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Lobbyist Charged in FirstEnergy Bribery Scandal Found Dead in FL
Neil Clark, 67, was arrested last July and charged with racketeering as part of a federal investigation into House Bill 6 (see FirstEnergy Involved in Bribery Scheme to Pass $1B Nuke Bailout Law). Clark was a “close political ally of then-House Speaker Larry Householder.” Householder, since removed from his position, seems to be at the center of the scandal. Federal prosecutors described Clark as Householder’s “enforcer” who coordinated supporters and fundraising efforts. Clark was found dead in Florida on Monday.
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Williams, via its wholly-owned subsidiary Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line (Transco), has filed a lawsuit against Mountain Valley Pipeline (a competitor) over MVP’s plan to extend the pipeline an extra 75 miles from southern Virginia into North Carolina. Williams claims some of the land MVP wants to use under eminent domain crosses into Transco’s easements and building MVP so close to Transco may damage Transco’s pipeline and the cathodic anti-corrosion system that protects it.
A third Pennsylvania township, Clara Township in Potter County, is about to be lured onto the same litigation rocks by the siren song of the uber-radical Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF) as two other towns, by adopting an illegal “home rule” law in an attempt to block a new wastewater injection well. CELDF lured two other towns onto the same litigation rocks, where they’ve crashed–Grant Township in Indiana County and Highland Township in Elk County. Both towns were sued by the state Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) when they tried to block injection wells using the same home rule tactic (see 
Earlier this week the Ohio Supreme Court expanded on one of its prior rulings concerning the Ohio Marketable Title Act (MTA) to try and make things a little bit clearer concerning previously severed mineral rights (severed from surface rights). What is at stake in the MTA is whether surface rights owners can regain possession of mineral rights by using the MTA–at least in some cases. Indeed they can, but certain rules must be obeyed.
New Fortress Energy (NFE), the brainchild of billionaire Wes Edens, came out of nowhere just a few years ago to become one of the world’s leading natural gas infrastructure and logistics operators, delivering natural gas (typically LNG) to customers in a number of other countries. NFE also builds and operates gas-fired electric plants in some of those countries. They own most of the supply chain, from liquefying the gas to shipping it, unloading it, and using it in plants built and operated by the company. We track NFE for their plan to build an LNG liquefaction plant in Bradford County, PA (northeastern part of the state). What’s happening with that project?
Just at the time U.S. exports of LNG are once again ramping up, along comes a “bipartisan” group of legislators proposing a bill to require some LNG exports (as well as some petroleum exports) to be transported from our shores on U.S.-built and U.S.-flagged LNG carriers. The problem is, none currently exist! This is yet another massive screwup coming from some who mean well, and some who don’t. Some of the people backing the bill, like hapless Sen. Bob Casey (from Pennsylvania) likely don’t know this bill will destroy exports of Marcellus/Utica molecules. He’s just too dull to comprehend it. But others, we suspect, know exactly what this bill would do.
Gulfport Energy continues to try and wiggle out of legally-signed and binding long-term contracts with multiple pipeline companies, including deals that move Marcellus/Utica gas through the Rover and Rockies Express (REX) pipelines. Last year the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) told Gulfport a very loud NO in breaking those contracts (see 
Pennsylvania State Senator Gene Yaw is on fire! His verbal barbs concerning energy production keep coming–and they’re aimed at the right people for the right reasons. Last week the Senate committee Yaw chairs, the Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee, held hearings to consider the new 2021/22 budget request from the PA Dept. of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR). As we told you last week, Yaw asked some pointed questions of DCNR Secretary Cindy Adams Dunn (see 
Last August the North Carolina Dept. of Environmental Quality (DEQ) rejected a water permit for Equitrans’ proposed Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) Southgate project (see 
The good news for Equitrans’ 303-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) is that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit last week overruled North Carolina’s Dept. of Environmental Quality in rejecting a water permit for the project (see today’s lead story). However, MVP wasn’t letting last year’s DEQ action slow it down. In January MVP reluctantly filed eminent domain lawsuits against 100 landowners who refuse to reasonably negotiate an easement for the pipeline.