Bradford County | Electrical Generation | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | New Fortress Energy | Pennsylvania | Regulation
Wyalusing LNG Plant is Dead; Gas-Fired Power for Data Ctr Replaces
We had heard rumors that the LNG liquefaction plant planned by New Fortress Energy (NFE) for Wyalusing in Bradford County, PA, was being dropped in favor of an alternative. Namely, a gas-fired power plant project. We can now confirm that the rumors are true. The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) published notice in the July 12 PA Bulletin inviting comments on an air permit for the proposed 248 megawatt (MW) Wyalusing Energy Center, a natural gas-fired power plant in Wyalusing Township, to be used to power a data center. The power plant permit is for the exact location where the LNG liquefaction plant was planned. Read More “Wyalusing LNG Plant is Dead; Gas-Fired Power for Data Ctr Replaces”
Well, you knew this was coming. Radicalized green groups are gearing up to challenge two recently resurrected Williams pipeline projects: The Constitution Pipeline, a 124-mile, 660 MMcf/d greenfield (brand new) pipeline from the gas fields of northeastern Pennsylvania (in Susquehanna County) into and through New York to Schoharie County; and the Northeast Supply Enhancement (NESE) project, designed to increase Transco pipeline capacity and flows of Marcellus gas heading into New York City and other northeastern markets. 
In May, NRG Energy announced a deal to acquire LS Power’s portfolio of natural-gas power plants in a deal valued at roughly $12 billion, including debt, that will expand NRG’s footprint in Texas and along the East Coast (see 
On Monday, President Trump signed an Executive Order (EO) to end market-distorting subsidies for unreliable wind and solar. The EO directs the Secretary of the Treasury (Scott Bessent) to terminate the clean electricity production and investment tax credits for wind and solar facilities and implement the enhanced Foreign Entity of Concern restrictions as identified in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The EO also directs the Secretary of the Interior (Doug Burgum) to revise regulations and policies to eliminate preferential treatment for wind and solar facilities compared to reliable, dispatchable energy sources. 
When referring to Big Green groups in Pennsylvania and elsewhere, we often label the groups as “colluding,” meaning they coordinate their legal and public relations attacks against fossil fuel companies. It is something we have long suspected but (unfortunately) can’t prove definitively. We had hoped Philadelphia Gas Works (PGW) was about to prove it (see 
MDN recently brought you the news that the Trump administration was blocking cargoes of ethane to China (see 
A kerfuffle has erupted in Morgan Township (Greene County), PA, between drilling and pipeline giant EQT Corporation and the town over the issue of hauling heavy equipment on Morgan’s roadways. Morgan supervisors prohibited EQT from using local town roads to haul heavy equipment to work sites. On June 18, EQT filed a lawsuit against the town, which the town is sure to lose (copy below). There is word that an agreement is already in the works to settle the dispute. 
Miracle of miracles, President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill was passed and signed into law by the President last Friday. Somehow, the Republicans got out of their own way to unite and pass it. There’s lots NOT TO like about the bill, but there is also lots TO like. And remember, this is just the beginning. More bills (and Executive Orders) will come along. When the full effect of this bill begins to take hold and the economy soars and people are keeping more of their own money (less taxes), we predict not even the lying Democrats will be able to cover up the good news. The bill contains numerous provisions related to energy issues, including the oil and gas industry and the unreliable renewable energy sector. A significant portion of the bill focused on gutting President Autopen’s Green New Deal (also known as the Inflation Reduction Act). So, how will this bill (now a law) benefit the O&G sector? 
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. The DEP announced last November that it would soon implement the SPEED (Streamlining Permits for Economic Expansion and Development) program to speed up the permit approval process (see 
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. 
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