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PA AG Goes Wild, Charges Seneca with 100 Criminal Violations
Pennsylvania’s Attorney General, Dave Sunday, pretends to be a Republican, but he’s really a Democrat. He’s also anti-shale, as evidenced by a wild attack against Seneca Resources launched on Friday. Sunday’s office filed three separate criminal complaints against Seneca, charging the company with 64 counts of criminal violations of the Solid Waste Management Act and 36 counts of criminal violations of the Clean Streams Law. Sunday, like his left-wing predecessors, is turning what should be regulatory enforcement actions into crimes. No wonder some drillers are saying “screw you” to Pennsylvania and moving their drilling operations to West Virginia and Ohio. Read More “PA AG Goes Wild, Charges Seneca with 100 Criminal Violations”
On October 22, Coterra Energy reported a well control incident during fracking the 12H well on the Lauer pad in Susquehanna County to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). A loss of control resulted in the high-pressure release of an unknown quantity of fracking and production fluids, along with natural gas, causing the fluid to “spray” on and off the well pad. Coterra, which was fracking five wells simultaneously, called in Cudd Well Control Services and did not regain control until 49 hours later on October 24, after installing a second bridge plug. 
Capital & Main is a left-leaning news outlet based in California. Capital & Main is about as left as left gets, yet pretends to be a legit news outfit [uncontrolled laughing]. Capital & Main has repeatedly targeted CNX Resources to smear the company and its Radical Transparency initiative. In September, we brought you Capital & Main’s latest hit piece alleging CNX’s operations are polluting and causing ill health for those who live nearby. The article also said CNX’s drilling program is anything but transparent (see 
In April, MDN told you about a new greenfield expansion of Kinder Morgan’s Elba Express pipeline into South Carolina to serve growing demand for natural gas in the state (see 
Last week, the Baker Hughes U.S. national rig count lost rigs after adding rigs for two consecutive prior weeks. The national count dropped four from 550 to 546. Baker Hughes said last week’s decline puts the total rig count down 39 rigs, or 7% below the same time last year. Rigs in the Marcellus/Utica remained the same last week at a combined 37 rigs, the same number for five weeks in a row. Pennsylvania remained unchanged at 17 active rigs. Ohio was the same at 13 rigs. And West Virginia maintained its 7 rigs, which it has operated since May 30. There were 23 rigs targeting the Marcellus and 14 targeting the Utica. 
On August 17, Eureka Resources’ Williamsport Second Street facility (one of the three plants previously operated by Eureka) leaked some of its stored untreated wastewater, which ended up in the nearby Susquehanna River via a storm drain (see 
DT Midstream (DTM), headquartered in Detroit, owns significant assets in the Marcellus/Utica region, as well as in other regions, including the Haynesville. The company recently issued its third quarter report with some interesting updates. Among the pipeline projects discussed during the update were Vector, Midwestern Gas Transmission, Millennium, and NEXUS. It was chatter about NEXUS and the AI data center market that caught our interest. 
Cayuga Station, owned by Duke Energy, is a three-unit coal-fired power plant built between 1970 and 1993 in Vermillion County, Indiana. The existing plant produces up to 1,040 megawatts (MW) of electricity. Earlier this year, Duke filed a request with the Indiana Utility Regulatory Commission (IURC) for permission to build two new gas-fired units at the Cayuga site to replace the coal-fired units (see 
Yesterday, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine and JobsOhio (a private nonprofit economic development corporation) launched the $100 million JobsOhio Energy Opportunity Initiative, a five-year fund to bolster economic development through energy production. The initiative will provide grants and low-interest loans to qualifying companies to offset costs related to natural gas, power generation, and nuclear power, specifically Small Modular Reactors (SMRs). 
The Northeast Supply Enhancement Project (NESE), part of the mighty Transco pipeline system, is alive once again. A decade after Williams Cos. first proposed the $1-billion-plus natural gas pipeline and a year after the company scrapped it, the 400 MMcf/d capacity expansion for New York City and Long Island has been revived. This revival, primarily attributed to a shift in Washington’s political climate, resulted in a new FERC approval. Now, state regulators in New York and New Jersey are deliberating on the necessary water-quality permits. Once both NY and NJ issue those permits, it will be (more or less) smooth sailing to the construction and completion of the project. 
Representatives from Clean Air Council, Earthworks, Environmental Health Project, Environmental Integrity Project (EIP), and Protect PT, some of the worst of the worst radical “green” groups in the Keystone State, rallied at the Pennsylvania State Capitol yesterday to demand (they always demand) that Pennsylvania’s Environmental Quality Board (EQB) accept their petition to consider drafting a new setback regulation in the state that would effectively ban all new shale drilling. 
LNG exports continue to be an exceptional (and very hungry) customer for domestic U.S. natural gas. Over the past week, feedgas flowing to LNG facilities set a new all-time high record. We achieved a new record of 17.4 Bcf/d (billion cubic feet per day) of feedgas for LNG last Sunday, surpassing the previous record set the day before at 17.3 Bcf/d. Another record, the monthly average, is also set to fall. April 2025 is the current reigning champ for average LNG feedgas use at 16.0 Bcf/d. October is on track to surpass it, averaging 16.6 Bcf/d as of October 27 (with just a few days left in the month). 
U.S. Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas), along with Senators Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.) and Shelley Moore Capito (R-W. Va.), introduced the Natural Gas Export Expansion Act to significantly streamline the federal approval process for exporting liquefied natural gas (LNG). The legislation aims to expedite non-free trade agreement (FTA) export permits by treating them the same as FTA countries, ensuring faster approval. According to Senator Cruz, the bill will enhance American energy dominance, create jobs, and drive investment by ensuring Texas-produced gas can be sent to allies globally. 
The current king of U.S. data centers is Virginia. As we wrote about earlier this month, Pennsylvania has the opportunity to grab that title away from Virginia, IF PA doesn’t screw it up (see