Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Tue, Jan 22, 2013

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

New York

The Donald says…
Press & Sun-Bulletin
Donald Trump, the celebrity real estate developer and reality television producer of the love-him-or-hate-him variety, weighed in on New York’s hydrofracking debate via Twitter on Friday, making it apparent he stands very clearly in the pro-fracking camp.

Pennsylvania

Cumberland County to vote on Marcellus Shale funding use
Patriot-News
Cumberland County has nearly $400,000 rolling in from the state to use for green spaces, but whether farms or parks or both will benefit is up for a vote Tuesday.

A landman and an environmentalist go to the movies
Business Journal
Steve Hvozdovich of Clean Water Action and Michael Knapp of MDS Energy take in a Monday matinee of “Promised Land.”

West Virginia

Trucking facility employees forced to relocate
The Inter-Mountain
More than 30 employees at a Buckhannon trucking facility [Oilfield Trucking Solutions, a company owned by Chesapeake Energy] will be forced to relocate to West Virginia’s northern panhandle or be without work by the end of February.

National

Texas Study Finds Increase in Water Used for Fracking
The Texas Tribune
A new University of Texas at Austin study has found that the amount of water used in the drilling practice known as hydraulic fracturing has risen sharply in recent years as oil and natural gas production has surged.

Consumers Are Optimistic on Potential Economic Impact of Shale Exploration, According to Huntington
DailyFinance
Almost 60 percent of consumers living in the shale exploration areas, stretching from West Virginia through Michigan, believe that the growing industry will provide economic opportunity in their areas.

Outlook 2013: Refiners Are Still In The Sweet Spot
Seeking Alpha
Refiners had a stellar year in 2012. Consistently wide crack spreads allowed these companies to produce robust profits, increase dividends and grow operating cash flow substantially.

Biden: “Keep the faith,” green lobby
Hot Air
The Obama administration has lately been assuring us that climate change is going to be a top priority during the president’s second term — no, this time, he really means it, guys — and Vice President Biden stopped by the Green Inaugural Ball on Sunday night to reassure the well-monied environmental community that the administration will not be treating it as a second-tier issue.

An Energy Action List for A Second Obama Term
Forbes.com
This being inauguration week, it’s a good time to talk about the kinds of moves we’d like to see President Obama make in his second term related to energy policy.

Statoil Shift to U.S. Shale Seen Deepening After Algeria Attack
Bloomberg
Statoil ASA , Norway ‘s biggest energy explorer, could accelerate a shift toward U.S. shale investments and Brazil after last week’s terrorist attack in Algeria that left five of its employees missing, analysts said.

The follies of the frackophobes
New York Post
If frackophobes are to be believed, natural-gas fracking is the most frightful environmental nightmare since Japan’s Fukushima nuclear power plant melted down after an earthquake and tsunami.

In the Energy Debate between Palin and Obama…Obama Lost
American Thinker
“You know we can’t just drill our way to lower gas prices. If we’re going to take control of our energy future, and can start avoiding these annual gas price spikes that happen every year when the economy starts getting better, world demand starts increasing, turmoil in the Middle East or some other…”

Natural gas prices to lag in 2013 as demand growth opportunities too limited against supply
SNL Financial
While in the near term the natural gas market is being uplifted by winter weather, softness is likely to continue for natural gas prices in 2013 without the development of new demand sources, analysts said.

The Depth and Breadth of the Talent in the Natural Gas Industry
Energy in Depth – NMI
Oil and natural gas quality assurance specialist Don Crusan gives his thoughts about the many people of the natural gas industry who make the Marcellus Shale region a great place to live and work, focusing on the wide array of opportunities and jobs to be found in the industry.