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SRBC Renews Water Use Permits for 34 Marcellus/Utica Shale Pads
The highly functional and responsible Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC), unlike its completely dysfunctional and irresponsible cousin, the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC), continues to support the shale energy industry by approving water withdrawals and consumptive use for responsible and safe shale drilling. The SRBC published a notice in the March 22 Pennsylvania Bulletin that the Commission renewed 34 general water use permits in January for individual shale gas well drilling pads in Bradford, Centre, Clinton, Elk, Lycoming, Sullivan, Susquehanna, Tioga, and Wyoming counties. Read More “SRBC Renews Water Use Permits for 34 Marcellus/Utica Shale Pads”
On Friday, March 21, 2025, Heathrow Airport (in London), one of the world’s busiest airports, experienced a complete shutdown due to a massive fire at the North Hyde electrical substation in Hayes, west London, approximately 1.5 miles from the airport. The blaze, which began late Thursday night around 11:23 PM GMT, involved a transformer containing 25,000 liters of cooling oil. It caused a significant power outage, knocking out the primary substation and its backup system. This led to the cancellation of over 1,300 flights, affecting an estimated 200,000 to 290,000 passengers and causing widespread travel disruptions globally. The London Fire Brigade deployed 10 engines and around 70 firefighters to control the fire, which was mostly contained by Friday evening, though 5% remained active in isolated hotspots. What happened at Heathrow could not happen at Pittsburgh International Airport. Why? Because of the Marcellus shale. 
President Trump was 100% correct in calling the misnamed Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) Biden’s “green new scam.” Here is a perfect example. The heart of Marcellus Shale country is the highest-producing natural gas county in Pennsylvania, Susquehanna County (not far from where MDN sits). Anyone who lives in our region knows this: It is one of the cloudiest regions of the country. Binghamton, NY (where MDN resides) averages 212 cloudy days per year! Yes, we’re nuts for living here. About 25 minutes south of Binghamton down Interstate 81 sits Clifford Township, PA, in Susquehanna County. It’s just as cloudy as Binghamton. Yet Biden’s IRA (“green new scam”) is paying to build a….wait for it….solar farm in Clifford Township! In a place that is cloudy 58% of the time. Taxpayers are paying for this insanity. Meanwhile, natural gas (more reliable, easier to produce, and almost as clean as solar) keeps chugging away in Clifford and other locations around Susquehanna County. 
Pennsylvania State Sen. Gene Yaw from Lycoming County, chairman of the Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee, is a strong Marcellus Shale friend. Sen. Yaw recently reintroduced an “Energy Choice” bill blocking municipalities from banning a specific type of fuel source for appliances and heating homes or businesses. The language is fuel-neutral and is not specific to one energy source, but obviously, it’s aimed at preventing liberals who run municipalities in and around Philadelphia and Pittsburgh (maybe Harrisburg) from blocking the use of natural gas in their homes and businesses, a favorite tactic of the left. 
The Allegheny Front, a leftwing “media” outfit in Western Pennsylvania (PBS reporters), published an article looking at how fracking has changed the “rural character” of Guernsey County, Ohio. The reporter took the recent start of drilling and fracking under Salt Fork State Park as an opportunity to write an article about the evils of fracking. Except, the reporter had this observation with respect to drilling happening right now under the park: “During a visit to Salt Fork State Park in December, there weren’t any visible signs of fracking. Of the few people who were there, two hunters said they didn’t know about fracking…” Exactly. 
U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) exporters plan to continue to monitor and curb their methane emissions despite President Trump’s plans to roll back EPA climate regulations (see 
Data centers and AI are in the news almost daily. The great issue of our time (which has developed over the past year or so) is that AI and data centers are huge customers for electricity. Every region of the country (particularly the Eastern Seaboard) struggles with how to meet the demand for more electricity. The existing grid can’t handle the coming increase in demand. Data centers would love to just “plug in” to the local grid, but given the speed with which they want to build these new facilities, that’s unrealistic. Building a new nuclear plant to power such facilities takes over a decade and billions of dollars. Building a new gas-fired power plant takes at least 2-3 years from start to finish (once permitting is issued). Is it possible to develop a new power source for data centers in two years? Indeed, there is… 
Big Green is alarmed that New York Governor Kathy Hochul trooped to The White House last Friday to have a private, off-the-record conversation with President Trump about a laundry list of things, but two primary items: the Constitution Pipeline and a tax on driving in parts of Manhattan during certain hours (called “congestion pricing”). Nobody is saying anything about the meeting, but the implication is that perhaps Hochul and Trump were engaged in “horse swapping”—Trump bends on congestion pricing if Hochul bends on allowing (even endorsing) the Constitution Pipeline. The prospect of Hochul caving on the Constitution has set the environmental left’s hair on fire. 
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) will hold an 
You have to hand it to the environment-left; they sure are creative. How do they think these things up? Penn State researchers, committed to the religion of eliminating fossil fuels and the 100% adoption of unreliable renewables, are looking for a way to use old/depleted oil and gas wells—of which there are hundreds of thousands in PA (an estimated 3.9 million nationwide). The latest Penn State research proposes blowing compressed air down old wells and storing it underground where the earth’s heat will warm it, further compressing it (giving it an extra 9.5% of “efficiency”). And when electricity is needed, let the air escape, running big power turbines. Just one teeny, tiny problem: It costs so much that nobody will do it. 
Yesterday, Venture Global received approval from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to export liquefied natural gas (LNG) to non-FTA countries for its third project, CP2 LNG, in Cameron Parish, Louisiana. Venture Global is working through a final investment decision (FID) to proceed with the project. The DOE approval is a key milestone for the project, a project that, in all likelihood, will use at least some Marcellus/Utica molecules. However, there are miles to go before it gets built, comes online, and then begins to honor its customer contracts. YEARS. 
Yesterday, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) issued its approval for Venture Global’s Calcasieu Pass (CP) 2 LNG export project (see our story today, DOE Grants CP2 LNG (La.) Approval to Export to Non-FTA Countries). The DOE is ramping up and will likely approve many more projects. However, there is a problem: a hidden “landmine” left behind by the Biden DOE on its way out the door, meant to be used by Big Green in opposing Trump’s DOE actions. The landmine is a sham “study” on LNG and climate change issued by the Bidenistas (see