Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Thu, Mar 1, 2012

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

Airing sought for Frazer Marcellus shale natural gas compressor station
Valley News Dispatch
An environmental advocacy group is asking for more time for the public to comment on a Marcellus shale natural gas compressor station that would be the first of its kind in Allegheny County.

South Fayette intends to fight state shale law
Post-gazette.com
The township already is involved in a lawsuit with driller Range Resources and now looks to challenge the new state law that aims to replace all local ordinances with uniform standards of where gas wells, pipelines, compressor stations and other facilities can be located.

Green fuel
Worcester Telegram & Gazette
Clean Energy Fuels Corp. plans to open 70 LNG stations by the end of the year and another 80 in 2013.

Japan Says in Talks to Start Importing LNG From Continental U.S.
The Washington Post
Japan, the world’s biggest importer of liquefied natural gas, is in talks to start shipping the fuel from the continental U.S. after the Fukushima disaster last year shut most of the country’s nuclear power plants.

$10 Billion a Year Expected from Ohio’s Utica Shale Formation
American Thinker
For the first time in over 100 years, Ohio finds itself on the threshold of not only being self-sufficient in the production of oil and gas, but also possibly even being a hydrocarbon exporter.

50-year-old gas drilling lease challenged
PittsburghLive.com
Rugh and Sherry Mason assert in the Washington County Common Pleas Court lawsuit that Range Resources improperly claimed it possesses drilling and production rights to oil and gas beneath 151 acres the Masons own as a result of a lease dating more than five decades.

Valley’s boom becoming global news
Tribune-Chronicle
Joshua Ogawa, a reporter from The Nikkei, Japan’s Wall Street Journal, visited the Valley last week to document the area’s growth, the Regional Chamber said Wednesday.

Lisbon Village passes emergency legislation to allow hydraulic fracturing
WFMJ-TV Youngstown
Tuesday night the Lisbon Village Council passed emergency legislation to allow hydraulic fracturing for Marcellus shale on about 50 acres owned by village.

Lower-48 Natural Gas Output Fell 0.2% in December, EIA Says
Bloomberg
Output from states that include the Marcellus shale formation in the US Northeast rose 1.9 percent to 21.08 billion cubic feet a day. Louisiana production, which includes gas from the Haynesville shale, decreased 1.5 percent to 8.95 billion cubic feet.

Gas fracking regulation in the works in Paradise Township
Pocono Record
Paradise Township Zoning Officer Debra Brady said the township’s proposal is not intended to advocate for or against fracking.

Energy execs reveal what keeps them up at night
Business Journal
These days, utilities might be choosing to build new natural gas fired plants because the price of gas is so low and that’s the "prudent decision" in the short run, Ferland said on Tuesday at a Young Energy Professionals panel in Cranberry.

Port authority sees opportunities
Marietta Times
Securing a cracker plant and a barge port in the area are goals this year for the Southeastern Ohio Port Authority, according to discussion at the group’s annual meeting Tuesday.