Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Mon, Jan 30, 2012

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

Environmentalist-in-Chief
The American Spectator
In Ancient China, the Emperor went out every spring and walked the fields to bless the harvest and encourage the crops to grow. The job of President of the United States is often much the same.

Tomblin Gives Details On Junket to Houston
The Intelligencer
Fresh from a trip to Houston to lure a multibillion-dollar chemical processing plant to West Virginia, Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin may ask the Legislature to consider a new incentive to aid the state’s quest, he told The Associated Press in a weekend interview.

Industry, Professors at Odds on Gas
The Intelligencer
Professors from Cornell University believe methane released by natural gas drilling activities may be worse for the environment than burning coal, but gas industry officials disagree.

Greene, Washington counties scramble to find shale employees places to call home
Pittsburgh Tribune
When Samuel Rybski drove into Greene County to work on a natural gas pipeline for the Marcellus shale industry, he couldn’t find a spot to park his recreational vehicle.

Marcellus Shale Means Revenue and Jobs for the Lehigh Valley and all of Pennsylvania
Patch.com
Aside from a handful of groups that rely on permanent crisis for support, people in this state realize the importance of this new energy resource.

Steve Israel: Future of NY fracking seems to be faltering
Times Herald-Record
What once seemed inevitable – hydraulic fracturing for natural gas in New York state in general and Sullivan County in particular – now seems much less certain.

Rigmaids is cleaning service for energy companies
Herald Star Online
Pfleegor opened a cleaning business, Rigmaids, marketed specifically for energy companies in Pennsylvania’s northern tier, an industry whose workers spend 12 hours or more per day on the job, two or three weeks at a time.

Obama’s backing of shale gas aimed at voters in Marcellus region
Post-gazette.com
President Barack Obama’s early valentine to the natural gas industry in his State of the Union address Tuesday spurred activist anxiety and industry infatuation, but the lengthy section dedicated to domestic energy was also an appeal to the millions of voters living above the Marcellus Shale formation.

Boom in shale drilling slows Pa. crude oil industry
York Dispatch
The deep gas play may be ramping up Pennsylvania’s historic oil and gas patch, but it is putting a big hit on the traditional shallow oil drilling and production sprinkled profusely throughout the northwestern counties.

Chevron ‘very positive’ on shale
Business Journal
Chairman and CEO John Watson said Friday the oil giant is "very positive" on shale and its nearly 8 million acres that includes its acquisition of Atlas Energy Inc.