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SRBC Approves Water Permits for 34 Shale Well Pads in NE Pa.
In August, the Executive Director of the Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC) approved 34 water-use permits for individual shale gas well drilling pads in Bradford, Lycoming, Sullivan, Susquehanna, and Tioga counties. We’re just learning of the action via an official notice published in the Sept. 23 edition of the Pennsylvania Bulletin. The approvals, which are NOT subject to public review according to SRBC regulations, are general water permits. Each site will be required to receive a specific water withdrawal approval at a later date.
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The highly functional and responsible Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC), unlike its completely dysfunctional and irresponsible cousin, the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC), continues to support the shale energy industry by approving water withdrawals for responsible and safe shale drilling. Last week, the SRBC approved 22 new water withdrawal requests within the basin, eight of which are for water used in drilling and fracking shale wells in Pennsylvania. The Marcellus/Utica shale drillers receiving a green light from SRBC included BKV (Banpu), Coterra Energy, EQT, Inflection Energy, Repsol (2 requests), Seneca Resources, and S.T.L. Resources.
Earlier this year, Sempra Infrastructure, a subsidiary of Sempra, announced it had reached a positive final investment decision (FID) for the development, construction, and operation of the Port Arthur LNG Phase 1 project in Jefferson County, Texas (see 
Less than a year ago, the Northeast experienced a major winter storm at Christmastime (Winter Storm Elliott). Do you remember it? On Dec. 23, temps in places like the Lehigh Valley of Pennsylvania hit 60 degrees! Within 12 hours, the bottom dropped out, with temps plunging into the single digits—a more than 50-degree change. Dec. 24’s high temp in the Lehigh Valley (Allentown) was 13 degrees. The massive temperature change caused problems with power generation by natural gas plants, some of which went offline due to freeze-ups in the pipelines that feed them. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) issued a final report yesterday on Winter Storm Elliott, complete with recommendations for sweeping new regulations to prevent future blackouts from storms like Elliott.
The American Petroleum Institute (API) is urging the EPA to delay implementation of parts of its proposed methane regulations (of oil and gas companies) because of equipment supply constraints. In a new study just released, oil and gas companies identified supply chain delays and challenges in buying the methane reduction equipment they would need to comply with EPA’s draft regulation on the timeline EPA proposed. The study finds current backorder times for methane reduction equipment components range from six months to more than two years. Implementing the proposed methane rule is expected to increase current backorder times by six months or more. Once again, the government is the problem, not the solution.
In April, MDN told you about a radicalized faction within the Pennsylvania Democrat Party trying yet another ploy to block all new Marcellus drilling in the state (see 
This is how lawless dictators behave. The U.S. Senate, charged with approving the people who run various governmental agencies, including the Dept. of Energy, rejected Jeff Marootian, nominated by Joe Biden to be the assistant secretary of the Dept. of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE). Why? Joe Manchin said Marootian wants to ban natural gas stoves by regulating them out of existence. Biden withdrew Marootian’s nomination–and then “quietly” appointed him as principal deputy assistant secretary of the EERE, where he is now the most senior person and the de facto head of the department. Lawless.
The Bidenistas at the Dept. of Treasury want banks and asset managers to sign on to the lunatic “net-zero” pledge to reduce the mythical increase in global temperatures to no more than 1.5 Celsius by 2050. The way to do it, according to the climate hucksters, is to limit methane and carbon dioxide emissions. In other words, quit burning and using fossil fuels. It’s pure insanity, but this isn’t the first time in world history humans have engaged in mass insanity. Back to center… Yesterday, the Treasury Dept. published?the “Principles for Net-Zero Financing & Investment” report, a document with nine principles (i.e., commandments) that Treasury and the Bidenistas say are voluntary for banks and asset managers to follow. In reality, they are requirements. Banks will disobey at their own peril.
In May, the Bidenistas at the EPA released a hellscape of new regulations (681 pages) aimed at forcing coal- and natural gas-fired power plants to close (see 
Dominion Energy, a huge utility company headquartered in Richmond, Virginia, recently revived a plan to build four small “peaker” electric generating plants in Chesterfield County, VA, a Richmond suburb (see 
Everyone is telling the Bidenistas at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) the same thing: Dump the faulty regulations you composed at the last minute that will result in closing most (if not all) of America’s natural gas-fired power plants. The latest group to tell (off) the EPA is a coalition of 87 businesses and associations from multiple states–including Pennsylvania and Ohio. Among the groups in the coalition are the Pennsylvania Independent Oil & Gas Association (PIOGA), the American Petroleum Institute — both the Pennsylvania and Ohio chapters, and the Ohio Oil & Gas Association. The coalition represents millions of people.
In April 2019, President Trump signed an Executive Order (EO) instructing the Environmental Protection Agency to review Section 401 of the Clean Water Act–the section that grants states (and tribes) the right to have a say in pipeline and other infrastructure projects (see 
Jennifer Granholm, former governor of Michigan and current Secretary of the U.S. Dept. of Energy under dementia Joe, sat before Members of Congress in a hearing and lied to their faces, which is called perjury. Granholm told Congress she does not own individual shares of stocks in companies. She and her husband, in fact, do own stocks. As Secretary of Energy, Granholm promoted companies in which she and her husband own stocks, using federal government money to enrich herself. It’s gross corruption, and it’s perjury. Granholm needs to go. Congresswoman Claudia Tenney from Upstate NY is calling for an impeachment inquiry of Granholm to help the process along.