Philadelphia Gas Works Explores Ways to Commit Suicide
It honestly is one of the most bizarre things we’ve ever seen. The largest publicly-owned natural gas utility in the country, Philadelphia Gas Works, is actually looking at and considering the best ways it can kill itself. The implications are many. First and foremost it’s completely racist, as ending the sale of natural gas so will skyrocket the utility bills of its 500,000 customers, who are primarily people of color (44% African American, 14% Latino, 7% Asian = 65% in total). There is no way a majority of Philly residents can afford to wholesale replace their stoves and furnaces at a cost of tens of thousands of dollars. Yet there’s no mention of racism in reporting on this bizarre issue.
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The Massachusetts Municipal Wholesale Electric Company (MMWEC) has paused plans (30 days minimum) to build a much-needed natural gas “peaker” power plant in Peabody, MA. Why? “To address concerns raised by local residents and advocacy groups.” In other words, a small number of crazies are out in force, bullying a tiny power plant that will only operate during peak demand–somewhere around 10 days out of the whole year!
Ellen Wald is a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s Global Energy Center, and president of Transversal Consulting, a global energy and geopolitics consultancy. She is the author of “Saudi, Inc.,” a history of Aramco and how the Saudi royal family controls this multitrillion-dollar enterprise. Ellen is one of our favorite Forbes authors. She recently published a fantastic editorial in The Hill (rag targeting DC swamp dwellers). Wald writes that President Biden’s plan that commits the U.S. to reduce its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions over the next eight years to about 50 percent of what they were in 2005 is “impossible, unrealistic and insufficient.”
Once again the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) is falling down on the job. For years we’ve covered the news that DEP delays in issuing simple permits for erosion and sediment control are taking far longer–months longer–than they should. A Chapter 102 Erosion and Sedimentation permit is supposed to take 14 days to review and issue. In the Southwest DEP office, it’s taking an average of five months! Enough is enough. It’s time to pass legislation (one of three bills) now working its way through the PA House and Senate that allows private, third-party engineers to review and approve permits since the DEP (under Sec. Pat McDonnell) is incapable of doing its job.
Back in 2018 MDN analyzed the economic impact from just one driller (Cabot Oil & Gas) in one county (Susquehanna County, PA) and discovered Cabot had put $1.5 billion into the pockets of private landowners through signing bonuses and royalties, and had spent another $3.5 billion on drilling (over $5 billion total spent) over a 10-year period–all in Susquehanna County (see 
In July 2020, PA Gov. Tom Wolf signed into law House Bill (HB) 732, a bill that grants tax breaks to companies willing to build brand new petrochemical plants in the Keystone State–plants that use huge quantities of Marcellus Shale gas (see 
Summit Midstream Partners, formed in 2009 and headquartered in The Woodlands, Texas, operates natural gas, crude oil, and produced water gathering (pipeline) systems in several unconventional shale plays, including the Marcellus and Utica. Last week Summit issued its first-quarter 2021 update. The company’s Utica Shale segment continued to be the star performer.
Yesterday MDN reported comments by Energy Transfer (ET) that the company plans to finally (after years of delays) complete the final pieces of the Mariner East 2 pipeline project by the third quarter of this year (see 
Of course, there was big news to report on Friday, the day MDN took off as a brief vacation day (the graduation ceremony was great!). The big news from last Thursday afternoon and Friday was (a) EQT’s first quarter update, and (b) EQT announced it has cut a deal to buy the northeastern Pennsylvania Marcellus assets of Alta Resources for a whopping $2.9 billion–pretty close to the asking price (see 
There are still a few select pipeline projects under construction in the Marcellus/Utica, even during the anti-fossil fuel Joe Biden regime. One such project of keen interest for us is the Mariner East 2 (ME2) NGL pipeline that runs from eastern Ohio through Pennsylvania to the Marcus Hook refinery near Philadelphia. The builder and owner of ME2 project, Energy Transfer, issued its quarterly update last week. As part of that update we found a reference from top management that ME2 will be completely finished (“done done”) sometime in the third quarter of this year.
Anti-fossil fuel activist Jill Antares Hunkler (whom we had never heard of before) testified before the same House Committee on Oversight and Reform’s environment subcommittee that Swedish special needs child (and minor celebrity) Greta Thunberg testified before on Earth Day. The two (plus others) peddled the same tired lies they always peddle about fossil fuels in general, and the Ohio shale industry in particular. A member of the Ohio O&G industry is standing up to challenge their lies.
The Enverus rig count added another 7 rigs for the week ending May 5 to hit a new post-pandemic high of 545 active rigs. Oil-focused rigs climbed by 10 to 417, leaving them just two rigs shy of 12-month highs seen in early April. The number of active gas-focused rigs fell back three to 128 (after hitting a 13-month high for the previous week). Both the Marcellus and the Utica maintained their numbers for the week (no change), ending the week at 36 for the Marcellus and 13 for the Utica.