Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Thu, Jan 26, 2012

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

Vermont Legislature considers banning hydrofracking
Burlington Free Press
Nobody has applied to Vermont for permission to drill for oil or gas using hydraulic fracturing. No one is sure it would even be worthwhile to do so. Still, the Legislature and Gov. Peter Shumlin are considering banning the practice, which would be the first state to do so.

Gas producers skeptical of Obama
Farmington Daily Times
President Barack Obama expressed support for domestic natural gas production during his State of the Union speech Tuesday night, but local drillers reacted skeptically to the administration’s backing.

Shale Gas $100 Billion Savings to U.S. Exceed Tax Cuts
The Washington Post
Natural gas prices that slumped to a 10-year low this month could save U.S. consumers $16.5 billion on home energy bills over the course of a year, according to a senior economist at the U.S. Federal Reserve.

Senate bloc concerned about curbs to shale rules
Post-gazette.com
As PA state negotiators inch closer to finalizing a comprehensive Marcellus Shale regulatory measure, some opposition against overruling local zoning rules has reignited within the General Assembly.

CCAC shows off job training program
Post-gazette.com
A day after Democratic President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address, Seth Harris, the deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Labor, went to Community College of Allegheny County’s Oakdale campus to talk about a signature piece of his boss’s speech: manufacturing.

Push for ban on natural gas drilling advances in Vestal
PressConnects.com
After sweeping through the outer limits of New York’s Marcellus Shale area, the movement to implement local bans on natural gas drilling is beginning to target the state’s potential sweet spot: the Southern Tier.

Nova touts Marcellus benefits
New Pittsburgh Courier Online
During the African American Chamber of Commerce’s first PowerBreakfast meeting of the new year, Nova Chemicals CEO Randy Woelfel asked members to advocate for Marcellus development, noting that his company is poised to see an impressive expansion due to just one of these secondary shale products—ethane.