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Appalachian Methane Initiative Concludes 2023 Test, Expands in 2024
In January 2023, three Marcellus/Utica companies — Chesapeake Energy, EQT, and Equitrans Midstream — launched the Appalachian Methane Initiative (AMI), a coalition committed to further enhancing methane monitoring throughout the Appalachia Basin and reducing methane emissions throughout the region (see EQT, Chessy, Equitrans Form M-U Methane Monitoring Club). The initial pilot campaign from 2023 is done, and the results are in (below). In addition, four more M-U companies are joining the original three for the 2024 campaign.
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The State of Texas just dropped a major bombshell on investment manager BlackRock and the entire so-called ESG (environment, social, governance) space. The Texas Permanent School Fund (PSF), created in the 19th century to support the state’s public schools, has pulled $8.5 billion of its investments away from BlackRock over the state’s determination that BlackRock is engaged in a boycott of energy companies by pressuring companies to avoid the fossil fuel sector. The Texas PSF has $53 billion in invested assets. Investing $8.5 billion of it with BlackRock represents 16% of the entire fund.
The annual CERAWeek by S&P Global conference is happening now in Houston. Everybody who’s anybody is there. (Yes, we’re nobodies; we’re not there!) Oil and gas CEOs, politicians, regulatory agencies — they all convene in Houston to talk about energy at what is billed as “the world’s premier energy conference.” Toby Rice, CEO of EQT Corporation (the largest natural gas producer in the U.S.), was there yesterday. He had some VERY interesting things to say during a panel discussion and on the sidelines. Rice touted the need for more pipeline infrastructure, predicting wild swings in the price of natural gas absent new pipelines. He also said there’s an even bigger market than LNG for U.S. natural gas. What could it be?
Last week, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro traveled to Scranton, PA, to do a dog-and-pony show announcing his personalized version of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) carbon tax that would apply only to PA (see 
Thanks to abundant, clean Marcellus shale gas, Pennsylvania remained the country’s top electricity exporter in 2023 while simultaneously reaching a new low for carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from electricity generation, according to the Pennsylvania Independent Fiscal Office’s (IFO) latest analysis. Yes, you read that right. PA is producing more electricity than ever, yet CO2 emissions from electric generation are lower than ever. How can that be?
MiQ is one of two major gas certification authorities and is used by nearly every Marcellus/Utica driller. Last October, MDN brought you information about the two major gas certification authorities, MiQ and Project Canary, and the effort by drillers to get their gas officially certified as responsibly sourced (see 
The Independent System Operator-New England (ISO-NE) is warning “blue states” in the northeast (states controlled by Democrats with an iron fist) that their strategy of pushing 100% renewables and eliminating fossil fuel energy has a fatal flaw. At the federal and state levels, elected Democrats are pushing hard to phase out fossil fuel-fired power infrastructure and replace it with sources of so-called “green” energy like wind and solar. Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont — the states that are served by ISO-NE — all have green energy mandates. And they are all in imminent danger of blackouts.
OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Enstor seeks to double capacity of Miss. Hub natgas storage; Debate over natural gas bill heating up in Albany; NATIONAL: Specialist buyout firms cash in on shale consolidation; Manchin says lawmakers close to a permitting reform deal; M&A activity furthers consolidation of U.S. oil and natgas firms; U.S. propane exports grow faster than production.