Posts Tagged ‘William Brackett’

He tells symposium Pa.’s “bureaucratic BS” is limiting operations.

PLAINS TWP. – To hear John Baen describe it, Pennsylvania is like an awkward, naive suitor, dithering over the details so much that it’s stumbling on the walk to the front door and turning off its hot date: natural gas drillers.

The industry has recently increased its complaints about what it sees as the state’s excessive regulatory procedures – or “bureaucratic BS,” as Baen put it on Wednesday – that are souring hopes to ramp up drilling in the potentially lucrative Marcellus Shale about a mile under much of northern and western Pennsylvania, among other states.

Keeping things green is important, the real-estate expert and University of North Texas professor said, but not as much as making some green. “I know you’re sensitive to your environment and all that, but it’s four acres (disturbed for drilling) out of 5,000” acres that are then producing gas, he said. “Would you allow a drilling rig in your back yard? … It depends on what they’re willing to pay you extra.”

Baen was one of three gas industry experts speaking at a Marcellus Shale Symposium hosted by the Joint Urban Studies Center at the Woodlands Inn & Resort. The center, a partnership of local colleges and universities, provides economic research for regional planning.

The experts were brought in to discuss their impressions from the proliferation of drilling in the Barnett Shale, a similar gas-filled rock formation in north Texas. Though concerns were addressed, such as potential environmental damage and likely workforce shortages, sanguine profiteering was emphasized repeatedly.

William Brackett, the managing editor of an influential Barnett Shale newsletter, noted the local job market and economy ballooned 50 percent in 2007 to 83,823 jobs and an $8.2-billion economic benefit. The same good fortune is befalling rural Pennsylvania farmers who were near destitute, he said. “All the sudden, they get a new barn and are able to send their kids to college.”

Of all the speakers, the most subdued in his support of the industry was Matt Sheppard, a director of corporate development for Oklahoma-based Chesapeake Energy, which sponsored the symposium. Though natural gas drilling has been in the state for decades, it has lain pretty low, he said. “This is not an industry that has done a great job of talking about things, explaining things,” he said. “We’re here for one reason, and that is that Americans are demanding cleaner energy right now. … And the truth is we’re not going to the other way.”

The presenters said the industry is looking for straightforward rules like in other states, which have standardized drilling manuals and few other regulatory hoops. But despite Baen’s dire predictions that drillers might pull up stakes, Sheppard assured his company was likely sticking it out.

“At Chesapeake, we’re big believers in organized development,” he said. “You’re not going to see a lot of companies come in here and drill one well and leave. … You invest this amount of money in a state, you’re going to be around a while.”

Copyright: Times Leader

Industry reps cite permitting delays; DEP head says issues to be resolved.

DALLAS TWP. – Representatives from every aspect of the state’s burgeoning natural-gas drilling industry met on Tuesday and, though differing on specifics, emphasized that Pennsylvanians stand upon a multibillion-dollar windfall, but only if the state streamlines its permitting process.

The hearing at Misericordia University was organized by the state Senate Republicans’ policy committee to identify potential problems with drilling the Marcellus Shale about a mile underground, but the senators instead were told that many of the problems lie with the state itself.

“Fundamentally, what the industry has said to us is, ‘We need to know what the rules are,’” said Tom Beauduy, the deputy director of the Susquehanna River Basin Commission. The commission oversees water removal from the river basin.

Industry representatives were dire with their characterizations. The industry is experiencing “permitting delays unlike we have ever seen in any other state,” said Wendy Straatmann, president of Ohio-based Exco-North Coast Energy Inc. “Why would I spend so much of our company’s time and resources when I can go to some other state and use the gas and oil manual and follow the regulations?”

Ray Walker, a vice president with Texas-based Range Resources Corp., agreed that an inclusive regulations manual would help companies “put our money into protecting the environment and not paperwork.” He noted that smaller companies are considering drilling here, but won’t if the permitting process remains slow and taxes increase. That could keep development slow, he said.

That’s a prospect that few at the hearing wanted. John Hanger, the acting secretary of the state Department of Environmental Protection, assured that his agency was “working to make sure that gas can be produced and water protected.” Part of the lag has come from a dearth of disposal options for the fluids used to hydraulically fracture the rock, and Hanger said his favored alternative was to find ways for the companies to simply inject them underground.

DEP would need to increase its regulatory force to keep up with the permitting and inspections demand predicted based on industry desires, he said, noting the department has recently requested substantially increasing its well-permitting fees.

Still the Republican senators felt DEP is clamping down too tightly. “When I ran for Senate, I was mad at the state for over-regulating my industry,” said Sen. Mary Jo White, R-Venango County, who had worked for an oil corporation. “I think we’re heading down that road again.”

William Brackett, the managing editor of a newsletter that reports on the Barnett Shale, said gas drilling there “is a prime reason the north Texas economy has only caught a cold and not the flu.”

John Hanger, acting DEP secretary, said part of the lag has come from a dearth of disposal options for the fluids used to hydraulically fracture the rock.

Copyright: Times Leader

Industry reps cite permitting delays; DEP head says issues to be resolved.

DALLAS TWP. – Representatives from every aspect of the state’s burgeoning natural-gas drilling industry met on Tuesday and, though differing on specifics, emphasized that Pennsylvanians stand upon a multibillion-dollar windfall, but only if the state streamlines its permitting process.

The hearing at Misericordia University was organized by the state Senate Republicans’ policy committee to identify potential problems with drilling the Marcellus Shale about a mile underground, but the senators instead were told that many of the problems lie with the state itself.

“Fundamentally, what the industry has said to us is, ‘We need to know what the rules are,’” said Tom Beauduy, the deputy director of the Susquehanna River Basin Commission. The commission oversees water removal from the river basin.

Industry representatives were dire with their characterizations. The industry is experiencing “permitting delays unlike we have ever seen in any other state,” said Wendy Straatmann, president of Ohio-based Exco-North Coast Energy Inc. “Why would I spend so much of our company’s time and resources when I can go to some other state and use the gas and oil manual and follow the regulations?”

Ray Walker, a vice president with Texas-based Range Resources Corp., agreed that an inclusive regulations manual would help companies “put our money into protecting the environment and not paperwork.” He noted that smaller companies are considering drilling here, but won’t if the permitting process remains slow and taxes increase. That could keep development slow, he said.

That’s a prospect that few at the hearing wanted. John Hanger, the acting secretary of the state Department of Environmental Protection, assured that his agency was “working to make sure that gas can be produced and water protected.” Part of the lag has come from a dearth of disposal options for the fluids used to hydraulically fracture the rock, and Hanger said his favored alternative was to find ways for the companies to simply inject them underground.

DEP would need to increase its regulatory force to keep up with the permitting and inspections demand predicted based on industry desires, he said, noting the department has recently requested substantially increasing its well-permitting fees.

Still the Republican senators felt DEP is clamping down too tightly. “When I ran for Senate, I was mad at the state for over-regulating my industry,” said Sen. Mary Jo White, R-Venango County, who had worked for an oil corporation. “I think we’re heading down that road again.”

William Brackett, the managing editor of a newsletter that reports on the Barnett Shale, said gas drilling there “is a prime reason the north Texas economy has only caught a cold and not the flu.”

John Hanger, acting DEP secretary, said part of the lag has come from a dearth of disposal options for the fluids used to hydraulically fracture the rock.

Copyright: Times Leader