Enviro Radicals Ask 4th Circus Clowns to Toss MVP Va. Water Permit
The clown judges who occupy the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit (4th Circus) appear ready to reject a water permit granted by the Virginia State Water Control Board to help finish up the 94% complete Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP). Three judges from the 4th Circus were appointed back in 2017 to hear appeals by Big Green groups against the project. All three judges are profoundly bigoted and prejudiced against natural gas pipeline projects. Yesterday, the three clowns heard oral arguments from the foreign-backed Sierra Club (and its cronies) arguing the Control Board’s approval of a permit to cross streams and wetlands violates the federal Clean Water Act.
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On January 18, 2022, Eastern Shore Natural Gas Company (ESNG, a subsidiary of Chesapeake Utilities Corporation) filed an application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to construct and operate a new natural gas-fired compressor unit and ancillary facilities at its existing Bridgeville Compressor Station in Sussex County, Delaware (called the Southern Expansion Project). Right away, the odious radicals of Food and Water Watch filed an official protest. It took nearly a year, but (as we’re just learning now) on Dec. 16, FERC issued full approval for the project. The new compressor unit will flow an extra 7.3 MMcf/d (million cubic feet per day) of natural gas to new residential, commercial, and industrial customers along the Delmarva Peninsula.
On January 18, every single Republican member of the Pennsylvania State Senate signed (and sent) a joint letter to newly-minted Gov. Josh Shapiro urging him to take steps “immediately” to undo PA’s entrance into the insane Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) carbon tax, a plan forced on the state by Shapiro’s wacky predecessor Tom Wolf. During the campaign, Shapiro prevaricated on whether or not he would pull PA’s plan to enter RGGI.
Joe Manchin, the rather pathetic, has-been U.S. Senator from West Virginia, is sitting his bum in Davos, Switzerland, wining and dining and hobnobbing with leftist elites from around the world at the World Economic Forum. Manchin, you might recall, sold out the United States by voting for the Green New Deal, renamed to Build Back Better, and further renamed to the Inflation Reduction Act (see 
Earlier this month, radical Bidenistas at the EPA announced they have rewritten a rule aimed at regulating all waters in the U.S., putting power over just about everything (including oil and gas drilling) into the federal government’s hands via WOTUS, or Waters of the United States (see 
Alan Armstrong, the CEO of pipeline giant Williams (which has MAJOR pipeline assets in the Marcellus/Utica), delivered a talk yesterday in the company’s hometown of Tulsa, Oklahoma, to a group at the University of Tulsa. Summarizing his talk, Armstrong said we can have lower emissions right now. The way to do it is with natural gas. The problem is, of course, nobody can get a new pipeline for natural gas permitted anymore. The government, and lawsuits, are blocking new pipeline projects. The system of permitting needs to get “straightened out” according to Armstrong. Put another way, the system is BROKEN.
Newly enthroned Governor of Pennsylvania, Josh Shapiro, has done a good job of crafting his image as that of a moderate. At least on the issue of energy. He supposedly has voiced support for natural gas production and an “all-of-the-above” energy policy. Members of the natural gas industry in the state are mouthing their own platitudes of willingness to “work with the new governor” on energy issues–to find “common ground.” But right now, just a day after he took office, everyone is waiting and watching to see what he actually does. Will Shapiro tackle important issues like permitting delays and regulatory roadblocks? Or will he revert to his Attorney General days of attacking the industry? We know which one we think he’ll do.
The policies of politicians like New York Gov. Kathy Hochul have real-world consequences. Even if those policies never actually get implemented. Last week, the intellectually-challenged Hochul proposed banning the sale of all new natural gas appliances across the state, and indeed ban hooking up new homes and businesses to gas, by 2030 (see 
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 
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 