WV Senate Bill to Promote Gas-Fired Power Rankles Coal Lobby
Is the coal industry and natural gas industry in West Virginia friends? Or enemies? Or perhaps “frenemies”? We suppose it depends on the issue. In our book, the coal industry has largely been an enemy of the natural gas industry in WV because natgas-fired power plants threaten to displace coal-fired plants (see Brooke County Blames Coal Lobby for WV Gas Plant Delay). Coal baron Bob Murray, now dead, was behind much of the opposition to gas-fired power plants in the Mountain State (see Murray Energy Continues to Block Gas-Fired Plants in WV). The issue of coal vs. natgas came up again yesterday as the WV Senate Economic Development Committee debated Senate Bill (SB) 188, the Grid Stabilization and Security Act.
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Last week the Municipality of Murrysville, PA (in Westmoreland County, near Pittsburgh) voted to allow Olympus Energy to build a well pad on a property straddling the border with Plum Township. The well pad will eventually host eight shale wells. Olympus wants to begin drilling the wells either late this year or early next year. This is good news indeed!
In late December, the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU) voted to grant permission to New Jersey Natural Gas (NJNG) to build a pipeline regulator station in Holmdel, NJ. What does a regulator station do? It reduces pressure on the underground natural gas pipelines that already exist in the area, running underneath the ground in Holmdel Township and throughout Monmouth County. Ultimately, a regulator station will ensure the reliability of the pipelines and gas that flows in the area. The new station will replace a currently-operating temporary regulator station. Yet the “leaders” of Holmdel have voted to appeal the BPU decision to court, allocating up to $20,000 (of taxpayer money) for legal fees in what is sure to be a fruitless attempt at overturning the BPU decision.
Sempra Infrastructure, a subsidiary of Sempra, announced yesterday it had signed its final customer to buy LNG from the Port Arthur (Texas) LNG facility. All of the LNG that can be produced from Phase 1 of the Port Arthur facility is now spoken for, meaning Sempra anticipates moving forward with a final investment decision (FID) to build the plant and begin actual construction sometime by the end of March this year. Although located along the Texas Gulf Coast, this is good news for the Marcellus/Utica.
After the shocking news that U.S. Senator Joe Manchin had sold out his state and the entire country by agreeing to support the misnamed Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) bill last summer, the details began to come out about just how bad this bill really is for the oil and gas industry. First and foremost, it slaps a new tax on natural gas production (see 
Today it’s fashionable to go along with the crowd and bash fossil fuels and fossil energy. If you’re a politician and you actually stick up for fossil energy, you don’t get invited to parties with all the cool kids. The thing is, those who bash fossil energy depend on fossil energy for about 90% of the things they use every single day. Do they know? Do they care? If we were to eliminate all fossil energy in the next 5-10 years (a metaphysical impossibility), it would instantly transport these dopes back into the Stone Age.
From time to time, we’ve brought you news about some of the more radical (and violent) people who irrationally hate fossil fuels–members of groups like Extinction Rebellion and its spinoff, Just Stop Oil. Some of their members are the kids who recently tried to deface a Vincent van Gogh painting in London (see 
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: EPA to deny permission for continued operation of SWPA coal ash disposal; NATIONAL: U.S. crude oil production will increase to new records in 2023 and 2024; Democrats, eco groups take aim at other home appliances amid gas stove debate; Fossil fuel profits roar back; Do Chinese donations explain Biden’s energy policies?; INTERNATIONAL: Fundamentals strong enough for $90+ oil period.