PA House Environmental Ctte Votes to Disapprove Final VOC Reg
In October, the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) and its Environmental Quality Board (EQB) rammed through (in a rush) a set of regulations to control volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and by extension methane, for conventional drilling sites throughout the state (see PA EQB Rams Through VOC Reg to Control Conventional Well Emissions). The DEP has had SIX YEARS to get these regulations done and has missed deadline after deadline. With a Dec. 16 deadline approaching to finish up the regs or risk losing half a billion dollars in federal highway funds, the DEP tried to bully the conventional drilling industry into accepting its onerous regulations with no comment period, no feedback, no nothing. Yesterday, the Republicans on the House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee voted to send a letter to the Independent Regulatory Review Commission (IRRC) disapproving of the EQB’s final, rushed regulation. Let the blame game begin.
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John Deskins, director of the Bureau of Business & Economic Research at West Virginia University, told members of the state legislature’s Joint Committee on Natural Gas Development at a meeting on Monday that the severance tax on natural gas production in the state is responsible for more than 20% of the state’s record-breaking tax revenue surpluses. Natural gas severance tax collections between July and October accounted for approximately 20% of the $575 million in total general revenue fund surplus tax revenue during that time period.
The Freeport LNG export facility, located in Quintana Island, Texas (near Houston), experienced an explosion and fire in early June (see 
The Bidenistas waited until the UN’s 2022 Climate Change Conference, called COP 27, was up and running (in Egypt) before *going to Egypt* to announce their latest attack on the oil and natural gas industry. At COP27 in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced it is “strengthening its proposed standards to cut methane and other harmful air pollution” in the oil and gas industry. In other words, yet another massive power grab in attempting to regulate oil and gas at the federal level, instead allowing O&G to be regulated at the Constitutionally-designated state level.
Last year the Bidenistas initiated a massive power grab to transfer the right of individual states to regulate local natural gas gathering pipelines to the federal government (see 
The left, and many on the right, are banking on hydrogen to be the next BIG THING in energy. Hydrogen fuel cell cars and burning hydrogen to heat your home are just two huge applications people dream will come true in the next 20 years. Of course, they’ve been dreaming about hydrogen for more than 50 years, but the history of hydrogen is for another post. We pay attention to hydrogen because 95% of all hydrogen today is produced by steam cracking natural gas. Ergo, hydrogen has the potential to be a big, important, new customer for our molecules. Everyone and his brother is making predictions about the market for hydrogen over the next 30 years. Norwegian company DNV has its own prediction, the “Hydrogen Forecast to 2050.”
Yeah, well, that didn’t take long, did it? Pennsylvania Governor-elect Josh Shapiro, just a few days after he won the election, has vowed to further restrict fracking with huge new setback regulations. He’s also promising new regulations for gathering pipelines. In other words, he’s about to screw over the Marcellus industry and pretty much stop new drilling in the state. Still glad you voted for Shapiro?
Several lawsuits have been filed against the Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf administration in its attempt to force the state to join the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) carbon tax program, including a lawsuit by the state legislature. In July, three gas-fired power plant operators–Calpine Corporation, Tenaska Westmoreland Management, and Fairless Energy–filed a lawsuit against the state Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) and its Environmental Quality Board (EQB) opposing its attempt (under orders from Wolf) to force the state into RGGI carbon tax auctions. That lawsuit has some rather illuminating charges–like the claim that moving to RGGI will result in HIGHER, not lower, emissions from power plants.
On Friday, MDN told you that the state of Pennsylvania has decided to endorse a private industry application (by Shell and Equinor) instead of doing the hard work of submitting its own official application to attract a $1 billion hydrogen hub (see 
Abarta Energy (aka Abarta Oil & Gas Co.) was a privately-owned company based in Pittsburgh with assets including wells and pipeline systems located in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Kentucky. In November 2021, Abarta filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, reporting liabilities of $25.4 million and assets of $4.2 million (see 
An interesting episode on Friday illustrates the power of social media and fake news. The NYMEX natural gas futures price for the “front month” December contract plunged as much as 7.4% on Friday morning after someone identifying themselves as a commodities trader posted on Twitter that “cracked pipes” were discovered at the Freeport LNG terminal, potentially delaying the company’s plans to restart exports. Interest in the tweet took off after being shared by another Twitter user that is widely followed by gas traders and analysts.
Environmentalist wackos from around the world are meeting in Egypt for the UN’s 2022 Climate Change Conference, called COP 27. Egyptian authorities have confirmed that some 400 private jets have landed (so far) for the event. So much for leading by example, eh? They’re so very concerned about surplus CO2 in the atmosphere, but they can’t be bothered to actually practice what they preach. Anywho…Some of the jet setters to arrive and talk at COP27 was a group of Congressional Republicans, there to promote the use of fossil fuels! Yes, Daniel went into the lion’s den of crazy environmentalist wackos.
This is rare. The CEO of Williams (Alan Armstrong), one of the largest pipeline (midstream) companies in the U.S. and on the planet, sent an open letter (an official filing) to the Chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), Richard “Dick” Glick, using pretty abrupt language to tell Glick FERC needs to approve the Regional Energy Access expansion project by November 30th or the project WILL be delayed by a full year. The letter has the look and feel of an ultimatum.
EQT Corporation, the largest producer of natural gas in the U.S, has cut a deal to send 15 petajoules (PJ) of RSG (responsibly sourced gas) from the Marcellus/Utica to Canada’s largest natural gas distribution company, Enbridge Gas, over the next 12 months. This is a major deal. Running the numbers, 15 petajoules works out to be roughly 14 billion cubic feet (Bcf) of Marcellus/Utica gas.
Earlier this year, Equitrans Midstream announced it had filed a new pipeline expansion project with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (see