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Chesapeake Energy Corp. on Tuesday announced that it would lay off 70 employees from its Barnett Shale workforce and transfer other staff members, leaving about 700 in its North Texas offices.

Members of Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett’s cabinet were joined by supporters from the state’s general assembly and local and regional officials Thursday at the Community College of Beaver County in Monaca, PA, to lobby for construction of a petrochemical complex, including an ethane cracker, in the southwestern Pennsylvania borough.

Nabors Industries Ltd. shareholders apparently scored an industry first on Tuesday, approving a nonbinding resolution giving them power to oust members of the drilling contractor’s board of directors. The proxy access resolution is said to be the first successfully passed by shareholders of a major company.

Citizens for Property Rights (CPR), a five-member group that opposes what members believe are too-strict restrictions on gas drilling imposed by the city of Southlake, TX, failed to get enough signatures on a petition to relax some of the rules. However, CRP Chairman Stephen Oren said the group will try again.

Members of the Pennsylvania General Assembly have begun considering House Bill 2399, which among other things would provide a tax credit to companies that create new jobs related to the Marcellus Shale.

Surrounded by members of the state’s congressional delegation, Utah Gov. Gary Herbert on Friday signed legislation (HB 148) that seeks to have the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) turn over to the state the public lands it manages. The expectation is that this is the opening shot in what may become a legal war between several western states and the federal government.

Surrounded by members of the state’s congressional delegation, Utah Gov. Gary Herbert on Friday signed legislation (HB 148) that seeks to have the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) turn over to the state the public lands it manages. The expectation is that this is the opening shot in what will become a legal war between several western states and the federal government.

Two members of the Ohio General Assembly are drafting a bill that calls for raising the state’s severance tax on natural gas drilling and would create a fund for localities where drilling takes place.

Two members of the Ohio General Assembly announced Tuesday that they are drafting a bill that calls for raising the state’s severance tax on natural gas drilling and would create a fund for localities where drilling takes place.