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Royalty Conspiracy Theory Now 0-for-3 in Williamsport Federal Court
A federal judge in Williamsport has thrown out two 10-year-old lawsuits filed by northeastern Pennsylvania landowners who claimed Anadarko, Mitsui, and Williams (the old Access Midstream) were running a mob-style racket to shrink royalty checks. If that sounds familiar, it should. The same lawyers made the same argument in a sister case we first told you about in 2015, and the same judge tossed that one too. The landowners’ “Chesapeake/Access conspiracy” theory is now zero for three. Read More “Royalty Conspiracy Theory Now 0-for-3 in Williamsport Federal Court”
Back in July, we told you Tennessee Gas Pipeline (TGP), a Kinder Morgan subsidiary, had launched a non-binding open season for its 219 South Project (see 
Back in 2022, then-Massachusetts Attorney General (now Governor) Maura Healey hit the campaign trail and bragged, “I stopped two gas pipelines from coming into this state” (see 
Back in August, we told you FERC had approved Kinder Morgan’s $5.2 billion pair of Southeast pipeline projects, and we told you to expect Big Green to come after it (see 
Five weeks. Same number. The Marcellus/Utica held at 33 rigs again for the week ended October 2, while the national count finally blinked, slipping by one to 598 after three straight weekly gains. Oil rigs up one. Gas rigs down two. Frac spreads inched up again. And the bad news on the price board: natural gas futures gave back last week’s gains, sliding back under $3 to around $2.92 per MMBtu. But the Enverus permit list had a surprise for us, and it’s a good one. 
Thank you for your kind words, thoughts, and prayers last week. My spine surgery last Tuesday went well. The sciatica pain that sent me to the operating table is largely gone. It still lingers a little, but it’s greatly diminished. The pain from the incision, however, was severe at first. It has gotten a little better each day as the swelling goes down and my body heals. I still have miles to go, but at least I’m on the right road. 
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Every household in this rural town receives $10,000 if a data center gets built; Utica Shale Academy receives $900K to expand student transportation; PUC approves settlement cutting proposed UGI gas rate increase by nearly 35%; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Trump claims South Korea will invest $50B in Alaska gas pipeline. Not so fast, Korean officials say; Ameren Missouri files 20-year plan with 10.6 GW of gas additions; WA high court tosses natural gas measure approved by voters; Colorado voters to decide on constitutional right to natural gas; A controversial Mass. energy bill proposal could force homeowners to dump gas; Rooftop solar growth makes giant New England gas plant obsolete as region hits 500th Duck Curve day; NATIONAL: Natural gas turns higher amid uncertain outlook; Pushback builds as battery storage systems come to crowded neighborhoods; Latest Dallas Fed survey reveals theme among respondents; U.S. electricity use for electric vehicles increasing at a slower pace in 2026; Heating oil bills expected to jump 31.3% this winter, Northeast households averaging $2,300; Natural gas stock Enerflex Ltd. soars on AI data center contract; INTERNATIONAL: Fuel prices plunge as G7 plans strategic reserve release; EU weighs delaying methane rules as energy prices rise; Venture Global and ConocoPhillips announce LNG deal; Cheniere and Petrobras sign long-term LNG sale and purchase agreement; Trump’s Iran strategy is working — the ayatollah suffers as oil flows again; High freight costs push more U.S. LNG toward Europe; Analysts look at WTI-Brent spread; Shell greenlights project to double LNG Canada capacity. 
The Marcellus/Utica region received 16 new drilling permits last week, September 21 – 27, down 1 from the 17 permits issued two weeks ago. Pennsylvania issued 6 of the new permits. Ohio also issued 1 new permit. And West Virginia issued 9 new permits. The drillers who received new permits last week were: Antero Resources, Ascent Resources, Beech Resources, Expand Energy, and Range Resources. 
Sunday (two weeks ago) was a two-for-one day on television for anyone following the data center fight. CBS’s 60 Minutes ran a 13-minute segment from Texas showing just how furious rural Americans have become about the AI buildout landing in their backyards. Hours earlier on Fox & Friends Weekend, Ohio gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy laid out a plan that, frankly, answers nearly every complaint 60 Minutes aired. Watch them back-to-back (both are embedded below), and you get the problem and the solution in about 25 minutes. 
For our final 
Every so often the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) publishes something that deserves to be printed out and taped to the wall. This is one of those. To mark America’s 250th, EIA charted the entire history of U.S. energy consumption — from 1776 firewood to 2025 shale gas — and two Pennsylvania milestones show up along the way: Edwin Drake’s first commercial oil well at Titusville in 1859, and the nation’s first full-scale commercial nuclear plant, which came online in the Keystone State in 1957. 
This July was the hottest July on record for the Lower 48 states, averaging 77°F. You’d think a heat wave like that, with everybody cranking up the A/C, would send natural gas prices soaring. Nope. The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reports the Henry Hub spot price averaged $2.93 per MMBtu (million British thermal units, roughly 1,000 cubic feet of gas) from June through August, 6% less than the same period last summer. EIA credits (or blames, depending on your point of view) record gas production, full storage caverns, LNG export plant maintenance, and more solar and wind generation. That’s the national story. Here in Marcellus/Utica country, the story is the same, only more so. Our local prices ran far below Henry Hub all summer. 
Maryland Gov. Wes Moore took the podium in Annapolis last week and did something that disappointed just about everybody: he did NOT slap a moratorium on new data centers. Instead, he signed an executive order (EO) that creates a new state task force to grade data center projects, a public “dashboard” to track them, and a ban on secret deals between state agencies and developers. He also wants lawmakers to kill a 2020 sales tax break for data centers. The antis at Food & Water Watch (FWW) are grumbling that it’s not enough. What they REALLY want to kill is the gas-fired power plants that would keep the lights on. 
Susan Vessels, the Republican (we use that term loosely) president of Marietta, OH City Council, has endorsed Democrat Amy Acton for governor of Ohio. Why? Because Acton promised to honor Marietta’s call for a three-year moratorium on new wastewater injection wells. Vessels is so fixated on blocking injection wells that she’s willing to hand the governor’s office — and control of the agency that regulates Ohio’s oil and gas industry — to the woman who, as Ohio’s health director in 2020, signed the order that shut down the state. That’s not a Republican. That’s a RINO (Republican In Name Only).