PA EQB Rams Through VOC Reg to Control Conventional Well Emissions
Yesterday the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) and its Environmental Quality Board (EQB) rammed through (in a rush) a set of regulations to control volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and by extension methane, for conventional drilling sites throughout the site. The DEP has had SIX YEARS to get these regulations done, and has missed deadline after deadline. Now, with a Dec. 16 deadline approaching to finish up the regs or risk losing half a billion dollars in federal highway funds, the DEP is trying to bully the conventional drilling industry into accepting its onerous regulations with no comment period, no feedback, no nothing–under threat of risking half a billion dollars. It’s DEP blackmail, plain and simple. What will the conventional industry do? Take it lying down? Or fight?
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The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) published an article yesterday to say that according to their data, the U.S. hit a new record high for natural gas production in 2021. As part of the article, EIA points out that the Marcellus/Utica region now accounts for nearly one-third of all U.S. dry natural gas production! The chart included with the article (below) shows gas production by source, including both the #1 source (Texas) and #2 source (Pennsylvania).
As we told you last week, the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) was long ago supposed to have reintroduced a new set of regulations for the conventional oil and gas industry in the state to control methane emissions (see 
On Monday, MDN told you that the University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) Graduate School of Public Health and the Pennsylvania Department of Health (DOH) had “suddenly” pulled out of an event scheduled for yesterday to update the public on Pitt’s research on the potential health effects of hydraulic fracturing in Pennsylvania (see 
In July, the PA Independent Regulatory Review Commission (IRRC) voted 5-0 to approve Part I of the final Environmental Quality Board (EQB) regulation that supposedly will capture every last molecule of stray methane that leaks from shale drilling operations (see 
MDN Editor Jim Willis had the honor of presenting today at the Pennsylvania Oil & Gas Landowner Alliance (
Nearly two years ago, Gov. Tom Wolf announced a $2.5 million contract had been awarded to the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health to “conduct research on the potential health effects of hydraulic fracturing in Pennsylvania” (see 
It was an interesting day yesterday for the final day of the Marcellus Shale Coalition’s Shale Insight event, being held in Erie, PA. Shell outlined its vision for a regional hydrogen hub with Shell itself at the center of the action (guess we can’t blame them for trying, although we wish they were working with a broader coalition). More interesting, for us, were the addresses of four key politicians. Republicans Dr. Mehmet Oz, running for U.S. Senate in PA, and Doug Mastriano, running for governor in PA, addressed the event in person. Their counterparts, Democrats John Fetterman (running for Senate) and Josh Shapiro (running for governor), aired recorded messages and didn’t bother to show up in person–a MAJOR insult to the shale industry.
As we mention in today’s lead article, the Dept. of Energy (DOE) has launched the official application process for states (and coalitions and even private companies) to petition the DOE for a share in a $7 billion jackpot to build a hydrogen hub (see DOE Hydrogen Hub Funding Goes from $2B to Less Than $1B Each). On Friday, the day the DOE made its big public announcement in Pittsburgh, the partisans at Team Pennsylvania Foundation (TeamPA), co-chaired by PA Gov. Tom Wolf, announced the publication of a new report, “Successful Deployment of Carbon Management and Hydrogen Economies in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania” (full copy below). The report has some interesting things to say about how PA can attract one of the hydrogen hub projects.
Republicans in the Pennsylvania Senate have, since April 2021, refused to appoint new members to the five-member Public Utility Commission in response to Democrat Gov. Tom Wolf’s unilateral push to force the state to join the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) carbon tax scheme (see 
Anti-fossil fuelers at Penn State are trying their hardest to spin the results of a recent study by university researchers to say it shows a link between “elevated levels of chloride in groundwater” and fracking in Pennsylvania. As we read a summary of the study appearing on Penn State News, it was obvious the study proves just the opposite–that THERE IS NO LINK between the two!
Never believe that the government can do anything quickly–except destroy an economy. Nearly a year ago, President Biden signed into law the so-called Infrastructure bill, some $1.2 trillion in pork barrel spending, passed with the help of turncoat Republicans (see 
A Democrat-led, partisan nonprofit calling itself Energy Future PA was launched yesterday. The anti-drilling former PA Auditor General, Eugene DePasquale (Democrat), is co-chair. The new group is also co-chaired by a RINO (Republican in Name Only)–former State Rep. Marguerite Quinn. Don’t get snookered by the fluffy platitudes from this organization. Make no mistake, Energy Future PA is partisan with a bent against shale energy.
In a brilliant move aimed at boxing in the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC), two northeastern Pennsylvania State Senators–Gene Yaw and Lisa Baker–along with members of the PA Senate Republican Caucus (27 Senators in all), filed a lawsuit in January 2021 against the DRBC accusing the quasi-governmental agency of “taking” the property rights of PA residents without just compensation under the law over the DRBC’s ban on fracking (see