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WV, OH, PA Compete Against Each Other to Attract $2B Hydrogen Hub
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.
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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.
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. Last week the WV House of Delegates worked on and pushed along a compromise bill to try and fix the mess created last year (see 
Will this finally be the year that West Virginia has a new forced pooling bill passed into law? Quite possibly, given the supersonic speed with which Senate Bill (SB) 694 was introduced and, without any discussion, passed through the Senate Finance Committee (at the last possible moment), and sent on to the full Senate for a vote. Of course, the bill still has to go to the WV House. SB 694 is complicated, but this time the bill appears to have widespread support, not only from drillers but from royalty owners too.
A second bill related to mineral and landowner rights holders rocketed through the West Virginia Senate, passing the full Senate by 29-5 vote on Wednesday. Senate Bill (SB) 650 tweaks a previously passed bill signed into law in 2018 concerning co-tenancy (see 
The West Virginia Public Energy Authority is a seven-member board that aims to make the best use of WV’s abundant natural energy resources. State code gives the board power to buy, lease, and issue bonds to build electric power plants and natural gas transmission projects. Gov. Jim Justice reactivated the board last summer after it had been dormant for upwards of a decade. The first meeting of the new board was held yesterday. Our sense is that the board is still trying to figure out what the heck it’s supposed to do.
All eyes are on Equitrans Midstream, the builder of the 303-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) project that is, once again, on pause due to the leftist judges who sit on the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals. In a pair of decisions a week apart, the clown judges overturned a permit and a plan to change drilling methods so the 94% completed MVP can finish (see 
Dominion Energy is divesting itself from a natural gas utility company it owns in West Virginia–Hope Gas, Inc. Dominion is selling Hope to investment firm Ullico Inc. for $690 million. Ullico plans to combine Hope Gas with another company it owns, Hearthstone Utilities, Inc. The reason this deal caught our attention is that Hope Gas owns and operates “2,000 miles of gathering pipelines” in the Mountain State.
We’re not quite sure what to think of this. 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 over the 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. The legislature is doing it again.
Yesterday MDN told you about Pennsylvania, the state with perhaps the most abandoned and orphaned wells of any U.S. state (estimated at over 200,000 such wells, although the officially recognized number is 8,000+) has received some pocket change, $25 million, out of a promised $104 million, to begin the work of plugging some of those wells (see 
U.S. Senator from West Virginia Shelley Moore Capito “Zoomed” in to address the Gas and Oil Association of West Virginia’s (GO-WV) annual winter meeting last week. She talked about the Biden infrastructure bill, which she supported, and Biden’s so-called Build Back Better bill, which she does not support. As part of her comments, Capito mentioned the $1.2 trillion infrastructure bill includes money for “an Appalachian ethane/hydrogen storage hub.” Wow! We thought that project was long dead.