Class Action Against Evolution Well in PA & OH Settled for $2.55M
Evolution Well Services, headquartered in Houston with a regional office in Pittsburgh, specializes in “electric” fracking–using natural gas from the well pad (instead of diesel fuel) to power turbines to create electricity that drives fracking pumps. In September 2020, three former Evolution employees who worked at remote sites in the Marcellus/Utica filed a lawsuit against the company claiming Evolution failed to pay them for their commute to and from job sites. The lawsuit was turned into a class action in February of last year (see Class Action Certified Against Evolution Well for Commuter Wages). Both sides met with a mediator in September and settled the lawsuit for $2.55 million. A federal judge has just blessed that deal.
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It hasn’t been a problem-free startup for the mighty Shell ethane cracker plant in Monaca (Beaver County), PA, now called the Shell Polymers Monaca facility. We’ve noted some of the more prominent issues as we’ve spotted them in the news. Things like the plant exceeding allowed air emissions (see 
Anti-drillers, with the assistance of biased “news” publications like the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, continually make false accusations against the shale industry in the southwestern Pennsylvania area, alleging that fracking is the cause of rare forms of cancer in children (see 
As we previously reported, West Virginia Senate Bill (SB) 188 is aimed at making WV more competitive with its neighbors–Pennsylvania and Ohio–with respect to siting more gas-fired power plants in the state. The only problem is that the coal industry isn’t thrilled with some of the language in the bill (see 
Residents living in the vicinity of Energy Transfer’s Revolution Pipeline cryogenic plant in Bulger (Washington County), PA, got a surprise “present” on Christmas morning. Around 7:30 am, residents report hearing an explosion, followed by a fire, at the plant used to separate NGLs (natural gas liquids, including ethane, propane, and butane) from the raw gas stream that flows through the Revolution gathering pipeline (see 
We just have to say right up front, U.S. Senator Joe Manchin from West Virginia is either a lying sleazebag, or he’s really, really stupid. And neither option is very inspiring. Last year Manchin was lured into voting in favor of a massive government spending bill that previously was called the New Green Deal. It got renamed (misnamed) to the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), to make it an easier sell to voters (see 
There are a (very) few Democrats in Washington, D.C., who still support natural gas. It seems most national Democrat leaders (in Congress and beyond) have been coopted by the radical left of the party and now endorse the national suicide of dumping fossil energy. But not all Dems. A group of so-called moderate Democrats who aligned themselves with Bill Clinton formed a think tank in 1989 called the Progressive Policy Institute (PPI). The PPI recently published an issue brief (report) called “The Climate Case for Expanding U.S. Natural Gas Export.” The report says expanding U.S. LNG exports can lower global greenhouse gas emissions significantly, especially if fugitive emissions of methane are deeply reduced. The report even supports the construction of more pipelines here in the U.S. Imagine that! A group of Dems who support natgas and LNG exports. It’s like spotting a unicorn in the wild.
Please sit down, buckle up, and keep your hands inside the ride at all times. No, these are not instructions before boarding a roller coaster at your favorite theme park. These are instructions for those who buy and sell natural gas in 2023. While the price of natgas has been bumping along at the mid-$2 range since late December, don’t be lulled into the siren song of “lower for longer.” According to the Wall Street Journal, the “buffers that keep America’s natural-gas price fluctuations at bay are eroding,” and you can expect wild gyrations in price to happen in 2023.
Tuesday of last week, Freeport LNG, which has been out of operation since an explosion and fire in June 2022, asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for permission to begin re-introducing feedgas back into one of three liquefaction “trains” (units) at the facility. A day later, FERC agreed, and small amounts of gas began to flow (see 
We spotted an article chronicling a visit to Pennsylvania by the Dept. of Interior Secretary Deb Haaland yesterday. She was there to tout money flowing to the Keystone State from the so-called Infrastructure bill in order to plug old abandoned oil and gas wells. What was interesting about her visit was not that she was there to promote the Bidenista agenda and proclaim how great the doddering old fool (her boss) is. The interesting thing is who was by her side: Rich Negrin. You may recall newly minted liberal Democrat Gov. Josh Shapiro nominated Negrin to be the next Secretary of the Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) just about 30 days ago (see 
Last October, the Pennsylvania Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee held a hearing in Philadelphia about potentially locating an LNG export facility there. The country’s largest natural gas producer, EQT, showed up to discuss the key role gas has played in reducing emissions here at home and the role it could play in helping other countries reduce their emissions. Labor unions were there to talk about the jobs that would be created by such a facility. Penn LNG, the company that wants to build such a facility (and has lined up $6.4 billion so far to make it happen), was there too. But you didn’t know about it–because the event was ghosted by “mainstream” media.
Attorneys for both the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) and those representing gas-fired power plants were in PA Commonwealth Court on Wednesday. DEP’s attorneys argued the court should toss a lawsuit brought by the power-generating industry against an obscene carbon tax called the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) that DEP is trying to force on the state. Power generators argue in their lawsuit that RGGI will actually lead to MORE carbon pollution rather than less.