PA Senators Push DCNR to Lease More State Land for Drilling
It seems like every March we write about the same topic when budget hearings begin in Pennsylvania. That topic is a recommendation by Republican State Senators, including Gene Yaw (from Lycoming County, PA), recommending to the Democrat administration they should seek to lease more state-owned land for shale drilling (see PA Senators Ask DCNR to Lease Extra 22K Ac. State Land for Drilling and Sen. Yaw Tells DCNR to Lease More PA State Land for Gas Drilling). And every year, the state Dept. of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) Secretary, Cindy Adams Dunn (former president of the radical PennFuture organization), resists and refuses to expand drilling under state land (see PA DCNR Secretary Chilly to Suggestion of More State Forest Drilling). It happened again yesterday.
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The nightmare we can’t wake up from, called New York State, keeps getting darker and worse. In January, Hochul proposed banning the sale of all new natural gas appliances across the state, along with an outright ban on hooking up new homes and businesses to gas, by 2030 (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 
On March 14, eight business groups across five states (including PA and WV) sent a letter to the federal EPA urging the EPA to expedite approvals for well permits for carbon sequestration, including allowing primacy for states. Businesses and consortia are actively pursuing significant investments in projects related to the so-called energy transition. Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS) is an important piece of the “transition,” both for capturing direct emissions and enabling clean hydrogen production from promised regional hydrogen hubs. CCS investments can accelerate a region’s energy transition and grow jobs. But the feds are dragging their feet. States want to take control of approving CCS projects for themselves, to speed things along–to become the primary regulatory authority. But the dysfunctional EPA is not responding. Hence the letter.
National Grid is desperately trying not to run out of natural gas for its customers in Brooklyn and Queens (on Long Island). For several years the company has fought a battle to run a tiny pipeline to its Greenpoint, Brooklyn facility to provide extra natural gas. National Grid has a backup plan in case it can’t complete the pipeline project–add two extra LNG vaporizers to the Greenpoint facility to turn trucked LNG back into gas that can flow through the system. A so-called independent consultant reviewed the plan and filed a report last November with the state Public Utility Commission saying National Grid’s vaporizers aren’t needed (see 
Environmental radical Pat McDonnell of PennFuture, the former Pennsylvania Secretary of the Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP), along with his best friend THE Delaware Riverkeeper, Maya van Rossum, have just sued McDonnell’s former agency over permits the DEP issued to Williams to build the Regional Energy Access Expansion (REAE) project (see 
Once again, the Biden administration is attacking the fossil fuel industry. This time it is via one of its favorite blunt force instruments: the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Yesterday the EPA released what it calls its final “Good Neighbor Plan” that forces gas- (and coal-) fired power plants to further reduce nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions. It’s either reduce NOx by installing really expensive new equipment, shut the plant down, or option #3…pay an indulgence (tax) to keep sinning (polluting) by purchasing an “offset.” Liberals are so predictable.
We have an update to a project we first told you about in June of last year called the Southside Reliability Enhancement Project (see 
NOW we understand why antis have restarted their attacks on the various components of New Fortress Energy’s Wyalusing LNG liquefaction plant–a project that has been dead as a doornail for three years. Yesterday we told you we were somewhat mystified by the actions of antis in the Delaware River Basin in opposing LNG-by-rail transportation and a permit for the seemingly dead project in land-locked Bradford County, PA (see 
Yesterday at a Pennsylvania Oil and Gas Technical Advisory Board meeting, Kurt Klapkowski, Acting Deputy for Oil and Gas Management (part of the Dept. of Environmental Protection), told board members the DEP is about to file a letter of intent as early as this week to apply for “primacy” to regulate underground injection wells in the state. Currently, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is the primary regulator of PA injection wells–including oil and gas injection wells. In some states with the necessary structure in place, the EPA delegates its authority to oversee and regulate such wells. PA wants to be one of those states. Me before you.
We find this story kind of funny–and sad. The left and the Bidenistas are panicked over methane leaks. They claim methane leaks into the atmosphere are 70X more potent in causing man-made global warming than plain old carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. It’s all a hoax, but, whatever. Let’s assume it’s a worthy thing to try and reduce the amount of methane leaks coming from oil and gas operations (ignoring, for the moment, the fact there are two other sources of methane leaks much larger than oil and gas–nature itself and agriculture). The Biden administration, which just released a $6.6 TRILLION budget (an incomprehensible number), is going to fund research on how best to detect and stop methane leaks for O&G. Guess how much the Bidenistas will spend on this critical work? (Please don’t laugh…) A grand total of $47 million.
The Biden EPA plans to allow private citizens to police oil wells and pipelines for methane leaks. Most of the time that means Big Green groups will do the “policing.” And here’s how it will work: A radicalized group like the Sierra Club or Earthworks or NRDC or some other odious bad actor will set up equipment near oil and gas well sites or pipeline operations to report suspected “super emitter” leaks of at least 100 kilograms per hour. Once reported (likely a false report), the company involved would be required to perform a root-cause analysis within five days and take corrective actions within ten days. Companies will be required to jump through hoops based on an accusation by an anti-fossil fueler. We call it “methane snitches” (see 
The Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP), in collaboration with Carbon Mapper, Inc. and the U.S. Climate Alliance, conducted a research study in May 2021. The study looked at four different areas across Pennsylvania to measure leaking methane using a specially-outfitted airplane. The study wasn’t so much about who was leaking methane as it was about whether the airborne detection technology was accurate. However, the results (the who) was interesting. The study (see an overview below) chronicles the discovery of 153 total methane plumes detected from 91 individual sources, including oil and gas facilities (63 sources), coal mines (18 sources), and landfills (9 facilities).