Prior to the boring process commencing, operators must obtain all required permits and, as recommended in the guidance document, properly plan the project by evaluating the site topography, subsurface conditions and the presence of other surface features such as existing above and below ground utilities. Operators may also conduct a geotechnical investigation in or adjacent to the planned bore area, while also developing a bore profile and contingency plan.

“Building the required pipeline infrastructure to safely transport natural gas from the wellhead to the marketplace is a huge undertaking and one that requires much due diligence,” stated MSC chief executive officer Kathryn Klaber. “These Recommended Practices for Pipeline Boring provide operators with a road map to ensure that these projects are constructed with the highest degree of integrity, that operators plan appropriately prior to construction, and that contingency plans are in place.”

While most pipeline construction is completed through the traditional trenching process, boring is often used when crossing under a body of water, highway or railroad. Boring is completed by drilling along a predetermined and approved path below the aforementioned areas. Operators use a clay-based, non-hazardous drilling fluid (bentonite) that is approximately 96 percent water and aids in the drilling process.

The MSC’s Recommended Practices for Pipeline Boring also provide detailed information on contingency planning for an inadvertent return, a process when boring fluid comes to the surface through natural cracks in the subsurface that may not have been identified during the planning phase.

Continued Klaber, “While bentonite is a non-hazardous compound that has many common applications, it’s important that the public has a good, fact-based understanding of this process, and that operators plan accordingly should they experience an inadvertent return during pipeline boring. MSC member companies are dedicated to operating transparently and in a safe and environmentally responsible manner.”

To view the MSC’s Recommended Practices, click HERE.

PITTSBURGH – For companies looking to break into the natural gas business here, a Marcellus Shale Coalition membership is key.

Four years ago, MSC was little more than an informal umbrella over a smattering of energy companies exploring the Marcellus Shale’s potential to yield natural gas. Today, the industry group is a 300-member, five-office powerhouse that has made itself a household name in the region that birthed the U.S. natural gas boom and brought new wealth and prosperity to drilling communities. It counts Marcellus drilling giants like Chesapeake Energy Corp. and Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. among its members.

Because of its unusual setup — MSC’s focus is on companies operating in a particular energy play, rather than in a certain state — the coalition has extended its reach to residents and industry in not only its home base of Pennsylvania, but also West Virginia, Ohio and New York.

Kathryn Klaber, MSC’s first CEO, is the driving force behind the coalition’s growth.

“From the beginning, we knew that outreach and education would be important,” MSC CEO Kathryn Klaber said.

Klaber, a native Pennsylvanian who answers to Katie, is the coalition’s first CEO. Unlike many of her peers at other energy industry groups, she didn’t come from the energy business.

Before joining MSC in 2010, Klaber was executive vice president for competitiveness at the Allegheny Conference on Community Development, executive director of the Pennsylvania Economy League and an employee of consulting firm Environmental Resources Management Inc.

Klaber called those roles a “good prequel” to the work she’s doing with MSC because those jobs exposed her to the economic challenges Pennsylvanians face and the health, safety and environmental rules to which local businesses must adhere.

As MSC CEO, Klaber, 47, works closely with the organization’s executive board, listening to members and attempting to execute their priorities. Over the organization’s four-year existence, that has become an increasingly onerous task as the group’s membership has grown from about 40 to 300 companies, running the gamut from oil and gas producers to local businesses that are providing support services for Marcellus Shale development.

“This is not your grandfather’s trade association,” said MSC spokesman Travis Windle.

The supply chain integration model is one that is increasingly popular among energy industry groups, including MSC’s sister organization, the Colorado Oil and Gas Association.

COGA President Tisha Schuller, who came into her post around the same time Klaber joined MSC, said she’s been impressed with the coalition’s reach.

“In just a couple years, it’s like they’ve been around for decades,” she said.

Schuller added that Klaber’s role in the coalition has been critical to its success.

“Katie Klaber is a really dynamic and strong leader, and I’m really impressed by her,” Schuller said. “She has quite a unique skill set and is positively a force to be reckoned with.”

‘Connectors’

Because MSC’s 15 staff members are spread across five offices and spend a lot of time in the field, coalition headquarters, located on a winding road in a business park near Pittsburgh International Airport, is far from bustling.

But its phone lines are busy.

For the people who call in to ask questions such as “Where’s my royalty check?” or “How can my son get a job?” Klaber said MSC’s staff members see themselves as “connectors” who can provide critical information.

Windle offered one example of a call that came into the office in late March.

Meetings at MSC’s Pittsburgh headquarters provide key networking opportunities for energy companies and support service providers.

“I spent probably 45 minutes on the phone with a nice older woman from the Youngstown [Ohio] area, and she had questions about seismic, and she was calling the ‘Marcellus Shale.’ People might say, ‘I hear Marcellus Shale, I read about it in the newspaper; I’m going to Google that,” he said. “Who comes up? We do.”

In the case of community members worried about the health, safety and environmental impacts of drilling and hydraulic fracturing, the technology used to extract gas from shale, MSC often arranges rig tours.

“Those tours are the best way to really have a more productive conversation because you see how this works,” Klaber said. “You see how complex it is.”

She said she only wishes she could get all 12.7 million Pennsylvanians on a tour.

While public questions aren’t MSC’s focus, part of its role is to engage and educate the wider community to help the industry operate more efficiently, Klaber said.

How does the coalition do it?

“Just like the energy strategy: all of the above,” said Steve Forde, MSC’s vice president of policy and communications.

Using YouTube videos, speakers series, an online Ask About Shale forum and other techniques, the coalition has attempted to reach every corner of the region affected by Marcellus activity.

Forde said he was surprised by the success of a recent 11-minute YouTube video explaining methane migration.

“To register as a YouTube hit, you’ve got to watch it the whole way through, and even I didn’t make it through the first couple of times. But in the first week, we had like 1,100 full views on something that’s very, very technical,” Forde said.

Klaber added that the video’s popularity demonstrated a hunger for information about drilling.

“We thought, ‘Wow, people really do want to learn,’” she said.

Environmental debate

To some in the environmental community, though, MSC’s methane video and other educational materials are a form of industry propaganda.

Jeff Schmidt, director of the Sierra Club’s Pennsylvania chapter, was critical of MSC’s support of a part of Act 13, the 2012 Marcellus Shale drilling law that says state regulations supercede local authority to control gas operations. The coalition and other industry groups say they oppose local regulation because of its fragmented nature. Businesses need consistency to operate effectively, they say.

“The coalition’s goal is to change the subject from the problems and simply focus on economic benefits,” Schmidt said.

Klaber said the coalition has worked to take a proactive role in Marcellus Shale issues and tried to withhold from fighting tooth and nail against new rules and regulations.

Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection spokesman Kevin Sunday said MSC has been instrumental in industry communications. When Gov. Tom Corbett (R) two years ago called on the oil and gas industry to stop sending its waste to facilities discharging into waterways, DEP reached out to the coalition.

“We called on the industry and particularly the MSC,” Sunday said. They “complied overnight.”

Through its committee structure and monthly meetings, MSC gives its board members — producers and midstream companies — and its associate members — the legal experts, environmental consultants, road repair professionals and others who facilitate the drilling process — the chance to collaborate on best practices for oil and gas extraction in the Marcellus.

Associate member Accutest Laboratories, an engineering consulting firm, was involved in recent recommendations for companies to conduct pre-drilling groundwater sampling near wells to provide a base line for comparison in the event of later pollution allegations.

“[MSC takes] a proactive role in what I’ve seen in determining any issues or addressing any part of it,” said Accutest Technical Director Kesavalu Bagawandoss. “They want to make sure the right things are done in a responsible manner.”

The coalition’s best practices are the heartbeat of the organization’s efforts to push member companies and even energy firms outside its membership to go above and beyond state drilling regulations.

“This is a challenge across lots of businesses, but ours in particular, that we have allowed ourselves as a business community to come across as not environmentally sensitive where it’s the exact opposite,” Klaber said. “There’s more protection of the environment happening from within the varied industries that design and build and operate these processes. You look through our membership roster, and there are more engineering degrees and civil and environmental and chemical — all the technical aspects that make sure we do this in a protective manner.”

But the best practices supported by MSC and other oil and gas industry groups don’t hold operators accountable, allowing them to pick and choose to what extent they would like to protect the air and groundwater, said PennEnvironment spokeswoman Erika Staaf.

“From what I see, the main point that they try to drive home is related to economy and jobs because they see that it’s a strong argument they can make,” she said. “It seems to me they might minimize the environmental dangers.”

Staaf added that greater support from the coalition on environmental regulations could “raise the basement rather than just the ceiling” for the industry.

MSC’s future

With the environmental debates and price issues — natural gas recently began a slow price recovery after overproduction forced rates to 10-year lows — surrounding Marcellus Shale development, Klaber said she sees the industry as one that is very much in flux.

Although MSC plans to keep its play-specific name, the staff there sees a role for itself in guiding development in Ohio’s Utica Shale and other emerging energy fields in the region. Still, Klaber said she wants to keep the coalition’s focus on the Marcellus, where she believes there will be work to do for years to come.

“If we keep chasing the next shale play, that’s all we’ll be doing,” she said.

Despite some safety and environmental concerns, the public is still largely interested in how it can stake its claim in shale prosperity, Klaber said.

“As that awareness of that opportunity has grown, different agencies see a role for their own missions in it,” she said.

Fostering that interest is part of MSC’s future.

“We realize that as people go along that education curve, the support level goes up. But Pennsylvania is 12.7 million people, and it takes 45 minutes to talk to one woman about seismic in Ohio,” Klaber said, hearkening back to Windle’s call.

“It’s not going to happen overnight.”

NOTE: Click HERE to view this story online.

“The responsible development of natural gas from the Marcellus Shale is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for our entire region. To fully realize these shared environmental, economic and security benefits demands broad-based engagement with policymakers, elected leaders and regulators,” said Kathryn Klaber, chief executive officer of the MSC. “Jim’s more than two decades of experience working collaboratively with public officials on complex issues will serve our members well by advancing common sense solutions aimed at protecting our environment, generating jobs and revenue, and long-term energy security and affordability for the Commonwealth.”

Prior to joining the MSC, Mr. Welty served as a government relations professional at Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney and K&L Gates, where he represented a diverse set of clients in Harrisburg. Mr. Welty, who resides in Cumberland County, also served as vice president of legislative and corporate affairs at the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry, the commonwealth’s largest business advocacy organization and was the Pennsylvania state director for the National Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB).

“Jim is a respected professional who has deep experience working with both Democrats and Republicans to advance meaningful, impactful outcomes,” continued Klaber. “We look forward to his leadership in advocating on behalf of our approximately 300 member companies to ensure that we continue to get this historic opportunity right.”

Welty joins the Coalition’s management team, led by Klaber, working alongside Andrew Paterson, vice president, technical and regulatory; Steve Forde, vice president, policy and communications; and Robert Petrilli, vice president, finance and administration; and will work closely in Harrisburg with Amber Benzon, director, government affairs.

Spearheaded by Ben Franklin Technology Partners’ Shale Gas Innovation & Commercialization Center, this year’s program highlights three winners from 12 finalists at an event held today in Washington County, Pa. More than 70 applicants entered this year’s contest for the opportunity to win $75,000 in prize money.

“Innovation, research and technological advancements have been, and continue to be, the catalyst for shale gas development’s sustained success,” said MSC chief executive officer Kathryn Klaber. “The companies honored today as finalists, as well as the other 70 applicants, should be proud of their work, and we commend their efforts to further improve the safe, productive, and cost-competitive development of this world-class resource. Without forward-looking thinkers and companies willing to invest in new technologies, the natural gas revolution that we’re witnessing today would not have been possible.”

The MSC, through its Research Collaborative, has been an active partner with the Shale Gas Innovation & Commercialization Center for the past three years. At the MSC’s annual SHALE INSIGHT ™ conference, a Technology Showcase forum provides companies the opportunity to formally demonstrate and actively market their services to natural gas industry officials. Companies interested in presenting at SHALE INSIGHT™ 2013 should visit www.shaleinsight.com for additional information on this year’s Technology Showcase.

Read more about technology driving America’s energy resurgence, as reported last week by the Associated Press:

• Technology created an energy revolution over the past decade – just not the one we expected. … Oil companies big and small have used technology to find a bounty of oil and natural gas so large that worries about running out have melted away. New imaging technologies let drillers find oil and gas trapped miles underground and undersea. Oil rigs “walk” from one drill site to the next. But while the national focus was on alternatives, the oil and gas industry was innovating too. New technology allowed drillers to do two crucial things: find more places where oil and gas is hidden and bring it to the surface economically. … Onshore, small drillers learned how to pull oil and gas out of previously inaccessible underground rock formations.” .. “It has made possible things that were unthinkable 10 years ago…”

# # #

This is great news for every Pennsylvanian. However, the story failed to inform your readers of the key and growing role that clean-burning natural gas continues to play in enhancing our region’s and the nation’s air quality.

Here are the facts. As the Post-Gazette reported in February, Pennsylvania’s air pollution “has declined significantly since 2008” due to the “increased use of natural gas for power production, according to the state Department of Environmental Protection.” CNN reported that “increased natural gas production in the U.S. will be a huge driver in improving air quality.” And further, the American Lung Association’s Kevin Stewart told the Citizen’s Voice natural gas-fired power plants have “also helped reduce air pollutants” in the region.

The increased use of clean-burning natural gas is proving critical in addressing and achieving improved air quality in Pennsylvania and across the nation.

Kathryn Klaber, CEO
Marcellus Shale Coalition
Pittsburgh, Pa.

NOTE: Click HERE to view this letter online.

Here’s what they’re saying about Energy Day, which covered a broad range of subjects, including environmental and regulatory safeguards and procedures, compressed natural gas (CNG) transportation initiatives, power generation, as well as technical briefings on pipeline and processing operations:

• Economic Recovery Path “Goes Straight Through” the Marcellus: Energy company alliances and business groups gathered Thursday for a gas-industry pulse-check and to talk about where Marcellus Shale drilling is headed. … State Sen. John Yudichak, D-Plymouth Township, told the audience of about 300 in the Hilton Scranton & Conference Center that developing natural gas is essential to bringing down the region’s high unemployment rate. “I believe the path to our economic recovery goes straight through the gas fields in the Marcellus Shale play in Pennsylvania.” … Industry experts filled discussion panels to make examples of how their companies do business. Most said they rely heavily on local contractors, some almost entirely. … While many big gas companies are looking to fill their supply chain with local companies — one speaker said it could take contributions from as many as 100 private contractors to complete a well pad — they hold their subcontractors to stiff standards. (Times-Leader, 4/02/13)

Local TV Covers Energy Day
Click the image above, or HERE, to view.

• Natural Gas Will Positively Benefits Pa.’s “Economic Landscape for Generations”: About 300 people turned out Thursday for the event designed to acquaint business and civic leaders in Northeastern Pennsylvania with the process and opportunities of natural gas in an era when new drilling in the region is waning. “My grandchildren will be working this shale play,” declared Mike Dickinson, of gas pipeline company Williams.  … “Rig count is dynamic and capital will be invested where it can reap the largest reward,” [MSC CEO Kathryn Klaber] said. “We have to recognize that the industry can make choices.” … Pennsylvania natural gas production is robust. In 2012, Pennsylvania natural gas production accounted for 10 percent of the nation’s total production. The region’s natural gas benefits from its proximity to East Coast markets. Over time, the important thing to have is the resource. The Marcellus Shale will be tapped over a long period of time, Ms. Klaber said. … The day began with a welcome from Scranton Mayor Chris Doherty and later a keynote address from Secretary of Department of Community & Economic Development C. Alan Walker. (Citizens Voice, 4/02/13)

In separate northeastern Pa. natural gas-related news, Dandy Mini Mart opened another CNG station in the region yesterday. The following news outlets covered that event: WETM-TV, WBGN-TV, Star-Gazette, and the Daily Review. And for small- and medium-sized businesses interested in pursuing natural gas industry opportunities, please visit MarcellusOnMainStreet.org. Have shale gas-related questions? Visit LearnAboutShale.org and join the online conversation by using #LearnAboutShale.

“Earth Day not only serves as an important reminder that we must all make collective efforts to protect the environment in our daily lives, but also and perhaps most importantly that we have a societal obligation to ensure that our environment is healthy, vibrant and sustained for generations to come.

“Here in Pennsylvania, the oil and natural gas industry is demonstrating that clean-burning natural gas development is not a choice between safeguarding our environment or growing our economy. We can, and must, achieve both of these shared goals.

“And through the modernization and enhancement of state regulations, along with our Recommended Practices and other industry-leading technologies, the natural gas industry’s commitment to environmental stewardship remains steadfast.”

NATURAL GAS FACTS: 

• LAND. Did you know that horizontal drilling significantly reduces the amount of surface space required to tap the Marcellus formation? And that natural gas producers are working with conservation and sportsmen’s groups when reclaiming well sites? To learn more about the steps Marcellus Shale Coalition member companies take when constructing, maintaining and reclaiming well sites and pipeline right of ways, visit our Recommended Practices for Site Planning, Development and Restoration.

• WATER. Water plays a central role in the responsible development of the Marcellus Shale. Simply put, without it, we could not harvest this clean-burning resource. That’s why coalition member companies have worked diligently over the past few years to pioneer cutting edge water management practices that allow producers to recycle and reuse upwards of 90 percent of water that flows back to the surface for future well development plans. The MSC has also published Recommended Practices on Pre-Drill Water Supply Surveys and Water Pipelines that further demonstrates the commitment of the industry to responsibly manage our water resources.

• AIR. With record volumes of natural gas now being produced here in Pennsylvania and across the country, air quality is improving, as recently noted by the Wall Street Journal. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in the United States are at near 20 year lows, thanks to increased use of natural gas. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency also cited increased use of natural gas as a driver behind the nearly 14 percent drop in air emissions across the Mid-Atlantic region.

• GLOBAL IMPACT. Domestic natural gas development, and the undeniable environmental and societal benefits associated with this clean-burning resource has also caught the eye of a leading official at the United Nations. Kandeh Yumkella, co-head of the U.N.’s Sustainable Energy for All Initiative recently told Reuters that “natural gas, including non-traditional shale gas, should play a major role in cutting greenhouse gases, protecting forests and improving the health and living standards of the world’s poor… Without it, the U.N.’s Sustainable Energy for All Initiative will have difficulty meeting goals of ensuring universal energy access, doubling the world’s share of renewable energy and doubling the rate of improvement in energy efficiency by 2030.”

To be sure, in just two years since the bipartisan natural gas impact fee was enacted into law, more than $400 million has been generated for the entire commonwealth.

These funds, in addition to the hundreds of millions in natural gas-related tax revenue, are ensuring that critical projects and investments will continue across the state, regardless of where natural gas production occurs – including the Greater Philadelphia region.

And not only is responsible shale gas development generating much-needed revenue, all while supporting more than 240,000 Pennsylvania jobs, but this tightly-regulated development and its economic benefits are cascading across Delaware County.

Indeed, a separate editorial (“Faced with economic disaster, Delco strikes gold,” April 11) underscores the key role that the Marcellus Shale is playing, and will continue to play, in revitalizing the region’s refineries, helping to save and create hundreds of jobs.

Pennsylvania has a historic opportunity before us: cleaner air, more affordable energy, and sustained job creation.

Misleading characterizations about our industry, however, do not advance a dialogue focused on common sense solutions and shared goals.

Kathryn Klaber, CEO
Marcellus Shale Coalition
Pittsburgh, Pa.

NOTE: Click HERE to view this letter online.

“Schramm, and their world-class drilling rigs, is just one of the many shining examples of how businesses across the entire commonwealth, especially in Southeastern Pennsylvania, are capitalizing on natural gas opportunities,” said the coalition’s CEO Kathryn Klaber.

Andrew Maykuth, Inquirer Staff Writer

Schramm Inc., the West Chester drill rig manufacturer that had a moment of fame in 2010 when its drills rescued 33 trapped miners in Chile, is about to enter the big leagues of oil and gas exploration.

The company, which has been making truck-mounted drill rigs for more than 50 years, is launching its biggest drill rig ever – a 102-foot-tall walking, talking monster designed to bore the deep horizontal wells that have turned Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale into a fossil-fuel bonanza.

Schramm employees on Thursday put the finishing touches on the first T500XD Telemast drill rig at the company’s 27-acre factory in West Chester. Next week, the $7.6 million rig will make its way on eight tractor-trailers to Ohio, where its new owner, Alpha Hunter L.L.C., plans to use it to tap into the Marcellus Shale and the deeper Utica Shale formation.

Schramm added 50 employees in the last year, mostly engineers, to design the new rig and hopes to make up to 10 of the machines a year. It now employs 235 people.

“It creates a whole new business sector for us where we hadn’t competed before,” said Dave Hartzell, the project manager.

For the natural gas industry, Schramm’s entry into the big-rig market is important symbolically. The Marcellus Shale Coalition is under the gun to demonstrate to skeptics that the shale boom has economic benefits outside the rural drilling zones.

“Schramm, and their world-class drilling rigs, is just one of the many shining examples of how businesses across the entire commonwealth, especially in Southeastern Pennsylvania, are capitalizing on natural gas opportunities,” said the coalition’s CEO, Kathryn Klaber.

Schramm, which was founded in 1900 and manufactured air compressors for much of its history, has more than five decades of experience building drill rigs for water wells, geothermal systems, and mineral exploration. About 75 percent of its rigs are exported. A key market is Chile, where its rigs rescued the trapped miners in 2010.

Some Marcellus drillers have been using Schramm’s smaller rigs to drill the “top holes” that are done before the big directional rigs arrive to thread the more complex horizontal bores into the gas-bearing formation.

The new Schramm rig, which can lift 250 tons of pipe and drill more than 15,000 feet deep, is like a traveling carnival ride. The platform, control room, and telescopic mast are assembled on the ground and then lifted as a unit on massive hydraulic cylinders 28 feet into the air.

“The speed of mobilization and demobilization is a huge advantage,” said Kirk Trosclair, a senior vice president of Alpha Hunter, the company that is buying Rig No. 1.

Schramm’s promotional literature says the new rig can walk and talk because the entire assembly, weighing 500,000 pounds, can lift itself about six inches off the ground and move, one foot at a time, in any direction. It can travel about 30 feet in an hour.

The mobility is an advantage in modern gas development when an operator may drill a dozen or more individual horizontal wells from a single location.

The rig “talks” because it includes full satellite communications capability so engineers at headquarters can closely monitor the drilling progress.

The new rig is slightly smaller and less powerful than the giant Texas rigs that look like rocket gantries. Schramm is using the smaller size as its selling strength.

A Texas rig typically requires 20 trucks to haul and requires six workers to operate, but the Schramm rig can be loaded onto fewer trucks and needs only three workers to operate.

The Schramm rig requires fewer workers because the drill pipes are hoisted into place and screwed together automatically, rather than by roughnecks using their hands. It eliminates the need for a pipe rigger to work from a crow’s nest 100 feet above the ground, also reducing injuries.

“Everything is hands-free and fully automated,” said Fred Slack, Schramm’s vice president of business development.

NOTE: Click HERE to view this story online.

Pittsburgh, Pa. – Marcellus Shale Coalition (MSC) CEO Kathryn Klaber issued the following statement regarding the Potential Gas Committee’s (PGC) latest biennial assessment of the nation’s natural gas resources, which was released today:

“The safe development of America’s abundant natural gas resources is paving the way for long-term, sustained economic growth, carrying with it a host of important environmental benefits

“This new information underscores the significant natural gas assessment growth that continues to be proven across the Appalachian basin, as our member companies are responsibly producing shale gas, creating local jobs, and by doing so, are improving air quality, lowering consumer energy costs and paving the way for a manufacturing rebirth

“This assessment further demonstrates that the United States, led by the Marcellus, is well-positioned to be a global energy leader for literally decades to come.”

# # #

Key Report Excerpt: As a result of a substantial increase in the assessment of Appalachian basin shale gas, the PGC now ranks the Atlantic area as the country’s richest resource area with 33% of total U.S. … Changes in the total assessment from 2010 to 2012 arose primarily from analyses of recent drilling, well-test and production data from these three regions. The largest volumetric and percentage gains were reported for Appalachian basin shales (primarily the Marcellus but including other Devonian shales and the Utica), which collectively rose by 335 Tcf (147%).