Green Energy Grifters Upset with PJM Plan to Favor Gas Power
Last week, MDN told you the country’s largest electric grid, PJM Interconnection, which covers all or parts of 13 states, including PA, OH, and WV, is making 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 New PJM Policy Favors Gas-Fired Power Over Solar & Wind). The change comes in response to the rapidly increasing demand for more electricity from data centers and artificial intelligence computing. PJM’s gas-favoring policy change has rankled the environmental left. According to green grifters, the PJM proposal unfairly allows gas-fired projects to “jump the queue” ahead of unreliable renewables. Read More “Green Energy Grifters Upset with PJM Plan to Favor Gas Power”
Upper Burrell (Westmoreland County, PA) town supervisors have historically been receptive (or at least tolerant) to the Marcellus Shale industry that has so blessed their town and Westmoreland County (
In January 2023, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, an extremist, floated a plan to ban natural gas hookups in every single new home and business across the “Empire” State (see 
Who let the DOGEs out? Who, who, who, who. (To be sung to the tune of the iconic song, 
Come and get it! Only ten companies have applied to plug 77 orphaned wells in Pennsylvania as part of $44.4 million allocated for PA’s Methane Emissions Reduction Program (MERP) grant program. By our calculations, more than $41 million remains in the pot unclaimed. However, the clock is ticking. There is a Dec. 16 deadline to meet if you want some of the money. Use it or lose it. What are you waiting for? 
Every budget season in Pennsylvania, it’s the same old dog-and-pony show by the PA Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). “We don’t have enough money to pay our staff,” and “We aren’t making as much money from (insanely high) shale permit fees anymore, so we need more taxpayer money to make up the difference.” Etc. Yet a few months later, after the budget is adopted, the DEP somehow finds money lying around to donate to various leftwing causes. Case in point: The DEP announced yesterday it is donating $600,000 to 12 leftist organizations to spread more wokeness across the Commonwealth under the banner of “environmental justice” (EJ). 
Wow! Trump winning the election has clearly emboldened some CEOs in the oil and gas sector. Anti-fossil fuel zealots long ago figured out if they could stop new pipelines from getting built, they could block the growth of new shale drilling. The antis have been devastatingly effective in places like the northeast U.S. in places like New York, New England, and even in the three active Marcellus/Utica states of Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia. The problem, in a nutshell, is that states have a role in approving permits for new interstate pipelines under the Clean Water Act. One CEO wants to see that changed. 
The U.S. Supreme Court is gearing up to hear arguments for and against a proposed railway that would connect Utah’s oil-rich Uinta Basin to Colorado. Other than this is a railroad story (and you know we’re suckers for a good railroad story), how does it connect to the Marcellus/Utica? The case could fundamentally change how the federal government conducts environmental reviews. This case revolves around what should and should not be part of a so-called environmental review. A Circuit Court of Appeals wanted more nonsense included in such a review. The conservative Supreme Court is now going to review their work with a potential eye on overruling them. 
A Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) inspector showed up at Stonehaven Energy’s Class IID “Latshaw 9” oil and gas wastewater injection well in Cranberry Township, Venango County, on Nov. 27 for a routine inspection. He found the well is not in use and hasn’t been in use since March 2023. The well was inspected in March 2024, yet no violations were issued at that time. However, the inspector tagged the well with a violation on Nov. 27, claiming the well had been “abandoned.” 
In July, the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) opened up the shuttered Austin Master Services (AMS) radiological waste management solutions company in Martins Ferry (Belmont County), Ohio, to begin cleanup work at the facility (see 
In the spirit of doing the maximum amount of damage to the fossil fuel industry before being pried out of their cushy offices in the D.C. swamp, the Biden EPA last week proposed yet another onerous new regulation aimed at strangling natural gas-fired power plants. This latest attack ups the limits on emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) from most new, modified, and reconstructed gas-fired power plants. It’s a safe bet that the incoming Trump EPA administrator, Lee Zeldin, will withdraw the proposed regulation before it can be implemented. So, at least there’s that. However, the new reg comes from a “sue-and-settle” court case with the odious Sierra Club in 2022 that requires a new reg to be in place by Nov. 2025. 
In October 2023, the Biden Department of Energy (DOE) published a new rule that cracks down on gas furnaces in homes, essentially phasing out many existing models and requiring new ones to meet onerous new standards (see 
The incoming Trump administration will have a big emphasis on natural gas, including LNG (liquefied natural gas) exports. Lazy journalists and lazy economists try to scare the general public into believing more (new) LNG exports from this country will cause the price of domestic natural gas to skyrocket. Their arguments presume no increase in natgas production, which is a fallacy. There are many reasons why the price of natgas isn’t going to skyrocket from more LNG export approvals. 
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) is aiding and abetting radical environmental groups in circumventing the state legislature. In what amounts to a classic leftist “sue-and-settle” case, 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 ruled that the petition to the EQB was right and proper and should move forward.