Electrical Generation | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Licking County | Ohio | Regulation | Williams
Ohio Power Siting Board OKs 5th NatGas Power Plant in New Albany
In February, MDN alerted you to yet another gas-fired power plant project that Williams (the pipeline giant) was adding to its roster. Williams entered the gas-fired power plant space (actually building and operating them) in April 2025 via a subsidiary called Will-Power (see Williams Subsidiary Unveils Plans for Gas-Fired Power Plant in Ohio). So far, Williams’ Will-Power is working on four projects. Scratch that! You can add a fifth project to the list, recently approved by the Ohio Power Siting Board. Read More “Ohio Power Siting Board OKs 5th NatGas Power Plant in New Albany”
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) isn’t letting any grass grow under its feet regarding the advancement of the Constitution Pipeline, a 125-mile greenfield pipeline from the Marcellus gas fields of Susquehanna County, PA, to Schoharie County, NY, to deliver Marcellus gas into New York State and New England. FERC is actively reviewing two requests related to reviving the project (see 
Chestnut Run Energy plans to construct a $2 billion natural gas-powered electric power plant in Carroll County, Ohio, capable of powering up to 900,000 homes (see 
This is so frustrating. After seven years, $150 million, and 31 of 34 miles already underground, Connecticut has halted a pipeline project designed to provide a more dependable natural gas supply to the booming southeastern Connecticut economy. Ealier this year MDN told you that Connecticut’s Department of Energy and Environmental Protection (DEEP) had determined that Eversource Energy’s plan to install a natural gas pipeline through Hurd State Park and the Connecticut Valley Railroad State Park Trail requires a formal Environmental Impact Evaluation, unnecessarily delaying a tiny portion (1.1 miles) of this critically-important reliability project (see 
The highly functional and responsible Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC), unlike its dysfunctional and irresponsible counterpart, the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC), continues to support the shale energy industry by approving water withdrawals and consumptive use requests for responsible, safe shale drilling. The SRBC published a notice in the June 27th Pennsylvania Bulletin that the SRBC approved and/or renewed 34 general water use permits in May for individual shale gas well drilling pads in Bradford, Clinton, Lycoming, McKean, Sullivan, Susquehanna, Tioga, and Wyoming counties. 
Last September, MDN told you that two major Kinder Morgan pipeline projects that will flow Marcellus/Utica molecules in the southeastern U.S. took a big step forward at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) with FERC actively working on an environmental impact statement (EIS) for both projects (see 
The Ohio Oil and Gas Land Management Commission (OGLMC) is set to vote on Monday to open roughly 23,000 acres of publicly owned wildlife preserves in eastern Ohio to fracking. The panel will weigh accepting bids on about 15,000 acres split between Jockey Hollow and Egypt Valley, plus opening another 8,000 acres of Egypt Valley. Approval would bring Ohio’s leased public land to more than 30,000 acres across Salt Fork State Park and six wildlife areas, mostly in the Belmont-Harrison-Guernsey region. Ohio has already collected roughly $57 million in signing bonuses, plus 18–20% royalties. 
In October 2025, we reported that Ohio Republican Senators had 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 (see 
The thing about the political left is that they NEVER give up. EVER. And so, neither must we. The left wants to destroy new shale drilling in Pennsylvania. They couldn’t do it via regulation. They couldn’t convince a majority of residents that shale drilling is bad. So they search out other ways to make it happen. Among those ways are efforts to increase setbacks (distance from wells to homes and other structures) from the current 500 feet to over 3,200 feet, which would ban drilling in 95%+ of the state (see 
Honestly, this story is likely to spike your blood pressure the way it did ours. Breathe in, breathe out. Find your calm, center space. OK. Now you’re ready to hear about it. Foreign companies and billionaires are funneling money to American NGOs and law firms that use the money to attack (in court) fossil energy companies. If a lawsuit prevails and either a settlement or a judgment is entered, the foreigners who helped finance it receive a cut of the “profits” from the settlement. And they don’t pay taxes on their so-called profits! IT IS DISGUSTING and an outright attack on our country. AND IT MUST STOP. NOW. A group of 21 energy-related organizations has sent a letter to both the U.S. House and Senate, outlining a loophole in our laws that allows this immoral practice and urging them to fix it. Pronto. 
In March, we told you about a deal made by Maryland Eastern Shore developer TeraWulf to acquire the retired Morgantown Generating Station in Charles County (on the Potomac River), proposing to transform the site into a massive natural gas-powered data center campus (see 
Last week, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) launched a sweeping investigation into how power grids and utilities divide the soaring costs of supplying electricity to data centers. FERC issued six “show-cause” orders directing regional grid operators—PJM, SPP, MISO, CAISO, ISO New England, and NYISO—to prove that data center connection rates are “just and reasonable” and shield ordinary ratepayers from cost-shifting, or face federal fixes. FERC wants regional grids to speed up data center connections while protecting residential ratepayers. And they WILL do it, or else.