Industrywide Issues

Shapiro DEP Tweaks Reg to Publish Frack Chemicals Before Drilling

Big, breathless news coming from the do-nothing Josh Shapiro gubernatorial operation last Friday. THE MAN has made an edict to those waskily Marcellus drillers: You WILL disclose the chemicals you will use to frack and drill any given well you receive a permit for. Lights! Fireworks! Loud claps of thunder (and an echo) as if…

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NatGas WV Property Tax Mistake a Hot Mess – Counties Out Millions

Last summer, MDN told you that the new system to assess valuations of shale wells in West Virginia had turned into a mess (see WV NatGas Property Tax Rule Still a Mess, 303 Cases Appealed). That mess has just gotten messier — what we call a hot mess. A “clerical error” by a third-party vendor…

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PA PUC Publishes Fee Schedule for Marcellus Impact Fee/Tax 2023

In December, Pennsylvania’s Independent Fiscal Office (IFO), the agency charged with providing revenue projections along with impartial and objective analysis of fiscal, economic, and budgetary issues for the citizens and legislature of Pennsylvania, provided its best guess as to how much revenue the PA impact fee (i.e., severance tax) will generate from shale wells drilled…

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Shell PA Cracker’s First Birthday – One Unit Still Not Online

The Shell ethane cracker plant in Monaca, PA (Beaver County) just hit a milestone: It’s been up and running (in a manner of speaking) for one year. Except during that one year, quite a bit of the time was spent NOT running due to various technical and equipment issues. According to a review done by…

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Chester, PA Mayor Claims PA LNG Export Project for Philly “Dead”

The mayor of Chester, PA (a suburb of Philadelphia), Sefan Roots, boldly proclaimed over the weekend that an LNG export project planned for his community called Penn LNG is “dead in the water.” He bases his claim on Joe Biden’s recent declaration that all LNG export projects are “on pause” (see White House Makes it…

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White House Makes it Official – Biden Declares War on LNG Exports

The White House has made official what we warned you about yesterday (see Biden Attacks NatGas by Blocking 17 U.S. LNG Export Terminals). This morning, the Biden administration announced it has put “a temporary pause on pending decisions of Liquefied Natural Gas exports.” The reason? The so-called “climate crisis” is “the existential threat of our…

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Antis Have No Right to Appeal Decision to Drill Under State Parks

Anti-fossil fuel fanatics in Ohio (and beyond) still can’t accept that they lost a battle to block drilling under (not on) Ohio state-owned land, including some Ohio state parks. In November, the Ohio Oil & Gas Land Management Commission (OGLMC) met in a public forum and voted to allow shale drilling under three state-owned tracts…

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Radicals DEMAND Northeast Governors Oppose Enbridge Pipe Project

The Algonquin Gas Transmission pipeline (owned by Enbridge) transports up to 3.09 Bcf/d through 1,131 miles of pipeline. Algonquin connects to Texas Eastern Transmission (TETCO), Millennium Pipeline, and Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline and supplies New England with critically needed natural gas supplies for power generation and consumer use. As we told you in September, Enbridge…

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ESG Investment Funds Crashing & Burning – $5.1B Gone in U.S. 4Q

Amid all the bad news of the constant attacks by the Bidenistas against fossil energy (see today’s lead story about Biden attacking LNG), here is a story to warm your heart on a cold January day. So-called ESG funds set up to invest in companies that proclaim fealty to Environment, Social, and Governance (ESG) practices…

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Biden Attacks NatGas by Blocking 17 U.S. LNG Export Terminals

Two weeks ago, MDN warned you that the Bidenistas were conducting a secret “review,” being led by the Department of Energy (DOE), to evaluate whether regulators should consider mythical “climate change” when deciding whether a proposed natural gas export project meets “the national interest” (see Bidenistas Look to Block Authorization of New LNG Export Projects)….

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PA DEP Approves Shale Wastewater Injection Well in McKean County

Here’s a story that escaped our radar…until now. Catalyst Energy, Inc., proposes converting an existing gas production well on Route 646 in Cyclone (Keating Township in McKean County, PA) into a shale wastewater injection well. The well would handle up to 30 truckloads of wastewater per day. The prospect of the traffic and location near…

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OH Supremes Revive Lawsuit Against ODNR for Closing Injection Well

Here’s a story we haven’t written about in over three years. American Water Management Services (AWMS) owns a wastewater injection well in Trumbull County that supposedly caused a low-level earthquake (that nobody could feel) in 2014. Actually, there are two injection wells located at the site, both operated by AWMS. They were both “temporarily” shut…

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2019 NY Enviro Law is Blocking New Oil & Gas Drilling, as Designed

In June 2019, the New York State legislature passed a horrific “energy” bill that was later signed into law by Gov. Andrew Cuomo (see New York Pulls the Trigger, Commits Energy Suicide with New Law). The new Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (CLCPA) law limits carbon dioxide emissions to zero (an impossibility) by 2050….

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US NatGas Production Hit New All-Time High in December Led by M-U

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) is reporting U.S. dry natural gas production in the Lower 48 states reached an all-time monthly high of 105.5 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) in December 2023. In 2023, Lower 48 dry natural gas production increased 3.7% (3.6 Bcf/d) from 2022. Dry natural gas production increased 3.8 Bcf/d…

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PA Dem Senators Introduce Bill to Ban Most Marcellus Drilling

Pennsylvania House Bill (HB) 170, introduced early last year, would increase setback distances for shale wells from 500 feet to 2,500 feet — effectively killing any new shale well drilling anywhere in the state (see PA House Bill 170 Kills New Marcellus Drilling Using Setbacks). In June, Democrat Party bosses shut down action on HB…

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