PA Landowners Get Tax Break for Well Depletion Starting This Year
Pennsylvania mineral rights owners (i.e., landowners) now have a well-deserved tax break thanks to a bill passed by the PA legislature and signed into law last summer (see New PA Bill Gives Shale Landowners Same Tax Breaks as Investors). Under Senate Bill (SB) 654, individual landowners receive the same tax benefits afforded to investors. If a company buys mineral rights and the right to receive royalty payments from oil and gas well production, the company, under IRS rules, gets to claim a simple percentage depletion allowance. Essentially, the company only pays income tax on 85% of the royalties it receives. Under SB 654, that same allowance (beginning with taxes filed in 2025 for 2024) applies to landowners in PA. Read More “PA Landowners Get Tax Break for Well Depletion Starting This Year”
Yesterday, with the bitter cold blast (called a polar vortex) hitting the eastern half of the country, the PJM power grid, which covers all or parts of 13 states plus the District of Columbia (including all of Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia), experienced its largest single-day power draw EVER. The grid came through with flying colors thanks to natural gas, which provided an average of 42.5% of the total power produced yesterday, and coal, which produced 22.9% of all the power produced yesterday. Add in oil with another 3%, and fossil fuels carried the heavy load by producing 68.4% of PJM’s electricity yesterday. How much did solar and wind produce? An infinitesimally small 4.46% of the electricity produced yesterday. Nuclear produced nearly a quarter of PJM’s electricity yesterday at 24.5%. 
In December, PA’s Democrat Governor, Josh Shapiro, filed a complaint with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) alleging the PJM electric grid is being mismanaged and using inflated numbers that will cause economic pain for the 65 million customers who buy electricity in the PJM region—in particular the residents of PA. What’s causing the high prices in PJM, a region rich in natural gas? That would be former Gov. Tom Wolf and current Gov. Josh Shapiro insisting the state tax gas-fired power plants via the so-called Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). Shapiro is blaming the victim (PJM) for his actions. He just increased the volume (as bullies do) by threatening PJM that PA may pull out of the grid and do its own thing…unless PJM finds a way to fix his mess. 
This is another in a series of observations that we (fossil fuel advocates) are winning. Finally, we are having an impact. The official party line of the Democrats has been to block the use of any and all fossil fuel energy by amping up regulations and passing laws to limit or eliminate its production, transportation, and even usage (witness the Dems trying to outlaw gas stoves, furnaces, and water heaters over the past couple of years). Those efforts have failed spectacularly. And now, some Dems admit their failure, like Maryland General Assembly member C.T. Wilson from Charles County. He told Baltimore’s Fox affiliate that the state “should be open to using natural gas to meet its green energy goals.” There you go. A Dem just redefined natural gas as “green” so he and his party can save face. Whatever. At least they’re beginning to admit what everyone else already knows: The use of natural gas isn’t going away. 
In May 2021, MDN told you that Louisville Gas and Electric Company (LG&E) had won Kentucky state approval to build a new 12-inch, 12-mile pipeline south of Louisville to supply gas to homes and businesses (including a Jim Beam distillery) in Bullitt County that can’t connect to LG&E’s local natgas utility system because it is currently maxed out (see 
BlackRock is the largest investment firm in the world, currently with $11.6 trillion of investments under management. Larry Fink, the CEO of BlackRock, pushed the so-called ESG (environment, social, governance) agenda for years. What the left and people like Fink mean by ESG is don’t invest in or use fossil fuel energy (E), everything is racist (S), and the government is always right when Democrats are in charge (G). Fink stopped using the ESG term in 2023, although he continued to push the ESG agenda of divesting from fossil fuel companies (see 
OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Freeport LNG restart hopes, cooler forecasts boost natural gas futures; NATIONAL: EnviTec’s 23 years of expertise optimize chicken manure for RNG in the US market; President Trump gives directive to rename Gulf of Mexico; LNG companies hail Trump decision to lift freeze on export permits; Trump’s climate withdrawal creates rare discord with Big Oil; The energy storage fiasco — how soon will it be abandoned?; INTERNATIONAL: Premier Tim Houston unveils push for more natural resource development in Nova Scotia; Europe may need over 100 extra gas cargoes to refill shrinking stocks. 
MDN reported in October that Marcellus/Utica driller Infinity Natural Resources (INR) intended to file an initial public offering (IPO) with the Securities and Exchange Commission hoping to raise $100 million (see 
Last August, MDN told you about several potential new pipeline projects under consideration to help feed new data centers and artificial intelligence (AI) operations, most of them located in the southeastern U.S. (see 
A key issue has come about with the rapid increase in carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) projects around the country, including here in the Marcellus/Utica region. Where does one store (sequester) all that carbon dioxide (CO2)? The answer is underground in a Class VI injection well. Class VI wells are a relatively new classification for injection wells, created by the federal EPA in 2010. Who regulates Class VI wells is a flashpoint of controversy. Until yesterday, the EPA was the primary regulator (has “primacy”) in regulating Class VI wells in all but three states: North Dakota, Wyoming, and Louisiana. Yesterday, West Virginia was added to the Class VI primacy list. 
