When

The New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), which had been scheduled on Wednesday to release the final draft of a report on the environmental impacts of hydraulic fracturing (fracking), said the report has been delayed because the department is too busy assisting with cleanup related to Hurricane Irene.

Natural gas development in the Pennsylvania Marcellus Shale has been economically beneficial, but maybe not as much as some studies have suggested, according to research by Pennsylvania State University.

When it takes 75,000-100,000 bbl of water to hydraulically fracture (frack) a shale well, “the oil and gas industry is effectively a water industry and delivers oil and gas as a byproduct…so welcome to the water industry,” an environmental services executive told a Houston energy audience Wednesday.

Natural gas and electric utilities drove results in the second quarter for Rapid City, SD-based Black Hills Corp. but: Despite flat results in the second quarter when its utilities drove increased profits, CEO Dave Emery last week talked up the company’s early stage horizontal drilling in the San Juan and Piceance basins.

A federal program released Tuesday that is intended to cut emissions and increase efficiency of medium- and heavy-duty trucks falls short when it comes to making the most of the country’s natural gas resources, natural gas vehicle (NGV) proponent NGVAmerica said.

Despite flat results in the second quarter when its utilities drove increased profits, Rapid City, SD-based Black Hills Corp. CEO Dave Emery talked up the company’s early stage horizontal drilling in the San Juan and Piceance basins.

A moratorium on natural gas well permitting in Flower Mound, TX, is to end Friday, but those applying to drill in the affluent Barnett Shale town from now on will face some tough new requirements recently approved by the Flower Mound Town Council.

Oil and natural gas producers got a dose of good news Wednesday when the House Appropriations Committee released its fiscal year (FY) 2012 spending bill for the Interior Department, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and related agencies.

Range Resources Corp. President Jeffrey L. Ventura is slated to become CEO of the company Jan. 1 when current CEO John H. Pinkerton will become executive chairman, the Marcellus Shale-focused producer said. Ventura, 53, is also the company’s current COO. He has been with Range since 2003 and was elected a director in 2005. Ventura has 32 years of industry experience and holds a bachelor’s degree in petroleum and natural gas engineering from Pennsylvania State University. Pinkerton has been CEO since 1992. Analysts at Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. said the management shift may “dampen” expectations in the near term that Range could merge with another player or be acquired, “but high-return assets are always desirable, especially given [Range’s] Marcellus position.”