Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Thu, Jun 6, 2013

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

New York

Experts Back Inergy’s Proposed Finger Lakes LPG Storage Facility
Energy in Depth – Marcellus
This fall will mark the four year anniversary since the New York Department of Environmental Conservation exercised its right to take over as lead agency for the proposed Inergy Finger Lakes LPG Storage Facility. Frustratingly, and despite approval from various experts, including the New York state geologist, a decision still has not been made.

Ohio

Shale Conference Aims To Inform Those With Drilling Concerns
Columbus NBC Channel 4
It is dubbed the second annual Appalachian Ohio State of the Region Conference, held at Ohio University. The idea is to build on last year’s conference, called Understanding the Boom and Bust Cycle. “We have gone from energy scarcity to energy abundance in this country. It is a whole new mindset. It is truly a paradigm shift,” said Scott Rotruck, Vice President of Chesapeake Energy.

Utica offers promise, speakers at event say
Warren Tribune Chronicle
With nearly 75 percent of the planned $730 million in local economic development investments coming from the oil and natural gas industry, optimism was high from officials at a Utica Shale event held Wednesday in Mill Creek MetroParks. The head of one local oil and gas construction company who spoke at the event went out of his way to explain why he believes last month’s media reports that the Utica Shale Play is a “bust” came way too early to predict the play’s future.

OOGEEP and Chesapeake Enlighten Audience At Shale and Beyond Conference
Energy in Depth – Ohio
Yesterday, Ohio University hosted the 2nd annual Shale and Beyond Conference at their Athens campus. The panelists shared their views across the board at how best to prepare for Utica Shale development as it continues to grow and revitalize eastern Ohio. In attendance were nearly one hundred community and business leaders throughout the shale developing region, all interested in how to best manage the development taking place in our great state. Although there was a great turnout, it was Ohio Oil and Gas Energy Education Program (OOGEEP) and Chesapeake that stole the show.

Industry, Environmental Groups Agree: Stay Tough on ‘Fracking’ Infractions
Ohio Gas & Oil
Representatives from two state groups with generally opposing viewpoints on energy policy are more like-minded in their positions on companies that illegally dump oilfield wastes. Both Tom Stewart, executive vice president of the Ohio Oil and Gas Association, and Jack Shaner, deputy director of the Ohio Environmental Council, told an audience in Columbus Wednesday that companies caught participating in such activities should lose their operational permits.

Tour Points Out Safety of Injection Wells
Ohio Gas & Oil
Injection wells that take the waste products of oil and gas drilling and pump it into the earth at depths of several thousand are a safe, effective and well-regulated means of disposing of such material, according to an Ohio oil and gas trade association and well owners. To give the media a better handle on the matter of injection wells, members of the Ohio Oil and Gas Association recently gave a guided tour of a well in Windham Township, Portage County.

Understanding the ‘Pugh Clause’
Ohio Gas & Oil
Though I tend to write about a lot of issues revolving around contracts in the oil and gas business, I don’t think any issue has come up more than the Pugh Clause. I have taken the liberty to cite directly from an oil and gas index and a lease, as this is an important topic not only to those who drill wells but to the landowner as well.

Pennsylvania

Jesse White linked to online comments ripping Democratic colleagues, Marcellus Shale industry
The Almanac
Staff at the Observer-Reporter, The Almanac’s parent publication, performed an archive search of articles on the newspaper’s website and found numerous comments from one user with the pseudonym Janice Gibson with an Internet Protocol address that matched White’s verified personal account. “As I acknowledged (May 30), I assumed various aliases to post comments online anonymously – actions which I acknowledge were wrong and for which I apologized,” White wrote in an email statement. “I will not be commenting further on any specific instances or allegations. It is time to put these matters behind us and focus on the important issues that matter to the people of our community – creating jobs, improving our economy and protecting our air, water and land.”

District attorneys looking into White’s anonymous online comments
Washington Observer-Reporter
Washington County District Attorney Gene Vittone and his counterpart in Harrisburg are working together to determine if state Rep. Jesse White committed any crimes while posting anonymous comments on various Internet message boards. Vittone said he is taking the “appropriate steps” upon receiving several complaints after White admitted to posting anonymous comments from numerous aliases. He would not elaborate on whether they have found any evidence of criminal activity. “I’m aware of the situation,” Vittone said.

National

“Move Over, OPEC”; Shale Gas 21st Century’s “Biggest Innovation”
NorthcentralPA.com
In a CNBC column this week, world-renowned energy expert Daniel Yergin laid out the clear facts about safe, job-creating American shale gas. Put simply, according to Dr. Yergin, shale gas is “the biggest innovation so far in the 21st century.” Here’s what they’re saying about the responsible development of tightly-regulated domestic natural gas and its environmental and economic benefits: