You may recall earlier posts I’ve made about local farmers and other landowners suddenly becoming millionaires by selling drilling rights to energy companies for the natural gas that sits under their land. The Marcellus Shale Formation, as it’s called, is an underground region stretching across a number of northeastern and mid-Atlantic states, including much of New York. In particular, it is thought that Broome and surrounding counties sit over top some of the richest deposits of natural gas known to exist in the United States!

But there are concerns about the process to drill and extract the gas. In particular, people are concerned about groundwater contamination. It takes up to 2 million gallons of water to drill a single well. The kind of drilling they do is called frac’ing, short for fracturing. Drillers force water under pressure along with chemicals like hydrochloric acid down into the ground vertically, and then horizontally for many hundreds (even thousands) of feet. It splits the rock apart to release natural gas.

The problem is, you have to be sure where you take the water from (local lakes, rivers, wells) doesn’t deplete the water supply, and then the water you pump into the ground must come out and must carefully be handled and disposed of because it contains heavy metals from the rock along with leftover chemicals that were used. In the process of pumping all that water (and chemicals) into the ground, and then pulling it out again, you want to be sure you don’t contaminate groundwater supplies. It is a legitimate concern.

The DEC is creating a generic Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) that all drillers must use for each permit filed–for each well that is drilled. A generic “everyone uses the same one” EIS means drillers don’t have to incur the extreme time and expense of performing a study for each and every drill site. Yesterday’s “Draft Scope” issued by the DEC is the first step along the way in preparing the requirements everyone must use. I’ve read some of the 45-page document. On page 10, I found a discussion of groundwater contamination. I found it very enlightening. This is an excerpt:

Department regulations presently require, and will continue to require, that freshwater aquifers be sealed behind cemented steel pipe before a well is drilled to the depth where hydraulic fracturing will occur, which is typically thousands of feet below the aquifers. Therefore, the injected fluid does not come into contact with groundwater; it is, in fact, injected into and recovered through a wellbore that has been specifically constructed to safely convey hydrocarbons under pressure to the surface without negatively impacting fresh water aquifers. The Department has no record of any documented instance of groundwater contamination caused by hydraulic fracturing for gas well development in New York, despite the use of this technology in thousands of wells across the state during the past 50 or more years. Division of Mineral Resources staff responsible for permitting and oversight of gas well drilling since 1980 also do not recall any such instance. (Emphasis mine)

Did you catch that? In more than 50 years of this type of drilling used in New York State, there has never been a single instance of groundwater being contaminated. Yes, we must be vigilant with regard to disposing of the waste water. But when done right, horizontal drilling, or frac’ing, is safe.

Let’s hope the DEC finishes its review and issues the generic EIS on time early next year, and let’s hope we get drilling quickly so we can finally get on the road to energy independence.

Technorati Tags: Marcellus Shale Formation, natural gas drilling, groundwater contamination, horizontal drilling, New York State, Broome County

http://rssbinghamton.com/natural-gas-leases/

A hat-tip of thanks to the Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin for information on landowners’ groups (see this page), and to Al Czervic who writes The Catskill Commentator blog for a list of energy companies (see this page).

I concur with Al’s views on this: Keep your powder dry. No need to rush and sign a lease right now. Get plugged in with a group and see how it all develops, then make a decision. Right now the “going rate” seems to be around $2,500 per acre as a one-time fee to explore and drill on your property, and if any natural gas is found and extracted, a 15% royalty of all production. A few years back this happened in Texas–only the prices there shot up to $15,000-$20,000 per acre.

We also need to see how New York State handles the issue of water supply and disposal. Drillers need lots of water to drill, and when the water comes back out of the ground it’s contaminated and needs to be properly disposed of. Having said that, I believe we’ll get this figured out and move forward–so be prepared!

Full disclosure: I do not own a significant amount of land that can be drilled, nor do I own any interest in any of the energy companies. I am merely an interested American citizen observer who hopes we can find and use this home-grown energy source. I’m also a cheerleader for my fellow Greater Binghamtonians–hoping landowners can put some serious money in their pockets. After being taxed near to death for years, they deserve a break!

If you have any recommendations or revisions for the Natural Gas Leases page, please email them to: jim@rssbinghamton.com.

Technorati Tags: Binghamton, Broome County, Central New York, gas leasing, Marcellus Shale Formation, landowners groups, natural gas drilling, energy companies

Once upon a time big bad energy companies did something really really bad. They wanted to drill for natural gas where (gasp) natural gas actually existed! Can you imagine raping the ground for something natural? Anyway, these big bad energy companies were of course enabled by and codependent on really evil companies like Halliburton (where Dick Cheney used to be CEO, dontcha know).

Anyway, when the big bad energy companies came to town, they wanted to use something more precious than birth control pills: They wanted our…water (oh no!). Yes little boys and girls, energy companies that drill for natural gas use lots and lots of water, which means you won’t have any to drink, nor any to flush the toilet, nor any to put out a fire in your house (a fire caused by global warming of course). And worst of all, you won’t have any water for your swimming pool!

In order to get enough water to drill, these big bad energy companies asked to buy it from local towns and villages, who had more than enough for the townsfolk. The good leaders from almost all the towns and villages refused to sell any water to the big bad energy companies. But there was one bad leader who did (boo). But don’t worry little kiddies, ’cause really good organizations with names like Citizen Action and the ACLU rode into town and voted the bad leader out of office, and sued the local town and energy companies into the next millennium and saved the day (yeah!).

The End.

Editor’s Note: Although a few liberties have been taken with the above fairy tale, please read Johnson City OKs water sale to gas drillers in today’s Press & Sun-Bulletin and tell me if your intelligence is as insulted as mine.

Technorati Tags: natural gas drilling, Binghamton, Broome County, environmental fairy tales, waste water for natural gas drilling

To recap where we are at: The United States has more natural gas deposits sitting under it than Saudi Arabia has oil reserves–if we can only get to it and get it out of the ground. Given that we are way too dependent on foreign oil, a fact nobody disputes on either the right or the left, it behooves us to figure out how to get those reserves out of the ground, and soon.

Enter something called the Marcellus Shale Formation. Shale is a type of rock that sits under much of New York State. The Marcellus Shale Formation (named for Marcellus, NY) is found as far south as northern Virginia, as far west as Ohio, and includes a parts of West Virginia and Maryland. But it seems its heaviest concentration is Pennsylvania and New York.

Marcellus Shale produces a lot of natural gas in and around Greater Binghamton. I know of two local instances where people who have drilled a bit too deeply for their wells (for water) have hit natural gas pockets and the natural gas has contaminated their water supply. One of them causes the homeowner’s water to have so much natural gas the water itself ignites if you hold a flame to it! No lie. Read it for yourself: Couple’s faucets spout fiery mix.

The only problem with the gas sitting below me right now is how you get it out of the ground. Drilling shale is costly, and in order to get it out, you have to drill not only down (vertically), but across (horizontally) to break up the rock. This involves using a great deal of water which a) has nasty chemicals used to break apart the shale, and b) after the water is removed, it has even nastier heavy metals and some radioactivity in it. Treating and disposing of that waste water is an issue. You can’t run it down a local creek or river as it is toxic. So you have to put it on a truck, or a train, and take it to a special treatment plant. Currently, the closest plant to us is near Pittsburgh about 280 miles away. Expensive.

When you read about these issues in the Press & Sun-Bulletin, like today’s article titled, Questions surround gas-drilling waste water, you’ll get the standard leftist line that “this can never work…it will destroy the environment…big bad companies like Halliburton will get involved…you’re going to die.” Typical. No doubt local Assemblywoman Donna Lupardo’s office is feeding much of this pap to the P&SB on a regular basis as she’s anti-anything that would destroy a single leaf or blade of grass (i.e., an enviro-nutjob).

What do I think? I think we need to be careful for sure. We need to understand how and where waste water will be treated. But we need to figure it out and move forward–quickly. The alternative of not drilling and not becoming energy independent is not the answer. We’re pretty smart, we Americans. I think we can figure out how to get the natural gas at a cost and in a method that will benefit everyone and not poison the local population.

What we can’t do is sit on our thumbs and let the naysayers like Lupardo and other lefty-loonies tell us “it can’t be done…it’s too hard…you’ll die.” Tell them to take a hike. And while you’re at it, be sure you don’t vote for them come November.

Technorati Tags: Marcellus Shale Formation, waste water, natural gas drilling, toxic byproducts, Donna Lupardo, Binghamton

Fast forward to today. Endicott-Johnson Shoe Company sold or off-shored it’s U.S. manufacturing operations and moved it’s headquarters to Tennessee–today it employs no people in Broome County. IBM sold most of its local interests and now employs something like 1,200 people at one remaining location. Link Aviation has been sold and resold many times, with most of its jobs moved to Texas and other locations. Maybe you’ll understand why this area’s collective psyche has been in a permanent state of depression since the 1980s, when many of these changes occurred.

Enter natural gas. (No, this is not a punch line or joke.) It’s early days yet, but there’s quite a stir going on if you own any amount of land in this part of the country. With energy prices skyrocketing, one of the great underutilized resources in the U.S. is suddenly becoming popular and profitable–natural gas. And who woulda thunk there’s potentially a large reservoir of it sitting beneath Broome County?

Today’s Press & Sun-Bulletin provides background information about this phenomenon, along with a hint at what may be “happy days are here again” for our area. Here’s a few paragraphs from Gas drilling raises economic prospects:

Gathering the manpower and equipment to tap natural gas under the Southern Tier will continue for months and years as companies recruit qualified help for jobs ranging from land prospecting to drilling, industry sources said.

Some jobs, such as clerical help to process land deals and laborers laying pipe to carry the gas, will be local. Others, like specialized teams operating drilling rigs, will likely be brought from out of the area.

Until recently, low natural gas prices and technological limits caused a lull in the industry regionally, said Brad Gill, a spokesman for the Independent Oil & Gas Association of New York. A drop in gas prices below $3 per 1,000 cubic feet in the late 1980s and through the 1990s “decimated our industry,” he said. Consequently, prospecting slowed, infrastructure development lagged and jobs dwindled.

Prices have since more than tripled, and new technology and current geological models have led to a rush to tap the Marcellus Shale formation. It’s the largest untapped natural gas reserve in the country and it extends under the Southern Tier and Pennsylvania.

Everything is suddenly changing, as companies race to catch up.

The article goes on to say that one energy company, XTO Energy of Fort Worth, TX, is about to sign a land deal with 300 local landowners in the Deposit, NY area worth $90M! Wow. And this is just the beginning. Maybe happy (economic) days are returning to our area! Too soon to tell. What we have right now are hopes that these prospecting companies will find some good veins or deposits. Perhaps the naming of Deposit all those years ago was a prescient act.

Let’s hope the socialist politicians in this area don’t tax the profits into the ground, and let’s hope the drilling companies start pulling natural gas out of the ground.

Technorati Tags: Broome County, Broome County history, Binghamton, natural gas, natural gas drilling, Marcellus Shale, Deposit NY