PJM Threatens Gas-Fired Power Plants with $2B in Fines re Cold Snap
PJM is the largest electric grid operator in the U.S. It serves 65 million people in 13 states plus the District of Columbia (including PA, OH, and WV). PJM is coming under criticism for an almost-blackout during the recent Christmas cold snap. If not for certain gas-fired peaker plants, like that in the Little Town of Bethlehem, the lights would have gone out during a brutal cold snap (see Bethlehem Marcellus-Fired Power Plant Kept PA Lights on During Xmas). Some 23% of the electricity supplied to PJM was not available during the cold snap due to equipment failures and lack of supply (including natural gas frozen off at well pads). So PJM is “investigating” and threatening to assess up to $2 billion in fines on power producers who failed to supply electricity according to their contracts.
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Last week the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) finally approved the Williams Regional Energy Access Expansion (REAE) project, an upgrade to the Transco pipeline in Pennsylvania and New Jersey to deliver an extra 829 MMcf/d of Marcellus gas to PA, NJ, and Maryland (see 
In March 2019, MDN told you about a new Williams plan to beef up the Transco pipeline in Pennsylvania and New Jersey to deliver an extra 829 MMcf/d of Marcellus gas to PA, NJ, and Maryland (see 
On Wednesday, the American Petroleum Institute (API) held an event in Washington, D.C., to unveil (and talk about) the organization’s 2023 plan for Congress that will “Make, Move and Improve American Energy.” Several members of Congress spoke along with API CEO Mike Sommers. One of the big topics of discussion at the event is the need for pipeline permitting reform, NOW, in this Congress. The API report (full copy below) says there is enough demand to send another 4.6 Bcf/d (billion cubic feet per day) of natural gas into northeastern markets–and we could and would have been doing just that if not for canceled pipeline projects due to lawsuits, delays, and government opposition.
Pennsylvania General Energy (PGE) is constructing a natural gas pipeline, a freshwater pipeline, and facilities to withdraw fresh water at a site along the Loyalsock Creek, north of Montoursville in Lycoming County, PA. The company’s work resulted in a sediment plume that appeared in Loyalsock Creek for several miles downstream of the construction site, caused by the failure of erosion and sediment controls following a heavy rainstorm. The state Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) issued notices of violation (NOVs) on three separate occasions from September to November (see 
Earlier this week, we reported that the hard-left Bidenistas who control the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) are floating a trial balloon that they want to ban natural gas stoves, forcing you (if you have one) to replace it with an electric stove at a cost of around $1,400 (see 
The Upper Delaware Council (UDC) hosted a public presentation titled “Water Resource and Environmental Considerations with Shale Gas Development in the Appalachian Basin” last week at the Upper Delaware Council office in Narrowsburg, NY. The program was delivered virtually by Dr. David Yoxtheimer, Ph.D., P.G., assistant research professor and Extension associate with the Marcellus Center for Outreach and Research at Penn State University. Yoxtheimer did a great job of laying out the facts of Marcellus drilling–both the good and the not-so-good, with an eye on how to mitigate the risks.
Gov. Kathy Hochul is proposing to make New York the first state in the U.S. to ban natural gas heating and appliances in new buildings as a way to fight mythical man-made global warming. During her state-of-the-state address on Tuesday, Hochul proposed to ban the use of fossil fuels for heating and appliances (stoves) in homes by 2025, and a ban for businesses and larger structures (like apartment buildings) by 2028. New York would also prohibit the sale of any new fossil-fuel heating systems starting in 2030. Yes, she has certifiably lost her mind.
Residents living in the vicinity of Energy Transfer’s Revolution Pipeline cryogenic plant in Bulger (Washington County), PA, got a nasty “present” on Christmas morning. Around 7:30 am, residents report hearing an explosion, followed by a fire, at the plant used to separate NGLs (natural gas liquids, including ethane, propane, and butane) from the raw gas stream that flows through the Revolution gathering pipeline (see 
Natural gas stoves are used in roughly 40% of households in the United States. The hard-left Bidenistas who control the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission are floating a trial balloon that they want to ban them all, forcing you (if you have one) to replace it with an electric stove. The stated reason for forcing a change is that gas stoves supposedly emit cancer-causing, and asthma-causing, chemicals. The Bidenistas are attempting to use fear as a weapon to convince people to go along with this tyranny. Don’t let them.
The Barack Hussein Obama administration went crazy with over-regulation in many areas. One of them was to redefine “waters of the United States” (or WOTUS) as everything down to, no exaggeration, mud puddles (see 
We love this story because it’s driving the left NUTS! In December, we told you about Ohio House Bill (HB) 507 (subsequently passed), a bill that expands drilling in Ohio state parks AND officially designates natural gas as a “green” form of energy (see 
As we told you last week, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has a new “acting” Chairman, Willie Phillips (see