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Vicious Green Groups Continue to Attack MVP in 4th Circus
Radical green groups, including the Sierra Club (rumored to receive funding from Russia) continue to try and kill the already-staggering Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) project. The Clubbers and their colluding friends at West Virginia Rivers Coalition, West Virginia Highlands Conservancy, Indian Creek Watershed Association, Appalachian Voices, and Chesapeake Climate Action Network, have sued the West Virginia Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) claiming the DEP issued a key federal water permit that allows the 94% completed MVP to finish up while ignoring previous water quality violations by the builder.
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Last week Pennsylvania issued 21 new shale well permits, with Snyder Brothers grabbing seven, PennEnergy Resources getting six, and Coterra Energy (formerly Cabot Oil & Gas) receiving five. In each case, the permits for each company were for a single well pad. Ohio issued just three new permits last week, two for Ascent Resources and one for Southwestern Energy. West Virginia finally came back to life, issuing seven new shale permits last week. Six of the WV permits were for Antero Resources, one for Southwestern Energy.
Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia are all scrambling to form working groups or other alliances in an attempt to be THE state chosen for one of four regional hydrogen hubs funded by the recently passed so-called Biden infrastructure bill (see 
In January a new Senate bill was introduced in the West Virginia Senate requiring the entire state government, all of the various state agencies and governmental departments, to stop doing business with any bank or investment firm that refuses to support coal, oil, and natural gas companies (see 
Two weeks ago U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, from West Virginia, unloaded on the five commissioners of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) during a hearing before the committee he chairs, the Senate Energy Committee (see 
We’ve been tracking a bill in West Virginia that will finally, after more than eight years of trying, bring forced pooling to the Mountain State for Marcellus/Utica shale wells. Senate Bill (SB) 694 sailed through the WV Senate in record time and earlier this week hit the WV House. Yesterday the full House voted to approve SB 694 with some tweaks, sending it back to the Senate. Last night the Senate approved the House changes and the bill is now officially passed and on its way to the desk of Gov. Jim Justice for his signature. Will he sign it?
The West Virginia State Legislature passed House Bill (HB) 2581 on the last day of the annual WV legislative session in April 2021. HB 2581 required the State Tax Commissioner to develop a revised methodology to value oil and natural gas properties for the purposes of assessing property taxes. The State Tax Department submitted an emergency rule last summer that was, quite frankly, a mess. The rule created a complex system that is currently mired in controversy with both drillers and landowners confused about how much of a tax bill they will owe this year. There were two competing bills in this year’s session to correct the cockup from last year. Only one of them has survived and is close to passing.
U.S. Senator Joe Manchin, Democrat from West Virginia, is in a grumpy mood. The cause? The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). Manchin is meeting with FERC commissioners tomorrow and he plans to take them to the proverbial woodshed for a good thrashing. Two things are on Manchin’s mind: FERC’s new rules that use global warming as a standard for reviewing pipeline projects, and ongoing delays with finishing the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) project.
Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia are all scrambling to form working groups or other alliances in an attempt to be THE state chosen for one of four regional hydrogen hubs funded by the recently passed so-called Biden infrastructure bill. The new law provides $8 billion for four regional hubs. It’s a safe bet one of those hubs will be located in either PA, OH, or WV. The race is now on to attract that investment money. On Friday, WV’s new Hydrogen Hub Working Group held its first meeting to plot a strategy to snag the project. However, PA and OH are in the hunt too, with their own dedicated groups.
On Monday the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in a lawsuit filed by West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey and the attorney generals from 20 states that seek to limit the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and their misinterpretation of the so-called Clean Air Act in order to regulate carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from power plants. The justices heard more than two hours of arguments over whether to limit the EPA’s power to regulate CO2 emissions from electric utilities. Based on the questions and comments by the justices, anti-fossil fuel cultists are VERY nervous that they may lose one of their favorite tools to limit oil and gas development.