DC Circuit Libs Reverse FERC Approval of Transco Northeast Expansion
This is so frustrating. A panel of three extremely liberal (wildly left) Democrat judges sitting on the U.S. Court of Appeals — two appointed by Joementia and the other appointed by Lord Obama — have overturned a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approval of the $1 billion Transco Regional Energy Access Expansion (REAE) project that is already up and running and delivering extra natural gas supplies to Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Maryland. The three-judge panel ruled that FERC didn’t seriously consider man-made global warming when approving the project. The frustrating thing is that FERC is NOT an environmental agency; it’s an economic agency. Look it up — it’s in the FERC charter. Yet the libs are now demanding FERC become something it is not, an environmental agency that considers mythical global warming before it can approve new pipeline projects. Mission accomplished for the Bidenistas and Obamadroids. No doubt the Cackleistas would also approve of this bastardization of FERC.
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Chesapeake Energy issued its second quarter 2024 update yesterday. Due to the low price of natural gas, Chesapeake promised (in 1Q) that it would curtail roughly 25% of its production. The company kept its word. Chessy’s 2Q production was 24.9% lower than the same period in 2023. Production was 2.745 Bcfe/d in 2Q24 versus 3.653 Bcfe/d in 2Q23. Interestingly, the company’s production was ALL (100%) natural gas — no oil and no NGLs were produced last quarter. Chessy lost $227 million last quarter versus making $391 million in profit in 2Q23. The company used an average of eight rigs to drill 30 wells and place four wells on production. It built an inventory of five drilled but uncompleted wells (DUCs) and 24 deferred turn-in-lines (TILs). Chesapeake is currently operating seven rigs and two completion crews, having dropped a rig in the Marcellus in July.
DT Midstream (DTM), headquartered in Detroit, owns major assets in the Marcellus/Utica region and other regions like the Haynesville. DTM issued its second quarter 2024 update yesterday. Of keen interest to us was any talk of the company’s Phase III expansion to the Appalachian Gathering System and an expansion in the Tioga County gathering system. To understand the comments coming from yesterday’s update, we need to go back to the first quarter 2024 update…
Last week, MDN exclusively brought you the news that the CEO of American Environmental Services, which owns Austin Master Services (AMS), had filed a brief with Belmont County Court to either forgive or reduce a $1.2 million bond needed to keep the CEO, Brad Domitrovitsch, out of jail (see 
PJM Interconnection, the largest U.S. power grid operator, published the results of its latest electricity auction yesterday. PJM serves 65 million people in 13 states plus the District of Columbia (including PA, OH, and WV). The latest auction for delivery of electricity in PJM in 2025/26 produced a wholesale price of $269.92/MW-day. That is a massive 933% increase from the $28.92/MW per day cost for delivery in 2024/2025. Of great interest to us is the overall mix of how PJM’s electricity gets generated. The auction (for 2025/26) shows a diverse mix of resources, including 48% produced by gas, 21% by nuclear, 18% by coal, 1% by solar, 1% by wind, 4% by hydro, 5% by demand response and 2% from other resources. We hear the constant drumbeat by mainstream media pushing renewable energy, yet solar and wind are producing a minuscule 2% of PJM’s electricity. How does that square? We are fed whoppers every day from mainstream news about the so-called ascendance of renewable energy.
PJM, the grid manager for Pennsylvania, twelve other states, and the District of Columbia, is worried about future energy needs. As existing power plants come offline and lawmakers seek to replace them with woefully inadequate alternatives, PJM estimates electricity shortages as early as 2027. PA Gov. Josh Shapiro isn’t helping matters with his disastrous energy proposals (see 
NATIONAL: US natgas prices jump 4% on forecast for record heat; Debunking claims that Biden has replenished the SPR; Climate law’s CCS windfall is almost 2 years old – not working; Shale costs forecast to fall 10% this year.