Radicals File Lawsuit Response Challenging MVP Debt Ceiling Law
The left thought it had won the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) battle and had stopped this 94% completed pipeline project cold. But then Congress passed the “debt ceiling” bill that forces the completion of MVP (see Equitrans Announces Mountain Valley Pipe to Get Completed in 2023). Big Green’s favored approach to block MVP is to use three hard-left Democrat judges who sit on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. The judges are reliably in the back pocket of the Sierra Club and the other Big Groups opposed to MVP. With the passage of the Fiscal Responsibility Act (FRA), the 4th Circus (as we call it) was removed from hearing any more lawsuits regarding MVP. Big Green is asking the clown judges of the 4th Circus to disregard the law passed by Congress and continue to block MVP anyway.
Read More “Radicals File Lawsuit Response Challenging MVP Debt Ceiling Law”
We have a federal court decision from an interesting case to share. From June 2005 to October 2007, U.S. Energy Development Corporation contracted with Superior Well Services (of Pennsylvania) to frack natural gas wells owned by U.S. Energy in (of all places) New York State. Yes, fracking used to (still does) happen in NY–at least with conventional wells. U.S. Energy filed a claim against Superior in October 2007, saying Superior had damaged 97 of its wells during fracking by using the wrong kind of chemical mixtures in its fracking fluid.
In May, after years of litigation, the U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) provided closure on what is and what is not considered “waters of the United States”–or WOTUS (see 
Far-left environmentalist wackos have learned how to abuse the legal system in the U.S. in their attempts to block fossil energy. One of the places they excel in abusing the system is in Pennsylvania. When the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) issues a new permit for a project the left opposes, they appeal the decision to a special court established in PA to hear appeals of DEP decisions, called the Environmental Hearing Board (EHB). The left tries to fool the EHB into ruling against a DEP decision by claiming there is “new information” that should be considered, information that has come to light since the original DEP decision. It’s a sleazy legal tactic. Senate Bill (SB) 198, introduced by PA Sen. Camera Bartolotta (R-Washington), closes that loophole in the legal process.
In late December, the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU) voted to grant permission to New Jersey Natural Gas (NJNG) to build a pipeline regulator station in Holmdel, NJ. What does a regulator station do? It reduces pressure on the underground natural gas pipelines that already exist in the area, running underneath the ground in Holmdel Township and throughout Monmouth County. Ultimately, a regulator station will ensure the reliability of the pipelines and gas that flows in the area. The new station will replace a currently-operating temporary regulator station. Yet the “leaders” of Holmdel voted to appeal the BPU decision to court, allocating up to $20,000 of taxpayer money for legal fees in what is sure to be a fruitless attempt at overturning the BPU decision (see 
The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is a federally-owned electric utility corporation in the U.S. TVA’s service area covers all of Tennessee, portions of Alabama, Mississippi, and Kentucky, and small areas of Georgia, North Carolina, and Virginia. TVA is the sixth-largest power supplier and the largest public utility in the U.S. Two years ago, MDN told you that TVA is spending over $1 billion to replace six coal-fired plants with natgas-fired turbines (see 
We’ve written about the sleazy practice of “sue and settle” in the past–a practice whereby government agencies like the EPA get their friends in the radical environmental movement to sue them, then they quickly settle the case and say, “See, we HAVE to do this because the court is making us do it.” (
In January, the hard-left Bidenistas who control the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) floated a trial balloon that they want to ban natural gas stoves, forcing you (if you have one) to replace it with an electric stove at the cost of around $1,400 (see 
Last week, the U.S. House and Senate voted to approve the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023, to raise the debt ceiling. President Biden signed the bill on Saturday. A section in the bill forces federal government agencies and courts to complete all necessary authorizations to finish building the 94% completed Mountain Valley Pipeline (see 
Glenn O. Hawbaker, Inc., long known for providing stone quarries and asphalt plants in Pennsylvania and Ohio, also provides civil construction services for shale well sites. In August 2021, Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro announced a plea deal with Hawbaker to pay back $20 million in alleged “stolen wages” from over 1,000 Hawbaker employees (see 
In March, environmental radical Pat McDonnell of PennFuture, the former Pennsylvania Secretary of the Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP), along with his best friend THE Delaware Riverkeeper, Maya van Rossum, sued McDonnell’s former agency over permits the DEP issued to Williams to build the Regional Energy Access Expansion (REAE) project (see 
Today’s lead story shares the good news that Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) is finally getting a literal “act of Congress” to force its completion (see Biden-McCarthy Debt Ceiling Deal Includes Finishing MVP PDQ). One of the provisions in the “Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023” (debt ceiling bill) removes jurisdiction to hear court cases brought against MVP away from the corrupt U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and gives it to the D.C. Circuit instead. Which may not be the panacea we were hoping for. On Friday, the D.C. Circuit ruled in a case concerning MVP that has the potential to delay the project further. So much for the D.C. Circuit being MVP’s savior…
Josh Shapiro promised he was a different kind of Democrat–that he would work with Republicans on important issues like the environment if elected Governor of Pennsylvania. In the end, Shapiro has turned out to be a dud–a do-nothing governor. We warned you during the campaign that should Shapiro get elected, he would (eventually) embrace the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) carbon tax, even though he made statements during the campaign that he doesn’t support it (see