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Seven Pennsylvania municipalities filed a lawsuit Thursday challenging a new state law which gives shale gas-rich counties the ability to impose a 15-year impact fee on unconventional gas wells, claiming that it supersedes local authority over drilling and violates the state and U.S. Constitution.

Cardinal Midstream LLC has brought a third cryogenic gas processing plant online in the Arkoma Woodford Shale, and it now has 220 MMcf/d of operated cryogenic processing capacity in the Oklahoma play. The new Tupelo Plant in Coal County, OK, is capable of processing 120 MMcf/d. Cardinal’s Coalgate Plant, an 80 MMcf/d facility, is adjacent to Tupelo, and the Atoka Plant in Atoka County, has a capacity of 20 MMcf/d. Cardinal Midstream President R. Mack Lawrence said the company was expanding its gathering system and “evaluating further processing capacity expansions given the level of drilling activity on dedicated acreage and the quality and production volume we’re seeing from the rich gas wells in the play.”

Pennsylvania is on its way to officially charging a fee for Marcellus Shale drilling. Gov. Tom Corbett signed House Bill 1950 last Monday, giving shale gas-rich counties in the state the ability to impose a 15-year impact fee on unconventional gas wells; now it’s up to the locals.

Pennsylvania is on its way to officially charging a fee for Marcellus Shale drilling. Gov. Tom Corbett signed House Bill 1950 on Monday evening, giving shale gas-rich counties in the state the ability to impose a 15-year impact fee on unconventional gas wells; now it’s up to the locals.

Pennsylvania is on its way to officially charging a fee for Marcellus Shale drilling. Gov. Tom Corbett signed House Bill 1950 on Monday evening, giving shale gas-rich counties in the state the ability to impose a 15-year impact fee on unconventional gas wells; now it’s up to the locals.

Magnum Hunter Resources Corp. is expanding its operations in the liquids-rich Marcellus Shale.

Pennsylvania state Rep. Camille “Bud” George plans to retire at the end of the year. First elected in 1974, the Democrat from shale-rich Clearfield County, in the central part of the state, has been the top ranking Democrat on environmental issues since 1983. As Democratic Chair of the House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee (previously known as the House Conservation Committee) George recently became a critic of shale development. He proposed a 30 cent/Mcf severance tax on high-volume shale wells (among the highest rate offered by any lawmaker during the debates) and suggested that lawmakers shouldn’t be afraid to continue delaying passage of the bill if it did not contain “the protections that you and I want not only for ourselves, but for those that we represent.” George also claimed that the recommendations of the Marcellus Shale Advisory Commission didn’t go far enough to protect environmental resources in the state. His announcement follows news that Sen. Mary Jo White, the Republican chair of the Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee, will also retire this year.

Kinder Morgan Inc.’s (KMI) analyst day Wednesday drew the largest crowd CEO Rich Kinder said he’s ever seen at the event. Perhaps it was because of “some little acquisition we’ve been working on” (El Paso Corp.), he suggested. Even with lawyers keeping executives mostly mum on that item, shale gas and natural gas liquids (NGL) made for plenty to talk about.

Statistics compiled by the Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC) tell a tale of booming production in the liquids-rich Eagle Ford Shale, with an increased emphasis on oil and condensate in the play and significantly more flaring of gas statewide. In North Dakota, where the Bakken Shale is booming, so is flaring, but that’s expected to change as new infrastructure comes online.