CNX Expands Air Monitoring to 7 Additional Sites in Western PA
Last November, CNX Resources CEO Nick DeIuliis signed a voluntary deal with Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro to expand drilling setbacks and several other regulatory steps not mandated for shale drillers under PA law (see CNX Signs Deal with PA Gov. to Increase Setbacks, Other Changes). The original deal called for monitoring two new well sites for air emissions, among other things. Yesterday, Gov. Shapiro’s office issued a new press release to say CNX has added seven additional sites to the list with plans to cover all of the company’s drilling sites in PA in the future.
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With the rapid increase in carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) projects around the country, including right here in the Marcellus/Utica region, a key issue has arisen. Where does one store (sequester) all that carbon dioxide (CO2)? The answer is underground in a Class VI injection well. Class VI wells are a relatively new classification for injection wells, created by the federal EPA in 2010. Earlier this week, the Pennsylvania State Senate took the first step in establishing a framework that allows for the underground storage of CO2 in the Keystone State.
In November 2022, 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. Equitrans is the owner/operator of Rager Mountain. The well leaked roughly 100 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) of gas into the atmosphere (see 
CNX Resources Corporation yesterday announced that it is nearing completion of its Kiski Water Line project in Westmoreland County, PA, which will serve the company’s local operational needs for drilling and fracking. The new water line, due to be done in June, will reduce the local impact of natural gas development (fewer truck trips), and potentially optimize regional water resources by providing additional reliable water infrastructure to area communities.
In January, MDN told you about a long-closed landfill that seeks to reopen in Liberty and Pine Townships in Mercer County, PA (see 
On May 2, 2023, some four months after Josh Shapiro was installed as Pennsylvania’s 48th governor, we said this about him: “Since taking office, Shapiro has been a major dud–someone who doesn’t know how to lead. He’s bereft of any idea of what to do and how to do it. When it comes to the environment and energy policy, Shapiro assembled a secretive group to guide him” (see 
Yesterday, the Pennsylvania House Republican Policy Committee held a hearing called “Fueling Pa’s Future: Liquid Natural Gas.” In January, Joe Biden announced he would “pause” any approvals for new LNG export plants (currently 17 requests in the pipeline) for at least one year while his people fart around pretending to figure out how to measure global warming as a new consideration for whether or not to approve projects (see 
In reviewing the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) Oil and Gas Workload Report for the week ending March 29, David Hess from the PA Environment Digest Blog discovered there is currently only one new shale permit under review for approval by the department. That is really low. Hess also discovered so far this year PA has received just 95 applications for new shale permits. At that rate, the state will only issue around 380 new permits in 2024 — the lowest since the modern shale era began.
This year’s presidential election may well turn on the results in the “swing state” of Pennsylvania. The Wall Street Journal has an intriguing story that looks at PA voters, who they support for president, and why. In the article ‘Now They’re Voting Red’: A Pennsylvania Fracking Boom Weighs on Biden’s Re-Election Chances, the WSJ says a slim majority of voters give Donald Trump a 3-point lead over Joementia if the election were held today. (How ANYONE could vote for Biden is a complete mystery to us.) “Economic churn” and Biden’s actions like his infamous LNG pause are pushing voters toward Trump in the Pittsburgh area, potentially overwhelming the Democrats’ base of college-educated workers. Could it be that pro-frackers in PA will hand the White House back to DJT?
Last week, the Baker Hughes rig count dropped another rig. The count went from 621 active rigs two weeks ago down to 620 last week. This is the third week in a row the national count has lost rigs. Since last October, the national count has gone as low as 616 and as high as 629. And that’s it. No higher and no lower. The Marcellus/Utica remained the same last week at 42 active rigs. However, there were some musical chairs. Pennsylvania gained one rig and now operates 22 rigs. West Virginia lost a rig and now operates 8 rigs. Ohio remained steady with 12 active rigs.
What’s below dismal? The new permits report for two weeks ago showed just five new permits, which we called “dismal” (see 
Last week, MDN reported on new (to us) information shared at a Pennsylvania House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee hearing that the state’s program to plug orphaned and abandoned oil and gas wells is, quite frankly, a hot mess (see 
The government screws up just about everything it touches — ever notice that? A perfect example is a water testing program set up by then-Attorney General Josh Shapiro in December 2022. In August 2022, Shapiro, who AG at the time, announced that he had finally bullied Energy Transfer into pleading “no contest” (meaning they don’t admit to a darned thing) in a so-called criminal case against the company for a series of accidents affecting construction for both the Revolution and Mariner East pipelines (see 
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro traveled to Scranton, PA, in mid-March to announce a proposal to “immediately pull Pennsylvania out of a multi-state carbon cap-and-trade program” (the so-called Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, or RGGI) and instead enroll PA in its very own RGGI-like carbon tax program (see