Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Wed, Mar 27, 2013

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

Ohio

NRDC weighs in on home rule in Ohio drilling case, Illinois rules
Akron Beacon Journal
As the debate over getting new rules to govern fracking on the books in Illinois rages, NRDC’s Henry Henderson notes that a court decision in Ohio underscores the need for reforming existing laws before the controversial oil and gas extraction…

Exterran Plant To Come Online in Youngstown
Energy in Depth – Ohio
In 2010, Exterran Energy Solution Inc. announced it would build a new manufacturing plant in Youngstown.  Now, after years of planning and construction, the 60,000-square-foot plant is set to go online in April.

Pennsylvania

Fracking Rules? Leave Them to the States.
Wall Street Journal/Tom Corbett
States have a greater interest in what is going to be in the best interest of their residents and businesses than the federal government does.

Pittsburgh shale coalition mixes hope with skepticism for better drilling practices
POP City
A new coalition to bring some of the country’s biggest oil and gas companies to the table with some of the most respected environmental organizations in the state has given rise to hope as well as skepticism.

Environmentalists and Energy Experts Working Together for Fracking Solutions?
The Heritage Foundation
Saving the environment and producing shale oil and gas by hydraulic fracturing are not mutually exclusive ; however, it seems the two sides have been unable to move past their differences.

Massive project underway at Kel-Gor
The London Free Press
When Nova’s eight-kilometre Genesis pipeline project is completed later this year, it will connect the company’s Corunna plant to a supply of ethane from the Marcellus shale region of Pennsylvania and West Virginia.

Pitt student among those studying wastewater treatment
Pittsburgh Post Gazette
Taking water samples from one private and two public facilities in the state that treated water from the Marcellus Shale region, Ferrar has tested samples that came from both before and after the department’s request to stop treating fracking water…

National

Natural gas industry group lands senior API lobbyist for top job
The Hill
America’s Natural Gas Alliance (ANGA) has landed Marty Durbin, a senior lobbyist for the American Petroleum Institute, as its next CEO.

Waterless Fracking Makes Headway in Texas, Slowly
Texas Tribune
In most hydraulic fracturing operations, several million gallons of water, together with sand and chemicals, get pumped down a hole to blast apart rock that encases oil or gas. But with water increasingly scarce and expensive around Texas, a few companies have begun fracking with propane or other alternatives.

Just Yelling ‘Stop!’ is Not an Effective Energy Policy
Forbes
The far-left, radical wing of America’s environmentalist community that has now been co-opted by the same mindset that created the moribund Occupy Wall Street movement in 2011. So let’s just call it the Occupy Anti-Development Movement for sake of simplicity (and accuracy).

Resource Nationalism Behind OECD Energy Renaissance
Seeking Alpha
If oil markets for the last 40 years were summed up in a few paragraphs, it might look like this: A price shock in 1973 led by OPEC cuts caused demand destruction and a frenzied search for new reserves…

U professor studies ways to clean and recycle fracking’s wastewater
Park Bugle
Fracking is in the news these days. The process involves extracting natural gas from shale rock formations deep below the earth’s surface by hydraulic fracturing—essentially blasting out the gas under high pressure with chemically treated water.

Can Fracking Benefit Your Community Too?
Motley Fool
The effects of fracking are felt by every single one of us. For most, the impact is felt in our wallets, as it’s cost less to stay warm and to keep the lights on. To others, the effects of fracking on a local level are even greater.

International

Ryan, German Chancellor Discuss LNG Imports
Youngstown Business Journal
U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan spoke with German Chancellor Angela Merkel about purchasing liquefied natural gas from the United States during a meeting Tuesday. Russia is currently Germany’s largest supplier of natural gas.

Shell plans to spend $1 billion to develop China’s shale gas
Akron Beacon Journal/Bloomberg
Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) will spend $1 billion developing China’s shale gas reserves, according to Peter Voser, the company’s chief executive. Shell has won government approval for its production sharing contract with China National Petroleum Corp.