Frack is like Crack

Frack is like Crack, Jack. It's like NEW COKE. You want to get high? The dealer says: "Dude, this stuff will fuck you up! Guaranteed!" Pay attention. He's telling the truth. You want to make money? Once you're hooked, you gotta keep going back. Until you're DEAD And I am dead and everything around us is dead. Oh, you'll get high alright. It's a BIG RUSH! That's for sure.

But each new well (hit, line of coke) produces LESS high (initial production) than the last. And at high costs: Bloody noses. Heartbeat irregularities. Contaminated drinking water. Which the addict will justify, ignore, explain away with a cover story. Truth vs. "Truthland" Bury your head in the Frack Sand. Gasland vs "FrackNation" "Those people weren't really hurt. They just wanted money. Their water was always bad. I don't get bloody noses!" (much) The cocaine high is diminishing returns. Just like well production. It's always in decline (after the initial big bang).

Until you find yourself in Cocaine Hell. Or in the middle of a Superfund site. This is the inevitable last-stop on the line. So the addict has gotta keep drilling (or snorting) more.. more... MORE! until something breaks or explodes. Heart attack? Contaminated aquifer? A catastrophe so big there's no fixing it. Move away, demolish the house, bury the dead. You KNOW it's killing you. (and killing the planet) But you do it anyway. This is the nature of addiction. You (we) CAN break free. But it takes great resolve.

May we choose wisely!

FRACK IS LIKE CRACK

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Constitution Pipeline schedule slips 6-12 mos., Cabot's stock price plummets 11% in 3 days

Why did Cabot Oil and Gas's stock price take a
staggering 11% drop (from $40 to $35.6) in late Feb
leading up to their 4Q13 earnings call?

http://finance.yahoo.com/echarts?s=COG+Interactive#symbol=COG;range=ytd

It's very strange, because Cabot by the numbers looks good.
The Street lists it as a BUY. Everything is great!

http://www.thestreet.com/story/12438254/1/cabot-oil-gas-cog-falls-despite-earnings-beat.html

The only thing that jumps out from reading the earnings call transcript
is they announced that Constitution Pipeline schedule slipped
the in-service date from March 2015 to late '15 or early '16.
(6 months to a year). This is the first time the "March 2015" date
has been slipped since the open season announcement.

http://seekingalpha.com/article/2041803-cabot-oil-and-gas-marcellus-differentials-should-not-overshadow-strong-operating-results

 Operator

The next question will come from Charles Meade of Johnson Rice. Please go ahead.

Charles Meade - Johnson Rice

Good morning Dan. You’d anniversary your team there. I wonder if we could just pick up on that point about Constitution a bit. Can you -- I’m recognizing that Williams is the operator there. Can you maybe be a bit more explicit in what you are current plans reflect on when that line will come in to service for you. And could you possibly talk about some of the -- if there is any local permitting that you still have in front of you or if you are really this -- what you got last week with EIS is really the last definitive thing to look at?

Dan Dinges CEO 
Cabot Oil and Gas

Yeah. I’m going to pass this to Jeff real quick. My comment on the timing that we’re working with as I have stated in this comment, teleconference here that later ‘15 is our hope that we would be able to secure all the remaining permits and some being local and the outside would be moving into ‘16 a little bit. I’ll let Jeff make any comment that you might have?

Jeff Hutton, Senior Vice President, Marketing,
Cabot Oil and Gas

Senior Vice President, Marketing

Senior Vice President, Marketing

As you know, we all knew this would be a three year process with the FERC and way they operate and quite frankly we are very pleased now the FERC has handled this process and the issuance of their schedule and the issuance of the draft EIS. Those are all very, very positive steps.

In terms of the schedule itself, I’m sure you read Williams’ transcript or heard it yesterday, they also are very pleased with how the process has been working on the federal level. They have some feedback as the operator that -- and that is -- has shared that with some of the owners or with the owners that there is a little bit of a resistance at the state level in getting some permits generated from the EC.

So that’s something that Williams is working through on the government relation side, on the regulatory side, and continue to get updates from them. But the process is working good, but it does take state permits as well as federal permits to get its project built.

Release of PA Production Data

The other possible contributing factor is the release of the Pennsylvania production data. The PA DEP releases the production, waste, and spud databases twice per year, August and February. On Feb 19 this year, the PA production database was released. This was the begin of the slide in Cabot's stock price plunge. (h/t Leland Snyder for this connection)

http://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/2014/02/19/pennsylvania-shale-production-continued-to-grow-in-2013/

Three important events this week

There are three really important events coming up in the next 2 days.

More a week later.

1: Monday (tomorrow!) Cabot v. Vera Scroggins, Motion to Vacate Emergency Injunction.

When: Monday Mar 24, 2013 -- 9am  (may want to get there early)
Where: Susquehanna County Courthouse, 105 Maple St, Montrose, PA 18801
 


Vera is an amazing activist and human being. Her skills range from Compassionate Caregiver to Television Producer to Clean Water Activist. She advocates for the protection of the community and future generations.



Vera has been documenting the "shale gas invasion" of Northeast Pensylvania for the last 4.5 years. Some of her video ended up in the first Gasland movie. She has over 400 videos on her youtube channel of every aspect of gas drilling.

Vera has become an international celebrity, and Ambassador for Clean Water.  She's been interviewed by televisions stations, journalists, and other news media from nearly every continent. Germany, Japan, Australia, England, Poland, and many others.

She has given private tours and also bus tours of the Pennsylvania gas fields to people of every walk of life. From farmers, to students, to legislators, health professionals, members of Canadian, and European Parliament,, the list is staggering.

Vera has done independent research, records searches and documented many cases of water contamination. The gas industry cannot stand the truth getting out, and has spend millions of dollars on public relations to cover for the crimes which Vera has uncovered.

As you might imagine, the gas industry considers quite her quite a threat. Not because Vera wishes anyone harm-- Quite the contrary. Vera only uncovers the truth, that High Volume Horizontal Shale Gas Hydrofracking

Syracuse Hearing on draft NYS Energy Plan (new video)

Keith Schue, Pre-hearing Rally
(photo credit Ellen Abbott / WRVO)

Syracuse Hearing on draft NYS Energy Plan (new video)

First segment is from a rather low-quality live stream, but it is included here for completeness.

(I got there late due to a parking fiasco --    you will hear many speakers talking about it)

Quality improves for parts 2-8.

http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLo1TDxDrIRYrETnS-hylNvrnw27iU6jG3

Please also see the Ithaca Forum on the Draft Energy Plan:

http://www.shaleshockmedia.org/2014/03/17/new-yorks-energy-plan-scaling-up-renewable-energy-or-business-as-usual/

More info: http://energyplan.ny.gov/.

Comment period closes April 30, 2014

Download the plan: Volume I  Shaping the Future of Energy [Printer-Friendly PDF]
Volume II: Technical Appendix: End-Use Energy [PDF]  Sources [PDF] Impacts and Considerations [PDF]

JUST ADDED!

Here is an easy way to make 23 comments, and also learn more about the strengths and deficiencies of the plan,  courtesy of our friends at Catskill Citizens for Safe Energy. http://bit.ly/1gCbEtJ
Be sure to click through all 23 comment letters.

Fracking with Kittens and Cream!

This is so excellent!

Hat Tip: Stanfill @ farleftside.com

Bluestone Pipeline contractor hired Broome County Sheriff David Harder AND Deputies to work as security!

It is the function and charter of State and Municipal Police to protect public safety.

However, when they moonlight for companies which are the greatest threat
to public safety (such as the gas+oil industry), then everything gets very confused.

This is when they start treating Grandmothers as terrorists, while the polluters go scott free. 

See highlighted section below:

http://www.pressconnects.com/article/20140312/NEWS01/303120043/Records-show-Broome-County-officials-disclosing-more-ethics-forms

Records show Broome County officials disclosing more in ethics forms

4:09 PM, Mar 12, 2014

By Steve Reilly

BINGHAMTON — Broome County’s elected officials have improved their compliance with financial disclosure rules following reforms, a review of records shows.
 
Top officials are required to file six-page personal financial disclosure forms with the Broome County Board of Ethics listing business positions, investments, real estate holdings and other details. The ethics board then reviews the forms to make sure they are filled out correctly.
 
In years past, those forms have contained errors and omissions, usually minor in nature, that left blind spots in the public’s knowledge of the financial interests of county officials.
 
To address the problem, the Broome County Legislature enacted a new ethics law in December 2012 that provided stricter deadlines for the ethics board’s review of the forms. The reformed law also outlawed gifts of any value to public officials.
 
In February 2013, following the enactment of the new law and an article in the Press & Sun-Bulletin detailing the reporting deficiencies, County Executive Debbie Preston unseated the three members of the Board of Ethics by appointing three new members.
 
A review of the financial disclosure forms filed by the county’s 19 elected officials last year, reflecting their 2012 finances, shows officials are paying closer attention to their reporting requirements.
 
• Several members of the legislature disclosed memberships in groups and organizations they hadn’t previously. For instance, county Legislator Jason Garnar, D-District 14, disclosed he is treasurer of his political campaign fund.
 
• While some Broome officials previously left lines blank under many questions, the practice has been curtailed. Officials now list “none” or “n/a” if they have no information in response to a question.
Legislature Chariman Jerry Marinich, R-District 10, credited efforts by the new ethics board for improvements in financial disclosure in the county.

Ethics board members are Town of Dickinson Supervisor Michael Marinaccio, Binghamton-based attorney Jon Sarra and accountant William Starring. Marinaccio and Sarra are Republicans; Starring is a Democrat.

Shortly after the new members were appointed, the board held a presentation before county officials to give instructions on how to fill the disclosure forms out.

“I think the ethics board we have now is making a real good effort in making sure the forms are concise and pertinent,” Marinich said.
 
On the 2013 financial disclosure statements, some of the county’s top officials also disclosed new outside employment positions, which they said they were not required to report in previous years.
On the forms, outside employment must be disclosed if it results in more than $1,000 in annual income.
 
Sheriff David Harder said he worked in a security position for Price Gregory International Inc., a Houston-based pipeline developer that helped install the Bluestone Pipeline in eastern Broome County.
 
Harder said the work involved driving back and forth along the pipeline in a personal vehicle and in plain clothes, and involved no county equipment or property.
 
“(I) drove from one end of the pipeline to the other end just to make sure nobody was monkeying with their equipment,” he said. “That was it. I took any spot that my deputies were not signing up for.”
 
Preston disclosed she was a sales representative for Avon. She said she didn’t report it in previous years because she did not meet the $1,000 threshold. She said that work was done off of county premises.
 
Preston called the reforms enacted in late 2012 and early 2013 “a step in the right direction.”
 
“The Code of Ethics is very important to me, which is why we pushed to reform the process,” she said. “Those reforms have spelled out exactly what information needs to be supplied, and people are getting acclimated to providing all the information the Board of Ethics is asking for, in the way they want it.”

Open Letter to Rex Tillerson from Lou Allstadt

Lou Allstadt (photo: Peter Mantius)

"This letter has been emailed to Rex Tillerson at ExxonMobil as well as to numerous newspapers. Please feel free to forward it. Thanks -- Lou"


Open Letter to Rex Tillerson,
Chairman, ExxonMobil

From Lou Allstadt

Dear Rex,

We have never met, but I worked for your company for six months immediately after the ExxonMobil merger, the implementation of which I coordinated from the Mobil side. That was after thirty years with Mobil Oil Corporation, where just prior to the merger I had been an Executive Vice President and Operating Officer for Exploration and Producing in the U.S., Canada and Latin America. I now live in upstate New York.

For the past five years, I have been actively trying to keep your company and the rest of the industry from fracking here. I understand from several press articles that you have fracking issues of your own, with a fracking water tower and truck traffic possibly detracting from your view and the value of your home.

In response to the prospect of fracking ruining our communities, many New York towns have passed zoning laws that prohibit heavy industry, including any activities associated with drilling for oil and gas. Those laws, along with very little prospect for economic gas production in New York, mean that we probably will not have to look at fracking water towers, let alone live next to fracking well pads. I say probably, because your industry is still fighting those zoning laws in the courts.

Ironically, your reasoning at the Bartonville, Texas town council meetings is virtually identical to the reasoning that I and many other citizens used to convince our local town councils to pass laws that prohibit the very problem you have encountered, plus all of the other infrastructure and waste disposal issues associated with fracking.

No one should have to live near well pads, compression stations, incessant heavy truck traffic, or fracking water towers, nor should they have their water or air contaminated. You and I love the places where we live, but in the end, if they are ruined by fracking or frack water tanks, we can afford to pack up and go someplace else. However, many people can’t afford to move away when they can no longer drink the water or breathe the air because they are too close to one of your well pads or compressor stations.

My efforts to prevent fracking started over water — not the prospect of having to see a water tank from my home, but rather regulations that would allow gas wells near our sources of drinking water, in addition to well pads next to our homes, schools, hospitals and nursing homes. These issues are legitimate, but they are localized. I am now much more concerned with the greenhouse gas impacts of fossil fuels in general, and particularly the huge impact of methane emissions from natural gas production and transportation. These are global problems that local zoning cannot protect against. Only a major shift toward renewable energy sources can begin to mitigate their catastrophic climate impacts.

Before closing, I should explain why I have referred to ExxonMobil as “your company.”

For several years after retiring I thought of ExxonMobil as “my company.” I thought that the company’s rigor and discipline in investing in sound projects was as good as it gets, and ExxonMobil was my largest single investment. I no longer own any shares of ExxonMobil or any other fossil fuel company. I would prefer to be an early investor in alternative energy for the 21st century rather than hanging on to dwindling prospects for investments in 19th and 20th century fossil fuels.

It is time that ExxonMobil started shifting away from oil and gas, and toward alternatives — both for environmental reasons and to protect the long-term viability of the company. Many large energy producers and consumers, including ExxonMobil, are building a carbon fee into their long-term planning assumptions. Actively supporting the phase-in of a carbon fee would be one way to move the company into the 21st century. Recognizing that methane emissions disqualify natural gas as a “bridge fuel” is another.

Good luck with that fracking water tank. I hope you don’t have to move, and also that you will help a lot of other people stay in the homes they love.

Regards,

Lou Allstadt

Links to some reports on Mr. Tillerson’s fight against a fracking water tower near his home in Texas:

http://www.upi.com/Business_News/Energy-Resources/2014/02/24/Exxon-
boss-involved-in-Texas-zoning-dispute-tied-to-fracking/UPI-61481393241712/?spt=rln&or=1

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304899704579391181466603804

http://bizbeatblog.dallasnews.com/2014/02/exxon-ceo-involved-in-lawsuit-citing-
fracking-concerns.html/

http://www.bizjournals.com/houston/news/2014/02/24/exxon-ceo-fighting-water-
tower-near-his-house-out.html

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2014/02/22/exxon-mobil-tillerson-ceo-fracking/5726603/