Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Fri, May 18, 2012

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

NPR’s attack series
OneNewsNow
A pro-oil and gas organization says a new series on National Public Radio (NPR) is nothing more than an attack on drilling. Among the topics featured in "The Fracking Boom: Missing Answers" are natural gas wells and whether they create harmful pollutants.

Pennsylvania Doctors Worry Over Fracking ‘Gag Rule’
NPR
A new law in Pennsylvania has doctors nervous. The law grants physicians access to information about trade-secret chemicals used in natural gas drilling.

Work Begins for First Utica Well in Trumbull County
The Business Journal
Work crews are busy preparing a section of Warren-Sharon Road for the stream of heavy truck traffic as the first Utica shale well in Trumbull County takes shape.

Carrizo Oil Consolidates Acreage in Trumbull, Mercer
The Business Journal
Despite its small stature in the high-stakes energy industry, Houston-based Carrizo Oil & Gas Co. likes to play ball where the big guys play.

Widow of W.Va. gas industry worker sues Colo. firm
Denver Post
The widow of a 26-year-old Nutter Fort man says two Colorado companies are responsible for the truck crash that killed her husband because they forced an exhausted work crew to drive from Ohio to West Virginia, creating a 22-hour work day.

Leaders mull natural gas boomlet in NEPA
The Citizens’ Voice
The Institute for Public Policy and Economic Development’s discussion Thursday of demographic data on Luzerne and Lackawanna counties focused on the natural gas boom.

Steven Hedrick: Shale gas can re-value West Virginia
Charleston Daily Mail
Just five years ago, many chemical and energy experts believed that America would need to import a lot of expensive liquefied natural gas for domestic consumption.

Website can help connect area businesses with Marcellus Shale
Ridgway Record
At Monday’s meeting of the Elk County Gas Task Force, Ridgway Borough Main Street Manager Michelle Bogacki said a new website launched by the Marcellus Shale Coalition will help support regional economic efforts by bringing together area businesses with companies in the Marcellus Shale industry.

Vestal: a hot spot in the debate about hydrofracking
North County Public Radio
Just across the border, the Town of Vestal, near Binghamton, is well-placed for natural gas development. It’s in one of three counties in New York considered to be in the sweet spot of Marcellus Shale development. And as the Innovation Trail’s Matt Richmond reports, its location is what makes Vestal a hot spot in the larger debate about hydrofracking.

Arkansas drops a spot on natural gas list
The City Wire
Arkansas maintained its status as one of the top 10 largest marketers of natural gas in the U.S., but cheap wellhead prices and the industry’s switch to oil-rich shale plays could slow the state’s production in 2012, according to annual data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration.

NY groups cheer Vermont hydrofracking ban
PressConnects.com
The state of Vermont became the first to officially ban the use of hydraulic fracturing for natural gas and oil, a move that appears to be somewhat symbolic but has New York groups pushing for a ban hoping for a boost.

Business owners plan for likely shale boom
Zanesville Times Recorder
That was the message local business owners heard Wednesday morning during the Zanesville-Muskingum County Chamber of Commerce’s shale business development seminar.