2 More Programs Introduced to SPEED Up Broken PA DEP Permitting

Speedy Gonzales How many government programs does it take to fix the broken Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP)? However many have gone before, you can add another two new programs to the list. Yesterday, the DEP announced two new programs that will, this time, really, actually, fix the agency’s chronically slow permitting for simple…

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Shell Flushes $1M Down Penn State Toilet on Energy Transition, DEI

Sometimes, we are at a loss to explain the actions of “our side” (the fossil fuel industry). This is one of those times. Penn State University, in recent years, has become hostile to fossil energy and the shale fracking that pervades (and blesses) the state. Yet petrochemical giant Shell, with its $15 billion ethane cracker…

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PA Supreme Court Lib Dems Collecting Briefs on RGGI Carbon Tax

In July, MDN told you about a disappointing (but not surprising) decision from the Democrat leftists on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court (see PA Supreme Court Allows Big Green $$ in RGGI Carbon Tax Lawsuit). The so-called Supremes ruled in favor of allowing three well-financed Big Green groups, including the Sierra Club, PennFuture, and Clean Air…

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PA DEP Smears Conventional Drillers Regarding Abandoned Well Issue

The vast majority (up to 99%) of Pennsylvania’s abandoned conventional wells are “orphans,” or wells without an identifiable, documented owner whom the state can hold liable for cleanup. Orphan wells date back to the Civil War in some cases. Even with “newer” wells, the problem has been poor recordkeeping by the PA Dept. of Environmental…

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PA May Not Be Able to Keep All the Lights On in Four Years

The CEO of the Energy Association of PA who is also a former chairman of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) asks this question: What can Pennsylvania lawmakers do about a looming regional power shortage that they didn’t cause and can’t easily fix? He says this dilemma poses the most important energy issue facing the…

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Bidenistas Claim IRA Crap Sandwich is Filet Mignon for PA & OH

Yesterday, the U.S. Department of the Treasury released new data from the IRS along with analysis by the Office of Economic Policy that claims more than 158,000 Pennsylvanian families benefited from more than $267 million in tax credits to lower the costs of clean energy and energy efficiency upgrades to their homes during 2023, money…

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Lefties Try to Convince PA Supreme Court RGGI Carbon Tax is a Fee

One thing we admire about the left is that they never give up. Yes, they cheat. Yes, they lie. Yes, they use foreign money. But the environmental left never, ever, gives up. An example: The Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) has filed an amicus (“friend of the court”) brief asking the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to reverse…

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Josh Shapiro’s Energy Shell Game is Bad for Penn. & Other States

PJM, the grid manager for Pennsylvania, twelve other states, and the District of Columbia, is worried about future energy needs. As existing power plants come offline and lawmakers seek to replace them with woefully inadequate alternatives, PJM estimates electricity shortages as early as 2027. PA Gov. Josh Shapiro isn’t helping matters with his disastrous energy…

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Leftwing Radicals Ask PA Gov. Shapiro to Veto Carbon Capture Bill

If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. That appears to be the philosophy of a group of radicalized “environmental” groups attempting to pressure Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro to veto a new bill sitting on his desk, Senate Bill (SB) 831, the Carbon Capture & Sequestration (CCS) Act. Last week, a strong bipartisan majority…

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New PA Bill Gives Shale Landowners Same Tax Breaks as Investors

Pennsylvania mineral rights owners (i.e., landowners) are about to get a well-deserved tax break. Thanks to a bill recently passed by the PA legislature, Senate Bill (SB) 654, individual landowners will receive the same tax benefits afforded to investors. If a company buys mineral rights and the right to receive royalty payments from oil and…

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PA Senate Candidate David McCormick Addresses GOP Convention

David McCormick made his case for election to the U.S. Senate at the Republican National Convention Tuesday night, telling the audience gathered in Milwaukee’s Fiserv Forum that the election this year is “the most important election of our lifetimes.” He also said, “My friends, the choice this November is clear. It’s a choice between strength…

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New PA State Budget Includes Third-Party Review of DEP Permits

A MAJOR victory for Pennsylvania Republicans that is not getting the attention it should. For years, PA State Sen. Gene Yaw and others have lobbied for review by qualified third parties to speed up the turnaround time to approve relatively simple permits issued by the Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP), including earth disturbance/erosion permits, known…

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BKV Sells Non-Operated PA Marcellus Assets for $132 Million

Over the past seven-plus years, BKV Corporation (Banpu Kalnin Ventures), the American arm of Banpu (96% owned by Banpu, Thailand’s largest coal mining company), has become one of the top 20 gas-weighted natural gas producers in the U.S. BKV originally entered the American shale sector by investing $500 million in 2016-2017 to buy existing Marcellus…

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PA Finally Has a State Budget For 2024/25 — Is It a Good One?

We’ve covered the Pennsylvania state budget negotiations and passage in years gone by when PA’s then-Gov. Tom Wolf (far-left Democrat) requested a Marcellus-killing severance tax every year he was in office (eight loooong years). We’ve largely ignored the PA budget this time around under PA’s do-nothing dud of a governor, Josh Shapiro, as his proposed…

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