PA DEP Issues 224-Page Request for Bids to Plug 19 Old O&G Wells
We think the headline of this post pretty much says it all with respect to why it costs five times more to plug orphaned wells in Pennsylvania than in other states (see PA DEP Still Spends 5X More to Plug Orphaned Wells Than Other States). PA lards up its oil and gas regulations so heavily that it’s almost not worth it for plugging companies to bid on contracts offered by the agency. This latest round of plugging is the third round conducted by the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) after big, brave Josh Shapiro, Governor of PA, boasted he got Trump to back down and release $2 billion of promised funds to (among other things) fund the well plugging program (see PA Gov. Claims Victory in Un-Pausing $2B in Energy-Related Pymts). Shapiro is a blowhard. Read More “PA DEP Issues 224-Page Request for Bids to Plug 19 Old O&G Wells”
On March 27, the Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC) online Hydrologic Conditions Monitor showed low stream flows have triggered restrictions on 18 shale gas water withdrawal points in Bradford, Potter, Susquehanna, Tioga, and Wyoming counties. Another 17 shale gas withdrawals are approaching restrictions. Of the water withdrawal points regulated by SRBC, only shale gas development water withdrawals currently have restrictions because they take water from smaller streams. 
Donald Trump has taken significant actions to eliminate “environmental justice” programs within the federal government during his second term, which began on January 20, 2025. What is so-called environmental justice (EJ)? EJ is the leftist theory that energy projects like pipelines and well pads target locations where there are black, brown, or poor people who can’t fight back legally. They don’t want the projects, but they have no way ($$) to fight them. And so their populations suffer the negative environmental consequences of living near polluting energy projects. Energy projects are presumed to be inherently racist. It is a disgusting, loathsome political theory peddled mainly by the far-left of the Democrat Party. Although Donald Trump has quashed EJ on the federal level, the Josh Shapiro Department of Environment Protection’s EJ program keeps chugging along, oblivious that nobody wants it, nobody respects it, and it’s a “dead man walking.” 
We are frequently critical of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) under the leadership of Governor Josh Shapiro. But our criticism is of the people who lead the department and the woke, leftist policies they’ve injected into the organization. Our criticism does not extend to the hardworking men and women who are the rank and file at DEP. They have demanding jobs, and they do a good job. Nowhere is that more evident than in the case of those who work in the Oil & Gas Program at DEP and the water supply/stray gas complaints they receive and must investigate. Getting a complaint that involves potential methane migration into a water supply is NOT a straightforward investigation, mainly because most of the time, that’s not how such issues are reported. Very few people contact the DEP using the words “I think my water has been contaminated with methane by a shale driller a half mile away.” It’s never that simple. 
On March 20, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) told the Oil and Gas Technical Advisory Board (TAB) that the U.S. Department of the Interior has “withdrawn” the Orphan Oil and Gas Well Regulatory Improvement Act Grant Program designed to help states strengthen their programs, in particular to prevent future oil and gas well abandonment. Oh no! Trump is cutting federal money to plug old wells! He’s so mean!! He’s so cruel!!! Except that’s not what is happening… 
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) continues to aid and abet radical environmental groups in circumventing the state legislature. In what amounts to a classic leftist “sue-and-settle” case, last year radical environmental groups (including the Clean Air Council and Environmental Integrity Project) petitioned the state Environmental Quality Board (EQB), asking the board to amend 25 Pa. Code Chapter 78a by increasing “setbacks” for oil and gas well drilling to a minimum of 3,281 feet from any building or water wells (5,280 feet from hospitals and schools), and 750 feet from any river, creek, or mud puddle (i.e., surface waters). Such an increase in setbacks would stop ALL new shale drilling in the state, which is the goal of these radicals. The DEP is recommending to the EQB that it should accept and consider the proposed rulemaking. 
Hope Gas, a large local utility company that provides gas service to more than 131,000 residential, industrial, and commercial customers in thirty-seven West Virginia counties, filed a rate case with the state Public Service Commission (PSC) in August 2024 looking to convert customers who use a “farm tap” gas system to either propane fuel or electric heat for their homes (see 
Never in our wildest dreams did we think that Donald Trump winning a second term would result in the resurrection of the 124-mile Pennsylvania-to-New York Constitution Pipeline project. Yet, that prospect appears increasingly likely. We don’t want to offer false hope, but we can’t ignore the signs favoring the Constitution’s springing back to life. The latest sign? Two prominent leftwing mainstream media outlets, none other than the Washington Post and POLITICO, ran stories yesterday all but admitting that the liberal Democrat governors of New York and New England are in the process of caving and either have or soon will support the Constitution Pipeline project. It’s absolute magic! 
In December, MDN told you the country’s largest electric grid, PJM Interconnection, which covers all or parts of 13 states, including PA, OH, and WV, proposed new changes to how it decides which new power plants can connect to the system first. The new policy *favors* adding natural gas-fired power over other types of power like unreliable solar and wind (see 
The highly functional and responsible Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC), unlike its completely dysfunctional and irresponsible cousin, 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 March 22 Pennsylvania Bulletin that the Commission renewed 34 general water use permits in January for individual shale gas well drilling pads in Bradford, Centre, Clinton, Elk, Lycoming, Sullivan, Susquehanna, Tioga, and Wyoming counties. 
Pennsylvania State Sen. Gene Yaw from Lycoming County, chairman of the Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee, is a strong Marcellus Shale friend. Sen. Yaw recently reintroduced an “Energy Choice” bill blocking municipalities from banning a specific type of fuel source for appliances and heating homes or businesses. The language is fuel-neutral and is not specific to one energy source, but obviously, it’s aimed at preventing liberals who run municipalities in and around Philadelphia and Pittsburgh (maybe Harrisburg) from blocking the use of natural gas in their homes and businesses, a favorite tactic of the left. 
