Near-Fatal Blow for PA Carbon Tax – Commonwealth Court Blocks 4-1
In the end, Pennsylvania’s Commonwealth Court was not fooled by the Democrat left’s attempt to rename a tax as a fee to circumvent the necessary approval needed by the state legislature in approving taxes as provided for by the state constitution. We’re referring to the illegal attempt by former PA Gov. Tom Wolf in 2019 to force the state into a carbon tax scheme called the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), which would slap a new (very high) tax (i.e., “fee”) on electricity produced by coal- and gas-fired power plants, forcing them out of business in favor of unreliable “renewable” energy sources (see Gov. Wolf Goes Bonkers: EO Destroying Gas-Fired Elec, Carbon Tax). After exhausting all other possibilities, in 2022, energy producers and PA Senate Republicans sued to block Wolf’s plan (see PA Legislators File Court Challenge to Block $2.6B RGGI Carbon Tax). Yesterday, they won that lawsuit in Commonwealth Court, blocking PA from participating in RGGI without legislative approval. Why is this decision a “near-fatal” blow for RGGI in PA and not just fatal?
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Mama says, “Stupid is as stupid does.” The phrase from the modern classic Forrest Gump perfectly describes a proposal floating in the Pennsylvania legislature called House Bill (HB) 170, which would increase setback distances for shale wells from 500 feet to 2,500 feet — effectively killing any new shale well drilling anywhere in the state. In June, Democrat Party bosses shut down action on HB 170, telling the House to cancel a vote (see 
The so-called 
U.S. Department of Energy reviews for liquefied natural gas (LNG) export permits have lengthened under President Joe Biden’s administration to 11 months or more, from seven weeks, according to government data. The reason? According to one LNG analyst in the know, the DOE is “sitting on decisions because of politics.” Intentional political foot-dragging. The Bidenistas are feeling the heat from two groups: Big Chemical claims exporting more LNG will raise prices domestically for their feedstock. And shrill environmentalist wackos are being loud and obnoxious (what’s new?).
The mental gymnastics leftists go through to justify their anti-freedom, anti-capitalist views is truly a marvel to behold. Take the so-called Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a carbon tax scheme aimed at shutting down coal- and natural gas-fired power plants. Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf could not get the Republican legislature to agree to enroll the state in RGGI, so he seized dictatorial powers and tried to do it himself. Which hasn’t worked out (Republicans sued to block it, still tied up in court). Joseph Otis Minott, President of the Clean Air Action Fund (far-left Big Green group in Philadelphia), is trying to justify RGGI with a new argument: It reduces racism (otherwise called “environmental justice”).
Shrill antis have their answer from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia (D.C. Circuit) in a request to (once again) shut down construction on the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP): NO! A small group of uppity Virginia landowners don’t want MVP crossing their horse pastures, leaving a mark. So they conspired with Big Green lawyers in a lawsuit challenging the right of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to use eminent domain to build pipelines across private land.
On Sept. 1, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), part of the Biden Dept. of Transportation, issued a federal rule suspending a 2020 authorization of LNG transportation in rail tank cars granted under the Trump administration (see 
A long-running lawsuit filed by Big Green groups using (abusing) a small group of uppity Virginia landowners argues the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) had no right to delegate authority to Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) to use eminent domain to cross land, including the land owned by the small group of uppity landowners in Virginia. Big Green and the uppity landowners filed an emergency request last Tuesday with the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, asking that the construction of MVP be stopped while the lawsuit continues to play out (see 
The Big Green group Save Ohio Parks is trying to block legally permitted and state-encouraged drilling under some of Ohio’s state-owned lands, including shale drilling under (not on) state parks. Save Ohio Parks recently tried to prove shale drilling is a problem in the Buckeye State by using data from the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR). In a funny turnabout, the group actually proves the opposite — that shale drilling is super safe and not harming the environment in Ohio.
A very small but mouthy group of legislators, doctors and faux “scientists” is pressuring the weak-willed New York Gov. Kathy Hochul to pass the NY Home Energy Affordable Transition Act, just months after Hochul’s controversial move to ban gas stoves, furnaces and propane heating in new residential buildings in the Empire State (see 
A Susquehanna County, PA judge recently ruled against fractivist lawyers looking for a quick payday in a “Dimock” case stretching back to 2017. In a damning decision against the lawyers, the judge said they repeatedly refused to provide documents in the case even though ordered to by the judge. Not only that, but the lawyers destroyed evidence! They destroyed computers with emails and documents, and even destroyed hard-copy documents, to avoid handing them over to the court. Next up is a trial to determine how much the plaintiff (Coterra Energy) will receive after being wronged by these fractivist lawyers.
We got quite a charge out of this story. It seems the oil and gas industry in building new pipelines isn’t the only group that has grown weary of so-called environmental activists — those who break the law and trespass to block new construction. A group of nuns in Saint-Pierre-de-Colombier in southern France has been trying to build a new facility that will seat 3,500 people (in a small town with 400 people) since 2018. So-called environmentalists have tried their best to block the project, claiming certain endangered species will be sacrificed in the process. Construction of the project recently restarted, so enviros tried trespassing on the property to block construction. One enviro-jerk tried it, and he got tackled (yes, tackled) to the ground by a nun!
A long-running lawsuit filed by Big Green groups using (abusing) a small group of uppity Virginia landowners argues the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) had no right to delegate authority to Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) to use eminent domain to cross land, including the land owned by the small group of uppity landowners in Virginia. Earlier this year, the U.S. Supreme Court made the mistake of keeping the lawsuit alive, remanding it to a lower court (see 
Two radical Big Green groups have brazenly announced they are spending more than a quarter of a million dollars in an attempt to help buy an open seat on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court. Conservation Voters of PA Victory Fund, in partnership with Earthjustice Action, are attempting to convince Pennsylvanians who are inclined to believe Big Green clap-trap that they should vote for the far-left candidate Dan McCaffery (Democrat) in this November’s contest for the PA Supreme Court. Why? Because McCaffery is in the back pocket of the environmental lobby. He’ll vote any way they tell him to.
In May, the PHMSA issued a proposed new rule that would slap onerous and costly new requirements on pretty much all natural gas pipelines in the country, including 2.7 million miles of gas transmission, distribution, and gathering pipelines; 400+ underground natural gas storage facilities; and 165 liquefied natural gas facilities (see 
On Monday, MDN alerted you that Shell’s new CEO, Wael Sawan, would address the entire company (yesterday) in an attempt to talk some of the Millennial snowflakes that work for him off the climate change ledge (see