Trump to Appoint Newly Confirmed Laura Swett as FERC Chairperson
POLITICO and Law360 are reporting that FERC Commissioner Laura Swett, who was confirmed as commissioner just last week (see U.S. Senate Finally Confirms 2 New FERC Commissioners), will become the new chairperson of FERC. POLITICO cites a White House official and a former Trump administration official close to the White House, who were granted anonymity to discuss non-public information, as its sources for the news. Law360 claims the White House has confirmed the news to its reporter. Read More “Trump to Appoint Newly Confirmed Laura Swett as FERC Chairperson”
Ohio Republican Senators have introduced Senate Bill (SB) 219, the first significant update to Ohio’s oil and gas laws since the Kasich administration more than a decade ago. SB 219, introduced by Sen. Al Landis, aims to reform Ohio’s orphaned oil and gas well program. The bill proposes establishing the Oil and Gas Resolution and Remediation Fund, funded by filing fees and penalties, to protect orphan well funds from being raided by the state legislature (as often happens now). The bill also streamlines notification procedures for abandoned wells, requiring only publication in a newspaper or on the ODNR website. Additionally, the bill accelerates drilling by eliminating the Ohio Department of Natural Resources’ (ODNR) discretion to deny expedited project reviews and by making road-use agreements with local governments voluntary and capped at three years. 
Ohio Democrat House members have introduced a bill to solve a problem that doesn’t exist. House Bill (HB) 399 would ban fracking under Lake Erie (which has NEVER been proposed or even thought of), and ban fracking under state-owned parks, which is now happening. With respect to drilling under (not on) state-owned parks, when it happens, nobody knows it’s happening (see 
Pennsylvania state Rep. Greg Vitali, a radical Democrat and the majority chairman of the state House Environmental & Natural Resource Protection Committee, introduced legislation (H.B. 1946) this week that would increase the current setback distances for unconventional oil and gas wells in Pennsylvania from 500 feet to 2,500 feet, effectively banning all new shale drilling in the state. Period. End of sentence. And Vitali (and the other radicals who have signed on to the bill) know it. The bill doesn’t stand a chance in the Republican-controlled Senate, but that’s not the point. The point is (a) fundraising, and (b) there is no other reason, except fundraising. 
We’re not big fans of the American Petroleum Institute (API), which tends to do the bidding of the Big Oil companies that fund it. Big Oil’s aims are sometimes at odds with those of smaller, independent oil and gas producers—the innovators who discovered shale drilling. Yet there are state chapters of the API that do a good job. One of them is the Pennsylvania API chapter. The executive director of PA API, Stephanie Catarino Wissman, recently published an excellent article in Broad+Liberty that calls for fast-tracking the effort to pass federal permit reform so Pennsylvania can get back to building. 
Unintended (but entirely predictable) consequences are now happening in New York State. In January 2023, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a leftist Democrat, floated a plan to ban natural gas hookups in every single new home and business across the “Empire” State (see 
In August, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) reissued a certificate for the Northeast Supply Enhancement (NESE) project, a billion-dollar-plus project designed to increase Transco pipeline capacity and flows of Marcellus gas heading into New York City and other northeastern markets by an extra 400 MMcf/d (see 
On August 17, Eureka Resources’ Williamsport Second Street facility (one of the three wastewater treatment plants previously operated by Eureka) leaked some of its stored untreated frack wastewater, which ended up in the nearby Susquehanna River via a storm drain (see 
Radical environmentalists once again have their knickers in a twist. When don’t they? In August, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) reissued a certificate for the Northeast Supply Enhancement (NESE) project, a billion-dollar-plus project designed to increase Transco pipeline capacity and flows of Marcellus gas heading into New York City and other northeastern markets by an extra 400 MMcf/d (see 
Governor Josh Shapiro’s Streamlining Permits for Economic Expansion and Development (SPEED) program, launched in August 2024, aimed to expedite Pennsylvania’s permitting process (see 
In September, a blaming and bullying “summit” was convened by one of the biggest bullies on the political scene today, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, to complain about high electricity prices in the PJM Interconnection grid (see 
One of the environmental left’s favorite tactics to defeat fossil fuel projects is to challenge every single infrastructure project (pipeline or otherwise) connected to fossil energy at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). As soon as a company files an application to build a new project, and FERC approves it, Big Green will challenge it, first at FERC, and eventually via the courts. FERC has an internal rule, called Order No. 871, that states a company cannot begin construction (even though FERC has approved the certificate) until all such legal challenges are resolved, which can take YEARS. Which is the point—delay, and eventually, some of the projects will give up and won’t build. Run out the clock. Two days ago, FERC issued a new rule eliminating Order No. 871 rule, meaning construction can now begin months and years sooner, even while appeals continue. The enviro-left just lost one of its most potent weapons. 
PJM Interconnection, the U.S.’s largest regional transmission operator, has proposed an Expedited Interconnection Track (EIT) to let large power generation projects over 500 MW bypass the grid’s traditional interconnection queue. Open to any fuel type, the EIT requires projects to be state-sponsored, seek Capacity Interconnection Rights, and achieve operational readiness within three years. Any fuel type that can meet those criteria, including natural gas, nuclear, renewables, and even battery storage, will qualify for the program. However, the reality is that natural gas is the most likely source to be built and brought online.