PA Legislature Rejects Radical Antis, Passes CCS Bill, Sends to Gov

A civil war in the Pennsylvania environmental movement is not getting any attention from mainstream media. Why are we not surprised? We told you about the civil war earlier this week (see PA Antis Split Over Issue of Carbon Capture & Sequestration). One set of environmentalist wacko groups, including the Pennsylvania Environmental Council, Environmental Defense…

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PA DEP Claims it Reduced Permits Backlog by Half Since 2023

Permitting in Pennsylvania overseen by the Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) has been a hot mess for years. A Chapter 102 Erosion and Sedimentation permit sometimes takes two, three, or even six to eight months for approval — instead of the law-mandated 14 days. It got so bad that in the fall of 2019, PA…

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DC Circuit Allows EPA Attack on O&G Via Methane Reg to Commence

EPA Administrator Michael Regan used a considerable amount of fossil energy and emitted tons of carbon dioxide to jet over to Dubai last December to participate in the COP28 confab, where he released a final rule that was “two years in the making” to force the U.S. oil and gas industry to cut methane emissions…

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Cleveland Democrat Floats Bill to Require Frack Chemical Disclosure

An anti-drilling Democrat member of the Ohio House of Representatives (representing a Cleveland suburb) would love nothing more than to ban all shale drilling in his state. He has just introduced a bill requiring drillers to disclose any and all chemicals they use for any purpose when drilling a new shale well under state-owned land….

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Owner of 3 Athens, OH Injection Wells Applies to Permanently Plug

In April, the Ohio Oil and Gas Commission upheld a regulatory order from the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) suspending operations of three wastewater injection wells located in Torch (Athens County), OH, owned by K&H Partners, a subsidiary of Tallgrass Energy (see Ohio O&G Commission Votes to Shut Down 3 Athens Injection Wells). The…

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Bipartisan Bill Would Study Carbon Emissions from China Products

Conservative Republicans in the U.S. Senate and House are pushing a so-called bipartisan bill to “study” the carbon emissions of products produced in the U.S. versus emissions for products manufactured in other countries, like China. We think this may be a slippery slope. We first wrote about this issue in March 2023 when the Senate…

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PA DEP to Host Virtual Hearing for Lycoming County Gathering Pipe

Last week, MDN told you that two Big Green groups in Pennsylvania, Trout Unlimited and the Mid State Trail Association, are attempting to block a project by Pennsylvania General Energy (PGE) to install a tiny 3.7-mile gathering pipeline to connect several PGE wells to the Transco pipeline system, along with two 8-inch water pipelines of…

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Republicans Say PA Gov. Shapiro’s Proposed Carbon Tax is Dead

In March, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro traveled to Scranton, PA, to announce a proposal to “immediately pull Pennsylvania out of a multi-state carbon cap-and-trade program” (the so-called Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, or RGGI) and instead enroll PA in its very own RGGI-like carbon tax program (see PA Gov. Shapiro Proposes Own Version of Marcellus-Killing Carbon…

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Only 2 Mass. GOP Senators Voted Against Bill that Destroys NatGas

Yesterday, the Massachusetts State Senate voted to have the state jump into the energy abyss. They voted in favor of blackouts and brownouts by banning the use of natural gas — coming in the next five years. It boggles the mind. Their vote (if confirmed by the House, which is a given) will destroy thousands…

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3 Mo. After NY Legislature Passed CO2 Frack Ban, Gov Has Not Signed

One month ago, MDN told you that although the New York Senate had passed a bill already passed by the Assembly to ban the use of carbon dioxide in shale drilling (so-called “CO2 fracking”), Democrat Gov. Kathy Hochul, a reliable anti-fossil fueler, had still not signed the bill into law (see 2 Mo. After NY…

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Biden IRS 45V Tax Rule Endangers Hydrogen Hub Projects in M-U

For months, MDN has told you about a problem brewing that will block new hydrogen projects from getting built in the Marcellus/Utica. It’s an obscure tax rule known as the 45V tax credit, part of the misnamed Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). The Bidenistas at the White House, Treasury Department, and Dept. of Energy proposed a…

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Ohio Bill to Encourage New NatGas Pipelines Passes Committee Vote

A new bill proposed by two Republican state lawmakers in Ohio, House Bill (HB) 349, makes it easier to site and build natural gas pipelines to areas of the state where pipelines currently don’t exist (see Ohio Bill Encourages New NatGas Pipelines to Spread Across State). The bill will stimulate new jobs by running pipelines…

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Senate Confirms 3 New FERC Commissioners; Less Support for Dems

In early March, President Joe Biden nominated three new candidates to become Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) commissioners (see Biden Announces 3 New FERC Commissioner Nominees, Finally). The three, two Democrats and one Republican, faced questions from the Senate Energy & Natural Resources Committee in a hearing held a few weeks later (see 3 FERC…

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Reaction For and Against FERC Permission for MVP to Start Up

Yesterday, MDN brought you the great news that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) had given permission to Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) late Tuesday to begin service along the 303-mile natural gas pipeline from northern West Virginia to southern Virginia (see FERC Grants Permission to Mountain Valley Pipeline to Start Flowing). As the reality of…

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PA DEP Customer Service Advisory Board…Has No Customers on It

Only in the dysfunctional Josh Shapiro administration. Yesterday, the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) announced it had added a Customer Experience Management Advisory Council (CXMAC) to advise the DEP’s Acting Secretary and so-called Chief Customer Experience Officer on strategies and improvements to enhance service delivery to the public. The thing is, none of the…

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