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EPA Bestows West Virginia with CO2 (Class VI) Injection Well Primacy

A key issue has come about with the rapid increase in carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) projects around the country, including here in the Marcellus/Utica region. Where does one store (sequester) all that carbon dioxide (CO2)? The answer is underground in a Class VI injection well. Class VI wells are a relatively new classification for injection wells, created by the federal EPA in 2010. Who regulates Class VI wells is a flashpoint of controversy. Until yesterday, the EPA was the primary regulator (has “primacy”) in regulating Class VI wells in all but three states: North Dakota, Wyoming, and Louisiana. Yesterday, West Virginia was added to the Class VI primacy list. Read More “EPA Bestows West Virginia with CO2 (Class VI) Injection Well Primacy”

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EPA Set to Bestow WV with CO2 (Class VI) Injection Well Primacy

A key issue has come about with the rapid increase in carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) projects around the country, including right here in the Marcellus/Utica region. Where does one store (sequester) all that carbon dioxide (CO2)? The answer is underground in a Class VI injection well. Class VI wells are a relatively new classification for injection wells, created by the federal EPA in 2010. Who regulates Class VI wells is a flashpoint of controversy. Right now, the EPA is the primary regulator (has “primacy”) in regulating Class VI wells in all but three states (North Dakota, Wyoming, and Louisiana). According to a notice coming in tomorrow’s Federal Register by the EPA, a fourth state is about to be added to the list: West Virginia. Read More “EPA Set to Bestow WV with CO2 (Class VI) Injection Well Primacy”

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DOE Spending $44M on Drilling Two CO2 Injection Wells in WV & OH

The Biden-Harris administration continues to spend money like drunken sailors. They can’t hand it out fast enough ahead of November 5th. We can’t even count how much has been doled out just this week—certainly several billion dollars. Some of the money flowing out of D.C. this week ($44 million) will go to a project that is part of the Appalachian Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub (ARCH2) to establish new carbon dioxide injection wells, one in Marshall County, WV, and one in Belmont County, OH. Read More “DOE Spending $44M on Drilling Two CO2 Injection Wells in WV & OH”

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Tenaska & EQT Dip Toe in CCS Waters, Wells Coming in 5-10 Years

As we outline in a companion post today, the Biden-Harris Department of Energy is investing $44 million in a project to drill two carbon dioxide injection wells, one in West Virginia and the other in Ohio (see DOE Spends $44M on Drilling CO2 Injection Wells in WV & OH). Some companies are ready to dive into the CCS pool. Others in our region are also exploring the carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) space but are proceeding a bit slower, dipping their toes first. Power plant and energy-trading giant Tenaska and Marcellus/Utica driller EQT are “cautiously moving ahead with plans to develop carbon storage projects in the region.” Both indicate it will take “years to develop” carbon injection wells. They both plan to have carbon wells operating in the next 5-10 years. Read More “Tenaska & EQT Dip Toe in CCS Waters, Wells Coming in 5-10 Years”

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Nation’s First Carbon Capture Well in Illinois has Sprung 2 Leaks

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Carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) is currently all the rage. Carbon dioxide (CO2), the stuff you exhale with every breath you take, is supposedly a “pollutant,” according to the left. Too much CO2 in the atmosphere—which gets there by burning things like wood and gasoline and natural gas—supposedly causes a canopy effect trapping the sun’s rays and catastrophically heating the planet (i.e., global warming). Except nobody can actually prove (a) the planet is catastrophically heating, and (b) even if Mom Earth is heating a little bit, we don’t know what causes it. To question global warming (to demand real science) is a sin against the left and marks you as a “denier” in their twisted world. A solution proposed by some is to capture CO2 as it is burned, trap it, and then pump it down a well for permanent storage underground. The very first commercial well to do so, in Illinois, has sprung a couple of leaks. Read More “Nation’s First Carbon Capture Well in Illinois has Sprung 2 Leaks”

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Big Oil Sells Out – Wants to Keep Biden’s IRA Green New Deal

Big Oil sometimes works against the interests of smaller shale drillers and (we would argue) against the best interests of the U.S.A. Here’s a case in point. Yesterday, the Wall Street Journal reported that senior leaders with Exxon Mobil, Occidental Petroleum, and Phillips 66 have been whispering in President Trump’s ear that should he win, they want him to keep Biden’s Green New Deal legislation, otherwise called the Inflation Reduction Act. Why? To protect their investments in carbon capture, carbon credits, and other carbon scams. They don’t want to lose their big tax credits/money. Read More “Big Oil Sells Out – Wants to Keep Biden’s IRA Green New Deal”

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Appalachian Hydrogen & CCS Conf – Projects Coming in 2025

As you know, last year at about this time, the Bidenistas announced seven winners of the Hydrogen Hub Hunger Games contest (see Hydrogen Hub Winners Announced – WV Takes Prize in M-U Region). The West Virginia-led Appalachian Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub (ARCH2), a project that will use Marcellus/Utica natural gas as the feedstock to produce “blue” hydrogen, was one of the seven winners (scoring $925 million). The first $30 million was recently distributed (see EQT & Others Enter “Phase 1” of Hydrogen Hub; DOE Cuts $30M Check). If you want to know more about what’s coming with ARCH2 and in the hydrogen (and carbon capture) space in general, there’s one place to be on November 7: The Appalachian Hydrogen & Carbon Capture Conference VI, being held at the Hilton Garden Inn Southpointe/Pittsburgh. Read More “Appalachian Hydrogen & CCS Conf – Projects Coming in 2025”

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Carbon Credit Scam Alert: One-Third of All Credits Fail Standard

In August 2023, MDN told you about a Cambridge University study published in the journal Science exposing the sale of carbon credits as a scam (see Cambridge Study Finds Carbon Offsets Using Trees is a Scam). With the carbon credit scam exposed, big companies like Shell, Nestle, and Gucci exited the market, refusing to spend money on pretend solutions to global warming (see With Carbon Credits Scam Exposed, Big Names (Like Shell) Exit Market). Now comes more bad news for the carbon credit market: The Integrity Council for the Voluntary Carbon Market (ICVCM) said eight renewable power methodologies, which cover around 236 million unretired or unused carbon credits making up 32% of the market, had failed to meet the requirements of its standard on additionality grounds. Read More “Carbon Credit Scam Alert: One-Third of All Credits Fail Standard”

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Thailand’s Banpu Lays Out Net Zero Path for U.S. Subsidiary BKV

Over the past seven-plus years, BKV Corporation (Banpu Kalnin Ventures), the American arm of Banpu (96% owned by Banpu, Thailand’s largest coal mining company), has become one of the top 20 gas-weighted natural gas producers in the U.S. BKV originally entered the American shale sector by investing $500 million in 2016-2017 to buy existing Marcellus wells and acreage in northeast Pennsylvania. Then the company went wandering into other shale plays, including the Barnett (see Banpu Expands Again – Buys Exxon’s Texas Barnett Assets). In addition to shale drilling, BKV purchased gas-fired power plants in Texas and is now working on a carbon capture project in the Lone Star State (see Bumpy Financial Road for BKV – Company Bets on Carbon Capture). In a media briefing yesterday, Banpu’s new CEO, Sinon Vongkusolkit, discussed his company’s efforts and investment in technology to help reduce carbon dioxide emissions.
Read More “Thailand’s Banpu Lays Out Net Zero Path for U.S. Subsidiary BKV”

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PA Gov. Shapiro Signs Carbon Capture Bill into Law – Now Act 87

Environmental radicals have struck out a second time, and they’re pretty bitter about it. We’re talking about Senate Bill (SB) 831, the Carbon Capture & Sequestration (CCS) Act. Last week, a strong bipartisan majority in the PA legislature ignored the radicals that had asked Democrat legislators to block the bill, passing the bill and sending it to the governor’s desk (see PA Legislature Rejects Radical Antis, Passes CCS Bill, Sends to Gov). Having failed with Democrat legislators, the radicals hung their hopes on convincing Gov. Shapiro to veto the bill. That didn’t happen either. He signed SB 831 into law on Wednesday. It’s now officially known as Act 87.
Read More “PA Gov. Shapiro Signs Carbon Capture Bill into Law – Now Act 87”

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Leftwing Radicals Ask PA Gov. Shapiro to Veto Carbon Capture Bill

If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. That appears to be the philosophy of a group of radicalized “environmental” groups attempting to pressure Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro to veto a new bill sitting on his desk, Senate Bill (SB) 831, the Carbon Capture & Sequestration (CCS) Act. Last week, a strong bipartisan majority in the PA legislature ignored the same group that had asked Democrat legislators to block the bill (see PA Legislature Rejects Radical Antis, Passes CCS Bill, Sends to Gov). Having failed with Democrat legislators, the colluding group is now hanging its hopes on convincing Shapiro to veto the bill.
Read More “Leftwing Radicals Ask PA Gov. Shapiro to Veto Carbon Capture Bill”

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PA House RINO in Fayette Co. Continues NIMBYism re Carbon Capture

Last fall, MDN shared the sad news that Pennsylvania State Rep. Charity Grimm Krupa (Republican In Name Only from Fayette County) had turned against the Marcellus industry (see Anti-Marcellus RINO Intros Bill to Block All PA Injection Wells). Krupa introduced legislation that would ban the drilling of new wastewater injection wells in the state, making it much harder to drill new shale wells. Companies end up drilling fewer wells without a place to dispose of the naturally occurring water that comes from shale (and conventional) wells for years after an oil or gas well comes online. RINO Krupa, who increasingly sounds like a NIMBY (“not in my back yard”), has now set her sights on blocking carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) projects in the state, which blocks new hydrogen projects that would use huge quantities of Marcellus gas.
Read More “PA House RINO in Fayette Co. Continues NIMBYism re Carbon Capture”

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PA Legislature Rejects Radical Antis, Passes CCS Bill, Sends to Gov

A civil war in the Pennsylvania environmental movement is not getting any attention from mainstream media. Why are we not surprised? We told you about the civil war earlier this week (see PA Antis Split Over Issue of Carbon Capture & Sequestration). One set of environmentalist wacko groups, including the Pennsylvania Environmental Council, Environmental Defense Fund, Nature Conservancy, and Clean Air Task Force, support PA Senate Bill (SB) 831, the Carbon Capture & Sequestration (CCS) Act. The second group, including Better Path Coalition, 350 Pittsburgh, 412 Justice, the Center for Coalfield Justice, and the Clean Air Council, are opposed. We asked the question: Which group of wackos will the liberal Democrats of the PA legislature listen to? We now have an answer.
Read More “PA Legislature Rejects Radical Antis, Passes CCS Bill, Sends to Gov”

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Occidental Fleeces Microsoft into Buying Carbon Indulgences

Maybe the oil and gas industry will get the last laugh after all. We’ve written many posts comparing carbon offsets/credits to the practice of the Catholic Church selling indulgences in the Middle Ages to absolve you of your sins (see our stories here). But that doesn’t really work. Your sins don’t magically go away if you pay money. It’s the same with carbon offsets or carbon credits. Companies that buy an offset can keep right on “polluting” or emitting CO2. The overall level of CO2 “pollution” doesn’t change. Typically, oil and gas companies buy such offsets to “prove” they are worthy of continuing to extract oil and gas. This time around, it’s an oil company that’s doing the selling!
Read More “Occidental Fleeces Microsoft into Buying Carbon Indulgences”

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PA Antis Split Over Issue of Carbon Capture & Sequestration

Pennsylvania Democrat leftists face a conundrum. Do they listen to one set of environmentalist wackos, including the Pennsylvania Environmental Council, Environmental Defense Fund, Nature Conservancy, and Clean Air Task Force? Or do they listen to a different set (on the same ideological side of the aisle), including Better Path Coalition, 350 Pittsburgh, 412 Justice, the Center for Coalfield Justice, and the Clean Air Council? Two weeks ago, the first set of wackos threw their support behind PA Senate Bill (SB) 831, the Carbon Capture & Sequestration (CCS) Act (see PA House Advances Carbon Capture & Sequestration (CCS) Act). Earlier this week, the latter group of wackos sent lawmakers a letter opposing SB 831. What’s a lib Dem to do?
Read More “PA Antis Split Over Issue of Carbon Capture & Sequestration”

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PA DEP Issues Permit for LNG Production Plant in Clinton County

Nearly one year ago, in August 2023, MDN brought you an update on the KeyState Natural Gas Synthesis project in Clinton County, PA (see KeyState NatGas/CCUS Project in Clinton, PA Now $2B, Extra 2 Yrs). The project is developing the first carbon capture project in Pennsylvania to produce hydrogen, ammonia, and urea locally. It includes a closed natural gas extraction and manufacturing system that produces zero emissions and emission-reduced products. Frontier Natural Resources, Inc. is a partner in the KeyState project. The PA Environment Digest Blog noticed that the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) has just issued an Air Quality Permit Plan Approval to authorize the construction and operation of the Frontier LNG natural gas production facility at the Winner 4H Shale Gas Well Pad in West Keating Township, Clinton County.
Read More “PA DEP Issues Permit for LNG Production Plant in Clinton County”