Posts Tagged ‘Plains Township’

• Marcellus production providing “a bright spot for Pennsylvania’s construction companies”

• “The region has benefited from the jobs created by the natural gas industry”

• Marcellus production “could bring hundreds of jobs to the area”

Marcellus development “a boon to local businesses”: “Activities around the Marcellus Shale have provided a bright spot for Pennsylvania’s construction companies in the midst of a recession that flatlined commercial and residential construction. In rural Lycoming County, construction crews are working around the clock to develop the infrastructure — usually in the form of improved gravel roads and large, stone drilling pads — to access the gas deposits deep under the ground. The building activities in the rural northern tier have been a boon to local businesses, as well as the region’s larger industrial contractors. … Outside of Waterville, Hawbaker’s crews are working night and day to keep pace with the gas exploration activities. “We’ve been able to provide a good wage to our truck drivers … and these guys are getting 50, 60 hours a week,” he said. Even more dollars are filtering into other companies that provide the storage containers and water for drilling. (Centre Daily Times, 7/26/10)

Area jobs ‘picture getting better’ thanks to the Marcellus: “The Pittsburgh region continued to show signs of economic recovery in June, with employers adding jobs for the third consecutive month and the unemployment rate falling by 0.3 percentage point, the state said. Moderate gains in jobs over the past three months “tells us that the picture is getting better,” said Robert Dye, vice president and senior economist at PNC Financial Services Group Inc., Downtown. The region has benefited from the jobs created by the natural gas industry as it explores the Marcellus shale reserves, Dye said Monday. (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, 7/27/10)

Annual meeting spotlights benefits of gas industry: “A Penn State study, released May 26, updated a study on the industry that was completed last year. Some of its conclusions included that for every dollar the gas community spends in the state, nearly $2 in economic output is generated. Also, the study shows that natural gas production in the state could generate more than $8 billion in economic benefits this year alone and another $10 billion in 2011. In addition, it could add more than 88,000 jobs in the state next year, doubling the number created in 2009. … The influx of the gas industry couldn’t have come at a better time, with the major job losses the county experienced because of the recession, along with cutbacks in state funding for many of the grants the corporation has depended upon to cover its operating expenses, said board President David E. Cummings. (Williamsport Sun-Gazette, 7/27/10)

New Study Shows Positive Effects From Marcellus Shale Drilling: “A new study says natural gas production in the Marcellus Shale region — if developed — could create 280,000 new jobs and add $6 billion in new tax revenues to local, state and federal governments. … Natural gas production in the Marcellus grew considerably during 2009, adding 57,000 new jobs mostly in Pennsylvania and West Virginia. (WOWK-TV, 7/24/10)

Marcellus development creating real jobs now: “The opportunity for jobs and money and all the collateral growth that goes along with a booming industry is real and is happening now. (Washington Observer-Reporter Editorial, 7/27/10)

“Marcellus Multiplier” creating new jobs across the Pennsylvania’s supply chain: “A new joint venture in Hanover Township may yield up to 50 new jobs, with some related to the gas drilling industry. In what could be the first local sign of the natural gas industry’s economic impact, Plains Township-based Medico Industries Inc. is teaming up with Venezuelan company Equipetrol to expand to a manufacturing site in the Hanover Industrial Estates business park. … The two companies plan to introduce a new product to the Marcellus Shale region, a multi-port valve and production system that allows up to seven wells to be connected to the same system. (Citizens Voice, 7/27/10)

“Hydrofracking has safe record and spurs economy”: “Hydrofracking is an environmentally responsible way to stimulate the flow of energy from new and existing oil and gas wells. It is well-regulated and has been employed over 1 million times without a single incident of drinking water contamination. … Having the gas industry present is bringing in jobs, money and has improved many aspects of the local economies. President Barack Obama and New York Gov. David Paterson both fully support natural gas development as a means of reaching energy independence, while reducing the population’s carbon footprint. Drilling the Marcellus shale is an important aspect in reaching this goal. (Syracuse Post-Standard, IOGA-NY’s Michelle Blackley, 7/24/10)

“There are plenty of jobs available on drilling rigs across the border in Pa.”:”Drilling in the Marcellus shale for natural gas could bring hundreds of jobs to the area. That’s why Corning Community College’s Office of Workforce Development and Community Education has created a training program designed to help people get jobs in the field. “For the actual person who is going for the curriculum, they have an awareness of the job they’re going for to be getting in to. They have some basic knowledge about blueprint reading, safety, those types of things that they’re able to demonstrate as they’re interviewing,” said Brenda English, director of the center. (YNN-TV, 7/26/10)

It is up to the state whether to approve or deny the request to seek natural gas.

By Steve Mocarskysmocarsky@timesleader.com
Staff Writer

PLAINS TWP. – A second energy company has plans to drill a natural gas well in Luzerne County – this one behind the East Mountain Business Park in Plains Township on property owned by Theta Land Corp.

Rice Drilling, a subsidiary of Washington County-based Rice Energy, filed an application for a permit to drill and operate a well in the northeast corner of the township with the state Department of Environmental Protection on June 24, according to the department’s online database.

The department has 45 days from receipt to either approve or deny the application.

Encana Oil & Gas is set to begin drilling two wells in Fairmount and Lake townships this summer and has drilling permits for two other sites in Lake and Lehman townships.

According to a DEP well locator map, the proposed well site in Plains Township would be just west of Deep Hollow Pond, a little more than 1,000 feet from Baltimore Drive and less than a mile south of Jumper Road.

Freda Tarbell, DEP’s community relations coordinator for the Northwest Region, said the staffer handling the application was unavailable on Thursday, so specifics on the site, such as acreage and distance from water sources, were unavailable.

A secretary with Rice said no company representative was available to provide information on Thursday.

The permit application is somewhat unusual, given that energy companies normally lease gas rights from land owners before applying for drilling permits. However, no lease for the land had been filed with the Luzerne County Recorder of Deeds.

Theta Land Corp. is a subsidiary of Southern Union Co. – one of the nation’s largest suppliers of natural gas – and has been linked to billionaire Louis DeNaples of Dunmore.

Environmentalists criticized DeNaples in 2000 in connection with the purchase of 44,000 acres of land – some of it environmentally sensitive – owned by Theta. He had long been thought to be the buyer, but a confidentiality clause in the sales agreement kept the buyer’s identity secret.

However, DeNaples’ role was confirmed by a Dauphin County grand jury, which determined that a company controlled by DeNaples had purchased Theta. DeNaples in 2008 had been charged with perjury for allegedly lying to state Gaming Control Board investigators about alleged ties to organized crime members. Prosecutors withdrew the charge after he transferred ownership of Mount Airy Casino Resort in Monroe County to a trust.

Plains Township Secretary Kathy O’Boyle said no application for drilling has been submitted to the municipality. She said most of the land behind the business park is zoned as a conservation district and extraction of natural resources would be considered a conditional use. The driller would have to appear before the planning commission and the township board of commissioners for approval, and that process could take about a month, she said.

Reacting to news of the drilling permit application, state Rep. Eddie Day Pashinski, D-Wilkes-Barre, said he’s “in favor of economic development and job growth,” but he supports a temporary moratorium on gas drilling in Pennsylvania “until safeguards are in place.”

“There needs to be regulations in place, enough inspectors on the ground, enough state police to monitor and check vehicles and proper water treatment facilities to protect drinking water sources,” Pashinski said.

“We were all very excited when we learned this new industry was coming to Northeastern Pennsylvania. &hellip Their initial presentations were very encouraging. But in light of what happened in Dimock and Clearfield County, I am supporting a temporary moratorium,” he said.

Natural gas migrated from well bores in Dimock, Susquehanna County, contaminating some drinking water wells last year.

A blowout at a well in Clearfield County in June shot explosive gas and polluted water 75 feet into the air before crews tamed it 16 hours later.

Steve Mocarsky, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 970-7311.

Copyright: Times Leader

It is up to the state whether to approve or deny the request to seek natural gas.

By Steve Mocarsky smocarsky@timesleader.com
Staff Writer

PLAINS TWP. – A second energy company has plans to drill a natural gas well in Luzerne County – this one behind the East Mountain Business Park in Plains Township on property owned by Theta Land Corp.

Rice Drilling, a subsidiary of Washington County-based Rice Energy, filed an application for a permit to drill and operate a well in the northeast corner of the township with the state Department of Environmental Protection on June 24, according to the department’s online database.

The department has 45 days from receipt to either approve or deny the application.

Encana Oil & Gas is set to begin drilling two wells in Fairmount and Lake townships this summer and has drilling permits for two other sites in Lake and Lehman townships.

According to a DEP well locator map, the proposed well site in Plains Township would be just west of Deep Hollow Pond, a little more than 1,000 feet from Baltimore Drive and less than a mile south of Jumper Road.

Freda Tarbell, DEP’s community relations coordinator for the Northwest Region, said the staffer handling the application was unavailable on Thursday, so specifics on the site, such as acreage and distance from water sources, were unavailable.

A secretary with Rice said no company representative was available to provide information on Thursday.

The permit application is somewhat unusual, given that energy companies normally lease gas rights from land owners before applying for drilling permits. However, no lease for the land had been filed with the Luzerne County Recorder of Deeds.

Theta Land Corp. is a subsidiary of Southern Union Co. – one of the nation’s largest suppliers of natural gas – and has been linked to billionaire Louis DeNaples of Dunmore.

Environmentalists criticized DeNaples in 2000 in connection with the purchase of 44,000 acres of land – some of it environmentally sensitive – owned by Theta. He had long been thought to be the buyer, but a confidentiality clause in the sales agreement kept the buyer’s identity secret.

However, DeNaples’ role was confirmed by a Dauphin County grand jury, which determined that a company controlled by DeNaples had purchased Theta. DeNaples in 2008 had been charged with perjury for allegedly lying to state Gaming Control Board investigators about alleged ties to organized crime members. Prosecutors withdrew the charge after he transferred ownership of Mount Airy Casino Resort in Monroe County to a trust.

Plains Township Secretary Kathy O’Boyle said no application for drilling has been submitted to the municipality. She said most of the land behind the business park is zoned as a conservation district and extraction of natural resources would be considered a conditional use. The driller would have to appear before the planning commission and the township board of commissioners for approval, and that process could take about a month, she said.

Reacting to news of the drilling permit application, state Rep. Eddie Day Pashinski, D-Wilkes-Barre, said he’s “in favor of economic development and job growth,” but he supports a temporary moratorium on gas drilling in Pennsylvania “until safeguards are in place.”

“There needs to be regulations in place, enough inspectors on the ground, enough state police to monitor and check vehicles and proper water treatment facilities to protect drinking water sources,” Pashinski said.

“We were all very excited when we learned this new industry was coming to Northeastern Pennsylvania. … Their initial presentations were very encouraging. But in light of what happened in Dimock and Clearfield County, I am supporting a temporary moratorium,” he said.

Natural gas migrated from well bores in Dimock, Susquehanna County, contaminating some drinking water wells last year.

A blowout at a well in Clearfield County in June shot explosive gas and polluted water 75 feet into the air before crews tamed it 16 hours later.

Steve Mocarsky, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 970-7311.

View article here.

Copyright:  Times Leader

Worker for subcontractor at Cabot site in Dimock Township was hit on head with a pipe.

The Associated Press

DIMOCK TWP. – A worker at a natural gas drilling site in Susquehanna County died Monday at Geisinger Wyoming Valley Medical Center after being hit on the head by a pipe.

The Luzerne County Coroner’s Office identified the victim as 41-year-old Gregory Walker. His death was ruled accidental. Coroner John Corcoran could not provide his hometown or any additional information.

Walker was working at a Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. drilling rig in Dimock Township, when he was hurt Monday. He was taken to a hospital in Montrose and then flown by helicopter to the hospital in Plains Township, where he died Monday. Cabot spokesman George Stark said Walker worked for a subcontractor.

Copyright: Times Leader

By Steve Mocarskysmocarsky@timesleader.com
Staff Writer

Drilling for natural gas in the Marcellus Shale that underlies much of Northeastern Pennsylvania is expected to create hundreds to thousands of jobs, depending on who’s doing the projections, and have other widespread economic effects.

Some of those new work opportunities will be with the drilling and gas companies, but others are expected to be with subcontracted services, from land surveying and engineering to hauling and construction. Legal and banking services also will be needed.

Chesapeake Energy has invested significantly in not only leasing land in Pennsylvania, but in doing business with private companies.

With 94 wells drilled in the state in 2009 and more than 200 additional wells planned for this year, the company has paid subcontractors and vendors in Pennsylvania $269 million since January 2009, company spokesman Rory Sweeney said in an e-mail.

Among the first employers to see the effects of natural gas exploration are law, surveying and engineering firms.

“We are seeing an increase in our business volume,” said Mark Van Loon, a partner with Rosenn Jenkins & Greenwald, a law firm with offices in Scranton, Wilkes-Barre and Hazleton.

“We’ve represented quite a few people in relation to the Marcellus Shale and land leases in Luzerne County, north to the New York border, and east and west from there in Susquehanna, Bradford, Luzerne and Lackawanna counties. There have been some in Wayne County, but not as much,” Van Loon said.

Lease holders also will also need to protect their financial assets, and that’s where banks come into the picture.

David Raven, president and chief executive officer of Pennstar Bank, said the financial institution is seeing a significant increase in business related to Marcellus Shale at branches in Susquehanna County.

“It’s specific to folks who receive lease (bonus) payments and eventually will receive royalties on the gas that’s produced,” Raven said.

In addition to landowners who want to protect their rights while negotiating the most lucrative deals, firms and individuals that enter into large contracts with the gas and drilling companies – engineers, construction firms, suppliers and haulers, for example – will want to have those contracts vetted before signing, according to Van Loon.

“If somebody has a contract that’s large enough, they’re likely to have it reviewed by their legal counsel because it involves too much risk for them not to. And there could be contractual disputes in relation to the delivery or performance of services,” he said.

Van Loon said his firm has five attorneys actively working on oil and gas lease issues, but at this point the partners have not seen the need to hire additional staff.

That’s not the case with Borton Lawson, an engineering firm based in Plains Township that also has offices in Bethlehem, State College and, as of two months ago because of the business generated by the Marcellus shale, in Wexford – a town in Pittsburgh’s northern suburbs.

Chris Borton, company president, has referred to the Pittsburgh area as “the heart of the gas and oil industry” in the region.

Last year, Borton Lawson laid off some of its survey crew workers as companies hurt by the recession cut back on land development. But over the last six months, the firm has hired six to eight people – including several surveyors – for jobs directly related to the Marcellus Shale.

And the company is looking for 13 more employees right now to fill positions such as environmental engineers and scientists, an electrical engineer, an automation engineer and a mechanical engineer.

Salaries for those jobs range from $40,000 to $80,000 depending on the type of job and experience of the employee, Borton said.

Borton said his firm is working with five natural gas companies in Northeastern Pennsylvania. The company will open a satellite office in the borough of Towanda, the county seat of Bradford County, on April 15 because of the extensive natural gas exploration and drilling in that area.

County drilling near

One of the gas companies – Encana Oil and Gas Inc. – has leased 25,000 acres of property in Luzerne County. The land is mainly on the north side of Route 118 in Fairmount, Ross, Lake and Lehman townships.

Encana so far has obtained permits for drilling one well in Lake Township and another in Fairmount Township and is seeking a permit for one in Lehman Township, said company spokesman Doug Hock. Hydrogeological studies are now under way, and officials hope to begin constructing wells by May.

“For every well drilled, that creates about 120 jobs, either directly or indirectly. … The bulk of these jobs as we begin operations are done by subcontractors,” Hock said.

Subcontracted work includes water haulers, truck drivers, construction crews for well pad grading and construction and rig hands after the wells are built. Local average wages could see a boost, given that salaries even for less skilled positions range from $60,000 and $70,000, he said.

Hock said Encana prefers to hire local contractors, “but it’s not always possible because of the skills available in the labor market.”

He couldn’t predict how many new jobs will be generated by Encana operations because officials won’t know how many additional wells – if any – might be drilled until they see the results of natural gas production from the first two or three.

“By the end of 2010, we’ll have an idea if we have a good program, something that’s economically viable that we can continue to develop,” Hock said.

Steve Mocarsky, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 970-7311.

Copyright: Times Leader

Senate hearing set for today at Misericordia, symposium Wednesday at Woodlands.

While landowners are imagining the gobs of cash they stand to make from natural-gas drilling in the Marcellus Shale rock layer underlying much of the region, Don Young hopes there’s room to imagine a few other images, such as gas pipelines crisscrossing once-pristine farmland, benzene contaminating groundwater supplies and an industrywide press to tap every inch of lucrative ground.

And that doesn’t include the Fort Worth, Texas, resident’s concerns about the psychological effects of celebrity-fronted publicity campaigns linking the drilling to patriotism and national security. “It’s Orwellian to see it happening here,” he said. “You’ve got American flags on each well.”

But the leader of Fort Worth Citizens Against Neighborhood Drilling Ordinance hopes the travails that now plague his home above the Barnett Shale are averted in the similar Marcellus Shale. “What you have here in Fort Worth on a grand scale is apathy. People felt, ‘We can’t stop it. It’s too big. It’s big oil,’ ” he explained. “The average busy person, they don’t have time to worry about gas drilling. … They have families, they have lives, they’re struggling, and if you have a few companies handing out money saying, ‘Here’s some money, just forget about it,’ ” they’ll do just that, he said.

Local regulators and educators are already taking steps to avoid those effects, and they’ll take a few more this week. This afternoon, the state Senate Republican’s Policy Committee will meet at Misericordia University to hear testimony from people familiar with dealings in the Barnett Shale on the potential effects awaiting Pennsylvania.

Several of the same speakers will be featured in discussions Wednesday morning at the Woodlands Inn & Resort in Plains Township, as the Joint Urban Studies Center holds a Marcellus Shale Symposium. The public is invited to either presentation, but the symposium has a registration fee.

“We are front and center to the development of this new industry,” said state Sen. Lisa Baker, R-Lehman Township, who requested the hearing. “I think having the hearing here demonstrates, in my judgment, that we’re doing all we can to ensure that our laws and regulations are appropriate and that if we need to make changes,” the legislature is ready to do so.

She said she hopes to get answers to questions she often hears from constituents, including potential downsides to drilling and whether current regulations are enough to curtail them.

According to several of the speakers, Pennsylvania might have a lot of ground to make up before it’s running even with the industry. “I just don’t understand the state’s set-up. Why wouldn’t that be a requirement to disclose how well the wells (are performing)?” asked John Baen, a University of North Texas professor and real-estate expert who has 250 wells on his property in the Barnett Shale. “If it’s all proprietary, then how do we know what the true wealth is?”

Rory Sweeney, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 970-7418.

Copyright: Times Leader

Texans to share their experiences

HUGHESVILLE – As night falls over Beaver Lake Road, work lights gradually accentuate a towering structure visible between the rolling hills. In the middle of a roughly square-acre site, the drilling rig is about halfway through a four-week stay at this rural Lycoming County site.

Soon thereafter, the rig will leave, crews will arrive to tap the natural-gas well, gas will begin being pumped into regional transmission pipelines and Chief Oil & Gas LLC of Dallas, Texas, will begin reaping income.

So will Neil and Louise Barto, though hardly what they say they deserve. They signed over the mineral rights to their nearly 178 acres three years ago for $888.45 and the state-minimum 12.5-percent royalties on the production.

“Everybody made money except us,” Neil Barto said. “Hell yes, it irritates me. … Every time I see somebody from Chief, I tell them I’m not happy about it.”

That’s the sort of cautionary tale the Joint Urban Studies Center is hoping to keep to a minimum in the area by hosting the Marcellus Shale Symposium on Nov. 19 at the Woodlands Inn & Resort in Plains Township. Cost is $30. The symposium will feature experts from the Fort Worth area, which witnessed during the past two decades a historical revolution as the oil and gas industry figured out how to tap gas stores under urban centers.

“The energy companies are used to operating out in rural areas where there’s nothing to bother but some cows and horses and whatnot,” said Will Brackett, the managing editor of the weekly Powell Barnett Shale Newsletter. With people came environmental concerns, landowners organizing to leverage better offers and opposition from those left out of the Barnett Shale windfall.

John Baen, a real estate professor at the University of North Texas, said he’s in a unique position to comment on the Marcellus because he used to fish in the Susquehanna River growing up as a boy, but also watched 9,000 wells be drilled in five Texas counties within seven years. “We had a lot of people who said, ‘Not in my back yard,’ then we had a lot of people who said, ‘Well maybe,’ and people who said, ‘Drill every square foot,’” he said.

Brackett noted that people who hadn’t finished high school were landing $50,000-per-year jobs, making it difficult for other industries to keep workers. As the companies struck more and more hydrocarbon gold, they offered leases to ever more landowners, who began organizing and using the Internet to publicize offers. Bidding wars erupted, with offers at $25,000 per acre and 25-percent royalties on production. “It got to be, I’d have to say, surreal around here,” he said. “Last year, if you went to a party, everyone was talking about the Barnett Shale.”

One of the most important steps to expanding exploitation of the shale is placating objectors, Baen said.

“I have a theory that everyone should be a stakeholder, and everybody should win,” he said. “It might take some pretty big changes in some of your laws up there to have everybody benefit.”

He noted that Texas has no state income tax, but that every mineral-rights owner pays a severance tax that has left the state with an $11-billion overabundance.

Both Brackett and Baen agree Pennsylvania and its citizens stand to benefit extensively from the advances made in Fort Worth in recent years, but only if the state refocuses its mineral-rights policies from coal to gas and oil.

“I’m calling it the Jewel of the Northeast,” Baen said, but “will it be allowed to be developed? And it may not.”

If the state legislature doesn’t act quickly, he predicted the economic benefit could be delayed up to five years.

Copyright: Times Leader