Sen. Muth’s Attempt to Block Dimock Wastewater Plant Dismissed Again
Pennsylvania State Senator Katie Muth’s attempt to block a proposed frack wastewater treatment plant in Dimock (hours away from her own district) has bombed out yet again. Muth tried to challenge and block a permit for the plant, an effort which was mostly rejected in court in June 2022 (see PA EHB Dismisses Senator’s Request to Block Dimock Wastewater Plant). The PA Environmental Hearing Board (EHB), a special court set up to hear challenges to Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) decisions, allowed Muth one final remaining way to continue her challenge — by claiming she has “individual standing” to challenge the permit as a resident of the state. That effort bombed out when the EHB ruled against her in November 2022 (see Sen. Katie Muth’s Attempt to Block Dimock Wastewater Plant Dismissed). But, you know, antis have endless reserves of money from shadowy sources. Muth appealed it again, this time to the PA Commonwealth Court.
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Last week, the Baker Hughes rig count regained a couple of rigs; for the first time in five weeks, the count has gone up instead of down. The count went from 617 active rigs two weeks ago up to 619 last week. 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 lost one rig last week and now runs 41 rigs. Pennsylvania remained constant with 22 rigs; Ohio lost a rig and now operates 11 rigs; and West Virginia remained the same with 8 rigs.
Two weeks ago, for April 1 – 7, there were eight new permits issued (see 
Over the past seven-plus years, BKV Corporation (Banpu Kalnin Ventures), the American arm of Banpu (96% owned by Banpu, Thailand’s largest coal mining company), has become one of the top 20 gas-weighted natural gas producers in the U.S. BKV originally entered the American shale sector by investing $500 million in 2016-2017 to buy existing Marcellus wells and acreage in northeast Pennsylvania. Then the company went wandering into other shale plays (see 
Exactly a year ago, MDN brought you the good news that a company based in Houston, Texas called Encina (not to be confused with Encino Energy, which drills for natural gas and oil in Ohio) was proposing to build a $1.1 billion plastics recycling plant along the Susquehanna River in Northumberland County, PA — about 60 miles north of Harrisburg (see 
LS Power, headquartered in New York City, has developed or acquired 47,000 megawatts (MW) of power generation, including utility-scale solar, wind, hydro, battery energy storage, and natural gas-fired facilities. We’ve previously mentioned LS Power in a number of MDN articles (
In January 2023, Pennsylvania State Senator Scott Martin (from Lancaster, PA) hosted a reelection fundraiser at an Italian restaurant in nearby Harrisburg. A pretty swanky fundraiser, too, at $1,000 a plate. Like it or not, this is how it works in the world of politics. Martin happens to be a Republican and a supporter of fossil energy. Those two things send leftists into orbit. A small group of far-left (professional) protesters showed up at the entrance of the restaurant to make a lot of noise and to make silly asses of themselves (which they excel at doing). One of them tilted over into criminality. He obstructed the doorway to the restaurant and would not let anyone enter or leave — a fire hazard at a minimum. Justice was finally rendered on Wednesday in a Dauphin County courtroom.
In October 2019, Eureka Resources, which operates three frack wastewater treatment facilities in the Marcellus Shale (and is building a fourth facility in Dimock, PA), began extracting lithium from Marcellus wastewater at one of its plants in Bradford County, PA (see 
We tried to cram the gist of the news into the headline but found we could not. This is a big story, for multiple reasons. Most news outlets are reporting (and this is not incorrect) that EQT pulled off a big deal to divest a good chunk of its nonoperated assets (acreage and functioning wells in which EQT owns a minority stake) in northeastern Pennsylvania, trading those assets for 10,000 operated acres in Lycoming County, PA (in northeastern PA), plus 26,000 operated acres in Monroe County, OH, plus receiving $500 million cash, in a deal with Norway’s Equinor (formerly Statoil). EQT divesting from its nonop assets is a big deal. However, the bigger news, in our humble opinion, is that Equinor has (with this deal) completely exited all operated assets in U.S. shale. The company wants to keep its fingers in the U.S. shale pie, but only as a nonop operator — that is, investing in wells that other companies drill and maintain.
CNX Midstream, a subsidiary of CNX Resources, plans to construct two 13.9-mile-long, 24-inch-diameter steel natural gas pipelines and one approximately 3.9-mile-long, 20-inch-diameter high-density polyethylene (HDPE) permanent waterline in Westmoreland County, PA. The aim is to support new shale well drilling by CNX in the region. The reason we know about the project is from a notice by the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) in the weekly Pennsylvania Bulletin inviting the public to comment on a Chapter 105 Encroachments Permit for the proposed construction.
Although we support Donald Trump for President in 2024, this site is not and will not become a campaign site for Trump and the Republicans. We will, however, bring you news of Trump (and Biden) announcements with respect to energy and policies that impact the Marcellus/Utica in particular, and oil and gas in general. Trump was at a rally in Schnecksville (Lehigh County), PA, on Saturday. Trump said at the rally that on “day one” of a second term (if he wins), Joe Biden’s “insane electric vehicle mandate” and his “natural gas export ban” will be gone. Trump said Biden is currently waging war on PA energy. We agree.
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 
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.