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EQT Drops WV Lawsuit re Post-Prod. Deductions on Flat Rate Leases

The new leadership at the top of EQT continues to have a major impact on the company and its relationship with landowners and (in this case) entire states. Last year EQT launched an effort to overturn WV’s Senate Bill (SB) 360 (see EQT Still Fighting WV Minimum Royalty Law for Flat Rate Leases). The new SB 360 law disallows post-production deductions for flat rate leases, ensuring landowners receive a minimum 12.5% royalty. In April 2018 EQT sued to overturn the original law (from 1982) on which SB 360 rests–the law that guarantees a 12.5% royalty. Get rid of the original law, and the later law (disallowing deductions) disappears too. Last week EQT filed a motion to withdraw its lawsuit.
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FirstEnergy Asks OH Supreme Court to Block Bailout Referendum

FirstEnergy continues its desperate attempt to prevent a referendum measure from hitting the fall ballot in Ohio that would overturn a recently passed (very bad) law that bails out FirstEnergy’s failing nuclear power plants in the state to the tune of $1.5 billion. Earlier this week we told you FirstEnergy is running tinfoil hat commercials claiming China would soon control Ohio’s electric grid if the bailout bill is overturned (see FirstEnergy Runs Attack Ad, Claims China Controls OH NatGas Plants). Now FirstEnergy is asking the Ohio Supreme Court to block the ballot measure, denying voters the opportunity to vote.
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NC Regulators File Objection to Williams PA Leidy South Pipeline

This story is befuddling–we’re still trying to wrap our heads around it. The North Carolina Utilities Commission has filed a protest with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) objecting to Williams’ Leidy South expansion project, a project that is being built 100% in Pennsylvania! Why are NC regulators objecting to work being done in another state 500 hundred miles away?
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Virginia Approves Marcellus-Fired Power Plant Project Near Richmond

MDN first told you about plans to build the Chickahominy Power Station, a 1,650 megawatt state-of-the-art natural gas-fired power plant, in June 2018 (see Huge New Marcellus-Fired Power Plant Coming Near Richmond, VA). We’d not heard or read anything about the project since March of this year (see Marcellus-Fired Power Plant Project Near Richmond, VA Advances). However, there has been an important new development.
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Nine Energy Trims Down, Sells Production Solutions Biz

Nine Energy Service, an oilfield services company that competes with companies like Halliburton and Baker Hughes, operates in a number of shale basins, including the Marcellus/Utica. Last October Nine bulked up by buying out Magnum Oil Tools, a “downhole technology” company (see Nine Energy Buying Magnum Oil Tools for $493M). Now Nine is slimming down by selling off its Production Solutions division (i.e. well services business) to Brigade Energy Services for $17 million. Along with the sale goes a reduction of 24% of Nine’s workforce.
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FERC Chairman Says Agency Should Not Set Global Warming Policy

FERC Chairman Neil Chatterjee

What a breath of fresh air is Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Chairman Neil Chatterjee. At an industry event earlier this week, Chatterjee told attendees that his agency should not unilaterally decide on the so-called impacts a given pipeline project may have on mythical man-made global warming. Instead, such a directive (to consider global warming impacts) should come from Congress via legislation. FERC can’t simply assume such authority. Finally! Someone who follows the rule of law.
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CME Group Launching First-Ever Physical LNG Futures Contract

The CME Group, formerly known as the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, is a global derivatives marketplace based in Chicago–originally founded to sell physical commodities like grain and eggs. These days CME Group offers a range of financial trading products across all major asset classes, including those based on interest rates, equity indexes, foreign exchange, energy, agricultural products and metals. CME Group is in the process of launching the world’s first-ever physically-delivered LNG contract. What is that and how does that affect our region?
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Shale Energy Stories of Interest: Fri, Sep 6, 2019

MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Cuomo’s pricey wind-power gift to unions; Methane reduction rules won’t change gas producer’s plans to cut back on emissions; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: NJR Midstream announces acquisition of Leaf River Energy Center; Monmouth College’s ‘Shale Play’ exhibit explores impact of fracking; NATIONAL: Electric generation transforms primary energy into secondary energy; Fact check: Kamala Harris misled America on#ExxonKnew; Reporters Notebook: Natural gas-powered buses becoming more visible; Methane emissions continue to drop; 5 surprising scientific facts about earth’s climate; Media’s embrace of ‘climate crisis’ raises alarm about journalistic objectivity; INTERNATIONAL: Dutch homeowners willing, but not eager to switch to natural gas-free living.
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