Answers

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s administration is reportedly working on a plan to allow hydraulic fracturing (fracking) in five counties along the Pennsylvania border in the Marcellus Shale, but only in localities that support the practice.

The Interstate Natural Gas Association of America (INGAA), which represents the nation’s major interstate gas pipelines, late Friday submitted answers to 120 questions posed by the Pipeline Hazardous Materials and Safety Administration’s (PHMSA) proposed rulemaking on pipeline safety.

As the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) seeks answers, Chesapeake Energy Corp. said the blowout of one of its Marcellus Shale wells in northeast Pennsylvania is now under control.

Countering claims that he moves in lockstep with the industry on Marcellus Shale issues, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett spoke out against forced pooling in a speech Tuesday before a Pittsburgh audience.

As the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) seeks answers, Chesapeake Energy Corp. said the blowout of one of its Marcellus Shale wells in northeast Pennsylvania is now under control.

Natural gas has been turning up in North Dakota water wells for generations, and for the last four years geologists there have been studying its occurrence in observation water wells with the possibility in mind that it could be a viable commercial resource.

More questions than answers continued to swirl around the messy acquisition of Constellation Energy Group as shareholder lawsuits mounted over the board of directors’ choice of suitors. The company’s board chose MidAmerican Energy Holdings’ $4.7 billion ($26.50/share) offer and has spurned EDF International’s (EDFI) $6.2 billion ($35/share) offer.

As the downfall of Amaranth Advisors LLC continues to produce more questions than answers, Robert McCullough, manager of McCullough Research, said Tuesday that he believes Amaranth trader Brian Hunter quite possibly attempted to corner the natural gas market and that the “lack of federal oversight” of energy markets and hedge funds by FERC, the CFTC and the SEC helped him almost accomplish his goal.

With more questions than answers surrounding Greenwich, CT-based Amaranth Advisors LLC’s significant losses due to a slumping natural gas market, Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal reiterated Tuesday his long-standing call for more oversight of hedge funds in general.