Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Mon, May 21, 2012

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

Waivers could OK drilling near water
Pittsburgh Post Gazette
Concern about the state’s ability or commitment to properly regulate the oil and gas industry is "misplaced," Pennsylvania’s top regulator of Marcellus Shale gas drilling told the state House of Representatives Republican Policy Committee.

Pa. health care company seeks gas drilling facts
Daily-Jeff.com
Some people are absolutely sure gas drilling threatens public health, while others are absolutely sure it doesn’t. Geisinger Health Systems is looking for more facts on the debate.

Natural gas distributors target growth
The Globe and Mail
The shale gas revolution is putting the squeeze on Western Canadian producers, but it’s giving local distributors an opportunity to expand their markets as consumers enjoy a windfall from rock-bottom prices.

Biden’s Words Fall on Deaf Ears in Ohio
Real Clear Politics
Bob McClain and his wife, Myra, went to M7 Technologies to support their friend’s family business. Neither supports the Obama-Biden ticket.

For NY farmers, fracking means salvation – or ruin
ChannelOne
When Dan Fitzsimmons looks across the Susquehanna River and sees the flares of Pennsylvania gas wells, he thinks bitterly of the riches beneath his own land locked up by the heated debate that has kept hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, out of New York.

Radon in the kitchen? Anti-pipeline group, environmental organizations renew concerns about proposed natural gas project
The Hudson Reporter
A local grassroots organization has teamed up with state and national environmental groups to raise new concerns regarding the controversial proposed natural gas pipeline that could run through Jersey City if the project is approved by the federal government this summer.

Tale retold: Farmer vs. oil company
The Chronicle Herald
When the TransCanada men first came, Julia Trigg Crawford said, they were polite. They offered money. Seven thousand dollars to let the Keystone XL pipeline cross her family’s 600-acre farm on its way from the Alberta tar sands to the refineries on the Gulf Coast.

All about industry
O-R Online
At least 1,000 people, 283 exhibitors and souvenir pens aplenty were on hand Saturday at the Tri-County Oil & Gas Expo at the Washington County Agricultural Fair and Expo Center in Arden.

Steve Israel: Fracking’s a political hot potato for Cuomo
Times Herald-Record
While the protesters who packed the stone stairwell of the state Capitol chanted "Ban Fracking Now," the political types in suits down the hall spoke of a different reality.

Weiler Corp. capitalizing on natural gas industry
Pocono Record
The state’s burgeoning natural gas industry has become an important market for Weiler Corp., which manufactures assorted types of brushes, wheels, abrasive discs and other surface-conditioning products.

Pennsylvania drilling meets Corbett’s goals
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
We might have an interesting economic experiment brewing in fracking country. John Kasich, the Republican governor of Ohio, is doing something Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett wouldn’t. Mr. Kasich has proposed boosting Ohio’s severance tax on oil and gas drilling and would couple that with cuts in the state income tax.

Frack Free Nation, Inc. holds Grassroots Peaceful Day of Action in New York State Capitol
PRWeb
Frack Free Nation and over 1,000 New York residents call on Governor Cuomo to ban hydraulic fracturing in New York State Abram Loeb, founding organizer of Frack Free Nation and Joanne Farrell of Occupy Albany stage a peaceful protest in front of the doors to the Executive Chamber.