2nd Marcellus-Fired Electric Plant Proposed for Greene County, PA
In reporting on APV Renaissance Partners’ plan to build a 1000 megawatt electric power plant in Monongahela Township (Greene County), PA, today, we noticed an interesting closing paragraph in the story we quoted, which says: “Another energy company, Hill Top Energy Center, also has proposed constructing a natural gas power plant in Greene County. Hill Top has proposed building a 536-megawatt plant on 41 acres of land off Thomas Road in Cumberland Township. A public hearing on Hill Top’s proposed air quality plan will be held by DEP at 6 p.m. Nov. 2 in the Carmichaels Area High School auditorium.” A second Marcellus-fired power plant planned for Greene! Who knew? We went searching for details we could find to share with you about this second project, which will get a DEP hearing in a month…
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For more than two years MDN has chronicled the journey of Competitive Power Ventures (CPV) to build a $900 million Marcellus gas-fired electric plant in Wawayanda, NY, called the Valley Energy Center. Early on the project faced court challenges, but a judge gave final approval to build it in September 2015 (see 
FirstEnergy, based in Akron, OH, is one of the nation’s largest investor-owned electric systems, serving customers in Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, West Virginia, Maryland and New York. FirstEnergy owns a variety of regulated and non-regulated power generation plants. Last November the company announced it wants to sell five power generating plants, four of them natural gas-fired plants in Pennsylvania, plus a hydroelectric plant in Virginia (see 
Two weeks ago the U.S. Dept. of Energy released a 187-page study called “Electricity Markets and Reliability” (full copy below). Often referred to as “the grid study,” it is the result of a directive in April by the then-new Secretary of DOE, Rick Perry, to develop a report including an assessment of the reliability and resilience of the electric grid and an overview of the evolution of electricity markets. Perry called it “long overdue.” Radical environmentalists predicted the study would take aim at so-called renewable sources of energy and promote more coal use. What did the study actually find? (1) The shale gas revolution had a bigger impact on the decline of coal than did the federal government propping up renewables. (2) The electric grid is in pretty good shape, even though it flows a lot more electricity than it did eight years ago. (3) Lawmakers should not be too eager to force the use of more solar and wind as sources of electricity–not if you want a reliable grid that doesn’t crash when the wind doesn’t blow and the sun doesn’t shine. Natural gas plays a big part in the report…
Talen Energy was birthed in June 2015–a combination of PPL Energy Supply and certain assets of Riverstone Holdings. The company, headquartered in Allentown, PA, is one of the largest competitive energy and power generation companies in North America. Talen owns or controls 16,000 megawatts of generating capacity in wholesale power markets, primarily in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic and Southwest regions of the U.S. Talen has gotten into converting and building natural gas-fired electric plants, stories we’ve covered over the past few years (see our 
Environmental radicalism has now fully metastasized at the New York Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DEC). The organization is nothing more than a political tool of the environmental far-left (and corrupt Gov. Cuomo), as evidenced in the DEC’s latest outrageous decision to deny federal water crossing permits to a 7.8 mile pipeline to feed an electric power generating plant in Orange County, NY–a plant currently under construction. The reason for the rejection? NOT because of any so-called harms to the environment due to crossing streams–the reason for the permits. No. But because, says the DEC, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), which evaluated the power plant project, didn’t take into consideration the plant’s potential contribution to mythical man-made global warming. In other words, the DEC just admitted they have denied a WATER permit based on other (political) criteria–not the criteria on which they were legally bound to decide. We predict the DEC will get crushed when this is all over and done. But the problem is, it will take years to litigate. Meanwhile, the Competitive Power Ventures (CPV) Valley Energy Center will complete its construction and go online in early 2018–powered by much-dirtier fuel oil instead of clean-burning natural gas. Congratulations to all of the antis, and the DEC, who oppose the power plant project. You’ll now have even MORE so-called global warming (and air pollution in the region) because of your lunacy…
South Jersey Resources Group has cut a five-year deal to provide natural gas for the Hickory Run Energy Station in Lawrence County, PA. Just two weeks ago MDN told you that the Hickory Run Energy Marcellus gas-fired electric plant planned for Lawrence County appears to be active and moving forward once again (see 
Must be Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (Republican in Name Only) didn’t read the rest of the memo from his Big Green pals. You may recall Hogan, a first-term Republican, campaigned on a platform of supporting natural gas development in his state and after getting elected, he caved to radical Big Green extremists and signed a law that bans fracking (see 
The West Virginia Public Service Commission will host a public hearing tomorrow on a proposed power plant in Brooke County, WV. The 750-megawatt Marcellus-fired electric plant will be built by Energy Solutions Consortium–the father and son team of Andrew and Matthew Dorn (based in Buffalo, NY). The Dorns are currently building another gas-fired plant–in Marshall County (see 
For the past 2+ years MDN has chronicled the journey of Competitive Power Ventures (CPV) to build a $900 million Marcellus gas-fired electric plant in Wawayanda, NY, called the Valley Energy Center. Early on the project faced court challenges, but a judge gave final approval to build it in September 2015 (see 
It was only two days ago MDN told you that a Marcellus gas-fired electric plant planned for Lawrence County, PA appears to be active and moving forward once again (see 
A Marcellus gas-fired electric plant planned for Lawrence County, PA, which had been dead, has roared back to life and now looks like it will get built. In February 2013 MDN first told you about a plan by LS Power Development to build Hickory Run Energy–a $750 million electric generating plant at a former manufacturing site along the Mahoning River in North Beaver, PA (see 
We’re starting to see more and more news about natural gas-fired microgrids, used for “peaking”. Microgrids are small electric generating plants, most often powered by natural gas. They usually produce a few megawatts of electricity. The concept of “peaking” means that during times of high electricity demand, these small microgrids kick on and produce electricity to help meet the demand. Although New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo doesn’t want fracking in the Empire State, he’s in the midst of paying for 11 microgrids throughout the state–all of them using natural gas, mostly fracked gas from Pennsylvania (see 
It looks like the trouble Vienna Investments tried to make for Clean Energy Future in wanting to build a second natural gas-fired electric generating plant in the same office park where the first is being built (near a building owned by Vienna) has amounted to nothing. Bupkis. The Ohio Power Siting Board (OPSB) held a public hearing at the local high school in July, to accept public comments on the second power plant (see