Departing PA DEP Attacks Conventional O&G in So-Called Report
Last July, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf, controlled by the extreme left in the Democrat Party, allowed PA House Bill (HB) 2644 to become law without his signature (see New PA Act 96 Helps Boost Plugging Orphan Wells – Left Goes Nuts). Wolf took a big hit from those in his own party following his inaction on 2644. He tried to make up for it by publishing a notice in the Pennsylvania Bulletin to justify his action of allowing 2644 to become law (now called Act 96) by instructing the Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) to conduct a comprehensive review of conventional oil and gas driller compliance (see PA Gov. Wolf Instructs DEP to Draft New Regs Following Act 96). The DEP issued its report on Dec. 29th (it was due on Sept. 1), just as the upper echelon of the DEP is heading for the door to make way for Shapiro’s crazy squad to take over. The report the DEP issued was essentially a hit piece against the conventional oil and gas industry in the state.
1/5/23 UPDATE: See below for a comment added by PIOGA.
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Kevin Sunday, director of government affairs with the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry, recently published an op-ed in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette pointing out how the mighty Shell ethane cracker plant in Beaver County, PA, is the result of business and government (bipartisan government) working together. He makes the case that we need more of this type of thing, especially with many new faces coming to Harrisburg in January. We frankly wonder if hoping for bipartisan cooperation on fossil energy projects in the current political climate is just spitting in the wind.
Unlike the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC), which gets the creepy crawlies at the mere mention of the word “fracking,” the Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC) has been dealing with fracking and water requests for use in fracking for more than a decade. Somehow the SRBC, a quasi-governmental agency (as is the DRBC), manages to allow fracking, and there are NO negative impacts on local water and NO negative impact on the Susquehanna River and its tributaries. Must be the people who run the SRBC are just more talented than those who run the DRBC.
You may want to consider moving out of New York State if you still live here. The state has collectively lost its mind. NY political leaders are so consumed with hatred of fossil fuels they are about to force its residents to pay an average of $28,000 to convert their homes away from heating and cooking with natural gas, propane, and fuel oil (see 
Earlier this week, MDN told you that the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) announced a consent order assessing a $600,000 fine against a trucking company that hauled drill cuttings from West Virginia to PA and dumped them (without a permit) at several sites owned by the trucking company (see 
Two weeks ago, the Bidenistas announced their latest “we hate fossil fuels” initiative–forcing all new or newly renovated federal buildings to use electricity for heat beginning in 2025. Here’s one of the dumbest statements ever uttered by a sitting Secretary of Energy: “Ridding pollution from our buildings and adopting clean electricity are some of the most cost-effective and future-oriented solutions we have to combat climate change.” Yeah, Jennifer Granholm called heating with natural gas and fuel oil “pollution.” That’s how nutty and wacky the left has become. The Bidenistas say this move to all-electric will save taxpayers millions of dollars. It will do the complete opposite.
Last week U.S. Senator Joe Manchin, from West Virginia, made another attempt to “shock” his permitting reform bill, a bill that would allow the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) to finish up more quickly, into life (see 
Last Thursday, residents who live near a natural gas compressor station in Brooke County, WV, asked WV Dept. of Environmental Protection (WVDEP) officials to address pollution and noise from the facility before recommending it for a permit from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The facility is owned by Appalachian Midstream Services, LLC, which we discovered (after a great amount of digging) is a subsidiary of Williams. Nearby residents from both WV and Pennsylvania (which is located a few hundred feet away) showed up to ask questions about, and point out problems with, the Mountaineer Compressor Station, which has been online since March 2021. The compressor is also located less than five miles from the border of Ohio (the northern Panhandle area of WV).
Here’s something you won’t read on any other news or blog site: Yesterday, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) failed to issue a final certificate to build and operate the Williams Transco Regional Energy Access Expansion project. The project is vital for delivering more Pennsylvania Marcellus gas to New Jersey and beyond. Williams CEO Alan Armstrong, in a strongly-worded letter to FERC Chairman Richard “Dick” Glick in November, warned the project is in jeopardy if it doesn’t get a certificate now, this year (see 
The Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) announced a consent order assessing a $600,000 fine against a trucking company that hauled drill cuttings from West Virginia and dumped them (without a permit) at several sites owned by the trucking company in Fayette County, PA. The unsanctioned dumping happened between the years 2012 and 2015.
Yesterday the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) issued a notice of violation (NOV) to Shell Chemicals Appalachia, LLC (Shell) for exceeding its rolling 12-month total emission limits of volatile organic compounds (VOCs), which happened during the commissioning of its cracker plant facility in Beaver County. Shell is limited by state permits to 516.2 tons of total emissions of VOCs over a rolling 12-month period. It had 521.6 tons by the end of September and 662.9 tons of VOCs by the end of October. The emissions are associated with the initial startup of the facility and (hopefully) won’t happen again.