Lands

The Pennsylvania Game Commission (PGC) is opening about one-sixth of a game reserve in Bradford County, in the heart of the Marcellus Shale, to oil and natural gas leasing.

Aside from those that have leased lands for development, Pennsylvania school districts do not seem to be benefiting much financially from Marcellus Shale activity, according to a recent report from Pennsylvania State University.

The prospects for expanding natural gas exploration and production (E&P) on federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) lands in eastern Utah were given a boost by the federal agency on Friday, although the action drew strong opposition from environmental groups concerned about the impact on a rugged wilderness area.

A landmark ruling by the Texas Supreme Court last month that landowners own groundwater “in place” will benefit shale producers by facilitating the sale of the water, according to Kathleen Hartnett White, a distinguished senior fellow and director at the Texas Public Policy Foundation in Austin, TX.

Ohio is a “long shot” for a world class ethane cracker planned for Appalachia, but the state would still benefit if the facility lands anywhere in the region, Ohio Gov. John Kasich said Tuesday.

A recent settlement of a case involving one of the first shale gas wells in the Delaware River Basin will change the way future Marcellus Shale wells are permitted in that region.

The U.S. Department of Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) would require companies drilling on public lands to disclose the chemicals used in their hydraulic fracturing (fracking) operations, according to a draft of proposed BLM regulations acquired by NGI’s Shale Daily.

The American Petroleum Institute (API) Wednesday called on New York regulators to remove all prohibitions against drilling in the Marcellus Shale formation in the southern part of the state.

The American Petroleum Institute (API) is urging the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) to reject proposals to ban horizontal drilling in the 1.1-million-acre George Washington National Forest (GWNF) in the Appalachian Mountains of Virginia, West Virginia and Kentucky. API said a ban would amount to “an arbitrary and unprecedented shift in national energy policy through the forest management planning process.”