Sad Day: Federal Court Strikes Down FERC’s Use of Tolling Orders
Yesterday the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia (DC Circuit) handed down a decision that was expected, but sad nonetheless. The court told the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) it can no longer use “tolling orders” to stretch out the time to respond to a “rehearing” request when a FERC decision has been challenged. It sounds complicated. The simple version is FERC no longer has the ability to prevent anti-fossil fuel Big Green groups (with loads of money) from challenging each and every pipeline decision FERC makes in court, tying up those decisions for years at a time. Antis now have free rein to game the system and shut down new pipelines from getting built.
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In April 2019 President Trump issued an Executive Order instructing the U.S. Dept. of Energy (DOE) to assess opportunities to promote growth in the Appalachian region. Yesterday a report was released by DOE doing just that. The 75-page report is titled “The Appalachian Energy and Petrochemical Renaissance: An Examination of Economic Progress and Opportunities” (full copy below). The report not only outlines petchem opportunities in the Marcellus/Utica, it makes recommendations to put those opportunities on steroids.
There were 14 new permits issued in PA for shale drilling June 22-26. There were 2 new permits issued in OH for shale drilling during the same time period. There were 7 new permits issued in WV for shale drilling last week. All totaled, there were 23 new shale permits issued across the M-U last week.
Once again agitators who pretend to care about the environment and about people (they care about neither) from Big Green groups like Chesapeake Climate Action Network and the Sierra Club, say a tiny pipeline project in northeastern Virginia is racist and should not get built. On Monday we told you the Virginia State Corporation Commission will not (yet) approve Virginia Natural Gas’ (VNG) Header Improvement Project, a project to build 24 miles of new pipeline and two new compressor stations (expanding a third compressor) to connect to the mighty Transco pipeline system to flow Marcellus/Utica gas to the northeast Va. region (see 
The fallout continues over a totally fake/manufactured “report” issued by Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro last week bashing the shale industry (see 
We meant to bring you this column a few days ago when we first noticed it, but other more pressing news pushed it down the list. Michael Shellenberger is a Time Magazine “Hero of the Environment,” Green Book Award Winner, and (now) author of a brand new book titled “
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Chesapeake Energy goes bankrupt. Will it spur the industry to police its own?; Oilfield Basics signs partnership with leading oil & gas data analytics company; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: San Francisco may prohibit natural gas in new buildings; NATIONAL: Rystad Energy study links sand proppant type to decreased oil & gas production and profitability; Democrats $1.5 trillion infrastructure plan kicks bipartisanship and common sense to the curb; INTERNATIONAL: Saudi Aramco CEO Amin H. Nasser says the “worst is behind us” in oil markets; Saudi Arabia eyes total dominance in oil and gas.