Although the slowdown in the natural gas rich Marcellus Shale regions of Pennsylvania continue, news of new natural gas lease signings continues. The Mars Area School District approved a lease of 110 acres of school district property for fracking. The district will receive lease revenues of $3100 per acre and 18% royalty fees. Although viewed as a reasonable deal in todays environment, it falls short of the deal reached recently for the lease of over 1000 acres for fracking at a state park in western Pennsylvania.
Further south, the start of fracking in North Carolina has been delayed. A Court issued a halt to the start-up of the first fracking well pending review of various legal issues raised in a lawsuit. If fracking is eventually allowed, North Carolina will become the 34th state allowing fracking within its borders.
New York meanwhile continues to review fracking and will not permit any type of fracking within its borders. No end in the stand-off appears imminent.
Finally, an oil carrying pipeline in Santa Barbara California sprung a terrible leak this week. The leak occurred right along the Pacific Beach and has gained national attention. The failure comes at a time when pipeline industry leaders are attempting to gain approval for billions of dollars woth of pipeline projects nationwide.
