Marcellus Shale Newswire 4/13/2012
Vol. 2, Issue 52
A Collection of Marcellus Shale and Gas Drilling Articles from Pennsylvania and Beyond
PennEnvironment
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Doctors concerned about vagueness of Pa.’s new natural gas law
By Amy Friedenberger
April 13, 2012
Pennsylvania’s new natural gas law takes effect Saturday, which has some doctors concerned because they still aren’t clear on the medical provisions.
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review
Judge halts law on shale oversight
By Alex Nixon
April 12, 2012
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/business/s_790908.html
A judge on Wednesday ordered a temporary halt to a portion of Pennsylvania’s new Marcellus shale law that limits the power of municipalities to regulate the booming natural gas industry.
The Philadelphia Inquirer
Northern Pennsylvania gas explosion was out of regulatory reach
By Joseph Tanfani
April 08, 2012
http://articles.philly.com/2012-04-08/news/31308559_1_gas-safety-gas-explosion-natural-gas
Houses trembled a half-mile away when a natural gas explosion rattled a compressor station near Springville, a hotbed of Marcellus Shale development in northern Pennsylvania.
The Times-Tribune
New concerns about gas compressors expected at DEP hearings
By Laura Legere
April 10, 2012
State regulators will hold two meetings in the next week to gather public comment on five natural gas compressor stations proposed in Wyoming and Susquehanna counties.
San Jose Mercury News
Natural gas glut means drilling boom must slow
By Jonathan Fahey
April 08, 212
http://www.mercurynews.com/business/ci_20351765/natural-gas-glut-means-drilling-boom-must-slow
NEW YORK—The U.S. natural gas market is bursting at the seams.
So much natural gas is being produced that soon there may be nowhere left to put the country’s swelling surplus. After years of explosive growth, natural gas producers are retrenching.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
MSC, drillers seek to intervene in Act 13 suit
By Laura Olson
April 06, 2012
As the Associated Press reported on Thursday, the Marcellus Shale Coalition, the Pennsylvania Independent Oil and Gas Association, and several drilling companies have filed a request to intervene in the Act 13 lawsuit filed by seven municipalities.
The Wall Street Journal
AP Enterprise: Docs say drilling law hurts health
By Associated Press
April 11, 2012
http://online.wsj.com/article/AP429fb33e006b438487db3fbee3b8dd07.html
PITTSBURGH — Public health advocates and doctors on the front lines of Pennsylvania’s natural gas-drilling boom are attacking the state’s new Marcellus Shale law, likening one of its provisions to a gag order and complaining that vital research money into health effects was stripped at the last minute.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Energy firms, ecologists from unlikely alliances
By Erich Schwartzel
April 08, 2012
http://old.post-gazette.com/pg/12099/1222394-28.stm
The Indiana bat weighs less than an ounce and is so small it is able to nest in the spaces between a tree trunk and its rotting bark. It can also do what class-action lawsuits and full-throated protesters haven’t been able to: stop Marcellus Shale drilling.
The Charleston Gazette
Marcellus traffic invading W.Va., panel told
By Ken Ward Jr.
April 11, 2012
http://sundaygazettemail.com/News/201204110143
FAIRMONT, W.Va. — Communities in Northern West Virginia are facing “an invasion” of heavy truck traffic related to the boom on Marcellus Shale natural gas drilling, a local sheriff told a U.S. Senate committee Wednesday.
Essential Public Radio
Portion of PA Shale Law Put on Hold
By Marc Levy
April 12, 2012
http://www.essentialpublicradio.org/story/2012-04-12/portion-pa-shale-law-put-hold-10776
A Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court judge on Wednesday ordered a temporary halt to the sections of Pennsylvania’s new Marcellus Shale law that put limits on the power of municipalities to regulate the booming natural gas exploration industry, a victory for the seven municipalities that sued.