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The growth of the natural gas industry in the heart of Pennsylvania’s eastern Marcellus Shale helped the area avoid the worst of the 2008 recession, and the positive effects have only just begun, according to a study issued by the Institute for Public Policy and Economic Development (IPPED).

Public opinion of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) among voters in New York State has shifted in favor of the practice, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released on Wednesday.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is operating under a “misperception of initial production from gas wells,” which “has led to a drastic overestimate of methane emissions from hydraulically fractured [fracked] natural gas wells,” according to Darren Smith, environmental manager for Devon Energy Corp.

Houston-based independent Eagle Ford Oil & Gas Corp. has acquired an 85% working interest in prospective acreage in Frio County, TX, in the “heart” of the Eagle Ford Shale of South Texas, the company said Monday.

Officials in the Town — not the City — of Rochester, NY, are considering a ban on natural gas extraction.

Chesapeake Energy Corp.’s annual meeting Friday has taken on special meaning for the company, its shareholders and the business community following corporate governance questions raised in the past two months that are hanging over the heads of CEO Aubrey McClendon and members of the board of directors. Two board members face reelection, but if big shareholder groups have their way, including the third largest, Carl Icahn, the company will see some new faces.

Eighty-six percent of energy industry and investment community executives polled recently by Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. (TPH) believe 2012 Henry Hub natural gas prices will average less than $2.50/Mcf, and 23% think prices will average less than $2/Mcf.

Eighty-six percent of energy industry and investment community executives polled recently by Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. (TPH) believe 2012 Henry Hub natural gas prices will average less than $2.50/Mcf, and 23% think prices will average less than $2/Mcf.

A legislator in the Pennsylvania General Assembly has introduced a bill designed to encourage the use of natural gas vehicles (NGVs) and the construction of fueling stations to support them within the state that his home to the heart of the Marcellus Shale.