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The Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) urged President Obama on Monday to authorize a comprehensive study of hydraulic fracturing (hydrofracking) in the Marcellus Shale of six states and its potential effects on the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

Anadarko sales volumes from the Eagle Ford have been 46% oil, 27% natural gas liquids and 27% dry gas.

Water use in Marcellus Shale drilling “may not be as big an issue as we originally thought it was,” a Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) official told a natural gas forum on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC, last Wednesday.

Bills that would change West Virginia’s regulation of Marcellus Shale drilling — stripped of forced pooling language and proposing smaller increases to horizontal permitting fees than previously considered — were passed Thursday by House and Senate committees in the state’s legislature in Charleston.

The Marcellus Shale Coalition (MSC) has hired three full-time senior staff members to advance the organization’s communications, outreach, education and policy objectives. Steve Forde, the new policy and communications director, was senior director of corporate communications for Education Management Corp. He previously was deputy communications director for House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio and also served as communications director for the House Education and Workforce Committee. Christopher Heck, who will lead membership services, joins the MSC after serving as vice president and relationship manager at Fifth Third Bank. Heck is current chair of the Enterprise Forum Pittsburgh. The new conference director, Helen Goodman, founded Pittsburgh-based Event Resources 20 years ago to provide services to corporate, nonprofit and public-sector organizations. She also worked for the Pittsburgh Technology Council. “Having our membership more than double over the past year, we’re continuing to grow our core team of experts with our focus remaining on effectively conveying our industry’s long-term commitment to the environment, safety, and a cleaner, more competitive energy economy,” said MSC President Kathryn Klaber.

Legislation being drafted by West Virginia Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin’s administration includes a statutory pooling provision for shallow horizontal wells, which would include Marcellus Shale drilling in the state, according to Nick Casey, a member of the Lewis Glasser Casey & Rollins law firm in Charleston, WV.

Marcellus Shale operators — and drilling opponents — waiting for the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) to issue proposed natural gas development rules should get their wish Thursday morning, officials said.

El Paso Pipeline Partners LP (EPP) agreed last week to pay El Paso Corp. $1.13 billion to become full owner of two liquefied natural gas (LNG) companies and take over a 60% stake in Southern Natural Gas Co. (SNG).

ConocoPhillips has shut in some of its dry gas production in North America, but in the liquids-rich Eagle Ford Shale, it’s full steam ahead.