FERC, Other Federal Agencies Dump NEPA Regs on Global Warming
We are finally seeing a return to sanity and real science following four years of out-of-control edicts during the Biden autopen administration. (The old fool likely didn’t even know a tenth of the things signed under his name.) On Monday, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), along with the Departments of Agriculture, Energy, the Interior, and Transportation, revised regulations to eliminate all references to considering climate change, environmental justice, and other so-called environmental issues in their permit reviews. The left under Biden had introduced such nonsense in a bid to block new fossil energy projects. No more! The pendulum has swung back to the common-sense middle. Read More “FERC, Other Federal Agencies Dump NEPA Regs on Global Warming”
The climate change hoaxers of the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), along with other Big Green groups, are attempting another headfake of oil and gas companies and the financial institutions that help fund them. The Methane Finance Working Group, an initiative launched at the United Nations’ COP28 climate summit in 2023, released guidance to “deliver and deploy market-tested finance mechanisms that facilitate decarbonization across the oil and gas sector, while expanding the opportunities to achieve measurable methane emission reductions,” according to EDF. What the heck does that even mean? 
MDN previously brought you the news that the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) approved a plan by Catalyst Energy to convert an existing conventional gas production well on Route 646 in Cyclone (Keating Township, McKean County, PA) into a shale wastewater injection well (see 
Following President Trump’s quid pro quo deal with New York Governor Kathy Hochul in which Trump is allowing a $5 billion offshore wind project to proceed in return for Hochul allowing two Williams gas pipeline projects, Williams wasted no time in restarting one of the two projects, the Northeast Supply Enhancement (NESE) project (see 
One day before Constellation Energy’s Eddystone Generating Station in Delaware County, PA, was due to close its remaining two units, the Trump Department of Energy (DOE) stepped in and ordered the plants to remain active based on Trump’s declaration of an energy emergency across the country (see 
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Chairman Mark Christie says grid operators, including those along the East Coast (PJM and ISO-NE), dodged a blackout bullet last week (our words, his sentiment). Christie warned that we are not building new power generation fast enough, and blackouts are on the horizon. With respect to the extreme heat last week, Christie said, “Some of our systems really came close to the edge.” He also said, “You never know about the next time, and there’s going to be a next time.” Unfortunately, Christie is being replaced (see 
Newly elected Republican Congressman Rob Bresnahan defeated incumbent Democrat Matt Cartwright in last November’s election to represent Pennsylvania’s 8th Congressional District, located in the northeastern corner of the state. Bresnahan hit the ground running, particularly in addressing energy issues. His district includes Wayne and Pike counties, where landowners have had their right to drill for natural gas seized by the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC). Bresnahan recently introduced a bill that’s rapidly progressing, a bill that would heighten DRBC accountability and oversight. We call it putting the DRBC on a short leash. 
Freeport LNG, located near Galveston, Texas, currently exports roughly 15 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) of LNG from three trains—when it’s actually up and running. The Freeport facility has been plagued with outages, the most spectacular of which happened in June 2022, taking the facility offline for 10 months (see 
Environment-related permitting in Pennsylvania, overseen by the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), has been a hot mess for years. A Chapter 102 Erosion and Sedimentation permit sometimes takes two, three, or even six months for approval, instead of the policy-mandated 14 days. According to a DEP press release from last November, the problem was fixed (see 
Yesterday, the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) announced the distribution of $164,592,500 in natural gas impact fees collected from producers for the 2024 reporting year. The bad news is that the impact fee raised $15 million less than it did in 2023, the prior year. The good news is that the state Independent Fiscal Office predicts the impact fee for 2025 will soar by $70 million to roughly $235 million (see 
The highly functional and responsible Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC), unlike its highly dysfunctional and irresponsible counterpart, the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC), continues to support the shale energy industry by approving water withdrawals and consumptive use for responsible and safe shale drilling. The SRBC published a notice in the June 21 Pennsylvania Bulletin that the Executive Director of the SRBC renewed 38 general water use permits in May for individual shale gas well drilling pads in Bradford, Cameron, Clearfield, Lycoming, Susquehanna, Tioga, and Wyoming counties in Pennsylvania. So far in 2025, the SRBC has issued or renewed 225 general water use permits for shale gas development. 
Recent actions taken by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) appear to be quite significant, yet it has not received any media attention. On June 18, FERC took several actions to remove regulatory obstacles and therefore speed up the construction of needed natural gas infrastructure projects in the United States. FERC issued a blanket waiver (valid for the next two years) of its Order No. 871, which has allowed Big Green to block the construction of pipeline projects while rehearing requests are being handled. The result has been to delay projects by years while Big Green ties up such projects with endless appeals. Waiving Order No. 871 frees up FERC personnel to go ahead and issue orders to allow projects to begin construction.