Natural Gas

What is the Cooperstown Holstein Corp? And What Does It Have to Do With Fracking?

A lot of people have been talking about the Cooperstown Holsteins Court of Appeals oral arguments today.

From the article:

"Half way through Cooperstown Holsteins’ five-year mineral rights lease, mining β€” and in particular hydrofracking β€” became a hot topic. Local residents opposed to fracking have taken up strong opposition to anyone leasing their mineral rights."

"Ironically, the land Cooperstown Holsteins has leased is unsuitable for fracking because the layer of Marcellus shale is too shallow to drill. The next layer is sandstone, which could support conventional drilling, something that has been done for the past 60 years without incident in western New York state. Below the sandstone is the Utica shale, which is unproven."

My Evolving Views on Fracking

A few years ago, I was pretty supportive of fracking in New York State. I thought it would be good for the Southern Tier and Western NY, as there is already a fair bit of historical natural gas production in that part of state.

Natural Gas Well

I always viewed the anti-frackers as being the same group of extreme lefties who decided they had to ban open burning on farms and rural locations to save the environment from rednecks burning a little bit of plastic in a fire. Or the same people who decided the entire state land holding in the Adirondacks could not ever be used for responsible timber production, like is common in our national and state forests. Or those at war on ATVs, snowmobiles, and even back-country campsites and trails. In other words, environmentalists who are opposed to fracking are generally bad people.

Circa 2006 Natural Gas Well

Over time claims that I once saw as best distorting the truth, are proving themselves somewhat true. Accidents happen and as you scale up, there is a potential for accidents get worst. Conventional natural gas production is not unlike the high volume horizontal wells, much like a convenience store is much like Super-Walmart. Much of the products and methods are the same but the scale is much larger than conventional processes. Bigger means bigger risk.


View Larger Map


View Larger Map

Is it more dangerous or polluting than conventional wells? It depends how you look at it. Natural resource extraction, to a certain degree, is always polluting, although pollution can be controlled. Areas with a lot of natural gas drilling underway tend to be busy with heavy truck traffic and big construction equipment, which can certainly bring in a lot of pollution, at least temporarily. Even modern big-rig diesels can be pretty polluting, and many of the equipment is older and dirtier from the era before strong diesel emission regulations.

Another View of Well Pad

I measured some of the the high-volume fracked wells in Pennsylvania to conventional natural gas wells in New York on Google Maps. The footprint was in some cases 2-3 times larger, but in other cases about the same as a New York State Black River-Trenton formation well. Regardless, any drilling campaign uses some farmland and forest, and cumulative impacts have to evaluated to the environment, even if eventually the wells will be plugged and recovered when they run out of gas.

I also think some of the water pollution and methane contamination complaints are legitimate. As was cynical at first about such notions, and I am sure the anti-fracking activists tried to milk out every little accident and problem, but there are issues and accidents that need to be considered, especially when scaling things up. We need regulations that protect people’s water and ensure that any impacts on the land are temporary inconveniences not long-term headaches.

Edge of Marcellus Well Pad

I believe in keeping an open mind. I still prefer strong regulation over an outright ban, but we will see where this evolves. Many will argue that fracking should be banned be banned in our state. New York State created the Forest Preserve many years ago, and while controversial, wasn’t the great disaster that some people proposed. It’s something to watch.

New York, as an urban state, will never be energy self-sufficient, but we could do better if we could manage our natural resources better.

While I am still not opposed to oil and gas production in NY State, I can see where the winds blow and realize like any policy choice there are pros-and-cons.

True advocates or NIMBY hypocrites? – DailyFreeman.com

Asked and answered.

The scene: a Manhattan art-house theater. The cause: a campaign against the gas drilling process known as fracking that’s being led by more than 100 celebrities, including Yoko Ono, Sean Lennon, Robert Redford, Mario Batali and Sullivan County resident Mark Ruffalo.

Outside, demonstrators in hazmat suits circle the theater. Inside, actress Scarlett Johansson attends a benefit screening of β€œGasland,” the documentary film that has become the movement’s manifesto. Johansson tells The Associated Press that her β€œAvengers” co-star Ruffalo introduced her to the cause and that she found β€œGasland” β€œincredibly shocking.”

via Anti-fracking celebs: True advocates or NIMBY hypocrites? – DailyFreeman.com.