Tap into Pa.'s natural gas supplies Options

[Lancaster Online]

[FDR06-10]

Well Mr Geisler it is quite apparent you have not been to the northern reaches of our state to see that your Pennsylvania government has begun taking advantage of this?

You might want to take a drive up around the hills east of Mansfield and see the destruction they are causing with this drilling operation. I'd guess you might see it differently if you saw how detrimental this "exploration" really was to our environment? Unless you are one of the landowners who got a "big check" of course? Then you may not care?

[wrsny337]

Changing coal-fired power plants to cleaner-burning natural gas would go a long way toward meeting the administration's cleanup goal of reducing carbon dioxide emissions.

We are not going to achieve this goal alone with renewables, i.e., solar/wind/etc. But this new source of energy could be a bridge to the future - which, I believe, is a mix of nuclear and renewables.

Who says we can't?
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article....-energy-by-2030

Pennsylvania should do well, if the politicians don't screw it up.

What exactly do you mean by "it?" If I'm not mistaken, the "it" that you don't want screwed up is opportunity. As I've been enlightened by FDR during our interactions, the "it" that I don't want screwed up is environment.

Well Mr Geisler it is quite apparent you have not been to the northern reaches of our state to see that your Pennsylvania government has begun taking advantage of this?

You might want to take a drive up around the hills east of Mansfield and see the destruction they are causing with this drilling operation. I'd guess you might see it differently if you saw how detrimental this "exploration" really was to our environment? Unless you are one of the landowners who got a "big check" of course? Then you may not care?

Well-said. You send that email yet?

[Nativeson]

Well Mr Geisler it is quite apparent you have not been to the northern reaches of our state to see that your Pennsylvania government has begun taking advantage of this?

You might want to take a drive up around the hills east of Mansfield and see the destruction they are causing with this drilling operation. I'd guess you might see it differently if you saw how detrimental this "exploration" really was to our environment? Unless you are one of the landowners who got a "big check" of course? Then you may not care?

I have many relatives up there and they're fine with it. For many years I've driven by a small gas well up there and to say it's causing environmental destruction is absurd. Yes, challenges have come with this opportunity but my understanding is that they already have a pipeline to the Hudson valley to deliver fuel. We should stop the hand-wringing and work together to exploit this resource responsibly to the betterment of as many as possible.
Personally I'd like to see a number of gas fired electricity plants built to address the increasing demand for electricity as well as the rising costs. Someone has to recharge those electric cars. In fact it would be tremendous to sell electricity to people in states populated by more hand-wringers than we have here. Perhaps as under Governor Palin in Alaska the residents of Pennsylvania too could get a check from the state instead of paying income taxes.

[notveryhow]

If anyone is interested I found a spiffy article at Geology.com on the Marcellus shale. Didn't know a whole lot about it, which led me to some poking around.

http://geology.com/articles/marcellus-shale.shtml

The authors don't appear to have an economic stake or an ideological axe to grind. Quite informative.

[wrsny337]

If anyone is interested I found a spiffy article at Geology.com on the Marcellus shale. Didn't know a whole lot about it, which led me to some poking around.

http://geology.com/articles/marcellus-shale.shtml

The authors don't appear to have an economic stake or an ideological axe to grind. Quite informative.

Thanks for providing the info, notveryhow.

Money like this makes anyone pay attention. Kind of reminds me of Jed Clampett:

" When the potential of the Marcellus was first suspected in 2006 a small number of speculators began leasing land - paying risky signing bonuses that were sometimes as high as $100 per acre. In late 2007 signing bonuses of a few hundred dollars per acre were common. Then, as the technology was demonstrated and publicized signing bonuses began to rise rapidly. By early 2008 several wells with strong production rates were drilled, numerous investors began leasing and the signing bonuses rose from a few hundred dollars per acre up to over $2000 per acre for the most desirable properties.

If the results of current and future drilling activity do not match the expectations of companies paying for leases the amounts that they are willing to pay could drop rapidly.

Although signing bonuses generate an enormous amount of interest because they are guaranteed income, royalties can be significantly higher. A royalty is a share of a well's income. The customary royalty rate is 12.5 percent of the value of gas produced by a well. Higher royalty rates are sometimes paid by aggressive buyers for highly desirable properties.

The royalties paid to eligible property owners from a well yielding over one million cubic feet of natural gas per day can be hundreds of thousands of dollars per year.

If the Marcellus Shale holds up to the optimistic expectations of some natural gas experts, Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York and West Virginia could temporarily have an enormous boost in income that might be sustained for a few decades."

http://geology.com/articles/marcellus-shale.shtml

[Nativeson]

The royalties paid to eligible property owners from a well yielding over one million cubic feet of natural gas per day can be hundreds of thousands of dollars per year.

If the Marcellus Shale holds up to the optimistic expectations of some natural gas experts, Pennsylvania, Ohio, New York and West Virginia could temporarily have an enormous boost in income that might be sustained for a few decades."

http://geology.com/articles/marcellus-shale.shtml

I tell my relatives that Bradford county is going to be like Dallas and they will live like J.R. Ewing someday. Some people up there are selling property but retaining all gas and mineral rights.
Another thing to remember is that the extent of this gas reserve and/or the ability to extract it wasn't factored into those doomsday estimates of when we will run out of fossil fuels. Things change, bigger reserves are found and we should reconsider the rush to mandate alternative energy and sticking our children and grandchildren with that bill.

[wrsny337]

I tell my relatives that Bradford county is going to be like Dallas and they will live like J.R. Ewing someday. Some people up there are selling property but retaining all gas and mineral rights.
Another thing to remember is that the extent of this gas reserve and/or the ability to extract it wasn't factored into those doomsday estimates of when we will run out of fossil fuels. Things change, bigger reserves are found and . . .

And yet another thing to remember (given the environmental impact of the Industial Revolution, etc. and the understanding that greed typically breeds nearsighted irrationality) is that new developments in extraction technology should also contain new developments to ensure environmental safety.

we should reconsider the rush to mandate alternative energy and . . .

Not so sure how one can say that the US is in "a rush" to mandate alternative energy R&D when we've spent approximately the last 40 years watching Big Oil/Big Coal/Big Auto manipulate politicians and get us deeper and deeper into this energy mess so they can maintain the status quo. It burns my butt when new oil/gas/coal/auto technology "suddenly" emerges when the gov't applies sustainable-energy pressures. Such bull crap. How long have people asked, "If we can put a man on the moon, why can't we build an affordable vehicle that gets 100mpg?" The answer is obvious.

sticking our children and grandchildren with that bill.

What bill? Call it an investment that requires initial infusion of capital. When you pay into your IRA, do you consider that paying a bill? Not me. (BTW: We spend 12 billion/month on a war in Iraq that produced what? Purple fingers?) If anything, we are doing something for our children and grandchildren that our parents and grandparents wouldn't do (no, not couldn't . . . but wouldn't).

This post has been edited by wrsny337: Nov 17 2009, 09:33 AM

[FDR06-10]

Who says we can't?
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article....-energy-by-2030


What exactly do you mean by "it?" If I'm not mistaken, the "it" that you don't want screwed up is opportunity. As I've been enlightened by FDR during our interactions, the "it" that I don't want screwed up is environment.


Well-said. You send that email yet?

I actually sent one to Fortuna Energy who is the company who is doing all the drilling up there. No response if you can imagine that.

[FDR06-10]

I have many relatives up there and they're fine with it. For many years I've driven by a small gas well up there and to say it's causing environmental destruction is absurd. Yes, challenges have come with this opportunity but my understanding is that they already have a pipeline to the Hudson valley to deliver fuel. We should stop the hand-wringing and work together to exploit this resource responsibly to the betterment of as many as possible.
Personally I'd like to see a number of gas fired electricity plants built to address the increasing demand for electricity as well as the rising costs. Someone has to recharge those electric cars. In fact it would be tremendous to sell electricity to people in states populated by more hand-wringers than we have here. Perhaps as under Governor Palin in Alaska the residents of Pennsylvania too could get a check from the state instead of paying income taxes.

There is no such thing as a "small gas well" anymore. They have leveled hundreds if not thousands of acres of forest so far causing run off issues as well as things we may not ever realize. They have to be impacting the groundwater as well. They are using 12 inch pipes to feed the rigs from an enormous temp pond which they fill with wells dug into the state ground.

Do your relatives live beside the state ground that is being destroyed? Hundreds of people bought up there due to the fact that many have always understood that a "State Forest" will always be there for every taxpayers use and enjoyment. The state never told anyone they would be destroying that very forest we all own.

[wrsny337]

I actually sent one to Fortuna Energy who is the company who is doing all the drilling up there. No response if you can imagine that.

I can.

Here's the deal, FDR: You need to join with others in this thing. Take advantage of your connections. If the squeaky wheel gets the grease . . . then a thousand squeaky wheels get a bucket full. Fortuna Energy hopes you'll get tired and just go away. But they can't ignore an organized effort to make sure that they do their job responsibly. Tap in to your resources.