All Construction of MVP Stopped as 4th Circuit Stays Second Permit
Yesterday MDN told you that on Monday, the clown judges from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit (i.e., the 4th Circus) illegally stayed a THIRD permit issued by the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) for Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) to traverse a piddly 3.5 miles of the federally-owned Jefferson National Forest (see Colluding 4th Circuit Judges Do It Again – MVP Halted in Jeff Forest). No sooner had we delivered that news than the clowns returned (cue Judy Collins, Send in the Clowns). Yesterday the 4th Circus judges slapped a stay on a second permit, a THIRD permit issued by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) concerning endangered species. Both stays, which are blocking new construction, are illegal according to the recently adopted law known as the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA) of 2023 (see Equitrans Announces Mountain Valley Pipe to Get Completed in 2023).
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What a disappointment Rich Negrin has turned out to be as Secretary of the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection. During a DEP Citizens Advisory Council meeting held yesterday in Harrisburg (and remotely, via teleconference), several virulent anti-fossil fuelers addressed the council, making wild claims against the DEP. Negrin simply accepted their babbling and told them he agreed with them and would investigate any perceived problems. It was a shameful performance.
Three judges from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit (i.e., clown judges from 4th Circus) yesterday Congress, the President, and the entire country the judicial equivalent of the double-barrel middle finger by illegally ruling to block the construction of the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) through 3.5 miles of Jefferson National Forest–for a fourth time. The three judges–Judge Stephanie Thacker, appointed by Barack Hussein Obama, Judge James Wynn, appointed by Barack Hussein Obama, and Chief Judge Roger Gregory, appointed by William Jefferson Clinton–are (in our opinion) corrupt and should immediately be impeached and removed from the bench. Their malfeasance has gone on long enough.
In early June, shale drillers could, for the first time, begin to apply for permits to drill under (not on top of) Ohio state lands and state parks under newly formulated rules established by the Ohio Oil & Gas Land Management (OGLM) Commission (see 
The political situation in Pennsylvania is quite fascinating to watch. The PA House has a one-seat Democrat majority, which means all of the committees in the House are now (for the first time in years) run by Democrats. One of them, Rep. Greg Vitali from Delaware County (near Philadelphia), chairs the powerful House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee. Immediately upon seizing power, Vitali tried to ram through a number of radical bills that would greatly harm (or even end) the Marcellus industry in the state. We previously told you members of his own party slapped him down, making him pull back and abandon two bills he really really wanted (see 
Pennsylvania’s Democrat Party is hellbent on driving the Marcellus Shale industry out of the state. They have been for years. That’s just a truthful observation and beyond dispute. The latest evidence is the party’s insistence on adding a severance tax on top of the existing impact fee, PA’s version of a severance tax. The Dems in the PA House passed a resolution on Friday by a single vote that directs the Legislative Budget and Finance Committee to “study” Pennsylvania’s revenue from the oil and gas industry, comparing it with the top five states in natural gas production in the U.S.
When the Bidenistas act outside of their predictable, normal behavior, it raises a red flag, making us wonder what they are up to. Last week a leftist who works in the Biden Department of Interior told a group of rabid leftists (her philosophical kin) the Biden administration will not, as the group demands, “phase down oil and gas production on federal lands and waters.” Which sent the crazies into orbit. The Interior Bidentista told them the administration has “limited resources” and “competing priorities” that prevent it from, at this time, pursuing a phase-down of all oil and gas drilling on federal lands.
In January 2016, Invenergy announced its intention to build a natural gas-powered electric plant in Elizabeth Township, in Allegheny County, PA (see 
The left is insidious–and relentless. They thought they had a winning issue with so-called ESG, or 
The Voluntary Carbon Market Integrity Initiative (VCMI), formed with funding by some of the biggest funders of Big Green causes, has officiously announced the publication of a new “Claims Code of Practice” that private companies WILL adopt–or be forced out of business. The Code of Practice is aimed at forcing companies to stop using anything to do with fossil fuels, on the theory it will Save the Planet. Companies can disregard the Code of Practice (a supposedly voluntary standard) at their own peril. If you don’t hew to VCMI’s standards, you WILL be targeted.
The left thought it had won the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) battle and had stopped this 94% completed pipeline project cold. But then Congress passed the “debt ceiling” bill that forces the completion of MVP (see 
In April, MDN told you about a radicalized faction within the Pennsylvania Democrat Party trying yet another ploy to block all new Marcellus drilling in the state (see 
The Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission operates the largest sewage treatment plant in the entire 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). Yet Earthjustice and other radicalized leftists accuse the plan to the build the peaker plant as racist.