PA Sen. Yaw Reintroduces Bill to Protect Consumer Energy Options
Pennsylvania State Sen. Gene Yaw from Lycoming County, chairman of the Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee, is a strong Marcellus Shale friend. Sen. Yaw recently reintroduced an “Energy Choice” bill blocking municipalities from banning a specific type of fuel source for appliances and heating homes or businesses. The language is fuel-neutral and is not specific to one energy source, but obviously, it’s aimed at preventing liberals who run municipalities in and around Philadelphia and Pittsburgh (maybe Harrisburg) from blocking the use of natural gas in their homes and businesses, a favorite tactic of the left. Read More “PA Sen. Yaw Reintroduces Bill to Protect Consumer Energy Options”
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Energy leaders reflect on industry’s direction at Range Resources event; Does Josh Shapiro understand fossil fuels are coming back?; Ohio must support oil and gas industry to fuel growth; Cuomo, Hochul sent energy bills soaring — here’s how they can climb down; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: California will launch methane-detecting satellites, Gavin Newsom announces; First U.S. offshore LNG export terminal gets green light from Maritime Admin; NATIONAL: Greenpeace verdict is a wake-up call for progressive NGOs; Amazon to sell carbon credits to suppliers, customers; Amidst escalating costs, the value of energy assets is underestimated; INTERNATIONAL: Alberta premier rejects oil export tax in meeting with Carney; Oil gains slightly as OPEC+ uncertainty looms; Global oil demand makes strong start to 2025; Ignore the boom in oil that isn’t oil at your peril. 
For the week of Mar 10 – 16, the number of permits issued in the Marcellus/Utica to drill new shale wells increased by nine from the previous week. Last week, 31 new permits were issued, with 16 going to the Keystone State (PA). EQT (and its subsidiary Rice Drilling) scored nine permits across Fayette, Greene, and Washington counties in southwestern PA. Range Resources took five permits, all of them in Washington County. And Rev Resources received two permits in Tioga County. 
Epsilon Energy issued its fourth quarter and full-year 2024 update yesterday. Epsilon, a relatively small company, used to concentrate most of its effort on developing Marcellus Shale wells. However, over the past few years, the company has expanded into other plays and now owns assets in the Anadarko (Oklahoma and Texas), the Permian (Texas and New Mexico), and most recently, the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin (in Alberta, Canada). Epsilon typically does not do its own drilling. The company joint venture partners with (gives money to) other companies, like Expand Energy in the Marcellus, and the other company does the drilling. Epsilon’s CFO, Andrew Williamson, began his comments on a conference call with investors by saying, “The tides have shifted in the Marcellus, and we’re off to a great start there in 2025.” 
The highly functional and responsible Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC), unlike its completely dysfunctional and irresponsible cousin, the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC), continues to support the shale energy industry by approving water withdrawals for responsible and safe shale drilling. On March 13, the SRBC board acted on 24 new water withdrawal requests within the basin, six of them approvals for water used in drilling and fracking shale wells in Pennsylvania. The Marcellus/Utica shale drillers receiving a green light from SRBC included Diversified Energy, EQT, JKLM, Repsol, and two requests for Expand Energy (under SWN or Southwestern Energy). 
The Allegheny Front, a leftwing “media” outfit in Western Pennsylvania (PBS reporters), published an article looking at how fracking has changed the “rural character” of Guernsey County, Ohio. The reporter took the recent start of drilling and fracking under Salt Fork State Park as an opportunity to write an article about the evils of fracking. Except, the reporter had this observation with respect to drilling happening right now under the park: “During a visit to Salt Fork State Park in December, there weren’t any visible signs of fracking. Of the few people who were there, two hunters said they didn’t know about fracking…” Exactly. 
U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG) exporters plan to continue to monitor and curb their methane emissions despite President Trump’s plans to roll back EPA climate regulations (see 
Data centers and AI are in the news almost daily. The great issue of our time (which has developed over the past year or so) is that AI and data centers are huge customers for electricity. Every region of the country (particularly the Eastern Seaboard) struggles with how to meet the demand for more electricity. The existing grid can’t handle the coming increase in demand. Data centers would love to just “plug in” to the local grid, but given the speed with which they want to build these new facilities, that’s unrealistic. Building a new nuclear plant to power such facilities takes over a decade and billions of dollars. Building a new gas-fired power plant takes at least 2-3 years from start to finish (once permitting is issued). Is it possible to develop a new power source for data centers in two years? Indeed, there is… 
Big Green is alarmed that New York Governor Kathy Hochul trooped to The White House last Friday to have a private, off-the-record conversation with President Trump about a laundry list of things, but two primary items: the Constitution Pipeline and a tax on driving in parts of Manhattan during certain hours (called “congestion pricing”). Nobody is saying anything about the meeting, but the implication is that perhaps Hochul and Trump were engaged in “horse swapping”—Trump bends on congestion pricing if Hochul bends on allowing (even endorsing) the Constitution Pipeline. The prospect of Hochul caving on the Constitution has set the environmental left’s hair on fire. 
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) will hold an 
You have to hand it to the environment-left; they sure are creative. How do they think these things up? Penn State researchers, committed to the religion of eliminating fossil fuels and the 100% adoption of unreliable renewables, are looking for a way to use old/depleted oil and gas wells—of which there are hundreds of thousands in PA (an estimated 3.9 million nationwide). The latest Penn State research proposes blowing compressed air down old wells and storing it underground where the earth’s heat will warm it, further compressing it (giving it an extra 9.5% of “efficiency”). And when electricity is needed, let the air escape, running big power turbines. Just one teeny, tiny problem: It costs so much that nobody will do it. 
Yesterday, Venture Global received approval from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to export liquefied natural gas (LNG) to non-FTA countries for its third project, CP2 LNG, in Cameron Parish, Louisiana. Venture Global is working through a final investment decision (FID) to proceed with the project. The DOE approval is a key milestone for the project, a project that, in all likelihood, will use at least some Marcellus/Utica molecules. However, there are miles to go before it gets built, comes online, and then begins to honor its customer contracts. YEARS.