Bucks County, PA Lawsuit Against Big Oil Violated Transparency Law
In March, we reported that two Democrats and one anti-drilling RINO who run Bucks County, PA government (a Philadelphia suburb) fell for the bait by Big Green and filed a lawsuit against Big Oil companies for supposedly, knowingly, causing the Earth to toast to a cinder (see Bucks County, PA, Sues Big Oil for Causing “Climate Change”). The lawsuit seemingly came out of nowhere. It was hatched secretly by green groups, including the Center for Climate Integrity (CCI) – a Rockefeller-funded D.C. activist group. There were no public meetings. No public input. No public announcements. It was completely hush-hush, with a total media blackout until the lawsuit was filed. The oil companies being sued have just asked the court to dismiss the lawsuit because the county violated Pennsylvania’s Sunshine Act, which requires such a measure to be discussed and voted on in a public meeting. Read More “Bucks County, PA Lawsuit Against Big Oil Violated Transparency Law”
For a leftist, the glass is always half empty, and the pie is always a fixed size. Conservatives, on the other hand, believe in human ingenuity and the American spirit of bigger and better and can-do and let’s get it done. It’s a stark contrast. Here’s the perfect example. Big pipeline companies and others are touting the coming rapid expansion in data centers due to artificial intelligence (AI). Instead of this being good news — the prospect of helping humans make new leaps in technology and breakthroughs in medicine and other sectors — leftists view AI expansion as a threat because it will use more electricity…electricity generated by dirty, evil fossil fuels.
We’re forced to report on a bill in New York State that is so stupid, it’s beyond words. We’ll do our best. The Democrats in the NY legislature passed a bill earlier this year that would create a “superfund” (big old pot of money) to be fed by slapping an illegal tax/fee on oil and gas corporations. The fee is to “pay back” the state for causing mythical global warming. (Create a mythical problem out of nothing, then create a faux cause of that problem — burning fossil fuels — in order to justify shaking down specific companies.) The NY bill would extract an astonishing $75 billion over the next 25 years — roughly $3 billion a year. It will never happen (never work) because O&G companies will fight it in court for years to come, but perhaps that is the point: to tie up O&G in court and encourage them to leave the state. You see, NY is closed for business. 
Have you ever noticed how anti-drilling leftists demand the right to mouth off whenever and wherever they want? If you deny them that opportunity, they get grumpy, fast. Last Friday, representatives from the U.S. Dept. of Energy and private company Allegheny Science and Technology (coordinating the Appalachian Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub, or ARCH2) held a virtual briefing about the ARCH2 project. So-called concerns and questions were not addressed until 40 minutes into the briefing, and then, only about 10 of the hundreds of questions antis flooded the call with got addressed. That ticked off the antis.
Here’s a sobering fact: A web of red tape and environmentalist lawfare in the courts have derailed six of the last seven proposed interstate pipeline projects that could have delivered Appalachian natural gas to New England, the Southeast, and other regions of critical demand. The only pipeline to survive was the Mountain Valley Pipeline, and it took a literal Act of Congress to get it across the finish line. Here’s another sobering fact: Oil and gas pipeline approvals have dropped by 50% during the Biden-Harris administration (compared to the last three presidents before Biden). The precipitous drop was on purpose.
One of the pleasures we’ve had over the years in writing MDN and attending various industry events is meeting the great people who either work in or support the oil and gas industry. One of those people is Alex Epstein, author of the book, “
In July, MDN told you about a disappointing (but not surprising) decision from the Democrat leftists on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court (see 
You really can’t make this stuff up. A big picture is splashed across the pages of the Baltimore Sun website showing anti-fossil fuel nutters protesting “burning oil and gas indoors” (i.e., protesting the continued use of fossil fuels in stoves and furnaces). They were there to lobby the state Public Service Commission to disallow spending on new natural gas pipelines of any kind (local delivery, statewide transportation, etc.). Two of the protesters were dressed up as characters from The Flintstones. Both costumes were made from plastics — from oil and gas. That is, they were there protesting fossil fuels and WERE TOO STUPID to know they were wearing fossil fuels! Hilarious!!
Lansing (Michigan) Board of Water and Light (BWL) is committed to the false premise that humans are catastrophically warming the planet. BWL has a clean energy plan that includes building solar, wind, and battery storage. However, solar and wind — even with battery storage — are intermittent and unreliable. That’s just a fact. In order to use MORE solar and wind, BWL needs to install a small (very small) natural gas-fired peaker plant that will turn on during periods of high demand, periods when solar and wind and battery backup can’t meet the demand. In other words, natgas will make using more renewable power possible. And still, antis who irrationally hate fossil fuels are protesting the peaker.
The Algonquin Gas Transmission pipeline (owned by Enbridge) transports up to 3.09 Bcf/d through 1,131 miles of pipeline. Algonquin connects to Texas Eastern Transmission (TETCO), Millennium Pipeline, and Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline and supplies New England with critically needed natural gas supplies for power generation and consumer use. Much of the gas flowing through it comes from the Marcellus/Utica. Algonquin needs to install a backup “meter and regulator” station in Lincoln, Mass., to keep the gas flowing in the region. The city of Cambridge owns a piece of land that it uses as a “buffer” for the city-owned reservoir in the area. Algonquin needs to cut some of the trees on that land in order to get its equipment through for the meter and regulator station, which will be constructed on land owned by Algonquin. Enter several nutjobs who are trying to block work at the site.
The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is the sixth-largest power supplier and the largest public utility in the country. In 2021, MDN told you that TVA is spending over $1 billion to replace six coal-fired plants with natgas-fired turbines (see 
The Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission operates the largest sewage treatment plant in the state of New Jersey — in Newark. When Hurricane Sandy hit in 2012, the sewer plant lost power and dumped BILLIONS of gallons of raw sewage into the Passaic River. The Commission has a plan to prevent that from happening again: Build a tiny natural gas peaker plant to generate electricity. It would only be used to prevent such environmental damage again (i.e., rarely used, only for emergencies). We told you last week that the ultra-liberal Phil Murphy administration approved the project (see