PJM Gets 94 Applications to Expand & Build More Gas-Fired Power
In December, MDN told you the country’s largest electric grid, PJM Interconnection, which covers all or parts of 13 states, including PA, OH, and WV, proposed new changes to how it decides which new power plants can connect to the system first. The new policy *favors* adding natural gas-fired power over other types of power like unreliable solar and wind (see New PJM Policy Favors Gas-Fired Power Over Solar & Wind). The change comes in response to the rapidly increasing demand for more electricity from data centers and artificial intelligence computing. PJM’s gas-favoring policy change rankled the environmental left, which claims the new policy unfairly allows gas-fired projects to “jump the queue” ahead of unreliable renewables. Ignoring antis, FERC approved the plan in February (see FERC Approves PJM Plan to Fast-Track New Gas-Fired Power Plants). That opened the floodgates for new applications—some 94 of them! Read More “PJM Gets 94 Applications to Expand & Build More Gas-Fired Power”
Two researchers from Miami University of Ohio have just published a new study (full copy below) that makes a bombshell revelation: Between the years of 2007 and 2019, the extraction and use of shale natural gas led to a REDUCTION in so-called greenhouse gases of 7.5% in the United States. Although the authors are careful to wrap their findings in the argument that natural gas is “just a transition that’s helping us reach renewable nirvana” (our words, their sentiment), we have to wonder if this study has just tanked the researchers’ academic careers. Nobody goes against the global warming orthodoxy with actual science that questions that orthodoxy and (academically) lives to tell about it. Poor sods. 
OTHER U.S. REGIONS: How Texas oil workers, technology are helping build a new renewable boom; Judge overturns WA natural gas measure approved by voters; Grid crisis forces Puerto Rico to eliminate renewable energy targets; NATIONAL: The oil oligarch who wants to take us back to the 1990s; EPA decimates grant program aimed at construction material emissions; Risks facing new LNG projects on the U.S. Gulf and East Coasts; INTERNATIONAL: JP Morgan says oil vigilantes have been found wanting; LNG Canada to start cooldown of plant next week in final step before first LNG; Why the global digital economy will be powered by natural gas for decades; After years of pushing net zero propaganda the IEA suddenly remembers what it’s for; How Ukraine’s gas storage, pipeline network could boost U.S. LNG under Trump. 
The Baker Hughes U.S. national rig count gained one rig last week, now at 593 active rigs. As for the Marcellus/Utica, the rig count was a combined 35 last week. Rigs focused on the Marcellus were a combined 24 across the three M-U states of Pennsylvania, West Virginia, and Ohio. Rigs focused on the Utica were a combined 11. PA has operated 15 rigs (or more) for the past 19 weeks. OH has operated nine rigs for the past 16 weeks. WV had operated 10 rigs for an astonishing 23 weeks in a row. Five weeks ago, WV added (and has kept) one additional rig and now operates 11 active rigs. 
Here’s a lawsuit we were unaware of, even though it’s been playing out for years. It’s quite complicated. On the surface, at a very basic level, Cardinal Midstream II (we assume a subsidiary of the Dallas-based 
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 and consumptive use for responsible and safe shale drilling. The SRBC published a notice in the March 22 Pennsylvania Bulletin that the Commission renewed 34 general water use permits in January for individual shale gas well drilling pads in Bradford, Centre, Clinton, Elk, Lycoming, Sullivan, Susquehanna, Tioga, and Wyoming counties. 
On Friday, March 21, 2025, Heathrow Airport (in London), one of the world’s busiest airports, experienced a complete shutdown due to a massive fire at the North Hyde electrical substation in Hayes, west London, approximately 1.5 miles from the airport. The blaze, which began late Thursday night around 11:23 PM GMT, involved a transformer containing 25,000 liters of cooling oil. It caused a significant power outage, knocking out the primary substation and its backup system. This led to the cancellation of over 1,300 flights, affecting an estimated 200,000 to 290,000 passengers and causing widespread travel disruptions globally. The London Fire Brigade deployed 10 engines and around 70 firefighters to control the fire, which was mostly contained by Friday evening, though 5% remained active in isolated hotspots. What happened at Heathrow could not happen at Pittsburgh International Airport. Why? Because of the Marcellus shale. 
President Trump was 100% correct in calling the misnamed Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) Biden’s “green new scam.” Here is a perfect example. The heart of Marcellus Shale country is the highest-producing natural gas county in Pennsylvania, Susquehanna County (not far from where MDN sits). Anyone who lives in our region knows this: It is one of the cloudiest regions of the country. Binghamton, NY (where MDN resides) averages 212 cloudy days per year! Yes, we’re nuts for living here. About 25 minutes south of Binghamton down Interstate 81 sits Clifford Township, PA, in Susquehanna County. It’s just as cloudy as Binghamton. Yet Biden’s IRA (“green new scam”) is paying to build a….wait for it….solar farm in Clifford Township! In a place that is cloudy 58% of the time. Taxpayers are paying for this insanity. Meanwhile, natural gas (more reliable, easier to produce, and almost as clean as solar) keeps chugging away in Clifford and other locations around Susquehanna County. 
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. 
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 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.