It is an understatement to say 2012 has flown by, but what a year it’s been for our EID Marcellus team. We have continued to meet so many good friends among the landowners of Northeastern Pennsylvania and the Southern Tier of New York as we and they have labored together for economic freedom, property rights and the revitalization of the region through natural gas development.

As we sat here going through our top posts of the year and listening to everyone’s favorites, it’s hard to…

Energy In Depth was the target of an attack yesterday by Attorney David Slottje, of Planet Ithaca, for supposed double talk on hydraulic fracturing, but it turns out Slottje is the one doing the double talking as he cites sources that don’t support his case and offers an absolutist interpretation of the precautionary principle.

Attorney David Slottje, otherwise known as the Great Davidski on this site, put a post on up on his Park Foundation funded Community Environmental Defense…

Recent announcement of a financial loss by Jersey Shore Hospital has included statements to the effect natural gas development could be a factor in causing bad debt increases that caused the loss. Comparison with other hospitals, however, suggests there may be other more important factors.

A story appeared recently in the Williamsport Sun-Gazette regarding the impact of natural gas workers without insurance on the economics of the Jersey Shore Hospital. It suggested uninsured workers…

There’s been some argument recently over who is allowed to post on our blog and Facebook page. Our policy has always been to allow posting of opinions opposite from our own and let the facts speak for themselves, but our opponents’ websites and social media don’t seem to operate that way. They are, in fact, making it up – big time.

Wendy Lee, Bloomsburg professor and natural gas opponent, thought she had received a late Christmas present earlier yesterday when she was somehow…

The Hometown Energy Group, an energized group of natural gas supporters from Otsego County, New York, arranged a tour of some Cabot Oil & Gas sites in Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania recently and minds were opened as the visitors saw what natural gas development is really all about.

A group of elected and appointed officials, representatives from highway departments, landowners and others, interested in seeing natural gas development site in progress, traveled to Montrose,…

There are some interesting parallels between a TV episode of Bonanza and many natural gas opponents. The latter often represent superb examples of “Napolean’s Children,” a group of spoiled youths with no cause other than self-glorification and no commitment to anything but outlandish behavior that costs them nothing.

Relaxing during the Holidays, I turned on the television to see if something might be worth watching. One of those upper channels was playing old Bonanza shows so I tuned…

We wish everyone a safe and happy holiday season this year from Energy in Depth. One thing to remember as we are all enjoying our families and our friends, the natural gas industry is helping out locally to help people share a happy and healthy holiday.

The natural gas industry is always giving back to the local citizens in the areas they work in. With the holiday season in full swing, many companies in the natural gas industry have taken steps to help local families enjoy the…

The debate over natural gas development, or rather hydraulic fracturing, as the opposition to development has singled out this one short aspect of the process to oppose, is a relatively new occurrence. But, the question of what to do with our nation’s natural resources isn’t new by any means, and a quick history lessons reveals much of what is discussed in this new debate has been pondered and solved time and again.

It is within just this past decade that Americans really began…

The EPA has issued a 278-page progress report on its gigantic hydraulic fracturing study due for completion in 2014 or thereabouts. Predictably, the interim report offered a multitude of words one assumes are intended to obscure the ultimate direction of the report and say little for now. Nonetheless, there are some interesting aspects to the report and, to be fair, the agency seems to be trying to ensure the appearance of objectivity.

The EPA’s Study of the Potential Impacts of…

Penn State and others have been writing reports and issuing fact sheets over the last two years suggesting the economic impact of Marcellus Shale was somehow in doubt, or that some folks might have been left out. They were wrong and the proof is in the tax bill – going down.

Natural gas opponents have been claiming and their leaders have been saying, over and over again, to anyone who will listen, that the economic benefits are illusory, intangible, short-lived, boom-and-bust or…

A recent letter in a Washington County newspaper in support of a local attorney and friend of Rep. Jesse White raises many issues about who is really behind natural gas opposition in the Marcellus Shale. 

There was an unusual letter to the editor in the Observer-Reporter newspaper in Washington, Pennsylvania …

Recently, Adrian Kuzminski, moderator of Sustainable Otsego, wrote a piece for the Oneonta Daily Star where he suggested a wood-pellet alternative to natural gas energy development in our county, claiming it was the "conservative" way to go. Dave Parker, a member of the Town of Worcester Town Board, took issue with those contentions in a letter to the editor that forms the basis for the following post.

The following suggestions were made by Adrian Kuzminski of Sustainable Otsego in a…

The Vestal Gas Coalition recently held an essay contest on natural gas development in the Marcellus Shale, sponsored in part by EID Marcellus. The result was some very thoughtful examinations of the opportunities and needs surrounding natural gas development in our region. The winning essay was reported here. This is Part II.

We noted in our earlier post that the Vestal Gas Coalition decided to sponsor a scholarship for seniors at Vestal High School this year. Students were asked to…

Sander Diamond makes the assertion farmers in upstate New York can experience a revival without natural gas development in a recent letter to the editor. Steuben County organic dairy farmer, Neil Vitale, takes a look at his misconcieved notions of farming in the state.

Sander Diamond, in “Food Production, Not Fracking (Nov., 2012),” offers a litany of unsupported assertions in arguing New York should pass on natural gas. While what he says on paper is a beautiful idea–farmers pulling…

There was another village board meeting in Oxford this week. The board has been contemplating enacting a moratorium on natural gas development, which would be the only one in Chenango County.

This past week there was a village meeting in Oxford, New York, Chenango County. Readers will recall Oxford is the only community in Chenango County considering one of those Slottje cookie cutter moratoriums on natural gas development. There was a nine month moratorium proposed and the board was…

The battle over natural gas is really a battle about renewables, says Dick Downey. They’ve gotten the massive subsidies and have generated little to show for it, while natural gas has become the nation’s energy choice through a system of largely free-market initiatives and consumers who were free to choose.

More than half (56%) the households in the USA, a total of 62 million, are heated with natural gas. Pipeline networks like the proposed Constitution Pipeline, deliver cheap,…

Natural gas has been produced in New York’s Finger Lake region for decades. Yet, in the irrational discussion surrounding hydraulic fracturing, a new political dynamic has taken shape; lake front land owners are suddenly trying to dictate others’ rights. Happily, other residents are seeking the facts ignored by this very vocal minority.

A recent trip to the Finger Lake Region of New York taught me some things about natural gas and oil operations and how they co-exist with the wine…

New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman is fulfilling a campaign pledge to oppose natural gas development in his state, challenging the DRBC and now upstate elected officials whose only sin is to disagree with him. The AG’s opposition to a resource used to heat 56% of New York homes seems to be an exercise in intimidation.

The New York State Attorney General’s office has done something remarkably cynical. It has joined the NRDC in a campaign of intimidation aimed at local…

Recently, I stumbled across a blog by Larry Cathles, the Cornell faculty member who documented flaws in another Cornell study by Howarth, et al that suggested natural gas was somehow dirtier than other fossil fuels due to methane emissions and the like. We wrote about both here.

The Cathles blog, entitled Perspectives on the Marcellus Gas Resource, addresses the benefits and risks associated with Marcellus Shale gas development in an independent manner and it’s one of the most…

The Lenape Resources lawsuit against the Town of Avon is accompanied by a first-class summary demonstrating the “home rule” campaign sponsored by the Park Foundation is mightily mistaken.

Our earlier post on the subject of the Lenape Resources lawsuit against the Town of Avon dealt with the practical side of the case. The legal side is also compelling and it’s laid out very methodically in a Memorandum of Law submitted with the complaint. It addresses not only oil and gas law, but…