API and ANGA released a study today calling into serious question the methane emissions data EPA has been using for unconventional gas wells.  According to the API/ANGA survey, methane emissions from hydraulic fracturing of unconventional gas wells are, in fact, 50 percent lower than EPA’s estimates.

When is EPA going to correct this flaw?  Today’s study is not even the first time EPA’s hydraulic fracturing emissions data has been contradicted by real-world evidence.  The agency has been sitting on an open Request for Correction under the Information Quality Act (IQA) since December 19, 2011. 

That request (filed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, available here) included a survey by URS Corp. of approximately 1200 wells, showing that actual gas emissions from the completion of unconventional shale gas wells were more than 1200% lower than EPA’s gas emission estimate.

A coalition of environmental groups filed a detailed opposition to the IQA correction request, complaining that URS had relied on too small a sample.  Well, today’s API/ANGA survey (also conducted by URS) is of 91,000 wells.  That should be more than enough.

Here’s why this matters: researchers, financial analysts and other governmental bodies are relying on EPA’s flawed estimates of natural gas emissions from unconventional shale gas well completions in a number of research reports and policy consideration. And policymakers are ultimately taking into account these potentially flawed numbers when designing regulations.

Read the API/ANGA study here.

Ross Eisenberg is vice president of energy and resources policy, National Association of Manufacturers.

Steubenville, Ohio was hit hard by the previous recession.  But, as ABC News reported last night, the town has seen tremendous economic growth because of recent natural gas discoveries in the Marcellus and Utica shale formations. Hydraulic fracturing – a technology that has been used commercially for more than 60 years – allows companies to access the abundant natural gas resources located beneath the Steubenville area.

This “natural gas revolution” has already brought 300 jobs to the Steubenville area, and ABC News reports that 10,000 jobs are expected in the next three years. These jobs are high-paying, with some workers earning up to $77,000 per year. Shops, restaurants and hotels are now bustling.

Manufacturers, users of approximately one-third of the energy consumed in the United States, strongly support the use of hydraulic fracturing to access our nation’s abundant supply of natural gas. We use natural gas not only as a source of electricity, but as a feedstock for products such as plastics, fertilizer and pharmaceuticals. Affordable natural gas provides manufacturers with the ability to expand their facilities, increase production and create even more jobs. It is critically important that the states and the federal government not stand in the way of our access to these valuable resources.

Watch the story here:

Ohio Town Sees Jobs Turnaround

On Tuesday the U.S. Geological Survey released updated data on how much natural gas is contained in the Marcellus Shale. The new estimate finds that the Marcellus Shale contains about 84 trillion cubic feet of undiscovered, technically recoverable natural gas and 3.4 billion barrels of undiscovered, technically recoverable natural gas liquids. 

From the USGS release:

The Marcellus Shale contains about 84 trillion cubic feet of undiscovered, technically recoverable natural gas and 3.4 billion barrels of undiscovered, technically recoverable natural gas liquids according to a new assessment by the U. S. Geological Survey (USGS).

These gas estimates are significantly more than the last USGS assessment of the Marcellus Shale in the Appalachian Basin in 2002, which estimated a mean of about 2 trillion cubic feet of gas (TCF) and 0.01 billion barrels of natural gas liquids.

The increase in undiscovered, technically recoverable resource is due to new geologic information and engineering data, as technological developments in producing unconventional resources have been significant in the last decade.  This Marcellus Shale estimate is of unconventional (or continuous-type) gas resources.

This news provides additional evidence of how promising of a source the Marcellus Shale is for our nation’s energy supply. It is absolutely critical to the competitiveness of manufacturers that they have access to affordable sources of energy. Adding burdensome and unnecessary regulations to the shale industry will only drive up the costs and add bureaucratic red tape with little benefit. 

You can find out more about this new estimate from the USGS here.

Yesterday, the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM) filed comments with the Department of the Interior’s (DOI) Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE) urging them to expedite the permitting and lease process in the Chukci Sea and other areas of Alaska’s Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) for oil and natural gas development.

Estimates show that in Alaska’s OCS, there are roughly 27 billion barrels of oil and 132 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. It is time to put an end to needless red tape, excessive delays and unreasonable regulations preventing domestic exploration and production.  Using these abundant resources will not only generate $193 billion in revenue to the government over the next 50 years, it will also create tens of thousands of jobs, increase our energy security and our domestic supply as well.

While unemployment continues to increase, and energy prices are at record highs, it is time we use the domestic resources readily available to us to solve the problems we face.

Manufacturers support responsible and environmentally sensitive practices that promote safety and conservation, and this can be achieved; all while securing our energy future and rebuilding our shaken economy. It is time to open up Alaska’s OCS.

The Washington Times today completed a two-part series on Pennsylvania’s economic boom from development the Marcellus Shale natural gas, made possible through the technology of hydrofracturing and horizontal drilling.

The first day’s story, “Shale motherlode brings world of change,” reports on wide variety of economic effects and benefits, including the growing emphasis on workforce training to meet the energy sector’s demand for skilled employees.

A sidebar examines the small, ideologically committed opposition to domestic energy development, “‘Don’t frack with our water,’ say foes.”

Energy companies are doing big business, obviously, but the activity spreads throughout the economy, creating jobs and opportunity and allowing people to support their families. From Day Two’s entry, “Locals cash in on natural gas boom in Pa.“:

Other businesses also are seeing huge paydays. Rig workers for drilling companies such as Range Resources, one of the biggest players in the game, end up at local bars and restaurants after their shifts.

But they also must eat on the job. The hectic schedule doesn’t allow them to clean up and take a formal one-hour lunch break. Instead, the food comes to them.

“It’s the best thing that ever happened to me,” said Frank Puskarich, owner of Hog Father’s restaurant in Washington and daily caterer to Range Resources‘ “frack jobs” across the region. The boisterous barbecue pit master said he has hired eight employees who do nothing but prepare chicken, ribs, brisket, macaroni and cheese and other entrees for tired, hungry workers. He picked up the contract with Fort Worth, Texas-based Range Resources five years ago, and that also has helped drive business to his small establishment in Washington.

“It’s standing-room only for lunch” every day, Mr. Puskarich said. “[Business] has been tremendous. There’s a lot of work for people who want it, and not just in the food business.”

It’s a well-reported series.

The Senate handily rejected cloture Tuesday on S. 940, the Close Big Oil Tax Loopholes Act, which, shorn of political slogans, was the legislation to raise taxes on oil and gas development in the United States.

The vote was 52-48, with Democratic Sens. Mark Begich of Alaska, Mary Landrieu of Lousiana and Ben Nelson of Nebraska joining Republicans to block the bill that would do nothing to address gas prices, but would discourage U.S. energy security and global competitiveness. Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) was the sole Republican to vote for cloture.

Next up once the Senate convenes at 10:30 a.m. this morning, a motion to proceed on legislation sponsored by Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) to expand domestic oil and gas production. S. 953, the Offshore Production and Safety Act,  mirrors the bill passed by the House last week, H.R. 1299, the Putting the Gulf of Mexico Back to Work Act.

Sen. McConnell summarized the bill on the Senate floor Tuesday: “Our bill would return American offshore production to where it was before this administration locked it up, require Federal bureaucrats to process permits–to make a decision one way or the other: process the permit, make a decision one way or the other–rather than sitting on the permits. And it would improve offshore safety. Our plan not only acknowledges the importance of increasing domestic production, it does something about it, while ensuring environmental safety.”

Reporting on shale gas and hydrofracturing, the public radio program Marketplace Morning Report today captures the classic American phenomenon at work: Innovation creates opportunity, investment and wealth, and trial lawyers follow with bogus, hyped, shake-down lawsuits.

From “Fracking employs plenty of lawyers“:

Sarah Gardner: The U.S. is awash in natural gas. But the latest drilling technology that’s made the glut possible isn’t winning any popularity awards. “Fracking” involves a high pressure cocktail of water, chemicals and sand injected into shale rock — deep underground. Gas companies are drilling wells from Pennsylvania to Wyoming, and it doesn’t always go smoothly.

Richard Lippes: There have been explosions of homes, there’s a lot of people who can now actually light their water.

Not winning any popularity awards? Too bad this worthy report starts with such a clunker. Every job that hydofracturing creates wins a popularity award with the worker. Every stream of income from a producing well wins a popularity award with the property owner. Every hundred million dollars of tax revenue wins a popularity award with the taxpayers and citizens of a state.

As for the assertion from Lippes, the trial lawyer, that there are many who can now actually light their water? It’s false, a claim that’s supposed to inflame NIMBY sentiment against natural gas development and scare up clients. One scene of a fellow lighting water in his kitchen sink appeared in the agitprop film, “Gasland,” but the claims about fiery faucets have since been refuted and the entire movie debunked.

The Marketplace report also covers that activities of New York lawsuit engine Marc Bern, who specializes in environmental claims. Next up? The class-action lawsuit. Bern declares: “Wherever there is shale and there is natural gas trapped underneath, there will be litigation.” Isn’t that the sad truth. Just as where there is any creation of wealth in the U.S. economy, there will be trial lawyers. The more wealth, the more lawyers, which makes shale natural gas such a tempting target.

“Trial,” the monthly magazine of the American Association for Justice, hyped environmental litigation in its March issue, “Poisoned wells: dangers of natural gas drilling,” a piece authored by another plaintiffs’ attorney, William S. Friedlander. Environmental activists and litigators often team up in campaigns against energy, both exaggerating the risks to increase their potential income via membership dues or settlements, respectively.

Do we want a prosperous society, a growing economy, and a strong manufacturing base fueled by affordable natural gas, or do we want an elite class of trial lawyers and winners of the litigation lottery? (continue reading…)

Manufacturers agree with President Obama’s comments Wednesday on the need to increase domestic oil and gas production. Domestic energy producers want new exploration and drilling and to resume projects that were forced to shut down under the moratorium imposed last spring.

While the Administration is advocating for greater domestic production, it simultaneously is preventing the permit process from operating in a timely and efficient manner. The Administration bears the responsibility to grant leases and permits for exploration and production to begin. Implicating domestic energy producers for lack of action, shortage or delay is irresponsible and inaccurate. It is time this Administration follow the policies it proposes. Action is required, not additional oratory.

The National Association of Manufacturers supports an “all of the above” approach to energy supply. To successfully compete in a global marketplace, American manufacturers must have reliable, affordable and secure energy sources. By increasing domestic production and incorporating renewables into a larger energy portfolio, manufacturers will be protected from the unpredictable price swings that come along with foreign energy sources, providing the stability needed for manufacturers to grow, create high-paying jobs and invest in the future.

Mahta Mahdavi is NAM director for energy and resources policy.

As the natural gas industry group Energy in Depth reports, “At a Capitol Hill press conference today, a small group of critics opposed to the responsible development of job-creating American oil and natural gas – including U.S. Rep. Maurice Hinchey (D-NY), actor Mark Ruffalo, and GasLand filmmaker Josh Fox – are poised to renew calls for a one-size-fits-all, federal takeover of hydraulic fracturing, a 60 year-old energy stimulation technology used to enhance 90 percent of the nation’s onshore wells.”

Lee Fuller, executive director of Energy In Depth, issued a statement:

It’s clear that this event, scripted by a Hollywood publicist one week before the Academy Awards, is focused on achieving staged drama and inside-the-beltway chatter about a ‘documentary’ that’s been debunked in its entirety.

Refusing to engage in a fact and science-based dialogue, New York City stage director Josh Fox, his Hollywood friends, and a few congressmen are more concerned with stunts and scare tactics than working to address critical energy security issues. The American people deserve and expect nothing less than a serious discussion and common sense solutions regarding national energy policy, not tired, misleading talking points from Hollywood elite who’ve never been on a drilling rig.

American natural gas and oil production must absolutely be done safely and in way that protects our environment and water. And for more than 60 years, state governments have ably and effectively regulated hydraulic fracturing. Energy-producing states, who understand their unique geology best, have inspectors and expert scientists in place to ensure that fracturing is done safely not impact groundwater.

The full statement is here. EID offers debunk the bunk-filled film, Gasland, at the group’s website here.

Seems like even members of Congress  can’t resist the lure of movies and movie stars, which is apparently what Mark Ruffalo is. They should try. Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA), for example, was a prominent promoter of the anti-Chevron movie “Crude,” a film revealed to be a cynical part of the PR strategy directed by U.S. trial lawyers in a corrupt ashakedown suit.

At Metro Center, the connection between jobs and the energy industry

The American Petroleum Institute has a new ad campaign up and running, “I’m one,” complete with signage in the Metro Center station in the Washington Metro.

That’s Frederica C. smiling at us in the sign above, appreciative of her job as a marketing manager supported by the oil and gas industry.

You can see all 25 API Metro ads by scrolling down here.

It’s a timely campaign, given the expected comments about energy and jobs President Obama will make in his State of the Union address Tuesday.