Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA
Lawsuit Over DRBC “Taking” of Property Rights Heats Up in Court
A lawsuit against the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) and their illegal ban on hydraulic fracturing filed by a group of Republican Senators from Pennsylvania continues to heat up in federal court. Two more counties (Philadelphia suburbs) have filed to “intervene” against the lawsuit (they like the ban). There’s talk of another county joining the lawsuit on the supportive side. Anti-fossil fuelers are spitting and sputtering because if this lawsuit moves forward and prevails, the DRBC will either be bankrupted or forced to rescind its ban on fracking.
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This year’s 60-day session of the West Virginia legislature, which ended at the stroke of midnight on Sunday, saw a flurry of oil and gas-related bills. Perhaps the most important such bill for the industry, to expand forced pooling, failed (see 
Just as we predicted, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) under Democrat Chairman Richard “Dick” Glick, his sidekick the former NRDC lawyer (Democrat) Allison Clements, and backstabbing, swamp-dwelling RINO Neil Chatterjee, is effectively killing off new pipeline projects. The three FERC commissioners have colluded to fundamentally change the way natural gas and oil pipelines are evaluated by including mythological man-made global warming as one of the criteria for approval.
We’re not big fans of U.S. Senator Joe Manchin (Democrat). He hails from Republican-leaning West Virginia, so he has to pass himself off as a “moderate” Democrat. When push comes to shove, we’ve noticed Manchin falls into line and obsequiously obeys Chuck Schumer’s commands. Yet perhaps, hope against hope, Manchin will show some spine and refuse to sign on to the $2 trillion shale energy-killing “infrastructure” plan Biden is pushing.
Last MDN told you that the West Virginia House of Delegates had passed House Bill (HB) 2581, which changes how the State Tax Department values producing oil and gas wells for property tax purposes (see 
Prepare for some mental gymnastics. Limber up your brain so you can follow this story. As you know, some big pension funds and investment firms have been on a “divestment” kick, eliminating their investments in filthy fossil fuel companies (see 
Last week we brought you the earthshattering news of a resurrection–the resurrection of the Williams Northeast Supply Enhancement (NESE) pipeline project in the New York City area (see 
The headline of this post and indeed the post itself (below) is not our view or opinion. It was authored by an oil and gas industry veteran, David Blackmon, writing on the Forbes magazine website. Yes, we previously covered the absolute disaster that Biden is pedaling as an “infrastructure” plan (see 
Talk about using a sledgehammer to kill a fly. The two U.S. Senators from Massachusetts, Elizabeth “Pocahontas” Warren and Ed “Lackey” Markey, have reintroduced a bill that would ban the use of compressor stations along natural gas pipelines if those pipelines happen to export some of the gas flowing through them to Canada or Mexico. Do these idiots understand how much gas is imported and exported with Canada and Mexico every single day? That they propose to shut down all of it, simply so they can shut down a single compressor station in Weymouth, Mass., is sick and twisted…
Republican U.S. Senators (at least a few) have noticed the alarming situation at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) under new Chairman Richard “Dick” Glick. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee Ranking Member Sen. John Barrasso is questioning FERC over its recent decision to reconsider whether or not the Weymouth, Mass. compressor station should have been approved. That’s after the station has been up and running with no problems. It is not right for a new administration to reopen an already-approved (under a different administration) project and threaten to cancel it. It’s not fair nor right in anybody’s book. It’s lawless. Sen. Barrasso tells FERC it has some splainin’ to do. 
Joe Biden visited Pittsburgh yesterday to make a major policy announcement. Fortunately, he was lucid enough to actually know which city he was in! Biden unveiled a $2 trillion “American Jobs Plan” which raises corporate and individual tax income rates. It is half of his total package (another plan with another $2 trillion is coming in a few weeks). The Jobs Plan is supposed to be a plan to rebuild roads and bridges and other infrastructure. The Jobs Plan is misnamed. Much of the money has nothing to do with infrastructure and jobs. Instead, it’s the Green New Deal under another name, targeting the elimination of fossil energy in the name of saving the planet.
Shale and conventional oil and gas drillers in West Virginia listen up: If you file for a modification to a previously filed permit request, it’s going to cost you $2,500. Currently, it costs nothing. Two weeks ago we told you about Senate Bill (SB) 404 (see