Jon Campbell reports on pressconnects.com - “The state’s top environmental regulator said Tuesday it’s “conceivable” a handful of permits could be issued this year for high-volume hydraulic fracturing, but said a final decision is “months, not years” away.

Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Joe Martens told a panel of state lawmakers that Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s 2012-13 budget proposal does not seek any funds for additional gas drilling regulators because of “the considerable work that remains before we finalize our regulatory framework.”

But he acknowledged the possibility that a small number of permits could be issued in 2012 with the agency’s existing staff. The amount of permits, however, would be “extremely limited,” he said.

To read more click here.

Plentiful oil, natural gas can be extracted safely

In a guest column on NKY.com Dr. Robert W. Chas, Chair and Professor in the Department of Petroleum Engineering & Geology at Marietta College in Marietta, Ohio writes - “During the national debate on the utilization of hydraulic fracturing to produce natural gas and/or oil from shale formations, at least five fallacies seem to have been purveyed to the public as truths. What is disturbing is that, at a time when America can’t afford to foreclose on more than a hundred years’ worth of inexpensive, environmentally attractive energy, untruths could become an excuse for obstructionist foot-dragging on shale drilling. To that end, I offer the following five myths and the realities with regard to “fracking.”

To read the rest of the story click here.

Pat Bradley of WAMC writes:

“The New York Farm Bureau is the largest farmer advocacy organization in the state. Following the release of Governor Cuomo’s Executive Budget, President Dean Norton and other officials met to discuss agricultural issues and how they want state government to address their priorities. Leading the list, according to Dean Norton, is mandate relief. On budget issues, Farm Bureau Communications Director Matt Nelligan says Governor Cuomo’s Executive Budget is overall one of the most positive budget starts in some time. The Farm Bureau supports hydraulic fracturing and is calling on New York State to speed up the process allowing drilling in both the Marcellus and Utica shale beds. Farm Bureau Deputy Director of Public Policy Jeff Williams says the new industry is critical to New York State’s rural economy. The Farm Bureau also places a priority on capitalizing on the local food movement and developing a stronger distribution channel between upstate agricultural products and consumers in the New York City markets.”

To read more click here.

The following is a statement from Marcellus Shale Coalition President Kathryn Klaber on President Obama’s State of the Union address:

“The development of clean, American natural gas is creating tens of thousands of family-sustaining jobs, providing consumers with more affordable energy, and ushering in an economic and manufacturing rebirth in communities across the nation. Through the safe production of shale gas, we are – thanks to advances in technology and responsible practices – able to unify environmental and energy policy.

MSC member companies’ resolution to enhance the transparency of their operations through better disclosure on the FracFocus.org website, while creating more jobs throughout our region, is just the latest example of exactly that.

We are encouraged that President Obama recognizes the tremendous energy security, environmental, and economic benefits associated with job-creating American shale gas development fueled overwhelmingly through private investment on privately-owned lands.

And while presidents of both parties have made a clarion call for more American energy over the past four decades, it is our genuine hope that President Obama’s remarks tonight are reflected in his Administration’s policies that are rooted in sound science and move forward with an aim of leveraging our nation’s abundant natural gas resources on behalf of consumers, families, and small businesses. American natural gas will continue to make our nation stronger and more secure.”

In a letter to the editor published in the Times Union, Gregory Sovas, a former director of the New York Division of Mineral Resources, stressed that natural gas drilling has been done safely in New York, as most of the wells drilled here have been hydrofractured. Sovas’s letter is in response to an op-ed authored by Jonathan Cole, a scientist who urged “…our elected officials to slow down the process of accepting DEC’s flawed and unscientific Draft Environmental Impact Statement.” Sovas writes:

“Cole claims that “fracking requires 4 million gallons of water per well, per day.” This simply isn’t true. The average gas well uses roughly 3-5 million gallons of water over the course of its entire life, not daily. While this amount of water appears significant, the total water usage of gas wells would be only one-tenth that of all the golf courses in the Marcellus region on an annual basis.

Mr. Cole also writes that “hydrofracking has been going on in nearby states” but not New York. Most natural gas wells drilled in New York have been hydrofractured, and this has been routine in the state since at least the 1960s. The only change is from vertical hydrofracturing to horizontal, although the environmental impact is the same.

Over 1.2 million gas wells have been drilled safely across the U.S. since World War II. When we look across the border into Pennsylvania and see the vast economic opportunities and thousands of jobs, we must decide whether we want science or emotion to dictate our regulatory decisions.”

To read more click here.

Jon Entine, a senior research fellow at the Center for Health & Risk Communication at George Mason University/STATS, criticizes Cornell scientist Robert Howarth’s questionable research on natural gas drilling. In a NY Post op-ed, Entine writes:

“The academic face of the anti-fracking movement — Cornell marine ecologist Robert Howarth — increasingly looks like he’s willing to turn science into farce.

Last spring, the once-obscure professor became the go-to expert for anti-fracking journalists and lawmakers when he published a report claiming shale gas pollutes more than coal. The New York Times featured his study in two uncritical articles in one week, he was interviewed on dozens of talk shows — and the media echo chamber did the rest: He was a star.

Since then, other scientists have almost universally challenged his findings — but now he’s doubled down.

Last week, Howarth released another scientifically questionable study, now warning that fracking could push the world over a tipping point, sending temperatures irreversibly higher — an inflammatory and demonstrably incorrect assertion.”

To read more click here.

Robert Bryce, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, writes:

“Any fair-minded analysis of fracking would conclude that the process is having a positive effect on the U.S. economy. Thanks to fracturing, drillers are extracting vast quantities of natural gas and oil from shale deposits.

By unlocking those hydrocarbons, the drilling sector has created tens of thousands of jobs, increased tax revenue to the states where fracturing is permitted (New York continues to have a de facto ban on the process) and, most important, it has dramatically cut the price of natural gas, which supplies about 25% of U.S. energy.

The U.S. consumes about 24 trillion cubic feet of gas per year. From 2005 to 2008, the years just before the shale revolution began, U.S. natural-gas prices averaged about $7 per million Btu. On Friday afternoon, the spot price for natural gas was about $2.37. If we assume the current price is $4 below what prevailed in the years prior to the shale revolution, low-cost natural gas is now saving American consumers about $263 million per day.

That’s a staggering sum of money. Yet the activists who oppose fracking are, let’s face it, dominating the debate. And they are doing so despite the fact that fracturing has been used more than 1 million times in the U.S. over the past six decades.”

To read more click here.

The Foundation for Land and Liberty released a film called “The Empire State Divide” that shows how the ban on hydraulic fracturing in the Marcellus Shale is hurting landowners and farmers. Karen Morreau, who is president of the organization, spoke to Lou Dobbs about the film

To watch the interview click here.

The Marcellus Shale Coalition has compiled a video that includes testimony from a variety of industry experts, Pennsylvania residents and news reports all pointing to the positive economic impact of natural gas drilling.

To watch the video please click here.

To read the PPI report Drilling for Jobs: What the Marcellus Shale could mean for New York click here.

The surge in domestic natural gas production can lower energy costs, reduce pollution and drive investment in the industries that supply equipment the natural gas sector and those that use natural gas as an input to production, like the chemical industry. … The discovery of new natural gas reserves, such as the Marcellus Shale, has led to rapidly growing domestic production and relatively low domestic prices for households and downstream industrial users. Appropriate care must to be taken to ensure that America’s natural resources are extracted in a safe and environmentally responsible manner with the safeguards in place to protect public health and safety. Provided these precautions are taken, the potential benefits to theU.S. economy are substantial. (WhiteHouse.gov, 1/12)

“Obama Discovers Natural Gas”

Last week the White House issued its latest report on jobs and it includes a section on “America’s Natural Resource Boom.” The report avers that a few years ago there were widespread “fears of a looming natural gas shortage,” but that“the discovery of new natural gas reserves, such as the Marcellus Shale, and the development of hydraulic fracturing techniques to extract natural gas from these reserves has led to rapidly growing domestic production and relatively low domestic prices for households and downstream industrial users.” … To the best of our knowledge, this is the first time the White House has favorably mentioned the Marcellus Shale, the natural gas reservoir below Pennsylvania, West Virginia and other Northeastern states. … It’s certainly smart politics for Mr. Obama to distance himself from the anti-fossil fuels obsessives, and no doubt his political advisers are hoping it helps this fall in the likes of Ohio and Pennsylvania. (Wall Street Journal, Editorial, 1/17/12)