Steubenville, OH Votes to Lease City-Owned Land for $7,000/Acre
After months of deliberation, Steubenville (Jefferson County), Ohio, City Council voted to accept a bid and proceed with leasing the city’s mineral rights to the oil and gas industry, including areas near residential neighborhoods and Beatty Park. Some residents voiced strong opposition, citing threats to the park’s ecosystem, health concerns, and insufficient public involvement, urging the council to reject bids or form a resident-inclusive committee. Fourth Ward Councilman Royal Mayo voted against it, questioning fracking’s health effects. First Ward Councilman David Albaugh supported it, noting that surrounding areas are already fracked and that no well pad would be built in Steubenville. The money (over $1 million!) is expected within 90 days. Read More “Steubenville, OH Votes to Lease City-Owned Land for $7,000/Acre”
What a disappointment. We don’t know why, but at yesterday’s U.S. House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure meeting on the Water Resources Development Act (WRDA), an amendment to overturn the Delaware River Basin Commission’s (DRBC) authority to ban fracking was NOT introduced. The WRDA passed and now goes to the House for a vote — without the amendment that would have overturned the DRBC frack ban, which illegally strips landowners’ property rights in Wayne and Pike counties (in Pennsylvania). The only conclusion we can draw is that the Republican leadership, for whatever reason, didn’t want it attached to the bill. Meaning they caved. Again, what a disappointment. 
Northeast natural gas demand could rise by up to 10 Bcf/d by the early 2030s, supported by power generation, LNG, industrial growth, and advancing pipeline projects. Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co. (TPH) says regional operators increasingly expect 5–8 Bcf/d of growth by 2030, although the firm models only 3 Bcf/d. The interesting aspect of TPH’s prediction is *where* the increase in gas supply will come from, and which drillers will most likely provide it. 
Last year, we reported on a Pennsylvania Supreme Court decision issued in the case of Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Game Commission v. Thomas E. Proctor Heirs Trust (see 
New York Governor Kathy Hochul yesterday had the ignominious distinction of signing an Executive Order establishing the nation’s first statewide moratorium on new hyperscale data centers, temporarily pausing state environmental permit issuance for up to 1 year. New York is CLOSED for business. We wonder if this decision jeopardizes a $100 BILLION project in the Syracuse area: a new chip-making plant by Micron. The Micron plant will build the chips used by hyperscale data centers — the same data centers Hochul just banned. How’s that for a kick in Micron’s teeth? 
NATIONAL: U.S. natural gas futures snap losing streak; SLB, Liberty Energy form strategic alliance for data center infra. and power; Climate litigation activists embedded in new NAS attribution study; Climate retreat documented in the New York Times; Alice in Hydrogen Land; America barely uses OPEC oil, so why are oil and gas prices so high?; INTERNATIONAL: Oil hits one-month high; Houthis strike Saudi Arabia in major escalation; Japan chooses reliable energy over climate nonsense.