PA Supremes Invent New DEP Power to Block Drilling Near Schools
We appear to finally be at the end of an eight-year road with respect to new shale drilling regulations in Pennsylvania adopted back in 2016. Two days ago, the PA Supreme Court overturned a Commonwealth Court decision that blocked the Dept. of Environmental Protection’s (DEP) ability to control shale drilling near schools and public playgrounds. In October 2016, after five years in the making, PA adopted new shale drilling regulations called Chapter 78 (see PA’s New Chapter 78a Drilling Regs Go into Effect Oct 8).
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We sometimes ponder (and despair) over this question: Does the truth matter anymore? Do people actually care whether or not they are being lied to–by the government, by the media, by so-called experts? The trigger for our dark reflection on metaphysics comes from the news that the Pennsylvania Independent Regulatory Review Commission (IRRC) yesterday approved, by a vote of 3 to 2, a new regulation controlling volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions and by extension, methane emissions, for Pennsylvania’s conventional oil and gas drillers. How is that news event related to truth and lies? We will explain.
Some 23 extremist so-called environmental groups from Pennsylvania (and beyond) sent a letter to federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Michael Regan asking him to rachet up federal regulations to be so extreme it forces the remaining electric power plants in PA that use coal and natural gas to close down. The extremist groups include PennFuture (headed by former PA Dept. of Environmental Protection Secretary Pat McDonnell), the so-called Clean Air Council (funded by the Haas and Heinz families), and the Philadelphia Solar Energy Association.
Those who believe the world can force a transition to so-called renewable energy in the next 20-30 years and force the world to stop using fossil energy are delusional. Among them are the “leaders” of the G7 nations: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom, and the United States of America. The so-called forced energy transition is, says energy expert David Blackmon, “one of the biggest policy gambles in world history.” The G7 are all betting the farm on the proposition that they can force fossil fuels out of business and replace them with “rent-seeking” solar, wind, EVs, and hydrogen.
New York State’s chickens are finally coming home to roost. The extreme leftist politicians who run the state have assaulted the fossil energy industry for half a dozen years, maybe longer. The assault on fossil energy began under Andrew Cuomo and has continued under his successor, Kathy Hochul. Their actions are leading to electricity blackouts in New York City. Last Friday, the New York Independent System Operator (NYISO) released its quarterly assessment of the reliability of the bulk electric system. While the state as a whole is not (yet) in trouble, NYISO says beginning in 2025, NYC “could become deficient” in electric power. Translation: The Big (Rotten) Apple is heading for blackouts.
New research released by The Buckeye Institute models the impact that a new Clean Power Plan–which the Biden Administration is attempting to revive through the regulatory process–would have on jobs, the economy, and customers. In “The Economic Impact of a Potential New Clean Power Plan on Ohio and California” (full copy below), researchers with Buckeye’s Economic Research Center (ERC), using power usage data from government agencies in Ohio and California, found that customers in Ohio would see an increase of $810 on their electric bills per year and that customers in California would see an increase of $665 annually.
Last November, one of the ten natural gas storage wells at the Equitrans Rager Mountain Gas Storage Area in Jackson Township, Cambria County (in Pennsylvania) began to leak. The well ended up leaking roughly 100 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) of gas into the atmosphere (see 
Newly-elected Gov. Josh Shapiro, who (we must say) has appeared to be completely ineffective since taking office (which is not necessarily a bad thing), appointed a working group to help guide him on what he should do with respect to the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) carbon tax and the broader issue of global warming. The panel is super-secret. Only two people who belong to the working group have been named, the two co-chairs: one from the radicalized National Resources Defense Council and one from a PA state labor union.
Yesterday the 303-mile, 94% complete Mountain Valley Pipeline project received a Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement from the U.S. Forest Service, clearing the way for the pipeline to get built through a piddly 3.5 miles of Jefferson National Forest. Ring the bells! Dance for joy! Blow the party noisemakers, right? Wrong. This is the third time this same permit has been issued. Nobody was impressed. We only found a single news story about it. The stock of Equitrans, the builder, moved up one penny on the news. Why the muted response? Because everyone has seen this movie before.
There is an ongoing issue with cleanup at a Chesapeake Energy well pad in Bradford County, PA. The Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) showed up at the site to conduct an inspection earlier this year, in January. The DEP inspector found “multiple pools and puddles on the site contaminated with drilling wastewater and possible fracking chemical fluids.” The DEP issued a notice of violation (NOV) for failing to prevent contamination from being discharged on the site. Chesapeake promised to get it cleaned up. Yet, in multiple repeat inspections since then, inspectors have continued to find contaminated fluids on the ground.
Last time we visited this topic, West Virginia Senate Bill (SB) 188, aimed at making WV’s gas-fired power generation more competitive with its neighbors in Pennsylvania and Ohio, had passed the Senate and was on a fast track for a vote in the House (see 
If leftists can redefine what is and what is not “waters of the United States” (WOTUS), they can pretty much control you and what you can and can’t do with your own private property. WOTUS, according to the Bidenistas, is pretty much anything down to mud puddles, as they proposed earlier this year (see 
New York politicians are so consumed with hatred of fossil fuels they are forcing residents to pay an average of $28,000 to convert their homes away from heating and cooking with natural gas, propane, and fuel oil (see