Nov 10
2011

 

To anyone who knows a little of the history and nature of the oil & gas industry, it will come as no particular surprise that a couple of gas industry executives, at a 10/31 – 11/01  conference in Houston, recommended the use of military psy ops techniques and former military psy ops operatives to infiltrate and influence communities  in an campaign to “overcome public concern over hydraulic fracturing.”

Over and over, on every scale, from its dealings with everyone from homeowners to local government to state government,  the industry has demonstrated a gross sense of entitlement.  “What’s yours is mine, and what’s mine is mine.” (Links later. ) But perhaps nothing exemplifies this so simply and directly as the statement of Matt Carmichael, Anadarko representative, (see photo above) who recommended his fellow industry executives, “Download the U.S. Army-slash-Marine Corps Counterinsurgency Manual, because we are dealing with an insurgency.  There’s a lot of good lessons in there and coming from a military background, I found the insight in that extremely remarkable.”

His fellow executive, Matt Pitzarella, also pictured above, of Range Resources, seconded Carmichael’s advice:  “One employee who works with municipal governments in Pennsylvania has a background in psychological operations in the Army. Since the majority of his work is spent in local hearings and developing local regulations for drilling, we’ve found that his service in the Middle East is a real asset.”  (Story with audio clips here)

Of course, these statements reveal much that warrants commentary,  but somewhere near the top is what Carmichael’s phrase, “We are dealing with an insurgency,” demonstrates about the gas industry’s self-perception.

Here’s Wikipedia’s definition of an insurgency:  “An armed rebellion against a constituted authority (for example, an authority recognized as such by the United Nations).”

So if in the gas industry’s thinking, community resistance to the many hazards of gas extraction constitutes an insurgency, or illegitimate armed rebellion, then the gas industry considers itself a “constituted authority.”

Citizens everywhere have news for you, boys: yes, the very special treatment you’ve been getting for the last 100 years has made you a very spoiled, very  large, and indeed very dangerous child.  But you are not a “constituted authority” despite your wet dreams.  And we are not a rebellion.

You are the outlaws.  We are the citizens with whom the constituted authority ultimately rests.

One thing you got right: we are armed, with a weapon that history suggests you have little use for – the truth.

 

 

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Jun 28
2010

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Remember this?
New York State town supervisors & boards – do you want to be had by the short hairs?

Mt Pleasant supervisors had voted against MarkWest’s plans to expand their compressor stations.  Hickory’s been taking it on the chin from gas extraction, and the supervisors knew that more compressor stations were not in the community’s interests.

So Range Resources threatened lessors with the possibility that their royalties might be affected if the compressor stations couldn’t be built.  And the lessors fell for it and pressured the supervisors.  And the supervisors caved.

www.observer-reporter.com

Mt. Pleasant officials OK compressing station expansions

HICKORY _ Two gas compressing stations in Mt. Pleasant Township got the OK to expand after supervisors voted 3-0 tonight on an agreement with MarkWest Liberty Midstream.

Supervisors approved an agreement that will allow the company to expand its Stewart and Fulton stations up to five compressors each.

MarkWest had been turned down by the zoning hearing board in May when it applied to expand the stations. The company processes natural gas for Range Resources.

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Suggestions from residents that the township monitor the air for toxic emissions at the stations were not acted upon because officials said air monitoring is a matter handled by the state Department of Environmental Protection, not the township.

- Full story at Mt Pleasant Okays Compressors

credit: http://pafaces.wordpress.com/2010/04/23/an-a1-industrial-zone/

Another report:

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Mt. Pleasant OKs expansion plan for gas processor

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HICKORY – A gas-processing company got approval Wednesday to expand two of its compressing stations after an agreement was worked out with the Mt. Pleasant Township supervisors.
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Supervisors voted 3-0 to allow MarkWest Liberty Midstream to expand its Stewart and Fulton stations. The agreement sets a number of conditions on the company, including requiring it to control dust, place placards on company trucks and make sure the 911 center has current addresses for emergency response.
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In response to residents’ suggestions that the township also undertake air monitoring at the stations, officials said that is a matter handled by the state Department of Environmental Protection. In May, the township zoning hearing board turned down a request from the company to expand the stations. Betsy McKnight, solicitor for the zoning board, said the township was able to intervene in the matter as an interested party.
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Following Wednesday’s supervisors meeting, the zoning hearing board met to approve the agreement. Its chairman, Barry Johnston, called it “the only reasonable path” the township could take under the circumstances.
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Supervisor Larry Grimm said the agreement was best for the township because it enabled it to place conditions on the company’s operations. Had the matter gone to court, the township could have lost that ability, he said.
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MarkWest plans to expand the stations on Washington and Caldwell avenues to five compressing engines each. The company processes natural gas for Range Resources.
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Resident Joanne Wagner said the DEP is monitoring air at four points around the county, including at the Stewart station. She said a report on the air quality will be available in August and asked that any decision wait until then.
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Brian Simmons, an attorney for MarkWest, said if the DEP should find something wrong at the station, it would require the company to fix it. Christopher Rimkus, associate counsel with MarkWest Energy Partners, agreed and noted the DEP makes random, unannounced visits to the stations.
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But Stephanie Hallowich, who lives near the MarkWest Stewart station as well as one operated by Laurel Mountain Midstream, said with the expansion she soon will live near eight compressors. She said while DEP does not allow an eight-compressor station, she may soon have that with two separate companies operating nearby. Hallowich also wants to have some type of alarm sound at the stations to notify neighbors in the event of an accident or emission at night. “It’s a huge concern to me,” she said.
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Solicitor William Johnson said supervisors would not attempt to change the agreement at the last minute. “There have been weeks and weeks of negotiations leading up to this proposed agreement,” he said.
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After the meeting, Grimm said he believed the agreement was the best way to protect residents, even though some would argue it wasn’t stringent enough and others would say it was too strict.

-Story published by the Observer-Reporter

The new 30 pieces of silver: MarkWest will pay the township $50,000 within 20 days and another $25,000 within a year to put its compressors in what is still zoned as an agricultural industrial zone.

Yes, $75,000 to the town buys the residents’ loss of property values, health and quality of life. And we all thought some things were priceless.

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Jun 1
2010

Delaware County officials in particular:  it’s clear you think that having NYC telling us what to do is bad.  And so it is.  But tragically, if you facilitate or allow gas drilling to take place here, you – and your constituents – will have get used to much worse:
From a homeowner in Mt Pleasant Township, Pennsylvania -
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I wanted to pass along an update of what has been happening in Mt. Pleasant Township.  I find this whole thing very disturbing and unethical!  Several weeks ago our township zoning hearing board denied a variance and special exception to our zoning ordinances for MarkWest and Range Resources.  MarkWest was for the expansion of the compressor next to our home and another station in our township.  Range  Resources was for hosting the “man camps” at the drill sites.  
http://www.observer-reporter.com/OR/Story/05-13-2010-mt–pleasant-bunk-houses (MarkWest processes the gas that Range Resources pulls out of the ground).
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The man camps are set up when the driller starts the horizontal drilling.  They drill around the clock and claim that they need men there the entire time.  Some work 14 hour shifts.  Mobile trailers are placed on the drill pad to house the workers.  They contain sleeping quarters, eating areas and shower houses.  They have housed locally anywhere from 25 to 70+ men at one time.  During our public hearing an employee of Range Resources admitted that they leave background checks up to their sub-contractor, Patterson Drilling.  They only do back ground checks in the last state the man worked in.  This is NOT a federal background check.  Therefore, sex offenders can be living at these sites and we would never know.  They are going to be drilling ten wells across the street from our school and another ten beside the school.  We are VERY concerned about the safety of the children.  There are no fences around these camps.  In addition, the drilling company was hesitant in supplying documentation on the disposal of human waste from the site.  Like they aren’t dumping enough in our creeks…
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This was a huge statement in the State.  However, the industry retaliated. These two companies, along with their sub-contractors, boycotted all of our local businesses. Which in turn had business owners pressuring the township supervisors to reverse the decision.
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Then Range Resources sent letters to land owners who have leases.  The letters stated that since MarkWest couldn’t expand the compressor station, Range couldn’t drill for gas.  Therefore, this was causing a delay in them receiving their royalties.  Once again, more phone calls to the township supervisors. 
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It now sounds like within days the twp. supervisors will over turn this decision and allow MarkWest to expand their compressor stations.
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As if our community was not already divided enough, now the industry put in a bigger wedge.  “Divide and Conquer”.  I know this has happened in other parts of the country.  I find this a pitiful attempt to punish communities that tried to stand up to them.  This will further intimidate other rural communities.
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Not that I expect you to aid in this in anyway, but I just wanted you to understand what were are dealing with here.  This just adds to the nightmare we deal with!
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Steph Hallowich
Hickory, PA
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Below:  Range Resources’ letter to lessors, threatening them with loss of their royalties if they don’t pressure their township supervisors to give Range Resources what it wants.

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May 6
2010

Some selections from a Pennsylvania blog

Frack Mountain

2010.04.30 “NoCana”

“On the broadcast, Steve Corbett related how he has been unable to get anyone from EnCana to talk with him. They are about to change our world in a very surreal, industrial, and irreversible way – yet are too arrogant to address any of these potentialities with the public.

“Even if you had the perfect company doing all the right things, fracking is still a dirty, radioactive, water wasting, toxin injecting, air polluting, community disrupting, waste producing, land damaging, infrastructure intensive, property devaluing, inefficient way to produce energy. Add on top of that a secretive and entitled corporation – you are begging for trouble.”

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2010.04.10 Here’s an admission of the possible hazards by the industry

Range Resources Corporation (hydrofrackers) filed this with the SEC in 2006 as part of their prospectus:

Our business is subject to operating hazards and environmental regulations that could result in substantial losses or liabilities Oil and natural gas operations are subject to many risks, including well blowouts, craterings, explosions, uncontrollable flows of oil, natural gas or well fluids, fires, formations with abnormal pressures, pipeline ruptures or spills, pollution, releases of toxic natural gas and other environmental hazards and risks. If any of these hazards occur, we could sustain substantial losses as a result of: • Injury or loss of life; • Severe damage to or destruction of property, natural resources and equipment; • Pollution or other environmental damage; • Clean-up responsibilities; • Regulatory investigations and penalties; or • Suspension of operations. As we begin drilling to deeper horizons and in more geologically complex areas, we could experience a greater increase in operating and financial risks due to inherent higher reservoir pressures and unknown downhole risk exposures.  Source:Range Resources Prospectus

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2010.04.09  Dispatch from Dimock

It is like a war zone up here in Dimock. Helicopters hovering overhead all the time dropping their seismic testing “pods” – spooking my horses. Workers in the fields and woods stringing miles of seismic testing wire – trucks heavy equipment driving by constantly – dust – noise – skies lit up at night from the drilling rigs – constant noise from the drilling and fracking. Drillers park their chemical trucks next door here at work and I walk over sometimes and try to read the names of the chemical containers – can’t understand the names of the chemicals but they all have skull and crossbones next to them – what would one think that means! Sorry for the rant – just have to vent once in a while. Chuck.

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2010.04.05  an urgent email

… our family has experienced in a very direct and personal way, the devastating impact these gas leases can have on individual property owners. Now we wonder whether anyone will want to buy my Dad’s home, and, if so, at what price? Who would have thought that the beautiful woods, meadows and ponds surrounding my Dad’s home would someday become a liability rather than an asset?

For my family, this recent experience was a wake up call. We applaud your efforts on behalf of clean water and preserving a livable environment for the residents of the Back Mountain area. These efforts serve the larger community and are clearly the more important mission of your organization. However, before it is too late, we also want to bring to the attention of Back Mountain area residents the potential impact of these leases on their property values. Like my Dad, many area residents may be unaware that a gas lease exists near their home and the activities that are allowed under the lease (testing, drilling, laying pipeline, installing lease roads, installing pumps, compressors, separators, tanks, power stations, transporting oil and gas by pipeline or otherwise, “and all other rights and privileges necessary, incident to, or convenient for the economical operation of said Leasehold Premises…” quoting from the Memorandum of Oil and Gas Lease impacting my Dad’s home). I hope that you will communicate our fears to the local area elected representatives. It is truly a scandal that at all levels – national, state and local – elected officials have failed to protect ordinary citizens with reasonable regulation of the gas industry.

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