For more than 13 years MDN has harped on the fact that groups like Trout Unlimited are filled with extremist anti-drillers (see our article Anti-Drilling Close-up: Trout Unlimited from October 2012). In February 2014, a national organization aimed a spotlight on Trout Unlimited and several other so-called “conservation” groups (see Trout Unlimited, Other Groups Outted…
Read More...After five weeks of adding rigs, the Baker Hughes U.S. rig count decreased by a single rig last week. The national rig count now stands at 592. As for the Marcellus/Utica, the rig count was a combined 35 last week, retaining a rig added in West Virginia three weeks ago. Rigs focused on the Marcellus…
Read More...For the fifth week in a row, the Baker Hughes U.S. rig count added rigs—the first time that has happened since May 2022. Last week, the count added a single new rig for a new total of 593. The national count remained in a tight range of 581-589 for much of last year. We’ve officially…
Read More...Wow! Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro is an even bigger bully (and dunce) than we gave him credit for. He’s not only mean and vindictive, he’s energy suicidal. Shapiro is threatening the 12 other states (plus the District of Columbia) that belong to the PJM Interconnection, saying that he may cut them off from 25% of…
Read More...As we reported two days ago, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, acting like a junkie cut off from his drugs, finally got the Trump administration to restart the flow of drugs (i.e., money) that had been paused to give Elon Musk’s DOGErs a chance to ensure the payments are legit (see PA Gov. Claims Victory in…
Read More...We explored an important issue last September—the ballooning cost of plugging orphaned oil and gas wells in Pennsylvania (see PA DEP Spending WAY Too Much to Plug Abandoned/Orphaned Wells). As a reminder, abandoned wells are those with no production for at least 12 months in a row. Orphaned wells were abandoned before 1985, and the…
Read More...In September 2023, MDN told you about a non-profit organization called Project InnerSpace, which was contacting public officials, academics, and oil and gas interests in Pennsylvania, pitching a transition from fossil fuel extraction to geothermal energy using the same workers and potentially, the same infrastructure (see Siren Song of Geothermal Calls to PA Conventional &…
Read More...Yesterday, the Pennsylvania Independent Fiscal Office (IFO) released its latest quarterly Natural Gas Production Report for October through December 2024 (full copy below). There were 84 new horizontal wells spud (drilled) in 4Q24, a decrease of 26 wells (-24%) compared to 4Q23. However, 4Q’s spud number increased from the 63 drilled in the prior quarter,…
Read More...The Pennsylvania Senate Appropriations Committee held a budget hearing yesterday in Harrisburg. The Department of Environmental Protection’s Acting Secretary Jessica Shirley was on the hot seat. Although many topics were discussed, Senators were most interested in speeding permit reviews, Governor Shapiro’s Lightning Energy Plan, and the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) carbon tax Shapiro insists…
Read More...Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro can rest easy now that he’s got his “fix” of $2.1 billion in federal taxpayer money promised to him by the Bidenistas before they left town. As you may recall, the Trump administration put an immediate pause on some federal funds after Elon Musk’s DOGE kids discovered massive fraud in government…
Read More...For the fourth week in a row, the Baker Hughes U.S. rig count added rigs—to the highest level since last June! Three weeks ago, the rig count gained four rigs to 586. Two weeks ago, the count regained another two rigs to 588. Last week, the count added four new rigs for 592. Note that…
Read More...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:…
Read More...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…
Read More...According to a recent report from PJM Interconnection, the manager of the electric grid in all or parts of 13 states plus D.C., three electric transmission zones that are wholly or partly in Pennsylvania are expected to see sharp increases in power demand from current and new data centers in the next few years. For…
Read More...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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