DC Circuit Tells FERC to Redo KM Mass. Pipe Project Evaluation
How many times must we say this before it sinks in: FERC (the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission) is an economic agency, NOT an environmental agency. FERC’s role is to ensure pipelines, electric transmission lines, etc. are able to get built and are economic and not an undue burden for ratepayers. FERC’s role is NOT to worry about so-called global warming. Yet the liberal Democrats inside FERC, and now the liberal Democrats on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, insist FERC reopen already-approved projects, like a tiny pipeline expansion in Massachusetts, and re-do long-completed evaluations in light of global warming considerations. It’s INSANE.
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Earlier this week the Deputy Chief Administrative Law Judge of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) issued a ruling against the now completed Mariner East 2 pipeline project, assessing a $51,000 fine on the project. Which is relatively minor considering the project has already been fined by the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) more than $20 million. This latest parting shot at the now-done NGL pipeline project levied for being too loud and not doing enough to communicate with residents in an apartment complex near where the pipeline was doing construction work in Delaware County.
In June 2020, Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro (Democrat) announced an indictment of Cabot Oil & Gas for allegations of methane migration going back more than a decade, long before he was elected as AG (see 
On Monday the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in a lawsuit filed by West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey and the attorney generals from 20 states that seek to limit the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and their misinterpretation of the so-called Clean Air Act in order to regulate carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from power plants. The justices heard more than two hours of arguments over whether to limit the EPA’s power to regulate CO2 emissions from electric utilities. Based on the questions and comments by the justices, anti-fossil fuel cultists are VERY nervous that they may lose one of their favorite tools to limit oil and gas development.
In May 2017, Murrysville Township (Westmoreland County) struck a zoning compromise with local drillers on the distance of setbacks (see 
In the “with friends like these” department…One of the main partners with Equitrans Midstream in the project to build the 303-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) project is NextEra Energy (31% ownership). MVP took it on the chin three weeks ago when the Democrat judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit overturned a key permit and a key FERC decision to allow MVP to finish up. The pipeline is 94% complete and in the ground. Yet now, because of those court rulings, NextEra Energy says the pipeline has a “very low probability” of completion.
In May 2017, Murrysville Township (Westmoreland County) struck a zoning compromise with local drillers on the distance of setbacks (see 
All eyes are on Equitrans Midstream, the builder of the 303-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) project that is, once again, on pause due to the leftist judges who sit on the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals. In a pair of decisions a week apart, the clown judges overturned a permit and a plan to change drilling methods so the 94% completed MVP can finish (see 
In his first two days in office, Joe Biden declared war on the oil and gas industry. One of the first things he did was to revive an interagency working group on the “social cost” of greenhouse gas emissions and directed the issuance of an “interim” cost (see 
The Pennsylvania State Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) has engaged in some questionable activities in the past, but this time they’ve stepped WAY across the line. Last Thursday the PA DEP filed a lawsuit in Commonwealth Court to force the state to adopt the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a blatant tax on carbon dioxide produced by gas- and coal-fired power plants. Thing is, it’s illegal for the state to adopt RGGI right now while the state legislature still has a window of time to vote on overriding Gov. Tom Wolf’s veto of a resolution that would have stopped RGGI. Constitutionally, legally, statutorily, the legislature has a certain number of days to attempt an override. The DEP’s Secretary Pat McDonnell, Gov. Wolf’s patsy, is trying to circumvent the law by forcing RGGI through now.
Evolution Well Services, headquartered in Houston with a regional office in Pittsburgh, specializes in “electric” fracking–using natural gas from the well pad (instead of diesel fuel) to power turbines to create electricity that drives fracking pumps. In September 2020, three former Evolution employees who worked at remote sites in the Marcellus/Utica for the company, filed a lawsuit against the company claiming Evolution failed to pay them for their commute to and from job sites. This past Tuesday a federal judge in Pennsylvania granted conditional certification for the lawsuit to become a class action.
Once again Pennsylvania’s Attorney General, Josh Shapiro, is turning accidents, including an accident that caused an explosion of the newly completed 
You have GOT to be kidding! In 2015 Energy Transfer’s Rover Pipeline purchased an old house in Ohio that was crumbling and falling down, intending to fix it up and use it for offices. The company later decided to demolish it. The old house was on a list to be considered as a National Historic Place, even though the local fire department considered burning it down as a training exercise it was so dilapidated. Because this particular old house was potentially considered “historic,” Rover went through all sorts of hell and ended up paying a $2.3 million fine. Then Richard “Dick” Glick took over at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and decided to drag that case out yet again, this time fining Rover $20 million for something long ago settled (see 
Last week we brought you the bitterly disappointing news that the clown judges of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit (the 4th Circus) have, for a second time, overturned permits for Mountain Valley Pipeline (94% complete!) to build through 3.5 miles of Jefferson National Forest (see