Woke SEC Adopts Modified Version of Climate Disclosure Reg
In March 2022, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), corrupted by the Bidenistas, said it would begin to force all publicly traded companies to disclose their so-called greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and the imaginary climate risks their businesses face (see SEC Votes to Force Public Companies to Disclose Mythical GHG Risks). The original plan called for publicly traded companies to disclose their own direct (“Scope 1”) and indirect (“Scope 2”) GHG emissions. It would also require companies to disclose greenhouse gases generated by suppliers and partners, known as Scope 3 emissions. Yesterday, the SEC voted 3-2 (three Democrats vs. two Republicans) to issue a final regulation that will soon go into effect. The final version dumped Scope 3 emissions but kept Scopes 1 and 2 — in a massive 886-page regulatory rule.
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Back in the summer of 2020, MDN told you about a lawsuit brought by an Ohio rights owner called TERA, an organization that owns the royalty rights for a number of leases with wells in Belmont County, OH, drilled by different producers, suing the producers for drilling into the Point Pleasant shale layer when the lease only mentions the Utica layer (see 
Some residents living in Cecil Township (Washington County), PA, are frustrated and concerned over drilling activities by Range Resources near their homes — things like flaring, loud noises, and smells. They took their concerns and complaints to the March 4 meeting of the Cecil Township Board of Supervisors. The Board voted to give Range one week to respond with a plan to address the issues, or else the Board promised to file a lawsuit against Range in county court.
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court yesterday debated whether the federal National Gas Act empowers the state to review permits for a pipeline project or bars it from doing so — a question that hinges on whether appeals to a state board are preempted civil actions or administrative proceedings that would fall under the state’s purview. It’s an important distinction. The case can potentially set a precedent that could influence future infrastructure projects and “state-federal power dynamics.”
In January, MDN brought you the good news that the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) approved a plan by Catalyst Energy to convert an existing gas production well on Route 646 in Cyclone (Keating Township in McKean County, PA) into a shale wastewater injection well (see 
Penneco Environmental Solutions wants to build a second wastewater injection well in Plum Borough (Allegheny County), PA, next to an existing injection well. Penneco’s first wastewater injection well in Plum finally opened for business in mid-2021, overcoming all sorts of smears, slanders, and lawsuits by the enviro-left (see 
A coalition of major oil companies is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to rule on a key aspect of numerous ongoing nationwide lawsuits filed by cities, counties, and states. The lawsuits by multiple “blue” states and cities accuse Big Oil companies of deceiving the public about their role in causing mythical manmade global warming. The companies being targeted are the biggest of the big, with deep pockets. It’s nothing more than elaborate shakedown. Sunoco, ExxonMobil, Chevron, Marathon Petroleum, ConocoPhillips, Phillips 66, and others have asked the Supremes to intervene in a climate case filed against them by the City and County of Honolulu. The case serves as an important precedent for a number of other cases.
The American Petroleum Institute (API), which is no friend of independent shale drillers, together with six other O&G groups, filed an application for rehearing on the Dept. of Energy’s (DOE) indefinite pause on new and pending liquefied natural gas (LNG) permit approvals for non-FTA countries. The application for rehearing is a legal filing, the first stop on the way to a full-blown court case. The filing asks the DOE to reconsider and stop its pause on advancing requests to export LNG. If the DOE denies the rehearing request, the Bidenistas can expect to be sued in federal court to overturn the pause.
Sometimes, we get a miracle. A liberal Democrat judge from Franklin County, OH, ruled on Friday that anti-fossil fuel fanatics don’t have the right to appeal a decision by the Ohio Oil & Gas Land Management Commission (OGLMC) to meet and award contracts to drill under (not on) several Ohio state parks, including the 20,000-acre Salt Fork State Park in Guernsey County. The OGLMC is scheduled to meet today to make announcements awarding contracts for several tracts, including Salt Fork State Park. We expect antis will try to derail the proceedings illegally. Grab the popcorn…
The money behind Big Green never stops. Where in the heck do they get it all? In November 2023, the Ohio Oil & Gas Land Management Commission (OGLMC) met in a public forum and voted to allow shale drilling under (not on top of) three different state-owned tracts of land: all 20,000 acres of Salt Fork State Park in Guernsey County, more than 300 acres of Valley Run Wildlife Area in Carroll County, and 66 acres of the Zepernick Wildlife Area in Columbiana County (see 
Although Shell maintains flaring and accidental emissions from its new multi-billion-dollar ethane cracker in Beaver County, PA, have not violated state and federal air standards, the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) says they have — on numerous occasions. Shell didn’t argue the point, and in May 2023, the company agreed to pay nearly $10 million in fines and “contributions” to benefit the local community (see 
In December 2019, New York Attorney General Tish James and her highly-paid associates were thoroughly, completely, 100% humiliated in court when their case against Exxon Mobil, accusing the company of screwing shareholders by keeping secret knowledge they are toasting Mom Earth, was itself toast (see 
Yesterday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia (D.C. Circuit) delivered a HUGELY important decision. In April 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court breathed new life into a long-running lawsuit funded by Big Green groups using (abusing) a small group of uppity Virginia landowners who argue the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) had no right to delegate authority to Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) to use eminent domain to cross land, including the land owned by the small group of uppity landowners in Virginia. The aim of the lawsuit is to prevent any private company from using eminent domain ever again to build public infrastructure — a true disaster of national importance. The D.C. Circuit said in an opinion yesterday that it lacks jurisdiction to rule on the matter, meaning it’s “case closed,” and MVP can finish up the final little bits (it’s about 99% done now).
Here’s the kind of thing you don’t want to read about. Utility giant National Fuel Gas Company, headquartered in Buffalo and parent to Seneca Resources and NFG Midstream (and Empire Pipeline), is suing a former employee and several vendors for buying and installing counterfeit parts at several compressor stations. One such part caused the temporary shutdown at one compressor station in New York’s Southern Tier when the part failed to work correctly.