WV Update on China Investment: “Dirt Could be Flying This Year”
West Virginia State Commerce Secretary Woody Thrasher, the man who brokered an unbelievable deal with China, getting China to agree to spend a mind-blowing $83.7 BILLION in the Mountain State over the next 20 years, gave an update to WV legislators yesterday on the China deal. In early November Thrasher visited China as part of a trade delegation with President Trump. On that trip, China agreed to invest a total of $250 billion in American (mostly energy) projects, $83.7B of which (a full third!) will go to investments in WV (see China Agrees to Invest Amazing $83.7 BILLION in WV Shale, Petchem). One legislator at yesterday’s meeting wanted to know when the state might begin to see actual construction activity. Thrasher, who said he’s already made three visits to China and is leaving for his fourth visit this Saturday, said the Chinese have “a great sense of urgency” about beginning projects in the state, and that “the dirt could be flying this year.” Thrasher cautioned legislators that the state needs to up its regulatory and business game–to make the state more attractive to China and others who will flock to the region following a buildup of the shale/petrochemical industry. Thrasher also hinted that the Chinese may be willing to invest in the much-talked-about $10 billion NGL storage hub, the same project that recently received positive signs it will receive a loan guarantee from the federal government (see Appalachian NGL Storage Hub Gets Serious with DOE Loan Guarantee). Here’s Thrasher’s timely update to WV legislators…
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We now have confirmation from the Russians themselves that the natural gas shipment on its way to Boston we alerted you to a few days ago is, indeed, Russian gas from the Yamal LNG plant, located in the Russian Arctic (see 
Pennsylvania State Rep. Brian Ellis (Republican from Butler County) introduced House Bill (HB) 1960 on Jan. 5. The bill, known as the “State Agency Regulatory Compliance Officer Act,” would create a new Regulatory Compliance Officer position in each state agency, including the Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP). The new Compliance Officer would have the authority “to block an agency from imposing fines and penalties for violations and to rewrite the policies under which fines and penalties are imposed.” The aim of the bill is to force all PA state agencies (including the DEP) to work *with* the people and companies they regulate. It would create a different mindset–instead of “gotcha” enforcement of regulations, it’s aimed at making it easy to comply with regulations. The bill states this in its opening lines: “(1) It is the purpose of this act for agencies to work collaboratively with, instead of acting punitively towards, regulated communities. (2) Agencies should strive to make the regulations which the agencies administer and enforce as clear and easily navigable as possible for regulated communities. (3) In administering a regulation, an agency’s primary goal should be to ensure compliance rather than to exact punishment.” Those who love Big Government don’t like this bill. Will this bill go anywhere? Who knows! What the bill indicates to us is that at least some legislators (Republicans) in Harrisburg are listening and “get it.” What do they get? That PA has developed a reputation for burdensome regulations and if the state wants the Marcellus miracle to continue, and grow, things need to change at the DEP. A $83.7 billion investment by China in neighboring WV’s shale/petrochemical industries should be a bright, red slap across every PA legislator’s face. Wake up! If you don’t fix the DEP, quickly, you’ll lose PA’s Marcellus momentum to someone else…
Last week MDN reported the news that the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) has suspended all construction work on the Mariner East 2 Pipeline (ME2) project until further notice (see 
We don’t know how many times we have to keep ringing the bell–this is a five-alarm situation! Wake up! A group of Democrats elected to the Jessup, PA Borough Council (Scranton suburb) are actively trying to block the completion of the state’s largest natural gas-fired electric generating plant–the first phase of which will be ready to go online in a little over a month. A bunch of ninny nanny antis didn’t like that they couldn’t stop the project, so they used money and help from Big Green groups last November to launch successful campaigns to defeat incumbent Council members who voted to authorize the Lackawanna Energy Center to be built by Invenergy (see 
Pennsylvania legislators (Democrats and RINOs) who were banking on the federal government to “fix” the problem of the free market are panicking after the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission rejected DOE Sec. Rick Perry’s so-called Grid Resiliency Pricing Rule that would tip the scales in favor coal and nuclear energy, keeping unprofitable electric generators in business longer (see 
One of the loudest, most persistent arguments by Democrats (and RINOs) in Pennsylvania in favor of a severance tax is that the existing impact fee (actually, better called an impact “tax”) have decreased over time because of a decrease in the number of new wells drilled due to the downturn in the market. There are two gigantic problems with their argument: (1) the impact tax has turned around, and is rising again (see 
On September 29, U.S. Energy Secretary Rick Perry sent a letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) directing the agency to complete action on a “Grid Resiliency Pricing Rule”–ostensibly within 60 days. The proposed rule Perry proffered, sometimes referred to as the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR), would put in place regulations that favor electric generating plants powered by coal and nuclear. That is, it would allow unprofitable ventures to pass along new costs, making them profitable–in the name of protecting the electric grid. The theory Perry (and by extension President Trump) subscribe to is that if the free market drives out coal and nuke plants, the electric grid would be “vulnerable” to far fewer sources to power it. If coal and nukes are all but gone, and all of sudden there’s a natural gas shortage, or prices spike for natural gas, it would endanger the electric supply in this country. On one side of the argument are those who believe the free market sometimes needs a helping hand (via regulation), and on the other those who believe the free market will sort it all out and we are not vulnerable. The incoming/new chairman of FERC, Kevin McIntyre, asked for an extension so he and another new FERC member could take a little time to do a proper review (see 
In September, MDN told you that the obsequious members of the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) had slavishly obeyed their radical environmental masters by voting to move forward with a permanent ban on fracking in the Delaware River Basin (see 
In February 2015, Philadelphia-based economic consulting firm Econsult Solutions released a study looking the potential economic impact of the Mariner East 1 & 2 projects, concluding the two project together would result in $4.2 billion coming to Pennsylvania (see 
One of the companies in the Marcellus industry targeted for extinction by Pennsylvania’s former Attorney General, Kathleen Kane, was Minuteman Environmental Services (see 
Last week we noticed the large merger/acquisition by Dominion Energy in buying South Carolina-based SCANA Corporation. We didn’t think much of it at the time. SCANA is an energy-based holding company principally engaged, through subsidiaries, in electric and natural gas utility operations and other energy-related businesses. In other words, the local electric and gas company for much of South Carolina. Dominion is a big company with many operations–they are a pipeline company, an electric generating company, and a utility company (like SCANA). The merger makes sense–Dominion gets to grow and add more customers to its utility business. We didn’t think there was a tie-in with the Marcellus/Utica region, which is why we haven’t (until now) brought you the news about Dominion’s $7.9 billion all-stock purchase of SCANA. However, there is a big potential connection to the Marcellus/Utica. You may recall we brought you news in early December that Dominion and their partner in the Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP) project Duke Energy are considering expanding the original ACP to more locations in North Carolina, AND expanding the pipeline into South Carolina (see 
Last May, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced plans to construct a new “state-of-the-art, locally-sourced mini-power grid” that will connect to the statewide electric grid but will also be able to operate independently, to power the Empire State Plaza in Albany–a complex of buildings in downtown Albany housing much of New York State government (see 
In December, the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) released “interim final technical guidance” (i.e., new regulations) for drilling Marcellus Shale natural gas wells in areas where there is longwall coal mining. Sometimes drillers want to lease and drill under coal mines. Since coal mines sink large holes in the ground, there are existing guidelines in place for how closely an oil/gas well can be drilled on or under a coal mine–guidelines put in place in 1957. As a result of legislation passed in 2011 called Act 2, a review was conducted to see if the standards for oil/gas drilling near coal mines might be modified, allowing such drilling to happen in conditions not currently allowed. A study was performed and in January 2017 the DEP rejected that study–preferring to keep a default ban on any drilling under coal mines for the time being (see 
Tom Linzey, the attorney who founded and runs the Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF), has just been sanctioned by Federal Judge Susan Paradise Baxter and ordered to pay $52,000 to Pennsylvania General Energy (PGE) for his “bad faith” in continuing to press legal arguments on behalf of Grant Township (Indiana County, PA)–legal arguments that say the people of Grant have rights they actually don’t have. Linzey has continued to claim rights for the citizens of Grant that have no legal basis and have been discredited in court. Not only that, but Judge Baxter also referred the matter to the Disciplinary Board of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court with a request that they review Linzey’s actions with an eye to imposing more punishments against him. We’ve previously reported on the story of two Pennsylvania towns that were either hoodwinked, or perhaps willing led astray, by the radical CELDF into passing (now overturned) bans on fracking and injection wells in their towns–Highland Twp (Elk County) and Grant Twp (Indiana County). The two townships thought they would do an end-run around the state’s authority to issue permits for two injection wells–one in each township, by re-incorporating under so-called home rule charters. The towns essentially declared themselves independent of the state for a variety of matters, including oil and gas permits, which PA state law clearly says is a function of ONLY the state Dept. of Environmental Protection. In March, the DEP issued final permits for the injection wells AND sued each town to get those portions of their home rule charters, dealing with oil and gas, overturned (see