Shell Cracker Agrees to $10M Shakedown from PA, Restarting Now
In March, Shell said its Pennsylvania ethane cracker facility had not–using new, more accurate methods of measuring emissions–violated emissions limits at any point during the facility’s somewhat troubled startup (see Shell Claims PA Cracker Plant Did Not Exceed Air Emissions Limits). However, the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) says it did exceed emissions limits, a number of times. Shell is not going to push the issue. Yesterday, PA Gov. Josh Shapiro announced his government had shaken down Shell and is forcing the company to pay nearly $10 million in fines and bribes “contributions” to benefit local communities. That’s the protection money price to restart the now shutdown plant and to keep it going.
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Last Thursday, a Congressman from Pennsylvania, John Joyce (a physician from Altoona, PA), introduced House of Representatives Bill (HR) 3500, called the “Mountain Valley Pipeline Completion Act” (copy below). Which we find interesting because Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) does not touch PA, although a PA company, Equitrans, is building it. The 303-mile MVP pipeline starts in Wetzel County, WV, and runs through WV into Virginia, ending in Pittsylvania County, VA. The project has been stalled for years due to repeated lawsuits from foreign-funded Big Green groups. HR 3500, aimed at finishing MVP, was co-sponsored by U.S. Reps. Carol Miller (R-WV), Guy Reschenthaler (R-PA), Mike Kelly (R-PA), Dan Meuser (R-PA), and Alex Mooney (R-WV). Here’s what the bill would do…
Yesterday the six sitting justices of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court (currently one vacancy due to the death of Chief Justice Max Baer last fall) heard oral arguments in a case about the so-called Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI)–a carbon tax scheme aimed at shutting down coal- and natural gas-fired power plants in the state. As is often the case, this Supreme Court case is about a technicality in the law. A lower court (PA Commonwealth Court) blocked the state’s entrance into RGGI last year until a lawsuit challenging PA’s participation could play out (see 
We have warned you, repeatedly, that environmental leftist wackos will NEVER accept fossil fuel energy under any circumstances. If you were to wave a magic wand and take away all carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from fossil energy, they would still reject it. And we have proof of our assertion. The United Nations (UN), a body governed by leftist thugs and tyrants, now says using machines to remove vast amounts of CO2 from the air and sea to fight climate change is “unproven” and contains “unknown” risks. Ergo, we shouldn’t even try it. Ergo, we must eliminate the use of all fossil fuel energy to save the planet from burning to a cinder.
We’ve often compared carbon dioxide (CO2) offsets, or carbon credits, as akin to the practice of the Catholic Church selling indulgences in the Middle Ages to absolve you of your sins (
In March, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) published its Annual Energy Outlook 2023 (see 
We spotted a story from Windsor, Ontario (Canada) that caught our attention. We discovered a new customer for Marcellus/Utica gas might be coming just across the border. The Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) that controls Ontario’s electricity supply has approved a plan by Capital Power to build two more natural gas peaking units at its East Windsor Cogeneration Centre in Windsor’s Ford City. Where is Ford City? Just across the Detroit River from Detroit, Michigan, and close the Dawn Hub–a major natural gas hub that gets some of its gas from the M-U.
The second annual Hydrogen Summit was held yesterday in Pittsburgh at the Energy Innovation Center Institute. The summit is a collaboration between Peoples Natural Gas, the Energy Innovation Center Institute, and Bedford Management Partners, with an aim to position the Pittsburgh region to be a leader in global energy innovation. Front and center at yesterday’s confab was talk about two applications from the Marcellus/Utica region hoping to receive money from a $7 billion pot that is part of Biden’s Hunger Games contest, money to be awarded to 6-8 new regional hydrogen hubs.
First, there was DUG, the 
Three far-left organizations, the Clean Air Task Force (CATF), Ceres, and ERM Group, published their third annual report, “Benchmarking Methane and other GHG Emissions of Oil and Natural Gas Production in the United States” (full copy below), which analyzes the production-based emissions of the largest oil and gas producers in the U.S. While the aim of the report is to name-and-shame big oil and gas companies (the worst offenders) with respect to methane and so-called greenhouse gas emissions, the report could not gloss over the elephant in the room: This year’s analysis found that reported methane and greenhouse gas intensity in the oil and gas sector have declined 28% and 30%, respectively, between 2019 and 2021, despite an increase in natural gas and total hydrocarbon production.
Yesterday, Citizens Against Government Waste (CAGW), an independent, nonpartisan group, named New York Governor Kathy Hochul (Democrat) its May 2023 “Porker of the Month” for signing a budget that bans gas stoves and furnaces in new residential buildings. Hochul signed a $229 billion behemoth budget bill that bans new construction from connecting to natural gas pipelines (outlawing new gas stoves and furnaces), as well as forces the shutdown of seven gas-fired peaker power plants (see 
Although last week saw a nice increase in the futures price for natural gas (the NYMEX front month contract for June, for gas traded at the Henry Hub in Louisiana), the price decreased once again yesterday, dropping 7.7% (-$0.18) to $2.40/MMBtu, which erased more than half of the gains from last week. Why? Primarily because production remains at or near all-time highs of 100 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d), and the weather is mild right now–no extreme heat to cause folks to turn on the air conditioner (causing the need for more gas-fired electricity). So here we sit, with the price of natgas still bumping around under $2.50/MMBtu. Bummer.
We’ve noticed over the past several weeks a coordinated effort among Big Green groups, including the Sierra Club, Analysis Group, the so-called Resources for the Future, the Kleinman Center for Energy Policy, and others, engaged in a full-court press to try and convince Pennsylvanian’s that the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a HUGE tax on carbon dioxide emissions aimed at closing down coal and natural gas-fired power plants in the state, won’t increase electric rates, will clean up the air, and in general, will make Pennsylvanian’s lives happier, live longer, and have better sex. (Well, they don’t mention the sex part, but it’s implied.) We can categorically say, THEY ARE LYING. The simple truth is that these groups are ALL anti-fossil energy and they seek to DESTROY the shale industry. And yes, RGGI will raise your electric rates if you live in PA.