PA DEP Allows Coterra (Cabot O&G) to Resume Drilling in Dimock
For all of you Paul Harvey fans (God rest his soul), this is, “The Rest of the Story.” Two weeks ago, Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro, about to become Governor on Jan. 1 (a bona fide tragedy), made a big splash by announcing he had finally bullied Coterra Energy, the former Cabot Oil & Gas, into taking a plea deal in the infamous Dimock, PA case of methane migration into a few water wells (see PA AG Shapiro Dismisses 14 Felony Charges Against Coterra re Dimock). Coterra plead “no contest” (i.e., did NOT admit to any guilt) to a misdemeanor charge, while 14 felony charges were completely dismissed. It was a humiliating defeat for Shapiro. But that’s not even the best part! The best part, revealed yesterday in an Associate Press article, is that Coterra/Cabot, which has not been allowed to drill on its own leased land within a nine-square-mile box in Dimock, is now allowed to resume drilling there! We call it a TOTAL VICTORY for Coterra.
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On Friday, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) will hold its last meeting of 2022. It appears it will be the very last meeting for FERC Chairman Richard “Dick” Glick, who has been blocked from receiving a reappointment hearing by WV Sen. Joe Manchin. Without a hearing, Glick will be forced to step down after this year. Blocking Glick is about the only thing Manchin has done right this year. At any rate, at Friday’s meeting, the five (soon to be four) FERC commissioners will vote on a variety of issues. Two of the issues (projects) are vital to the Marcellus/Utica: a new certificate for the Spire STL Pipeline to continue operating, and a certificate to allow the Williams Transco Regional Energy Access Expansion project to proceed.
Late last week, the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) slapped Equitrans with three orders related to the Rager Mountain Gas Storage Reservoir in Cambria County, PA. The George L Reade 1 storage well located in the Rager Storage Reservoir vented natural gas uncontrolled into the atmosphere from Sunday, November 6, 2022, until the evening of Saturday, November 19, 2022, when it was plugged. The DEP has been onsite during the entire event (and since). An investigation by the DEP has found all but one of the 12 storage wells at the Rager field are leaking methane to one degree or another. The DEP has closed down all injections into the field, although withdrawals from the field (in order to prevent customers from going without) have continued.
In March, MDN told you that the Deputy Chief Administrative Law Judge of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) issued a ruling against the now completed Mariner East 2 pipeline project, assessing a $51,000 fine on the project for work done near an apartment complex (see 
Two days ago, MDN told you about Ohio House Bill (HB) 507, a “poultry” bill that (at the last minute) was amended by the Ohio Senate to redesignate natural gas as a “green” energy source and also a measure expanding drilling on and under state-owned land (see 
Perhaps like us, you didn’t pay much attention to the Georgia Senate runoff race. Since the Democrats already have cackling Kamala if they need her, the Dems control the Senate by default 50-50 (Kamala used to break ties). So whether Raphael Warnock (the leftist kook Democrat) won, which he did, or Herschel Walker (former football star and Republican) won, it didn’t really matter, right? Wrong. Just that one extra vote, 51-49, has given much more power to the Democrat anti-fossil fuelers that run the Senate (i.e. Chuck Schumer), than we could have imagined. For example: Warnock’s win all but ensures Dick Glick will get reappointed to FERC early next year–a profoundly sad outcome.
Once again, a permitting reform bill floated by U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (from West Virginia) with a provision to complete the 94% completed 303-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) has flamed out. Manchin made a deal with the devil–his own Democrat Party–to vote for the misnamed and terrible Inflation Reduction Act (a warmed-over version of the Green New Deal) in return for HIS party’s support to pass a so-called permitting reform bill that would, among other things, allow MVP to finish up without court interference (see 
Is Vanguard the next BlackRock–i.e, a pariah due to its extreme anti-fossil energy positions? YES. The Attorneys General from 13 states, including Ohio and West Virginia, have filed a protest with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) seeking to block Vanguard, a MAJOR investor (with $7.2 trillion of assets under management, second largest after BlackRock with $10 trillion) from buying stocks in electric utility companies. Why? Because Vanguard, like BlackRock, is trying to force the companies it invests in to abandon the use of fossil energy. If you own Vanguard investments–it’s time to dump them. Let’s hit them where it counts–in the pocketbook.
We’re encouraged to see the American Petroleum Institute (API) finally find its voice and begin to push back against the lunatics in the Biden administration. Recently, the API refused to support the reappointment of FERC Chairman Richard Glick (see 
Yesterday MDN brought you the news that as of Friday, a new regulation controlling volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions, and by extension methane emissions, for Pennsylvania’s conventional oil and gas drillers went into effect (see 
And just like that, the horse everyone thought was dead has come back to life and is leading the race. We’re talking about U.S. Senator Joe Manchin’s so-called permitting reform bill to help save the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP). The bill proposed by Manchin would bypass the clown judges on the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals who are blocking it. Manchin got a pledge from his buddy Chuck Schumer to allow a vote on permitting reform in return for Manchin selling out the country by voting to pass the misnamed Inflation Reduction Act (see 
Three weeks ago, one of the ten natural gas storage wells at the Equitrans Rager Mountain Gas Storage Area in Jackson Township, Cambria County (in Pennsylvania) began to leak and ended up leaking roughly 100 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) of gas into the atmosphere (see