NJ Antis Still Haven’t Given Up on Blocking Tiny Newark Gas Peaker
The Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission operates the largest sewage treatment plant in the state of New Jersey — in Newark. When Hurricane Sandy hit in 2012, the sewer plant lost power and dumped BILLIONS of gallons of raw sewage into the Passaic River. The Commission has a plan to prevent that from happening again: Build a tiny natural gas peaker plant to generate electricity. It would only be used to prevent such environmental damage again (i.e., rarely used, only for emergencies). We told you last week that the ultra-liberal Phil Murphy administration approved the project (see Murphy DEP Approves Plan for Newark, NJ Gas-Fired Peaker Plant). Anti-fossil fuel fanatics are going berserk over Murphy’s approval.
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In June, three new commissioners joined the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (see 
The Bidenistas (or maybe we should now call them the Cackleistas) can’t help themselves. They want to end the use of natural gas. Democrat mayors and governors are trying it in various “blue” states, although the courts are beginning to overturn such lunacy (see 
Here is an incontrovertible fact: In a CNN town hall debate during the 2019 presidential primary, Kamala Harris said, “There’s no question I’m in favor of banning fracking.” She hasn’t changed her position in the last five years. And that’s a problem for Harris in “swing” states like Pennsylvania. She said she would ban it from “day one” on federal lands and then work her way around to private lands later. The left always uses incrementalism. There is no question that Harris is left of Joe Biden if such a thing is possible. We think it’s quite possible Harris will try to recruit PA’s dud, do-nothing Governor, Josh Shapiro, to run with her as her VP candidate to try and persuade PA voters that her radical position supporting a fracking ban shouldn’t prevent them from voting for her. Harris figures that if Shapiro is on the ticket, it will assuage voters’ concerns. Don’t fall for it. If Harris loses PA, she loses the election.
In November 2018, under intense pressure from activist investors, EQT split itself into two companies: EQT Corporation and Equitrans Midstream (see 
Austin Master Services (AMS) is a radiological waste management solutions company in Martins Ferry (Belmont County), Ohio. The Ohio Attorney General lodged charges against AMS in March, accusing the company of storing 16+ times more drill cuttings at the facility than it’s rated for (see 
This is BIG (and really great) news… Williams has asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for permission to bring the final pieces of the Regional Energy Access Expansion (REAE) project online by the end of this month. REAE expands the mighty Transco pipeline in Pennsylvania and New Jersey to deliver an extra 829 MMcf/d of Marcellus gas to PA, NJ, and Maryland. About 450,000 MMcf/d of the total capacity went online in late 2023 along Transco’s Leidy Line in Pennsylvania (see 
Finally, there is some good news regarding Freeport LNG restarting. Reuters reports that an LNG carrier left one of Freeport LNG’s berths over the weekend, carrying the facility’s first cargo since July 5. The report also says another carrier was filling up yesterday, and two more vessels were waiting near the port. However, the facility is still running at only about one-third of its rated capacity (one of three trains).
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), the average monthly wholesale spot (not futures, but spot) natural gas price at the U.S. benchmark Henry Hub fell by 20% to $2.56 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) between January and June of this year. In January, the Henry Hub price averaged $3.18/MMBtu, then dropped to $1.49/MMBtu in March, marking the lowest average monthly inflation-adjusted price since at least 1997. In addition, prices from February through April 2024 were the lowest ever recorded for those months.
Joe Manchin, U.S. Senator from West Virginia, can’t be gone soon enough for us. He sold out the country and his constituents when he voted for Biden’s Green New Deal, conveniently renamed the Inflation Reduction Act (see 
A disappointing (but not surprising) decision from the Democrat leftists on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court was issued last Thursday. The so-called Supremes ruled in favor of allowing three well-financed Big Green groups, including the Sierra Club, PennFuture, and Clean Air Council, to join a lawsuit attempting to force the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) obscene carbon tax on coal- and gas-fired plants in the Keystone State. Big Green can now participate, bringing along big money and attorneys to support the state Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP), which is trying to force state participation in RGGI.
In May, the supervisors of West Deer Township (Allegheny County), PA, held a regular monthly meeting. One item on the agenda was the potential adoption of revisions to the town’s oil and gas drilling ordinance. A number of (supposed) residents showed up to question the revisions and ask for stricter setbacks (a bigger distance from drilling to homes and other structures). Ultimately, the supervisors decided to delay a vote on the revisions, pushing it off until a future meeting (see 
Last November, Tellurian, a company founded by Charif Souki, filed a report with the Securities and Exchange Commission warning investors that its financial situation raised “substantial doubt” that the company could continue as a going concern (see 
Freeport LNG, by all accounts, continues to be offline. It was supposed to restart one of its three “trains” (liquefaction units) last week (see 
The U.S. national oil and gas rig regained some lost ground last week by adding two rigs. The national combined Baker Hughes oil and gas rig count now stands at 586 active rigs. After staying static for six weeks, the Marcellus/Utica added a rig last week. Pennsylvania continued to operate 21 rigs. Ohio added a rig and now operates 11 active rigs. West Virginia remained the same with five active rigs. The M-U’s primary competitor, the Haynesville, lost one rig and now operates 36 rigs.
In early June, the owner of Austin Master Services (AMS), American Environmental Partners (AEP), sent a press announcement to MDN to announce he had found a buyer for AMS (see