PA Senate Passes Carbon Capture & Sequestration (CCS) Act

With the rapid increase in carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) projects around the country, including right here in the Marcellus/Utica region, a key issue has arisen. Where does one store (sequester) all that carbon dioxide (CO2)? The answer is underground in a Class VI injection well. Class VI wells are a relatively new classification for…

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PA Slaps Equitrans with $1.1M Fine for 2022 Rager Mountain Gas Leak

In November 2022, one of the ten natural gas storage wells at the Equitrans Rager Mountain Gas Storage Area in Jackson Township, Cambria County (in Pennsylvania), began to leak. Equitrans is the owner/operator of Rager Mountain. The well leaked roughly 100 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) of gas into the atmosphere (see Equitrans Gas…

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CNX Close to Finishing $20M Water Line in Westmoreland County, PA

CNX Resources Corporation yesterday announced that it is nearing completion of its Kiski Water Line project in Westmoreland County, PA, which will serve the company’s local operational needs for drilling and fracking. The new water line, due to be done in June, will reduce the local impact of natural gas development (fewer truck trips), and…

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PA Lawsuit Advances – Claims Radioactive Drill Cuttings at Landfill

In January, MDN told you about a long-closed landfill that seeks to reopen in Liberty and Pine Townships in Mercer County, PA (see Group Claims Drill Cuttings for Grove City Landfill “Radioactive”). In 2020, Tri-County Landfill Inc. submitted a permit application for the construction and operation of a municipal waste landfill site that had operated…

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Pennsylvania House Hears How Biden LNG Pause Hurting Pa. Workers

Yesterday, the Pennsylvania House Republican Policy Committee held a hearing called “Fueling Pa’s Future: Liquid Natural Gas.” In January, Joe Biden announced he would “pause” any approvals for new LNG export plants (currently 17 requests in the pipeline) for at least one year while his people fart around pretending to figure out how to measure…

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Commissioner Withdraws Support as Local Pennsylvanians Blast Bucks County Lawsuit

In the first public meeting since Bucks County filed a climate lawsuit against American energy companies, local Pennsylvanians rebuked the litigation and Republican Commissioner Gene DiGirolamo formally withdrew his support after facing backlash. As the Delaware Valley Journal reports: “I have considered this for the past seven or eight days,” said DiGirolamo. “And at this

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U.S. NatGas Production Grew by 4% in 2023; M-U Grew 3% – 1.2 Bcf/d

According to the data geeks at the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), U.S. natural gas production grew by 4% in 2023, which was similar to the growth in 2022. U.S. gas production in 2023 averaged a whopping 125.0 Bcf/d (billion cubic feet per day). In 2023, more natural gas was produced in the Appalachia (Marcellus/Utica)…

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PA Investing $967K on New Gas Pipes in Heart of NEPA Marcellus

Pennsylvania’s Pipeline Investment Program (PIPE) grants cover part of the cost of building new natural gas pipelines to connect homes and businesses, typically in rural parts of the state, to homegrown Marcellus Shale gas supplies. We’ve written about many of the dozens of PIPE grant projects awarded over the years (see our PIPE stories here)….

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PA Gov. Shapiro Seeks to Require 35% Unreliable Renewables by 2035

In 2004, Pennsylvania implemented one of the most aggressive mandates to adopt wind and solar energy. At the time, less than 1% of net energy generation came from wind and solar in the Keystone State. In 2023, after the state had spent nearly $1.5 billion in subsidies, wind and solar generated less than 2%. And…

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Four Questions that Need to Be Asked about the Bucks County Climate Lawsuit

After years of environmental activists circling Pennsylvania officials in hopes they’d be the “cherry on top” of their lawfare campaign, Bucks County took the bait and filed a suit on Monday against essential energy producers. But many questions remain, including why the suit was debated quietly with little evident public input and to what extent

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16 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Mar 11 – 17

There were 16 new permits issued to drill in the Marcellus/Utica during the week of Mar. 11 – 17, down 3 from 19 permits issued the prior week. Pennsylvania issued 9 new permits. Ohio issued 4 new permits. And West Virginia issued 3 new permits. Penn Production Group (PPG) and EOG Resources tied for most…

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Shell PA Cracker Must File for Full Title V Air Permit, or Else

The Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) sent a letter to the Shell ethane cracker plant on Feb. 22 essentially saying, “You’re time is up.” The cracker plant facility has 120 days from Feb. 22 (until Jun. 21) to file for a federal Title V Operating Permit for air emissions. If the facility doesn’t at…

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Dems Intro Bill to Create PA-Only Marcellus-Killing Carbon Tax

It’s full speed ahead for the radical anti-Marcellus Democrats in the Pennsylvania State Legislature. Last week, PA Gov. Josh Shapiro traveled to Scranton, PA, to do a dog-and-pony show announcing his personalized version of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) carbon tax that would apply only to PA (see PA Gov. Shapiro Proposes Own Version…

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0% of New PA Shale Wells have “Interfered” with Water, Other Wells

Honestly, we can’t heap enough praise on the excellent work done by Pennsylvania shale drillers. It is unreasonable to expect there will be absolutely zero problems when engaging in something as complex as drilling a mile straight down and then one to four miles horizontally underground. Nothing in life is error-free. NOTHING. There’s always a…

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