Statewide WV

Industrywide Issues | Regulation | Statewide WV | West Virginia

WV Bill Bans Using Banks, Investment Cos that Divest Fossil Fuels
January 21, 2022January 21, 2022

Earlier this week West Virginia State Treasurer Riley Moore announced the WV Board of Treasury Investments, which manages the state’s roughly $8 billion operating funds, will no longer use BlackRock Inc. investment funds as part of its banking transactions (see Hooray! WV Fights Back, State Drops Investments with BlackRock Fund). WV is divesting from the divestors. But it’s not stopping there with just the Board of Treasury Investments. A new WV Senate bill is now circulating (gaining rapid support) that requires the entire state, all of the various state agencies and governmental departments, to follow suit and stop doing business with any bank or investment firm that refuses to support coal, oil, and natural gas companies.
Read More “WV Bill Bans Using Banks, Investment Cos that Divest Fossil Fuels”
Energy Services | Equitrans/EQT Midstream | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Regulation | Statewide VA | Statewide WV | Virginia | West Virginia

US Fish & Wildlife Agrees with FERC re MVP Impact on Candy Darter
January 20, 2022January 20, 2022

candy darter

We know you’re just dying to know the outcome of whether or not the cute, little candy darter is safe if the big, evil Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) finishes building across several 136 streams in Virginia and West Virginia. Relax. The candy darter is safe. So says the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) in a memo sent to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on Tuesday. The USFWS memo answers a request by FERC to weigh in on several threatened and endangered species (plants and animals). The bottom line from USFWS is that the final bits of work to be done on the 94% complete MVP will not present a problem for threatened and endangered species.
Read More “US Fish & Wildlife Agrees with FERC re MVP Impact on Candy Darter”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Hooray! WV Fights Back, State Drops Investments with BlackRock Fund
January 18, 2022January 18, 2022

WV State Treasurer Riley Moore

Three cheers for West Virginia State Treasurer Riley Moore! Yesterday Moore announced the WV Board of Treasury Investments, which manages the state’s roughly $8 billion operating funds, will no longer use BlackRock Inc. investment funds as part of its banking transactions. WV is divesting from the divestors. BlackRock is part of a leftist (very political) group aggressively trying to defund all oil and gas companies (see Investors Representing Half the World’s Wealth Go Mad re Net-Zero). Now it’s time to choose sides and to defund the defunders–to divest the divestors. Moore just fired the first shot. It’s already causing headaches for BlackRock CEO Larry Fink.
Read More “Hooray! WV Fights Back, State Drops Investments with BlackRock Fund”
Industrywide Issues | Regulation | Statewide WV | Taxation | West Virginia

Is WV Losing Millions in Tax Rev from Out-of-State Mineral Owners?
January 12, 2022January 12, 2022

West Virginia House of Delegates member Lisa Zukoff (Democrat from Marshall County) is making a bold claim: Some out-of-state property owners aren’t paying taxes on oil and gas royalties, and it is costing the state millions of dollars in lost revenue. Zukoff is (once again) introducing a bill in the annual two-month session of the state legislature that requires gas and oil companies to subtract any taxes from the royalty check before it is sent to the property owner.
Read More “Is WV Losing Millions in Tax Rev from Out-of-State Mineral Owners?”
Energy Companies | Energy Services | Equitrans/EQT Midstream | Ethane | Industrywide Issues | NGLs | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Processing Plants | PTT Global | Shell | Statewide OH | Statewide PA | Statewide WV | West Virginia

Shell Cracker Set to Come Online in 2022 – More Coming Attractions
January 11, 2022January 11, 2022

Our friends at NGI (Natural Gas Intelligence) are running an excellent series providing expert forecasts for the global natural gas and oil markets in 2022. The latest installment interviews several experts about the prospects for the Marcellus/Utica. With the Shell ethane cracker plant coming online sometime this year, the prospects for NGL sales in the M-U have picked up. Also in the discussion: capping Pennsylvania’s orphaned wells, drilling in the Wayne National Forest, and the Mountain Valley Pipeline coming online.
Read More “Shell Cracker Set to Come Online in 2022 – More Coming Attractions”
Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Regulation | Statewide WV | West Virginia

WV v EPA Could Finally Protect Country from Federal O&G Regulation
January 11, 2022January 11, 2022

There is a clear delineation in the U.S. Constitution that says anything not specifically enumerated in the Constitution is left up to the individual states to govern and regulate. Leftists have for years tried to chip away, and under Joe Biden dynamite away, that distinction. Especially with regard to nationalizing the regulation of oil and gas drilling. The left’s favorite tool to regulate O&G is the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), which is charged with regulating and enforcing various laws including the federal Clean Air Act (CAA) and federal Clean Water Act (CWA). In a case that will be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court next month, West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency, the “potential ramifications” are “profound” according to anyone and everyone paying attention.
Read More “WV v EPA Could Finally Protect Country from Federal O&G Regulation”
Industrywide Issues | Regulation | Statewide WV | Taxation | West Virginia

WV Legislature Rejects NatGas Property Tax Rule, Do-Over in 2022
January 10, 2022January 10, 2022

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 changes how the State Tax Department values producing oil and gas wells for property tax purposes (see WV Passes Bill to Change O&G Well Valuations for Taxes). The bill was supposed to streamline and provide a fairer system for assessing taxes on oil and gas production. It did the opposite, creating 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. Yesterday the legislature voted to scrap HB 2581 and start over in the new legislative session set to begin this Wednesday.
Read More “WV Legislature Rejects NatGas Property Tax Rule, Do-Over in 2022”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Equitrans/EQT Midstream | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pipelines | Statewide VA | Statewide WV | Virginia | West Virginia

Sierra Club Asks 4th Circus Clowns to Overturn VA, WV Permits for MVP
January 4, 2022April 20, 2022

The Sierra Club, which is likely funded (in part) by foreign bad-acting countries including Russia and China (see EPA Asks DOJ to Investigate Green Groups $$ from Russia, China), is once again using their considerable wealth to challenge recently-issued permits by both Virginia and West Virginia that allow the 303-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) to finish the final 6% of the pipeline not yet built. The permits were made under the federal Clean Water Act’s Section 401 and allow the pipeline to cross creeks and rivers. It is the final major aspect of the project not yet done.
Read More “Sierra Club Asks 4th Circus Clowns to Overturn VA, WV Permits for MVP”
Energy Services | Equitrans/EQT Midstream | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Regulation | Statewide WV | West Virginia

WV DEP Issues Key Water Permit for Mountain Valley Pipeline
January 3, 2022January 3, 2022

Some really good (and expected) news to report. The West Virginia Dept. of Environmental Protection (WV DEP) issued a key permit for the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) to finish work crossing rivers and streams in the Mountain State. MVP, a 303-mile pipeline from West Virginia into southern Virginia, is currently 94% built and in the ground. There are several portions left to complete it, including crossing rivers and streams in both Virginia and West Virginia. The permits needed to do so come from three sources: the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Virginia Water Control Board, and WV DEP.
Read More “WV DEP Issues Key Water Permit for Mountain Valley Pipeline”
Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Regulation | Statewide WV | West Virginia

WV AG Update on Lawsuit Against EPA Regulating Power Plant Emissions
December 21, 2021April 20, 2022

A lawsuit filed by West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey and the attorney generals from (originally) 17 other states, or 18 states in all, seeks 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. According to Morrisey, his lawsuit is “the biggest case before the Supreme Court” for the 2022 session. In fact, two more states have joined the lawsuit on WV’s side (now 20 states total). Morrisey provided an update yesterday on the lawsuit.
Read More “WV AG Update on Lawsuit Against EPA Regulating Power Plant Emissions”
Statewide WV | West Virginia

GO-WV Celebrates First Full Year, Legislative Priorities for 2022
December 20, 2021December 20, 2021

It was one year ago that West Virginia’s two oil and gas trade associations, the Independent Oil and Gas Association of West Virginia (IOGAWV) and the West Virginia Oil and Natural Gas Association (WVONGA) merged into one new organization called the Gas and Oil Association of WV, or GO-WV (see WV’s Two O&G Trade Groups (IOGAWV & WVONGA) Merge, Form New Assoc.). Since that time the new GO-WV has added more than two dozen new members and has (by our reckoning) helped defeat the dangerous Biden Build Back Better budget bill. Pretty amazing to do all that in its first year, during a pandemic!
Read More “GO-WV Celebrates First Full Year, Legislative Priorities for 2022”
Industrywide Issues | Regulation | Statewide WV | Taxation | West Virginia

WV Sen. Manchin Deserves Credit for Blocking Biden Budget Fiasco
December 20, 2021December 20, 2021

U.S. Senator Joe Manchin

We frankly thought he would cave under the pressure. He did not. Hats off to Joe Manchin, U.S. Senator from West Virginia, for telling Chuck “the schmuck” Schumer to go pound sand. Manchin said on Fox News yesterday that he will NOT vote to pass Joe Biden’s New Green Deal “Build Back Better” (BBB) budget bill that will (a) drive the country into hyperinflation, and (b) kill the fossil fuel industry with draconian Green New Deal regulations. The BBB budget bill is officially dead after Manchin said he will not vote for it. In a 50-50 Senate with the tie-breaking vote going to the cackling Kamala Harris, the bill, if it comes up for a vote, will go down in defeat. Socialist “crazy” Bernie Sanders is spitting and sputtering. Love it!
Read More “WV Sen. Manchin Deserves Credit for Blocking Biden Budget Fiasco”
Ohio | Pennsylvania | Statewide OH | Statewide PA | Statewide WV | West Virginia

16 State Treasurers Threaten Banks that Divest from Fossil Fuels
November 30, 2021December 1, 2021

Riley Moore, WV State Treasurer

West Virginia State Treasurer Riley Moore is leading a coalition of 16 states threatening banks that play politics by refusing to lend money to fossil fuel companies. Moore says WV and the other states are “not going to take it anymore.” We first told you about a similar coalition back in May, when they sent a letter to the haughty John Kerry, telling him to quit pressuring banks to deny loans to fossil fuel companies (see M-U State Treasurers Threaten Banks that Won’t Lend to Fossil Fuels). The coalition (with some new members) is back and is fighting mad.

NOTE: MDN corrected this post to reflect the fact that OH and PA are not a part of this most recent coalition. However, OH and PA previously participated in a similar coalition (back in May) challenging John Kerry and the Biden administration’s calls for banks to divest from fossil fuels. Thank you to a sharp MDN reader for noticing the change in states participating in this new coalition!
Read More “16 State Treasurers Threaten Banks that Divest from Fossil Fuels”
Industrywide Issues | Regulation | Statewide WV | Taxation | West Virginia

WV Legislature Takes Up Bungled NatGas Property Tax in December
November 29, 2021November 29, 2021

West Virginia, the state legislature in particular, is up to its collective neck in a mess of its own making. The legislature passed House Bill (HB) 2581 on the last day of the annual WV legislative session in April. HB 2581 changes how the State Tax Department values producing oil and gas wells for property tax purposes (see WV Passes Bill to Change O&G Well Valuations for Taxes). The bill was supposed to streamline and provide a fairer system for assessing taxes on oil and gas production. It seems to have done the opposite, creating 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 next year. Next month the legislature will revisit HB 2581 and decide whether to fix it, or throw it out and start over.
Read More “WV Legislature Takes Up Bungled NatGas Property Tax in December”
Industrywide Issues | Regulation | Statewide WV | Taxation | West Virginia

Talk of Scrapping WV’s New Oil & NatGas Property Tax Valuation Law
November 23, 2021November 23, 2021

click for larger version

Complete confusion continues to reign with respect to West Virginia’s House Bill (HB) 2581, a new law passed on the last day of the annual WV legislative session in April. HB 2581 changes how the State Tax Department values producing oil and gas wells for property tax purposes (see WV Passes Bill to Change O&G Well Valuations for Taxes). The bill was supposed to streamline and provide a fairer system for assessing taxes on oil and gas production. It seems to have done the opposite, creating 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 next year. There is serious talk of throwing out the HB 2581 law and starting over again.
Read More “Talk of Scrapping WV’s New Oil & NatGas Property Tax Valuation Law”
Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Statewide WV | West Virginia

WV Seeks to Limit Fed EPA Role in Regulating Power Plant Emissions
November 17, 2021November 17, 2021

A lawsuit filed by West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey and the attorney generals from 17 other states (18 states in all) will 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. According to Morrisey, his lawsuit is “the biggest case before the Supreme Court” for the 2022 session. We can tell you this: The left is very nervous about the Supremes accepting this case, appealed from a lower court. They didn’t expect the Supremes to take up the case and some say it doesn’t look good for the EPA.
Read More “WV Seeks to Limit Fed EPA Role in Regulating Power Plant Emissions”