Fight in SC Turns Nasty with One Pipeline Company Attacking Another
We hate to see internal fighting and bickering within the oil and gas industry. We (as an industry) have a hard enough time battling the crazies of the environmental left. Yet infighting has erupted over a plan to run a pipeline to a proposed gas-fired power plant in South Carolina. In February 2024, the South Carolina Public Service Commission approved a proposed project to build a 1,020-megawatt (MW) gas-fired power plant in the state’s Lowcountry, in Colleton County (see SC PSC Approves Gas-Fired Power Plant Proposed for Edisto River). The project is a 50/50 partnership between Dominion Energy (formerly South Carolina Electric & Gas) and Santee Cooper (South Carolina’s state-owned electric and water utility). The plan calls for Texas-based Kinder Morgan (KM) to build a pipeline to feed the plant. However, there are no details about that pipeline (so far). Another pipeline company, South Carolina-based Carolina Gas Transmission (CGT), wants to build it and called out Dominion and Santee Cooper in a full-page ad. Read More “Fight in SC Turns Nasty with One Pipeline Company Attacking Another”
The number crunchers at the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) had some time on their hands with the upcoming July 4th holiday, so they researched and wrote a post examining how U.S. energy use has changed since 1776. As it happens, the post is quite interesting! It chronicles the rise of fossil energy and how fossil fuels have dominated the modern era (leading to the highest standard of living in human history). However, it was a section on so-called renewable energy sources that caught our attention. In particular, one “renewable” has been around since the beginning of our country. That same renewable energy source today produces more energy than either wind or solar. And no, it’s not hydro. The renewable we’re talking about is burning wood. 
We’re trying not to snicker and laugh out loud, but it’s hard. In May of last year, the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), a Big Green group dedicated to eliminating the use of fossil fuels, launched a methane-sniffing satellite called MethaneSAT (see 
We’ve chronicled some of the antics and borderline violent behavior of the environmental left. We’ve also told you how some on the left seek to ban free speech and put you in jail if you support fossil fuels. The United Nations, in a new report, calls for criminalizing “fossil fuel disinformation” (i.e., expressing support for fossil fuels). It calls for prohibiting fossil fuel companies from lobbying or advertising (no free speech for them). It goes on to call for making the spread of “climate disinformation” a crime. That would mean locking up MDN’s Jim Willis. The report even calls for countries to force-brainwash citizens against fossil fuels—just call it what it really is, reeducation camps. Can anyone tell us why we should remain in the UN? We can’t think of a single good reason. 
OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Texas oil regulator launches DOGE Task Force; Oil, gas activity contracted in Q2 on higher US steel tariffs, Dallas Fed survey shows; NATIONAL: The weather is hot, but not man-made; Decline of the great North American decarbonization charade; Four reasons why this 4th of July is better; Despite warnings, Biden’s energy department disbursed $42 billion in its final hours; INTERNATIONAL: Oil jumps on Vietnam trade deal; European Commission proposes 90 pct emissions cut by 2040. 
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 
Once again, the NYMEX natural gas front-month contract (for August) took a plunge, going down 32.40 cents (8.67%) over the last two trading sessions. On the bright side, the price, which closed at $3.4150/MMBtu yesterday, is 40% higher than this time last year. At least there’s that. The question is, why is it heading lower, and how low will it go? We went looking for answers in the usual places. It’s important to note that most of the loss came in Monday trading, when the price “collapsed” by 28.3 cents (7.6%). Yesterday, the price declined a modest 4.10 cents (1.19%). 
We are finally seeing a return to sanity and real science following four years of out-of-control edicts during the Biden autopen administration. (The old fool likely didn’t even know a tenth of the things signed under his name.) On Monday, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), along with the Departments of Agriculture, Energy, the Interior, and Transportation, revised regulations to eliminate all references to considering climate change, environmental justice, and other so-called environmental issues in their permit reviews. The left under Biden had introduced such nonsense in a bid to block new fossil energy projects. No more! The pendulum has swung back to the common-sense middle. 
The climate change hoaxers of the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), along with other Big Green groups, are attempting another headfake of oil and gas companies and the financial institutions that help fund them. The Methane Finance Working Group, an initiative launched at the United Nations’ COP28 climate summit in 2023, released guidance to “deliver and deploy market-tested finance mechanisms that facilitate decarbonization across the oil and gas sector, while expanding the opportunities to achieve measurable methane emission reductions,” according to EDF. What the heck does that even mean? 
MDN previously brought you the news that the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) approved a plan by Catalyst Energy to convert an existing conventional gas production well on Route 646 in Cyclone (Keating Township, McKean County, PA) into a shale wastewater injection well (see 
Fox Tank Company, a Texas-based provider of steel storage tanks and pressurized separation vessels for the oil and gas industry, has opened a new manufacturing facility in Coshocton County, OH, at the former site of Crozier Welding. Fox has pledged to invest $7.9 million and create 89 new jobs at the facility. Fox chose the site due to its proximity to the growing Marcellus and Utica Shale drilling for oil and gas, as well as its proximity to the company’s existing customers. 
We’ve pointed out (for years) the relative success the anti-drilling left has had in blocking new pipeline projects to carry Marcellus/Utica molecules to other regions, stifling new drilling in our area as a result. Although it has been and will continue to be a challenge to build new pipeline projects, the Trump administration is making it easier. Trump’s policies encourage new pipelines and more access to natural gas. We spotted an article from Reuters that provides an overview of eight pipeline projects that are actively being pursued to carry M-U molecules to other regions. We’ve covered all of these projects in previous posts. The Reuters article compiles the most likely candidates for new pipeline projects into a single, convenient article. 
The number crunchers at the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) analyzed proved reserves data for 2023 (the most recent year available) and determined that proved reserves of U.S. natural gas decreased 12.6% year over year, from 691.0 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) to 603.6 Tcf. This was the first annual decrease in U.S. natural gas reserves since 2020. Looking at the numbers for Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia, natural gas proved reserves decreased by 4% (PA), 13% (OH), and 6% (WV) from 2022 to 2023. The report shows that Marcellus gas reserves dropped 5.9% in 2023.