Which jobs are hot and which are not? That’s the question raised in a recent Pittsburgh Tribune-Review article. At number three on the “hot” list is the natural gas industry.
Read More “Shale Gas on the Western PA Hot Jobs List, Solar Not Hot”
Those who oppose drilling try to make the case that crime rates soar when drilling comes to a community. They say those “out of towners” have a lot of time on their hands in the off hours, and they use it to drink hard and play hard, and that leads to all sorts of criminal mischief. But a new Penn State study finds no evidence that when shale gas drilling comes to town crime rates increase. The preliminary findings of the study, performed by the Justice Center for Research at Penn State, were released in January but only announced just last week (a copy of the preliminary report is embedded below).
Read More “Penn State Study Finds No Crime Rate Increase in Drilling Counties”
Range Resources released its 2012 capital budget and operating plans yesterday. Range announced that Marcellus drilling is full steam ahead, especially in the liquids-rich southwestern PA area. But they also announced they are reducing dry gas drilling to just 25 percent of the total capital budget. So, more drilling in southwest PA, less drilling in northeast PA.
Here are the relevant portions from the Range announcement that touch on the Marcellus Shale:
Read More “Range 2012 Capital Plan – More Marcellus Drilling Ahead”
Cabot Oil & Gas is teaming up with Williams Partners to construct a new pipeline that will stretch from Cabot’s Marcellus gas wells in Susquehanna County, PA to Schoharie County, NY where it will connect to two interstate pipelines. The new pipeline will let Cabot sell its ever-increasing production of northeastern PA shale gas into more lucrative markets in New York and New England. The new pipeline is due to go online in March 2015.
Read More “Cabot O&G Partners with Williams on New Marcellus Pipeline”
El Paso Corp, owner of the country’s largest natural gas pipeline system, including the Tennessee Gas Pipeline, is planning to build a new Marcellus Shale gas pipeline from northeastern Pennsylvania to Albany, NY. It would be a major 36-inch diameter pipeline moving a lot of gas. The target market for the gas is New England.
Read More “Major New Marcellus Pipeline Planned from NE PA to Albany”
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection released new gas well production data on Friday for the second half of 2011. Gas production was up an aggressive 40 percent in the second half of the year. PA now produces more gas than they consume, making the state a net exporter of natural gas.
Read More “Where was PA’s Top Producing Marcellus Well in 2011? Dimock”
The decision by Chesapeake Energy and other drillers to reduce drilling in dry gas (methane only) areas and instead concentrate on wet gas (natural gas liquids) areas is already having an impact on Pennsylvania’s northeastern counties where drilling last year was extremely active. Rig counts are going down, and with them, the amount of drilling activity goes down. It ultimately impacts the local economy in those areas, as noted in a recent Scranton Times Tribune article.
Read More “Northeast PA Starting to Feel the Dry Gas Drilling Slowdown”
Pennsylvania CareerLink announced they are offering a training program for those interested in working as roustabouts in the shale gas drilling industry for free for 20 people. The four- to six-week training course normally costs $2,500.
Read More “PA CareerLink Offers Free Training to Work in Drilling”
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection reports it is investigating a spill of condensate at a gas well in Washington County, in the southwestern part of the state.
Read More “Drilling Liquids Spill at Chevron Gas Well in SW PA”
Looking to land a job in the Marcellus Shale drilling industry? You’re not alone. According to Mike Forgione, a representative from the PA Institute of High Priority Occupations, there are a number of jobs available, including:
Pennsylvania finally passed new Marcellus Shale drilling legislation last week, and Gov. Corbett signed the new legislation into law on Monday of this week (see this MDN story). One of the key provisions, and certainly one of the most contentious, is a provision to collect a new impact fee. But let’s be honest among friends, it’s really just a tax (see this MDN story for why we call it a tax). Regardless of what it’s called, the new fee/tax will raise an estimated $180 million in new revenue for state and local coffers this year alone. So where will all that money go?
Read More “2012 PA Impact Fee Revenue of $180M – Where Will it Go?”
Washington County is among six counties in Pennsylvania that stand to receive more than $10 million in impact fee revenue this year from the newly adopted Marcellus drilling legislation signed into law by Gov. Corbett on Monday.
Read More “Six PA Counties to Receive $10M+ from New Impact Fee in 2012”
Butler County, PA commissioners have already voted to adopt an ordinance to collect the newly created impact fee, just two days after the new law was enacted:
Read More “Butler County Adopts New PA Impact Fee Ordinance in 2 Days”
No public ceremony for the signing of historic legislation to regulate Marcellus Shale gas drilling in Pennsylvania. Monday evening, Gov. Tom Corbett’s office announced he had privately signed the new legislation into law. A detailed summary of the legislation is embedded below.
Among the key provisions in the final bill:
It seems that Pennsylvania has finally woken up to the fact that Shell is about to decide where they will invest some $2 billion and generate thousands of new jobs by building an ethane cracker plant. One of three bills signed into law by PA Gov. Tom Corbett on Monday was a bill that,
A balanced article looking at arguments both for and against shale gas drilling posted on the 13-WHAM TV website begins this way:
Read More “Bradford County, PA: “The Recession Passed Right Over Us””