Ellsworth, Ohio -

Monday, May 14, 2012

By Andrea Wood

ELLSWORTH Township, Ohio – Heavy dump trucks arrive every five minutes or so; about lunchtime, they’re lined up five-deep, waiting to deposit their limestone loads where Consol Energy is building its first shale well pad in Mahoning County.

It’s the first day of the trucks traveling back and forth from the limestone quarries in Petersburg to the Hendricks farm off Western Reserve Road here. A guard at the gate checks each truck in and out as men from a sign-making company work off to one side of the gravel-road entrance, posting identifying signs and preparing safety warnings they’ll hang 2,000 feet from the entrance, where the well pad is being built.

“This stone is coming right here from the good old USA,” says one of the truck drivers with a wide, satisfied grin.

“This is my fifth load today,” says another. “I’ll probably bring three more.”

Consol received a drilling permit for the Hendricks well in November from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. The company dug a six-million gallon pond at the site – but construction of the well pad did not begin until last week, one day after Consol held an open house, inviting neighbors and elected officials to an informal Q&A session at the Holiday Inn Boardman.

Strategy Sessions, Local: Jefferson, OH

Dear Neighbors:

Here is an opportunity to learn how to become more organized in our attempts to inform our communities about the negative and dangerous effects of fracking. 

There will be a strategy session at the Jefferson Community Center, 11 East Jefferson Street, Jefferson, Ohio 44047 from 6 - 9 PM on Wednesday, May 16th.  I know this is short notice so I hope you can attend.

The attached message from Danny Berchenko has a link for you to use to sign up for the Jefferson meeting and obtain more information.

Gail Larson


Friends,

The fracking industry is fanning out across the state, buying up leases and applying for more permits to drill. But everywhere they go, citizens and grassroots groups are mobilizing to stop them.

In May, I’ll be leading strategy sessions in communities resisting fracking across the state to help build and strengthen the statewide movement against fracking in Ohio.

These sessions will include discussions on the impacts of fracking in our state, training on how to design strategic actions that move local campaigns forward, and we’ll talk more about our plans for the largest action against fracking in our country’s history to take place in Columbus this June 17th

These strategy sessions will be great opportunities for us to come together as a movement and gain new action organizing skills in the fight to stop fracking in Ohio.

Here is the schedule of the strategy sessions in May:

May 12th—Cincinnati, OH  (2-5pm)

May 13th—Athens, OH  (2-5pm)

May 14th—Youngstown, OH  (6-9pm)

May 15th—Canton, OH  (6-9pm)

May 16th—Ashtabula, OH  (6-9pm)

May 17th—Cleveland, OH  (6-9pm)

May 18th—Mansfield, OH  (6-9pm)

May 19th—Oberlin, OH  (2-5pm)

May 20th—Columbus, OH  (2-5pm)

Sign up here for the session nearest to you, and we’ll send you updates on pertinent details such as specific venue locations, directions, parking, agenda, and more.

I hope to see you next month, and in action this Summer,

--Danny


Don't Frack Ohio is a project of 350.org Action Fund, in collaboration with Ohio's grassroots anti-fracking movement. Connect with us on Facebook and Twitter, and sign up for email alerts.

Click here to learn the science behind 350

An important message / action from Ohio Citizen Action. Please consider

An important message / action from Ohio Citizen Action. Please consider
writing a quick note to your Legislators.

Governor Kasich's new idea: Leave Ohio wide-open for fracking
Ohio Governor John Kasich's energy plan promotes new, risky forms of gas and
oil drilling. To advance this energy plan, Kasich has written bills to leave
Ohio's health and safety regulations wide open. Governor Kasich wants the
bills passed by June 30, so legislators can leave Columbus to run for
reelection.
Kasich's bill S.B. 315 would make it easier for oil and gas drillers from
Texas and Oklahoma to use the notorious practice of "fracking," a
combination of hydraulic fracturing and horizontal drilling, in our state.
Fracking involves high-pressure injection of toxic chemicals underground to
get oil and gas out of the rock.  No one knows the long term effects of this
new form of drilling.

The right to know

People living near a fracking well have the right to know how much of which
chemicals the drillers are using. That's the only way they'll know if there
is a danger of contaminating the drinking water supply.

We are denied our right to know in the current version of S.B 315. As it is,
oil and gas drillers would only have to tell the Ohio Department of Natural
Resources, not citizens, the chemical class of the chemicals they're using,
which could be one of hundreds of chemicals in that class.

Drillers could wait up to 60 days after the well is completed to do that.
Citizens need to know what chemicals are used in the process before a well
is drilled so that drillers can be held responsible for contamination
instead of acting like it wasn't their fault.
Emergency responders, like firefighters, wouldn't be told exactly what
chemicals are onsite until they are literally on their way to an emergency.
Firefighters need to know what chemicals are used at a site before they get
there, because some require special measures to clean up. Fracking fluid is
known to include benzene, formaldehyde, sulfuric acid, lead, and diesel. We
need to know the rest of the chemicals too.
The right to say "no"
In 2004, the Ohio legislature gave "sole and exclusive authority of all
aspects of oil and gas drilling and production" to the Department. This
means that local municipalities don't get to decide if and how drilling
happens in their communities.

Then, in 2010, the legislature authorized "mandatory pooling," in which
landowners could be forced to let drillers use their land even if they
objected to it. The law doesn't specify a limit on how much land is needed
for a driller to request a mandatory pooling order, so it's up to the chief
of the Division of Mineral Resources Management, a part of the Department of
Natural Resources, to decide at their discretion how much land can be taken
without permission.

Communities should have "home rule" that allows us to prevent drilling in
our communities if we don't want it.  S.B. 315 currently makes no mention of
restoring home-rule.

Please write your local legislators and Senate President Thomas Niehaus:
You can find who your local legislators are at
http://www.legislature.state.oh.us/

Please take a minute to write a letter to your local legislators and Senate
President Thomas Niehaus. Tell them Kasich's plan is too reckless:

* Ohio should have a right-to-know law so that the drilling companies have
to tell the public what chemicals they are using in fracking, and in what
amounts
* Local communities should have the right to say "no," the right to decide
if and how any drilling takes place in their neighborhoods.
Your local Senator is ______________1 Capitol Square, Columbus, OH
43215

Your local Representative is _______________ 77 South High Street  Columbus,
OH 43215

Senate President Niehaus' address is 1 Capitol Square, 2nd Floor, Columbus,
OH 43215

Questions? Contact Nathan Rutz 614 W Superior Ave # 1200, Cleveland, OH
44113                                  nrutz@ohiocitizen.org    216-861-5200

Informational Meeting on Fracking, Geauga County

Just want to let everyone know that the United Church of Christ in
Chesterland at the corner of Wilson Mills and Caves Rd. will be having an
informational meeting about Fracking on Sunday May 20th 2012 at 11:15 AM.

Speakers include Rev. Jim Deming (who spoke at our rally)and some folks
who have experienced problems with Conventional wells that were Fracked in
the Bedford,OH area. Light refreshments will be served.

Thank you to Catherine Whitright for the invitation.
Have a great day!
Kathy

Exploration Well in Rome/Rock Creek Area, Ashtabula County

Good Morning Neighbors:

One of our friends alerted us to the issuance of permit to Chesapeake for an exploration well on February 27, 2012.  Yesterday that well was set up and the work has begun effective May 3, 2012.  The site sits beside a farm that sells eggs and has beef cows.  There is a small stream adjacent to the well site.  How safe is your water? 



Rt 45 and Ketchum Road
Rome, OH

Chesapeake at a glance.

Chesapeake is the largest leaseholder in the Utica play, controlling about 1.3 million acres.

The company currently operates 10 rigs in the Utica fields and plans to average 13 rigs in 2012 and 22 rigs in 2013, according to its release, with its initial development focus the wet gas window.

“Chesapeake has drilled a total of 59 wells in the play, of which nine are currently producing, 15 are currently being completed, 15 are waiting on completion and 20 are waiting on pipeline infrastructure,” the company said.

“Three notable recent wells completed by Chesapeake in the Utica are as follows:

• The Shaw 5H in Carroll County achieved a peak rate of 770 bbls of oil, 180 bbls of NGL and 2.9 mmcf of natural gas per day, or approximately 1,440 boe per day;
• The Burgett 8H in Carroll County achieved a peak rate of 720 bbls of oil, 140 bbls of NGL and 2.1 mmcf of natural gas per day, or approximately 1,210 boe per day; and
• The Coniglio 6H in Carroll County, in a limited flow test before being shut-in to wait on a pipeline connection achieved a peak rate of 290 bbls of oil and 5.0 mmcf of wet natural gas per day, or approximately 1,125 boe per day at the end of the test.

“The company has a significant number of wells planned for the Utica oil window during the remainder of 2012 and is confident that it will have strong results based on its successful results in the oilier portion of the wet gas window, preliminary results from oil window testing and the results of certain of its competitors in the oil window.”

Chesapeake reported 2011 well production results April 2 to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. The report consisted of five producing wells and four wells that have yet to come online but have extracted oil through brine water, a byproduct of the hydraulic fracturing process.

Information taken from The Business Journal, Youngstown, OH

Getting their gas in gear...

The U.S. Energy Information Administration in January estimated that the nation's energy companies stand to reap an extra $14 billion to $43 billion in annual revenues if natural gas exports are allowed to rise. The broad variance between those numbers reflects the uncertainty of gas prices, demand for the fuel and competition from abroad, according to the EIA report.

But first, drillers must find a way to get their gas to market.

They have some access to export points such as the Gulf Coast, via existing pipelines and other infrastructure, according to the EIA. Also, Houston-based Cheniere Energy Inc. plans to build a $10 billion liquefied natural gas facility in Louisiana, with a goal of breaking ground this spring if it receives the expected federal approvals. Cheniere estimates the facility would export as much as 1 billion cubic feet of gas per day initially, with room to double in size if conditions warrant expansion.

The likely buyers of that gas will be nations in Asia, including China, the EIA and others predict. They may own the gas even before it gets to the LNG terminal; the CEO of Chesapeake Energy, the largest driller in Ohio, reportedly has been trying to sell billions of dollars of U.S. energy reserves to Asian investors. The company already has sold some of its holdings to foreign investors, and Chesapeake CEO Aubrey McClendon has pledged to sell $17 billion of such assets by the end of 2013.

A Chesapeake spokesman declined to be interviewed for this story. The Bloomberg news service, however, reported that Mr. McClendon is focused on increasing the price of natural gas in the United States, and so are his investors.

“We are presently owned by a group of investors who don't think gas prices will ever go above $4 (per MCF),” Mr. McClendon was quoted as saying in a March 12 story. “I want to be owned by investors who live in a part of the world that believes gas prices will never go below $10.”

By DAN SHINGLER
9:12 am, April 17, 2012