Marcellus Drilling News Resumes Publication

Thank you to everyone who has asked when MDN would resume publication. Starting January 31, we’re back! The purpose of MDN (Marcellus Drilling News) is to bring news, resources and commentary that is of interest and benefit to landowners in the Marcellus Shale region of the U.S. That is, for those people who are potentially affected by drilling for natural gas in the Marcellus Shale—which is just about everyone in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. But in particular, it is for landowners in the Marcellus—those who stand to gain (or lose) by leasing land for natural gas drilling.

Much of the debate around drilling in the Marcellus has become politicized, as often happens with issues where passions run high. Make no mistake: The editor of MDN believes drilling can and should happen, but safely. In fact, it’s already happening—safely. And sometimes, not so safely. We will report stories that are both for and against drilling—it is a big issue that affects us all. The measure for each story we report will be: Does it somehow affect some or all of the people in the Marcellus region? Sometimes it will be local coverage, specific to a particular county or geography. Other times it will affect everyone. In the end, what happens in one place has the potential to happen elsewhere and should be of interest to everyone in the Marcellus region.

What you can expect in the coming weeks with the MDN website:

• A slightly revised design of the website
• A new design for the daily email
• New resources, and more links to non-MDN resources on the web
• A new commenting system for blog posts called Disqus (still ironing out the integration of it, but you can start using it now)

Finally, a friendly reminder. People with strong opinions on the issue of drilling will visit this site and (hopefully) engage in discussion via the comments. We have no problem with passion and vigorous argumentation and debate. But please keep it civil. Let’s try to keep to the old adage that we can “agree to disagree agreeably.”

If you have suggestions and recommendations for resources to add to this site, stories you would like to see covered, or if you would like to submit an article or commentary, send it to: [email protected].

Jim Willis
Editor, MDN