PA DEP Expands Pay-More-and-Get-Your-Permit-on-Time Service
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 PA DEP Claims Permit Backlog for O&G Now Completely Eliminated). The agency, in typical government bureaucratic efficiency, finally launched the program in July (see PA DEP Starts Pay-More-and-Get-Your-Permit-on-Time Service). The DEP announced it is now growing the program to include other types of permits. Read More “PA DEP Expands Pay-More-and-Get-Your-Permit-on-Time Service”
The highly functional and responsible Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC), unlike its highly dysfunctional and irresponsible counterpart, the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC), continues to support the shale energy industry by approving water withdrawals and consumptive use for responsible and safe shale drilling. The SRBC published a notice in the August 23 Pennsylvania Bulletin that the Executive Director of the SRBC renewed 57 general water use permits in June and July for individual shale gas well drilling pads in Bradford, Clearfield, Lycoming, Sullivan, Susquehanna, Tioga, and Wyoming counties in Pennsylvania. So far in 2025, the SRBC has issued or renewed 282 general water use permits for shale gas development. 
In April, we told you that Energy Transfer’s (ET) Lake Charles LNG project had landed a new partner to help pay for the project, MidOcean Energy, which will cover 30% of the cost of building the plant (see 
EY, previously known as Ernst & Young, is a multinational professional services network (i.e., consulting firm) based in London. EY is also one of the “big four” largest accounting firms in the world. EY published a new study last week titled “US Oil and Gas Reserves, Production and ESG Benchmarking Study” (full copy below). The study found that due to mergers and acquisitions in 2024, the largest publicly traded oil and gas companies in the U.S. went from 50 down to 40, and that those 40 companies produced a staggering 41% of all O&G production in this country. It’s probably no surprise that many in the list produce natural gas (and oil) in the Marcellus/Utica. 
OTHER U.S. REGIONS: ConocoPhillips raises offtake from Port Arthur LNG; Wisconsin judge lets lawsuit challenging Bloomberg-funded SAAG move forward; NATIONAL: Oil rises on fed rate cut hopes; Natural gas futures sink ahead of ‘most bearish’ close of summer in nearly 50 years; Chevron explains transforming boom-and-bust shale into steady profits; The myth of an easy transition’s extinction burst; Climate campaign lawsuit seeks to censor scientists; Surging US LNG exports to fuel growth in shale gas production; Ethane exports surge in first half of August; Climate zealots must be stopped from abusing courts for political goals; The New York Times publishes false energy and climate information and refuses to correct its errors; INTERNATIONAL: Aramco’s $2 trillion dream turns into investor letdown; Germany’s natural gas reserves plunge to record low. 
The highly functional and responsible Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC), unlike its highly dysfunctional and irresponsible counterpart, the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC), continues to support the shale energy industry by approving water withdrawals and consumptive use for responsible and safe shale drilling. The SRBC also tells shale drillers when to stop withdrawing if low water flow (i.e., drought) conditions exist. And that’s what the SRBC did earlier today. The agency, via its Hydrologic Conditions Monitor, warned shale drillers that, at 47 listed locations (all in Pennsylvania), they must stop water withdrawals until streamflow reaches a specific “trigger flow” target (different for each location). 
Black Bear Transmission (BBT), the owner of nine regulated short pipeline transmission systems in the Southeastern U.S. totaling approximately 1,700 miles of pipeline, with a throughput capacity of about 2.6 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d), is selling itself to Enstor Pipeline Holdings, LLC, for an undisclosed sum. Black Bear’s pipelines interconnect with 16 major long-haul pipelines and storage facilities across seven states, including Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Tennessee. Believe it or not, there is a connection to the Marcellus/Utica. 
Big Green is keeping up the pressure on New York Governor Kathy Hochul to block two natural gas pipeline projects that have roared back to life at the prompting of President Trump. Just a week and a half ago, a Big Green rent-a-mob of some 400 (paid) protesters held a rally in New York City and proceeded to march across the Brooklyn Bridge to register their opposition to new natural gas pipelines (see 
A week ago, MDN told you that Venture Global (VG) had won an arbitration case brought against it by Shell (see 
A Reuters reporter/commentator published an article that chronicles (with lots of facts, statistics, and charts) the coming rapid buildout of both gas-fired power generation and LNG exports in the U.S. He pitches the situation as a coming “clash of the Titans” (our words, but his sentiment). The author believes that the buildout of new gas-fired plants will sop up molecules that would have gone to LNG export plants, setting up a price war for those molecules. (One could only hope!) We have a different perspective. 
A quick note to let our faithful readers know that MDN will not publish on Thursday or Friday of this week, August 21 & 22. Editor Jim Willis and his bride are taking a short holiday to spend time with family and attend a Major League Baseball game (Mets vs. Nationals). In addition to a trip to D.C. for the game, we will visit one of our favorite places on earth: Lancaster, PA. Jim will catch you up on all the news, including the latest permit numbers, on Monday, August 25.
Once upon a time, Eureka Resources operated three shale wastewater recycling facilities in the Marcellus region, one in Bradford County, PA, and two in the Williamsport, PA, area (Lycoming County). One year ago, MDN brought you the news that Eureka had “temporarily” closed the Bradford site and had permanently closed the two sites in Williamsport (see 
We’ve been tracking a story that we consider an ongoing tragedy for more than a decade. American Water Management Services (AWMS) owns a wastewater injection well in Trumbull County, Ohio, that supposedly caused a low-level earthquake (that nobody could feel) in 2014. Actually, there are two injection wells located at the site, both operated by AWMS. They were both “temporarily” shut down by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) following the quake nobody could feel (see 
DT Midstream (DTM), headquartered in Detroit, owns major assets in the Marcellus/Utica region and in other regions, such as Haynesville. The company recently issued its second quarter report with some interesting updates on new pipeline projects coming. We’ll discuss those below. However, it was comments about a potential expansion of capacity along the DT-owned Millennium Pipeline (which flows Marcellus molecules) that caught our attention. The company announced an open season in May for added capacity along the Millennium (see