4th Circuit Throws Out Plan for Safer MVP Drilling re Candy Darter
Even when we’re joking about the leftist clown judges of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit (i.e. the 4th Circus), we’re right! A few weeks ago we told you about the candy darter, a small fishie on the threatened and endangered species list that lives in a few creeks under which 303-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) wants to drill. While the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) both agree the candy darter would not be harmed by a change in drilling methods for MVP, the clown judges of the 4th Circus disagree and think THEY know more than the experts at both FERC and USFWS. (Of course they think they know it all–they read Dr. Seuss books as their guidance on environmental issues! This is not a joke.) Yesterday the judges tossed yet another permit for MVP.
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Quebec, Canada is foolishly pushing forward with a total ban on all oil and gas drilling in the province. On Tuesday the province’s minister of energy and natural resources “tabled” Bill 21 which expropriates (seizes control of) all oil and gas wells and pulls back any previously issued permits to drill. Tabling in Canada means something different than it does here in the U.S.–it means to begin consideration. It’s the next step in finalizing a new law to ban oil and gas drilling in the province, including a ban on drilling in Quebec’s extensive Utica Shale.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) was established in 1977 as a replacement for the Federal Power Commission. The agency’s mandate was to determine whether wholesale electricity prices were unjust and unreasonable and, if so, to regulate pricing and order refunds for overcharges to ratepayers. Over the years FERC’s mission grew to include the licensing and regulation of hydropower projects; the approval and regulation of interstate oil and gas pipelines; and ensuring the reliability of the nation’s electric power grids. FERC was created as an *economic* agency, NOT an environmental agency. It’s time for FERC to return to its original charter and quit trying to use health and environmental impacts (non-economic factors) to steer decisions on projects.
This one doesn’t make a whole lot of sense for us. Late last year utility giant Consolidated Edison (ConEd) colluded with and supported the efforts of radicalized leftists in New York City to vote through a ban on new natural gas hookups starting next year (see 
You have GOT to be kidding! In 2015 Energy Transfer’s Rover Pipeline purchased an old house in Ohio that was crumbling and falling down, intending to fix it up and use it for offices. The company later decided to demolish it. The old house was on a list to be considered as a National Historic Place, even though the local fire department considered burning it down as a training exercise it was so dilapidated. Because this particular old house was potentially considered “historic,” Rover went through all sorts of hell and ended up paying a $2.3 million fine. Then Richard “Dick” Glick took over at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and decided to drag that case out yet again, this time fining Rover $20 million for something long ago settled (see 
The Barack Hussein Obama administration went crazy with over-regulation in many sectors. One of them was to redefine “waters of the United States” (or WOTUS) as everything down to, no exaggeration, mud puddles (see 
The Pennsylvania Dept. of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) has banned the spreading of conventional oil and gas brine for any purpose on its over 6,500 miles of roads in PA State Forests. A majority of those roads are dirt and gravel. The ban also applies to all State Park roads (although most of those roads are paved and don’t need water for dust suppression, so it’s an empty gesture).
Two weeks ago MDN told you that Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf swiftly vetoed a PA Senate resolution sent to him that would block the state from joining the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), nothing more than a carbon tax that won’t actually reduce carbon emissions (see 
Democrats in Congress say new federal powers are needed to prevent major energy disruptions like the cyberattack on the Colonial Pipeline last May. Specifically, the Dems want the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to impose “basic standards” for natural gas pipeline reliability and security. The Dems claim FERC can enforce reliability standards regarding electricity delivery and other matters, but the agency lacks such authority when it comes to regulating pipelines. Is that true?
New England–Massachusetts and Maine in particular–dodged a major bullet on Thursday when Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) commissioners voted 5-0 to NOT overturn a permit for the already up-and-running compressor station in Weymouth, Mass. The Weymouth compressor station was the final piece of the $452 million Atlantic Bridge expansion project that was years in the making. The compressor went online in January 2021 (see 
Yes we predicted it and yes we were right (self-praise stinks, we know). We told you last year when the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) went forward with an absurd increase in the fee to drill a new shale well–from $5,000 to $12,500 (250%)–it would vastly slow the growth of new shale wells being drilled in the state and fall far short of revenue goals DEP hoped would fund the oil and gas program. Yesterday the DEP confirmed we were right.