Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Wed, Jan 2, 2013

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

New York

A Review of New York Natural Gas Moratoria in New York
Energy in Depth – NMI
The actors in Park Foundation funded Slottje Road Show claim several victories over the last year but they are pyrrhic victories, with almost none in towns having any realistic prospects for development and one gigantic loss in the City of Binghamton where that City’s moratorium was rebuked by a Judge on the Broome County Supreme Court.

Ohio

First well to be drilled in Trumbull County (video)
Tribune-Chronicle
Workers could be seen from nearby Hayes-Orangeville Road zipping around the base of the newly erected drilling rig towering high above the site.

Ohio Gov. John Kasich talks tough on oil and gas tax hike
Tallmadge Express
Gov. John Kasich isn’t hiding his frustration with energy companies and efforts to block a proposed tax increase on oil and gas production in eastern Ohio’s shale deposits.

Dominion East Ohio and Columbia Gas of Ohio to lower January gas prices
Cleveland.com
It’s the middle of winter and cold. But wholesale natural gas prices fell for January. And that means Ohio gas-heated households that buy through their utility’s standard choice offer rather than from an unregulated supplier are going to see gas prices fall 7 percent to 8 percent in January.

Columbiana company will stockpile tons of sand for fracking in region
The Vindicator
Sixteen months of work will come to fruition in the next seven to 10 days as the first load of frac sand arrives at a storage facility on Esterly Drive in Columbiana.

Pennsylvania

Oil and gas industry proud of environmental record
PennLive.com
The Patriot-News’ Dec. 21 editorial regarding the urgent need to study and take action to address the Susquehanna River’s illness noted that “timing is key for action because of Marcellus Shale drilling and the Chesapeake Bay issues,” and mentioned that some of the river’s tributaries are in drilling areas.

West Virginia

What Effects Do Fracking Sites Have on Our Water?
WDFX Channel 5 News
The 5 Newsroom has received a few phone calls from locals about how they were concerned their drinking water had somehow been polluted by the fracking that’s happening on their property.

Natural gas growth Marcellus shale projections encouraging
Bluefield Daily Telegraph
A new study is predicting that West Virginia’s vast Marcellus shale field could support more than 29,000 jobs by 2020, and 58,000 by the year 2035.

Let’s not kill the shale gas boom
Charleston Daily Mail
Let’s not smother the shale-gas boom. It is the crown jewel of the disappointing economic recovery. Why tamper with success? Yet there are those who argue that the benefits of shale gas could be maximized if we restricted gas exports, mainly as liquefied natural gas.

National

Promised Land
Metro Times
There is nothing the NPR crowd seems to hate more than having their ideas regurgitated to them without the comfortable distance of a high-concept premise or measured genre tropes to obfuscate the meaning behind layers of symbolism.

Fracking flick channels science fiction
Washington Times
If you don’t have the facts on your side, make some up. That’s Hollywood’s typical scheme for pushing its left-wing views on American audiences.

Green Weenie of the Week: Matt Daaaymon, and His Flatulent Movie “Promised Land”
Power Line
If Matt Daaaymon was hoping his new Arab-funded film “Promised Land” would do for natural gas “fracking” what “The China Syndrome” did for nuclear power, he’d better hope for a sequel to “Team America” to rescue him from being an embarrassment to the professional Left.

Say goodnight, Lisa
New York Post
Good news: Environmental Protection Agency boss Lisa Jackson announced her resignation last week. Bad news: Whoever replaces her might be worse, particularly in an area of prime concern to New Yorkers — fracking.

Natural Gas Futures Fall on Forecasts for Milder U.S. Weather
The Washington Post
Natural gas fell in New York as the outlook for mild January weather signaled lower demand and reduced the first annual gain in five years.

Is Natural Gas Making A Comeback?
Seeking Alpha
The price of natural gas (short term delivery) continued its slow ascent during the previous week. The recent rise may have been driven by the sharp drop in temperatures and snowy weather in parts of the Midwest and Northeast.