FERC Approves Venture Global LNG’s Calcasieu Pass 2 Final SEIS
Last December, MDN told you that the future of what could become the country’s largest LNG export facility, Venture Global’s Calcasieu Pass 2 (CP2), was in question following a court order from the the leftwing U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia (see Timing & Future of Venture Global’s CP2 LNG Project Murky). The court instructed the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to re-review an environmental impact statement for the project. FERC did just that and (thumbing its nose at the DC Circuit) said no changes are required, issuing a “Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement” ten days ago. Read More “FERC Approves Venture Global LNG’s Calcasieu Pass 2 Final SEIS”
Last week, two different quasi-governmental agencies, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), issued summer assessments for whether or not the country could experience problems with having enough electric power for this summer. Both assessments conclude the same thing: IF we don’t have any extreme weather events, and if unreliable renewable sources like solar and wind don’t crap out for an extended period, we’ll be fine. However, if we do have a hot spell or solar/wind fail, we’re in trouble. In particular, New England and the central part of the country from top to bottom are at most risk. However, even the PJM area could experience some problems. 
In February, President Trump signed an executive order (EO) creating the National Energy Dominance Council, directing the new council to move quickly to increase domestic oil and gas production (see 
West Virginia has more than 21,000 abandoned and orphaned oil and gas wells. Plugging them to prevent environmental problems is a thorny issue, as it is in other states like Pennsylvania and Ohio (and Texas, and Oklahoma, etc.). Regulatory hurdles make it expensive. A WV bill not previously on our radar made its way through the legislature and was signed yesterday by Governor Patrick Morrisey: House Bill (HB) 3336. The bill (now law) makes it cheaper and faster to plug abandoned and orphaned oil and gas wells in the Mountain State. 
Yesterday, MDN brought you the news that the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) is laying the blame for a series of low-level earthquakes in southeastern Ohio on fracking at a shale well in Noble County (see 
In December, MDN told you that the country’s largest electric grid, PJM Interconnection, which covers all or parts of 13 states, including PA, OH, and WV, proposed 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 
Earlier this week, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced the first step in the DOE’s “largest deregulatory effort in history,” proposing the elimination or reduction of 47 regulations that are driving up costs and lowering the quality of life for the American people. Once finalized, these actions (the list of all 47 is published below) will save the American people an estimated $11 billion and cut more than 125,000 words from the Code of Federal Regulations. These actions, in accordance with President Donald Trump’s Executive Order, “Zero-Based Regulation to Unleash American Energy,” advance President Trump’s promise to restore consumer freedom, lower costs, and unleash American energy dominance. 
Yesterday, the seven members of the Pennsylvania Supreme Court (five Democrats and two Republicans) heard oral arguments in a lawsuit that attempts to force PA to accept the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), an obscene carbon tax on coal- and gas-fired power plants. Former Democrat Governor Tom Wolf tried to force the state to join RGGI in 2019 (see 
Earlier this year, an undisclosed shale driller asked the Ohio Oil and Gas Land Management Commission (OGLMC) to consider opening up an additional 4,360 acres of state-owned Egypt Valley Wildlife Area in Belmont County for shale drilling under the land (see 
A key issue has come about with the rapid increase in carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) projects around the country, including here in the Marcellus/Utica region. Where does one store (sequester) all that carbon dioxide (CO2)? The answer is underground in a Class VI injection well. Class VI wells are a relatively new classification for injection wells, created by the federal EPA in 2010. Earlier this year, the federal EPA bestowed “primacy” on West Virginia, granting the WV Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) the authority to approve new Class VI injection wells, bypassing the federal EPA (see 
In his first two days in office, Joe Biden declared war on the oil and gas industry. One of the first things he did was to revive an interagency working group on the “social cost” of greenhouse gas emissions and directed the issuance of an “interim” cost (see 
In November 2023, CNX Resources CEO Nick DeIuliis signed a voluntary deal with Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro to expand drilling setbacks and several other regulatory steps not mandated for shale drillers under PA law (see