Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Mon, Feb 18, 2013

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

New York

Rebuilding New York’s economy: Is fracking the answer?
Poughkeepsie Journal
The problem is the years-long economic decline of New York’s Southern Tier, an area once known for its strength in manufacturing and agriculture.

Gov. Cuomo’s sure hand gets shaky when it come to fracking
New York Daily News
New York has two governors. There’s the Andrew Cuomo who speedily forced through gun controls, overhauled the tax code and jump-started reconstruction of the Tappan Zee Bridge. And then there’s Cuomo the ditherer.

Shakespeare Comes to Life in New York State, Unfortunately
Energy in Depth – NMI
The drama that is the New York State decision process on natural gas development is a Shakespearean tragedy in so many ways, but especially for businesses, landowners and residents of the Southern Tier, for whom all the talk about the SGEIS, regulations and health reviews are but excuses for political inaction which are giving groups such as the NRDC exactly what they want – more delay.

Message to Natural Gas Opposition: Stop Exploiting Children!
Energy in Depth – NMI
A retired schoolteacher and mother comments on the increasing tendency of the natural gas opposition to exploit children in their campaigns, while also pursuing the indoctrination of these young minds.

Ohio

Holmes, Wayne don’t seem to be prime spots for drilling
The Daily Record
Devon Energy Production is abandoning its drilling efforts in Wayne, Holmes, Ashland and Medina counties because the results have not been encouraging, a company spokesman said.

FORUM: ‘Frack tax’ comes with risk
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Ohio’s “fracking” boom is following a path familiar to every other state that’s tried to make the oil and gas industry a cornerstone of its economy.

Shale Industry Boosts Ohio Jobs
Wheeling Intelligencer
The growing oil and gas industry holds great economic potential for Ohio,” said Ohio Department of Job and Family Services Director Michael Colbert in releasing a report detailing the employment impact of Utica Shale exploration in the Buckeye State.

Who’s recycling wastewater from ‘fracking’?
The Columbus Dispatch
More and more, oil and gas drilling companies are turning to businesses that recycle the millions of gallons of fresh water needed to break up shale during the “fracking” process.

Workers Piece Together Pipeline in Poland Township
Youngstown Business Journal
Dotted lines of pipes propped up on pallets flow north and south above the muddy fields as teams of pipefitters are deployed to weld them together and operating engineers to bulldoze the 15-foot trenches where they’ll be buried.

Pennsylvania

Gas exploration benefits economy far from Marcellus region
Lancaster Newspapers
In November 2011, I stood on the House floor and explained how the Marcellus Shale impact fee and associated gas drilling regulations struck the proper balance between environmental safety and private property rights without hindering the economic growth all lawmakers wish for Pennsylvania.

Robinson Township Residents Support Range Resources
Energy in Depth – NMI
Range Resources is trying to develop land the company leased in Robinson Township, Pennsylvania; however, even after submitting all necessary permits, the local supervisors are still delaying the process.  Many local landowners are in favor of this development and voiced their opinions at a recent town meeting.

West Virginia

Chesapeake Energy juggles CEOs resignation, losses and gains
Charleston Gazette
State business and industry leaders say they don’t expect the pending resignation of Chesapeake Energy’s founder and chief executive officer to have much effect on the company’s practices in West Virginia.

National

Fugitive Fracking Gets Bum Rap
Forbes.com
The wild artistic license of movies like Gasland notwithstanding, the common feeling in the media and, therefore, among the public, is that fracking is causing significant environmental damage.

Oil and Gas Feeding Off Each Other While They are Fueling Economic Recovery
Forbes.com
Talk of America’s energy independence is centered on its newfound wealth of tight oil and shale gas deposits.

Natural gas ascending quickly as fuel source for electric grid
O-R Online
If you want to see the rise of natural gas in power generation, you need look no further than the most recent annual reading of the PJM Interconection.

Sea change in natural gas supply to drive flow change in natural gas transport
SNL Financial
Abundant North American natural gas supply is forcing a change in the landscape of natural gas infrastructure as a component of a larger problem: how to get that supply to the areas of demand.

Democrats should support the natural-gas boom
Bangor Daily News
The following editorial appeared in Friday’s Washington Post: “The natural-gas boom has led to cleaner power and greater energy independence,” President Obama declared in his State of the Union address Tuesday night.