Regulation

PA State Sen. Muth Tries to Block Shale Drilling Via Landfill Ban

Pennsylvania State Senator Katie Muth (Democrat from Berks, Chester, and Montgomery counties) is clever and dedicated in her mission to halt shale drilling in the Keystone State. We’ve written plenty about Muth over the years (see our stories here). She’s attempted to block shale wastewater treatment facilities from getting built. She has a new target:…

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FERC Launches Investigation of PJM Grid Co-Location of Data Centers

We’re still coming to grips with understanding how the power generation market works with respect to providing electricity for AI data centers. Data centers can potentially be huge and important new customers for natural gas—especially Marcellus/Utica molecules, as some 25% of all the data centers currently operating in the country are located in northern Virginia,…

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FERC Approves Increased Production at VG’s Plaquemines LNG

At the end of December, Venture Global’s Plaquemines LNG export facility officially shipped its first cargo…to Germany (see Venture Global’s Plaquemines LNG Ships First Cargo to Germany). Unfortunately for Venture Global’s contracted customers, they will have to wait to receive their legally contracted shipments. Venture Global has admitted it will (as it has with its…

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Mass. Gov. Healey in Trouble re High Energy Prices She Created

For years, we’ve warned you about the potential for insanely high natural gas costs and even blackouts in New England. We’ve written post after post after post about Massachusetts then-Attorney General (now Governor) Maura Healey, a radical leftist who has consistently blocked new pipeline projects that would deliver cheap, clean, abundant Marcellus gas to her…

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PA Gov. Nominates Swamper to Stop “Acting,” Become DEP Secretary

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, himself a swampy career politician, has nominated another swampy career politician to stop “Acting” and become the full Secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). Jessica Shirley, with a bachelor’s degree in political science and a master’s in public administration, has been Interim Acting Secretary of the DEP since October…

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Trump EO Puts FERC, SEC, Other Agencies Under White House Control

Two days ago, President Trump signed yet another executive order, this one called “Ensuring Accountability for All Agencies.” We’ve lost count of how many he’s signed! This latest EO is a really, hairy, big deal. This EO gives the president sweeping control over the budgets, policies, and regulations of independent U.S. agencies that oversee the…

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Wastewater Injection Well in McKean County Fails 2 Integrity Tests

In January 2024, MDN brought you the news that the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) approved a plan by Catalyst Energy to convert an existing conventional gas production well on Route 646 in Cyclone (Keating Township, McKean County, PA) into a shale wastewater injection well (see PA DEP Approves Shale Wastewater Injection Well in…

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Many Types of Service Companies Needed to Plug Orphaned Wells in PA

Have you ever considered all the different goods and services required to plug an orphaned well? It’s a surprisingly long and complex list! You might think (as we did), “There’s an old well, pull up with a cement mixer, dump cement down the hole, and voila, it’s done.” Not so! The process begins with locating…

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Stop Press! Trump Pledges to Revive PA-to-NY Constitution Pipeline

Never in our wildest dreams did we see this one coming. And we must caution against too much hope. However, we are JAZZED. Last Friday, President Trump signed yet another executive order. This EO creates the National Energy Dominance Council, directing the new council to move quickly to increase domestic oil and gas production (see…

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Trump Signs EO Establishing National Energy Dominance Council

President Trump signed an executive order Friday establishing the National Energy Dominance Council. The Council will be chaired by Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum and vice-chaired by Energy Secretary Chris Wright. The other members are essentially all of the cabinet members, the secretaries of the other executive branch agencies, including State, Treasury, Defense, Justice,…

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3 State Senators Intro Bill to Allow Fracking in….Maryland!

Something is going on in the State of Maryland. Last week, we told you that the Democrat leadership in the Maryland state legislature was pushing a bill that would rechristen gas-fired power as “green” and make it easier to build new gas-fired power plants in the state (see Maryland Dems Open Door for Gas-Fired Power…

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PA Gov.’s Carbon Tax Plan for Gas Power Blocking New Projects

Yesterday, MDN told you that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approved a “fast-track” plan from the country’s largest electric grid, PJM Interconnection (which covers all or parts of 13 states, including PA, OH, and WV) to change how the grid operator decides which new power plants can connect to the system first (see FERC…

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EPA Discovers Illegal $20 Billion Transfer from Biden’s Final Days

Two months ago, a video circulated on social media featuring a Biden EPA political appointee talking about “tossing gold bars off the Titanic,” intentionally rushing to get billions of tax dollars recklessly out of the agency before Inauguration Day. The EPA’s new sheriff, Lee Zeldin, has located $20 billion of those gold bars sitting at…

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EPA Close to Axing Rule That Regulates CO2 & Methane as Pollution

President Trump is close to taking an ax to the root of an EPA regulation that has allowed leftist environmentalists to rule the roost for the past 15 years. In 2009, the EPA adopted a major regulatory rule called the “endangerment finding.” The finding concluded that six so-called greenhouse gases — carbon dioxide (CO2), methane…

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FERC Approves PJM Plan to Fast-Track New Gas-Fired Power Plants

In December, MDN told you the country’s largest electric grid, PJM Interconnection, which covers all or parts of 13 states, including PA, OH, and WV, proposed new changes to how it decides which new power plants can connect to the system first. The new policy *favors* adding natural gas-fired power over other types of power…

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