PA DEP Withdraws Onerous VOC/Methane Regs After Lawsuit Filed
In March the Pennsylvania Environmental Quality Board (EQB), a sub-agency of the Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP), approved a final version of onerous new regulations that supposedly will capture every last molecule of stray methane that leaks from shale and conventional drilling operations (see PA EQB Approves Final Onerous Methane Regs Harming Conv Drillers). These regs have been developed and tweaked since 2016. Last week several oil and gas associations that represent conventional drillers sued to block the new regs. The DEP promptly withdrew the proposed new regs.
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Pennsylvania State Sen. Gene Yaw has been a champion in the fight to defeat Gov. Tom Wolf’s hideous carbon tax, otherwise known as the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). Wolf is trying to force PA to join over the objections of a majority of state legislators. In his latest missive about RGGI, Yaw connects some dots that need to be connected–between Russian money funding Big Green groups, and the groups using that money to lobby, influence, and litigate in an effort to force PA to join RGGI. It’s an effort to force PA to use less fossil energy. Clearly, RGGI is anti-fossil fuel. We would argue, as does Yaw in this excellent editorial below, that RGGI is also anti-American.
Yesterday MDN brought you the news that Equitrans Midstream, builder of the 303-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) project from West Virginia to southern Virginia, has decided to roll the dice for a third time with the radical judges of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit by applying for a new permit to cross 3.5 miles of the Jefferson National Forest (see 
MAX Environmental has operated the Bulger hazardous waste landfill in Smith Township (Washington County), PA since 1958. MAX has operated a second site, the Yukon hazardous waste landfill in South Huntingdon Township (Westmoreland County), PA since 1964. One of the primary customers for both landfills over the past 15 years has been the Marcellus industry–dumping drill cuttings (leftover dirt and rock from drilling). In 2019 MAX filed a request with the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) to “delist” both sites as hazardous landfills, given what they accept is not hazardous. Some of the neighbors along with various Big Green groups object to the change in classification.
With all due respect, Equitrans Midstream, builder of the 94% completed Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP), is making a big mistake, in our humble opinion. Equitrans issued its first quarter 2022 update this morning. The big announcement from the update is that the company plans to file for new permits from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) and the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to allow MVP to build through 3.5 miles of the Jefferson National Forest. The radically left U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit (4th Circuit) has ruled against MVP and those same permits twice before. Equitrans CEO Thomas F. Karam says he thinks the third time will be the charm. We say, don’t hold your breath.
In March Joe Biden announced a deal with Europe to deliver more LNG to the Continent, starting this year (see 
Three cheers for Big Coal! We’re not all that thrilled with using coal in power plants given there is a much more environmentally-friendly option–natural gas. But we’re certainly not against coal energy and we’re all for free enterprise and competition among fuel sources. The coal industry in Pennsylvania has our respect and admiration for standing up for itself and suing the state to block the insane Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) carbon tax. PA Gov. Tom Wolf is forcing his state to join RGGI, which will assess huge new taxes on both coal and gas-fired power plants, threatening to drive both out of business.
Because of constant court challenges against pipelines, the Trump administration completed a redo of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Nationwide Permit 12 (NWP12), a general permit used in constructing pipelines, just prior to leaving office. From the beginning of the Biden administration, anti-fossil fuel fanatics have attacked NWP12, hoping they can cancel it or otherwise make it so onerous nobody will use it. In March the Army Corps caved to the pressure and announced it will review (i.e. change) NWP12 (see 
At the end of the day, Joe Manchin, U.S. Senator from West Virginia, is still a Democrat and beholden to his party’s radical leftwing. We had hoped he was a different kind of Democrat, but alas, perhaps not. Bloomberg (often a fake news source) is reporting that Manchin is reaching out to Republicans in the Senate to gauge interest in spending a half-trillion dollars ($550 billion to be exact) on “climate and energy spending”–resurrected pieces of what had been Biden’s failed Build Back Better Act. The aim is to salvage something of Joe Biden’s tattered reputation ahead of the 2022 elections in November, so Dems are not completely obliterated (as we hope they are and deserve to be) this fall. No thanks, Sen. Manchin. We’re not interested in tacking on another 4-5% to the inflation numbers that are already at historic highs, which is exactly what such a bill would do.
Three Democrat Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) commissioners voted to adopt and immediately begin using new guidelines for approving pipeline projects by taking into account mythical global warming factors back in February (see 
Pennsylvania has already received the first $25 million payment from the so-called infrastructure bill, a down payment on what will eventually be ~$400 million over the next 15 years to plug abandoned and orphaned oil and gas wells across the state (see 
Tennessee Gas Pipeline’s (TGP) plan to flow more Marcellus gas to Westchester County, NY and New York City for Consolidated Edison customers, called the East 300 Upgrade Project, took a giant leap forward last Thursday when the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued permits that allow TGP to upgrade two existing compressor stations (in PA), and build a brand new compressor station in West Milford (Passaic County, NJ), just across the border and not far from Westchester County. This is a major victory and a sign this project will now get completed.
Pennsylvania State Rep. Marina White (Republican from Philadelphia, a true rarity) sponsored a bill that’s getting traction in Harrisburg. House Bill (HB) 2458, which passed with a vote by the full House on April 13, creates a task force to study how to establish Philadelphia LNG exports to international markets, particularly those in Europe. The bill creates a task force to study the economic feasibility, financial impact, and the security needed to turn the Port of Philly into an LNG export terminal, exporting PA’s abundant and clean Marcellus Shale gas.