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Dow Chemical Co. officials on Monday said a comprehensive plan to connect U.S. operations with “cost-advantaged feedstocks” from abundant supplies of domestic shale gas is moving forward and is on track to deliver long-term competitive advantages for the worldwide operations.

Natural gas supplies from Nova Scotia are dwindling, but the province of New Brunswick could join the shale gas renaissance sweeping much of North America, provided its shales can be exploited without harming the environment, New Brunswick Energy and Mines Minister Craig Leonard said Wednesday.

Natural gas supplies from Nova Scotia are dwindling, but the province of New Brunswick could join the shale gas renaissance sweeping much of North America, provided its shales can be exploited without harming the environment, New Brunswick Energy and Mines Minister Craig Leonard said Wednesday.

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) said Tuesday the number of drilling rigs active in the Utica Shale during the last week of October had more than doubled compared with the same week in 2011, with an increase in rigs targeting oil more than offsetting the loss of natural gas rigs.

On Monday Reuters, citing unnamed sources, reported that a much-anticipated report commissioned by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) on the domestic market impacts of exporting liquefied U.S. gas is being prepared by NERA Economic Consulting. However, neither DOE nor the consultancy would confirm this.

Even with more cooperation between state and federal officials in the testing of ground water in Pavillion, Wyoming Gov. Matt Mead said Tuesday that unilateral actions by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are raising concerns.

A legislator in the Maryland House of Delegates announced Wednesday that she plans to introduce a bill next year that would impose a moratorium on hydraulic fracturing (fracking) in the state’s portion of the Marcellus Shale until a comprehensive scientific study is completed.

The nation’s natural gas resources, which have grown with the expanded potential of shale plays — including as much as 20 years supply from the Marcellus Shale — can be used to cost-effectively generate electricity, and any environmental burdens will come primarily from combustion when the fuel is used, not when it is extracted, according to a report from the Department of Energy (DOE).

In the film industry, directors give notes to actors about how to improve their performances. The energy industry has turned the tables on Gasland director Josh Fox, giving him some pointers for the sequel to his anti-hydraulic fracturing (fracking) film.