Shell Cracker Agrees to $10M Shakedown from PA, Restarting Now
In March, Shell said its Pennsylvania ethane cracker facility had not–using new, more accurate methods of measuring emissions–violated emissions limits at any point during the facility’s somewhat troubled startup (see Shell Claims PA Cracker Plant Did Not Exceed Air Emissions Limits). However, the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) says it did exceed emissions limits, a number of times. Shell is not going to push the issue. Yesterday, PA Gov. Josh Shapiro announced his government had shaken down Shell and is forcing the company to pay nearly $10 million in fines and bribes “contributions” to benefit local communities. That’s the protection money price to restart the now shutdown plant and to keep it going.
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Last Thursday, a Congressman from Pennsylvania, John Joyce (a physician from Altoona, PA), introduced House of Representatives Bill (HR) 3500, called the “Mountain Valley Pipeline Completion Act” (copy below). Which we find interesting because Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) does not touch PA, although a PA company, Equitrans, is building it. The 303-mile MVP pipeline starts in Wetzel County, WV, and runs through WV into Virginia, ending in Pittsylvania County, VA. The project has been stalled for years due to repeated lawsuits from foreign-funded Big Green groups. HR 3500, aimed at finishing MVP, was co-sponsored by U.S. Reps. Carol Miller (R-WV), Guy Reschenthaler (R-PA), Mike Kelly (R-PA), Dan Meuser (R-PA), and Alex Mooney (R-WV). Here’s what the bill would do…
Yesterday the six sitting justices of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court (currently one vacancy due to the death of Chief Justice Max Baer last fall) heard oral arguments in a case about the so-called Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI)–a carbon tax scheme aimed at shutting down coal- and natural gas-fired power plants in the state. As is often the case, this Supreme Court case is about a technicality in the law. A lower court (PA Commonwealth Court) blocked the state’s entrance into RGGI last year until a lawsuit challenging PA’s participation could play out (see 
We have warned you, repeatedly, that environmental leftist wackos will NEVER accept fossil fuel energy under any circumstances. If you were to wave a magic wand and take away all carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from fossil energy, they would still reject it. And we have proof of our assertion. The United Nations (UN), a body governed by leftist thugs and tyrants, now says using machines to remove vast amounts of CO2 from the air and sea to fight climate change is “unproven” and contains “unknown” risks. Ergo, we shouldn’t even try it. Ergo, we must eliminate the use of all fossil fuel energy to save the planet from burning to a cinder.
We’ve often compared carbon dioxide (CO2) offsets, or carbon credits, as akin to the practice of the Catholic Church selling indulgences in the Middle Ages to absolve you of your sins (
In March, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) published its Annual Energy Outlook 2023 (see 
NATIONAL: The time to expand mining and streamline permitting is now; INTERNATIONAL: Oil extends rally led by Saudi warning; UK windfall tax case study.