Marcellus Shale Newswire 3/25/2012
Vol. 2, Issue 49
A Collection of Marcellus Shale and Gas Drilling Articles from Pennsylvania and Beyond
PennEnvironment
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Pa. ranks seventh in the nation for total toxins released into waterways
By Don Hopey
March 22, 2012
http://shale.sites.post-gazette.com/index.php/news/archives/24411
Forty years ago the federal Clean Water Act set a goal to make all of America’s rivers, streams, lakes and estuaries “fishable and swimable” by 1983, but that didn’t happen and a new report shows some of the nation’s biggest water pollution problems are stubbornly persistent and are found throughout Pennsylvania and surrounding states.
The Times-Tribune
DEP asks gas driller to help remedy Franklin Twp. Methane spike
By Laura Legere
March 20, 2012
The Department of Environmental Protection has asked a natural gas drilling company to step in and help three Franklin Twp. families whose well water contains high levels of methane.
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Fayette to vote on Marcellus fee
By Mary Pickels
March 21, 2012
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/regional/fayette/s_787516.html
Fayette County commissioners will hold a special meeting to again consider adopting an ordinance imposing impact fees on Marcellus shale wells.
Citizens Voice
Counties flock to Marcellus Shale drilling impact fee
By Robert Swift
March 20, 2012
HARRISBURG – With a month left to act, a growing number of counties are opting to levy a Marcellus Shale drilling impact fee.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Feds find Dimock well water OK in dispute over Marcellus drilling
By Michael Rubinkam
March 16, 2012
SCRANTON, Pa. — Federal environmental regulators said Thursday that well-water testing at 11 homes in a northeastern Pennsylvania village where a gas driller was accused of polluting the aquifer failed to show elevated levels of contamination.
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Gas pipeline proliferation worries Outreach Butler
By Michael Aubele
March 18, 2012
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/regional/s_787094.html
A Butler County community group opposed to Marcellus shale natural gas drilling wants elected leaders to know it has concerns about the potential for gas pipelines to crisscross the landscape.
MCall.com
Nockamixon set to fight proposed gas drilling
By JD Malone
March 17, 2012
http://www.mcall.com/news/local/mc-upper-bucks-gas-drilling-20120317,0,3929938.story
Rapp Creek, shallow and clear, spills down a rock outcropping and burbles through the woods a few yards from Janie and Larry Stangil’s back deck in Nockamixon Township, a few hundred feet from the proposed site of a natural gas drilling operation.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
South Fayette considers change in Marcellus Shale drilling locations
By Andrea Iglar
March 24, 2012
http://old.post-gazette.com/pg/11083/1134176-57.stm
South Fayette is considering changing its rules for Marcellus Shale development either by expanding or restricting possible drilling locations.
The Daily Collegian Online
County to hold hearing on Marcellus Shale Impact Fee
By Adam Lidgett
March 20, 2012
http://www.collegian.psu.edu/archive/2012/03/20/commissioners_to_talk_shale.aspx
Gov. Tom Corbett signed a Marcellus Shale impact fee bill into law in February, but now it’s up to counties to decide if they will impose the fee on gas-drilling companies.
West Virginia Personal Inquiry Lawyer Blog
Gas Drilling in Marcellus/Utica Shale Leads to Earthquakes in Ohio
By Bordas and Bordas
March 15, 2012
http://old.post-gazette.com/pg/11083/1134176-57.stm
West Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania have all been overwhelmed by the rapid progress of natural gas exploitation, headed up by companies like Chesapeake. These companies are rushing to exploit the Utica and Marcellus shale formations which are layers of rock located thousands of feet below the surface of the earth and which are believed to contain hundreds of billions (if not trillions) of cubic feet of valuable natural gas.