Promote

While environmentalists and some citizens are opposed to the use of hydraulic fracturing (fracking) to develop shale natural gas, experts — one of whom has studied fracking for more than 41 years — told a Senate committee the practice does not negatively impact drinking water or the environment.

Wartsila Corp. said Thursday it has signed an agreement with Royal Dutch Shell to promote the use of liquefied natural gas (LNG) as a marine fuel. Separately Shell said it plans to sell LNG for heavy-duty fleet vehicles at some Shell Flying J truck stops in Alberta beginning in 2012.

Officials with the City of Morgantown, WV, said the city might take Northeast Natural Energy (NNE) to court if the city passes an ordinance banning hydraulic fracturing (hydrofracking) and the company subsequently starts using the practice at two Marcellus Shale gas wells.

Saying extraction is only “half of the job” of capitalizing on the Marcellus Shale, a group of Pennsylvania House Republicans reintroduced legislation on Wednesday to promote the use of natural gas vehicles (NGV) in the state.

A single bill that would change West Virginia’s regulation of Marcellus Shale drilling survived crossover day in the West Virginia legislature Wednesday, while two others failed to make it out of the state’s House of Delegates.

In response to the Deepwater Horizon disaster, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar Tuesday proposed establishing an “Ocean Energy Safety Institute” to promote research and development (R&D) and training in offshore drilling safety, blowout containment and spill response.

One New York county in the midst of the Marcellus Shale may be looking to promote natural gas drilling in an effort to regain jobs that have left the area since the Empire State instituted a de facto moratorium on drilling two years ago.

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) on Thursday unanimously passed a resolution that will help promote solar thermal water heating installations as part of the state’s ongoing 10-year, billion-dollar solar initiative program.

The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) last Thursday established the California Solar Initiative (CSI) Thermal Program to promote the installation of solar water heating systems in new and existing homes and businesses.