Lightning Strikes Williams Valve Station in Washington County, PA

A fire broke out at a Williams pipeline valve station located in Buffalo Township in Washington County, PA following a reported lightning strike. The fire was small and contained and Williams’ workers were able to quickly put it out. No one in the surrounding area needed to be evacuated, and no one was injured. Whew.
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The West Virginia Dept. of Environmental Protection (WV DEP) is moving forward with its constitutional duty to evaluate whether or not the state should issue a federal Clean Water Act permit allowing Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) to finish crossing water bodies it hasn’t already crossed under a previous permit (which was overturned by the lefties of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit). WV DEP will hold an online, virtual hearing tonight at 6 pm to accept comments from the public.
Last week CenterPoint Energy filed a request with the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission (IURC) to replace portions of its coal-fired generation fleet with two natural gas combustion turbines. The two units would provide a combined 460 megawatts (MW) of electricity as a backup to CenterPoint’s wind, solar, and battery storage. The plants would not operate continuously (which is a shame). Where will the gas come from to feed these new gas-fired plants?
We spotted an article on OilPrice.com (no friend of the oil and gas industry, despite the name of the site) that makes the bold claim that “oilfield services companies are making a full comeback.” That’s music to our ears! Oilfield services companies including Schlumberger, Halliburton, Baker Hughes, and National Oilwell Varco are reporting that prices for their services and equipment have “bottomed out” and they are now recruiting new workers. Since February some 27,000 OFS laid-off workers have returned to work.
In March we told you about House of Representatives (HR) Bill 1512, the Climate Leadership and Environmental Action for our Nation’s Future Act (or CLEAN Future Act). The bill gives vast powers to the unelected bureaucrats at the EPA to set new regulatory demands before permits can be approved for facilities that produce plastics or the raw materials used to produce plastics, such as ethylene or propylene (see
If you’ve been reading MDN over the past few months, no doubt you’ve detected our skepticism over the sudden rise of ESG (environmental, social, governance) programs that are now all the rage with oil and gas companies, including Marcellus/Utica companies. As we previously stated, “We’re approaching the point where we’ll puke if we hear much more about ESG. The problem, from our perspective, is that the term itself is nebulous. Anyone can define ESG any way they want. What does ESG really mean?” So when we spotted an article titled “How to tell a real oil and gas ESG program from a fake,” we just had to read it.
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Cimarex upgraded to Buy at BofA in spite of Cabot deal that ‘may not close’; Rice Acquisition IPO raises $345M; We must invest in pipeline infrastructure; NATIONAL: Court finds environmentalists’ challenge to Trump NEPA rule too early in process; Exxon Mobil to cut us workforce by up to 10% annually; INTERNATIONAL: Russian drillers rejoice as oil continues to rally.