The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has regularly-updated maps of oil and gas drilling activity available on their website. They also have maps of permits issued and wells drilled with separate tabulations for the Marcellus Shale.

A Catholic cemetery association has leased over 1000 acres of land giving Huntley & Huntley a five year option to drill for natural gas. More at the Lebanon Daily News.

The proposed severance tax on Marcellus Shale gas production in Pennsylvania could be a campaign issue in the November governor’s race. More at wduqnews.com.

This article contains a “round up” of items relevant to the Marcellus Shale from country commissioners across Pennsylvania. Some are ready to use zoning to control natural gas drilling and transport. More at AmericanAgriculturalist.com.

An article on Businessweek.com reports on a planned pipeline that will transport Marcellus Shale gas from Pennsylvania into upstate New York. The drilling moratorium in New York opens markets for Pennsylvania gas.

Drillers are now starting fewer wells – but those wells are a lot more expensive. State revenues from natural gas drilling are increasing. Electric utilities are switching from coal to gas. An article at Herald-Dispatch explores these and more.

An article at Platts.com reports on the 17-person emergency response team that will be located in Pennsylvania to respond to natural gas well emergencies.

BusinessWeek.com.When an oil or gas well is drilled it withdraws fluids from beneath lands surrounding the well. This gets more complicated when a well is deviated to horizontal below the ground and penetrates beneath many land parcels. Pennsylvania might have a bill this fall that requires groups of landowners to enter into certain extraction / compensation arrangements even if some do not agree. More at

Falling natural gas prices and an abundance of local production could result in significant rate cuts for lots of residential gas customers who live near developing gas fields. Customers of UGI Utilities, located in Reading, Pennsylvania could pay 16.3% less for their gas next winter.

A member of the Pennsylvania State Senate is concerned that gas companies might receive the ability to force landowners into “pools” as part of the proposed severance tax bill. More at The Times Tribune.

In Pennsylvania the state Department of Environmental Protection is in charge of the regulations that govern natural gas drilling. However, some townships and counties are interested in regulating these activities at the local level. An article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette explores the ability of local government to regulate natural gas drilling.

Here are some clips of unnarrated YouTube video that show scenes from the Huntley and Huntley natural gas well fire that occurred near Indiana, Pennsylvania. This accident involved a conventional well that was not drilled into the Marcellus Shale.

Two Huntley and Huntley workers were killed while servicing a natural gas well near Indiana, Pennsylvania. Experts from Wild Well Control in Houston, Texas were flown in to cap the well. More at the Post-Gazette.com website.

A New York Times article looks at some of the recent large investments in the Marcellus Shale Gas Field and quotes an industry estimate of 30,000 new wells drilled in the next ten years.

An article on the PressConnects website explores how drilling for the Marcellus Shale is changing the landscape and lives of people in rural Bradford County, Pennsylvania. A few years ago no wells were being drilled, but 119 wells were drilled in 2009. So far this year 81 have been drilled and 367 drilling permits have been granted.