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Saudi Arabia Wants to Buy Piece of the Marcellus via Equinor

Saudi Arabia is sniffing around the Marcellus Shale. Bloomberg reports that super secret talks are happening between Saudi Aramco (largest oil company in the world, owned by the Saudi government) and Equinor, which until recently was called Statoil. Equinor is majority-owned by the government of Norway. The Saudis are considering “buying a stake” in or possibly a joint venture with Equinor. It seems Norway is hesitant to hop into bed with the Saudis. We don’t blame them.
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Court Lets EQT Examine Cell Phone of Worker Accused of Helping Rice

A Pennsylvania federal judge has ordered a former EQT employee to turn over his cell phone to EQT so they can have experts examine it for deleted text messages to Toby Rice and others helping him. You may recall EQT accused two fired workers of stealing company secrets and sharing those secrets with Toby and Derek Rice, who are trying to take over EQT (see EQT Accuses Fired Employees of Colluding with Rice Boys). EQT maintains one of the fired workers has evidence on his phone that can corroborate their claims of collusion. Hence the judge’s order.
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SWPA County Judge Rules Range Can’t See Reporters’ Notes/Sources

one hand tied behind the back

So-called reporters, like some at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, must have known they were breaking the law by using confidential information (sealed under a court order) in some of their anti-shale articles. Range Resources, fighting against an out-of-control Attorney General (Josh Shapiro) who wants to charge the company with crimes, wants to depose those reporters to try and find out who, exactly, broke the law in leaking information that is sealed by court order. However, a county judge won’t let Range do it. Not yet, anyway.
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Neighbors of Almost Completed NY Gas-Fired Plant Want New Study

Cricket Valley Energy Center (concept drawing)

In October 2012, after a rigorous review by New York’s Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DEC) during the State Environmental Quality Review, the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) submitted by Cricket Valley Energy Center in Dutchess County was accepted and approved. Construction of the 1,100 megawatt plant (to fed by PA Marcellus gas) began in July 2017 (see Second NY NatGas-Fired Elec Plant Breaks Ground in Hudson Valley) and is due to be completed early next year. As it gets close to completion, anti-fossil fuel neighbors from across the street are asking the DEC to perform a new study of the facility before allowing it to start operation. They’re making outrageous claims that gas-fired plants may cause autism.
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NatGas Replacing Coal for Power Gen in Ohio; Renewables Tiny 3%

Here’s an interesting and fun fact: In just 12 years electricity generated by coal plants has gone from powering 87% of Ohio’s homes and businesses to just 47%. So-called renewables (solar and wind) make up a whopping 3% of Ohio’s electric generation. So what’s replacing coal? Natural gas, which now generates 34% of the state’s electricity. Gas still hasn’t beaten coal, but give it a few more years and it will.
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A Short History Lesson on Why NY’s Pipeline Bans are Illegal

On multiple occasions we have outlined the reasons why federal agencies like the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) exist–in order to prevent individual states from harming their neighbors economically. An individual state can’t block a new interstate highway, or the trucks and cars that travel it, from entering their state. It’s the same for power transmission lines and for pipelines. Yet New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is violating that law by rejecting interstate pipelines.
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Is Shale Industry Hypocritical Opposing Nuke Bailouts in PA, OH?

One of the few “green” advocates we respect is Michael Shellenberger, a Time Magazine “Hero of the Environment,” Green Book Award Winner, and president of Environmental Progress, a research and policy organization. His articles often appear on the Forbes website (we’ve linked to many of them in our “Best of the Rest” roundup). Shellenberger, one of the few environmentalists to endorse and defend fracking, recently penned an article that accuses the fracking/shale industry of a double standard when it comes to their opposition to bailing out nuclear plants with government subsidies.
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Energy Stories of Interest: Wed, May 8, 2019

MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Shut down Mariner East II, for good; NYC Comptroller Scott Stringer calls on Con Ed to prove NESE is necessary; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Pipeline protesters could face 10 years in prison under bill OK’d by Texas House; Venture Global LNG achieves regulatory milestone for Plaquemines LNG, Delta LNG export project; NJ gets ready to commit energy suicide; NATIONAL: 2020 Dems take extreme positions on oil & gas development; Flex LNG to list shares on New York Stock Exchange; LaFleur says climate split is harming FERC’s work; Will Chevron come over the top to buy Anadarko?; Chevron should walk away from Anadarko deal; Activist investor urges Carrizo Oil & Gas to sell; INTERNATIONAL: ‘Freedom gas’: US opens LNG floodgates to Europe.
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