Statewide PA

Lib Dems Try to Fool PA Unions to Accept Radical Enviro Policies

The environmental left is on the march in Pennsylvania, and nothing, including building trade unions, is going to stop it. Both constituencies (environmentalists and trade unions) traditionally make their political home in the Democrat Party. The problem for PA’s Democrat politicians is how to balance the ever-wacko leftward tilt of environmentalism and its jobs-killing policies…

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Antis Demand PA Gov Shapiro Drop Enviro Deal with CNX Resources

Grab the popcorn! It’s fun to sit back and watch the other side eat its own for a change. We’re talking about the civil war that has erupted on the Democrat Left over Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro’s “bold” agreement signed with CNX Resources to “move the ball forward” on “environmental progress” in PA (see Civil…

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What Happened to $42 Million in Fines Paid by Mariner East Pipe?

In July, MDN compared the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection to an organized crime mob with its ongoing shakedowns in assessing “fines” on the Mariner East pipeline project (see PA DEP Squeezes Another $660,000 from ME2 Pipe for “Violations”). At that time, we were aware that over $30 million had been extorted (er, a, extracted)…

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Shapiro’s Dept. of Health Using Pitt Fake Research to Bash Fracking

It’s sad to see a major university like the University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) publish fake research to fit a political narrative that fracking can be tied to cancer in kids (see Pitt Releases Fake Research, Claims PA Fracking Linked to Kid Cancer). It’s angering that Gov. Josh Shapiro’s Dept. of Health is using Pitt’s fake…

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RGGI Carbon Tax Price Hits Near-Record-High of $13.85 Per Ton CO2

In 2019, when then-Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf announced he would unilaterally force the state to join the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a carbon tax scheme aimed at forcing coal- and gas-fired plants out of business, he claimed the tax would only amount to a few dollars per short ton of CO2 (see Gov. Wolf…

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Shapiro’s DEP Money-Back Guarantee for Permit Delays is Bogus

Two weeks ago, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (liberal Democrat) launched, with much fanfare, PAyback.pa.gov, a new online money-back guarantee system that allows residents, businesses, charities, and schools to check their eligibility for a refund of their permit, license, or certification application fee and request a refund if they believe they are eligible. Shapiro promised individuals…

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Civil War Erupts in PA Enviro Movement re Gov. Shapiro Deal with CNX

Last Friday, MDN brought you the news that CNX Resources CEO Nick DeIuliis had signed a voluntary deal with Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro to expand drilling setbacks and several other regulatory steps not mandated for shale drillers under PA law (see CNX Signs Deal with PA Gov. to Increase Setbacks, Other Changes). Shapiro’s office front-loaded…

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Coterra Recommits to Cut $200M/Year from Marcellus Budget

Coterra Energy, formed in 2021 by the merger of Permian oil driller Cimarex Energy and Marcellus gas driller Cabot Oil & Gas, issued its third quarter 2023 update yesterday. The company made far less profit in 3Q23 than it did one year ago, in line with most other big Marcellus/Utica drillers. Coterra made $323 million…

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U.S. Rig Count Hits New 2023 Low – Loses 7 @ 618, M-U Adds 1 @ 40

The U.S. rig count changed course again last week, dropping rigs after adding rigs (albeit anemically) for the prior three weeks in a row. The national rig count lost seven rigs last week — dropping to 618 active rigs — not only the lowest rig total this year but the lowest count since February 2022….

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CNX’s DeIuliis Explains Why He Did a Deal with the Devil (Shapiro)

On Friday, MDN brought you the news that CNX Resources CEO Nick DeIuliis had signed a voluntary deal with Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro to expand drilling setbacks and several other regulatory steps not mandated for shale drillers under PA law (see CNX Signs Deal with PA Gov. to Increase Setbacks, Other Changes). DeIuliis spoke to…

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CNX Signs Deal with PA Gov. to Increase Setbacks, Other Changes

We have to confess this news came suddenly out of left field. And we’re still struggling with what to make of it. Yesterday, CNX Resources CEO Nick DeIuliis, author of Precipice: The Left’s Campaign to Destroy America (in which he writes about the “leeches” of the left), stood at a podium in Washington County, PA,…

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PA Gov. Shapiro Ponders Appealing RGGI Carbon Tax Case

The next few weeks will tell the story of whether or not the final nail has been driven into the coffin of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) carbon tax in Pennsylvania. Yesterday, we brought you the really big news that PA’s Commonwealth Court voted 4-1 to block the state from joining RGGI (see Near-Fatal…

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Near-Fatal Blow for PA Carbon Tax – Commonwealth Court Blocks 4-1

In the end, Pennsylvania’s Commonwealth Court was not fooled by the Democrat left’s attempt to rename a tax as a fee to circumvent the necessary approval needed by the state legislature in approving taxes as provided for by the state constitution. We’re referring to the illegal attempt by former PA Gov. Tom Wolf in 2019…

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PA Shale Drillers Now Have Money-Back Guarantee for Permit Delays

The Pennsylvania State Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) should prepare to cough up some of the money it receives from the steep charges it assesses for Chapter 102 Erosion and Sedimentation and Chapter 105 Water Obstructions and Encroachments permits. For YEARS, we’ve told you about these permits sometimes taking two, three, even six to eight…

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PA DEP Tries to Track Down & Make Deadbeats Pay to Plug Wells

A problem plaguing the entire country is old conventional oil and gas wells that were never adequately plugged and capped, called orphaned wells, because (supposedly) nobody knows who owns them. In the fall of 2021, President Biden signed into law the so-called Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, some $1.2 trillion in pork barrel spending, passed with the…

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