Anti-Fossil Fuelers Pressure New NY Gov to Block Brooklyn Pipe
In case you hadn’t heard, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo resigned and left office in disgrace a month ago. In his place, for the balance of his original term, is the former Lt. Gov. Kathy Hockul. She’s not much better (a far-left liberal Democrat), but at least she’s not corrupt like Cuomo was. A group of leftists trying to block an almost done, very small natural gas pipeline in Brooklyn, NY tried their best but could not convince the Cuomo administration’s Dept. of Public Service to reject it. In fact, the DPS voted unanimously in August to approve a rate hike to finance the Metropolitan Natural Gas Reliability Project. Since antis couldn’t get Lord Cuomo to along, they’re now hoping they can pressure Hokul to cancel it instead.
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A new report from the Pennsylvania Independent Fiscal Office (IFO) shows Pennsylvania sent more than 79 million megawatt hours (MWh) of electricity to other states in 2020–by far the biggest electricity exporter in the country. And it’s mostly thanks to cheap, abundant, clean-burning natural gas. PA’s position as the number one electric exporter is now threatened by its recalcitrant Governor, Tom Wolf, who insists on forcing the state to join the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a $2.36 billion carbon tax over the next 10 years aimed at shutting down coal and gas-fired power plants. Is Wolf certifiably insane?
We don’t often use material from the known fake news source called the New York Times, but here we are using a second article from the NYT in one day! The article (below) does its best to shred the reputation and credibility of Joe Manchin, senior U.S. Senator from West Virginia. We have to confess we’re a bit wary of Manchin given his tendency to cave under pressure and vote with the Democrat Party line. But Manchin is all that currently stands in the way of Joe Biden and the Democrat Party’s plan to eliminate natural gas (and coal), phasing both out as energy sources to produce electricity, part of the $3.5 trillion so-called budget reconciliation bill.
Here we go again. Although we understand self-interest and wanting to protect one’s profit margin, we continue to be distressed that some of the biggest chemical companies in the world (meaning in the U.S.) are actively trying to block LNG exports. Why? They want the natural gas they buy (in very large quantities) to be as cheap as possible. In April 2017, Big Chemical–companies like Dow Corning, BASF, Eastman Chemical and others–via their trade association Industrial Energy Consumers of America (IECA), launched an effort to try and persuade Energy Secretary Rick Perry and the Trump Administration to create barriers to exports of natural gas (see 
Exactly one month ago MDN brought you the news that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has provisionally approved a request by Equitrans’ Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) to change the method it uses to cross 136 streams and 47 wetlands (see 
The so-called budget reconciliation bill Democrats are trying to force through Congress against the will of the American public, a $3.5 trillion monstrosity, will do great harm to the oil and gas industry. On Monday we told you that 130 energy, manufacturing, business, and labor trade organizations, led by the American Petroleum Institute, are sounding the alarm about the methane tax that’s part of the bill (see 
Spire STL is a 65-mile pipeline that connects to and flows Marcellus/Utica gas from the Rockies Express (REX) pipeline to residents and businesses in the St. Louis, MO area. The pipeline began flowing gas in late 2019 (see 
In May MDN told you that Louisville Gas and Electric Company (LG&E) had won Kentucky state approval to build a new 12-inch, 12-mile pipeline near Louisville to supply gas to 62 homes and businesses that can’t connect to LG&E’s local natgas utility system (see 
Natural gas drillers, particularly in the Marcellus/Utica, are finally financially healthy. Some are healthy for the first time ever, some for the first time in years, since the severe 2018 and 2019 downturn when natgas prices collapsed. Things are going well in the M-U with most companies focused on fiscal discipline and producing free cash flow. However, there’s a big, black cloud on the horizon–the Joe Biden administration. A number of people in the administration have signaled their disdain, even outright hatred for natural gas, because it’s a “fossil fuel.” The Biden administration aims to cripple the use of natural gas nationwide.
Southwestern Energy, which is one of the biggest Marcellus/Utica drillers, previously applied for a conditional use permit from the City of Weirton, WV that would allow them to build a well pad and drill several wells on it all within the city limits of Weirton. The request came before the Weirton Zoning Board of Appeals in August but the board delayed a decision until this month, September. Following almost three hours of comments and testimony yesterday, the Zoning Board of Appeals unanimously voted down Southwestern’s request–a decidedly unfriendly gesture by the normally gas-friendly municipalities in WV.