Friday, June 8, 2012

PA Marcellus News Digest 6/8/12

PA Marcellus News Digest
June 8, 2012

Articles

Companies make hay over natural gas production boom
Philadelphia Business Journal
Peter Key
June 8
Four publicly traded partnerships with corporate offices in the area are capitalizing on the boom in the domestic production of natural gas.
Link:
http://www.bizjournals.com/philadelphia/print-edition/2012/06/08/companies-make-hay-over-natural-gas.html

Chesapeake to sell midstream business
Pittsburgh Business Journal
Jordan Markley
June 8
Chesapeake Energy Corp. said Friday it would sell its midstream business to Global Infrastructure Partners for $4 billion.
Link:
http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/news/2012/06/08/chesapeake-to-sell-midstream-business.html

Two Board Members Step Down During Chesapeake Meeting
State Impact
Scott Detrow
June 8
Link:
http://stateimpact.npr.org/pennsylvania/2012/06/08/two-board-members-step-down-during-chesapeake-meeting/

Westmoreland Commissioners seek public input on shale-impact fees
Pitt Trib
Rich Cholodofsky
June 7
Westmoreland County commissioners will hit the road for a five-night tour of municipalities to gather suggestions about how to spend as much as $2 million to be collected through impact fees placed on Marcellus shale gas wells.
Link:
http://triblive.com/news/1935715-74/county-commissioners-fees-impact-money-westmoreland-municipal-public-road-shale

Under the Surface: Fracking, Fortunes, and the Fate of the Marcellus Shale by Tom Wilber
Utica Observer Dispatch
Judy Jerome
Blog (Book Review)
June 7
Under the Surface by Tom Wilber is a book which deserves as much air space as it can get.  And it especially deserves to be read  by those of us in the Mohawk Valley who are struggling with the complex issues involved in the hydraulic fracturing, also known as hydrofracking, debate.
Link:
http://www.uticaod.com/blogs/books/x373028841/Under-the-Surface-Fracking-Fortunes-and-the-Fate-of-the-Marcellus-Shale-by-Tom-Wilber

Shale website that’s soliciting questions to have answers in fall
Philadelphia Business Journal
Peter Key
June 8
[...] The Marcellus Shale Coalition launched
www.AskAboutShale.org on Wednesday and will keep the site up through June 20.
It allows visitors to select questions the coalition says are is often asked, or submit their own. It doesn’t provide answers, however. Instead, after submitting their questions, visitors are asked a series of questions about their views on fossil fuels, their views on the development of natural gas, whether they think natural gas development is beneficial for the economies of the United States, Pennsylvania and the Philadelphia area, and whether they think natural gas development is safe for the environment.
Link:
http://www.bizjournals.com/philadelphia/blog/peter-key/2012/06/shale-website-thats-soliciting.html

The shale gas industry’s favorite go-to professor
Examiner
Robert Magyar
June 7
Professor Tim Considine, whose research reports are funded largely by the shale gas industry, has written numerous papers proclaiming the benefits of all things shale gas over the last several years. His papers include estimated claims of huge job creation, arguing for no severance taxes on Pennsylvania shale gas production along with a recent report stating dramatic reductions in fines against shale gas companies operating within the state.
Link:
http://www.examiner.com/article/the-shale-gas-industry-s-favorite-go-to-professor

McClendon presides over last Chesapeake shareholders meeting as chairman
Post-Gazette
Erich Schwartzel
June 8
OKLAHOMA CITY -- Chesapeake Energy Chief Executive Officer Aubrey McClendon presided over his last annual meeting of shareholders as chairman of the board this morning, and judging from how some of the shareholder elections went, what could be his last meeting with the company at all.
Link:
http://shale.sites.post-gazette.com/index.php/news/archives/24605-mcclendon-presides-over-last-chesapeake-shareholders-meeting-as-chairman

TEXT-S&P affirms Chesapeake Midstream Partners 'BB-' rating
Reuters
June 8
 -- U.S. midstream energy company Chesapeake Midstream Partners L.P. (CHKM) announced that Global Infrastructure Partners (GIP; unrated) has
agreed to acquire all of Chesapeake Energy Corp.'s (CHK) ownership interest in CHKM for $2.0 billion.
Link:
http://in.reuters.com/article/2012/06/08/idINWNB162220120608

New Pitt Study Outlines Marcellus Shale Supply Chain Opportunities
Northcentral PA
June 8
In no uncertain terms, a positive economic and job creating impact is cascading across the region tied directly to the responsible development of clean-burning American natural gas from the Marcellus Shale.
Link:
http://www.northcentralpa.com/feeditem/2012-06-08_new-pitt-study-outlines-marcellus-shale-supply-chain-opportunities

Marcellus Shale landfilling fees dry up for local counties
Daily Review
James Loewenstein
June 8
TOWANDA - Since September 2010, Bradford County has received more than $130,000 in landfilling fees that are charged locally for accepting Marcellus Shale drill cutting waste, and has used the money to pay for improvements in county parks, to provide grants to local fire companies and ambulance services, and to pay for local environmental education projects.
Link:
http://thedailyreview.com/news/marcellus-shale-landfilling-fees-dry-up-for-local-counties-1.1326769

Suit over Pa. Marcellus Shale law goes to judges
Businessweek
Marc Levy, AP
June 7
A constitutional challenge by seven municipalities to Pennsylvania's new law regulating the growth of natural gas exploration is in the hands of seven Commonwealth Court judges after a hearing Wednesday in which they repeatedly challenged lawyers from both sides in the closely watched case.
Link:
http://www.businessweek.com/ap/2012-06/D9V8B4S80.htm

The Land That Fracking Forgot
Businessweek
Roben Farzad
June 7
Four years ago, as the economy was entering a devastating recession, swaths of rural Pennsylvania were booming. Energy companies were using hydraulic fracturing, better known as fracking, to tap the vast natural gas reserves of the Marcellus Shale underlying much of the Keystone State. In Wayne County, these corporations offered struggling farmers lucrative leases for mineral rights. “Land here became a whole different asset class,” says Tim Meagher, a real estate broker whose family settled in the area in the 1840s.
Link:
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-06-07/the-land-that-fracking-forgot

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