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DRBC Does Right Thing, Approves NJ LNG Export Terminal

Miracles never cease! The Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) met yesterday and voted to approve a 1,300-foot-long pier in Gibbstown, NJ to load LNG tankers. Reaction by anti-fossil fuel zealots was swift, predictable, and hilarious. They’re claiming loading LNG onto ships is somehow more dangerous than the old DuPont dynamite factory that used to exist at the same location. They’re also calling the leftist Democrat governors of PA, NJ and DE “climate deniers.” Too funny!
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Energy Transfer Takes PA DEP to Court for Blocking Revolution Pipe

Energy Transfer (ET) has had enough stonewalling from the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) with regard to its Revolution Pipeline project. Last month the DEP told ET it could not restart the now-repaired Revolution until the DEP got good and ready to allow it, with no specific timeline offered (see PA DEP Blocks Revolution Pipe Restart Even Though Repair is Done). On Tuesday ET filed a lawsuit with the PA Environmental Hearing Board (EHB) requesting the board (a special court set up to hear appeals of DEP decisions) overturn the DEP edict and allow Revolution to restart. Now.
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How Biden Administration Can Impact Mountain Valley Pipeline

It seems pretty certain at this point that Joe Biden will seize control of the White House come Jan. 20 (although we still hold out hope for a Supreme Court intervention against the blatant election illegalities in PA, GA, MI, WI). If Biden/Harris do occupy the White House come January, what will that mean for hotly-disputed pipeline projects, including the 303-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) from West Virginia into Virginia?
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PA Labor Unions Continue to Fight Gov. Wolf’s RGGI Carbon Tax Plan

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf and his Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) continue to push a plan that will raise Pennsylvania residents’ electric rates by 50% or more, a carbon tax scheme called the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). The DEP is in the midst of conducting virtual public hearings until Dec. 14. PA’s trade labor unions, dead set against RGGI, are participating to make sure Wolf knows of their opposition.
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3Q Financial Health of Top Marcellus/Utica Drillers Troubling

Capital expense (capex) investments made by drillers in the Marcellus/Utica during the third quarter of 2020 were the lowest in at least six years according to a new report (full copy below) from the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA). The report looks at nine of the top drillers in the M-U and finds collectively they cut capex investment by more than one-third in 3Q20 over 3Q19. And yet those same nine collectively spent a half-billion dollars more during 3Q on drilling and building projects than they earned in revenue from selling oil and gas. That’s troubling.
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Shortsighted: Propane Dealers Complain About Marcus Hook Exports

Over the years we’ve sometimes heard from readers, or read comments from trade associations, making the argument that by exporting our natural gas we are raising the price of natgas domestically. Shouldn’t we keep all the gas for ourselves and keep prices low (see Big Chemical Continues to Lobby Trump Admin to Limit LNG Exports)? The latest group to make that argument are propane retailers. They claim the Mariner East pipeline to Marcus Hook that flows propane to Marcus Hook where it gets exported is causing higher prices for propane dealers in PA. Is that true?
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Other Stories of Interest: Thu, Dec 10, 2020

MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: New York state pension fund sets 2040 goal of net zero carbon emissions; Equinor hosts Toys for Tots event; NATIONAL: Williams appoints Rose Robeson to board of directors; Western states with big budget holes will bear the brunt of Biden fracking ban; Cheniere sees Biden following Trump in support of LNG industry; INTERNATIONAL: Natural gas, propane are early winners in quest for clean ship fuels.
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