The Associated Press reports Chesapeake has named an Anadarko executive, Robert Douglas Lawler, as its new CEO. Chesapeake is the second-largest natural gas producer in the United States and the most active gas driller in Pennsylvania. Lawler is currently the senior vice president for international and deep-water operations at Anadarko. He also will also join [...]
Deep in the Loyalsock State Forest, where no cell phone signal reaches, the sounds of rushing waterfalls and forest birds are suddenly interrupted by the sound of a helicopter. Paul Zeph of the Pennsylvania Audubon Society says the noise could be related to gas drilling. Drillers will often drop seismic testing equipment into remote areas [...]
Penn State geologist Terry Engelder, who helped propel the state’s shale gas boom by revealing how much natural gas lies trapped within the Marcellus, says the industry would be better off with more disclosure. Speaking to Gas Rush Stories producer Kirsi Jansa after a panel discussion on the lack of openness at the Pennsylvania Department [...]
Ernest Moniz, President Barack Obama’s pick for Energy Secretary, glided easily through the nomination process, garnering unanimous support from the Senate. The MIT physics professor replaces Steven Chu, who stepped down in April. Moniz served as undersecretary for the agency during the Clinton Administration. He currently runs MIT’s Energy Initiative, which is partly funded by [...]
A new poll out Tuesday shows strong support for a moratorium on natural gas drilling in Pennsylvania, despite showing general support for gas extraction. The Center for Local, State, and Urban Policy at the University of Michigan, in conjunction with the Muhlenberg College Institute of Public Opinion, surveyed both Pennsylvania and Michigan residents on fracking. [...]
The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette reports Consol Energy shut reporters out of its annual shareholders meeting Wednesday. According to the Post-Gazette, this is the second year in a row the company has kept its doors closed to the media: The practice is not illegal, but “it’s not appropriate,” said Lev Janashvili, managing director at GMI Ratings, a [...]
When it comes to Marcellus Shale Gas development, the differences between the Delaware River Basin Commission and its central Pennsylvania counterpart, the Susquehanna River Basin Commission, are stark. The DRBC has been the force behind a drilling moratorium in Northeast Pennsylvania and southern New York. But the Susquehanna River Basin Commission has not weighed in [...]
The Financial Times reports that President Obama may be ready to support more exports of liquefied natural gas, after the President was quoted this weekend saying the U.S. may be a net exporter of natural gas by 2020. The push for exports comes from the natural gas industry, which has experienced a boom in shale [...]
Under former Secretary Michael Krancer, the Department of Environmental Protection was not always the easiest place to get information about Marcellus Shale gas drilling. But it looks like Krancer is eager to talk about natural gas drilling now that he’s switched to the private sector. Under Krancer, right-to-know requests for inspectors’ notes about drilling-related water [...]
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection says a 16-month long investigation concluded that gas drilling did not cause nearby residential water wells to contain high levels of methane in Franklin Township, Susquehanna County. Speaking to StateImpact last September at a protest in Philadelphia, Franklin Forks resident Tammy Manning said she was convinced gas drilling caused [...]
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