Radical Enviro Groups Demand BLM Stop Leasing in OH Wayne NF

Yet another mindless, useless and scientifically wrong letter has been sent to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) by a group of radical environmental organizations to ask (demand, really) that the BLM halt its plans to allow fracking to take place in the Wayne National Forest (WNF). Nowhere in the letter sent by the Sierra Clubbers, the Center for Biological Diversity, the Ohio Environmental Council and Friends of the Earth does it mention that 60% of the land in WNF is PRIVATELY OWNED. And that the BLM has, for nearly 10 years now, blocked those private rights owners from profiting from their land. Recently the BLM took another baby step on the way to allowing fracking in WNF, which is what has set off the crazies and precipitated this latest factually incorrect letter…
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Last week the federal EPA released a draft of its final Environmental Justice Strategic Plan for 2016-2020 (full copy below). The feds are now seeking comments, until July 7, which they will toss in the garbage can. The EPA is and remains a rogue agency–out of control and drunk on its own power (with a need to be reigned in). What is so-called “environmental justice” anyway? It’s coded language for screwing “rich” companies and giving the money to poor folk. The aims of the EPA’s enviro justice plan are: (1) radically expand “rulemaking”–which means enacting laws without the legislative branch doing it, and then enforcing the cockamamie laws they make up using their own thugs; (2) come down on state and local governments like a ton of bricks, forcing them to dance to the EPA’s tune; and (3) continue to use unrealistic standards to punish companies that dare to make money and provide jobs. That about sums up the EPA’s approach, in our estimation. The EPA gets to make up its own laws and then enforce those laws–bypassing Congress altogether. It is a gross violation of the U.S. Constitution. Here’s a copy of the EPA’s “justice” plan, along with a more “objective” (than we offered) description of what the EPA is attempting with this latest power grab…
Last week presidential candidate Donald Trump gave a speech on energy and energy policies at the Williston Basin Petroleum Conference in Bismark, North Dakota. By all accounts, Trump hit the ball out of the park. Before a crowd of some 7,000 people, Trump delighted the audience with a pretty simple message: cut back on regulations that choke America’s exploration and production of energy–and frack a lot more. Which is contrary to “crooked Hillary’s” vision of enacting new regulations to the point that fracking will be banned (see 
There are precisely two counties in all of the State of Maryland that contain Marcellus Shale deposits under them–Garrett and Allegany counties, in the far western tip of the state. Maryland is currently under an idiotic temporary ban (see
Both Energy Transfer Equity (ETE) and Williams yesterday issued statements about their proposed/impending merger that say Form S-4 filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has been ruled “effective.” As we so often point out, we’re not Wall Street wizards. From what we can determine, an S-4 is a filing between companies that propose to merge. The SEC is (we think) saying that the proposed stock swap between ETE and Williams can move forward, when and if the merger closes. That is, the SEC is cool with the proposed plan to merge. ETE points out there are still roadblocks to such a merger, and Williams continues to press several lawsuits to force ETE into the merger they (ETE) wanted in the first place. Below we have yesterday’s statement about the S-4 along with ETE’s continued “but but but” statement. We also include some interesting and insightful analysis from a writer on the Seeking Alpha investors website…
In the end, it was John Quigley’s own hubris that resulted in his demise as Secretary of the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection. As we reported yesterday, last Friday Sec. Quigley suddenly resigned his position (see
In June 2015 then-Secretary of the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP), John Quigley, slapped Range Resources with an $8.9 million fine–the largest such fine ever levied by the DEP (see 
Last week the Ohio Manufacturers’ Association (OMA), along with several other trade associations, filed a “friend of the court” brief (called an amicus brief, full copy below) in a case pending before the Ohio Seventh District Court of Appeals (in Youngstown). The OMA wants the Court of Appeals to uphold the ruling of a Harrison County trial court in the eminent domain case of Sunoco Pipeline v. Carol A. Teter, Trustee. OMA says eminent domain should be used in rare circumstances, but when no other choices remain, its use is legitimate and necessary. In particular, OMA is supporting Sunoco’s right to use eminent domain for the Mariner East 2 project–a project that will employ a lot of OMA businesses and their employees…
In January 2015 MDN highlighted an ongoing squabble near Cleveland, in Cuyahoga County, OH, between the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) and the Ohio Oil and Gas Commission (OOGC) (see
We wonder if the anti-pipeline/anti-fossil fuel zealots in Lebanon County, PA are trying to kill members of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) by boring them to death. The local antis–a small yet vociferous group of nattering nabobs–have hounded the Lebanon County Board of Commissioners into sending along a 1,000-page tome to FERC listing their concerns with two pipeline projects. Along with the bore-you-to-death document, the Commissioners have included a letter requesting FERC extend the comment period on the Atlantic Sunrise Project by an extra 30 days. Which sounds reasonable–except at the end of that 30 days the antis will ask for another extension, then another, and another. That’s the strategy. If you can’t dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with, well, you know what…
We’ve written plenty about President Obama’s draconian, so-called “Clean Power Plan” (