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Bad Guys Win: PA General Energy to Plug Grant Twp Injection Well
Since 2015 we’ve reported on the case of Grant Township (Indiana County, PA), a town that passed an ordinance cooked up by the radical Big Green group Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF) to try and block a state-approved injection well proposed by Pennsylvania General Energy (see our Grant Township articles here). There have been number of legal twists and turns–with Grant and the CELDF losing every single time. We have a very sad update to share: Pennsylvania General Energy (PGE), the builder seeking a permit to expand a depleted well to use as an injection well, is throwing in the towel.
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A laughably fake “report” just published by the University of Pennsylania (UPenn) and the far-left group Resources for the Future (RFF) makes this wild claim about the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a Marcellus-killing carbon tax scheme that will shut down most coal- and natural gas-fired power plants in the state: “Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative would lower Pennsylvania emissions, add to state revenues, and have little to no impact on electricity rates.” Yeah, right. UPenn/RFF are trying to sell a bridge in Brooklyn too, just in case you’re in the market to buy one.
Last November, MDN told you about a lawsuit filed by a family in Washington County, PA, against Chevron (now EQT) for drilling and fracking done in 2011-2012 near the family’s home (see 
Epsilon Energy concentrates most of its effort on developing Marcellus Shale wells in Susquehanna County, PA–that is, until now (see below). Epsilon typically does not do its own drilling. The company joint venture partners with (gives money to) other companies, like Chesapeake Energy, and the other company typically does the drilling. Epsilon issued its first quarter 2023 update yesterday. The company’s net gas production was 2.5 Bcf (billion cubic feet) in total, not per day, during 1Q23. That amounts to 27.3 MMcf/d (million cubic feet per day) on average. Epsilon generated revenues of $9.4 million for 1Q23, down 39% from 4Q22.
Earlier this week, the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry, along with 67 other business associations and local chambers of commerce, sent a letter to Gov. Josh Shapiro and the PA legislature urging them to take “decisive action” in reforming the state’s “dysfunctional and unpredictable permitting system.” Among the signatories of the letter were shale groups, including the American Petroleum Institute (API) of Pennsylvania, the Marcellus Shale Coalition (MSC), and the Pennsylvania Independent Oil & Gas Association (PIOGA).
A group of 17 states, including Ohio and West Virginia, filed a motion yesterday with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) asking the commission to block BlackRock, the largest asset manager in the world, from forcing utility companies in which BlackRock invests to adopt so-called ESG policies. BlackRock buys up a significant portion of ownership in a company and then tries to force that company to stop using fossil energy via the back door of forcing it to implement ESG (environment, social, governance) policies. It is “woke” investing, plain and simple. And the Attornies General of 17 states have had enough of it.
U.S. Senator Joe Manchin, a liberal Democrat from conservative West Virginia, is desperately trying to hold on to his job following the 2024 election. Manchin thought nobody would notice when he caved to pressure from his own party and voted to pass the devastatingly bad (and misnamed) Inflation Reduction Act (see 
NATIONAL: White House backs faster energy project permits, joining Republicans; INTERNATIONAL: Sunak says UK needs fossil fuels; Record amounts of LNG idling at sea.