The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading:
Ohio
Shale seminar stresses networking in industry
Coshocton Times
Making her way around the room at a recent Utica Shale seminar, Charlotte Johnson had a smile, a handshake and a business card for everyone. Her goal: Meet as many people as possible and spread the word about Zane Trace Clean Care Uniforms. It’s not that every encounter will lead to new business, but it can’t hurt to get the company name out there, said Johnson, Zane Trace vice president. Already, Zane Trace’s business has increased 10 to 20 percent from people buying or renting fire-retardant uniforms for oil and gas work, and Johnson foresees that number continuing to climb in the near future, she said. “We got educated and started getting sales reps out there, and it just took off,” she said. “It’s just coming to these meetings (and) meeting people. That’s the only way you can do it.”
Pennsylvania
Another Shale Play in Pennsylvania? Count On It.
Energy in Depth
The Upper Devonian Shale formation made headlines this week in Southwest Pennsylvania after CONSOL Energy developed its first Upper Devonian natural gas well. Other operators in the area, including Range Resources, have also begun to see the potential of this formation.
Pre-drill benefits: Consol Energy’s airport prospects pay off now
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Marcellus Shale drilling won’t start on Pittsburgh International Airport property for another year, but Allegheny County already is seeing dividends from a multimillion-dollar deal with Consol Energy. Effective July 1, landing fees paid by airlines that use the facility were reduced by 55 cents per enplaning passenger, from $14.66 to $14.11. That may not sound like a lot, but with 300 passengers on a plane and hundreds of flights per month, the savings add up.
Our View: Could Erie gain from fracking?
Erie Times-News
At the Erie plant of FMC, a Fortune 500 company, workers are producing metering equipment used by the oil and natural gas industries. Jim Ertle, vice president of measurement products for FMC’s Measurement Solutions operation in Erie, said business is up locally because of increased demand from drillers in the Marcellus and Utica shale formations. We remain hopeful that the debate over fracking will grow less contentious as industry and environmental groups work on a voluntary certification program for natural gas drilling at the Center for Sustainable Shale Development in Pittsburgh. Fracking opponents in this region should consider that new jobs are opening up in Erie due to fracking. No one should turn up their noses at that trend.
Smoke from gas plant in Washington County alarming to neighbors
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Faulty new equipment at MarkWest Energy Partners’ Houston Gas Plant in Washington County sent plumes of black smoke high into the air Sunday and Monday, raising enough public concern that the state Department of Environmental Protection dispatched an inspector. The problem had been corrected by Tuesday, and the DEP said no violations were apparent, noting the company had previous permission to do smokestack flaring while installing equipment to separate ethane from other liquid gases at the plant along Route 519 in Chartiers. But John Poister, DEP regional spokesman, said the department is analyzing air-monitoring results while working with MarkWest to “prevent this type of problem in the future.”
National
Six Tech Advancements Changing the Fossil Fuels Game
StockMarketsReview
Oil and gas is getting bigger, deeper, faster and more efficient, with new technology chipping away at “peak oil” concerns. While hydraulic fracturing has been the most visible revolutionary advancement, other high-tech developments are keeping the ball rolling—from the next generation of ultra-deepwater drillships, subsea oil and gas infrastructure and multi-well-pad drilling to M2M networking, floating LNG facilities, new dimensions in seismic imagery and supercomputing for analog exploration.
A Shale Game: Energy Industry Triggers Demand for Prime Real Estate
CoStar Group
Growth in the domestic energy industry is driving heated demand for prime real estate, predominantly in a handful of cities where the oil and gas industry is booming. That growth is expected to create more than 3.5 million American jobs by 2035, including 700,000 in the next two years alone. While energy production is the direct growth driver, much of the commercial real estate demand is coming from affiliated industries and thus driving growth in office, retail, industrial and multifamily demand. New research from Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL) indicates that the majority of commercial real estate opportunities resulting from this job growth will be concentrated in Dallas, Denver, Houston, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.
The Green Party 1% and It’s Fantasy Energy Policy
Natural Gas Now
The Green Party 1% types live in a fantasy world of utopian energy policy, while China, which has been polluting the earth, takes a turn toward the rational simply because it must to save itself. Meanwhile, we put up with Josh Fox, who is little more than a science fiction character.
This Is One Incredible CEO
The Motley Fool
The Motley Fool’s readers have spoken, and I have heeded their cries. After months of pointing out CEO gaffes and faux pas, I’ve decided to make it a weekly tradition to also point out corporate leaders who are putting the interests of shareholders and the public first, and are generally deserving of praise from investors. This week, we’ll turn our attention to the energy sector, and focus on a CEO who’s been right on target with investors, and with regard to community giving: John Watson, CEO of Chevron.
With coal not king, CSX finds success in new energy environment
Jacksonville Business Journal
CSX Corp., after years of falling coal volumes, is poised to gain from the new U.S. energy environment, filling its rail cars with shipments of sands used in hydraulic fracturing and petroleum products gained from the process. The Jacksonville-based railroad posted a 3-cent-per-share jump in second-quarter earnings Tuesday, beating analysts’ expectations. “We had a record quarter despite the challenges we continue to face in our coal business,” company CFO Fredrik Eliasson said Wednesday, adding that the company was helped by growth in the intermodal and merchandise businesses.
Nuclear energy is too expensive to compete, independent economist argues
Cleveland Plain Dealer
America’s fleet of aging nuclear power plants is rapidly becoming uneconomical to operate, argues a leading consumer advocate in a new report predicting the end of the nuclear era. Mark Cooper, an independent economist and senior fellow for economic analysis at the Vermont Law School Institute for Energy and the Environment, bases his argument on another decade of continuing low natural gas prices to give new gas-fired power plants enough of an edge to squeeze out older nuclear plants already beset with rising maintenance costs.
5 Economic Game Changers That Could Create 5 Million American Jobs By 2020
Business Insider
1. Shale-gas and -oil production. Powered by advances in horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing, the production of domestic shale gas and oil has grown more than 50 percent annually since 2007. The shale boom could add as much as $690 billion a year to GDP and create up to 1.7 million jobs across the economy by 2020. The impact will extend to energy-intensive manufacturing industries and beyond. The United States now has the potential to reduce net energy imports to zero—but only if it can successfully address the associated environmental risks.
Is Fracking for Enhanced Geothermal Systems the Same as Fracking for Natural Gas?
Alternative Energy Stocks
The U.S. geothermal industry recently scored a big win when its first enhanced geothermal system (EGS) project went online in April. ORMAT was able to stimulate a previously unproductive well at its Desert Peak project with EGS technology — injecting fluid into a well to reopen cracks and create a resource reservoir — and found an additional 1.2 megawatts (MW) of capacity. Renewable energy experts applauded the project, dubbing it a “game-changer” and a “shining moment” for the industry. Though the project represents a breakthrough for EGS technology and the geothermal industry in general, EGS has come under fire, with opponents accusing it as being just as dangerous as oil or natural gas hydraulic stimulation, commonly known as fracking.
O&G industry, beware: The Labor Department is eyeing you
Platts Gas Business Briefing (paid or free trial access required)
The oil and gas industry suffers from worker misclassification: who are employees, who are independent contractors, and which workers are eligible for overtime pay, one labor law attorney believes. And, with the Department of Labor becoming increasingly vigilant concerning misclassification, industry players need to be aware because big money in the form of back wages paid is possible, according to Bryan Cokeley, a member of the law firm Steptoe & Johnson PLLC. “The Fair Labor Standards Act [of 1938 and revised since] doesn’t apply to independent contractors, but the act is pretty liberal concerning what is an employee,” said Cokeley, addressing an audience at S&J’s Energy Leadership Summit.
International
Once-Coveted Asian Oil Riches Take Backseat to U.S. Shale
NASDAQ
Once captivated by Asia’s untapped oil-and-gas riches, some midsize U.S. energy producers are now selling their Asian assets as the North American shale revolution offers bright prospects closer to home. Companies such as Anadarko Petroleum Corp., Hess Corp. and Newfield Exploration Co. recently started looking for buyers for either all or some of their Asian portfolios, together worth billions of dollars. Assets for sale include oil fields in China’s Bohai Bay and natural-gas hubs in Thailand.
Potential trouble is brewing for Marcellus drillers in Pennsylvania. As MDN has chronicled since early last year, seven towns (and a few individuals) sued PA over a provision in “Act 13” passed in early 2012 which creates uniform statewide standards for oil and gas zoning regulations–regs that supercede and replace local zoning laws related to oil and gas drilling (see 
An MDN subscriber recently emailed us to ask for more details about that map showing, by region, the number of new natural gas gathering and transmission pipelines that will be built (see