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February 24th, 2012 – Following New York State Supreme Court Judge Phillip Rumsey’s landmark decision in Dryden, NY that re-affirmed local municipalities’ right to prohibit natural gas extraction, Albany Common Councilman Dominick Calsolaro announced the re-introduction of the Albany fracking ban bill at a press conference on Feb. 24. The bill passed last year but was vetoed by Mayor Gerald D. Jennings. Calsolaro applauded the court decision and called for local municipalities’ rights to remain intact. “Judge Rumsey’s decision in the Town of Dryden case regarding the Town’s legal right to use zoning to prohibit hydrofracking is a reaffirmation of a municipality’s power to regulate land use within its boundaries. This constitutionally-granted power of local governments recognizes that land use decisions affecting residents of a specific municipality should be left to the elected officials of that municipality, and not have land use regulations forced upon them by bureaucrats who do … Continue reading
NEW YORK, Apr 25, 2012 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Newman Ferrara LLP ( www.nfllp.com ) has begun an investigation into whether certain officers and directors of Chesapeake Energy Corp. (“Chesapeake” or the “Company”) CHK +0.91% breached their fiduciary duty in permitting the Company’s CEO to take a significant and irregular loan against Company assets. Concerned investors are encouraged to contact Newman Ferrara partner Jeffrey M. Norton at (212) 619-5400 or jnorton@nfllp.com to discuss this investigation, their rights, or potential remedies. On April 18, Reuters reported that the Company’s CEO, Aubrey McClendon, borrowed as much as $1.1 billion against his personal ownership stakes in wells owned by the Chesapeake. According to the report, McClendon used proceeds “to fund [his] operating costs for an unusual corporate perk that offers him a chance to invest in a 2.5 percent interest in every well the company drills.” The loan raises questions as whether McClendon’s personal financial deals may … Continue reading
April 25th, 2012, GLENROCK, Wyo. — Several dozen residents near Douglas have evacuated because of a problem at a natural gas well. The Glenrock Bird reported that large amounts of gas were coming out of the ground on Tuesday night but it wasn’t immediately clear what happened. The owner of the well, Chesapeake Energy, said there was a “well control incident” but hasn’t released any details yet. A Converse County sheriff’s dispatcher said residents of a subdivision were told about the problem Tuesday and given the option to stay or evacuate. KCWY-TV reports that over 50 of the nearly 400 residents left their homes. Residents told the station that the sound of escaping gas could be heard six miles away. Chesapeake Energy says no workers were injured and that it was working to bring the well under control. (Please visit original posting for slideshow) By AP Replicated only for posterity. … Continue reading
April 22nd, 2012, COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) – Retired police officer Ed Hashbarger is watching in anger as drillers converge on his part of eastern Ohio, at times gaining access to coveted oil and gas deposits through a state law that can trump objections of individual property owners. The U.S. Army veteran contends the practice called mandatory pooling violates his constitutional rights, his Catholic faith — which calls for safeguarding the environment — and what his country stands for. “We do not defend the United States of America so the government can strip me of my rights to my land,” said Hashbarger, who expects his land in Bloomingdale will soon be pooled as such deals engulf neighboring properties. “I’m furious over the whole thing.” Mandatory pooling gives drillers the ability to overcome a landowner’s objections to drilling on his property if enough neighbors have agreed to the well drilling. The resisting … Continue reading
April 24th, 2012 – Today, Colleyville and Southlake residents and Earthworks’ Oil & Gas Accountability Project released results from local residents’ privately-funded air testing of Titan Operations’ “mini-frack” on the border of both communities. The tests, performed by GD Air Testing Inc. of Richardson, Texas, prove emissions released during fracking and flowback contain dangerous levels of toxic chemicals. “We paid for tests because we can’t depend on the city or the fracking industry,” said Colleyville resident Kim Davis. “The tests confirmed our worst fears, while Colleyville ignored their own tests to let fracking continue. Apparently the city represents Titan and the gas industry instead of local residents,” she said. Colleyville City ordinances expressly prohibit the release of any gases: “No person shall allow, cause or permit gases to be vented into the atmosphere or to be burned by open flame.” The community-funded test results, which detected twenty-six chemicals, also showed … Continue reading
APRIL 18, 2012 by Iris Marie Bloom Unfazed by an overcast and drizzly afternoon, over twenty activists gathered outside the headquaters of Aqua America in Bryn Mawr, PA today at noon to confront the corporationabout their “moral deficit.” Aqua is in the process of evicting 32 low-income families from Riverdale Mobile Home Park in order to build a water withdrawal facility to sell 3 million gallons of Susquehanna River water per day, for the next four years and beyond, to the fracking industry. The small Riverdale community in Jersey Shore, PA was rocked by the news of the sudden evictions less than one month ago, after the Susquehanna River Basin Commission awarded Aqua its permit to withdraw water for fracking on March 15th. “This is about human beings losing their homes,” said Nathan Sooy of Clean Water Action. “We need to protect families like the family of (Riverdale resident) Kevin June… Aqua is … Continue reading
April 4, 2012 - The Province of Quebec announced this week it would not allow hydraulic fracturing pending further study of the controversial drilling technique. Quebec has had a defacto ban on hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, since March, but an environmental committee on Tuesday, named by Quebec Environment Minister Pierre Arcand, decided on an all-out moratorium – even for research purposes, reported the Calgary Herald. The announcement comes as a stark contrast to previous comments made by Arcand that informative demonstrations of fracking would be allowed in the province. Fracking involves the blasting of underground shale rock formations with thousands of gallons of water, sand and toxic drilling chemicals to fracture the rocks and extract natural gas otherwise trapped underground. The technique in recent years has created a rush of energy development in the U.S., in states including Pennsylvania, Ohio, and Texas. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is expected to announce final … Continue reading
February 24th, 2012 – Citing threats to food safety and agriculture from gas drilling, national farming organizations, and local farming communities took actions this week against hydrofracking. From the Canadian National Farmers Union, “Hydraulic fracturing a danger to water, food, farmland: NFU calls for moratorium.” The National Farmers Union is first large, national agricultural organization to make a clear statement that fracking for gas represents a threat to food safety, agriculture, and farmer health. The NFU represents thousands of family farms across Canada. The National Farms Union’s press release is worth reading in full. Here are some excerpts: “We are in the heart of Alberta’s oil and gas country where our ability to produce good, wholesome food is at risk of being compromised by the widespread, virtually unregulated use of this dangerous process.” “Farmers across Canada largely depend on ground water aquifers for both domestic use and livestock production. The quality of ground water … Continue reading
April 2012, Washington, D.C. – A U.S. Geological Survey research team has linked oil and natural gas drilling operations to a series of recent earthquakes from Alabama to the Northern Rockies. According to the study led by USGS geophysicist William Ellsworth, the spike in earthquakes since 2001 near oil and gas extraction operations is “almost certainly man-made.” The research team cites underground injection of drilling wastewater as a possible cause. “With gasoline prices at $4 a gallon, there’s pressure to rush ahead with drilling, but the USGS report is another piece of evidence that shows we have to proceed carefully,” said Dusty Horwitt, Senior Counsel and chief natural resources analyst at Environmental Working Group. “We can’t afford multi-million-dollar water pollution cleanups or earthquakes that could pose risks to homes and health.” The USGS study, published by the Seismological Society of America, will be presented at the group’s meeting April 17-19 in … Continue reading
Cross-posted with TomDispatch.com April 5th, 2012 – Along with “fivedollaragallongas,” the energy watchword for the next few months is: “subsidies.” Last week, for instance, New Jersey Senator Robert Menendez proposed ending some of the billions of dollars in handouts enjoyed by the fossil-fuel industry with a “Repeal Big Oil Tax Subsidies Act.” It was, in truth, nothing to write home about — a curiously skimpy bill that only targeted oil companies, and just the five richest of them at that. Left out were coal and natural gas, and you won’t be surprised to learn that even then it didn’t pass. Still, President Obama is now calling for an end to oil subsidies at every stop on his early presidential-campaign-plus-fundraising blitz — even at those stops where he’s also promising to “drill everywhere.” And later this month Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders will introduce a much more comprehensive bill that tackles all fossil fuels and their purveyors (and has no … Continue reading
March 26th, 2012 – There won’t be any new oil or gas wells drilled on property owned by Montville Township anytime soon. At the urging on township resident David Cooper, Montville trustees unanimously adopted a resolution prohibiting hydraulic fracturing and the drilling of injection wells on the approximately 100 acres of land owned by the township. Cooper is not the first area resident to make an appeal to Montville trustees to enact a ban on new oil and gas wells on township property. Similar appeals were made twice before by representatives of the Concerned Citizens of Medina County, a grassroots group which has mounted a campaign to urge public officials to place a moratorium on oil and gas exploration in the area. Members of the Concerned Citizens group say new drilling techniques being employed to tap natural gas trapped in shale deposits deep underground pose serious threats to health and … Continue reading
April 4th, 2012 - Hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” has generated widespread media attention this year. The process, which injects water and chemicals into the ground to release “natural” gas and oil from shale bedrock, has been shown to contribute significantly to air and water pollution and has even been linked toearthquakes. But little has been reported on the ways in which fracking may have unique impacts on women. Chemicals used in fracking have been linked to breast cancer and reproductive health problems and there have been reports of rises in crimes against women in some fracking “boom” towns, which have attracted itinerant workers with few ties to the community. Toxins in Fracking Process Linked to Breast Cancer Not only has the chemical cocktail inserted into the ground been shown to contaminate groundwater and drinking water, but fracking fluid also picks up toxins on its trip down to the bedrock and back … Continue reading
