Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Wednesday, Nov 2, 2011

The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading:

Rail Network Being Improved
WTAJ
Blair County officials are about to get more involved with efforts to expand the region’s commercial rail network.

Free, Private Drinking Supply Water Testing Available
GantDaily.com
$150,000 has been secured through the Colcom Foundation’s grant program “Marcellus Environmental Fund” for the Headwaters Quality Drinking Water Project to provide low income families in Jefferson, Elk, Potter, Cameron, Clinton, Centre, and McKean Counties with funding to secure chain of custody water sample analyses of their private water supplies prior to Marcellus Shale Gas Well Drilling activities.

North Dakota’s oil boom poses political dilemma
Reuters
If North Dakota’s oil industry is helping transform North American and global energy markets, then oil is having just as big an impact on the state itself.

Two Big Decisions Loom on the Fate of Drinking Water for 15 Million
AlterNet
On Nov. 21, the Delaware River Basin Commission, comprising representatives from four states and the federal government, will vote on whether to allow the intensive method of natural-gas drilling in the river’s watershed.

U.S. may revise some shale gas rules
UPI
The U.S. Interior Department said it will unveil new proposals about the components in hydraulic fracturing fluid to allay public concerns about shale gas.