Author Archives: Jim Willis, Marcellus Drilling News

Natural Gas About to Get Even Cleaner; What Will Fractivists Do?

Posted on by
1 comment

RGGIJim Willis
Editor & Publisher, Marcellus Drilling News (MDN)

 

[Editor’s Note: New research developments are coming that will make natural gas burn even cleaner than now, destroying fractivist arguments against it.]

Researchers at the University of Illinois Chicago have developed a cutting edge catalyst made up of 10 different elements–each of which on its own has the ability to reduce the combustion temperature of methane–plus oxygen. This unique catalyst brings the combustion temperature of methane down by about half, from above 1400 degrees Kelvin down to 600 to 700 degrees Kelvin. What it means is that natural gas can burn cleaner and emit far less carbon dioxide.

Continue reading →

+2

Farmers Boosted Big-Time by Marcellus Shale Gas Development

Posted on by
Reply

RGGIJim Willis
Editor & Publisher, Marcellus Drilling News (MDN)

 

[Editor’s Note: Farmers and landowners have been helped tremendously by the economics of Marcellus Shale development, which are highly positive.]

The 105th Pennsylvania Farm Show kicked off on Saturday, Jan. 9 and runs through this Saturday, Jan. 16. Sadly, this year the farm show is all virtual due to the coronavirus. In honor of this year’s Farm Show, the Marcellus Shale Coalition published a post on their blog site chronicling how the Marcellus Shale industry has benefited (continues to benefit) thousands of PA farmers.

Continue reading →

+5

Phil Murphy Proves Just How Much of An Unprincipled Pander Bear He Is

Posted on by
Reply

RGGIJim Willis
Editor & Publisher, Marcellus Drilling News (MDN)

 

[Editor’s Note: Phil Murphy, an obviously confused panderbear, is trying to wiggle out of his DRBC vote on Gibbstown with a patently silly excuse.]

The five voting members of the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) met in early December and voted 4-0 (one abstention) to approve a 1,300-foot-long pier in Gibbstown, NJ which will be used to load LNG tankers. One of the “yes” votes was from New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy. Following withering criticism from radical environmentalists, Phil Murphy has flip-flopped and now says he opposes the LNG export terminal–after he voted in favor of building it.

Continue reading →

+2

University of Pittsburgh Grabs $2.5 Million to Find Missing Fracking Link?

Posted on by
3 comments

RGGIJim Willis
Editor & Publisher, Marcellus Drilling News (MDN)

 

[Editor’s Note: The University of Pittsburgh is being given $2.5million by Tom Wolf to study but one possible cause of childhood cancer. That’s junk science.]

What if we gave the University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) a $2.5 million grant to study a link between peanut butter and childhood cancer. Researchers could only use the money to study any potential link between peanut butter and kids getting rare cancers. Sounds absurd, right? What if there is NO link between peanut butter and cancer in kids? What if there IS a link to some other environmental factor like, say, an old uranium dumpsite nearby? But the remit is ONLY to research peanut butter.

Sound silly? Sound stupid? Substitute “shale drilling” for “peanut butter” and you can see how absurd it is for Pennsylvania to announce awarding $2.5 million to Pitt to study a single potential cause for rare childhood cancers in southwestern PA.

Continue reading →

0

North Face Does A Politically Correct, But Stupid, Face Plant

Posted on by
2 comments

RGGIJim Willis
Editor & Publisher, Marcellus Drilling News (MDN)

 

[Editor’s Note: North Face imagines its customers are idiots and wanted to look like a green hero to them, causing it instead to do a face plant in the snow.]

Innovex Downhole Solutions ordered 100 jackets for its workers as Christmas gifts from popular outdoor recreation and clothing giant The North Face. But North Face turned its face away and told Innovex because the company is part of the nasty fossil fuel industry, North Face would refuse to fulfill the order. In essence, North Face told Innovex to go screw itself. [Yes, it’s time to boycott The North Face and refuse to buy anything from them, and if you get a Christmas present manufactured or sold by North Face, please return it and let them know why you want a refund.]

Continue reading →

0

ONE Future Group Gains A New Member: UGI Corporation

Posted on by
Reply

RGGIJim Willis
Editor & Publisher, Marcellus Drilling News (MDN)

 

[Editor’s Note: UGI Corporation has joined “Our Nation’s Energy Future.” otherwise known as ONE Future, which is dedicated to reducing methane emissions.]

UGI Corporation, which operates natural gas and electric utilities in Pennsylvania and midstream (pipeline) assets in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia, has just become the newest member of Our Nation’s Energy Future (ONE Future), a group dedicated to reducing methane emissions from their operations.

Continue reading →

0

Johns Hopkins Junk Science Investigations by Fractivists Continue

Posted on by
Reply

RGGIJim Willis
Editor & Publisher, Marcellus Drilling News (MDN)

 

[Editor’s Note: Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health is out with a new fractivist junk science “study” in a series fractivist propaganda sheets.]

Do political, agenda-driven “researchers” never tire of spinning false narratives around fracking? When Michael Bloomberg pays your salary (as he does for researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health), apparently not. Back in 2016, Brian Schwartz, a fellow at the Post Carbon Institute (virulent anti-fossil fuel group) was among a group of researchers who published a junk science report claiming fracking in PA gives you headaches. He’s baaaack! This time Schwartz says PA fracking gives you (gasp)…heart failure.

Continue reading →

0

Weymouth Compressor Station Good to Go Says PHMSA

Posted on by
Reply

RGGIJim Willis
Editor & Publisher, Marcellus Drilling News (MDN)

 

[Editor’s Note: Enbridge’s Weymouth Compressor Station has been evaluated by PHMSA and found to be safe for renewing its critical operation.]

Enbridge’s Weymouth compressor station project, the final piece of the $452 million Atlantic Bridge expansion project, last week received permission from the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) to begin operations in early December. This is a major victory.

Continue reading →

0

Methane Leaks Getting Sniffed Out with New Software!

Posted on by
2 comments

RGGIJim Willis
Editor & Publisher, Marcellus Drilling News (MDN)

 

[Editor’s Note: Great news! New technology in the form of software promises to help identify sources of methane leaks and continue their reduction.]

Researchers with the Dept. of Energy’s (DOE) Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in New Mexico continue to make big oil and gas industry breakthroughs. Two weeks ago we told you about LANL’s breakthrough discovery about pressures used when fracking in the Marcellus (see DOE Marcellus Research Finds High Frack Pressure Keeps Gas Trapped). A different group of LANL researchers have discovered a way to sniff out fugitive methane leaks, perhaps cutting emissions up to 90%.

Continue reading →

0

Laterals Just Keep Getting Longer, As Gas Footprints Shrink

Posted on by
Reply

RGGIJim Willis
Editor & Publisher, Marcellus Drilling News (MDN)

 

[Editor’s Note: Laterals just keep getting longer as drilling moves out underground and stays confined to a small well pad on the surface.]

Deep Well Services (DWS), headquartered in Butler County, PA, is living up to the company name. DWS is one of our favorite oilfield services companies, born right here in the Marcellus/Utica. DWS specializes in “snubbing” work–completing those super-long laterals you read about. Earlier this year the company drilled three more record-breaking wells–the longest onshore wells ever drilled in the world! The current record-holding well drilled by DWS, completed just last quarter, is located in…

Continue reading →

0