Philly Refinery to Close Following Massive Fire – 1,020 Jobs Lost
Philadelphia Energy Solutions (PES), which operates the East Coast’s largest refinery on the banks of the Delaware River, was already wobbling because of onerous federal regulations that require refiners to blend in biofuel with gasoline and diesel, or purchase very expensive credits. PES can’t blend, so they must buy the credits, which put them under water financially, forcing them into bankruptcy last year (see Philadelphia Refinery Files for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy). Following a series of explosions and a massive fire last week (see Massive Explosion, Fire at Philadelphia Refinery), PES has announced it will be closing down over the next two weeks, throwing 1,020 people out of work.
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In February MDN told you that Dominion Energy planned to appeal a decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit blocking an important permit for Atlantic Coast Pipeline to drill under the Appalachian Trail directly to the U.S. Supreme Court (see 
Global warming fundamentalists (our new term for radical environmentalists who irrationally hate all fossil fuels) are ramping up to oppose a plan to prevent a now-closed coal-fired electric power plant in Baltimore from reopening powered by natural gas. Because you know, global warming. And because we MUST dump the use of all fossil fuels by 2050 (the new “it” date) or earth will explode. This plant would have a useful life much longer than 2050. Can’t have that.
The Manhattan Institute, a leading free-market think tank based in the Big Apple, has just published a new report (full copy below) that shows by blocking new natural gas pipeline projects, NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo is actually causing MORE harm to the environment. How? Blocking natural gas means building owners and power producers will continue to rely on oil, which emits 27% more carbon dioxide than natural gas. The report also shows lack of pipelines is forcing energy prices in the northeast to rocket skyward, which in some cases already exceed the national average by more than 90%.
We caught a helpful update on PennEnergy Resources from a report on last week’s Hart Energy DUG East Conference in Pittsburgh. PennEnergy CEO Richard Weber told the DUG audience that his company is currently producing an average half a billion cubic feet of natural gas per day, with plans to increase that by 10% this year. One thing holding the company back is the ongoing outage of Energy Transfer’s Revolution Pipeline gathering system.
Nobody seems to have noticed, or if they did notice they’re not reporting, what we consider big news: Yesterday the Pennsylvania State Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee “reported out” (i.e. approved) Senate Bill (SB) 694, the Senate version of House Bill (HB) 247, a bill which allows fully leased parcels that are part of one drilling “unit” to be combined with parcels in a different unit–“cross unit drilling.”
The Falcon ethane pipeline being built by Shell in western Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio is unique in many ways. Falcon is a 97-mile, two-legged pipeline system to carry ethane to the mighty Shell cracker plant now under construction in Beaver County, PA (near Pittsburgh). We spotted an article about the pipeline and its construction. According to a local conservation office in Beaver County, pipeline construction “hasn’t even affected us [wildlife] a bit,” thanks to careful planning by Shell. A pipeline everybody loves? Is that even possible?!
In May, MDN told you that U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia rejected an appeal by the rich snobs from Cooperstown who call themselves Otsego 2000, challenging the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) approval of Dominion Energy’s New Market Project to build two new compressor stations in Upstate NY (see 
In 2016 WGL Midstream became an investor/joint venture partner in the Stonewall Gathering System, a system which gathers Antero Resources’ natural gas from several West Virginia counties (see 
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