Ohio Launches $100M Fund for Natural Gas, Nuclear Infrastructure
Yesterday, Ohio Governor Mike DeWine and JobsOhio (a private nonprofit economic development corporation) launched the $100 million JobsOhio Energy Opportunity Initiative, a five-year fund to bolster economic development through energy production. The initiative will provide grants and low-interest loans to qualifying companies to offset costs related to natural gas, power generation, and nuclear power, specifically Small Modular Reactors (SMRs). Read More “Ohio Launches $100M Fund for Natural Gas, Nuclear Infrastructure”
Proposed Ohio legislation, Senate Bill (SB) 294, seeks to redefine “clean energy” to include natural gas, a fossil fuel, and, according to lefties, a major contributor to mythical global warming. At the same time, the bill would declare renewable sources like wind and solar “unreliable.” SB 294 would compel the Ohio Power Siting Board to favor energy projects it deems both clean and reliable, effectively prioritizing natural gas power plants. The bill’s sponsors argue this leverages Ohio’s substantial shale gas reserves and provides a cleaner alternative to coal. 
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has proposed new permitting processes in West Virginia and Ohio that would allow certain fossil fuel projects to be built through wetlands and streams without a public comment opportunity. The proposals would allow mines, natural gas pipelines, hydropower dams, and other energy infrastructure projects in WV and OH to proceed using two simplified permits: “letters of permission” and “regional general permits.” For these projects, water pollution impacts must be limited to 2 acres or less for a letter of permission and 1 acre or less for a regional general permit. This action has the potential to speed up new natural gas pipeline projects in the Marcellus/Utica region. 
Earlier this morning, National Fuel Gas Company, a large utility company headquartered in the Buffalo, NY area with both upstream and midstream subsidiaries (Seneca Resources and NFG Midstream), announced a deal with CenterPoint Energy to acquire CenterPoint’s Ohio natural gas utility business (CNP Ohio) for $2.62 billion. The deal includes 5,900 miles of distribution and transmission pipelines and serves approximately 335,000 residential, commercial, industrial, and transportation customers that consume approximately 60 Bcf of natural gas per year. The deal significantly increases NFG’s gas utility customer base, from roughly 750,000 to well over 1 million. 
Ohio Democrat House members have introduced a bill to solve a problem that doesn’t exist. House Bill (HB) 399 would ban fracking under Lake Erie (which has NEVER been proposed or even thought of), and ban fracking under state-owned parks, which is now happening. With respect to drilling under (not on) state-owned parks, when it happens, nobody knows it’s happening (see 
Earlier this month, we brought you the bombshell news that Antero Resources, the country’s fifth-largest natural gas producer and largest producer in West Virginia, is preparing to market its Ohio Utica assets, hoping to fetch $900 million to $1 billion (see 
Wow! Here’s a bombshell rumor. Antero Resources, the country’s fifth-largest natural gas producer and largest producer in West Virginia, is preparing to market its Ohio Utica assets, hoping to fetch $900 million to $1 billion. That’s according to an exclusive report by Hart Energy, which spoke to “multiple sources” who requested anonymity. Antero owns 82,000 acres of leases in the Utica/Point Pleasant shale of eastern Ohio, in “the most prolific part of the play,” according to the company’s website. 
Back in April, MDN brought you news about an important decision issued in a federal court case (in Ohio) that potentially affects landowners and drillers with shale leases throughout the Marcellus/Utica (see 
Morgantown, WV-based Hope Utilities announced yesterday that its subsidiary, Northeast Ohio Natural Gas Corporation (NEO), will build, operate, and maintain a pipeline (and associated natural gas facilities) to supply a fuel cell project being developed by American Electric Power (AEP) to power a data center in central Ohio. The details are (so far) thin. We don’t know how much the project will cost or which data center it will power. This isn’t the first such pipeline project announced to feed an AEP-powered data center. 
Rover Pipeline, a 713-mile natural gas pipeline, was designed to carry up to 3.25 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of Marcellus and Utica gas from Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio to destinations in Ohio, Michigan, West Virginia, and Canada. The project was completed and came online in late 2018 (see 
Infinity Natural Resources (INR), headquartered in Morgantown, WV, focuses 100% on the Marcellus/Utica. The company went public earlier this year with a $265 million ($20/share) initial public offering, giving INR a $1.18 billion market capitalization (see 
Yes, we’re suckers for a good railroad story. Always have been, always will be. And here’s one! FTAL Infrastructure owns short line and terminal switching operator Transtar and is an affiliate of Fortress Investment Group. It’s kind of a Matryoshka doll (a Russian “nesting” doll of one thing inside another). Transtar, owned by FTAL, which is owned by Fortress, is buying the Wheeling & Lake Erie (W&LE) regional railroad for $1.05 billion. W&LE, headquartered in Brewster (Stark County), Ohio, owns 840 miles of track in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. 
We first told you about a frac sand company called Smart Sand some 13 years ago (see