Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Clinton County | Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania
Bad Guys Win – Builder Cancels $1B Renovo Gas-Fired Power Plant
The same three radicalized environmental groups that have repeatedly attacked the $1.1 billion Renovo Energy Center (REC), a Marcellus gas-fired power plant planned for Clinton County, PA, have finally won. The Clean Air Council, PennFuture, and the Center for Biological Diversity (all completely radicalized fossil fuel bigots) have repeatedly challenged permits for REC. Last week the builder of the project, Bechtel Corp., announced it is pulling out of the project which has been in the planning stages for eight years. The reason for canceling the project is because of “the ongoing appeals from environmental groups.” What a tragedy.
Read More “Bad Guys Win – Builder Cancels $1B Renovo Gas-Fired Power Plant”
The same three radicalized environmental groups that previously attacked the Renovo Energy Center (REC), a Marcellus gas-fired power plant planned for Clinton County, PA, are at it again. On November 22, the Clean Air Council, PennFuture, and the Center for Biological Diversity (all completely radicalized fossil fuel bigots) announced they had appealed an extension of time for an air pollution permit granted to REC by the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP).
Last week MDN told you that three radical environmental groups challenging an air permit issued by the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) for the Renovo Energy Center, a Marcellus-fired power plant in Clinton County, PA, won a partial summary judgment lowering the amount of sulfur dioxide (SO2) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) the new plant can emit (see 
In May 2021, the radicals from PennFuture, the Philadelphia-based Clean Air Council, and the so-called Center for Biological Diversity (better named the Center for Leftwing Conformity) challenged an air permit issued by the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) for the Renovo Energy Center, a Marcellus-fired power plant in Clinton County (northcentral), PA (see 
Last week, for June 20-26, the number of new permits issued to drill in the Marcellus/Utica decreased just a bit to 29 (from 34 the week prior). Pennsylvania issued 15 new permits, all but one in southwestern PA. Five of PA’s permits went to PennEnergy Resources in Butler County, four to Range Resources in Washington County, and three to Apex Energy in Westmoreland County. Ohio issued 10 new permits with five going to Encino Energy (EAP) in Carroll County and three going to Ascent Resources in Belmont County. Finally, West Virginia issued four new permits, all of them to Tug Hill Operating. In each case the permits were for multiple wells on single well pads.
Holy smokes! What just happened? For months (and months and months) the cumulative number of weekly permits issued to drill new shale wells in the Marcellus/Utica has fluctuated from the low teens to perhaps 30 total on the upper end. Last week, from Jan. 17-23, an amazing 61 permits were issued to drill new shale wells. Double the usual. Wow! Pennsylvania issued 24 new permits, Ohio issued 9, and blow-the-doors-off-we’ve-never-seen-so-many-permits-issued-in-one-week for West Virginia, the Mountain State issued 28 new shale permits.
Last fall MDN told you that a Marcellus-fired power plant planned for Clinton County, PA called the Renovo Energy Center, had come back to life as an even bigger project that will produce 1,240 megawatts of electricity when it gets built (see 
We don’t write much about Alta Resources, a shale drilling company co-founded by the inventor of shale fracking, George Mitchell. But that doesn’t mean Alta doesn’t drill in the Marcellus. The company owns some 547,000 gross (239,000 net) acres producing natural gas from approximately 900 wells in the Marcellus Shale across Bradford, Wyoming, Sullivan, Lycoming, Clinton, and Centre counties in northeast Pennsylvania. Alta is shopping all of their considerable Marcellus assets, looking for a buyer.
The KeyState Zero petrochemical plant project that includes natural gas synthesis and carbon storage (coming to Clinton County, PA) just gets more fascinating every time we read or hear about it. We spotted a new article with more details about the project, like the fact LNG is already being produced at the site. In addition to carbon capture, the new petchem plant will produce four products…
In February 2020 MDN brought you news about a new half-billion-dollar petrochemical plant that will convert Marcellus Shale gas into feedstock (chemicals) to be used in agriculture, manufacturing, medicine, and transportation, coming in Clinton County, PA (see