RGGI Carbon Tax Soars Again, Averages Near $14/Ton Latest Auction
The so-called Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a tax on carbon dioxide emissions from coal and natural gas-fired power plants aimed at killing off those two sources of energy, is more expensive than ever. Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf is forcing PA to join the RGGI cabal of 11 states (most of them in the northeast), a move endorsed by the man who wants to replace him in November, PA Attorney General Josh Shapiro (see PA AG Shapiro Signs Off on RGGI Carbon Tax…After Criticizing It). In the most recent RGGI “auction” of so-called carbon allowances, bidders paid an average of $13.90 per allowance–per short ton of CO2 emitted. That’s the highest price EVER paid, and there’s no sign that the ongoing increases will slow down.
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Last week the Pennsylvania Independent Fiscal Office (IFO) released its latest quarterly Natural Gas Production Report for January through March 2022 (full copy below). There was 136 new horizontal wells spud (drilled) in 1Q22, an increase of nine wells (7.1%) compared to 1Q21. However, natural gas production volume was 1,851 billion cubic feet (Bcf) in 1Q22, a slight decrease (-0.6%) from 1Q21. It is the first quarterly decrease in production in over a year.
The Bidenistas at the Dept. of Interior breathlessly announced the agency is (finally) releasing $33 million to plug 277 orphaned oil and gas wells across the country located on federal lands. The average price per plugging is $119,000. Spending $33 million to plug wells on federal lands is chump change compared to the $4.7 billion allocated for plugging old wells under the so-called Biden infrastructure bill. Why is the government paying $119K to plug wells that normally cost maybe $50,000 to plug? We’ll answer that question with another question. Why does the government pay $400 for a hammer it could buy at Lowes for $18?
We’re holding on by a thread folks, with respect to PA’s onerous new carbon tax. Back in April, we told you about a lawsuit filed by Big Coal against the Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf administration to block Wolf’s attempt to force the state to join the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a carbon tax on coal- and gas-fired power plants (see 
As we told you last week, Energy Transfer, during its first quarter update, spoke about the now-completed Mariner East pipeline system that flows NGLs, including ethane, propane, and butane, from eastern Ohio and southwestern Pennsylvania all the way to southeastern PA and the Marcus Hook terminal (see 
In March the Pennsylvania Environmental Quality Board (EQB), a sub-agency of the Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP), approved a final version of onerous new regulations that supposedly will capture every last molecule of stray methane that leaks from shale and conventional drilling operations (see 
The Pennsylvania Dept. of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) has, for years, claimed that under a centuries-old law the state of PA “owns” the property under “navigable” waterways–including rivers and streams (see 
Pennsylvania State Sen. Gene Yaw has been a champion in the fight to defeat Gov. Tom Wolf’s hideous carbon tax, otherwise known as the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). Wolf is trying to force PA to join over the objections of a majority of state legislators. In his latest missive about RGGI, Yaw connects some dots that need to be connected–between Russian money funding Big Green groups, and the groups using that money to lobby, influence, and litigate in an effort to force PA to join RGGI. It’s an effort to force PA to use less fossil energy. Clearly, RGGI is anti-fossil fuel. We would argue, as does Yaw in this excellent editorial below, that RGGI is also anti-American.