PA DEP Claims Progress in Reducing Out-of-Control Permit Backlog
Permitting in Pennsylvania, especially permits overseen by the Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP), has been broken for years. A Chapter 102 Erosion and Sedimentation permit sometimes takes two, three, or even six to eight months for approval — instead of the law-mandated 14 days. It got so bad that in the fall of 2019, PA State Sen. Gene Yaw introduced a bill to allow third-party reviews of these permits in an attempt to speed it up (see PA Sen. Yaw Intros Bill to Allow 3rd Party Review of Erosion Permits). In June 2023, then-DEP Sec. Rich Negrin told lawmakers at a Senate hearing that he was making good progress on his 10-point plan to speed up permits and cut down on red tape (see DEP Sec. Negrin Focused on Cutting Red Tape, Speeding New Permits). PA Gov. Josh Shapiro introduced a “money-back guarantee” on slow permits last November, which we exposed as bogus (see Shapiro’s DEP Money-Back Guarantee for Permit Delays is Bogus). The DEP says thanks to the guarantee and other changes, the agency is getting much better with turnaround times for permits.
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In March 2022, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), corrupted by the Bidenistas, said it would begin to force all publicly traded companies to disclose their so-called greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and the imaginary climate risks their businesses face (see 
In early January, Chesapeake Energy and Southwestern Energy, two companies with major assets in the country’s two leading gas plays — the Marcellus/Utica and the Haynesville — announced an agreement to merge into one company (see 
A group of so-called environmental advocates (old hippies) gathered in Albany at the Capitol yesterday to continue their call to ban all “fracking,” including CO2 (carbon dioxide) used to extract natural gas. We wonder if they know that a total ban on “all” fracking includes a ban on fracking geothermal wells being pushed by the governor.
U.S. Senators Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and Jeff Merkley (D-OR) introduced the Protecting American Households From Rising Energy Costs Act, legislation that would ban the export of crude oil or liquefied natural gas (LNG) to the U.S.’s biggest adversaries: China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea. “We should not allow American liquid natural gas to fuel China’s state-sponsored industries. The Chinese Communist Party uses that energy to cheat and undermine Ohio production and Ohio jobs,” said Brown. “Blocking China and other adversaries from obtaining our LNG will protect our national security.”
In a new low, anti-fossil fuelers who have tried and failed to stop the Mountain Valley Pipeline in Virginia (now 99% done) are now attacking the reputation and character of the Director of the Virginia Dept. of Environmental Quality (DEQ), trying to slow things down with an ad hominem (“to the man” or “personal”) attack against the guy who oversees the environmental agency that has a partial role in watching over MVP. It’s shameful. DEQ Director Michael Rolband was appointed to his job by newly-elected Gov. Glenn Youngkin in 2022, back when MVP was already 95% done but stalled due to repeated lawfare by Big Green and cooperative (corrupt) 4th Circuit judges. Even though MVP was already mostly done in Virginia, antis say because Rolband — who did some work for MVP in his prior career before heading DEQ — is somehow compromised or unethical and not doing his oversight job correctly now. Complete hogwash!
In early January, Chesapeake Energy and Southwestern Energy, two companies with major assets in the country’s two leading gas plays — the Marcellus/Utica and the Haynesville — announced an agreement to merge into one company (see 
The Bidenistas at the EPA announced last night the agency will delay, until AFTER the November election, implementing harsh new regulations aimed at closing down gas-fired power plants across the country. The unstated purpose is to remove this highly unpopular edict as a campaign issue so the bag of bones known as Joementia can try to get himself reelected. We suppose this is good news, as it means these regs will likely never get implemented for existing power plants — they will certainly be dropped in a DJT administration. Still, the threat looms over the industry, and nobody will build a new plant under these harsh regulations, which WILL apply to any new gas-fired power plant project effective immediately. So all work on new plants will stop forthwith. That’s the downside to the announcement.
Yesterday, the Biden White House announced it is nominating three new members to join the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). There are supposed to be five commissioners, although the commission can still function with as few as three. Currently, there are three (two Democrats, one Republican), with one of the Dems, radical Allison Clements, leaving at the end of her term in June. Two active commissioners are not enough for a quorum to vote on important matters. So finally, after months and months of stalling, Joementia got around to nominating some new blood — two Dems and one Republican.
Earlier this month, MDN told you about Pennsylvania’s two U.S. Senators, John Fetterman and Bob Casey, and their wishy-washy, mild criticism of Joe Biden’s decision to “pause” any new LNG export permits (see 
The American Petroleum Institute (API), which is no friend of independent shale drillers, together with six other O&G groups, filed an application for rehearing on the Dept. of Energy’s (DOE) indefinite pause on new and pending liquefied natural gas (LNG) permit approvals for non-FTA countries. The application for rehearing is a legal filing, the first stop on the way to a full-blown court case. The filing asks the DOE to reconsider and stop its pause on advancing requests to export LNG. If the DOE denies the rehearing request, the Bidenistas can expect to be sued in federal court to overturn the pause.
Swampy leftists in the Democrat Party view the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as their own personal playground — a birthright. If a Republican takes the White House, as Donald Trump did in 2017, and sets about to scale back some of the extremist policies implemented by previous presidents like Lord Obama, the lefties go berserk (see 
Yesterday, the Ohio Oil & Gas Land Management Commission (OGLMC) met to award contracts to drill under (not on) several Ohio state parks, including the 20,000-acre Salt Fork State Park in Guernsey County. Anti-fossil fuel nutters didn’t disappoint. They showed up and dressed up in burlap bags and silly hats, standing along a wall to protest against the proceeding. Fortunately, the protesters didn’t disrupt or stop the proceeding (they had been threatened with arrest if they did). The big news (for us) is that Encino Energy, which has long coveted the Salt Fork State Park property, did NOT win the contract for it! At some point, Encino pulled its proposal for Salt Fork and instead concentrated on several other parcels. The contract for Salt Fork was awarded to Infinity Natural Resources. We have the complete list of who won which contracts and how much they are paying in signing bonuses and royalties.
In December, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro issued a press release and rang the bell to announce his administration had (at that point) plugged 132 orphaned and abandoned wells in just 11 months, surpassing the total over the previous eight years combined, with big plans to expand the program (see 
Sometimes, we get a miracle. A liberal Democrat judge from Franklin County, OH, ruled on Friday that anti-fossil fuel fanatics don’t have the right to appeal a decision by the Ohio Oil & Gas Land Management Commission (OGLMC) to meet and award contracts to drill under (not on) several Ohio state parks, including the 20,000-acre Salt Fork State Park in Guernsey County. The OGLMC is scheduled to meet today to make announcements awarding contracts for several tracts, including Salt Fork State Park. We expect antis will try to derail the proceedings illegally. Grab the popcorn…
Members of the Wet Virginia State Senate voted on Friday to permanently retain a flawed oil and gas well valuation formula. The Senate vote comes after the House had previously voted to do the same thing (see