Supported

Despite a recent spate of negative media attention, hydraulic fracturing (hydrofracking) in the Marcellus Shale is still supported by a majority of the general public, according to the results of a poll conducted by the Rochester Business Journal (RBJ).

Range Resources unit Range Production Co. may depose an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) official on Tuesday (Jan. 25), a federal judge in Austin, TX, has ruled. The agency has accused the company of contaminating water wells with its Barnett Shale drilling activities, a claim Range disputes.

Rebounding from last Friday’s dip below $4, January natural gas futures surged higher Monday as market bulls were supported with forecasts that were looking chillier than they did just three days earlier. The prompt-month contract treaded between $4.013 and $4.248 before settling near the peak at $4.237, up 17.1 cents from Friday’s finish.

The American Petroleum Institute (API) Tuesday said it supported the creation of a registry by the Groundwater Protection Council (GWPC) and the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission (IOGCC) for the voluntary disclosure of chemicals used in hydraulic fracturing (fracking).

The White House altered a Department of Interior (DOI) report last May to suggest that experts peer reviewed and supported the administration’s decision to impose a blanket moratorium on drilling in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) following the well blowout that sank the Deepwater Horizon rig off the southern Louisiana coastline, according to a report released last Tuesday by DOI’s Office of Inspector General (OIG).

The White House altered a Department of Interior (DOI) report last May to suggest that experts peer reviewed and supported the administration’s decision to impose a blanket moratorium on drilling in the Gulf of Mexico (GOM) following the well blowout that sank the Deepwater Horizon rig off the southern Louisiana coastline, according to a report released Tuesday by DOI’s Office of Inspector General (OIG).

The pace and extent of development in the Pennsylvania portion of the Marcellus Shale now may be “seen” in animated maps produced by the Penn State Marcellus Center for Outreach and Research, officials said Tuesday.

Obama officials supported the deepwater moratorium in the Gulf of Mexico even though they knew it would have “significant negative economic impact” and would cost up to 23,000 jobs, according to documents that were filed in federal court in New Orleans last week.

Two years ago most New Jersey residents supported oil and gas drilling in the state’s coastal waters, but the three-month-old BP plc oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico appears to have changed their minds, according to poll results released last Wednesday.