Gulfport’s Bumpy Bankruptcy – Asset Transfer, Exec Bonuses Questioned
Last November Gulfport Energy, the third-largest driller in the Ohio Utica Shale (by the number of wells drilled), filed for a “pre-arranged” Chapter 11 bankruptcy (see Gulfport Energy Files for Pre-arranged Chapter 11 Bankruptcy). Gulfport’s bankruptcy has been a bumpy process according to recent filings in the case. According to a “heavily revised” disclosure statement filed by Gulfport, there are “concerns” from the Debtors’ Official Committee of Unsecured Creditors about Gulfport (the parent) transferring $1 billion worth of assets to a subsidiary, Gulfport Appalachia, when both were likely insolvent. And the court is actively looking at over $19.6 million of management bonuses paid in the eight months preceding the Chapter 11 filing, asking whether that money should now be “clawed back” and given to creditors.
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Last summer MDN brought you the news that the Sierra Club lost a lawsuit aimed at blocking a landfill in New York State from accepting oil and gas drill cuttings from Pennsylvania (see 
For the week ending March 3, the Enverus U.S. rig count soared by another 30 rigs, an indicator that activity is picking up in the oil and gas sector. The vast majority of the rigs (27) were brought online in oil-focused plays (12 of them in the Permian alone). Just 3 net rigs were brought online in gas-focused plays. The Utica Shale increased by 2 active rigs, while the M-U’s chief rival for rigs, the gassy Haynesville, added 3 rigs. (Obviously, some gas rigs were idled in other plays if there were +5 brought online in the Utica and Haynesville.)
There is finally movement in Ohio to repeal an odious law passed by Ohio’s Republican-controlled legislature called House Bill 6, which funnels over $1 billion from Ohio ratepayers to FirstEnergy Corporation in order to keep the company’s unprofitable nuclear power plants running (while disadvantaging other power sources, like gas-fired plants). FirstEnergy is accused of bribing legislators to pass, and keep passed, HB 6 by paying out $60 million in bribes (see 
Whether or not you agree with Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf’s idiotic plan to join something called the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a carbon tax that will force PA residents to pay $2.36 billion in higher electric costs over a 10-year period (and shut down coal and gas-fired power plants), there is one thing we can all agree on: The way Wolf is attempting to enroll the state in RGGI is wrong. Wolf is denying the state legislature (controlled by Republicans) a role in approving whether or not this new carbon tax will be assessed on PA citizens.
Duke Energy has plans to build multiple new clean-burning natural gas-fired power plants to supply its grid over the next 15 years–some 4.7 gigawatts of new gas-fired plants (see 
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