FERC to Assess Reliability Impacts from the EPA’s Power Plant Regs
In May, the Bidenistas at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a hellscape of new regulations (681 pages) aimed at forcing coal- and natural gas-fired power plants to close (see New Biden EPA Regs a “Death Sentence” for Fossil-Fuel Power Plants). Although usually in bed with the government, utility companies, represented by the Edison Electric Institute (EEI) trade organization, are against the new regs (see EEI Oposes Biden EPA Plan to Force Upgrades of Gas-Fired Plants). Last week, 39 U.S. Senators sent a letter to the EPA asking the agency to withdraw the proposed new regs (see 39 Republican U.S. Senators Ask EPA to Withdraw Power Plant Reg). Now, word comes that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) will weigh in on what it thinks about the EPA hellscape and what it will do to (decimate) the power industry.
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Some disturbing news has just come to light thanks to an investigation by Fox News. According to internal Dept. of Energy (DOE) calendars obtained by Americans for Public Trust, DOE Secretary Jennifer Granholm secretly consulted China’s National Energy Administration Chairman Zhang Jianhua, a senior member of the Chinese Communist Party, on Nov. 19, 2021, and then again two days later on Nov. 21, 2021. On Nov. 23, 2021, the White House announced a release of 50 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR). After releasing the oil, Granholm’s DOE then sold millions of barrels of oil to China! In other words, Granholm sold cheap oil to China to prop up that country’s economy while making our own country less energy secure. China is America’s #1 enemy.
Williams, one of the largest pipeline companies in the world, issued its second quarter update yesterday. The company reported 2Q23 net income of $515 million, up 5% from 2Q22. The company had record high gathering volumes of 18.03 Bcf/d. The company provided updates for two important Marcellus/Utica projects. (1) Williams continues constructing the Regional Energy Access (REA) project with partial in-service expected in 4Q23. REA beefs up the Transco pipeline in Pennsylvania and New Jersey to deliver an extra 829 MMcf/d of Marcellus gas to PA, NJ, and Maryland. (2) Williams received a FERC certificate for its Southside Reliability Enhancement Project, a project to beef up capacity along the Transco to flow an extra 423 MMcf/d of M-U gas to Piedmont Natural Gas and its customers in eastern North Carolina. But a third M-U project was mentioned not previously on our radar screen.
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) published a post noting the increase in the use of energy in the U.S. from 2020 to 2021. Energy usage increased by 25%, adjusted for inflation, in 2021. Why? In 2020 we were deep in the throes of lockdowns due to COVID. Nobody was going anywhere, pretty much, which significantly decreased the use of gasoline and diesel. Once the country emerged from the COVID pandemic, and people began to move around again, energy usage (petroleum products) soared.
When a government bureaucrat says, “We’re not coming for your gas stove,” you know what that means, right? It means just the opposite. It means they ARE coming for your gas stove. On July 26, the New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (BPU) voted in an “open” meeting to adopt new regulations to “decarbonize” buildings across the state. New Jersey’s tyrannical Governor, Phil Murphy, signed an executive order (edict) in February that sets a goal for zero-carbon-emission space heating and cooling systems in 400,000 homes and 20,000 commercial properties by 2030. The only way to do it is to force people to quit using gas stoves and gas furnaces. Yet the BPU said, following its vote, it is “not coming to take your gas stove.” LIARS.
West Virginia’s state budget runs from July 1 through the following year’s June 30. WV’s General Revenue collections for July 2023, the first month of Fiscal Year 2024, came in at a respectable $7.7 million above estimates, with total collections of $335 million. However, that $335 million collected is 12% lower than the $381 million collected in July 2022. What seems to be a major difference is a crash in severance tax (on coal and natural gas) collections, down some 93% year over year.
Newly-elected Gov. Josh Shapiro, who appears to be completely ineffective since taking office (which is not necessarily a bad thing), appointed a working group in April to help guide him on what he should do concerning the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) carbon tax and the broader issue of global warming (see 
Equitrans Midstream issued its second quarter update yesterday, and WOW, what an update! The company had lots to talk about following the high drama surrounding its Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) project over the past couple of months. Equitrans CEO Tom Karam said following the U.S. Supreme Court’s intervention, construction has now resumed on MVP and will likely take 4-5 months to finish up the 94% completed project. He expects MVP, barring any severe weather issues that might slow construction, will be online and flowing 2 Bcf/d of Marcellus/Utica molecules by the end of this year. Hallelujah!
In February 2022, Equitrans Midstream announced it had filed a new pipeline expansion project with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (see 
DT Midstream (DTM), headquartered in Detroit, owns major assets in the Marcellus/Utica region and other regions. DTM issued its second quarter 2023 update yesterday. The company announced it had reached a final investment decision (FID) to build a new greenfield gathering system in the Ohio Utica Shale. The gathering system will transport associated gas from new wells being drilled in the rich window of the Utica.
In 2021 as he was running for the office of Governor in Virginia, Glenn Youngkin pledged if he won, he would remove the state from the onerous carbon tax on coal- and gas-fired power plants called the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). Following his recent review of a new regulation to remove the state from RGGI, Youngkin is on the cusp of keeping his promise this year (see 
On Friday, the Biden Administration proposed a new rule to amend the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) regulations. The White House’s Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) proposed changes to NEPA that it says would speed up permitting for clean energy and other projects on federal land. Unfortunately, it does just the opposite. The new rule will slow down urgently needed development under the guise of “environmental justice.” This is an ongoing attempt by the Bidenistas to take a wrecking ball to the good work done during the Trump Administration to make it easier to build major infrastructure projects.
In July, the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) announced that it had appointed a 17-member committee to figure out how to dole out $5 million to fund local community projects located near the Shell cracker plant in Beaver County, PA, following a $10 million fine against the plant for violating air emissions standards (see