Electric Production in Southeast US Dominated by NatGas; Prices Up
Anecdotally in reading articles about electric power production in New England, we know that almost all electricity is produced in the region by natural gas (unless they run low, then they use fuel oil). We also know a majority of the electricity produced in the PJM region, including the M-U area, is also produced by natural gas. What we didn’t know (but do now) is that the vast majority of electricity in the southeastern U.S. is produced by natural gas. Most of the molecules feeding southeast gas plants come from the M-U.
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New York State has become aggressively hostile to any business remotely connected to fossil fuels. NY is openly prejudiced and discriminates against oil and natural gas companies. Increasingly the state is rejecting “bitcoin miners” that use natural gas (or God forbid, coal) to produce electricity to power some serious computers (see 
According to ISO New England, the electric power grid manager for New England, short-term power demand forecasting shows projected peak load reaching 19,250 MW on Jan. 29, because of the coming winter storm. The grid’s expected winter power demand peak, or what they plan for at the maximum, is 19,710 MW. That’s really too close for comfort. Electric power and natural gas prices are currently spiking to insanely high levels because of the coming storm, and because there’s not more capacity to send natural gas to the region.
ISO New England–the independent, non-profit Regional Transmission Organization (RTO) that manages the electric grid for Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont–is once again fretting and warning that a prolonged cold spell in the northeast may trigger electric blackouts in New England. Not only are power plant owners nervous, so too are state regulators.
Two weeks ago MDN told you that Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf swiftly vetoed a PA Senate resolution sent to him that would block the state from joining the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), nothing more than a carbon tax that won’t actually reduce carbon emissions (see 
Two days ago New England generated 24% (a quarter) of the electricity it needs by burning…fuel oil. Why? Low supplies of natural gas. How much electricity was generated by so-called renewables on the same day? According to ISO New England, only 8% of electricity on Jan. 16 was generated by renewables. However, if you take out burning garbage, burning wood, and burning natural gas from landfills (all included in the “renewables” number), just 2.5% of New England’s electricity came from solar and wind, what most people think of as renewable energy. Do you see the folly of dumping fossil energy anytime in the next 50-100 years?
Just coming to light for us now is an application to build a “data center” in Morgantown, WV. The application was filed last August, but the WV Dept. of Environmental Protection’s Division of Air Quality held a hearing yesterday to accept public input on the facility. Marion Energy Partners wants to build the facility, yet its purpose is shrouded in mystery. The best guess is that this is another new cryptocurrency (bitcoin) mining operation. Our interest is that it will use four natural gas-fired turbines to generate the huge amounts of electricity needed to operate it–natural gas that will come from the Marcellus/Utica.
Earlier this week MDN told you that Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf swiftly vetoed a Senate resolution sent to him that would block PA from joining the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), nothing more than a carbon tax that won’t actually reduce carbon emissions (see 
We return, once again, to the story of New England (and New York) blocking new natural gas pipelines and in the process, hurting the residents of New England. Not only are residents harmed economically, but the environment is also harmed. As of 10 am yesterday morning, a full 20% of all the electricity generated in New England used either dirty oil or coal to do so. Normally the oil/coal generation number is less than one-half of one percent (<0.5%), not 20%. The price for electricity in New England is out of sight high right now too. Actions have consqeuences.
The Pennsylvania legislature recently passed a resolution against joining the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) carbon tax and sent it to Wolf, who had promised to veto it (see 
There is a clear delineation in the U.S. Constitution that says anything not specifically enumerated in the Constitution is left up to the individual states to govern and regulate. Leftists have for years tried to chip away, and under Joe Biden dynamite away, that distinction. Especially with regard to nationalizing the regulation of oil and gas drilling. The left’s favorite tool to regulate O&G is the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which is charged with regulating and enforcing various laws including the federal Clean Air Act (CAA) and federal Clean Water Act (CWA). In a case that will be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court next month, West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency, the “potential ramifications” are “profound” according to anyone and everyone paying attention.
We’ve had our disagreements with Pennsylvania State Sen. Gene Yaw over the years (about a severance tax in PA), but for the past half dozen or more years Yaw, from Lycoming County, has been a stalwart champion of the PA Marcellus industry. Frankly, the shale industry could not ask for a better representative in the PA legislature. Yaw, chairman of the Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee, has done his best to defeat Tom Wolf’s Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) carbon tax. Yaw is also promoting more pipelines in the Keystone State.
Although liberals are “dumb” in many senses–i.e. they don’t understand basic economics, they don’t understand the human yearning for freedom, etc.–they are very smart when it comes to accomplishing their twisted goals. For example, Joe Biden (a very dumb liberal) doesn’t need to outright ban natural gas-fired electric power plants across the country–something that could be undone by his successor. Instead, Biden gets various federal agencies to adopt new policies that make it impossible for new natgas projects to get investors and funding, which accomplishes the same thing–no new gas-fired electric plants. We have a coming crisis in electricity production if Biden’s policies, as stated, are implemented.
The Biden-controlled Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has rubber-stamped a request by regional electric grid operater ISO New England to cancel a contract with the proposed Killingly Energy Center, a 650-megawatt, gas-fired plant slated to be built in eastern Connecticut. FERC effectively killed Killingly. ISO New England said Killingly would not get built in time to fulfill a previous power agreement it had signed. The reason for the delays? Vicious attacks by anti-fossil fuel fanatics, particularly the odious nutters of the Sierra Club. It’s quite a game antis run. They slow down and delay a project with multiple frivolous lawsuits, then get it canceled because it’s slowed down and delayed.
We’re not sure why this story is not the top story on all of the state and national news networks. Using the threat of withholding public money, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf outright extorted Democrat members of the PA legislature to support his odious carbon tax plan, otherwise known as the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). Before a key vote last month in the PA Legislature, Wolf offered a quid pro quo: Democrat legislators either support RGGI or Wolf will withhold approval for state funding for local projects in their districts. Why are there no investigations and demands for jail time?