Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Statewide PA
Heinz, William Penn the Money Behind PA’s RGGI Carbon Tax Push
Two Pennsylvania-based nonprofit foundations that actively seek to end the use of fossil fuels–the Heinz Endowments and the William Penn Foundation–have been outed as the groups financing the push for a Marcellus-killing carbon tax in the state called the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). Will anyone notice and will anyone care that these massive, tax-exempt organizations are engaged in overt politicking (by funding political green groups), in violation of federal and state law? Probably not.
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For years those who have supported natural gas have made the argument that carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions have been decreasing in the U.S. because of the increased use of natural gas. How can that be, given burning natural gas causes the release of CO2? Because natural gas has captured market share and largely replaced the use of coal in electric power generation. As more natgas is used, CO2 emissions go down. The U.S. Energy Information Administration has just released numbers proving, without a doubt, just how much natgas has helped to lower CO2 emissions over the past 17 years.
In January 2016, Invenergy announced its intention to build a natgas-powered electric plant in Elizabeth Township, in Allegheny County near Pittsburgh (see 
Each month our favorite government agency, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), issues a Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO) report. The STEO covers all of the major energy sources produced and consumed in the country. The latest edition, issued yesterday, finds the analysts at EIA revising up the expected marketed production and consumption of natural gas in 3Q21. Also up is the expected average price for natural gas at the benchmark Henry Hub–now up to a predicted $3.07/MMBtu for all of 2021. However, EIA says natural gas consumption for all of 2021 will sink by half of one percent from 2020. Why?
Can we get an amen! We have an evangelist in the house. Toby Rice, CEO of EQT (the largest natural gas producing company in the U.S.) is preaching the gospel of natural gas. No surprise there. But what may surprise you (it did us) is just how much Rice is pushing natgas as the alternative to coal in power generation. In an interview with Barron’s, Rice declared we need “every tool” to end energy poverty around the world, and “natural gas is the most evolved tool” to do it. Amen!
Last fall MDN told you that a Marcellus-fired power plant planned for Clinton County, PA called the Renovo Energy Center, had come back to life as an even bigger project that will produce 1,240 megawatts of electricity when it gets built (see 
Ohio’s House Bill (HB) 6 law granted billions (plural) of dollars to FirstEnergy in an attempt to prop up the company’s economically failing nuclear power plants. FirstEnergy bribed state legislators to pass, and keep passed, HB 6 by paying out $61 million to a small group of insiders, including the now-former Speaker of the House (see 
New York State has become outright hostile to any business remotely connected to fossil fuels. NY is prejudiced and discriminates against oil and natural gas. The latest example is a “bitcoin miner” that uses natural gas to produce electricity to power some serious computers. Even though the company is doing its best to atone for its “sin” of using natural gas via buying indulgences (aka carbon offsets), environmentalist wackos still oppose the facility located in Dresden, near beautiful Seneca Lake (one of New York’s Finger Lakes) in the central part of the state.
Ohio’s House Bill (HB) 6 law granted billions (plural) of dollars to FirstEnergy in an attempt to prop up the company’s economically failing nuclear power plants. FirstEnergy bribed state legislators to pass, and keep passed, HB 6 by paying out $61 million to a small group of insiders, including the now-former Speaker of the House (see 
The Massachusetts Municipal Wholesale Electric Company (MMWEC) has paused plans (30 days minimum) to build a much-needed natural gas “peaker” power plant in Peabody, MA. Why? “To address concerns raised by local residents and advocacy groups.” In other words, a small number of crazies are out in force, bullying a tiny power plant that will only operate during peak demand–somewhere around 10 days out of the whole year!
On July 18, 2019, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed into law the Climate Leadership and Community Protection Act (Climate Act). It is among the craziest and stupidest climate laws in the world, requiring NY to reduce so-called greenhouse gas emissions by 40% by 2030 and by 85% by 2050 (from 1990 levels). The law creates a Climate Action Council charged with developing a scoping plan of recommendations to meet these targets. The Council has multiple “panels” to assist. One of the panels is the Power Generation Advisory Panel, filled with far-left, Big Green people. That panel is about to recommend NY State prohibit the construction of any new natural gas-fired power plants–beginning now.
Ohio’s House Bill (HB) 6 law granted billions (plural) of dollars to FirstEnergy in an attempt to prop up the company’s economically failing nuclear power plants. FirstEnergy is accused of bribing state legislators to pass, and keep passed, HB 6 by paying out $61 million (see