Full PA Senate Confirms Rich Negrin 48-1 for DEP Secretary

The Pennsylvania Senate voted yesterday to confirm Rich Negrin as the Secretary of the Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP). No more “Acting” in front of his title. The vote was 48 to 1 to confirm, with the lone holdout being Sen. Doug Mastriano (R-Adams). As we reported yesterday, Sen. Gene Yaw gave Negrin a grilling…

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PA Senate Committee Grills, Approves Rich Negrin for DEP Secretary

Yesterday, the Pennsylvania State Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee interviewed and unanimously voted to recommend the nomination of Richard Negrin as Secretary of Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) be approved. But not before Sen. Gene Yaw put Negrin on the hot seat, asking him some VERY pointed questions about the department and Negin’s own…

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Natural Gas Hand Up for Renovo Slapped Away by the Unknowing

Natural Gas Hand Up for Renovo Slapped Down by the Unknowing Rhonda Balchun Renovo Borough Councilwoman ….   [Editor’s Note: Renovo residents have lived with natural gas for decades but a new gas-fueled, job-creating power plant was killed by those who know and care not about the town.] My name is Rhonda Balchun, and I

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Drought Over? SRBC Approves New Shale Water Withdrawals in PA

Just two weeks ago, the Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC) told all water users in the basin that have withdrawal permits, including shale drillers, they should review those permits, and if there are restrictions for withdrawals during low streamflow conditions, they need to make alternative plans (see SRBC Advises Water Permit Holders to Consider Alternative…

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West Deer Approves Olympus “Leto” Well Pad, Antis Pledge to Sue

Olympus Energy (formerly Huntley & Huntley) drills in the Greater Pittsburgh region, in Allegheny and Westmoreland counties. In 2021, Olympus applied to build a new well pad in a rural part of Allegheny County, in West Deer Township. So-called “concerned citizens” got amped up to oppose the project. They succeeded when town supervisors rejected the…

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M-U Rig Count Holds Even; U.S. Count Down 8th Week in a Row

The weekly rig count for the U.S. has continued to be anemic over the past two months. Baker Hughes, with its venerable rig count, reported last Friday that overall, the U.S. rig count continued to bleed rigs–down another five rigs to 682 in the week ending June 23. That’s the lowest count since April 2022…

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Northern Access Pipeline Needs to Stop Playing Games with NY

Northern Access Pipeline Needs to Stop Placing Games with NY Jim Willis on NGL Pipelines Editor & Publisher, Marcellus Drilling News (MDN)   [Editor’s Note: The Northern Access Pipeline has been playing games with a deceitful New York State government for far too long. It’s time to play hardball by going above it.] National Fuel Gas Company

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Injection Well Fight Continues in Western PA – Plum, Murrysville

MDN recently reported that after eight years, Pennsylvania General Energy gave up on trying to build an environmentally safe wastewater injection well in Grant Township, Indiana County, PA (see Bad Guys Win: PA General Energy to Plug Grant Twp Injection Well). Yes, the bad guys (CELDF) finally won. However, a proposed injection well project is…

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21 New Shale Well Permits Issued for PA-OH-WV Jun 12-18

New shale permits issued for Jun 12-18 in the Marcellus/Utica gained one. There were 21 new permits issued, up from 20 the previous week. Last week’s permit tally included 12 new permits in Pennsylvania, 6 new permits in Ohio, and 3 new permits in West Virginia. Snyder Brothers scored the most new permits, with 9…

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Big Ugly Grifters (BUGS) Are Out to Destroy the Common Man

Big Ugly Grifters (BUGS) Are Out to Destroy the Common Man Tom Shepstone Shepstone Management Company, Inc. ….   [Editor’s Note: Big Ugly Grifters are destroying places such as Renovo in rural Clinton County, Pennsylvania and killing the common man with green scam politics and corruption.] So Moses stretched out his staff over Egypt, and

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Natural Gas – 100 Years Ago Today, June 23, 1923

Natural Gas – 100 Years Ago Today, June 23, 1923 Tom Shepstone Shepstone Management Company, Inc. …. ….  Natural gas news from a hundred years ago offers great perspective for discussing one of the cleanest sources of energy available then and still today. I thought it might be fun and illuminating to look back 100

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Punxsutawney Phil Getting a New Neighbor – Shale Injection Well

In the future, when everyone’s favorite groundhog Punxsutawney Phil pokes his head out of his hole in February to tell us whether or not there are another six weeks of winter, he may be looking at shale wastewater trucks coming and going on their way to a new underground injection well just outside of town….

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PA Senate Passes 2 Important Bills Affecting EHB; Unfortunately DOA

Far-left environmentalist wackos have learned how to abuse the legal system in the U.S. in their attempts to block fossil energy. One of the places they excel in abusing the system is in Pennsylvania. When the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) issues a new permit for a project the left opposes, they appeal the…

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PA PUC Distributes $279M from Impact Tax – Highest Ever!

Yesterday the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) posted detailed information about this year’s distribution of last year’s impact fees generated by natural gas producers. Great news! PA raised $278.8 million from Act 13 impact fees (PA’s version of a severance tax). That is the HIGHEST amount raised and distributed by impact fees since the beginning…

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PA State Sen. Yaw Intros Bill to Establish Independent Energy Office

The great state of Pennsylvania has an Independent Fiscal Office (IFO), created by Act 120 of 2010 and Act 100 of 2016. The IFO analyzes fiscal proposals made by state agencies and is nonpartisan with its analyses. PA State Senator Gene Yaw, from Lycoming County, introduced a bill earlier this week to create an Independent…

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