FERC’s War on 4 Marcellus/Utica Pipe Projects Isn’t Going So Well
Earlier this month MDN told you that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), under the direction of Chairman Richard “Dick” Glick, had hit the pause button on finishing up final approvals so the agency can take the next six months to complete full environmental impact statements (EIS’s), gauging whether or not five pipeline projects will cause too much mythical, man-made global warming (see FERC Just Declared War on 4 Marcellus/Utica Pipe Projects). Four of the five pipelines are either located in the Marcellus/Utica, or they are located elsewhere but will flow significant amounts of M-U gas. The draft EIS’s for three of the five are now in and all of them come to the same conclusion…
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Politicians derive their power from touching *your* money. They love to take money out of one of your pockets, handle it (siphon some of it off for themselves and their favorite cronies), and then put some (not all) of it back into another of your pockets–all while telling you that you should enjoy the violation you’ve just received. This is the elaborate hoax Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf and those who want to slap an insane, regressive carbon tax on all Pennsylvanians are attempting with the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI)–a carbon tax aimed at eliminating coal-fired power plants and vastly reducing the number of Marcellus-fired power plants.
We find it kind of amusing that anti-fossil fuelers dead set against a plan by Kinder Morgan to build a new compressor station in Passaic County, NJ, and dead set against upgrading an existing compressor station in neighboring Sussex County, NJ, were all worked up to attend a Sussex County Board of Commissioners meeting where a Tennessee Gas Pipeline representative was supposed to make a presentation, but the rep didn’t show. He had (ahem) “car trouble” and couldn’t make the meeting in person. Antis were all dressed up with nowhere to go.
Three far-left Democrat judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit have attacked the Marcellus/Utica by overturning a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approval for a long-completed and flowing natural gas pipeline in the St. Louis, MO area–a pipeline that flows M-U gas to residents, businesses, and electric generating plants in the region. The Spire STL pipeline now faces closure. It is a 
In March we told you about House of Representatives (HR) Bill 1512, the Climate Leadership and Environmental Action for our Nation’s Future Act (or CLEAN Future Act). The bill gives vast powers to the unelected bureaucrats at the EPA to set new regulatory demands before permits can be approved for facilities that produce plastics or the raw materials used to produce plastics, such as ethylene or propylene (see 
A small group of extremist left-wing Democrats in Pittsburgh are demanding Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald, himself a Democrat and long-time supporter of the Marcellus Shale industry, turn against shale. Last week around 30 fossil fuel haters delivered a petition signed by 300 fellow haters to Fitzgerald’s office. He didn’t cave to the pressure, so the haters became more aggressive, going to Fitzgerald’s house yesterday in their attempts to bully him into submission. The cops told them to clear out or get arrested.
As we told you in April, President Biden launched a new program to be funded with $109.5 million aimed at figuring out how to convince fossil fuel workers to be happy taking a huge pay cut and installing solar panels and windmills instead of making far more money in a far more meaningful job working in fossil fuels (see 
On Joe Biden’s first day occupying the White House, he signed an Executive Order (EO) suspending new oil and gas leasing on all federal while the Interior Department reviews existing leases and permitting practices for 60 days (see 
Technically this post is not about the Marcellus/Utica, but it’s such great news we just have to share it. On Monday, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott signed a new bill into law that bans state investments in banks, investors, and other companies that have cut ties with the oil and gas industry. Texas is divesting from the diverstors. Love it! It’s about time we fight back and fight back hard against the left.
What would happen if there were a Green New Genie who could wave a magic wand and replace all oil and gas energy right now, today, with wind and solar energy instead. Yes, it’s impossible for many reasons, but let’s fantasize for just a moment. What if Alexandria Occasional-Cortex, and the petulant spoiled child Greta Thunberg, and John F. Kerry (a petulant spoiled adult) got their way? Poof! Here it is. Here is what it would look like…
In January 2016, Invenergy announced its intention to build a natgas-powered electric plant in Elizabeth Township, in Allegheny County near Pittsburgh (see 
It would be laughable if it were not so tragic…Democrats like Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm (worst Sec Energy in a generation) think throwing $5 million to West Virginia University for “research” to develop “low-carbon power plant technology” is some big deal. It’s generous. Magnanimous. Beneficent. Granholm visited WV last week to bestow $5 million in largesse from Uncle Joe on the good people of the Mountain State. A $5 million research grant is NOTHING. It’s a rounding error of a rounding error in the Dept. of Energy’s budget. By comparison, a single natural gas-fired power plant in WV would attract $500-$800 million of investment! And that’s all private money, not taxpayer’s hard-earned money.
Leftists in states like California, Washington, and New York either already have, or are attempting to, outlaw the use of natural gas by homes and businesses. The first step they take is to disallow any new buildings to be connected to natural gas delivery lines. Eventually, they will force existing customers to stop using natural gas and force them to use electricity instead for heating and cooking. Or simply go without heat and cooking (they really don’t care). Leftists are drunk with their own power to force other people to do what they want them to do. Meanwhile, other states, like Texas, Florida, and many others are blocking efforts to block natural gas. The pro-gas states are actually winning the gas-ban war.
Pennsylvania’s Democrats are having trouble selling the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a carbon tax aimed at shutting down PA’s coal and natural gas-fired power plants, and by extension shutting down many shale-related jobs in the state. The Dems can’t paper over the fact that RGGI will spell massive layoffs. So what do they propose? Government handouts to those who get laid off, paying them literally pennies on the dollar in government welfare checks in return for “saving the planet” by shuttering coal and gas-fired plants (and putting people out of work). That’s the brilliant solution proposed in a bill offered up by southeast PA state Senator Carolyn Comitta (D-Chester County).