Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel

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    Ohio Antis Suffer Big Election Defeats in Youngstown, Statewide

    On Tuesday the voters in Ohio once again roared their disapproval of anti-fracking candidates, and anti-fracking ballot measures. For the seventh time in a row, a radical anti-fossil fuel ballot measure was voted down in Youngstown, OH–by an overwhelming majority (56%). Even so, the hardened radicals behind the ballot measure promise to keep bringing it back until Hades freezes over. These radicals have already cost the taxpayers of Youngstown $188,000 to run the ballot measure. And yet they keep coming back. They fit Einstein’s definition of insanity. Statewide voters shot down the candidacy of anti-fossil fueler Dennis Kucinich, the man who pledged that if elected governor he would institute a total ban on fracking statewide (see Ohio Democrat Candidate for Governor Says He’ll Ban Utica Drilling). Ohioans saw right through that nonsense. Only 23% of Ohio’s Democrats voted for Kucinich in Tuesday’s primary–a total humiliation…
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    Desperate Riverkeeper Files Multiple Lawsuits re PennEast Pipe

    Knowing that the PennEast Pipeline project is about to become reality, a very desperate THE Delaware Riverkeeper (aka Maya van Rossum) has launched a major legal attack against the project–using Big Green money. These are not the first legal filings by Riverkeeper against PennEast. The current strategy appears to be “bury them in legal horse manure.” PennEast Pipeline is a 120-mile pipeline from near Wilkes-Barre, PA to near Trenton, NJ. The planned route passes through Luzerne, Carbon, Northampton, and Bucks counties in PA, and through Mercer and Hunterdon counties in NJ. The pipeline is needed to move PA’s abundant Marcellus gas to markets in NJ. The first “legal maneuver” by Riverkeeper this week was to file a petition for a “Writ of Mandamus” in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, asking the court to force the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to respond to Riverkeeper’s rehearing request on the PennEast project. At the same time, Riverkeeper filed a “Petition for Review” with the D.C. Circuit Court of appeals challenging all of FERC’s orders related to PennEast. It is a full, frontal legal attack by a small organization fronting for other groups like the William Penn Foundation. The question is, will Riverkeeper’s latest attack work?…
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    Anti Group Stirs Up Pittsburghers Against Fracking, (Ab)Uses Kids

    We always find it deeply disturbing when a group of anti-fossil fueulers, like the innocent-sounding (but very radical) Moms Clean Air Force, pushes little kids in front of the cameras, getting them to hold protest signs in a sleazy attempt to play on people’s sympathy. That’s what happened yesterday in the Pittsburgh suburb of Indiana Township (Allegheny County). Hey, knock yourself out if you want to show up and protest and make some noise. But don’t bring the kids along. Don’t put your guilt trip on the kids, making them protest something they frankly don’t even understand. Don’t implant them with your irrational fears. We find it disgusting…
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    Anti-Fossil Fuel NY Attorney General Eric Schneiderman Resigns!

    Former NY AG Eric Schneiderman

    One of the plagues we’ve had to endure in the Empire State is a totally out-of-control, mad drunk with an abuse of legal power, Attorney General Eric Schniederman. There isn’t a shale pipeline or drilling project in New York that Schneiderman hasn’t harassed. Apparently the oil and gas industry isn’t the only thing he harasses. Following a bombshell story in the ultra liberal The New Yorker magazine that accuses Schneiderman of rough sex and slapping woman around, he abruptly resigned as of today. Schneiderman’s resignation has nothing to do with the Marcellus/Utica, but his departure is cause for celebration in New York. Schneiderman was one of the ring leaders in a cabal attempting to shake down Exxon Mobil and other oil companies for billions of dollars, accusing them of “knowing” that oil causes mythical man-made global warming and is harming the environment. The fossil fuel projects in NY that Schneiderman opposed are legion–too many to count. No one in the industry will shed any tears over his departure now that Schnedierman has now been “exposed” (pun intended), hoist with his own petard. One example from the bombshell story: An ex-girlfriend (originally from Sri Lanka) told the New Yorker that Schneiderman, that paragon of ultra-liberal values, called her his “brown slave” and ordered him to call him “Master.” And if she didn’t? He slapped her, hard, until she did…
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    PA Ethics Commission Persecutes Wolf Aide Favorable to NatGas

    Yesenia Bane

    You know we’re not fans of PA Gov. Wolf and his administration. We think he’s been a disaster for the state, in many ways. However, a member of his administration, Yesenia Bane (deputy chief of staff), has been unfairly targeted simply because her husband worked for a firm that did business with the Marcellus industry, and because she herself (with abundant knowledge of the industry) assisted Wolf by attending industry-sponsored events. Bane had the nerve to represent Wolf to the industry, attending events to act as liaison, learning about industry concerns, and conveying Wolf’s thoughts to the industry. And for that she’s accused of crossing an ethical line–accused by a radical Big Green supporter from the Philly area by the name of Caroline Hughes–a woman whose connections to Big Green should be investigated. Hughes filed a complaint with the Pennsylvania State Ethics Commission against Bane late last year (see Antis Target PA Gov Wolf Aide as Payback, Husband Works for EQT). The complaint is a ginned up allegation that Bane “was regularly involved in meetings and travel related to her husband’s natural gas industry clients.” The so-called evidence comes from a copy of Bane’s travel schedule in 2016, obtained by Big Green mouthpiece StateImpact Pennsylvania. The new news is that the Ethics Commission has launched a full-blown investigation–we call it a persecution–of Bane, for simply doing her job…
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    Snap: Va. Dems Total Crack with Reality – Call Pipelines “Death Rattle”

    A rather juvenile, kindergartenish attitude appears to be taking root in the Democrat Party–at least in the Old Dominion. Dems there have decided that wind and solar, which provide something like 2.9% of all electric generation in the country, should just take over now and that we should stop building any/all pipelines that flow evil, nasty, “yesterday’s energy” called fossil fuels. And on that self-deluding basis, a group of Dems from Roanoke and across the state signed a (blithering idiot) letter to Democrat Gov. Ralph Northam demanding that he just stop both the Mountain Valley Pipeline and Atlantic Coast Pipeline projects in Virginia–federal projects. Of course the Dems are not really THAT stupid. This is a sleazy political calculation–playing to the nutjob base that elects them. States don’t have the right to overrule the federal government. The last time Virginia tried to overrule the federal government was in 1860, and you know how that turned out…
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    Grandma Red Comes Down from Tree After Judge Orders $1K/Day Fine

    Theresa “Red” Terry (whom we call Grandma Red) and her daughter Minor Terry finally came down from the trees where they were perched since April 2 in an illegal attempt to block Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) from cutting the trees. They came down on Saturday after a federal judge said if they stayed past midnight Saturday, they would each be fined $1,000 per day. The money would go to MVP. Red said, “Mountain Valley has taken enough from us…There wasn’t a lot more I could do up there besides show my ass and give them money.” As we previously reported, a number of Virginia lawmakers expressed their support of the Terrys and their flagrant disregard of the law (see Virginia Democrat Lawmakers Side with Lawbreakers in MVP Protest). A crowd of 100 or so gathered on Saturday, complete with six packs of beer, to watch the spectacle of Grandma Red coming down to earth. A sycophantic press was there to fawn all over Red and her daughter…
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    Va. State Senator Suing Forest Service for Blocking Illegal Protests

    There is nothing mysterious or complex about the actions taken by a Virginia State Senator, Chap Petersen (Democrat from the swamp, the D.C. area). Petersen is a lawyer and has just sued the U.S. Forest Service because the Forest Service is blocking a road in the Jefferson National Forest, which is their RIGHT to do (they manage it), because down that gravel road are several ILLEGAL TRESPASSERS who refuse to come down from trees that need to be cut down to make way for the federally-approved Mountain Valley Pipeline. There’s nothing complex in understanding that Petersen (did we mention he’s a Democrat?) supports lawlessness and anarchy. Imagine that, a lawmaker who supports people that break the laws he makes. How idiotic is that? Here’s the story of how Virginia Dems in high places continue to flout the laws of our country in their quest to retain political power (and contributions) by currying favor with radical Big Green supporters…
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    Americans Being Duped by Russians into Opposing Pipelines

    This story should make every patriotic American good and angry–at how Russia continues to try to defeat the American shale miracle (for Russia’s own selfish economic reasons). And it should make anti-fossil fuelers ashamed at how easily they’re played (and how stupid they really are), to fall for the propaganda campaigns run by Russia against American shale energy. An article recently appearing on the McClatchy news service exposes how Russian operatives, using false identities on Twitter and other social media platforms, convinced a handful of stupid anti-fossil fuelers in Miami to turn up at a fake rally, and then a Russian television network swooped in to film it, circulating that footage, convincing even more antis to organize and rise up against the Sabal Trail pipeline. It was a resistance movement generated whole cloth from nothing by Russia. All in an effort to get the pipeline shut down. Which may now happen! Bottom line: a bunch of stupid American antis allowed themselves to be played by Russians against their own country. Russian money also pours into groups like the Sierra Club via offshore accounts. The Sierra Club turns around and uses that money to oppose American infrastructure projects in the oil and gas industry. Call Robert Mueller! Somebody needs to investigate!…
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    Antis Weaponize PA Enviro Rights Amendment in Effort to Kill Shale

    AR-15 rifle

    The Pennsylvania Environmental Rights Amendment (ERA), passed by the good citizens of PA in 1971, is a poorly worded piece of legislation with good intentions, adopted in a hurry in response to a disaster. Like all legislation that’s hurried and adopted in response to disasters (natural or man-made), the ERA is deeply flawed. Antis are now using the ERA as a bludgeon–perhaps a better analogy is more like an AR-15 semi-automatic rifle–in their attempt to assassinate the Marcellus Shale industry. Unfortunately, they are having some success in the PA court system. The ERA laid dormant after its adoption until an awful PA Supreme Court decision in 2013 breathed new life into it for antis (see Ongoing Fallout from PA Supreme Court’s Wrong Act 13 Decision). Since that time, antis have sued drillers and pipeline companies a number of times, citing the ERA, and in some cases winning (see PA Anti Strategy: Weaponize Recent Court Ruling Against Shale Dev). Emboldened by these wins, “Article 1, Section 27” as the ERA is known, is being employed in more places, even (especially) outside the court room…
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    Congressman Tim Ryan (D-OH) Wants Feds to Regulate Fracking

    U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, Democrat from Ohio

    U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan, Democrat from the 13th District in Ohio, signed up last week to co-sponsor a new bill called the Fracturing Responsibility and Awareness of Chemicals, or FRAC, Act. In fact, all 61 co-sponsors of the bill were Democrat–no Republicans–which is a big, fat, red flag. A totally partisan bill. Democrats have been trying this trick since 2009. It’s nothing new. Supposedly the FRAC Act will require “transparency,” forcing frackers to disclose which chemicals are used in hydraulic fracturing. The thing is, drillers already disclose that information! What the FRAC Act is REALLY all about is federal regulation of the oil and gas industry by doing something that has never been done before: subjecting oil and gas drilling to the federal Safe Drinking Water Act. We’re tired of revisiting this topic, but feel compelled to set the record straight because of this renewed attack on the industry. Fact: There is no “exemption” from the Safe Drinking Water Act for drillers–they never were under the Act to begin with! The U.S. Constitution vests the power to regulate oil and gas activity with the individual states–NOT with the federal government. What Ryan and his fellow libs are trying to do in forcing oil and gas under federal regulation is a bastardization of the Constitution–an erosion of states’ rights. Which is why Ryan needs to be voted out of office. Shame on him. He’s from one of the biggest stars in the shale firmament–the Ohio Utica. And yet he’s pushing to kill it. There’s nothing “common sense” about the FRAC Act, as Ryan claims. It’s all “nonsense.” Here’s the latest attack by Dems at the federal level, a group that wants to kill the shale miracle in this country…
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    Unholy Alliance Between Greens & Landowners Harming Environment

    Different people oppose fossil fuel projects for different reasons. It’s easy to simply paint everyone who opposes fossil fuel projects with the broad brushstroke of calling them “antis.” Yes, they are “anti” something–pipelines, shale drilling, compressor station, etc. However, many who are “anti” are really just “not in my back yard” (NIMBY), not driven by a particular ideology beyond a perceived threat to their own property. Then there are those we call antis who *are* driven by ideology–an irrational ideology that says all fossil fuels are evil and we must convert to so-called renewables now, before it’s “too late.” The problem is when NIMBYs (i.e. landowners) form alliances with agenda-driven, anti-fossil fuelers. Landowners figure, like the old Arab proverb, that “the enemy of my enemy is my friend.” Landowners who oppose pipelines, drilling, etc. are striking a bargain with the devil when they form these alliances in opposing their pet projects. When a particular battle is over, landowners may be surprised to learn that they themselves are the next target for groups like the Sierra Club, Environmental Defense Fund, Riverkeeper, Food & Water Watch, etc.–the very groups they thought were their friends. We spotted a column in the Houston Chronicle that does a great job of exploring this issue, well worth the couple of minutes it takes to read it. Landowners who adopt the NIMBY mindset, and the radical green groups they align themselves with, are actually harming the environment by their actions–not saving it. Here’s how…
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    PA Court Rules ME2 Pipe has Power of Eminent Domain, Period

    One of the ways anti-fossil fuel groups have tried to stop the Mariner East 2 Pipeline project is by tying it up in court. Various lawsuits have been filed going back years (see our list of lawsuit stories here). One litigant, a Big Green group headquartered in Philadelphia, the so-called Clean Air Council, has tried repeatedly to get the courts to deny ME2 the right to use eminent domain in cases where landowners refuse to cooperate (see Clean Air Council’s Strange War Against Mariner East Pipeline). CAC argued that ME2 is not a “public utility” and therefore not entitled to the use of eminent domain. That argument flamed out. They also argued since ME2 crosses a state boundary–into a small part of Ohio–it’s not an intrastate but interstate project and should be subject to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) instead of the PA state Public Utility Commission (PUC). That argument bombed too. CAC then argued ME2 is using a public taking for a private enterprise (not for the public good). Also tossed out. A court case that began in 2015 made its way to the PA Commonwealth Court and yesterday the Commonwealth Court finally shut down the CAC’s long-running lawsuit once and for all, denying their wild claims…
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    1 MVP Tree Stand Comes Down, VA Gov. Calls Sitters “Unlawful”

    Va. Gov. Ralph Northam

    An update on the ongoing situation where several radicals are sitting in the tops of trees (or on a platform) to try and stop the Mountain Valley Pipeline from cutting down said trees in order to install the pipeline. There are, by our informal count in sifting through the news, four “tree sits”–with three of them in Virginia and one in West Virginia, along with a “pole sit”–someone perched on top of a pole that is held upright by ropes to nearby trees. The pole sit is in Virginia as well. Democrat politicians in Virginia have by and large supported the illegally trespassing lawbreakers (see Virginia Democrat Lawmakers Side with Lawbreakers in MVP Protest). We pointed out the Dem lawmakers might change their tune if MDN showed up with a tent and camped out in their driveway, trespassing on their land. One can dream. At any rate, the new news is this: One of the tree sitters in Virginia decided to give up the protest. As soon as he/she was on the ground the stand was disassembled and removed by the U.S. Forest Service. So that’s one of the four tree sits gone. Everyone else is still in place. U.S. Senator from Virginia, Tim Kaine (the loser who ran with Hillary) says he supports the lawbreakers. Typical. However, Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam was more nuanced. Northam tried to have his cake and eat it too. He called the protesters “unlawful” and indicates he doesn’t support them, but then he turned around and said police should continue to feed and protect them. Typical swamp dweller response…
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    OH Supremes Blow It, Allow Youngstown Frack Ban on May Ballot

    Although Youngstown, OH voters have voted down various versions of a proposed frack ban law six previous times, on Tuesday the Ohio Supreme Court voted 5-2 to allow a seventh such ballot measure to appear before Youngstown voters on May 8. The kicker: This seventh ballot measure is even worse–far more radical–than the previous frack ban measures voted down. The new ballot measure makes the illegal, legal (see Youngstown Antis Seek to Legalize Anarchy with 7th CELDF Petition). In addition to the usual no fracking, no pipelines pablum, this latest ballot measure has language that makes it legal to break the law. If the ballot measure passes, and if an anti got it into her head to sit in front of a bulldozer that was about to clear ground for a wellpad, or dig a trench for a pipeline, the police would not be able to arrest and remove the law-breaking anti. It would be within her rights to sit there and block legal, legitimate activity–all in the name of saving the planet. That’s the insanity the Supremes, in their “wisdom,” are allowing to go before voters in two weeks. It would be institutionalized anarchy. Of course the ballot measure doesn’t stand a chance of passing, which is good. But it does cause angst, and it causes the adults who live in Youngstown to once again have to spend time and money to defeat it. We wonder, will we be writing about the 25th ballot measure to come before voters after 24 of them have been voted down–say in five years from now? When will Ohioans say “enough” to the CELDF and their radical agitation and send them packing?…
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    Outrage: Police Send Pizza & Sandwiches Up Tree to Protesters

    This is almost beyond words. Earlier this week MDN reported that arrest warrants had been issued for a 61 year-old woman and her daughter sitting 30 feet up in the top of a tree that needs to come down to make way for the Mountain Valley Pipeline (see Arrest Warrant Issued for MVP Tree Sitting “Grandma Red”). Theresa “Red” Terry and her daughter, Theresa Minor Terry (“Jr.”) are illegally trespassing on property (the tree) that now belongs to MVP, via eminent domain. Sometime in the past week or so police began to deny Red’s supporters from passing food and water up the tree. They also have been turning bright lights on the two Theresas during the night, in an effort to deny them sleep and force them down. As the police said: They are meeting the “non-violent protest action” with “non-violent police action.” So what happens when Red and Jr. tell the police they’re hungry and out of food? The police scramble a cop car to the nearest pizza joint and double-time a pizza, and bologna sandwiches, up the tree to the two alleged criminals sitting at the top. To the same two people for which arrest warrants have been issued. We’re confused. Why would the police accommodate two people BREAKING THE LAW BY TRESPASSING? If the police won’t enforce the laws, our country is done. Toast. It will be every man and woman for him/herself–and it won’t be pretty. Selectively enforcing (or not enforcing) the law is not an option. The Roanoke County police guarding the tree should either do their job, or be fired…
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