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The Marcellus Shale industry is driving job growth in Pennsylvania, according to new government figures.

El Paso Corp.’s natural gas pipeline franchise is expected to be front and center in building new infrastructure to accommodate growing North American gas demand in the coming decades, executives said last week.

El Paso Corp.’s natural gas pipeline franchise is expected to be front and center in building new infrastructure to accommodate growing gas demand in the coming decades, executives said Tuesday.

With natural gas now front and center on President Obama’s energy agenda (see Shale Daily, March 31), his administration has called for a broad-based panel to be formed to examine potential risks associated with hydraulic fracturing (fracking).

The Marcellus Shale Advisory Commission, which was formed earlier this month by Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett and tasked with reporting back to the governor by July, held its first meeting in Harrisburg Friday.

Despite a recent spate of negative media attention, hydraulic fracturing (hydrofracking) in the Marcellus Shale is still supported by a majority of the general public, according to the results of a poll conducted by the Rochester Business Journal (RBJ).

Natural gas found in North Texas water wells did not come from the Barnett Shale but rather the gas-bearing Strawn formation, which is closer to the surface, hearing examiners at the Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC) said in a report released Monday. If accepted by commissioners, the finding would exonerate Range Resources Corp., which had been accused of contaminating the wells with its Barnett drilling activities.

The Gasland documentary film continues to dog the footsteps of the natural gas industry (see Shale Daily, Feb. 16). The film’s director Josh Fox and actor-turned-activist Mark Ruffalo flanked Reps. Maurice Hinchey (D-NY), Rep Jared Polis (D-CO) and Rep. Rush Holt (D-NJ) Thursday as they announced plans to reintroduce legislation to regulate the practice of hydraulic fracturing (hydrofracking) at the federal level.

A co-founder of the National Fuel Cell Research Center at the University of California Irvine campus, Sempra Energy’s Southern California Gas Co. (SoCalGas) has invested $1 million in Oregon-based fuel cell manufacturer ClearEdge Power. The utility has been involved in the testing and demonstration of fuel cells for the past four decades. ClearEdge has a product that is a combined heat-power (CHP) fuel cell that claims to reduce carbon emissions by one-third and other pollutants, such as volatile organic compounds, ash and particulates, to trace levels. The Sempra utility cited a recent business intelligence report for the fuel cell industry, projecting a 10-fold increase in the sector from, $2 billion to $20 billion. SoCalGas said it envisions the advance of fuel cells as greatly reducing the nation’s reliance on coal and helping boost its use of natural gas.