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Even if producers are prevented from hydraulically fracturing (fracking) wells in New York, they may not declare a force majeure and still must pay property owners to hold the leases, a district court judge has ruled.

Energy regulators must operate independently of both industry and environmental groups, led only by facts and the rule of law, said Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) Secretary John Hanger, who leaves office this month after a tenure of more than two years during which activity in the state’s Marcellus Shale mushroomed.

Natural gas exploration and production began in urban areas of the Barnett Shale in North Texas nearly a decade ago, and early municipal regulation of the activity was less onerous than it is today, an industry lawyer told a Texas House committee Thursday.

It’s an old saying: What goes up must come down. That was true in spades in the cash gas market Thursday as sharply rising prices over the previous two days suddenly reversed into major plunges at virtually all points. The below-normal temperatures expected by the weekend in most of North America, which had apparently been instrumental in driving the market higher during the first half of the week, lost their bullish influence after a four-day string of futures increases ended Wednesday with a dive of 16.4 cents.

Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell signed into law Wednesday legislation reducing the amount of roll-back tax that owners of farmland must pay when leasing land and mineral rights for natural gas development.

Ruby Pipeline LLC has applied to FERC for a Notice to Proceed and Construct its 680-mile east-to-west natural gas project, the final hurdle that must be cleared before construction can begin.

Ruby Pipeline LLC has applied to FERC for a Notice to Proceed and Construct its 680-mile east-to-west natural gas project, the final hurdle that must be cleared before construction can begin.

The Interior Department’s chief oil and gas regulator said Thursday that BP plc must pay royalties on all oil and natural gas captured from the damaged Macondo well in the Gulf of Mexico. The company also is potentially liable for royalties on lost or wasted oil and gas from the well if it is determined that negligence or regulatory violations caused or contributed to the Deepwater Horizon explosion and resulting oil spill.

A severance tax on natural gas drilling in Pennsylvania, which is scheduled to be hammered out by state legislators later this year and implemented by Jan. 1, must provide a fair share of revenue to local governments and communities where drilling takes place, according to Gov. Ed Rendell.