West Virginia Severance Tax Revenue Jumps 475% from Last Year
John Deskins, director of the Bureau of Business & Economic Research at West Virginia University, told members of the state legislature’s Joint Committee on Natural Gas Development at a meeting on Monday that the severance tax on natural gas production in the state is responsible for more than 20% of the state’s record-breaking tax revenue surpluses. Natural gas severance tax collections between July and October accounted for approximately 20% of the $575 million in total general revenue fund surplus tax revenue during that time period.
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Earlier this year, Equitrans Midstream announced it had filed a new pipeline expansion project with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (see 
We have chronicled a number of companies that buy royalty and/or mineral rights from landowners in the Marcellus/Utica over the years (see our previous stories about royalty mineral rights sales 
New shale permits issued in the Marcellus/Utica came roaring back during the week of Oct. 31 through Nov. 6. Both Pennsylvania and Ohio issued 13 new permits during that week. But what’s this? West Virginia issued a whopping 17 new permits! The prior week WV issued only a single new permit.
A press release issued yesterday announced the partnership between an Appalachian driller we aren’t familiar with, Oil Well Shares (OWS), and Canada-based OYA Renewables to form a joint venture called Chrysalis Energy. The new company will use OWS’s 1.5 million leased acres across Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia to build solar farms, wind farms, and “energy storage infrastructure projects.” We have some thoughts about this partnership and how it may impact landowners.
U.S. Senator Joe Manchin, Democrat from West Virginia, ended his political future when he sold out the country by voting in favor of the misnamed Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which is actually a mini-Green New Deal bill (see 
The clown judges who occupy the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit (4th Circus) appear ready to reject another water permit granted by the West Virginia Dept. of Environmental Protection to cross streams and rivers and swamps to finish up the 94% complete Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP). Three judges from the 4th Circus were appointed back in 2017 to hear appeals against the project. All three are profoundly bigoted and prejudiced against natural gas pipeline projects.
Last Thursday, representatives from manufacturing and the energy sectors delivered their thoughts on the future of the national and local economies at the 2022 Economic Outlook Conference sponsored by the Wheeling Area Chamber of Commerce. Front and center at the event was talk about the role of shale energy in revitalizing West Virginia and making it THE go-to place to set up new manufacturing operations. One speaker pointed out: “(West Virginia) is the only place in the world where you can build your manufacturing facility on top of your natural resources, your energy, and your raw materials in the middle of the biggest market in the world.”
Following his sellout of the country by voting for Joe Biden’s so-called Inflation Reduction Act (a new name for the Build Back Better/New Green Deal), U.S. Senator Joe Manchin’s popularity in his home of West Virginia state has sunk into the sewer. A majority of voters are not happy with the job Manchin is doing, and if the election for Manchin were held today, he would lose to any Republican running against him. Joe Manchin’s political career is over–deservedly so.
Researchers at the West Virginia University (WVU) Energy Institute presented an update on their latest work to reporters yesterday on the Evansdale campus in Morgantown. According to Sam Taylor, assistant director for the WVU Energy Institute, the university is leading the way in research of technologies that can help move the state to a cleaner environment while still using the natural gas produced in the state. WVU professed its love for natgas, but it loves loves loves hydrogen.
Two days ago, MDN told you that the Apostle of LNG, Toby Rice (CEO of EQT), had convinced his buddies at Williams and TC Energy (two pipeline companies) to join him in his latest effort to push for more U.S. LNG exports (see 
There have been a number of project proposals by Marcellus/Utica states (PA, OH, WV), and even proposals by private companies within those states, to attract one of the 6-10 regional hydrogen hub projects on offer from the Bidenistas as part of the so-called Infrastructure Bill passed last year. While we think it’s important that one of those hubs ends up in the M-U region, we have not (will not) root for any particular effort (we love all our children equally). However, as a purely outside observer, it sure seems to us that a recently announced effort by West Virginia called ARCH2 (Appalachian Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub) has pulled into the lead among a number of competing proposals.