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

http://shale.sites.post-gazette.com/index.php/news/archives/24467-doctors-concerned-about-vagueness-of-pas-new-natural-gas-law

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

http://thetimes-tribune.com/news/new-concerns-about-gas-compressors-expected-at-dep-hearings-1.1297644#axzz1rvcygLGy

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 

http://shale.sites.post-gazette.com/index.php/news/archives/24450-msc-drillers-seek-to-intervene-in-act-13-suit

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.