Will New Biden EPA Methane Rule Kill Responsible Gas Certifications?
EPA Administrator Michael Regan used a considerable amount of fossil energy and emitted billows of carbon dioxide to jet over to Dubai to participate in the COP28 confab where he released a final rule that was “two years in the making” to force the U.S. oil and gas industry to cut methane emissions by using budget-busting new technologies and onerous (frequent) inspections (see Bidenistas Unleash Hellscape of U.S. Methane Regs at COP28). Here’s a question: If the feds require every producer to phase out flaring, install new equipment, and meet new, aggressive standards for emissions monitoring and leak detection and repair, will there still be a need for entities like MiQ, Equitable Origin, and Project Canary (which together certify most M-U production) to score or assess the lower-emissions natural gas produced by E&Ps?
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Williams is a powerhouse pipeline company. Williams operates more than 33,000 miles of pipelines in the U.S. and flows approximately one-third of the natural gas used in our country through those pipelines. Massive! The CEO of Williams, Alan Armstrong, is (or was) in Dubai for the United Nations COP28 climate meeting. He was there to preach the gospel of natural gas as the best way, the near-term way, to lower carbon dioxide emissions across the planet. He has proof to back up his claims. The U.S. is the only major country on earth to lower CO2 emissions since 2005. How? By switching from coal to natural gas for power generation.
There’s been a lot of news coming from the UN COP28 climate event in Dubai. In some respects, we feel like it’s a firehose of news about leftists targeting fossil energy (even though the event is being hosted by the CEO of a fossil fuel company). COP28 runs from Nov. 30 to Dec. 12, so we will bring you important news from the event in due course. Today, we focus on one bit of news: Some 50 oil and gas companies from around the world, representing 40% of global oil production, launched a new initiative called the Oil and Gas Decarbonization Charter (OGDC). EQT Corporation is one of the 50 participants.
In November 2021, Northeast Natural Energy (NNE), a West Virginia driller, announced all of its gas produced in West Virginia had achieved Equitable Origin’s EO100™ Standard for Responsible Energy Development (see 
Almost every major (and most minor) drillers in the Marcellus/Utica have, over the past couple of years, signed on to one or more of the responsible gas certification authorities. Just yesterday, we told you that PennEnergy Resources had its full operations certified by MiQ, the second such certification the company has sought and received (see 
The 28th U.N. Conference of the Parties, or COP28, gets underway today in Dubai. Representatives from most of the world’s countries will be there to party, get drunk, and pretend to care about the Big Lie that mankind is somehow destroying the planet by burning fossil fuels. With hypocrites confabbing in Dubai, it’s the perfect time to discuss the DECREASE in fugitive methane emissions across every major shale basin in the United States, including the Marcellus/Utica. Yes, even though shale drilling and production have gone UP over the past five years, fugitive methane emissions have gone DOWN. No other country can make the same claim, yet the COP28 hypocrites (including John Kerry) will renew their shrill calls to shut down U.S. shale drilling and fossil energy.
In August, MDN brought you the good news that the S&P (Standard & Poor’s) credit rating agency, called S&P Global Rating (the largest of the Big Three credit-rating agencies), had dumped its system of numerically ranking corporate borrowers on their ESG risk on a scale of 1 to 5 — just two years after implementing it (see 
We’ve written plenty about so-called certified natural gas, which is “responsibly produced” (as opposed to irresponsibly produced?) gas. The way a driller proves the gas they are selling is certified as responsible is to use a third-party verification vendor — typically either Project Canary or MiQ (see 
Yesterday, the Pennsylvania Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee held an informational briefing on Project Canary, a company that measures, analyzes, and reports on methane emissions from natural gas production and distribution infrastructure. Many Marcellus/Utica drillers use Project Canary’s services in their programs to produce “responsibly sourced gas” (RSG). It appears the aim of the session was to bring PA State Senators up-to-speed on Project Canary and the larger issue of cutting back on fugitive methane emissions. Companies that track and reduce methane can charge more for their gas, so the theory goes. As for whether or not that is happening (are they getting more money for their gas?), it is an open question.
The Bidenistas at the Dept. of Treasury want banks and asset managers to sign on to the lunatic “net-zero” pledge to reduce the mythical increase in global temperatures to no more than 1.5 Celsius by 2050. The way to do it, according to the climate hucksters, is to limit methane and carbon dioxide emissions. In other words, quit burning and using fossil fuels. It’s pure insanity, but this isn’t the first time in world history humans have engaged in mass insanity. Back to center… Yesterday, the Treasury Dept. published?the “Principles for Net-Zero Financing & Investment” report, a document with nine principles (i.e., commandments) that Treasury and the Bidenistas say are voluntary for banks and asset managers to follow. In reality, they are requirements. Banks will disobey at their own peril.