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FrackTrack Establishes New Well Water Registry for Homeowners in PA

In March 2011, MDN wrote  a review and recommendation of the then-brand new FrackTrack online mapping service. The service visually shows (on Google Maps) gas well locations throughout Pennsylvania, along with details for each well like the exact name and address of the well, permit information, any known violations, etc. You can read MDN’s original review here.

The same organization is now hard at work on a new project to catalog privately-owned water wells and springs used as water supplies throughout Pennsylvania. FrackTrack uses data available from the state, but has found many holes and gaps in the data, and so they have launched a new project to encourage home owners to register their wells and springs with the service.

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Public Policy Institute Predicts 62K New Jobs in NY State when Marcellus Drilling Moratorium is Lifted

Public Policy Institute, Inc. (PPI), the research arm of The Business Council of New York State, has just released a new report titled “Drilling for Jobs: What the Marcellus Shale could mean for New York.” The 24-page report (see a full copy embedded below) takes a look at the huge opportunity in job growth that will be realized in New York State once the hydraulic fracturing moratorium is lifted.

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Landowners in Westmoreland County, PA Reach Settlement with Rex Energy for Contract Breach & Non-Payment

A group of 230 landowners in Westmoreland County, PA have settled a longstanding dispute with Marcellus drilling company Rex Energy. Landowners say they were approached by Rex representatives in 2007 and 2008 to sign leases, and they did sign, but then never received the promised payments. Lawyers charged that Rex was signing as many people as possible in a bid to make it look as though they controlled a significant amount of land in the area to impress investors. Rex claims they never countersigned some leases and therefore did not owe money for those leases.

After two years of litigation, an out-of-court settlement has finally been reached.

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