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New technology and a little-known energy source suggest that fossil fuels may not be finite. This would be a miracle—and a nightmare. As the great research ship Chikyu left Shimizu in January to mine the explosive ice beneath the Philippine Sea, chances are good that not one of the scientists aboard realized they might be closing the door on Winston Churchill’s world. Their lack of knowledge is unsurprising; beyond the ranks of petroleum-industry historians, Churchill’s outsize role in the history of energy is insufficiently appreciated. Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill was appointed First Lord of the Admiralty in 1911. With characteristic...

Cheap natural gas has split the climate debate into two camps. One celebrates the development, emphasizing that natural gas cuts emissions when it replaces coal, and arguing that abundant gas reduces emissions as a result. The other bemoans the news, noting that inexpensive natural gas makes it tougher for zero-carbon energy to compete and arguing that this will ultimately result in higher, not lower, emissions. Which view is right? Exploring a set of simulations just released as part of the Annual Energy Outlook published by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) provides some neat insight. For the first time, the EIA...

LUDWIGSHAFEN, Germany — The sprawling chemical plant in this city along the Rhine River has been a jewel of Germany’s manufacturing-led economy for more than a century. But the plunging price of natural gas in the United States has European companies setting sail across the Atlantic to stay competitive. German chemicals giant BASF, which operates the plant here, has announced plans for wide-ranging expansion in the United States, where natural gas prices have fallen to a quarter of those in Europe, largely because of American innovations in unlocking shale gas. Among those most affected are energy-intensive industries such as steel...

ALBANY, N.Y. - A formal complaint filed with New York's lobbying board asks it to investigate whether Artists Against Fracking, a group that includes Yoko Ono and other A-List celebrities, is violating the state's lobbying law, according to the document obtained by The Associated Press. The Independent Oil & Gas Association, an industry group that supports gas drilling, filed the complaint Tuesday with the state's Joint Commission on Public Ethics. The complaint is based on an AP story that found that Artists Against Fracking and its members, including Ono, her son Sean Lennon, actors Mark Ruffalo and Robert De Niro...

Such is the impact of the shale gas revolution in the United States that it's quite possible that babies born today will no longer play with plastic dolls and cars made in China. It's almost become a fait accompli that China is the world's factory, but the early warning signs that this may be changing are starting to show. The advent of cheap natural gas in the U.S. is threatening to displace expensive naphtha in the production of petrochemicals, the key building blocks for plastics, synthetic fibres and solvents and cleaners. While the shale gas boom is certainly no longer...

North America has become the fastest growing oil and gas region in the world. Production of shale oil and gas and oil sands resources are increasing year after year as new infrastructures are developed, new extraction technologies are used and more resources are found. The surging supply growth could change North America into the new Middle East by 2020 according to a GPS report produced by Citigroup (NYSE: C). If accurate, the energy industry would generate benefits from exploitation of oil and ensure endless economic wealth for the country. As a matter of fact, crude oil is off its all-time...

<p>“THE NATURAL-GAS boom has led to cleaner power and greater energy independence,” President Obama declared in his State of the Union addressTuesday night. “That’s why my administration will keep cutting red tape and speeding up new oil and gas permits.”</p>

A new state report shows Utica shale has started bringing good-paying jobs to Ohio. Employment in core shale industries, such as pipeline construction and well drilling, increased 17 percent from the first quarter of 2011 to the first quarter of 2012. Employment in ancillary shale industries such as freight trucking and environmental consulting increased 3 percent over the same period, according the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services report. Overall, the shale industry added nearly 6,000 jobs during that time. The average salary in core shale industries was $73,934 while the average salary in ancillary industries was $58,765...

As a rally is being organized for Thursday in Allegany by opponents of hydraulic fracturing, New Yorkers as a whole and in the Southern Tier remain evenly split on the controversial drilling technique for natural gas. According to a Siena Research Institute poll released this week, when asked initially, voters statewide are evenly divided with 40 percent in support of the Department of Environmental Conservation allowing fracking to move forward in parts of upstate and 40 percent opposed (40 percent to 44 percent last month) Forty-seven percent of Southern Tier voters support fracking, while 48 percent are opposed. After reviewing...

Shale energy exploration, the growing practice of deep horizontal drilling to harvest oil and natural gas previously beyond reach, has changed America’s energy industry and overall economy. The fact that natural gas prices are at a ten-year-low is a strong indicator of this positive change. And in the areas where the actual drilling occurs– Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas, Louisiana and North Dakota– there are even more direct economic impacts of what has been called the “shale boom.” Benesch, an Ohio based firm with expertise in transportation law, recently collaborated with National Tank Truck Carriers in Washington, D.C. and the Ohio Trucking...

When it comes to reversing the economy’s fourth-quarter growth decline, shale gas is the answer, says Wilbur Ross, chief of private equity firm WL Ross. “The best way to overcome the negative gross domestic product figures that were just released would be to encourage the exploitation of shale gas both for domestic and for international purposes,” he tells Fox Business Network. The clean energy concerns that have stifled permit issuance for shale gas extraction can easily be solved, Ross notes. “The greenies worry that shale gas would drive the price of electricity down and make sun power and wind power...

PITTSBURGH - Private landowners are reaping billions of dollars in royalties each year from the boom in natural gas drilling, transforming lives and livelihoods even as the windfall provides only a modest boost to the broader economy. In Pennsylvania alone, royalty payments could top $1.2 billion for 2012, according to an analysis by The Associated Press that looked at state tax information, production records and estimates from the National Association of Royalty Owners. For some landowners, the unexpected royalties have made a big difference...

A new study out by the Huntington Bank finds that nearly 60 percent of consumers in shale gas exploration regions are confident the industry will provide opportunity in their area. The Midwest Economic Index surveyed across Huntington Bank's service area – from West Virginia through Michigan. The new survey is the first of its kind conducted by Huntington. "Huntington commissioned the survey by an independent research firm because we are committed to helping our customers understand the economy in our markets," said Steve Steinour, chairman, president and CEO of Huntington Bank. "While many inside and outside of the energy industry...

TOWANDA, Pa. -- In the backyard of the Marcellus Shale natural gas formation, another petroleum retailer is entering the natural gas business. This Friday, Dandy Mini Marts is debuting its first compressed natural gas (CNG) fueling location in a grand opening at its Towanda, Pa., c-store, with local dignitaries and industry representatives in attendance. The site--said to be the first public CNG fueling site in Northern Pennsylvania--has been open for the past month (see slideshow below), with a second site under construction in Sayre, Pa., due to open around the beginning of March, and third location slated for Elmira, N.Y....

The Utica and Marcellus shale plays in Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and New York could represent more than $10 trillion in new economic activity when fully developed, says a new report from a bond rating firm. But the analysis by Kroll Bond Rating Agency in New York also cautions that the oil and natural gas shale boom is “fraught with a multitude of environmental and health issues” related to hydraulic fracturing, or fracking. It said concerns over methane escaping during drilling, water use in fracking operations and potential contamination issues all need to be adequately addressed. New York has banned...

Chemical producers abandoned the U.S. in droves. Cheap natural gas is luring them back. People predicting a manufacturing renaissance in the United States usually imagine whirring robots or advanced factories turning out wind turbines and solar panels. The real American edge might be in something entirely more mundane: cheap starting materials for plastic bottles and plastic bags. The plummeting price of natural gas, which can be used to make a vast number of products, including tires, carpet, antifreeze, lubricants, cloth, and many types of plastic, is luring key industries to the United States. Just five years ago, natural gas prices...

“Promised Land,” the anti-fracking film written and produced by Hollywood stars Matt Damon and John Krasinski, was made in part by a production company owned by the government of Arab oil emirate Abu Dhabi – a state in direct competition with American oil and gas producers. The film is financed in part by Image Nation Abu Dhabi, a subsidiary of Abu Dhabi Media which is owned by the government of Abu Dhabi, one of 13 Arab emirates that makes up the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and serves as that country’s capitol.Abu Dhabi media was created by the Abu Dhabi government...

The release of a conveniently long-lost report showing that fracking is safe puts New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo in a tight spot: continue to appease environmentalists by delaying further the development of the rich Marcellus Formation under his state, or letting the free market extract those resources and generate thousands of jobs and millions in revenue to the state. Fracking Is OK, Says Buried Report From New York State's Health Department The New American 04 January 2013 A report favoring fracking that was buried for nearly a year was given to the New York Times yesterday by a...

ALLENTOWN, Pa.-The new movie "Promised Land" digs into the fierce national debate over fracking, the technique that's generated a boom in U.S. natural gas production while also stoking controversy over its possible impact on the environment and human health. Written by and starring Matt Damon and John Krasinski, the film comes at an opportune time for a big-screen exploration of the issues surrounding the shale gas revolution, with cheap natural gas transforming the nation's energy landscape and "fracking" now a household word. But viewers shouldn't necessarily expect a realistic treatment of drilling and fracking. It's not that kind of film...

A word of warning: It’s impossible to review Promised Land, the new movie written by Matt Damon and John Krasinski and directed by Gus Van Sant, without giving away its twist ending. Though the plot turn is fumbling in its execution, it is the slyest tactic in the movie’s clumsy crusade against fracking, the process of injecting high-pressure chemicals, water, and sand into the ground to access vast quantities of otherwise inaccessible natural gas.Here’s the premise: Steve Butler (Damon) is a corporate salesman who draws on his rural roots to persuade farmers to sell their land to a fracking...