fracking – Page 6 – Jay's Real Estate Blog

To frack or not to frack?

Both sides step up claims at hearing on releasing natural gas
by Margie Hyslop, Staff Writer, ANNAPOLIS —

Around the State House, both sides raised the ante this week on what is at stake in deciding whether

In testimony, opponents said new research shows the controversial practice of hydrofracturing, or fracking — which injects water and toxic chemicals thousands of feet underground to fracture rock — does not reap the clean-energy benefits claimed by the industry.

The testimony was on a proposal to charge companies that have leased gas rights a fee to fund research to help state officials decide whether to allow fracking, which requires drilling 3,500 to 7,000 feet, then setting a horizontal channel to blast through the rock.

Without studies, Maryland will have more questions than answers, Mike Tidwell, executive director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network, told the Senate Education, Health and Environmental Affairs Committee on Tuesday.

Tidwell said he thinks the proposal to charge companies a $10-per-acre fee is “fair.”

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Fracking opponents want fee on land leased for drilling; bill would create $10-per-acre charge

By Associated Press, Published: March 6

ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Opponents of using new hydraulic fracturing drilling techniques in western Maryland joined state officials Tuesday in asking lawmaker to support a fee to fund a study of potential environmental impacts.

Industry officials, meanwhile, turned out in Annapolis to warn members of a Senate committee not to turn away what could be an economic boon for two western counties.

The $10-an-acre fee would apply to lands leased for hydraulic fracturing, a drilling method that extracts the gas by blasting through layers of shale rock with a combination of water and chemicals. The bill would use the fee to pay for a study commissioned by Gov. Martin O’Malley.

Sen. Brian Frosh, a bill sponsor, said the governor has asked a state panel to examine the impacts “but it can’t fully do its work because it doesn’t have the money.”

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Fracking opponents want fees, warnings

Matthew Bieniek Cumberland Times-News

CUMBERLAND — Opponents of the use of hydraulic fracturing to drill for natural gas in the Marcellus shale of Western Maryland say they want fees to pay for further study of the process and its possible impact and also want those thinking of leasing their land for drilling to be warned of the possible dangers.

Advocates for the fee held a press conference on Lawyer’s Mall in Annapolis on Tuesday, led by Delegate Heather Mizeur, D-Montgomery, and members of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network. Mizeur is a sponsor of House Bills 1034 and 1204, which propose the fees and lease warnings.

The press conference preceded a hearing before the Senate Education, Health and Environmental Affairs Committee on the Senate companion bill on the fees, SB 798.

“Evidence continues to mount that Maryland was wise in its go-slow, study-first approach to shale gas drilling” said Mizeur. “It is up to us to protect our communities and regulate this industry, and the way we do that is through fully funding the study, completing the study and determining whether and how Maryland proceeds on this issue. Second chances are expensive. Maryland needs the time, and the funding, to get this right.”

The fee bill would require payment of a $10 fee per leased acre for gas development to be paid by the company that leases the land for drilling. The fees would be paid into the Oil and Gas fund of the Maryland Department of the Environment, according to the fiscal and policy note for the bill prepared by the Department of Legislative Services. The fees would be retroactive to land leased since Jan. 1, 2007.

Land leased after July 1, 2012, would be subject to an annual $10 fee per acre. The money would fund studies for the governor’s Marcellus Shale Safe Drilling Initiative Advisory Commission. Failure to pay the fee could result in an administrative penalty of up to $10,000 a day. Revenue for the state is estimated at about $1.6 million in fiscal years 2013 and 2014 if the bill should become law.

Garrett County resident Paul Roberts, who is a member of the advocacy group Citizen Shale and a winemaker at Deep Creek Cellars, is also in favor of the bill.

“We should learn from the mistakes we have seen in other states. Maryland has an opportunity to set a national standard for its study and regulation of the industry. These are essential first steps, should drilling be permitted in our community,” Roberts said. Other local speakers included Mike Koch of Firefly Farms and Leo Martin, the mayor of Mountain Lake Park.

“Despite many claims that natural gas is ‘clean,’ recent research shows us that the fracking process leaks copious amounts of methane into the atmosphere, which has more warming power than carbon dioxide,” said Mike Tidwell, executive director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network. “Given the climate risks alone, it’s absolutely crucial that the General Assembly fund the work of the fracking commission.” Tidwell said as much as one-third of the land in Garrett County has been leased for gas drilling. It’s unclear what percentage of that number is for Marcellus shale gas drilling.

The move to impose fees is a “common sense” idea to fund baseline studies of the environment before drilling begins. Such studies weren’t done in Pennsylvania and have resulted in inability to evaluate whether water problems were caused by fracking or whether they existed before fracking, Tidwell said.

The risk disclosures, required by HB 1034, would prohibit a person from signing a lease unless “specified language as to the risks of drilling is provided to the lessor and stated conspicuously in the lease,” according to a digest of the bill on the General Assembly’s website. “Failure to provide the risk information … may be grounds for the denial of a well drilling permit.”

The law on risk disclosure would cost about $59,300 to monitor the first year, primarily because of hiring a paralegal to review leases, according to a fiscal and policy note attached to the bill by the Department of Legislative Services.

Contact Matthew Bieniek at mbieniek@times-news.com

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Fracking might be years off, but the bills pile up

Legislature to weigh measures regarding controversial practice
by Margie Hyslop, Staff Writer

The General Assembly has key decisions to make this year on the controversial practice of fracking, years before it is likely to begin tapping gas from shale in the state.

Del. Heather R. Mizeur (D-Dist. 20) of Silver Spring said she is in the process of filing several bills that would affect the hydraulic fracturing of rock to mine natural gas, including a proposal that would place a 2 percent tax on the transfer of oil and gas leases and sales of mineral rights.

Her measures would require oil and gas companies to disclose detailed information about their operations in Maryland on a public website, said Mizeur, who is among 14 members of a state advisory commission.

Although western Maryland contains just 1 percent of the massive Marcellus Shale formation and mining of the gas likely is several years away, the issue is hot throughout the region, as fracking takes place in neighboring states such as Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

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With deep concerns over fracking, a Va. county says no to more gas drilling

By Darryl Fears, Published: February 5

In BERGTON, Va. — Carrizo Oil and Gas had every reason to believe this rustic town in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains was an ideal place to build Virginia’s first well to explore for natural gas in the state’s Marcellus Shale.

Carrizo liked Bergton’s location — eight miles from the West Virginia border, not far from where other operations are extracting gas. Carrizo bet that gas was locked in the shale under the town and put up tens of thousands of dollars for landowner leases as collateral.

All it needed to start the job was a special land-use permit from the four Republicans and one Democrat on Rockingham County’s Board of Supervisors.

Carrizo didn’t even come close. Concerned about controversial drilling methods, the supervisors never voted on the permit, and recently the company shelved its application following a two-year pursuit, ending its immediate hopes of exploring for gas.

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Cardin talks fracking, bay cleanup during tour through Western Md.

Senator backs drilling moratorium, calls for industry transparency

Matthew Bieniek Cumberland Times-News

CUMBERLAND — U.S Sen. Ben Cardin covered a lot of ground in a wide-ranging interview with the Times-News on Friday afternoon. He discussed matters ranging from natural gas drilling in Marcellus shale to the challenge posed by Iran.
The following are some of the highlights of the interview. Cardin is a member of the Senate Environment and Public Works, Foreign Relations, Finance, Budget, Small Business and Entrepreneurship, and Security and Cooperation in Europe committees.
Marcellus shale
“I think we can do fracking … we should do it the right way,” Cardin said. That being said, Cardin supports Gov. Martin O’Malley’s moratorium on drilling in Maryland. Fracking is a process by which chemicals are pumped into the ground to free the gas trapped in Marcellus shale.
“I’ve tried to convince the industry they’d be better off with national standards than fight state-by-state,” Cardin said. Each state is using different standards.
“My point is I think we can develop the right practices.” Cardin said the country needs the natural gas trapped in Marcellus shale. ”The process is well-known and the risk factors are well-known,” Cardin said. The senator generally scores high marks from environmental groups for his voting record.
He also called for industry transparency. “We should know what they are using” as fracking fluids, Cardin said. The best way to prevent pollution from the fluids is to require recycling of fracking fluids. Recycling would minimize the risk to clean water, the senator said.
Chesapeake cleanup and farmers
The problems in the Chesapeake Bay are not only the quality of the water, but the ecological system, Cardin said. Unfortunately, farming is the major source of bay pollution, he said, and the largest growing source of pollution is storm water runoff.
“Many, many farmers are doing extraordinary things to protect the bay,” Cardin said.
“Our program should be based on the best science.”
Farm groups have been particularly concerned with the possible effects of bay cleanup efforts. The Maryland Farm Bureau believes farmers are being targeted unfairly by environmentalists.
“We oppose regulations that put farmers who live in the Chesapeake Bay watershed at a competitive disadvantage,” the Maryland Farm Bureau’s 2012 policy statement states. The Farm Bureau believes the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is using a flawed model for setting pollution standards. Cardin said he’s relying on the scientists.
“The model that’s being used is the model they think is right,” Cardin said. The most serious challenge to the bay in the area of farming is the poultry industry, Cardin said. Cardin said he won’t be deterred from doing everything possible to clean up the bay.
“I think we need to do a more effective job. I don’t think we’re doing enough,” he said. Cardin thinks the Farm Bureau will work with legislators interested in a nutrient trading program, which would pay farmers to reduce their use of fertilizers and reducing runoff from their farms. It’s much cheaper to pay farmers at the source of the pollution than get nitrogen out of the water system, he said.
“Nutrient trading is a winner for farmers,” Cardin said.
The Occupy movement
“There’s a void and it was filled by Occupy Wall Street. It was sheer frustration,” Cardin said. He’s not sure whether the Occupy movement will have a long-term effect, because the movement’s political aims aren’t clear and there seems to be no interest in electing people to office.
“It’s not like the Tea Party. In many respects, it’s much broader than the Tea Party,” he said, since it includes libertarians and communitarians, he said. “The Tea Party is focused,” Cardin said, and therefore probably has more impact on policy than the Occupy movement.
The movement is a “comfort level for people to express anger and frustration,” Cardin said.
Iran
President Barack Obama is taking the right approach on Iran, Cardin said. “We need to isolate Iran as much as possible and support … enforcing sanctions,” Cardin said. Iran is widely believed to be trying to build a nuclear weapon and is under a variety of international sanctions for refusing to allow inspections of nuclear sites in the country.
“The question is, what are your options?”
The sanctions are having a major impact and there is at least a possibility the Iranian people will stand up and overthrow their government. Cardin said he had no confidential information, but that it seemed likely the U.S. and other allies had made cyber attacks on Iran. Those actions have slowed their nuclear program, Cardin said.
“We’re taking the steps we should be taking,” the senator said. And keeping the support of the international community is key to effective action against Iran’s government. There are only a few truly dangerous countries in the world, and Iran is one of them, along with North Korea and Pakistan, Cardin said.
“They can’t do it without us, but it’s gotta be international,” he said.
Politics
Changes need to be made to the presidential nominating process, Cardin said.
“The nominating process is so difficult. … It does not attract the people most qualified to be president,” he said. Cardin didn’t discuss details, but said the process is deeply flawed. On the state level, the senator said he thinks a Democrat will likely win the 6th Congressional District seat currently held by Republican Roscoe Bartlett.
“The numbers look like they give the Democrats the edge,” Cardin said. A redistricting map added large numbers of Democrat voters from the metro area late last year. Cardin is up for re-election himself. Eight Democrats and 10 Republicans have filed for the seat. Cardin will be seeking his second term. He spent 20 years in the U.S. House of Representatives and more than 20 years in the Maryland House of Delegates.
His wife, Myrna, said there’s a big difference between being a member of the House and being a U.S. senator. The transition from a small geographic area to the statewide office meant “you don’t get everywhere as often,” Myrna Cardin said. She said she prefers to stay in the background and was looking forward to a rare family weekend once her husband finished his Western Maryland tour.
Contact Matthew Bieniek at mbieniek@times-news.com

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Fracking Commission Wants To Make It Easier For Landowners To File Suit

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Dec. 15, 2011

by Greg Masters

Capital News Service

ANNAPOLIS – A commission tasked with advising Maryland on possible shale gas production supports a change in the law that would make it easier for landowners to bring claims against drillers regarding water contamination and other damages near hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” sites.

The new law, which commission chair and Towson University professor David Vanko said has “pretty broad support” from the commission, would shift the burden of proof to energy companies by creating a “rebuttable presumption” that drilling activity causes certain kinds of damages occurring close in time and in proximity to natural gas operations.

“I think (asymmetry of resources) always has been an issue in litigation, particularly where an aggrieved party, Joe Homeowner, is suing a Fortune 500 company,” said Harry Weiss, a lawyer in the Philadelphia-based law firm Ballard Spahr and a member of the advisory commission. Weiss said Pennsylvania already has a similar presumption statute for damages that occur near natural gas operations.

This and other changes to the state’s liability structure, as well as potential revenue sources from gas drilling, will be included in a set of recommendations due Dec. 31 – the first milestone in a three-year study that Gov. Martin O’Malley required by executive order in May.

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Bay foundation: Video shows fracking sites polluting air

Natural gas wells and related processing sites in Pennsylvania, Maryland and West Virginia are spewing “invisible” plumes of air pollution, according to an investigation by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation.

The Annapolis-based environmental group hired an infrared videographer to check 15 natural gas drilling and compressor sites in the Marcellus shale region of the three states. The special camera picked up the heat signature of gases billowing into the air from 11 of the sites, or nearly three out of four.

Robert Howarth, an ecologist at Cornell University in New York, said the gases being released in the video most likely contained methane, a potent greenhouse gas, and other other hydrocarbons, including possibly benzene and toluene.

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Fracking commission named

Posted: July 19, 11:25 am

Gov. Martin O’Malley has picked members of a commission that was formed to study whether a gas drilling technique called “fracking” should be allowed in Western Maryland.

The Marcellus Shale Safe Drilling Initiative Advisory Commission includes:

•Chairman David Vanko, geologist and dean of the Fisher College of Science and Mathematics at Towson University.
•Sen. George Edwards, who represents Western Maryland.
•Del. Heather Mizeur, who sponsored an unsuccessful bill that would have put a moratorium on fracking.
•James Raley, a Garrett County Commissioner.
•William Valentine, an Allegany County Commissioner.
•Peggy Jamison, mayor of Oakland.
•Shawn Bender, president of the Garrett County Farm Bureau.
•Steven M. Bunker, director of conservation programs at the Maryland office of the Nature Conservancy.
•John Fritz, president of the Savage River Watershed Association.
•Jeffrey Kupfer, senior adviser, Chevron Government Affairs.
•Dominick E. Murray, deputy secretary of the state Department of Business and Economic Development.
•Paul Roberts, Garrett County resident and co-owner of Deep Creek Cellars winery.
•Nick Weber, chairman of the Mid-Atlantic Council of Trout Unlimited.
•Harry Weiss, attorney and partner at the Ballard Spahr law firm.

The first meeting will be at 9:30 a.m. on Aug. 4 at the Lakeside Visitors Center at Rocky Gap State Park.

More here.

If you or someone you know is considering buying or selling real estate in Garrett County or Deep Creek Lake, Maryland, call Jay Ferguson of Railey Realty for all of your real estate needs! I take great pride in referrals, and I assure you, I will take great care of your friends, family & colleagues! As member of the Garrett County Board of Realtors, I can assist you with ANY listed property, regardless of the listing broker.

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>The Word on Fracking in the U.S.

>Posted: 7/8/11 12:35 PM ET

If hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, wasn’t already the hottest topic on the energy front, then it’s now firing up with the arrival of summer. The month of June witnessed a number of major fracking-related events by different states in the U.S. and even the world, including three bans, one ban reversal, a disclosure law and a gift to the gas industry. This cluster of events underscores just how quickly the natural gas extraction method is expanding and how controversial it remains.

Below is a roundup of some of these events that have taken place over the last month (or so), something that we track in our ongoing Ecocentric hydraulic fracturing series….

…Maryland: Governor bans fracking by executive order.

Governor O’Malley issued an executive order that bars fracking in Maryland until a comprehensive, cumulative study is conducted. Since an earlier bill banning fracking died in the General Assembly, some viewed the order simply as a political ploy to bolster the environmentalist vote and pursue wind energy instead, while others thought that it made sense for a scientific inquiry to proceed on the relatively understudied extraction process.

Garrett County, in the western part of the state, is the region where fracking could potentially occur, since it’s located over the Marcellus Shale.”

Read the full article here.

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Category: fracking

To frack or not to frack?

Fracking opponents want fee on land leased for drilling; bill would create $10-per-acre charge

Fracking opponents want fees, warnings

Fracking might be years off, but the bills pile up

With deep concerns over fracking, a Va. county says no to more gas drilling

Cardin talks fracking, bay cleanup during tour through Western Md.

Fracking Commission Wants To Make It Easier For Landowners To File Suit

Bay foundation: Video shows fracking sites polluting air

Fracking commission named

>The Word on Fracking in the U.S.

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