PA Produces More Carbon-Free Power Than Any RGGI State
It’s hard to believe we’re still talking about (and waiting for) the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to weigh in on whether or not it was legal for former Governor Tom Wolf to unilaterally sentence all Pennsylvanians to the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) carbon tax scheme—with no vote by the legislature. The Supremes collected briefs on RGGI a whole year ago (see PA Supreme Court Lib Dems Collecting Briefs on RGGI Carbon Tax). And still no decision. When the state constitution is followed, it gives ONLY the legislature the right to impose new taxes on the citizenry. Wolf ignored that law and decided to do it himself. Calling RGGI a “fee” instead of a “tax” doesn’t change the fact that it’s a tax. Read More “PA Produces More Carbon-Free Power Than Any RGGI State”
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. The DEP announced last November that it would “soon” implement the SPEED (Streamlining Permits for Economic Expansion and Development) program to speed up the permit approval process (see 
This post is not directly about the Marcellus/Utica, but the issue we discuss is important and significantly affects the M-U. Andrew Dehoff, the Executive Director of the Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC), is sounding the alarm about potential water usage for hyperscale data centers that will be located in the SRBC’s jurisdiction. Dehoff spoke at a Pennsylvania State Senate hearing on Monday. These giant data centers are BIG users of energy and, potentially, big users of water. The water is used not only to cool gas-fired power plants that generate energy for the data centers, but the data centers themselves use water to help cool the thousands upon thousands of computers located in them. 
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 
Yes, we’re suckers for a good railroad story. Always have been, always will be. And here’s one! FTAL Infrastructure owns short line and terminal switching operator Transtar and is an affiliate of Fortress Investment Group. It’s kind of a Matryoshka doll (a Russian “nesting” doll of one thing inside another). Transtar, owned by FTAL, which is owned by Fortress, is buying the Wheeling & Lake Erie (W&LE) regional railroad for $1.05 billion. W&LE, headquartered in Brewster (Stark County), Ohio, owns 840 miles of track in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia. 
We spotted an excellent post on the Marcellus Shale Coalition (MSC) website about the recent PJM capacity auction, which we reported on a few weeks ago (see 
Last week, the Baker Hughes U.S. rig count continued its downward trend, losing another rig to end at 539 active rigs nationwide. The count has been down 14 of the last 15 weeks, with the only slight increase happening a month ago. The Marcellus/Utica count remained the same (after gaining one rig three weeks ago) at a combined 36 active rigs. PA is running 18 active rigs. OH is running 11 rigs. And WV is operating 7 rigs. There were 24 rigs targeting the Marcellus and 12 rigs targeting the Utica last week. 
We have some disturbing news to share, and not a lot of details (yet). Executive Order 1996-1 in Pennsylvania requires all agencies under the jurisdiction of the Governor to submit for publication (twice a year) an agenda of regulations under development or consideration. The agendas are compiled to provide members of the regulated community and the general public with advanced notice of regulatory activity. The Josh Shapiro administration published such a semi-annual list over the weekend in the Pennsylvania Bulletin. The Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) includes an item in its list of proposed new regulations that “proposes to establish an annual fee for unconventional operations.” 
Well, isn’t this interesting! Just yesterday we told you that Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has plugged a little over 300 old orphaned (no current owner) wells over the past three years, but that Ohio’s Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) had plugged over 700 in the same period (see 
Three members of the Pennsylvania State House of Representatives, Arvind Venkat (Democrat from Allegheny County), Elizabeth Fiedler (Democrat from Philadelphia), and Craig Williams (Republican from Delaware/Chester counties, Philly suburbs) are planning to introduce legislation to “establish regulatory clarity” to encourage the development of Enhanced Geothermal Systems in Pennsylvania. There’s a lot to unpack in that opening statement. First, this is a bipartisan effort. Second, they want to encourage more geothermal energy development in the state. When you understand that Enhanced Geothermal Systems (EGS) uses the same method of fracking used for natural gas and oil well drilling, it makes this bipartisan effort a real eye-opener. 
What is it about progress and expanding the use of energy for that progress that “progressive” Democrats, like those at the FracTracker Alliance, hate so much? The same group of Dem radicals who have sought to block shale energy in the Keystone State (and beyond) for years has turned its sights on opposing new artificial intelligence (AI) data centers in Pennsylvania and beyond by launching an online mapping tool that shows where planned facilities will be located. Not only will data centers (and the gas-fired power plants that run them) pollute the atmosphere to be unbreathable (say the nutters), AI data centers are racist. Who knew? 
The Commonwealth Court in Pennsylvania is extremely important. It is one of two intermediate appellate courts (the other being Superior Court). The jurisdiction of the nine-judge Commonwealth Court is limited to appeals from final orders of certain state agencies (including the Department of Environmental Protection) and certain designated cases from the Courts of Common Pleas involving public sector legal questions, government regulation, and certain matters involving not-for-profit organizations. There is an open seat on Commonwealth Court. The Republican running, Matt Wolford, would be a great addition. 
“The haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate…shake it off, shake it off.” – Taylor Swift