Big Coal Sues PA to Block PA Carbon Tax + Court Hearing for Senate
Three cheers for Big Coal! We’re not all that thrilled with using coal in power plants given there is a much more environmentally-friendly option–natural gas. But we’re certainly not against coal energy and we’re all for free enterprise and competition among fuel sources. The coal industry in Pennsylvania has our respect and admiration for standing up for itself and suing the state to block the insane Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) carbon tax. PA Gov. Tom Wolf is forcing his state to join RGGI, which will assess huge new taxes on both coal and gas-fired power plants, threatening to drive both out of business.
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Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia are all scrambling to form intrastate working groups and alliances in an attempt to be THE state chosen for one of four regional hydrogen hubs funded by the recently passed so-called Biden infrastructure bill (see 
Because of constant court challenges against pipelines, the Trump administration completed a redo of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Nationwide Permit 12 (NWP12), a general permit used in constructing pipelines, just prior to leaving office. From the beginning of the Biden administration, anti-fossil fuel fanatics have attacked NWP12, hoping they can cancel it or otherwise make it so onerous nobody will use it. In March the Army Corps caved to the pressure and announced it will review (i.e. change) NWP12 (see 
In an act of intentional suicide, a misguided anti-fossil fueler from Colorado sat down in front of the U.S. Supreme Court at 6:30 pm on so-called Earth Day (Apr 22) and set himself on fire, killing himself. Mainstream media like the (Dis)Associated Press are attempting to pass it off as some sort of Buddhist ritual of “self-immolation”–something noble, even laudable, instead of what it was–the act of a disturbed mind, someone driven crazy by brainwashing from the radical environmental movement.
Nicor Gas, a local distribution company (LDC), otherwise known as a natural gas utility company, is headquartered in Naperville, Illinois–a suburb of Chicago. Nicor Gas is the largest natural gas distribution company in Illinois, serving more than two million customers in a service territory that encompasses most of the northern third of Illinois, excluding the city of Chicago. Two days ago Nicor announced it had signed a deal with ENGIE Energy Marketing NA to buy “responsibly sourced” natural gas for its customers.
In 2018, CNX Resources announced it had signed a long-term contract with Evolution Well Services to use Evolution’s 100% natural gas-fueled electric pressure pumping equipment (see 
Yesterday MDN highlighted a newly published Cleveland State University study commissioned (and paid for) by the nonprofit JobsOhio (see 
At the end of the day, Joe Manchin, U.S. Senator from West Virginia, is still a Democrat and beholden to his party’s radical leftwing. We had hoped he was a different kind of Democrat, but alas, perhaps not. Bloomberg (often a fake news source) is reporting that Manchin is reaching out to Republicans in the Senate to gauge interest in spending a half-trillion dollars ($550 billion to be exact) on “climate and energy spending”–resurrected pieces of what had been Biden’s failed Build Back Better Act. The aim is to salvage something of Joe Biden’s tattered reputation ahead of the 2022 elections in November, so Dems are not completely obliterated (as we hope they are and deserve to be) this fall. No thanks, Sen. Manchin. We’re not interested in tacking on another 4-5% to the inflation numbers that are already at historic highs, which is exactly what such a bill would do.
Three Democrat Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) commissioners voted to adopt and immediately begin using new guidelines for approving pipeline projects by taking into account mythical global warming factors back in February (see 
The world can’t get enough LNG (liquefied natural gas), specifically American LNG. The U.S. has seven active LNG export terminals, another 18 FERC-approved export terminal projects (four under construction), and six or more proposed but not yet approved projects. The world needs our natural gas/LNG, we have the ability to provide it, let’s build! Chop chop!! But wait a minute–it’s not that easy (nothing ever is). There are two big reasons why more LNG export facilities are not proceeding to final investment decisions (FIDs) and beginning to build, even with the world begging for our LNG.
Over the past decade or more landowners have been approached about leasing their property and/or mineral rights–for shale drilling, pipelines, solar and wind farms, etc. Here’s a new one to add to the list: pore rights. Pore space is the underground space where carbon dioxide that’s captured from various processes can be injected and stored, keeping it locked away underground where it theoretically won’t damage Mom Earth. The whole concept of storing CO2 underground would be funny if it were not so sad that grownups are actually doing this. But we digress. Leasing pore rights may be the next big thing for landowners and mineral rights owners in the Marcellus/Utica region as carbon capture and storage takes off. However, who owns pore rights? Landowners or mineral rights owners?
When you only have one main pipeline flowing natural gas from the prolific Marcellus Shale to your region, as does Boston, if that pipe has an outage for any reason, as the Algonquin Gas Transmission (AGT) has had, you’re in trouble. AGT declared a force majeure (an unforeseen act of God) on the 26-inch line of its J System in Massachusetts. The outage in one particular section of the pipeline means “slashing nominations downstream of Trapelo to zero for the foreseeable future.” Ouch. Guess what’s happening to the price of natural gas at the Algonquin Citygates natgas trading hub? Through the roof.
Pennsylvania has already received the first $25 million payment from the so-called infrastructure bill, a down payment on what will eventually be ~$400 million over the next 15 years to plug abandoned and orphaned oil and gas wells across the state (see