Marcellus Shale Newswire 01/20/2012

Vol. 2, Issue 41

A Collection of Marcellus Shale and Gas Drilling Articles from Pennsylvania and Beyond

Explainer

PennEnvironment

WITF

Environmental activists decry House and Senate Shale bills

By Mary Wilson

January 17, 2012

http://www.witf.org/state-house-sound-bites/environmental-activists-decry-house-and-senate-shale-bills

About a hundred activists took to the Capitol Rotunda steps today, a lively Greek chorus to punctuate the spiels of activists, clergy, and a former local official calling on state lawmakers to spear the working proposals for a Marcellus Shale impact fee.

 

The Charleston Gazette 

Marcellus boom threatens climate change action, study says

http://sundaygazettemail.com/News/201201180219

By Ken Ward Jr.

January 18, 2012 

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — The boom in drilling for natural gas in the Marcellus Shale and other similar formations will likely suppress the development of alternative energies that are urgently needed to combat global warming, according to a new study by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute for Technology.

 

PennLIve

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett will sign drilling emergency-response bill

By Associated Press

January 19, 2012

http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2012/01/pennsylvania_gov_tom_corbett_w_1.html

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Gov. Tom Corbett plans to sign newly passed legislation designed to provide an emergency response plan and accurate GPS coordinates for each Marcellus Shale well site in Pennsylvania.

 

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

South Fayette challenge to drilling rules heads to court

By Andrea Iglar

January 19, 2012

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12019/1204337-55-0.stm

South Fayette is continuing to battle Range Resources over Marcellus Shale drilling regulations, while at the same time working to develop rules for the seismic testing used in natural gas exploration.

 

PennLive

Corbett administration slashes research funding

By Associated Press

January 18, 2012

http://www.pennlive.com/newsflash/index.ssf/story/corbett-administration-slashes-research-funding/4e319dbed6324059a1c673709a11b75b

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — The administration of Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett has cut funding for a wildlife research program by nearly 70 percent, eliminating state money for projects meant to examine the impact of natural gas drilling and climate change, according to a report.

 

Essential Public Radio

Natural Gas From Shale Could Worsen Climate Change

By Jared Adkins

January 19, 2012

http://www.essentialpublicradio.org/story/2012-01-19/natural-gas-shale-c…

Instead of being an answer to climate change, shale gas might actually be a major generator of greenhouse emissions.

 

Press Releases

NYCLA Environmental Law Committee Urges DEC to Modify Marcellus Shale Drilling Plans

By Ariella Greenbaum

January 20, 2012

http://www.pr.com/press-release/384616

New York, NY, January 20, 2012 –(PR.com)– The Environmental Law Committee of the New York County Lawyers’ Association (NYCLA) today announced it sent a letter to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) in response to the Department’s Supplemental Generic Environmental Impact Statement on the Oil, Gas, and Solution Mining Regulatory Program (SGEIS).

 

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

EPA agrees to test well water for gas-drilling contamination

By Don Hopey

January 19, 2012 

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/12019/1204630-100.stm

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced this afternoon it will begin testing well water supplies at 60 homes in Dimock, in Susquehanna County, where residents say Marcellus Shale gas drilling operations have contaminated water supplies with methane and other pollutants.

 

Lehigh Valley Live 

Fracking not safe; 566 municipalities too many

By Express-Times Letters to the Editor

January 18, 2012

http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/opinion/index.ssf/2012/01/post_95.html

Right now in Dimock, Pa., 18 families cannot drink or use their tap water. According to the Associated Press, Cabot Oil & Gas Corp. had been delivering truckloads of water to 11 of these families. 

The Times-Tribune

Pennsylvania: Marcellus shale, natural gas drilling, fracking

By John L. Micek

January 17, 2012

http://www.mcall.com/news/nationworld/pennsylvania/mc-pa-shale-rally-20120117,0,7872417.story

HARRISBURG — Just in case state lawmakers had forgotten about the main challenge facing them as they returned to work Tuesday from a long holiday break, they didn’t have to walk farther than the Capitol rotunda for a reminder.

 

New Jersey Public Radio

NJ Environmentalists Fight Gas Pipeline Expansion

By Nancy Solomon

January 17, 2012

http://www.wnyc.org/articles/new-jersey-news/2012/jan/17/nj-environmentalists-fight-gas-pipeline-expansion/

New Jersey environmentalists are fighting a gas pipeline project that would cut through the protected Highlands, the undeveloped northwest corner of the state.

 

Times Observer

Developers:? These injection wells are different

By Ben Klein

January 19, 2012

http://www.timesobserver.com/page/content.detail/id/555049/Developer–These-injection-wells-are-different.html?nav=5006

The owner’s confidence in two waste water disposal wells in Columbus Township has not been shaken by a series of recent minor earthquakes and the eventual closure of a similar well in northeastern Ohio.