PA AG Unveils Anti-Shale Legislation Based on Flawed Grand Jury Rpt
In theater of the absurd, yesterday a bunch of sleazy politicians, headed by the grandmaster sleazoloa himself, Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro, unveiled proposed new anti-Marcellus legislation based on a ginned-up, fake anti-shale grand jury report that Shapiro manipulated and orchestrated last year (see PA AG Launches I-HATE-FRACKING Hotline; Report Bashing Shale, DEP). The legislation introduced yesterday is aimed at killing (as in obliterating) the Marcellus Shale industry in the Keystone State. The Republican legislature will never pass it, so what is the purpose?
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You have two days left to make your voice heard with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers concerning whether or not the Corps should issue a new permit to the 303-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline project as it crosses rivers and streams in both West Virginia and Virginia. Back in April we told you the Corps had given antis an extra 30 days to comment on (complain, manipulate, lie about) issuing MVP a new permit (see 
MDN has been writing about a privately-owned dump near Scranton, the Keystone Sanitary Landfill, for the past decade (
The Democrats in Congress are making another run at punishing (eliminating) the use of fossil fuels. About a month ago Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (wacko from Oregon) and 24 fellow Senate Democrats introduced a bill called “The Clean Energy for America Act”–an overhaul of the federal energy tax code, aimed at combating nonexistent human-caused climate change. This time around the Dems are targeting (among other things) repeal of the percentage depletion allowance that landowners and investors use in offsetting royalty payments for tax purposes. In other words, mom and pop landowners that receive royalties will see their federal income tax bills go up. Unless you stop this disgusting bill now, before it becomes law.
Democrats and RINOs just hate it when someone else uses the same tactics against them that they so frequently use themselves. The shoe tends to pinch when it’s on the other foot. Such is the case with a bit of brilliant political maneuvering last Thursday at the most recent Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) open meeting when one of the Republican Commissioners, James Danly, insisted (at the last minute) on appending language for approvals of two western pipeline projects that says, in essence, considerations of man-made global warming played no role in approving or disapproving the projects. Danly’s last-minute sandbagging enraged FERC Chairman Richard “Dick” Glick and his fellow far-left Democrat sidekick Allison Clements. It also had Republican-in-Name-Only (and backstabber) Neil Chatterjee spitting and sputtering. In the end, the three Republicans, including Chatterjee, went ahead and approved the two projects, over fierce objections by Glick. Three cheers for James Danly!
On March 19 Williams petitioned the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to extend the time to build the FERC-approved Northeast Supply Enhancement (NESE) pipeline project in the New York City area by an extra two years (see 
In February the Democrat-controlled Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) said it would accept comments from the public on whether or not the Commission should willy nilly shut down a legally permitted, already built, and successfully running compressor station in Weymouth, Massachusetts (see 
Back in March MDN told you about supposed violations by Chesapeake Energy of the federal Clean Water Act and the Pennsylvania Clean Streams Law and Dam Safety and Encroachments Act by failing to identify and protect swamps (i.e. wetlands) at a number of oil and gas well sites in Pennsylvania (see 
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf’s plan to force the state to participate in the so-called Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a tax on carbon aimed at eliminating coal and natural gas-fired electric power plants, got a boost yesterday when the state Dept. of Environmental Protection’s (DEP) Air Quality Technical Advisory Board voted 10-8 in favor of the plan.
One of the ways the Republican-controlled Pennsylvania State Legislature is attempting to block Gov. Tom Wolf from unilaterally forcing the state to join the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a carbon tax scheme, is by voting against any new members to the state’s Public Utility Commission (see 
The Jones Act prevents LNG from being transported from one U.S. port (like Cove Point, Maryland and Elba Island, Georgia) to other U.S. ports (like Boston and New York) because there are no built-in-the-USA LNG carriers, a requirement under the 1920 Jones Act. When New England runs low on natural gas, they must import the gas from Russia (see 
A number of municipalities (mainly cities) in states like California, Washington, and Massachusetts have passed local ordinances banning the use of natural gas in new or refurbished construction. That is, they’ve become energy bigots, institutionalizing discrimination against forms of energy they irrationally hate. Prejudice and discrimination (hatred) are always ugly, whatever form they take, whether against other humans or against energy sources. Some states have passed new laws to prohibit local municipalities from engaging in energy discrimination and natural gas bans. Pennsylvania is the latest to consider such protection.
Once again the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) is falling down on the job. For years we’ve covered the news that DEP delays in issuing simple permits for erosion and sediment control are taking far longer–months longer–than they should. A Chapter 102 Erosion and Sedimentation permit is supposed to take 14 days to review and issue. In the Southwest DEP office, it’s taking an average of five months! Enough is enough. It’s time to pass legislation (one of three bills) now working its way through the PA House and Senate that allows private, third-party engineers to review and approve permits since the DEP (under Sec. Pat McDonnell) is incapable of doing its job.
In July 2020, PA Gov. Tom Wolf signed into law House Bill (HB) 732, a bill that grants tax breaks to companies willing to build brand new petrochemical plants in the Keystone State–plants that use huge quantities of Marcellus Shale gas (see 