UC Berkeley: Shale Gas Saved U.S. Consumers $5 Trillion Since 2007
There’s a reason the University of California, Berkeley, is nicknamed “Berserkly.” It is a hotbed of bright red Communist philosophy and teaching. It produces people who are, well, berserk. And yet, in an unguarded moment of honesty and lucidity, a UC Berkeley researcher has just published a study outlining how natural gas from shale is saving American consumers on the order of $200 billion each year, a cumulative total of $5 trillion or more since 2007. This is astonishing — not only because of how much Americans have saved, but because UC Berkeley is willing to share that truth with the world, damaging its own reputation with the wacky, badacky left. Read More “UC Berkeley: Shale Gas Saved U.S. Consumers $5 Trillion Since 2007”
The federal EPA has proposed new rules allowing gas-fired power plants, data centers, and factories to begin constructing non-polluting components like piping, wiring, and cement pads before receiving air emission permits. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin stated that this aims to streamline critical infrastructure projects and advance technological development, particularly for AI. Critics, including Big Green lawyers, argue these changes undermine the Clean Air Act by making it harder for communities to “protect air quality.” More importantly, Big Green says it will make it harder for regulators to reject permits after significant investment has already been made. Well, duh! That’s the point. 
U.S. energy production reached a record 107 quadrillion British thermal units in 2025, up 3.4% from 2024 and marking the fourth straight annual record high. Growth was led by all-time highs in natural gas, crude oil, natural gas plant liquids, and unreliable renewables. Dry natural gas output rose more than 4% to 39 trillion cubic feet, with gains concentrated in Appalachia, the Permian, and Haynesville. Incidentally, natural gas has been the largest source of U.S. domestic energy production since 2011. Who knew?! 
It’s been nearly a year since we last wrote about WhiteHawk Energy (now undergoing a rename to WhiteHawk Minerals), a natural gas mineral and royalty interest owner in the Marcellus and Haynesville plays, with over 3.4 million gross acres under lease for drilling (see 
In March 2025, the Wall Street Journal reported that Shell is “exploring a potential sale of its chemicals assets in Europe and the U.S.,” which includes the Monaca (Beaver County, PA) ethane cracker complex (see 
In February, MDN brought you the big news that Devon Energy is buying out and merging with Coterra Energy, paying $21.4 billion in Devon stock (see 
You have to hand it to Dominion Energy, the company has brass… courage. In June 2023, Dominion announced plans to build four small “peaker” electric generating plants in Chesterfield County near Richmond (see 
Kinder Morgan’s Elba Island LNG, which accepts and liquefies Marcellus/Utica molecules just offshore from Savannah, Georgia, received approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in November 2024 to expand the facility to produce an extra 0.4 million metric tons/year (see 
In April, MDN reported that anti-fossil fuel fanatics had not yet given up on trying to block construction of the Williams Northeast Supply Enhancement (NESE) pipeline, a $1 billion+ project designed to increase Transco pipeline capacity and flows of Marcellus gas heading into New York City and other northeastern markets. Even though there was an official groundbreaking ceremony at Brooklyn’s Floyd Bennett Field in New York City in April, antis are still doing their best to block this project. They pinned one of their last hopes on a relatively obscure state agency in New Jersey, pressuring it to refuse to issue a license for the project (see 
UGI Corporation’s UGI Energy Services and Prime Data Centers yesterday announced a strategic partnership to develop natural gas supply infrastructure in Pennsylvania’s northern tier for a proposed gas-fired power facility serving future hyperscale data center operations. Under the deal, UGIES will sell Prime some of its property while retaining about 15 billion cubic feet (Bcf) of underground storage capacity and related oil and gas rights. Prime’s gas demand is expected to exceed 100,000 dekatherms per day (100 MMcf/d) within three to five years. A major new customer for PA Marcellus gas! 
New research by the Commonwealth Foundation finds that Pennsylvania’s foolish pursuit of joining the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a carbon tax scheme, led to a loss of $5 to $8 billion in energy sector investment over six years, stalling power projects and reducing electricity generation capacity. The state’s attempt to join RGGI, initiated by executive order under then-Governor Tom Wolf, was ultimately overturned by the courts and (eventually) by legislative action, citing it as an unconstitutional tax. Meanwhile, neighboring Ohio, not part of RGGI, saw an increase in energy projects, highlighting the differing regulatory environments. 
The European Union’s idiotic methane regulations begin in earnest next year. Domestic (European) oil, gas, and coal companies must monitor, measure, and report their emissions. The same restrictions will apply to energy imports from other countries, including imports from the U.S. (see