June 17, the Wall Street Journal said.”
— Maria Ajit Thomas, Reuters
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COLUMBUS — “Here is what we know:
• While the Utica is beneath eastern and central parts of the state, its sweet spot is a much smaller area that includes Carroll, Harrison, Columbiana and Noble counties.
• Despite early hopes that the Utica would be rich with oil, its most abundant resources are natural gas and natural-gas liquids. Much of the oil is locked away in areas that are difficult to access with current technology.
• Central Ohio is unlikely to see an oil and gas boom. Devon Energy is already giving up on the Utica and is selling its assets there, having drilled the closest to the area with a well in Knox County and coming up virtually empty.”
— Dan Gearino, Columbus Dispatch
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 City of Cleveland administrators are not ready to pull the plug on controversial waste-to-energy technology. CLEVELAND — “Council members, who assumed last week that the proposition had met its end, expressed frustration and disappointment after hearing that the administration would not eliminate it from consideration.
‘The city’s own study demonstrates that the waste-to-energy plan is an economic lead balloon,’ said Councilman Jay Westbrook. ‘Call it for what it is, and stop tormenting tax-paying, conscientious residents.’
For several years, the city has flirted with the technology called gasification, which calls for burning pellets made from compressed trash to generate electricity for city-owned Cleveland Public Power.”
— Leila Atassi, Cleveland Plain Dealer
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— Leila Atassi, Cleveland Plain Dealer
NEW YORK, NY — “Oil output from the Utica shale in Ohio was less than expected last year, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources said on Thursday, denting the Utica’s image as America’s next oil-producing frontier.
Despite initially being touted as a $500-billion bounty when drilling began in 2011, early evidence shows that the Utica may disappoint, holding mostly natural gas, a far less lucrative product already in abundance in the United States.
‘Oil production will be incidental to gas production in much of the Utica/Point Pleasant play,’ the DNR said, confirming some analysts’ concerns that it may not live up to the early hype.”
— Edward McAllister and Sabina Zawadski, Reuters
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CLEVELAND — What happened to the Ohio shale boom? Oil and gas companies have given different answers every few months.
1. It’s a Marcellus shale boom. No, wait, it’s a Utica shale boom.
At first, the Ohio shale boom was all about the Marcellus shale, not the Utica. For example, in October 2010, Chris Perry and Larry Wickstrom of the Ohio Geological Survey gave a presentation on Ohio’s shale prospects, called, “The Marcellus Shale Play: Geology, History, and Oil & Gas Potential in Ohio.” The State geologists saw a big future in the Ohio Marcellus formation:
“. . . due to large production increases, a play such as the Marcellus is reshaping our natural gas distribution networks and the way we ultimately may use natural gas.”
Perry and Wickstrom barely noticed the Utica shale.
Before long, everything was reversed and no one mentioned Marcellus shale. Why?
Because nothing was happening in the Marcellus. There are currently only six producing wells in Ohio Marcellus shale, only one of which is a Chesapeake Energy well.
As a sign of how thoroughly the Marcellus vanished, in its report on 2011 natural gas production the Ohio Department of Natural Resources included figures for Utica wells, but didn’t even bother to report on the Marcellus wells.
“No more than a year ago, expectations of shale development in Ohio focused largely on the Marcellus. However, it became clear in 2011 that Marcellus-related drilling is unlikely to happen very far west of the state’s borders with Pennsylvania and West Virginia.”
— “An Analysis of the Economic Potential for Shale Formations in Ohio,” February 29, 2012, study funded by the Shale Coalition, and conducted by Cleveland State University, Ohio State University, and Marietta College.
Meanwhile, the Utica Shale bandwagon started rolling. On July 29, 2011, Chesapeake Energy CEO Aubrey McClendon said, “The Utica should emerge as a key driver in the future growth of U.S. energy supplies.” Continue reading Shale boom? What happened?
 A drilling site in South Montrose, Pa. (Spencer Platt/Getty Images) MONTROSE, PA — “I have heard the argument that ‘hydrofracking will help the poor residents.’ What I observed is that the poor citizens were the ones most greatly affected, as they have little financial ability to litigate, sell their home or move.
Montrose does not bear witness to a financial boom, nor do its statistics. Pre-drilling unemployment was 4.3 percent; in 2012, it increased to 7.9 percent. Local citizenry make up only about 10 percent of the gas company crews. Also, there are no fewer citizens on welfare and no fewer children receiving subsidized school lunches.
New York citizens should explore the real story. Hydrofracking is not an answer to our state budget; instead, it creates dismal choices, ravaged land and a lower quality of living for all of us.”
— Carol Egan, guest viewpoint, Press & Sun Bulletin
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CLEVELAND – Enough time has now elapsed to make a preliminary evaluation of oil and gas industry claims for the potential of the Ohio shale regions.
The blue line in the above chart shows the actual current number of producing wells in the Marcellus and Utica shale in Ohio, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.
The chart also shows estimates from two industry-funded studies which have been used to promote the notion of an “Ohio shale boom.”
One set of estimates comes from a September, 2011 report done for the Ohio Oil and Gas Association by consultant Dr. Jack Kleinheinz. It estimates, for example, that in 2013 there would be 143 producing wells. This is 50% higher than the actual figure of 95.
Another set of estimates comes from a March 2, 2012 report paid for by the Ohio Shale Coalition, an oil and gas industry-funded group. The study was written by employees of Cleveland State University, Ohio State University and Marietta College. Only one year after the report was issued, the estimates, which the authors called “conservative,” are wildly wrong. For 2013, the study estimated 843 producing Ohio shale wells, more than eight times the actual figure of 95.
— Paul Ryder, Assistant Director, Ohio Citizen Action
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Letters supporting the Fracking Emergency Medical Right to Know Act 7,672 neighbors have sent handwritten letters and made personal phone calls urging state legislators to support the Fracking Emergency Medical Right to Know Act as of May 14, 2013.
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