Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Wed, Jan 16, 2013

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

Maryland

Gaithersburg mayor, city council weigh consequences, benefits of fracking
Gazette.net
At a work session Monday night at City Hall, the mayor and council heard opposing arguments about hydraulic fracturing, a method of drilling for natural gas, and its potential impact on Maryland.

New Jersey

Transco buys Hunterdon houses as pipeline construction across N.J. nears
The Jersey Journal
Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Co. continues buying up properties in Clinton Township as it prepares for construction of another natural gas pipeline through parts of Hunterdon County.

New York

New York Times Loves Local Left-Wing Protests Against Guns and Fracking
NewsBusters
The New York Times made much of two small local liberal protests over the weekend, one at a New York State gun show, the other in the state capital protesting fracking. Vivian Yee’s Saturday piece highlighted a scattering of protesters: “Despite Protests, Gun Show in Upstate New York Goes On and Draws Crowds.”

Do You Live In A Death Spiral State?
Forbes
Don’t buy a house in a state where private sector workers are outnumbered by folks dependent on government. (The list includes New York.)

Ohio

Drillers preparing to fight Kasich over severance tax
Ohio.com
Oil and gas executives are bracing for a fight this year against an unlikely foe – a pro-business Republican governor.

Pennsylvania

Fracking the Amish
Mother Jones
A bleak December sky hangs low over rural Lawrence County, Pennsylvania. Here, in areas populated by large Amish families, open fields roll toward the horizon uninterrupted by electrical wires and telephone poles.

CATA joins Centre County grant to convert vehicles to compressed natural gas power
Centre Daily Times
The Centre Area Transportation Authority has jumped on board with the county’s plan to convert vehicles to compressed natural gas power and will upgrade five more of its smaller vehicles through a federal grant program.

National

How To Profit From ‘America’s Natural Gas Highway’
Seeking Alpha
To say that natural gas has been on a roller coaster ride for the past 10 years would be an understatement.

Natural Gas Storage 101
The Motley Fool
At last count, we had more than 3.5 Tcf of working gas in storage in the nearly 400 facilities around the country. Unlike oil and other liquid fuels, natural gas isn’t stored in tanks. Instead it’s typically stored in one of three underground facilities: depleted reservoir, salt cavern, and aquifer.

Analyst: Eagle Ford, Marcellus altering gas supply/demand equation
SNL Financial
Increasing gas production from the Eagle Ford and Marcellus shales could permanently alter which regions of the country are gas importers and which are exporters and lead to gas-on-gas competition, BENTEK Energy LLC’s senior storage analyst said Jan. 15.

LSU study shows gas impact on Louisiana manufacturing
NOLA.com
The recent discoveries of natural gas resources has led to a manufacturing renaissance in Louisiana, injecting $62.3 billion in capital investments over the next five to eight years, with $20.2 million directly impacting the state economy if projects are completed, a new study shows.

The reason why natural-gas exports are still even a “question”
Hot Air
The U.S. government is perfectly capable of recognizing the widespread wealth-generating benefits of free trade and allowing exports in certain areas of the economy, but for some strange reason, the current energy-company clamor of applications for obtaining permits to further export liquified natural gas is persistently encountering some fierce resistance.

Will EPA Chief’s Departure Prompt Better Energy Policy?
US News & World Report
Last month’s announcement from Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson that she would be leaving her post touched off much speculation over the reasons for her decision.

The Promised Land of Fracking at Bloggers Briefing (video)
The Heritage Foundation
Matt Damon’s anti-fracking movie was a dud at the box office this month. Let’s hope that’s a sign Americans won’t entertain such Hollywood propaganda.