New Website Aims to Evaluate Shale-Focused Studies and Cut Through Bias

By -
From Vindy.com:
Studies vary widely on how many jobs oil and natural-gas drilling will bring to eastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania. 
“It only takes a small assumption to create a result that is much higher or lower,” said Matthew Rousu, associate professor of economics at Susquehanna University in Selinsgrove, Pa., and creator of a website designed to evaluate such studies. 
Confusion and bias among those economic reports led to the site’s creation. The Economic Impact Review will post and review economic impact studies. 
Though the initial emphasis is on Marcellus Shale studies, the plan is to expand the reviews to other economic-impact reports. 
The site is not funded by the oil and gas industry or by any environmental group, Rousu said. 
The same types of studies on the same issues are being conducted in the Utica Shale, he said. 
“We try to take an objective look at the studies and provide an objective critique,” Rousu said. 
Rousu has reviewed a study that relates to Ohio and the Utica Shale. “The Cost of Fracking” was released by Environment Ohio and attempts to calculate the potential negative costs of hydraulic fracturing. 
He said the study does a good job of attempting to list all costs associated with fracking, but the study also has flaws. 
“I think the topic is important, and the authors do a good job trying to list any cost that could possibly be linked to fracking. They don’t attempt to estimate an ‘external cost per drilling well’ or an overall cost of fracking for society, however, which would be extremely useful,” Rousu said. “The authors seem too much like anti-drilling advocates often associating costs that are far-fetched, counting costs already paid by the drilling companies and seemingly reporting only the studies that help advance their cause.”
Read the rest of the article here.

View the website here.

Connect with us on Facebook and Twitter!

Popular posts from this blog

Fracktivist in Dimock Releases Carefully Edited Video, Refuses to Release the Rest

By -
Image
From Energy in Depth: There is something very strange going on along Carter Road, in Dimock, Pennsylvania, and I’m not speaking of natural gas, methane migration, contamination, litigation or even the extensive water testing there by the EPA and others.  No, I’m talking about a new “Watergate” conspiracy, complete with 18 minutes of missing tape (well, video, actually). It seems the ever-present Green Party member and  naturist   Vera Scroggins  (a/k/a  Vera Duerga ) has posted a video of Craig Sautner meeting with the EPA.  Mysteriously, the video is but 14 seconds in length, cutting off conversation in what is obviously mid-stream.  It raises a question Craig Sautner, like  Ronald Reagan in Kings Row , might have asked, “Where’s the rest of me?’  Carter Road, isn’t Kings Row, of course, (at least not until you arrive at  the mansion Scott Ely, one of the Dimock litigants, is building with his royalty money ), but there appears to be a whole lot of film editing going on there to fi
Read more

The Second Largest Oil and Gas Merger - Cabot and Cimarex

By -
Image
       Due to investor pressure, the U.S shale drillers are being pushed to improve financial and operational performance after a few years of poor returns. Even though the industry has improved its numbers, when compared to last year, investors still want more to be done for them to earn more money.      That's why two mid-tier shale drillers, Cabot and Climarex, have decided to merge in order to eliminate $100 million in annual costs, which means more money for the investors. This all-stock transaction is valued at about $7.4 billion, which is relatively high for the oil and gas sector.      The new entity will be renamed and the headquarters located in Houston, Texas. Cabot shareholders will own 49.5 percent of the new entity, and Climarex the rest.       The Cimarex-Cabot merger will address the investor's demand for a higher amount of returning cash. The initial plan is to pay a 50-cent-per-share special dividend on closing the deal while offering a quarterly variable div
Read more

Do You Know The History of Fracking?

By -
Image
  In 2018, 59% of total oil production in the U.S came from hydraulic fracking, which means it accounted for more than two-thirds of domestically manufactured gas. By 2024, fracking will reach an astounding $68 billion market value! Of course, fracking is not a new drilling method as you can trace it back hundreds of years. That's why we want to consider the history of hydraulic fracturing (fracking). We will be stating historical facts about it and focusing on the major historical occurrences that have influenced modern-day fracking. Pre-Fracking Days The idea of fracking started back in 1862 when Edward A.L. Roberts (Civil War veteran) witnessed Confederate soldiers exploding artillery rounds into a canal that obstructed a battlefield. At the time, Edward A.L. Roberts called it superincumbent fluid tamping. On April 26th, 1865, Edward A.L. Roberts began experimenting with exploding torpedoes, which consisted of lowering a torpedo containing an amount of powder from fifteen to tw
Read more