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Fed Court Quizzes Enviros and NJ re Williams Transco Expansion

A three-judge panel from the federal D.C. Circuit spent two hours on Friday hearing arguments for and against the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) approval of Williams’ Regional Energy Access Expansion (REAE) project. REAE is an expansion of the mighty Transco pipeline in Pennsylvania and New Jersey to deliver an extra 829 MMcf/d of Marcellus gas to PA, NJ, and Maryland. Part of the project was done and went online last year (see Williams 1Q – Regional Energy Access Pipe Coming Online Early). The balance of the project is scheduled to be completed and online by the end of this year.
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NY Assembly Passes Bill to Ban Using CO2 to “Frack” Wells

Last month, MDN told you that several New York Democrat legislators introduced a new bill to ban the use of carbon dioxide (CO2) in any process to extract natural gas or oil in the Empire State (see NY Democrats Release Bill to Ban Use of CO2 in Gas Extraction). Following pressure from Big Green groups like Food & Water Watch, the corrupt Democrat legislators in the NY Assembly voted yesterday 97-50 to adopt this illegal bill. Now, it’s on to the Senate, where we’re sure corrupt Senators will pass it, too. Welcome to the People’s Republic of New York.
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DRBC’s Disappointing Executive Director Steve Tambini is Retiring

DRBC Executive Director Steve Tambini

Wow, does time fly! Exactly ten years ago, MDN reported that the Executive Director of the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC), Carol Collier (a hardened leftist), was retiring. In her place, the DRBC had selected Steve Tambini, then the vice president of operations at Pennsylvania American Water (see DRBC Selects Steve Tambini as New Leader, Enviro Groups Unsure). Big Green was unsure of Tambini and concerned about how he would lead the commission, which gave us hope he might be a good change. As it turned out, Big Green had nothing to worry about. Tambini turned out to be a patsy for their cause.
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MVP Protesters Reveal Themselves as Anti-Semites

On Tuesday, we reported on yet another illegal protest that happened Monday, blocking work for a time on the last bits of the Mountain Valley Pipeline (see 2 “Protesters” Locked to Car Block Road to MVP Construction Site). Two protesters locked themselves to an old junk car and had to be removed, a process that took police hours. Both were charged with misdemeanors. We didn’t have much in the way of information. Fortunately, the protesters themselves issued a full report on the incident, and what we saw in a photo accompanying that report shocked us (but perhaps should not have). These people are hate-filled anti-Semites.
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Woke SEC Adopts Modified Version of Climate Disclosure Reg

In March 2022, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), corrupted by the Bidenistas, said it would begin to force all publicly traded companies to disclose their so-called greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and the imaginary climate risks their businesses face (see SEC Votes to Force Public Companies to Disclose Mythical GHG Risks). The original plan called for publicly traded companies to disclose their own direct (“Scope 1”) and indirect (“Scope 2”) GHG emissions. It would also require companies to disclose greenhouse gases generated by suppliers and partners, known as Scope 3 emissions. Yesterday, the SEC voted 3-2 (three Democrats vs. two Republicans) to issue a final regulation that will soon go into effect. The final version dumped Scope 3 emissions but kept Scopes 1 and 2 — in a massive 886-page regulatory rule.
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100 Protesters Rally in Albany to Demand Ban on CO2 Fracking in NY

A group of so-called environmental advocates (old hippies) gathered in Albany at the Capitol yesterday to continue their call to ban all “fracking,” including CO2 (carbon dioxide) used to extract natural gas. We wonder if they know that a total ban on “all” fracking includes a ban on fracking geothermal wells being pushed by the governor.
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Antis Launch Ad Hominem Attack of Va. DEQ Director re MVP Work

In a new low, anti-fossil fuelers who have tried and failed to stop the Mountain Valley Pipeline in Virginia (now 99% done) are now attacking the reputation and character of the Director of the Virginia Dept. of Environmental Quality (DEQ), trying to slow things down with an ad hominem (“to the man” or “personal”) attack against the guy who oversees the environmental agency that has a partial role in watching over MVP. It’s shameful. DEQ Director Michael Rolband was appointed to his job by newly-elected Gov. Glenn Youngkin in 2022, back when MVP was already 95% done but stalled due to repeated lawfare by Big Green and cooperative (corrupt) 4th Circuit judges. Even though MVP was already mostly done in Virginia, antis say because Rolband — who did some work for MVP in his prior career before heading DEQ — is somehow compromised or unethical and not doing his oversight job correctly now. Complete hogwash!
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2 “Protesters” Locked to Car Block Road to MVP Construction Site

Once again, Big Green is attempting to illegally block the final bits of construction of the 303-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline as it travels through Roanoke County, VA. Yesterday, two “protesters” chained or otherwise attached themselves to an old (junk) car, a car made entirely from and with fossil fuels, blocking a road that leads to an MVP construction site. We grow tired of reporting these incidents and debated on whether or not to report this one. However, MDN readers deserve to know how the lawless left behaves. Plus, one of the so-called protesters looks like he (or she) is…well, you can fill in the blank.
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Darth Vader (BlackRock) Buying New England Pipeline for $1.14B

The 295-mile Portland Natural Gas Transmission System (PNGTS) spans New England from the Canadian border to pipeline connections in New Hampshire, Maine, and Massachusetts. The system began operations in 1999 and is located between three major pipeline networks originating in Canada and the Southern U.S. TC Energy owns 61.7% of PNGTS. The remaining 38.3 percent is owned by Northern New England Investment Company. The system includes 107 miles of facilities jointly owned by PNGTS and Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline. PNGTS owns 32% of those facilities. TC Energy announced today it is selling PMGTS to the evil BlackRock (run by CEO Larry Fink, a known anti-fossil fueler) for US$1.14 billion.
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Sanctioned Lawyer Meets Cyclone Residents Against Injection Well

In January, MDN brought you the good news that the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) approved a plan by Catalyst Energy to convert an existing gas production well on Route 646 in Cyclone (Keating Township in McKean County, PA) into a shale wastewater injection well (see PA DEP Approves Shale Wastewater Injection Well in McKean County). More than 40 residents of Cyclone appealed the DEP approval. They met with an attorney over the weekend to help them with their appeal — an attorney that has the distinction of being the first (and so far only) attorney to be sanctioned by the DEP’s Environmental Hearing Board (EHB).
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MVP “Protesters” Behave Badly at Va. Attorney General’s Office

The radicalized environmental left does itself no favors with its antics and histrionics aimed at bullying public officials. Case in point: On Wednesday, Feb. 21, a small group of activists (six or seven) with Third Act Virginia were removed from Attorney General Jason Miyares’ office in Richmond after staging a sit-in. The wackos were there to deliver a petition to the AG demanding that he shut down work on the final 1% of Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP). The AG and his staff refused to meet with the wackos, so they pitched a fit like two-year-olds and had to be removed.
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Biden EPA Delays New Gas-Fired Power Plant Regs to Post-Election

The Bidenistas at the EPA announced last night the agency will delay, until AFTER the November election, implementing harsh new regulations aimed at closing down gas-fired power plants across the country. The unstated purpose is to remove this highly unpopular edict as a campaign issue so the bag of bones known as Joementia can try to get himself reelected. We suppose this is good news, as it means these regs will likely never get implemented for existing power plants — they will certainly be dropped in a DJT administration. Still, the threat looms over the industry, and nobody will build a new plant under these harsh regulations, which WILL apply to any new gas-fired power plant project effective immediately. So all work on new plants will stop forthwith. That’s the downside to the announcement.
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Big Oil Asks U.S. Supremes to Shut Down Lawsuits re Global Warming

A coalition of major oil companies is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to rule on a key aspect of numerous ongoing nationwide lawsuits filed by cities, counties, and states. The lawsuits by multiple “blue” states and cities accuse Big Oil companies of deceiving the public about their role in causing mythical manmade global warming. The companies being targeted are the biggest of the big, with deep pockets. It’s nothing more than elaborate shakedown. Sunoco, ExxonMobil, Chevron, Marathon Petroleum, ConocoPhillips, Phillips 66, and others have asked the Supremes to intervene in a climate case filed against them by the City and County of Honolulu. The case serves as an important precedent for a number of other cases.
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Canadian Bill Makes it a Crime to Speak Nice About Fossil Fuels

Charlie Angus, an MP (Member of Parliament) in Canada, belongs to the country’s radical left NDP, or New Democratic Party. He represents the Timmins—James Bay area in Ontario. Angus recently introduced a bill, C-372, also known as the Fossil Fuel Advertising Act. The bill is as anti-free speech as anything you’ll find in Communist Russia or North Korea. C-372 says if you, as an individual, speak well of the oil industry, doing so would carry a summary conviction and a fine of up to $500,000. If you work for an oil company and stick up for your industry, the punishment could be as strict as two years in jail or a fine of $1,000,000. It’s pure insanity.
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WV Warns 6 More Banks They are in Danger of Blacklist re ESG

West Virginia State Treasurer Riley Moore has sent notices to six additional financial institutions warning them of potential inclusion on the state’s Restricted Financial Institution List (can’t do business with the state) after his office made an initial determination that the institutions appear to be engaged in boycotts of fossil fuel companies as defined under state law. This is not the first time Moore has put Big Banks on the blacklist (see WV Ends Business with 5 Banks Guilty of Boycotting Fossil Fuels). We have the list of companies Moore contacted…
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Radical Left Getting Nervous About Changes Coming in a Trump EPA

Swampy leftists in the Democrat Party view the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as their own personal playground — a birthright. If a Republican takes the White House, as Donald Trump did in 2017, and sets about to scale back some of the extremist policies implemented by previous presidents like Lord Obama, the lefties go berserk (see Horray! Trump Budget Fires 20% of EPA Staff, Trims 31% of Budget). Nobody has bastardized the EPA more than Joe Biden, and it will take an exorcism to clean it out. Don’t worry: DJT and the Heritage Foundation have a plan to clean it up, as we recently told you (see Roadmap Released for Trump to Reverse Biden Climate Policies). The Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 plan has swamp dwellers in D.C. and even in far-flung places like Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Triangle Park, North Carolina, VERY nervous.
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