Antis Hold Out Hope to Block NESE Pipe Via Obscure NJ State Agency
As we reported last week, anti-fossil fuel fanatics haven’t 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 (see Zombie Antis Fight to Block Williams NESE Pipeline in NY, NJ). Even though ground will break on construction *today* at a ceremony at Brooklyn’s Floyd Bennett Field in New York City, antis are still doing their best to block this project. Their latest angle of attack is to demand (antis always demand) that a relatively obscure state agency in New Jersey reject issuing a license for the project. Read More “Antis Hold Out Hope to Block NESE Pipe Via Obscure NJ State Agency”
We spotted an interesting article that posits Williams’ strategy is to expand its mighty Transco natural gas pipeline system by increasing the capacity of existing infrastructure rather than building new pipelines. The Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line (Transco) is the largest-volume, highest-capacity interstate natural gas transmission system in the U.S. It spans roughly 10,000 miles (with 60+ compressor stations) from the Gulf Coast (Texas/Louisiana) to New York City. The Williams strategy of expanding Transco rather than building new pipes minimizes disruption to communities and the environment while meeting growing demand from residential, commercial, industrial, and power generation sectors. 
Natural Allies for a Clean Energy Future
U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum visited Lackawanna College yesterday to observe how students are trained for energy-focused careers in natural gas, petroleum, and robotics. He emphasized that these students will contribute to the growth of key industries, creating significant career opportunities. Burgum, joined by Congressmen Rob Bresnahan and Dan Meuser, commended the college’s programs and shale industry-donated equipment, highlighting their role in an American renaissance driven by energy, innovation, and manufacturing. He also discussed how data centers, or “AI manufacturing,” could utilize Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale natural gas to generate electricity, bringing economic benefits and lowered utility costs, drawing parallels to his experience in North Dakota. 
Williams Companies is breaking ground tomorrow on the Northeast Supply Enhancement (NESE) pipeline in Brooklyn — the first new pipeline in New York in over a decade — signaling a broader national natural gas infrastructure boom. Driven by AI data center power demand, LNG export growth, and population expansion, the U.S. is tracking over 150 pipeline projects representing roughly 150 Bcf (billion cubic feet) of daily capacity. 
In March, South Carolina regulators approved Duke Energy’s proposal to build a 1.4-gigawatt (GW) natural gas-fired power plant in Anderson County, marking the utility’s first new generation project in the state in a decade (see 
Despite being the nation’s leading electricity exporter and a top producer of natural gas, nuclear power, and coal, Pennsylvania residents pay significantly more for electricity — 45% more per kilowatt-hour than in 2018. Why? Sleazy politicians blame “greedy” utility companies and AI data centers, even though the rise in electric prices predates the current data center boom. If you dig just a little, you will find the real answer: it’s due to the policies put in place by the same sleazy (Democrat) politicians who blame others. 
PJM Interconnection, the nation’s largest electric grid system serving 65 million people across 13 states and Washington, D.C., is pursuing an emergency plan to secure 15 gigawatts (GW) of new power supply to avert electricity shortages driven by surging data center demand tied to artificial intelligence (AI). The grid operator looks to pair proposed data centers with new generation through bilateral negotiations running from September to March 2027. Let’s make a deal! 
We believe this is the end of the legal road for the Briggs family’s lawsuit against Southwestern Energy (now part of Expand Energy) in a case that centers on whether hydraulic fracturing constitutes a trespass if it forces gas from a neighbor’s property, even if no fluid enters that neighbor’s specific property layer. In January 2020, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled in favor of Southwestern, retaining the “rule of capture” in the Keystone State (see 
On February 2, 2026, Devon Energy and Coterra Energy announced a landmark $58 billion all-stock merger, creating a “Super-Independent” energy producer targeting the AI-driven surge in power demand (see 
Here’s something you don’t hear about often: A Democrat who supports fossil energy and pipelines. It’s especially noteworthy when the Democrat is the former head of the Democratic Party in Pennsylvania. In an eloquent guest editorial published in the Harrisburg Patriot-News, T.J. Rooney, former Chairman of the PA Democratic Party and a former member of the PA House, discusses (bemoans the fact) that it’s next to impossible to build a new natural gas pipeline in the Keystone State. He makes a full-throated plea for permitting reform to change that. 
Fervo Energy and Youngstown, OH-based Vallourec announced a five-year supply agreement, potentially worth up to $800 million, to scale domestic geothermal infrastructure in the United States. Vallourec will exclusively supply Fervo with U.S.-manufactured tubular solutions (pipelines) and pipeline connectors, creating a fully domestic supply chain for critical geothermal well infrastructure. This collaboration aims to reduce supply chain risks, improve project timelines, and ensure cost certainty for Fervo’s deployment of standardized 50 MW geothermal units, leveraging Vallourec’s expertise in tubular solutions. Here’s the cool part: the pipelines and connectors Vallourec will manufacture for Fervo’s geothermal work were originally developed for shale energy applications. 
The number crunchers in the bowels of the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) issued their latest Annual Energy Outlook (AEO) for 2026 yesterday. And, wow! We didn’t expect this! The agency predicts that natural gas production will grow significantly, from 107 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) in 2025 to between 133 Bcf/d and 151 Bcf/d by 2050. The growth is being driven by both domestic and international demand. But here’s the interesting part: The EIA sees the coming growth in production as strongest “in the East region, which includes the low-cost Appalachian Basin.” The EIA says that to grow production in the M-U, new pipeline infrastructure will be needed to transport it to the U.S. Gulf Coast.