Feds & PA Soak PennEnergy with $2M Fine, $3.6M Upgrades re Emissions
PennEnergy Resources, LLC, the 11th largest shale driller in Pennsylvania, agreed to a “deal” with the Biden Department of Justice (DOJ), the Biden Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and the Josh Shapiro Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) to pay a $2 million fine and spend another $3.6 million on “upgrades” related to air emissions at its well pads. Based on inspections done in 2018 (six years ago!), the EPA accused PennEnergy of illegal air emissions at five “facilities” (well pads) in Butler County, PA. Yet PennEnergy is being forced to “fix” 17 of its oil and gas production facilities and implement “partial measures” at an additional 32 facilities in Butler County and neighboring Lawrence County. Read More “Feds & PA Soak PennEnergy with $2M Fine, $3.6M Upgrades re Emissions”
Yesterday, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported five states produced more than 70% of the record 113.1 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of U.S. marketed natural gas production in 2023. Two of the five were in the Marcellus/Utica: Pennsylvania (18% of the country’s gas) and West Virginia (8% of the country’s gas). We did some digging and found that when adding the production from PA, WV, and OH, the three together represented 31.5% of all the natural gas produced in the U.S. in 2023. It is an astonishing fact! 
The environmental left is hellbent on regulating fossil fuels, including oil and natural gas, out of existence. One of their favorite (false) memes is to claim methane is a bazillion times more “potent” in causing global warming than other things, like carbon dioxide. The false narrative continues that shale drilling is causing a stratospheric increase in fugitive methane leaks into Mom Earth’s atmosphere. Except….it isn’t true. According to data from the Environmental Protection Agency, methane emissions from the country’s top oil and gas-producing basins have fallen 44 percent since 2011. Methane emissions right here in the Marcellus/Utica have fallen 52% from 2019 to 2023! 
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) issued its latest monthly Short-Term Energy Outlook yesterday, the agency’s monthly best guess about where energy prices and production will go in the next 12 months. In October, the EIA predicted the average spot price for natural gas would be $3.10/MMBtu in 2025 (see 
Yesterday, President-elect Donald Trump posted an interesting message to his Truth Social account: “Any person or company investing ONE BILLION DOLLARS, OR MORE, in the United States of America, will receive fully expedited approvals and permits, including, but in no way limited to, all Environmental approvals. GET READY TO ROCK!!!” The implication is that the incoming Trumpsters will move heaven and earth to ensure more major manufacturing and infrastructure projects are built here in the U.S.A. Finally, someone who gets it! 
What is the Biden Department of Energy (DOE) hiding? Four times now, Republican lawmakers from Congress have asked the DOE to reveal the scientific process it is using to “evaluate” how the federal government approves LNG export requests. The Bidenistas are stonewalling and refusing to comply with the request, implying they are using less-than-rigorous standards to produce a fake report. The Bidenistas are using political science instead of real science to evaluate LNG exports. You can expect a politically motivated report when the ditsy Jennifer Granholm (DOE Secretary) finally issues the LNG report we’ve been waiting for for the past year. 
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a final rule updating its regulations to include Version 4.0 of the Standards for Business Practices of Interstate Natural Gas Pipelines, as adopted by the Wholesale Gas Quadrant (WGQ) of the North American Energy Standards Board (NAESB). The revisions are designed to promote greater efficiency and reliability of the natural gas industry’s operations and strengthen the cybersecurity protections provided within the standards. This action builds on (works in tandem with) the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) annual Security Directives aimed at protecting pipelines from being hacked. 
OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Haynesville Shale drilling will ‘bite you’; NATIONAL: Dominion Energy donates more than $3 million to nonprofits; Electricity… if you want it now, it must be natural gas, not nuclear; Net zero is asinine; INTERNATIONAL: OPEC cuts and China stimulus anchor crude in volatile market; Heritage Foundation, BCG talk to Rigzone about OPEC+ meeting; China-Russia east-route natural gas pipeline fully operational; Brits call for Bill Gates’ arrest re anti-cow-fart chemicals in milk.