The Summit County Farm Bureau will hold two public seminars on oil and gas leasing, with the first 6:30 p.m. Feb. 9 at Raintree Country Club, 4350 Mayfair Road, Uniontown.
The Raintree meeting will be a repeat of a similar informational meeting the farm bureau held on Dec. 19. Dale Arnold, director of Energy, Utility and Local Government Policy for the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation, will speak on the recent oil and gas expansion in Northeast Ohio and what landowners should consider when signing a lease.
The second meeting will be 6:30 p.m. Feb 13 at Copley Community Center, 1278 Sunset Dr.; Copley.
Dale Arnold and representatives from the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources’ Division of Oil and Gas will discuss what people can expect once they sign a lease and how the ODNR monitors the drilling processes.
Doors open at 6 p.m. for both events. RSVP by calling 1-800-654-5158.

Akron is urging the state to return the authority to regulate oil and gas wells to cities.
City council passed a resolution Monday asking that the state allow large cities to address safety concerns posed by oil and gas wells and to regulate the location and method of extraction of oil and gas. The resolution said “the recent change in drilling technology know as ‘fracking’ has caused concerns to public safety in heavily populated urban areas.”
Councilman Jeff Fusco said cities had this power prior to 2004 when both municipalities and the state regulated oil and gas wells. He said cities were able to address concerns like noise, safety and buffering. The state then assumed control, leaving cities with no say in the location of wells.
Fusco said this represents an “erosion of home rule.”
Council unanimously adopted the resolution.

Chesapeake Energy Corp. has fractured a natural gas well in Portage County using about one-tenth of the water typical in the “fracking” process.

The Associated Press reported today that authorities in eastern Ohio are getting numerous 911 telephone calls about a red glow in the night sky.

Jefferson County officials tracked the red skies to "flaring" or burning off natural gas at newly drilled wells.

Bloomberg News reports that Apache Corp. agreed to buy Denver-based Cordillera Energy Partners  III LLC for $2.85 billion in cash and stock.

The deal more than doubles Apache's holdings in the Anadarko  basin in western Oklahoma, the Texas Panhandle and nearby states. It  adds estimated reserves of 71.5 million barrels of oil equivalent, the Houston-based company said on Monday.

The U.S. Energy Department has cut its estimate for natural gas reserves in the Marcellus shale by 66 percent, citing improved data on drilling and production.

About 143 trillion cubic feet of natural gas can be recovered using current technologies, the agency said.

Oklahoma-based Chesapeake Energy Corp. said Monday it will cut natural gas output, idle drilling rigs and reduce spending in gas fields by 70 percent because of low natural gas prices.

The Jan. 23 informational meeting at Revere High School on drilling for natural gas and hydraulic fracturing or fracking has been postponed.

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources said its staff was unable to attend that night. The meeting will be rescheduled.

Ohio manufacturers may be able to tap in the state's Utica shale and that could lower energy costs and boost manufacturing in Ohio, according to the head of the National Association of Manufacturers.

Shale energy is a potential game-changer, said chief executive Jay Timmons in comments Friday at the Cleveland City Club, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday announced that it will deliver drinking water to four households in the town of Dimock because of contaminated water from nearby drilling operations.

The agency also said it will conduct its own testing of drinking water in 61 homes in rural Susquehanna County.

Spears & Associates reported that hydraulic fracturing or fracking is expected to grow 19 percent worldwide in 2012 to a record $37 billion, Bloomberg News said.

North American spending on the technique is expected to top $30 billion in 2012, according to the Oklahoma-based company. It advises about 400 oil producers, hedge funds, equipment suppliers and manufacturers on energy-industry trends.

Portage County's Randolph Township will host a public meeting on Jan. 25 to look at hydraulic fracturing or fracking in natural gas drilling.

The meeting will begin at 7 p.m. in the township community center, 1639 State Route 44.

Youngstown recorded its 12th earthquake since last March last weekend.

The quake on Jan. 13 was a 2.1-magnitude.

Chesapeake Energy Corp. is one of the "100 Best Companies to Work For," according to Fortune Magazine.

The Oklahoma-based energy company is the top player in Ohio's Utica shale.

A poll of Ohioans shows that seven out of 10 want the hydraulic fracturing or fracking process used in natural gas drilling halted until the issue can be studied further.

Those surveyed in the Quinnipiac University survey said they feel that the economic benefits of fracking outweighed the risks.

ALBANY, N.Y.: Two groups of scientists at Cornell University are dueling over whether natural gas from shale is better or worse than coal when it comes to global climate change.

The Ohio Petroleum Council today urged state policy makers to proceed with “cautious deliberation” in raising taxes or imposing higher fees on natural gas-oil drillers.

“Any increase in taxes on the industry could slow job growth in Ohio,” said Terry Fleming, executive director of the Columbus-based Ohio Petroleum Council.

According to the Columbus Dispatch, Gov. John Kasich is looking at imposing an "impact fee" of natural gas-oil drillers in Ohio.

Such a fee would cover the cost of damage to local infrastructure and would be part of a package of taxes and fees that Kasich will unveil soon, the paper reported today.

The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday noted that President Barack Obama has acknowledged natural gas from shale.

Last week, the White House issued its latest report on job and that included a section on America's Natural Resources Boom.

 Mahoning County is  not the only earthquake hot spot in Ohio.

Washington County in southern Ohio has had four small quakes since October 2010, according to the Youngstown Vindicator.

Columnist Tom Suddes of the Cleveland Plain Dealer explained how fracking or hydraulic fracturing came to Ohio after local communities had been stripped of their authority over drilling.

And all that happened with term limits in place on state legislators.

There is a trend away from coal and toward cleaner natural gas among American utilities, according to the Associated Press.

In the U.S., the electricity generated by gas-fired plants has risen by 50 percent over the last decade, while coal-generated electricity dropped slightly.

Bath Township and the Friends of Yellow Creek are co-hosting a program on shale drilling and hydraulic fracturing or fracking on Jan. 23.

The meeting looking at environmental, legal and compensation issues will be at 7 p.m. in the auditorium at Revere High School, 3420 Everett Road.

An Ohio legislative subcommittee is holding a public hearing on a Youngstown injection well and 11 earthquakes on Tuesday, Jan. 17, in Youngstown.

The hearing of the House's Natural Resources and Agriculture subcommittee will be held at 10 a.m. in the Chestnut Room at Youngstown State University's Kilcawley Center.

A anti-drilling grass-roots group, Concerned Citizens of Medina County, is holding a public meeting on Jan. 20 in Brunswick.

The meeting will begin at 7 p.m. in the Brunswick City Hall, 4095 Center Road (state Route 303).

Chesapeake Energy Corp., shell companies it used and missing leasing bonuses to Michigan landowners are spotlighted in a special Reuters report.

The Oklahoma-based company is the No. 1 player in Ohio's Utica shale.

The pro-drilling Marcellus Shale Coalition wants uniform drilling rules in Pennsylvania.

Since Oct. 1, 27 municipalities in 11   have considered or adopted new industry rules, says Gene Barr, president and chief executive officer of the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry.

Bloomberg News reports that natural gas-oil industry is already looking into super fracking to extract even more natural gas and oil.

That would require creating longer and deeper cracks in underground rocks to release more natural gas and oil. Companies want to boost production and lower costs.

Tom Stewart, the vice president and executive director of the Ohio Oil and Gas Association, says the industry is under scrutiny.

Speaking at a Columbus Business First event this week, Stewart said, "It's starting to get ugly," speaking of opposition to fracking in Ohio.

YOUNGSTOWN, OHIO: The company that voluntarily shut down an oil and gas wastewater well to study any links to a series of earthquakes in northeast Ohio is urging caution in accepting a seismologist’s finding that the injection well almost certainly caused the quakes.

Fracking may start hurting  American food manufacturers including ice cream makers, according to the Wall Street Journal.

That's because drillers are using more guar gum, a thickener that comes from a plant grown in India and Pakistan.

The Associated Press reports from Poland that seven people including government officials have been charged with corruption in the granting of licenses for shale gas exploration in that European country.

Bribes of tens of thousands of ziotys were allegedly handed out in the second half of 2011 alone, officials said.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has told New York that state regulators should set limits of radioactive materials in gas-drilling  waste water sent to public sewage treatment plants.

That should be done before the state allows any hydraulic fracturing or fracking of natural gas well in New York.

Karl Henkel of the Youngstown Vindicator reports on his shale blog that Ohio is still in the running for the $2 billion cracker plant to process ethane from natural gas drilling  into ethylene for plastics.

Ohio is competing with West Virginia and Pennsylvania for the Shell Chemical  plant.

The U.S. Energy Information Agency has created an animation map showing how the Bakken shale field has developed over the years, through 2010.

EIA reports: "... the Bakken drilling and production animation above shows that drilling activity built up gradually and eventually led to rapid growth, particularly from 2006 to 2010. Production grew because of increased use of horizontal drilling and the addition of hydraulic fracturing, coupled with elevated prices for crude oil and other natural gas liquids.

The New Jersey Legislature late Monday accepted Gov. Chris Christie's recommendation for a one-year moratorium on hydraulic fracturing or fracking in drilling for natural gas.

The state was also mulling a total ban on the drilling practice that the industry says is needed and is safe. Critics contend that it may pollute drinking water and threaten public health.

State Sen. Robert Hagan, D-Youngstown, is conducting a public meeting on Wednesday on the earthquake that rattled Northeast Ohio on Dec. 31 that stems from a Youngstown injection well to handle drilling wastes.

Hagan's hearing will begin at 5 p.m. at the Covelli Centre,229 E. Front St., Youngstown.

New York is considering lifting a three-year moratorium on drilling into the Marcellus shale.

Today is the deadline for public comment on the proposal, and New York had gotten 21,000 comments through Monday.

About 250 Ohioans gathered on the west lawn of the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus today to protest hydraulic fracturing or fracking and to call on Ohio to adopt a moratorium on drilling natural gas production and waste injection wells.

Speakers included nine members of the Ohio General Assembly.

Oops.

Pennsylvania's Department of Environmental Protection has under-counted the number of wells producing Marcellus shale natural gas, according to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

Two subsidiaries of Chesapeake Energy Corp. are looking for Northeast Ohio employees to drive trucks and for what are called "field tech" positions.
A jobs fair is scheduled from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 12, at the Holiday Inn North Canton, 4520 Everhard Road NW, Canton.
Chesapeake subsidiary Oilfield Trucking Solutions says it needs to hire "several" tank-truck drivers to haul oil from remote locations in the greater Canton area. The company is looking for experienced drivers.
Chesapeake subsidiary Great Plains Oilfield Rental, meanwhile, said it needs employees who will work on pressurized pipes, pumps and other equipment in all kinds of weather, with "substantial" overtime and on-call servicing required.
To submit a resume, e-mail to txc@selfopportunity.com. Call 800-594-7036 to make an appointment.

Here are more news items about Ohio's Utica shale and drilling:

1. Chesapeake Energy Corp., the biggest player in Ohio, has agreed to sell a pipeline subsidiary to an affiliated partnership for $865 million.

The China Petrochemical Corp. is buying into Ohio's potentially lucrative Utica shale.

The state-owned energy company, known as Sinopec Group, is buying a 33 percent stake in five projects developed by Oklahoma-based Devon Energy Corp. for $900 million.

Last Thursday, the Ohio Environmental Council and partner eco-groups staged a protest in Geauga County.

Geauga County is getting its first deep Utica shale well for natural gas.

Ohio officials are investigating whether an injection well for drilling wastes in Youngstown has triggered 11 earthquakes since last March.

But scientists have known for years that injecting drilling wastes underground causes such quakes, says Greenwire, a national environmental-energy news agency.

The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency is working to minimize the impact to Ohio waters of tapping deep underground shale while providing the drilling industry with an effective and efficient permitting process.

The agency has issued what's called a draft general permit for wetland and stream impacts at Utica and Marcellus shale gas well sites in eastern Ohio.

In the greater Akron area, Stark County ranked first in shale-related drilling leases in 2011.

The county had 4,563 natural gas-oil drilling leases filed. That's up from 1,113 in 2010.

Here are some recent reports on Ohio's Utica shale and drilling activities:

1. The Associated Press reported on Friday that officials in Ohio's Richland County want to create a regional fund to fight two proposed injection wells in Mansfield.

More shale news:

1. The head of the powerful American Petroleum Institute is knocking the Obama administration's energy policy.

The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency is holding a Jan. 12 public hearing on the city of Warren's discharge permit for its sewage-treatment plant.

The Trumbull County hearing will begin at 6 p.m. at Warren G. Harding High School, 860 Elm St. NE. Warren.

The grass-roots group, Carroll Concerned Citizens, is holding a workshop Thursday on water testing for landowners.

The program on understanding water test results will be 7 p.m at the Church of Christ-Christian Disciples, 353 Moody St., Carrollton.

Fallout from the Dec. 31 4.0-magnitude earthquake near a Youngstown injection well for drilling wastes continues to roll in.

Youngstown Mayor Charles Sammarone, a Democrat, wants City Council to approve legislation backing a moratorium on injection wells.

An anti-fracking rally is scheduled Jan. 10 at the Ohio Statehouse in Columbus.

The event, billed as No Frack Ohio, Stop the Madness, will run from 1 to 3 p.m.

Chesapeake Energy Corp. has a new partner in developing Ohio's Utica shale: a subsidiary of a French energy giant.

Total E&P USA Inc., a subsidiary of Total SA, Frances's largest oil company, will pay $2.32 billion for a 25 percent interest in 619,000 acres of eastern Ohio with liquids-rich Utica shale.

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources acted appropriately in shutting down an injection well in Mahoning County that has been linked to earthquakes, said Terry Fleming of the Ohio Petroleum Council.

Fleming issued his statement today.

Hydraulic fracturing or fracking is getting bigger.

More people are conducting Google searches for fracking than for global warming.