Sorry, but we respect the intellectual works of others here at RedState. That means we don’t cut and paste entire articles from either traditional or new media sources 1) because it is copyright infringement, and 2) because we expect others to respect our rights to original material published at RedState.

Now, I am not a lawyer and I’m certainly no expert on copyright law, but my understanding of “fair use” is this: it is permissible to quote limited quantities of material from another source, preferably with a link and always with attribution. “Limited quantities” generally means three (3) paragraphs or so. The diarist is expected to analyze, comment, or otherwise amplify on the quoted material.

Material that you own and publish elsewhere should not be excerpted here, but published in full. It is acceptable to link to your personal blog in acknowledging the cross-link.

Oh, and here’s the link to the Western Gas Fields article, from the Rocket-Courier in Wyalusing, PA.

TOWANDA – While Bradford County has experienced extensive gas drilling for a few years, what will it be like after the drilling has gone on for decades?

The three Bradford County commissioners and other local officials had a chance to get a sense of what could happen when they traveled last week to participate in a two-day conference in Lea County, N.M.

Lea County’s economy had been based for decades on natural gas production, although in the last decade its economy has diversified to include other forms of energy, such as nuclear, solar, and wind, the Bradford County commissioners said.

The conference, which was titled “Shale Gas & Conventional Gas: From Pennsylvania to New Mexico,” discussed the issues surrounding the development of shale gas using Lea County, N.M., and Bradford County, Pa., as case studies, according to the Economic Development Corporation of Lea County, which co-sponsored the conference.

Lea County’s population is about the same size as Bradford County’s, but its economy is dependent solely on energy production, Bradford County Commissioner Daryl Miller said.

The Bradford County commissioners discussed the trip at the commissioners’ meeting on Thursday, and both commissioners Doug McLinko and Mark Smith said it was worthwhile to travel to New Mexico.

McLinko said the trip reinforced for him the belief that Bradford County needs to do more to be ready to take advantage of opportunities to bring long-term jobs to the county, such as the planned Moxie Energy gas-fired electric power plant in Asylum Township. The Moxie Energy plant will bring a significant number of long-term jobs to the county, he said.

“They (Lea County officials) are very aggressive with their (economic) development (efforts)” to keep and attract long-term jobs, he said, adding that Lea County needed to broaden the base of their economy so that they were not tied to the ups and downs of the natural gas industry.

Among the measures that Lea County has taken are to purchase and lease thousands of acres of land, and Lea County is bringing infrastructure to that land, such as municipal water and electrical service, in an effort to attract industry to locate on the property, McLinko said. By controlling those thousands of acres of land, Lea County can offer attractive terms to the businesses that consider moving there, said Bradford County Economic Development Manager Lauren Hotaling, who also attended the conference.

McLinko said he does not want Bradford County to buy or lease land to attract businesses. But he said that townships, boroughs, and private property owners in Bradford County need to take steps to make sure there is land available for businesses or industry to move to, and that that land is ready with the infrastructure they need, such as municipal water and sewer, as well as any zoning provisions.

“When you get an opportunity for development, you can’t lag behind, because we are in competition with other states,” he said.

However, Hotaling said one problem with attracting businesses and industry to Bradford County is that there is a limited area in the county that has the kind of infrastructure that many large businesses are looking for, such as municipal water and municipal sewer.

And in the locations where municipal water and sewer exists or will soon exist, such as Route 6 in Wysox Township, the land is expensive to buy, she said.

There is even a lack of natural gas distribution lines in Bradford County that could supply these large businesses, she said.

Just as is the case in Bradford County, hotels in Lea County are used by workers in the energy extraction industry, namely gas and oil drilling, Hotaling said.

But Lea County has secured a use for its hotels which will buffer them against the ups and downs in gas and oil drilling. Specifically, Lea County has become a training center for Homeland Security, she said. The training has resulted in the construction of three or four additional hotels in Lea County, she said.

Hotaling also said that New Mexico’s state budget is heavily dependant on revenue from the gas and oil industry.

The gas and oil industry provides over 26 percent of New Mexico’s state funds, she said.

New Mexico has a state severance tax on gas and oil, she said. New Mexico also gets a significant amount of revenue from lease bonuses and royalties on state-owned land, she said.

Among the local officials who traveled to the conference were state Rep. Tina Pickett, Progress Authority Executive Director Tony Ventello, and Mark Madden of Penn State Cooperative Extension.

Bradford County paid the airfare to the conference for the three Bradford County commissioners, according to Bradford County Fiscal Director Joan Sanderson.

The Progress Authority paid for lodging and meals for the three Bradford County commissioners while they were in New Mexico, Hotaling said.

James Loewenstein can be reached at (570) 265-1633; or email: jloewenstein@thedailyreview.com.

January 12-13, 2012, Lea County Event Center, Hobbs, NM, EnergyPlex Conference Series 2012

HOBBS, N.M., Dec. 20, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — On January 12 and 13, the Economic Development Corporation ofLea County and the New Mexico Tech University’s New Mexico Center for Energy Policy will kick off the EnergyPlex Conference 2012 Series with Shale Gas & Conventional Gas: From Pennsylvania to New Mexico. This conference will discuss the issues surrounding the development of shale gas using Lea County, NM and Bradford County, PA as case studies.

Panelists will address the state and national economic implications of shale and conventional oil and long-term planning strategies. Keynote speakers for lunch sessions will include U.S. Congressman Steve Pearce on Thursday and Pennsylvania State Representative Tina Pickett and New Mexico Lt. Governor John Sanchez on Friday.

Panel discussions will be comprised of industry experts and government officials who will present information on topics including: Shale Gas: A Technology Play that Changed Scarcity to Plenty; Shale Gas: Regulation and Opposition; and Natural Gas in Two Counties: Organizing for Long-Term Economic Development and Public Benefits.

“The purpose of this conference is to bring together shale gas and conventional gas producing counties to discuss the opportunities and challenges of the regulations, economics and energy security surrounding this natural resource,” says conference co-organizer, Lisa Hardison, President and CEO of the Economic Development Corporation of Lea County. Dr.Daniel Fine, Research Associate for the New Mexico Center for Energy Policy/ New Mexico Tech and co-organizer of the conference adds, “Another important element of this conference examines how new innovations in technology to produce shale gas can lower energy costs for consumers and create productive jobs.” Douglas McLinko, County Commission Chair forBradford County Pennsylvania further explains that this conference “is an exciting first step towards creating a national core of county leadership focused on shale and conventional gas.”

Participants can register for the conference through the www.energyplexnm.com website. A registration fee of $50 covers entrance into the conference, meeting materials, and two lunches.

For more information about the conference, to see a full agenda, and to register, please visit www.energyplexnm.com.

Conference Dates
January 12, 2012, 7:45 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
January 13, 2012, 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Lea County Event Center
5105 N Lovington Hwy • Hobbs, NM 88240 USA
On the Web: www.energyplexnm.com

SOURCE Economic Development Corporation of Lea County

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http://www.energyplexnm.com

The Impact of Shale Gas Technology on Geopolitics

Dr. Daniel Fine of MIT discusses how new technology in extracting gas will impact geopolitics and the environment

Dr. Daniel Fine of the Mining and Minerals Resources Institute at MIT addressed Fletcher students at a talk sponsored by the International Security Studies Program and offered his insights into how the development of new technology will allow the United States to tap vast, previously inaccessible, resources of natural gas that will impact everything from the price of gasoline to the ability of Chinese companies to buy equity in Russian natural gas fields.

The United States has a monopoly on “hydro-fracing” technology. The technology, short for hydraulic fracturing, releases natural gas trapped in shale deposits by injecting the deposits with high-pressure water mixed with sand and small amounts of chemical additives.

According to Dr. Fine, the “cloud over gas” used to be “do we have enough gas?” In 2003, Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan declared that the United States did not have enough natural gas, and that it would be necessary to import liquid natural gas (LNG). This, said Dr. Fine, was clearly a mistake in the light of the new hydro-facing technology, not only because importing LNG poses a security risk to the United States, but because tapping natural gas from shale represents an economic “bonanza” in “the most [economically] repressed parts of the country:” western New York, western Pennsylvania and West Virginia, areas which suffer from high rates of unemployment, and are estimated to host 490 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. The thousands of jobs that could be created in these areas could stand in the way of President Obama’s pursuit of subsidies for renewable energy.

For more of this excellent article go to —

http://fletcher.tufts.edu/news/2010/04/features/fine.shtml