"A lot of people where I live want all the energy development they can get, because they don't like depending on foreigners for anything. I wonder if any heads will explode when this comes to a drill rig near them."
The gas will be sourced in the US and sold to US customers. I doubt many people care who the supplier is, as long as the stove turns on and the heater blows warm air.
Some people exhibit a logical disconnect when "our" resources are being extracted by "those" people, even if we're still using the resources here. That sort of mindset happens out here. A lot. I don't think the state really cares, but with a lot of landowners holding the split estate mineral rights as well as surface rights that could be an issue in securing leases. If it were an issue to that degree, it would also become a political issue within the state.
"I wonder how some of these companies are to work with in regards to environmental issues."
Any gas operation in America must abide by federal, state & local regulations.
"Must abide" does not necessarily mean "does abide." It also does not mean they abide willingly if they do choose to abide, or are honest and forthcoming or even self-reporting when violations do occur. Some companies are great to work with from a regulatory perspective, others are holy terrors. Great to work with would mean they do actually comply with the regs, they do self-report when things go wrong, they do give me a heads up when there's a problem coming my way. Holy terror would mean they don't comply, they hide or destroy evidence, and they deny knowledge of willful violations.
As it turns out, it's often easier to work directly with companies on prevention, mitigation, and self reporting than it is to get state governments to take any active role in doing the same. As far as my state is concerned, any well that isn't being drilled, any pipeline that isn't being installed, is lost economic opportunity that can never be recovered and therefore can't be allowed to be lost, never mind what the long term costs may be. As some oil reps have said to me, they love working in this state because it's like there are no rules. So like I said, I'm curious where these companies fall on the spectrum.
And I notice that last sentence there sounds a lot like the standard press release Marathon, Halliburton, etc. use when explaining accidents or deaths on their work sites. I'm not suggesting anything, it just sticks out.