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Natural gas is on the precipice of a global “golden age,” but it could easily collapse under the weight of public opposition to drilling unless legitimate concerns are addressed, officials with the International Energy Agency (IEA) said last week.

Natural gas is on the precipice of a global “golden age,” but it could easily collapse under the weight of public opposition to drilling unless legitimate concerns are addressed, officials with the International Energy Agency (IEA) said Tuesday.

Wyoming has set aside $750,000 to help fund cistern systems for Pavillion homeowners whose groundwater may have been contaminated by natural gas drilling, and affected residents will be able to take advantage of that offer, Gov. Matt Mead told reporters last Wednesday.

Unless an accord was reached over the weekend, the initial multi-district litigation (MDL) trial centering on the Macondo well explosion in April 2010 is scheduled to begin Monday in New Orleans. Sources said late last week the defendants were attempting to come to terms with lawyers representing thousands of plaintiffs.

The U.S.Coast Guard should make sure that annual security inspections are conducted of all Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) facilities and upgrade its database where inspection information is stored, the Governmental Accountability Office (GAO) recommended in a new report. Until then, the security of offshore facilities will be spotty at best, the agency said.

Environmental groups have told the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) they plan to sue the federal agency unless it quickly takes steps to invoke an ozone nonattainment designation in western Wyoming in the Upper Green River Basin, the site of natural gas drilling activity.

Environmental groups have told the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) they plan to sue the federal agency unless it quickly takes steps to invoke an ozone nonattainment designation in western Wyoming in the Upper Green River Basin, the site of natural gas drilling activity.

Two companies operating in the Marcellus Shale announced this week that they do not believe a recent ruling by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court will have an impact on their substantial leaseholds in that state’s portion of the play.

A ballot initiative sponsored by former natural gas industry executive Sheffield Nelson to raise Arkansas’ severance tax on natural gas production has passed the muster of the state attorney general and would go before voters next year if proponents can garner enough signatures.