Rural

Tempers flared last Tuesday at a meeting in the rural Louisiana town of Pierre Part as the slurry churned in an Assumption Parish swamp, but state regulators assured citizens that there’s no danger of a natural gas or any other kind of explosion.

Tempers flared Tuesday evening at a meeting in the rural Louisiana town of Pierre Part as the slurry churned in an Assumption Parish swamp, but everyone in attendance was told there was no danger of a natural gas or any other kind of explosion.

Shell Chemical LP has chosen a rural area outside of Pittsburgh as the potential location for a major petrochemical complex that could include an ethane cracker in the heart of the Marcellus Shale.

Although still far from committing to a project, Shell Chemical LP delighted Pennsylvanians Thursday by choosing a rural area outside of Pittsburgh as the potential location for a major petrochemical complex that could include an ethane cracker in the heart of the Appalachian Basin.

With most new oil/gas exploration and production (E&P) moving to the more populated eastern slope of the Colorado Rockies from its traditional rural west-central focus, the Colorado Oil and Gas Association (COGA) embarked last month on a three-month public service advertising campaign as part of a broader community outreach on the use of hydraulic fracturing (fracking). So far the campaign is raising more interest than anticipated, according to COGA, and mostly because anti-fracking groups are crying foul.

On the ground, the shale boom is a mixed bag as rural landowners weigh the alternatives of securing lucrative royalties at the cost of their land being part of an oil/gas industrial push that critics contend is threatening local environments and public water supplies. The Los Angeles Times last Sunday profiled the dilemma through a feature on two brothers with dairy farms in the rich Marcellus Shale in western New York.

Cheaper heat, lower prices for electricity and cleaner air all could be possible for residents of Fairbanks, AK, and rural areas with greater reliance on natural gas, according to a newly released report.

New Mexico regulators late Wednesday were closely monitoring the troublesome Track fire in rural parts of the state, which was threatening natural gas services in areas in and around Raton and Las Vegas, NM.

Following two home explosions in a rural area of northwest Pennsylvania within three months of each other, Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) last Monday called on Department of Energy (DOE) Secretary Steven Chu to coordinate efforts and the sharing of information with local authorities, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to protect the public from risks associated with the development of shale gas in the Marcellus and Utica plays.