Whether

Americans are divided on whether the United States is heading in the right direction with regard to domestic energy policy, but a plurality of those responding to a recent poll said it is government that should be leading the way.

The extent of the risks associated with development of shale oil and natural gas is “unknown” because existing studies have not taken into account the potential long-term, cumulative effects of the activity, according to a new report issued by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) Tuesday. The agency in a companion report did not make any recommendations to change environmental and public health requirements in light of advances in horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing (fracking).

Finger pointing has begun among the federal, state and industry stakeholders in the ongoing effort to determine whether natural gas drilling, and specifically hydraulic fracturing (fracking), near Pavillion, WY, has contaminated groundwater.

Finger pointing has begun among the federal, state and industry stakeholders in the ongoing effort to determine whether natural gas drilling in and around Pavillion, WY, has impacted ground water supplies.

A New York judge on Tuesday invalidated the City of Binghamton’s two-year ban by on hydraulic fracturing (fracking) and exploration activities that was enacted late last year.

Elected officials in the Town of Chenango, NY, voted unanimously on Wednesday to schedule a public hearing over whether to enact a one-year moratorium on oil and natural gas activities, including hydraulic fracturing (fracking).

In Pennsylvania, the Luzerne County Zoning Hearing Board will announce a decision on whether to allow a proposal by a midstream subsidiary of UGI Corp. to move forward at its next meeting on Sept. 4. UGI Energy Services Inc. wants to construct 27.4 miles of pipeline across Wyoming and Luzerne counties (see Shale Daily, Aug. 7). The balance of the project, 23.4 miles, would be a 24-inch diameter pipeline starting at the current terminus of UGI’s Auburn Pipeline in Wyoming and running southeast into Luzerne, with a new interconnection with the Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line (Transco) at West Wyoming Borough. The proposed compressor station would have three units with about 200,000 Dth/d of capacity. UGI also proposes to build four miles of 12-inch diameter pipeline, which would run south from the Transco interconnect and enter the city of Wilkes-Barre, where it would connect to the natural gas distribution system operated by UGI Utilities Inc., another subsidiary.

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett said there was a better than 50% chance that a subsidiary of Royal Dutch Shell plc will build an ethane cracker in Beaver County, and he said more work is necessary to make the facility a reality.

Shale gas is the “magic bullet” the U.S. petrochemical industry needs to make a full recovery from a decade of economic stagnation, according to researchers from Chemical Market Resources Inc. (CMR), a Houston firm that advises the chemical, petrochemical and plastics industries.