Radical Sierra Club Sues NJ to Stop Much-Needed NatGas Pipeline
In January MDN told you about a $130 million, 30-mile natural gas pipeline proposed by New Jersey Natural Gas (NJNG) to connect NJNG’s distribution system serving customers in Ocean, Burlington and Monmouth counties (in NJ) and the interstate pipeline system adjacent to the New Jersey Turnpike. The idea came about after Superstorm Sandy. How can NJNG create reliable natgas service in the region, preventing major disruptions like that which happened after Sandy? The “Southern Reliability Link” pipeline project was the result, and in January the NJ Board of Public Utilities (BPU) approved it 5-0 (see Southern NJ NatGas Pipeline Approved by State BPU). Because its natural gas and because the Sierra Club has an irrational hatred of all fossil fuels (and loads of money to burn), the nutjobs from the Sierra Club threatened to sue to stop it. Stop 30 miles of pipeline that would improve the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. They’ve now made good on their threat…
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How do you prove a negative? You can’t. But that’s the (illegal) demand Penn Township (near Pittsburgh) is placing on Apex Energy. Penn Township’s zoning board has denied Apex permits to begin building a well pad for an eventual nine wells–wells that are fully permitted and permissioned by the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP). The Penn Township ordinance “states that drillers have to prove that the drilling site won’t violate Penn Township citizens’ rights to clean air and water.” Apex provided air and water studies showing possible risks from accidental spills, etc.–along with how they will prevent such things from happening. But the zoning board was tone deaf and rejected it. So what’s next? We’ve seen this movie before. Last year a group of anti-drillers took Apex to court to stop drilling on two wells, with the town backing them. Apex’s lawyers roared that the company was losing $70K per day by not drilling, threatening to sue. The town backed down, and Apex drilled the wells…
You can’t see we didn’t predict this outcome: New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has made the political decision to not grant the Constitution Pipeline stream crossing permits, temporarily stopping the project from advancing. Cuomo’s lackeys at the totally humiliated and discredited Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DEC) made the announcement on Friday, so-called Earth Day. Virulent anti-drillers erupted in spontaneous (and multiple) orgasms at the news. The DEC claims Williams, the builder of the Constitution, did not provide detailed information about pipe burial that the DEC had requested. This is a blatant, 100% lie. Gov. Cuomo is corrupt and is being led, as our friend Tom Shepstone points out, by the nose by Rockefeller money. Prosecutor Preet Bharara–are you paying attention? MDN now calls on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to bypass New York State, as is its right under the U.S. Constitution. FERC has the power to bypass Cuomo and the DEC and authorize the pipeline without NY’s stream crossing permits. Yes, hoops will need to be jumped through with various courts, but now is the time to permanently remove NY from such decision-making. The state has proven it is incapable of making independent, science-based decisions on the topic of oil and gas drilling and pipelines. Time to overrule the state and move on. Below we have the DEC’s pathetic political cover-up, along with various responses to the news…
Radical fractivism brooks no dissent. You either agree with them that fracking is evil and from the devil himself, or they WILL attack you–politically, professionally, personally–anyway they can. In other words, fractivists are bullies and not interested in free speech. If you have an opposing viewpoint or try to support your views with science and facts, you’re immediately shut down. That’s how it works with these vicious fossil fuel opponents. We’ve been tracking and telling you about an issue that first began in June 2015. The federal Environmental Protection Agency, after four years of study, concluded that fracking does not contaminate groundwater supplies (see 
PennFuture is a radical, anti-drilling group based in Pennsylvania. The group is the former employer of no less than two current, one former high-level deputies to PA Gov. Tom Wolf. Cindy Dunn was most recently PennFuture’s CEO. She is now the Secretary of the PA Dept. of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR). John Quigley used to work for PennFuture. He’s now Secretary of the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP). John “legalize marijuana” Hanger was the Secretary of the PA Dept. of Planning and Policy for Wolf. Hanger recently left–the state–to join his wife and daughter in Massachusetts (see 
Yet another anti has crossed the line into terrorism–and no, we don’t use that word lightly. Three surveyors working on the PennEast Pipeline in Holland Township (Hunterdon Township), New Jersey were approached by a man with a rifle. The man asked them if they were there working on the PennEast. When the 3-man crew responded “yes,” the man waved the gun in the air, shouting at them that he would stop the pipeline. It was a clearly a menancing threat to the men who were doing nothing more than a survey. Holland Township Police later arrested Lester Kinney Jr., charging him with “making terroristic threats and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose.” The Sierra Club was quick to respond and distance itself from Kinney, making us wonder if Kinney is a member…
Is this the smoking gun that proves collusion and corruption between Democrat New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman and radical Big Green groups? In March, AG Schneiderman and a handful of other Democrat Attorneys General, along with climate huckster Al Gore, gathered in New York City to discuss a coordinated legal attack against oil and gas companies (see 
Big Green groups, including the nutty Sierra Club, the left-leaning Chesapeake Climate Action Network and the odious Earthjustice continue to pump money and lawyers and time into an effort to stop progress on Dominion’s construction of an LNG (liquefied natural gas) export facility in Cove Point, Maryland. As of March the Cove Point project was already a quarter done (see 
Before Kathleen Kane took office as Pennsylvania’s Attorney General, we warned you that she’s an anti-driller out for blood (see 
A recent meeting organized by the Independent Petroleum Association of America (IPAA), called a Congressional Call-Up, was truly eye opening. People attending the meeting were briefed on key federal issues impacting the oil and natural gas industry. Here’s the startling news: There are currently 44 separate actions by various executive branch (Obama) agencies targeting the o&g industry–meant to cripple it. It is breathtaking in scope. Those doing the briefing called it a “well-planned attack on virtually every aspect of oil and natural gas planning, production and use.” Depressingly, no one in Congress or the media seems to even notice–or if they do, they don’t care…
As we have long chronicled, a few anti-drilling parents from the Mars School District (Butler County, far western part of the state), backed by a couple of Big Green groups from the other side of the state (THE Delaware Riverkeeper and the Clean Air Council, both based in the Philadelphia area), sued Middlesex Township to stop shale drilling in rural portions of the county. Rex Energy had applied for, was legally permitted for, but wasn’t allowed to drill a series of wells some three-fourths of a mile from the Mars School (for background, see our long list of “Martian” stories 
This Thursday the Pennsylvania Independent Regulatory Review Commission (IRRC) will take up the matter of approving recently proposed new drilling regulations from the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection. Conventional drillers in PA strong object to the new rules, Aricles 78 and 78a, and sued to stop the IRRC from reviewing them. They lost (see 
We find nothing (NOTHING!) more repugnant than so-called Christians who used to worship the One True God who have forsaken their vows and instead now worship Mother Earth. They worship the creation instead of the Creator. Such is the case with a group of pastors from the United Church of Christ who will, this coming Sunday, preach sermons that paint fossil fuels as evil and should be “kept in the ground.” We urge parishioners at those churches to stay home this Sunday. In fact, all UCC members should just stay home this Sunday. Perhaps empty offering plates across the denomination will get the attention of the leadership and encourage them to forget this nonsense…
Three radical environmental groups well-known for lying about fracking and the oil and gas industry in Pennsylvania–The Center for Coalfield Justice, the Pennsylvania Chapter of the Sierra Club and the Clean Air Council–are accusing Range Resources of intentionally avoiding “wealthy” neighborhoods and instead targeting low-income neighborhoods when drilling wells. The three groups make the claim that Terry Bossert, Range VP for legislative and regulatory affairs, told a meeting of the Pennsylvania Bar Institute that his company company tries to avoid siting shale gas wells near “big houses” where residents might have the financial resources to challenge drilling. Reps from the radical groups claim they heard him say this at the meeting. Range has responded that the comment was a joke–made in jest. The radical groups say it certainly didn’t seem that way to members of the audience. If the comment was not made in jest, it’s deeply troubling and, frankly, boneheaded. The problem is, the groups doing the accusing have lied so much about fracking and frackers, you simply can’t believe what they say. Is this a case of yet another ginned up lie by Big Green groups, or a case of the “boy who cried wolf” by those groups?…