PA Senate Approves Bill to Make Plugging Old O&G Wells Easier
The Pennsylvania Senate (controlled by Republicans) recently approved Senate Bill (SB) 712, sponsored by Senators Gene Yaw and Camera Bartolotta, to streamline the plugging of abandoned and orphaned oil and gas wells. By clearly defining “reasonable effort” and “attainable bottom,” the legislation eliminates regulatory ambiguity that has previously caused costly delays and inconsistent inspections from the Department of Environmental Protection. This clarity ensures Pennsylvania can efficiently utilize nearly $400 million in federal funding to address legacy wells, many of which are located near residential areas and schools. Read More “PA Senate Approves Bill to Make Plugging Old O&G Wells Easier”
In 2025, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) achieved “historic success” by eliminating a longstanding permit backlog of over 2,400 applications. The DEP acted on more than 40,000 permits and conducted 116,364 inspections to ensure environmental safety. Key initiatives included the launch of the Streamlining Permits for Economic Expansion and Development (SPEED) program. The DEP is celebrating its success by creating a brand new bureaucracy: the Bureau of Permitting Coordination. Kind of a bureau of coordinating bureaus. (You know, the word bureaucracy comes from bureau, meaning a government department, and cracy, meaning rule. Literally, to be ruled by government bureaucrats who are not elected.) 
There’s just no other way to say this: Pennsylvania is on the cusp of flushing $92 billion down the toilet because resistance is preventing new data centers from being built. We’ve been warning about this danger for months (see 
Last Friday, the Trump administration officials joined several governors from the 13 states that are part of the PJM Interconnect grid to outline a broad plan they say will ensure customers of the grid will not face skyrocketing electric prices due to new AI data centers getting built in the region (see 
There are two universal, unavoidable truths of life: (1) death, and (2) Democrats love to tax anything and everything. Pennsylvania Democrats are urging state lawmakers to tax data centers to shield residents from rising energy bills. During a hearing held by PA House Democrats on January 20, so-called experts argued that data centers must “pay their own way” for grid upgrades necessitated by their high demand, rather than passing those costs to households. With grid operator PJM Interconnection warning that surging demand could cause blackouts, Democrats proposed legislation to protect ratepayers from price spikes. Although some officials value the industry’s job creation, tax proponents insist that ordinary consumers should not subsidize the infrastructure needed to support the state’s expanding and energy-intensive digital industry. 
On Friday, the White House joined with the 13 governors whose states in whole or in part are served by the PJM Interconnection electric grid, the largest grid in the country, to propose a solution that “protects consumers” from soaring electric rates due to the addition of new AI data centers (see 
In 2015, a group of landowners in northeastern Pennsylvania who had leased their land for fracking filed a lawsuit against Chesapeake Energy, Anadarko, Statoil (now Equinor), Mitsui E&P, and Access Midstream (later bought by Williams), alleging the companies had improperly deducted post-production costs (e.g., gas gathering and transportation expenses) from royalties owed to the landowners in breach of their respective leases. The lawsuit also alleged collusion and conspiracy to defraud the landowners (antitrust violations). The lawsuit was on hold for many years while other lawsuits played out. In 2024, a federal court in Scranton unpaused the lawsuit, and the judge ruled, tossing out the landowners’ royalty claims (see 
AI data centers are all the rage. The news (local and national) is full of such stories, playing up opposition to data centers. We’ve written plenty about AI data centers on MDN, given the close connection to gas-fired power that’s needed to operate them. We’ve also told you about a developing trend of “behind the meter” gas-fired power plants, built at the same location as a data center. That’s when the data center is built next to a power plant or vice versa. The electricity goes directly to the plant and never flows through the local power grid. Another part of this story is that sometimes the gas-fired power plant that’s on-site powering the data center receives its gas from a well drilled at the same site! The gas flows directly into the gas plant (bypassing gathering pipelines), and the plant produces electricity for the data center. And therein lies a potential, very thorny issue. 
Last October, a seven-member, all-Democrat group of Pennsylvania House of Representatives members announced a six-bill legislative package aimed at regulating the “responsible development” of artificial intelligence (AI) data centers in the state (see 
Constellation Energy Corporation has finalized its acquisition of Calpine Corporation from Energy Capital Partners, becoming the largest electricity producer in the United States, with a generating capacity of 55 gigawatts. This merger integrates Constellation’s zero-emission nuclear fleet with Calpine’s natural gas and geothermal assets. Prior to the merger, Calpine owned 79 energy facilities across the country, generating some 27 gigawatts (GW) of electricity, with a significant number located in the eastern U.S. Many of Calpine’s facilities use natural gas to produce electricity. 
In November, Pennsylvania finally passed a budget—four months late. As part of the deal struck between Democrats and Republicans, the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) carbon tax scheme was permanently ash-canned (see 
The short answer to the question posed in our headline is, “We sure hope so!” Yesterday, MDN reported that the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has officially adopted a final version of updated Environmental Justice (EJ) regulations (see 
The highly functional and responsible Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC), unlike its highly dysfunctional and irresponsible counterpart, the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC), continues to support the shale energy industry by approving water withdrawals and consumptive use for responsible and safe shale drilling. The SRBC also tells shale drillers when to stop withdrawing if low water flow (i.e., drought) conditions exist. Or when a body of water is frozen or blocked by ice. That’s what the SRBC did yesterday. The agency, via its Hydrologic Conditions Monitor, warned shale drillers that, at 58 listed locations (all in Pennsylvania), they must stop water withdrawals until streamflow reaches a specific “trigger flow” target (different for each location) or until the ice thaws.