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A ballot initiative sponsored by former natural gas industry executive Sheffield Nelson to raise Arkansas’ severance tax on natural gas production has passed the muster of the state attorney general and would go before voters next year if proponents can garner enough signatures.

As West Virginia takes up the issue of Marcellus Shale regulatory reform, officials are also continuing their efforts to attract at least one thermal cracker facility to the state.

Two separate bills calling for a comprehensive study of hydraulic fracturing (hydrofracking) in North Carolina — a state where the practice is currently illegal — are expected to be sent to Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue this week.

The shale industry might need to go on the offensive against its critics, the head of an advocacy group told an audience in Pittsburgh Tuesday.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) wants to know how Marcellus Shale operators handle their produced water in Pennsylvania.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) wants to know how Marcellus Shale operators handle their produced water in Pennsylvania.

The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) said its inspectors have always been allowed to issue notices of violation (NOV) to Marcellus Shale operators without requiring approval from top agency officials. The agency said it has issued its staff a clarification stating as much.

Pipeline flows recorded by Bentek Energy LLC show that Louisiana’s Haynesville Shale region has surpassed the Fort Worth Basin/Barnett Shale region of North Texas in natural gas output. The two shale plays themselves are neck and neck in output. While it’s too soon to call a new Lower 48 shale king, all signs are that the Barnett will soon bow to the Haynesville.

North American natural gas producers have the geological resource, know-how, equipment and motivation to grow supplies faster than organic market demand, and with those drivers in place, this year will be a repeat of 2010, Barclays Capital analysts said last week.