PA’s Democrat House Passes Bill to Allow Fracking for Geothermal
Yet another rankly hypocritical move by the Democrats in the Pennsylvania legislature. Yesterday, every single Democrat in the PA House voted in lockstep (as they typically do, under the leadership’s complete control) to pass House Bill (HB) 2076, titled “Advancing Geothermal Energy Development.” The Dems were assisted by 16 Republicans who were (charitably) hoodwinked. No matter. The bill won’t pass in the Senate. But why point out this vote? Because the “advanced” geothermal energy that the House wants to promote and regulate uses the very same drilling rigs and fracking as is used to drill in the Marcellus shale, revealing the hypocritical lies of the Democrat left in demonizing fracking. But there’s another reason we’re highlighting this news: The environmental left (including House Democrats) is seeking to increase drilling setbacks in the state from 500 feet to 3,281 feet (and, in some cases, 5,280 feet). Do the House Dems realize the new setbacks would not only ban ALL shale fracking in the state but also all geothermal fracking? Read More “PA’s Democrat House Passes Bill to Allow Fracking for Geothermal”
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Hydrocarbons and Geothermal Energy Office (HGEO) announced a $14 million project to test enhanced geothermal systems (EGS) in Pennsylvania. Led by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), the initiative will leverage existing oil and gas infrastructure, specifically the Appalachian Utica Shale, to explore the efficacy and scalability of EGS in the eastern U.S. This project aims to convert a horizontal shale gas well for geothermal use, assessing optimal well placements and fracturing techniques. If successful, it could provide a replicable model for expanding reliable, cost-effective geothermal electricity nationwide, utilizing abundant underground heat resources. 
Fervo Energy and Youngstown, OH-based Vallourec announced a five-year supply agreement, potentially worth up to $800 million, to scale domestic geothermal infrastructure in the United States. Vallourec will exclusively supply Fervo with U.S.-manufactured tubular solutions (pipelines) and pipeline connectors, creating a fully domestic supply chain for critical geothermal well infrastructure. This collaboration aims to reduce supply chain risks, improve project timelines, and ensure cost certainty for Fervo’s deployment of standardized 50 MW geothermal units, leveraging Vallourec’s expertise in tubular solutions. Here’s the cool part: the pipelines and connectors Vallourec will manufacture for Fervo’s geothermal work were originally developed for shale energy applications. 
The United States is developing its first large-scale commercial Enhanced Geothermal System (EGS) in Utah, set for 2026. Unlike conventional geothermal energy, restricted to rare natural reservoirs, EGS uses fracking and horizontal drilling to create man-made hydrothermal wells anywhere. That’s right. Fracking provides reliable, “carbon-free,” weather-independent power anywhere via EGS. And nutty environmentalists are eating it up! If you sprinkle EGS dust over a conversation, magically gone are all of the claims that fracking contaminates the water table. That nasty chemicals are used to frack. That fracking is loud. That it uses too many trucks. That is uses way too much water. That fracking carves up forests and habitats. That it is literally destroying the earth. All of those arguments (lies) are magically gone with EGS dust sprinkled on them, revealing the hypocrisy of the environmental left. 
Three members of the Pennsylvania State House of Representatives, Arvind Venkat (Democrat from Allegheny County), Elizabeth Fiedler (Democrat from Philadelphia), and Craig Williams (Republican from Delaware/Chester counties, Philly suburbs) are planning to introduce legislation to “establish regulatory clarity” to encourage the development of Enhanced Geothermal Systems in Pennsylvania. There’s a lot to unpack in that opening statement. First, this is a bipartisan effort. Second, they want to encourage more geothermal energy development in the state. When you understand that Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) uses the same method of fracking used for natural gas and oil well drilling, it makes this bipartisan effort a real eye-opener. 
Geothermal energy has been called the ‘redheaded stepchild’ of renewable energy. Lefties have a love/hate relationship with geothermal energy. Geothermal uses the same identical drilling rigs, drills the same holes in the ground, and even uses the same fracking technology used to drill shale oil and gas wells. But drilling and fracking for geothermal is righteous and clean and pure as wind-driven snow (for the left), while drilling and fracking for oil and gas is evil, Satanic, and destroying the environment. The left tolerates geothermal because it’s not fossil energy. Momentum for geothermal is growing, and money is beginning to pour in, according to Cindy Taff, CEO of geothermal company Sage Geosystems. 
On Monday, Meta, the company that owns Facebook, announced an agreement with a start-up called Sage Geosystems to develop up to 150 megawatts of an advanced type of geothermal energy to help power the tech giant’s expanding array of data centers. That is roughly enough electricity to power 70,000 homes. Sage will use (wait for it…) fracking. That’s right. Geothermal, as we’ve written about before, uses the same fracking that oil and gas drillers use in order to drill holes and create underground fractures where water is pumped and circulated, either heating or cooling, depending on the season (see 
Only in the mind of twisted leftists does this make sense. New York State is energy-hungry. Yet our state “leaders” demand we begin to phase out the one source of energy that provides something like 90% of all energy in the state: Natural gas and oil. You have to replace all that energy somehow. The answer for home heating, in the minds of leftists, is to drill geothermal wells. The state is *requiring* the state’s seven largest utilities to launch at least one geothermal project (and up to five such projects) to get the ball rolling. So here’s what happens. Instead of a gas driller drilling one well that produces enough energy for thousands of surrounding households, geothermal drillers must drill hundreds of wells (400 in our example below!) to produce enough energy for a few dozen households, plus some businesses. Same darned hole in the ground, yet if it’s for natural gas or oil drilled in the countryside where nobody sees it, it’s Satanic. But, drilling several hundred of the same holes in the ground for geothermal — in densely populated urban neighborhoods — is angelic. How do you figure, New York State?
Last November MDN told you about a research paper published by Penn State that says the state should look at repurposing old conventional oil and gas wells for use as geothermal energy sources (see 
As far back as July 2021, MDN began to cover the issue of geothermal energy, which uses the same technology (drilling rigs, horizontal drilling) to drill holes in the ground to circulate and warm (or cool) water underground as a “green” energy source. Geothermal is an area of interest for Marcellus/Utica shale drillers as a potential new source of revenue (
We spotted a press release from an energy company that works in New York State called