La. State Court Tosses Building Permit for Commonwealth LNG
Commonwealth LNG is developing a 9.5 MTPA (million tonnes per annum) liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminal project located near Cameron, Louisiana. In September, Commonwealth announced it had signed a deal with EQT Corporation to provide 1.0 MTPA of LNG for EQT to resell (see EQT Signs Third Deal to *Buy* LNG – This One Commonwealth LNG). Commonwealth, in its press release, stated that with the EQT deal, it now has sufficient commitments (5.0 out of 9.5 MTPA) to proceed with a final investment decision (FID), which it plans to make by the end of this year. However, a Louisiana state court has just vacated (overturned) a coastal-use permit for the project in response to a lawsuit brought by the odious Sierra Club. Read More “La. State Court Tosses Building Permit for Commonwealth LNG”
Don’t say we didn’t warn them, because we did. Chevron is complaining that Venture Global is behaving like Venture Global—screwing over its contracted customers so it can make billions by selling LNG to uncontracted customers while pretending its LNG export facility isn’t commercially ready. We have to ask, what the heck did Chevron *think* would happen? Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice… 
After gaining rigs for four weeks in a row, the Baker Hughes U.S. national rig count stayed even two weeks ago, neither gaining nor (more importantly) losing any rigs (see 
The highly functional and responsible Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC), unlike its highly dysfunctional and irresponsible counterpart, the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC), continues to support the shale energy industry by approving water withdrawals and consumptive use requests for responsible and safe shale drilling. The SRBC published a notice in the October 11 Pennsylvania Bulletin that the commission voted to approve 11 water withdrawal requests related to shale gas development and two for gas-fired power plants. 
Infinity Natural Resources (INR), headquartered in Morgantown, WV, focuses 100% on the Marcellus/Utica. The company went public earlier this year with a $265 million ($20/share) initial public offering, giving INR a $1.18 billion market capitalization (see 
Fox Tank Company is one of the leading oil storage tank manufacturers in Texas, serving the growing oil field production needs of the Eagle Ford Shale, Permian Basin, and Bakken Shale areas. Chip Rogers, president of Fox Tank, traveled to Coshocton, OH, for an equipment auction at the former Crozier Welding in March. He liked what he saw and decided to stay. Fox is interested in servicing the Marcellus/Utica region. The company leased the former Crozier Welding site in June after being welcomed “with open arms” by local officials.
Radical environmentalists once again have their knickers in a twist. When don’t they? In August, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) reissued a certificate for the Northeast Supply Enhancement (NESE) project, a billion-dollar-plus project designed to increase Transco pipeline capacity and flows of Marcellus gas heading into New York City and other northeastern markets by an extra 400 MMcf/d (see 
Governor Josh Shapiro’s Streamlining Permits for Economic Expansion and Development (SPEED) program, launched in August 2024, aimed to expedite Pennsylvania’s permitting process (see 
We’ve been critical of the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a tax on carbon dioxide assessed on power-generating plants in the northeastern U.S., since Pennsylvania’s then-Governor, Tom Wolf, unilaterally tried to force his state into the plan in 2019 via Executive Order (see 
In September, a blaming and bullying “summit” was convened by one of the biggest bullies on the political scene today, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, to complain about high electricity prices in the PJM Interconnection grid (see 
One of the environmental left’s favorite tactics to defeat fossil fuel projects is to challenge every single infrastructure project (pipeline or otherwise) connected to fossil energy at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). As soon as a company files an application to build a new project, and FERC approves it, Big Green will challenge it, first at FERC, and eventually via the courts. FERC has an internal rule, called Order No. 871, that states a company cannot begin construction (even though FERC has approved the certificate) until all such legal challenges are resolved, which can take YEARS. Which is the point—delay, and eventually, some of the projects will give up and won’t build. Run out the clock. Two days ago, FERC issued a new rule eliminating Order No. 871 rule, meaning construction can now begin months and years sooner, even while appeals continue. The enviro-left just lost one of its most potent weapons. 
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) issued its latest monthly Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO) yesterday. The STEO is the agency’s monthly best guess about where energy prices and production will head in the next 12 months. In this latest assessment, EIA dropped its estimates for the Henry Hub spot price for 2025, again, as it has for months. The agency expects the HH spot price to average $3.40 per million British thermal units (MMBtu) in 2025, $0.10 lower than last month’s forecast (and $0.30 below the prediction from three months ago). EIA also dropped its 2026 forecast, quite radically, lowering it by $0.40 to $3.90/MMBtu. Hence, our suspicion that sometimes the data crunchers haul out the breakroom dartboard to help with forecasts. 
PJM Interconnection, the U.S.’s largest regional transmission operator, has proposed an Expedited Interconnection Track (EIT) to let large power generation projects over 500 MW bypass the grid’s traditional interconnection queue. Open to any fuel type, the EIT requires projects to be state-sponsored, seek Capacity Interconnection Rights, and achieve operational readiness within three years. Any fuel type that can meet those criteria, including natural gas, nuclear, renewables, and even battery storage, will qualify for the program. However, the reality is that natural gas is the most likely source to be built and brought online. 
Commonwealth LNG is developing a 9.5 MTPA (million tonnes per annum) liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminal project located near Cameron, Louisiana. In September, Commonwealth announced it had signed a deal with EQT Corporation to provide 1.0 MTPA of LNG for EQT to resell (see