Big Green Challenges FERC Order Allowing Pipe Projs During Lawsuits
One of the environmental left’s favorite tactics to defeat fossil fuel projects is to challenge every single infrastructure project (pipeline or otherwise) connected to fossil energy at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). As soon as a company files an application to build a new project, and FERC approves it, Big Green will challenge it, first at FERC, and eventually via the courts. FERC has an internal rule, called Order No. 871, that states a company cannot begin construction (even though FERC has approved the certificate) until all such legal challenges are resolved. Which can take YEARS. Which is the point—delay, and eventually some of the projects will give up and won’t build. Run out the clock. Read More “Big Green Challenges FERC Order Allowing Pipe Projs During Lawsuits”
In an interview with the Financial Times, EQT Corporation CEO Toby Rice stated that onerous permitting rules are hindering President Trump’s ambitions for energy dominance. Rice said Congress needs to cut project approval times to compete with Russian LNG exports and to win the AI race against China. His message was clear: Permitting reform, NOW. We’ve danced around permitting reform long enough (for years). It’s time to act. Republicans control Congress and the White House. If we can’t get permitting reform done now, it will never get done. 
On July 8, PA State Senator Art Haywood (Democrat from Philadelphia) introduced PA Senate Bill (SB) 910, which slaps a 6.5% severance tax on the gross production of all oil and natural gas produced in the state (see 
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 
In December 2017 (7.5 years ago!), MDN told you about the bastardization of our justice system by Michael Bloomberg. Bloomberg funneled money to the New York University (NYU) School of Law, which in turn pays to hire radical (Democrat) attorneys to work inside the offices of the attorneys general in Democrat-controlled states, including Pennsylvania (see 
Danskammer Energy, which had operated a gas-fired peaker power plant along the Hudson River in Newburgh, NY, worked on a project to upgrade the plant since 2018. In June 2024, Danskammer Energy withdrew its permit application with the fossil fuel-hostile state, formally ending attempts to expand after nearly seven years of frustration in trying and receiving rejections from the state Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC). Let the idiots who keep the Dems in power sit in the dark and see how that feels. Now, the idiots (and leftist politicians who want to keep their jobs) are waking up and saying, “Oh crap. We might need those gas-fired plants after all.” It sounds so sweet to say: WE TOLD YOU SO! 
As we reported on Wednesday, a truly mind-blowing event was held in Pittsburgh on Tuesday, the Pennsylvania Energy and Innovation Summit organized by PA Senator Dave McCormick (see 
After returning from the Pennsylvania Energy and Innovation summit held on Tuesday of this week in Pittsburgh, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lee Zeldin published an op-ed highlighting steps his agency is taking to reduce burdensome regulations, unleash American energy dominance, and make America the AI capital of the world. The EPA is working on clearing away red tape on the federal level, while GOP legislators in Pennsylvania are working on clearing away red tape on the state level. It will take both efforts to ensure the $92 billion pledged for energy projects in PA actually happens. 
Despite a “public outcry” (of 13 people), the Chesapeake City (Virginia) Council voted 6-3 on Tuesday night to approve a compressor station for Virginia Natural Gas (VNG). The City Council previously voted, on June 17, to deny permission. This was a reconsideration vote. The proposed site is already zoned industrial and has other VNG operations already in place. It’s not like it’s being constructed in the middle of a neighborhood. 
The Northeast Supply Enhancement (NESE) project is designed to increase Transco pipeline capacity and flows of Marcellus gas heading into New York City and other northeastern markets. Following some intense conversations between President Trump and New York Governor Kathy Hochul, she caved (according to the White House). She agreed to allow two long-stalled pipeline projects—the Constitution and NESE—to get built in NY in return for Trump allowing her to continue to sink $5 billion into an offshore wind project (see 
Here’s an important update for a project we haven’t discussed since last October. The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is building a $2.1 billion state-of-the-art natural gas plant in Cumberland City, Tennessee (see 
You gotta hand it to Pennsylvania Democrats. They LOVE LOVE LOVE to tax other people’s money—especially companies and industries that they hate, like the state’s oil and gas industry. On July 8, PA State Senator Art Haywood (Democrat from Philadelphia) introduced PA Senate Bill (SB) 910, which slaps a 6.5% severance tax on the gross production of all oil and natural gas produced in the state. However, the bill goes further by repealing the provision in the 2012 Act 13 law that states that if a severance tax is ever implemented, the existing impact fee would be eliminated. In other words, Haywood’s bill eliminates the provision to end the impact fee, meaning the impact fee would remain in place. So, drillers would be taxed twice for the same thing. Fortunately, the bill is DOA in the Senate. 
The more the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) beats the drum to say it has solved the slooooooow permitting process in the state, the more hollow it rings. It seems like every other week, the DEP issues a press release to announce it has almost cleared all of the agency’s backlog of permits. Another such pronouncement was issued yesterday. The DEP claims its permit backlog has been reduced by 98% since November 2023, decreasing the backlog from over 2,400 permit applications to fewer than 50. Good for them.