Antis Lobby to Ban Fracking Under (Not In) Allegheny County Parks
Since 2013 anti-fossil fuel zealots–people with an irrational hatred of fossil fuels–have tried to ban drilling under (not on) public parks in Allegheny County, PA (near Pittsburgh). In November 2013 the Allegheny County Council voted down a proposed ban on drilling under parks (see Allegheny County (PA) Council Votes Down Drill Ban for Parks). In 2014 the Council approved drilling under Deer Lakes Park, which created hysteria among antis that lingers to this day (see Allegheny Cty Approves Deer Lakes Park Lease, Antis Throw Tantrum). Interestingly, nobody died and no harm came to the environment with drilling under Deer Lakes Park. Yet the zealots are back, again, demanding a ban on drilling under county parks.
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Last week the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) launched what we consider a full-on attack against the oil and gas industry when it unveiled new methane regulations (see 
What do you think of this one? The Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) is launching a “favorites” list for Marcellus drilling and pipeline companies. You can earn yourself onto the list to get special treatment if you go to the extraordinary (and very expensive) lengths to do things the DEP wants you to do–things *not* required under current law, like “plugging abandoned oil wells, powering equipment with renewable energy, improving water quality in historically polluted streams and planting trees to offset greenhouse gas emissions.” Your reward for landing on the attaboy list? Your application for building a well pad or pipeline corridor will move to the top of the stack for review, leapfrogging those in line for a standard review. In other words, you’ll get the treatment the law guarantees (14 days for an erosion permit review) instead of the months and months of delays (in violation of the law) you get now. What a deal.
We have some exciting, and exclusive, news to share with the MDN audience. We previously told you that the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) was behaving like a child, dragging its collective heels to prevent two side-by-side injection wells in Belmont County developed by Omni Energy from beginning operation (see 
In January 2016, Invenergy announced its intention to build a natgas-powered electric plant in Elizabeth Township, in Allegheny County (see 
We were encouraged in September when the Connecticut State Supreme Court upheld the Connecticut Siting Council’s approval for NTE Energy’s proposed project to build a 650-megawatt natural gas-fired electric plant in Killingly, CT (see 
In September a cabal of virulent anti-fossil fuel groups, including the Sierra Club, Clean Air Council, PennFuture, Earthworks, and Mountain Watershed Association (all of which hate oil and natural gas), launched their latest attack against the Pennsylvania oil and gas industry. The groups sent a request to the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) lobbying for a dramatic increase in the amount of money drillers must post as a bond when drilling a new well. Unfortunately, the DEP listened and is acting on that request.
What the heck is going on? First, the EPA under Biden is making a massive power grab to control oil and gas drilling (in contravention to the U.S. Constitution) by issuing methane regulations and the oil and gas industry is just laying down and taking it, after opposing the very same thing under Obama in 2016 (see 
Conservatives (including MDN) eagerly watch election results as they came in this past Tuesday night. Conservatives rightly anticipated the Virginia governor’s race would go to the Republican, Glenn Youngkin. Conservatives had hoped for a good showing in deeply blue New Jersey, with 1.1 million more registered Democrats than Republicans. We got much more than that! The odious leftist Democrat Phil Murphy ran for reelection for another four years in the Garden State. The unknown Republican running against him, Jack Ciattarelli, came within (under) 1% of the same number of votes as Murphy. Hopefully, Ciattarelli will demand a recount. The question is, did energy have anything to do with NJ’s vote, and if Ciattarelli pulls off an upset, what might that mean for pipeline projects canceled under Murphy?
It is obvious MDN is out of step with the industry it supports and promotes. We think the federal EPA’s announcement on Tuesday that it will draft and adopt new emissions regulations aimed at reducing methane (i.e. natural gas) emissions is clearly unconstitutional (see 
American Petroleum Institute (API) president and CEO, Mike Sommers, recently testified before the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Reform to discuss the natural gas and oil industry’s priorities and API’s ludicrous support for so-called pricing carbon (i.e. a huge carbon tax), support for regulating methane (into oblivion), all while still trying to reliably produce American energy. Those priorities are irreconcilably impossible, but, whatever. The thing that really irked us was that Sommers obsequiously genuflected to the global warming gods during the hearing.
The federal Environmental Protection Agency, the left’s favorite tool to undermine the U.S. Constitution, is attempting to do just that–undermine the Constitution. Today the EPA is floating a massive new regulation that seizes control of oil and gas drilling (and pipelines) away from the individual states, as provided for under the Constitution, and centralizes control in Washington, D.C. under the EPA. How? By forcing a one-size-fits-all regulation on so-called fugitive methane emissions that all states must comply with.