Disappointing: PA Senate Confirms Jessica Shirley as DEP Secretary
Every last Republican in the Pennsylvania Senate and all but one Democrat voted to confirm a group of officials nominated by Governor Josh Shapiro to serve in his administration. Among them was the extremely partisan (we would argue grossly unqualified) Jessica Shirley to be the Secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). She can now drop the “Acting” prefix from her title. We know, it’s how politics is played, to give the Governor his choice of cabinet officials. Which is why we stay out of political office—we can’t play the games. We like calling balls and strikes. This was a complete whiff by Republicans in Harrisburg. Read More “Disappointing: PA Senate Confirms Jessica Shirley as DEP Secretary”
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 
Environment-related permitting in Pennsylvania, overseen by the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP), has been a hot mess for years. A Chapter 102 Erosion and Sedimentation permit sometimes takes two, three, or even six months for approval, instead of the policy-mandated 14 days. According to a DEP press release from last November, the problem was fixed (see 
Yesterday, the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) announced the distribution of $164,592,500 in natural gas impact fees collected from producers for the 2024 reporting year. The bad news is that the impact fee raised $15 million less than it did in 2023, the prior year. The good news is that the state Independent Fiscal Office predicts the impact fee for 2025 will soar by $70 million to roughly $235 million (see 
Last week, for the eighth week in a row, the Baker Hughes U.S. rig count dropped, down by one rig to its lowest level since November 2021. This is the first time we’ve seen a slide in the count for eight weeks (or more) since September 2023. The national rig count continues in free fall, although perhaps the rate of descent is slowing. The Marcellus/Utica count remained the same last week, at a combined 36 active rigs. The Pennsylvania Marcellus operated 18 rigs. The Ohio Utica operated 11 rigs. And West Virginia operated seven rigs. 
The Pennsylvania Independent Fiscal Office (IFO) is out with an initial estimate for how much money will be raised and distributed from the 2025 impact fee assessment. The IFO projects that impact fee revenue will increase by $70 million in 2025 compared to the revenue collected in 2024. IFO predicts revenues will hit around $235 million. The impact fee is PA’s version of a severance tax. The impact fee generated $164.6 million in 2024 and $179.6 million in 2023. 
Last week, MDN told you that EQT’s vice president of midstream, Robert Wingo, was moving on to another job (see 
A month ago, NRG Energy announced a deal to acquire LS Power’s portfolio of natural-gas power plants in a deal valued at roughly $12 billion, including debt, that will expand NRG’s footprint in Texas and along the East Coast (see 
When referring to Big Green groups in Pennsylvania and elsewhere, we often refer to the groups as “colluding,” meaning they coordinate their legal and public relations attacks against fossil fuel companies. It is something we have long suspected but (unfortunately) can’t prove definitively. Somebody is about to prove it. Several of these groups, including POWER Interfaith, Sierra Club, Physicians for Social Responsibility Pennsylvania, Clean Air Council, Vote Solar, PennEnvironment, and the Pennsylvania Public Interest Research Group, attacked a recent proposal by Philadelphia Gas Works (PGW) to raise rates. PGW is asking the PA Public Utility Commission (PUC) to order these groups to provide internal communications that would prove they have been colluding together. 
Pennsylvania’s community colleges stand to be big winners in the data center sweepstakes. In January, MDN brought you the news that TECfusions, based in Tampa, Florida, had purchased 1,395 acres in Upper Burrell (Westmoreland County), PA, for a groundbreaking data center project called TECfusions Keystone Connect (see 
We’ve reported, with some excitement, the recent news about a host of new AI data centers coming to the Keystone State (Pennsylvania), including several large projects in southwestern PA and Amazon’s big announcement last week about spending $20 billion on at least three data centers in the eastern part of the state (see 
Pennsylvania’s U.S. Senators, Dave McCormick, R-Pittsburgh, and John Fetterman, D-Braddock, have introduced Senate Bill 2044, which would move the federal Department of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM) to Pittsburgh. It’s not an insignificant move. The DOE FECM employs approximately 750 federal employees, including scientists, engineers, technicians, and administrative staff. The federal government already employs around 20,000 people in the Pittsburgh region. This would add to that number. 
This is funny, and sad. Yesterday, we brought you the news that Amazon has pledged to spend at least $20 billion to build multiple data centers in Pennsylvania (see 
Yesterday, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro took credit for brokering a deal that will see Amazon build at least three huge data centers (which Democrats typically dislike) in eastern Pennsylvania, investing $20 billion to do so. It is a huge coup