Clever Move: PA Republicans Ask Dem AG Shapiro to Block Carbon Tax
The very last line of defense against completely destroying Pennsylvania’s coal industry and mortally wounding its Marcellus Shale industry happens in 2022 when Pennsylvanians select their next governor. Current Gov. Tom Wolf is attempting to force his state, against the wishes of the state legislature, to enter the so-called Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), an obscene tax on carbon. If Republicans win the governorship next year it gives them the opportunity to overturn Wolf’s carbon tax. If Democrat Josh Shapiro, the current Attorney General, wins, it’s all over for coal and soon thereafter for the Marcellus Shale industry.
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Even though Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf is already one of the most liberal governors in the country who delights in screwing with the Marcellus Shale industry in his state, some truly rabid leftists don’t think he’s doing enough to ruin the shale industry. A rogues gallery of the worst of the worst–including the PA Clean Air Council, Earthworks, Clean Water Action, and the Environmental Defense Fund–launched a website this week specifically aimed at pressuring Gov. Wolf to adopt methane rules so severe it completely strangles the Marcellus Shale industry into stopping.
Last week Pennsylvania issued 14 permits to drill new shale wells scattered around the state. The permits were issued to Chesapeake Energy, EQT, EXCO Resources, Chief Oil & Gas, and Southwestern Energy. Ohio issued five new permits in two counties, but all of them were issued to Ascent Resources. West Virginia issued just one new permit in a county we don’t often see in the list: Marion. The single WV permit was issued to EQT.
A group of hardened leftist Democrat Pennsylvania legislators, in a coordinated attack with the state’s horrible Attorney General, Josh Shapiro, are making a play to shut down the fully operational Mariner East pipeline system. Two weeks ago Shapiro, who is running for governor next year, indicted Energy Transfer’s Mariner East 2 (ME2) pipeline project with 48 so-called environmental crimes (see 
Last Friday the owner of the Glen Riddle Station Apartment complex in Delaware County, PA convinced a weak county judge to order the release of emails between officials in Middletown Township and Energy Transfer, owner of the Mariner East pipeline system. The Glen Riddle apartment complex owner is hoping he can find some minor, obscure statement in the letters to reignite opposition to finishing the third and last Mariner East pipeline that runs across his property. How selfish.
In October 2020 the Sisters of the Corn (our name for a group of leftist nuns in Lancaster County, PA) filed yet another frivolous lawsuit against Williams over a pipeline that crosses their land–a pipeline (Atlantic Sunrise) that has been up and running safely for years (see 
Glenn O. Hawbaker, Inc.
Well permits, long tracked by MDN, are a leading indicator of drilling activity. In Pennsylvania, four of the state’s five biggest producers–EQT, Chesapeake Energy, Range Resources, and Southwestern Energy–have kept the pace of drilling new wells “subdued” according to an analysis by S&P Global Market Intelligence. The top five producers in PA accounted for only 51% of the permits issued in September, down from 53% in August. Normally, the top five drillers account for roughly two-thirds of permits issued each month.
Last week we told you about the uber-sleazy Attorney General in Pennsylvania, Josh Shapiro, handing down an indictment with 48 counts against Energy Transfer over (mostly) drilling mud spills–accidents that were previously addressed and handled by the state Dept. of Environmental Protection (see 
Once again the crack reporters at the Reuters news service have landed a huge scoop: Chief Oil & Gas, which owns 600,000 acres of leases in northeastern Pennsylvania and produces 1 billion cubic feet (Bcf) of natural gas per day, has hired an investment bank to shop the company for sale. Asking price: $3 billion.