Pennsylvania's First Shale Driller: Range Resources

Background

Range Resources drilled Pennsylvania’s first Marcellus Shale well back in 2004, striking gold long before “fracking” or “severance tax” became household terms. With more than a million acres leased in the Marcellus Shale region, Range is one of the most active natural gas drilling companies in the state. Based in Texas, Range recently pulled up stakes in the Barnett Shale in order to concentrate their operations in the Keystone state.

Range CEO John Pinkerton appears regularly on CNBC’s Mad Money and Fox News. You can watch one of the most recent interviews with Pinkerton here. Pinkerton plans to step down as CEO next year when Pennsylvania native Jeffrey Ventura takes over. Range has launched a visable public relations campaign across the state using the testimony of lease holders.

The company’s senior vice president, Ray Walker, chairs the Marcellus Shale Coalition – the industry’s main trade group within Pennsylvania.

Range was also the first company to reveal the fracking chemicals used in each well. But environmentalists say the information is not detailed enough to determine the risk.

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April 5, 2013

Newspapers Seek Missing Court Documents in Fracking Contamination Case

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports they are seeking missing information from unsealed court documents related to a fracking contamination case in Washington County. Hallowich v. Range Resources is one of the most closely watched cases involving claims of health impacts and property damage against a Marcellus Shale gas driller. A Washington County judge heard testimony yesterday [...]

March 26, 2013

Legislative Proposal Aims to Re-unite Landowners with Mineral Rights

Correction: An earlier version of this story reported that the Hallowich family had a split estate. That’s not the case, the Hallowich’s retained their mineral rights and continue to receive royalties from natural gas production. Just as landowners across the state began to realize they were sitting on top of a lucrative slice of natural [...]

March 21, 2013

Unsealed Records in Contamination Case Claim Lax Oversight by DEP

A Washington County couple settled a high profile Marcellus Shale contamination case for $750,000 and signed affidavits that say no medical evidence ”definitively” connects their children’s health problems to drilling activity. Stephanie and Chris Hallowich also signed an affidavit that says their children were in good health. More than $155,000 will go to the plaintiff’s attorneys. [...]

Drilling Companies Agree to Settle Fracking Contamination Case for $750,000

Range Resources, MarkWest Energy and Williams Gas agreed to settle a high profile contamination case in Washington County for $750,000, according to recently unsealed court records. An order to unseal the records was entered Wednesday in Washington County Court of Common Pleas by President Judge Debbie O’Dell-Seneca. Judge O’Dell-Seneca reversed an earlier decision to permanently keep [...]

March 20, 2013

Secrecy Lifted in Fracking Case

Previously sealed records are now available in a high-profile drilling contamination case in Washington County. An order to unseal the records was entered Wednesday the county’s Court of Common Pleas by President Judge Debbie O’Dell-Seneca. Judge O’Dell-Seneca reversed an earlier decision to seal the records. In the order she stated that Range Resources’ arguments to [...]

March 18, 2013

Marcellus Production Tops Haynesville

Pipeline expansions serving the Marcellus Shale gas boom have helped boost production rates above seven billion cubic feet a day, according to an analysis by IHS. The report says the Marcellus now leads the Haynesville Shale as the most productive shale play in the country. The Haynesville Shale formation stretches beneath northwestern Louisiana, eastern Texas and [...]

Range Resources Fights Township’s Rejection of its Drill Permits in Washington County

Range Resources has filed an appeal in Washington County Court, after its application to drill at two sites in Robinson Township was rejected, according to the Observer-Reporter: Range Resources claims township supervisors abused their discretion and failed to apply the appropriate legal standards when they denied the company’s conditional use applications Feb. 12 to drill [...]

February 27, 2013

For Marcellus Drillers, Profits Rise

Good news seems to keep pouring in for Pennsylvania’s shale drillers. Last week, Cabot Oil and Gas reported record production volumes and earnings for 2012. Speaking at a hearing in Philadelphia City Council Wednesday afternoon, David Yoxheimer, from the Marcellus Center for Outreach and Research, says Marcellus wells produced 2 trillion cubic feet of natural [...]

February 11, 2013

Environmentalists Call on EPA to Revisit Range Contamination Case

Dozens of environmental groups have written to the EPA’s inspector general, asking him to investigate how and why the EPA dropped its legal action against Range Resources in a Texas water contamination case. Last week, EnergyWire reported that former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell had intervened on the company’s behalf. Last month, a report by the [...]

February 7, 2013

Rendell Downplays Role in Range Contamination Case

Former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell says gas driller Range Resources never authorized him to speak on their behalf to the EPA about a Texas contamination case. On Tuesday, EnergyWire published a piece quoting email exchanges between EPA officials that would suggest Rendell went to bat for Range over a high-profile methane migration case in Parker County, [...]