Motor over to our Shale Watch blog for Gerard Matthews’ report on a public hearing on a waste disposal plan proposed to handle the byproduct of shale exploration in Prairie County. It’s not all royalty checks and prosperity for neighbors, as you’ll see. And folks in Des Arc are speaking up.

And speaking of the shale: Chesapeake Energy is holding a meeting for analysts today. Not a regular meeting, one of my correspondents says. The company is cash-strapped and there’s some expectation that the company might announce further reductions in exploration expenditures. (UPDATE: Yes, by $1.5 billion.) The company has plenty of debt already and credit isn’t exactly easy to come by these days. Add that to a drop in gas prices and, well, who knows? The company’s Arkansas budget (not counting advertising; that has indeed been slashed) wasn’t harmed by the first round of cuts, but the further reductions might be a different story.

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