EPA Close to Axing Rule That Regulates CO2 & Methane as Pollution
President Trump is close to taking an ax to the root of an EPA regulation that has allowed leftist environmentalists to rule the roost for the past 15 years. In 2009, the EPA adopted a major regulatory rule called the “endangerment finding.” The finding concluded that six so-called greenhouse gases — carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O), hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), perfluorocarbons (PFCs), and sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) — constitute an endangerment to public health and welfare due to their contribution to global climate change. The finding gives the EPA the power to regulate those gases under the umbrella of the Clean Air Act. Trump intends to overturn the finding, which would take down all the greenhouse rules for CO2 and methane. Read More “EPA Close to Axing Rule That Regulates CO2 & Methane as Pollution”
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Shell, API partner with CCBC to enhance process tech education center; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Duke Energy removes climate language as it builds more gas plants; NATIONAL: Utilities want to power Big Tech’s AI ambitions with natural gas; Expand Energy new EVP of marketing & commercial; New GOP Congress podcast features talk about fracking; Trump nominates president of Western Energy Alliance to head BLM; EIA natural gas storage draw of -100 Bcf exceeds estimates; Why oil producers are hesitant despite Trump’s push to “drill, baby, drill”; Chevron to lay off up to 20% of global workforce; INTERNATIONAL: Elliott pushes big cost cuts at BP to preserve its independence; Petroleum liquids supply growth driven by non-OPEC+ countries in 2025/26; Trump’s tariff threats spur ‘mature conversation’ in N.S. on lifting fracking, uranium bans; The potential for U.S. LNG to help meet Indian demand; Energy cooperation connects Israel with Islamic nation; Giant gas field discovered under UK that ‘could fuel the country for a decade’. 
A new player is entering the Marcellus looking to extract lithium from shale brine (wastewater), and it’s doing it in a big way in Susquehanna County in the northeastern corner of Pennsylvania. Avonlea Lithium Corporation, a subsidiary of Vancouver-based Rain City Resources Inc., will provide its newly-tested technology to Kendra II, based in Springville, PA, to provide an on-site plant to extract lithium from Marcellus brine. The new plant will be set up and operating by April 2025. 
The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) issued its latest monthly Short-Term Energy Outlook on Tuesday, the agency’s monthly best guess about where energy prices and production will go in the next 12 months. In this latest assessment, EIA said the natural gas price at the U.S. benchmark Henry Hub is expected to average $3.80 per million British thermal units (MMBtus) in 2025—up about 23% from its January forecast ($3.10). EIA also raised its estimate for 2026, putting the annual average price at $4.20 MMBtus, up 5% compared with $4.00 in its January report. 
The Pennsylvania Game Commission (PGC) owns and manages more than 1.5 million acres of state game lands throughout the Commonwealth. The primary purpose of these lands is the management of habitat for wildlife and providing opportunities for lawful hunting and trapping. You might think PGC gets most of its revenue from hunting and trapping licenses and fees. You would be wrong. PGC allows shale drilling on some of its vast holdings, and leases and royalties generate 39% of the income for PGC (as of 2024). The problem (if you can call it a problem) is that royalty revenue from shale for the PGC varies widely from year to year. For example, the revenue flowing to PGC from shale during its last fiscal year decreased by a whopping 46%. But the PGC was ready. The way the PGC prepares for those wild swings is instructive for all landowners. 
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 
Geothermal energy has been called the ‘redheaded stepchild’ of renewable energy. Lefties have a love/hate relationship with geothermal energy. Geothermal uses the same identical drilling rigs, drills the same holes in the ground, and even uses the same fracking technology used to drill shale oil and gas wells. But drilling and fracking for geothermal is righteous and clean and pure as wind-driven snow (for the left), while drilling and fracking for oil and gas is evil, Satanic, and destroying the environment. The left tolerates geothermal because it’s not fossil energy. Momentum for geothermal is growing, and money is beginning to pour in, according to Cindy Taff, CEO of geothermal company Sage Geosystems. 
A Washington County, PA, judge is closing the barn door about 12 years late. On February 7, Washington County Court of Common Pleas Judge Brandon P. Neuman ruled Sunoco Pipeline, LLC (i.e., Energy Transfer) did not have the eminent domain authority to take property for the Mariner East Pipelines in 2013 from Bradley and Amy Simon (in Washington County), and possibly many other property owners. The case alleges that while ME gained eminent domain authority later, when the company negotiated with the Simons (and potentially others), it did not have that legal authority, yet it claimed it did. The Simons signed a lease they otherwise would not have signed if they had full information. They either would not have signed, or perhaps negotiated a bigger payment. That’s the gist of the story—that ME fraudulently presented claims. 
CNX Resources’ Radical Transparency™ program is a first-of-its-kind public-private collaboration announced between CNX and Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro in November 2023 (see 
There are a lot of nonprofits that do a lot of great work. MDN editor Jim Willis has served on several boards of such groups. We say that to preface two posts today that take aim at nonprofits (otherwise called NGOs or nongovernmental organizations) that are NOT doing great work and, in some cases, are corrupt. Most large public companies will find a few NGOs and hand money to them as part of their “S” in ESG (environment, social, governance) programs. Companies that donate allow NGOs to distribute the money to various agencies, causes, and other nonprofits. The problem is the NGOs often don’t do a good job. Sometimes, the NGOs have sticky fingers and keep some of the money for themselves. CNX Resources, a big publicly traded driller in the Marcellus/Utica, takes a different approach to charity. 
Last week, President Trump issued a directive to the heads of Executive Branch agencies to review all funding said agencies provide to NGOs (nongovernmental organizations). The aim is to pull the plug on funding NGOs engaged in actions that actively undermine the security, prosperity, and safety of the American people. There’s a LOT of corruption in NGOs. Big money from the federal government (taxpayers!) flows in, and the NGOs give it to crazy anti-American, anti-energy programs and agencies. Elon Musk is convinced there’s a LOT of corruption in the form of payments (kickbacks) going to grease the palms of people all along the food chain. Our specific interest is in defunding environmental NGOs—organizations like the National Resources Defense Council, the Sierra Club, Food & Water Watch, and other disgusting organizations that are using (at least in part) OUR money. 