Regulation

Trump EO Declares National Energy Emergency – “Drill, Baby, Drill!”

Our heads are officially blown! Did you catch any of yesterday’s inauguration? WOW!!! We have NEVER been more proud to be an American than we were yesterday. President Trump hit the ground running so fast the left’s heads were spinning around like Regan’s head in The Exorcist. The left doesn’t know what hit them. Everything…

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Dept. of Energy Reverses Biden LNG Pause, Extends Comment Period

One year ago, the sleazy Joe Biden slapped a “pause” on allowing the Department of Energy (DOE) to review and issue export approvals for any new LNG export facilities (see White House Makes it Official – Biden Declares War on LNG Exports). The move profoundly and negatively affected our domestic natural gas industry, putting some…

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MPLX PA Bluestone Gas Processing Plant Gets Big Sloppy Kiss from EPA

Marathon Petroleum’s MPLX, formerly MarkWest, operates five complexes in the Marcellus shale. One of the five is the Bluestone Complex in Butler County, PA. Bluestone gathers 200 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) of natural gas. Bluestone processes 400 MMcf/d of natural gas, separating methane from other hydrocarbons. The facility then further separates ethane (C2H6)…

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Sen. Ed Markey Bill to Deny Big Oil from Cabinet, but Not Big Green

Yesterday, U.S. Senator Ed “Lackey” Markey (Dem from Mass.), a member of the Environment and Public Works Committee, and Senator Jeff “Malarkey” Merkley (Dem from Ore.) reintroduced the Banning In Government Oil Industry Lobbyists (BIG OIL) from the Cabinet Act, which would prohibit the appointment of executive officers and lobbyists of fossil fuel entities or…

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TETCO Asks FERC to Swap Gas for Electric Compressor in Pa. Project

The Texas Eastern Transmission Pipeline Company (aka TETCO) recently filed a request with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to make a change in its plans related to upgrades at the pipeline’s Entriken Compressor Station located in Todd Township, Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania. Several years ago, TETCO (owned by Enbridge) filed to build the Appalachia to…

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PA DEP (Finally) Gets It Right with New Permit Tracking Website

Going back perhaps more than a decade, we have told you about the shortcomings of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) regarding the timely review and issuance of permits used during the drilling process. A Chapter 102 Erosion and Sedimentation Permit or Chapter 105 Water Obstruction and Encroachment General Permit could take two, three,…

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Energy Pick Chris Wright Vows to “Unleash” LNG & Nuclear at Hearing

Yesterday, the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee held a hearing to grill Chris Wright, CEO of fracking company Liberty Energy, and Donald Trump’s pick to head the Department of Energy. By all accounts of the coverage we’ve read, Wright (like Trump’s other picks) hit the ball out of the park. He began his…

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EPA Reauthorizes Permit for Seneca Injection Well in Elk County, PA

The federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced yesterday that it had issued an oil and gas wastewater injection well permit to Seneca Resources to continue operating well #38268 in Highland Township, Elk County. The EPA permit allows Seneca to inject up to 75,000 barrels monthly (3.125 million gallons). This well is one of two injection…

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Builders, Utility Co. Sue Maryland re New Reg Blocking NatGas Use

Maryland is a sad state. It’s completely ruled by leftists who seek to impoverish its residents by forcing them to use expensive and unreliable renewable energy. There is actually some Marcellus/Utica shale under Maryland (in a couple of far-western counties), but the state outlawed shale fracking nearly 10 years ago when then-Gov. Larry Hogan (a…

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PA PUC Votes to Redefine Landlords with Gas as Pipeline Operators

We have news about a disturbing ruling from the Pennsylvania Public Utilities Commission (PUC) issued last Wednesday. By a vote of 3-2 along party lines (Democrats in the majority), the PUC commissioners labeled landlords as “pipeline operators” if they have behind-the-meter gas distribution systems on their properties. The move will require, with limited exceptions, landlords…

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Biden Treasury Dept. Ruins 45V “Clean” Hydrogen Tax Credit

On Jan. 3, the Biden IRS issued its final clean hydrogen tax credit rule, otherwise known as the 45V Clean Hydrogen Production Tax Credit. We previously wrote about 45V back in June (see Biden IRS 45V Tax Rule Endangers Hydrogen Hub Projects in M-U). Our take back then has not changed with the release of…

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Court Rulings & Regs Cause Delays in New LNG Export Plants

RBN Energy recently concluded a two-part series on LNG delays and what’s causing delays in bringing more export capacity online. Friday’s Part 2 of the series looks at recent court rulings and regulatory issues and their impact on U.S. LNG development. Yes, Joe Biden’s ill-timed “pause” on the Department of Energy issuing new export approvals…

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New Bill in Congress Would Block Presidents from Banning Fracking

Last Friday, Republican Congressman August Pfluger (from Texas) introduced a new bill that will prevent any future president from banning fracking nationally without the consent of Congress. Pfluger’s “Protecting American Energy Production Act” would explicitly require an act of Congress to impose a fracking moratorium and prevent the president from doing so directly. We must…

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5 PUCO Commissioners to Decide the Future of Data Centers in Ohio

Last fall, MDN began tracking the issue of who, ultimately, should pay to build out new electricity sources for data centers (and AI) that increasingly use huge amounts of power (see Big Tech and Big Utility Tangle in Ohio re Data Center Electricity and Big Tech Not Happy with OH Utility Counterproposal re Data Centers)….

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Pittsylvania (VA) County Planning Bd. Votes to Deny Data Center Plan

The Pittsylvania County Planning Commission voted on Jan. 7 to recommend against granting Virginia-based Balico permission to proceed with a $8.85 billion project to build a data center complex. Last October, Balico applied to rezone more than 2,200 acres for a proposed campus that would include its own massive on-site gas-fired power plant complex using…

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