Statewide

Rents and royalties reported on Pennsylvania income tax returns from 2006 to 2010 have increased 61% statewide, and 119% in counties with Marcellus Shale activity, according to a report by the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy (AIPP). Rent and royalty income for landowners and mineral rights owners in the state rose 34% in counties with no Marcellus activity.

Under its statewide program dispersing more than $100 million annually, the California Energy Commission (CEC) Wednesday directed more than $44 million to boost the alternative transportation fuel sector. It included $18 million to expand hydrogen fueling for future fuel cell transportation and another $4.8 million for 19 natural gas and propane transportation projects.

Rents and royalties reported on Pennsylvania income tax returns from 2006 to 2010 have increased 61% statewide, and 119% in counties with Marcellus Shale activity, according to a report by the Allegheny Institute for Public Policy (AIPP). Rent and royalty income for landowners and mineral rights owners in the state rose 34% in counties with no Marcellus activity.

Dubbing it the nation’s most stringent, the Illinois state Senate on Friday passed oil and natural gas drilling regulations (SB 1715), sending the proposed provisions to Gov. Pat Quinn for his signature. The governor is expected to sign the bipartisan legislation.

Despite ongoing statewide efforts, city and county governments in Colorado and California are coming up with local solutions to safe and sane hydraulic fracturing (fracking). Two jurisdictions are lifting fracking moratoriums.

Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) on Monday concluded a 16-month investigation by announcing that high levels of methane found in three water wells in Franklin Township in Susquehanna County “cannot be attributed to natural gas drilling activity in that geographical area.”

A student-led effort in California has emerged to place a measure on next year’s statewide ballot to enact a tax on oil and natural gas extracted from the state. Backers now have about five months to collect at least 505,000 signatures to qualify for next year’s ballot.

Colorado producers on Friday raised the ante in their concerns about a state agency’s efforts to establish new rules on setbacks for oil and natural gas drilling operators, gaining support from local business groups for a fact sheet citing the economic benefits that resource production brings to the state.

The latest monthly totals for oil and natural gas production in North Dakota show continued growth in September, albeit at a slower pace than previous months, a report from the state Industrial Commission’s Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) showed Tuesday.