Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Mon, Jan 16, 2012

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

Regional rail traffic on rebound
The Times-Tribune
Freight handled by the regional rail system and its contract operator, Delaware-Lackawanna Railroad, climbed 4.25 percent to 7,037 carloads in 2011. It is the first jump after two consecutive years of decline.

Corbett fires conservation official
Post-gazette.com
The longtime head of the citizens advisory committee that has oversight of the state’s parks and forests was fired Friday by the Corbett administration, a termination that council members say was illegal and raises concerns about reduced public accountability of Marcellus Shale gas drilling in state forests.

Anti-fracking residents applaud Hector Town Board’s response to DEC
Ithaca Journal
The Hector Town Board was rewarded with a hearty round of applause at its first meeting of the year Tuesday evening, when Town Supervisor Ben Dickens announced that all six members of the board had signed the town’s official response to the DEC’s revised draft SGEIS.

Enough with the scare tactics, Marcellus Shale drillers aren’t leaving
PennLive.com
If we were betting people, we would wager that when the Pennsylvania Legislature returns to Harrisburg this week, it will once again fail to pass a meaningful Marcellus Shale bill.

Shale a boost to local businesses
ZanesvilleTimesRecorder.com
Even before the first drill breaks ground in Muskingum County, local businesses already are benefiting from shale.

Twin Tiers Perspective: ‘Breaker-Breaker’ – Fracking and trucking safety and security
Daily and Sunday Review
This two part column calls for increased manpower as well as heightened regulation and enforcement on the ground that would exceed the already excellent work of officials who have been working tirelessly at the county, state and federal levels for quite some time now.

Shale drilling could provide a way to deal with abandoned oil wells
PittsburghLive.com
Almost all of the 20 homeowners in Belmar pay to run a water chlorination system to replace what was free well water from an Allegheny River aquifer.

Strictly Business: Is this the year for fracking in N.Y.?
Star-Gazette
I’m beginning to wonder if high-volume hydraulic fracturing, the method of extracting natural gas from tight shale formations underground, will ever be allowed in New York.