New PA State Budget Includes Third-Party Review of DEP Permits
A MAJOR victory for Pennsylvania Republicans that is not getting the attention it should. For years, PA State Sen. Gene Yaw and others have lobbied for review by qualified third parties to speed up the turnaround time to approve relatively simple permits issued by the Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP), including earth disturbance/erosion permits, known as Chapter 102 permits, and water obstruction and encroachment permits, known as Chapter 105 permits (see PA Sen. Yaw Intros Bill to Allow 3rd Party Review of Erosion Permits). The DEP fought it tooth and nail, perceiving such a change as a threat to its bureaucratic power (see PA DEP Using ePermits for Erosion & Sedimentation to Avoid New Law). No more. The DEP is now silent in its opposition as a third-party review of permits was adopted and signed into law as part of the recently passed state budget.
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According to Public News Service (PNS), a Big Green propaganda outfit funded (in part) by the Fresh Water Accountability Project, the CEO of Austin Master Services (AMS), a frack waste storage facility in Martin’s Ferry, Ohio, was supposed to attend a Belmont County court hearing by phone. He faces contempt-of-court charges for failing to clean up 10,000 tons of waste. However, it wasn’t the hearing that caught our attention; it was a comment made by the Mayor of Martins Ferry.
Anti-fossil fuel zealots from the Chesapeake Climate Action Network and from an Indian tribe as far away as Nova Scotia (Canada) are opposing a $12 billion plan by Washington Gas to fix leaky (very old) natural gas pipelines that cross under the streets of our nation’s capital, Washington, D.C. An article from the Big Green propaganda outfit Public News Service (PNS) opens with this line: “Washington D.C. residents are pushing back on a plan to build out existing fossil fuel infrastructure.” There’s no mention of how many D.C. residents object. And as if there aren’t enough residents who object, the article quotes an anti from Nova Scotia! What do antis from N.S. have to do with this?
Natural gas traders are predicting (more like warning) that Europe’s natural gas storage tanks will be filled to the tippy top during the third quarter (which ends in September), ahead of the normal schedule. At the start of the second quarter, Europe’s tanks were 59% full. As of July 12, they were 80% full. If European storage closes early, that will put downward pressure on prices here in the U.S. Less demand with the same supply equals lower prices.
OTHER U.S. REGIONS: DOE pressed to advance major LNG project after pause reversal; Government officials raise concerns after new governor rolls back decades of legislation; NATIONAL: Sierra Club statement on Donald Trump’s selection of JD Vance; Democratic platform bullish on climate action, down on Big Oil; INTERNATIONAL: Russian pipeline gas exports to EU up 24% y/y in Jan-June.