PA DEP Denies Road Permit for PGE Shale Pad in Loyalsock Forest
Last December, MDN told you that three anti-shale drilling groups—the PA Council of Trout Unlimited, the Keystone Trails Association, and the Responsible Drilling Alliance—requested the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) hold a hearing on the Chapter 105 permit requested for a 3.9-mile shale gas access road and staging area proposed by Pennsylvania General Energy (PGE) in the Loyalsock State Forest (see PA Antis Want DEP Hearing on 3.9-Mile Rd to Shale Pad in Loyalsock). The antis kept up the pressure. They squawked a lot during a DEP virtual public hearing in February (see Antis Flood PA DEP Hearing Against Drilling in Loyalsock Forest). The hearing focused on the Chapter 105 water-quality permit for PGE’s proposal to construct an access road. Congratulations to the crazies: They succeeded. Read More “PA DEP Denies Road Permit for PGE Shale Pad in Loyalsock Forest”
National Fuel Gas Company (NFG) is an integrated natural gas company with a regulated utility business, a shale drilling business (Seneca Resources), and a pipeline business (NFG Midstream, Empire Pipeline). The company issued its fiscal second quarter update two weeks ago, which is everyone else’s calendar first quarter update. The good news is that NFG is upgrading its Line N natural gas pipeline to carry an additional 94,000 Dth/d (90 MMcf/d) of Marcellus/Utica shale gas. The bad news is that Seneca produced 102.0 Bcf of natural gas, a decrease of 3.5 Bcf, or 3%, from the prior year, largely due to weather-driven completion delays and “typical natural gas production declines on producing wells.” 
There’s a reason the University of California, Berkeley, is nicknamed “Berserkly.” It is a hotbed of bright red Communist philosophy and teaching. It produces people who are, well, berserk. And yet, in an unguarded moment of honesty and lucidity, a UC Berkeley researcher has just published a study outlining how natural gas from shale is saving American consumers on the order of $200 billion each year, a cumulative total of $5 trillion or more since 2007. This is astonishing — not only because of how much Americans have saved, but because UC Berkeley is willing to share that truth with the world, damaging its own reputation with the wacky, badacky left. 
The federal EPA has proposed new rules allowing gas-fired power plants, data centers, and factories to begin constructing non-polluting components like piping, wiring, and cement pads before receiving air emission permits. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin stated that this aims to streamline critical infrastructure projects and advance technological development, particularly for AI. Critics, including Big Green lawyers, argue these changes undermine the Clean Air Act by making it harder for communities to “protect air quality.” More importantly, Big Green says it will make it harder for regulators to reject permits after significant investment has already been made. Well, duh! That’s the point. 
U.S. energy production reached a record 107 quadrillion British thermal units in 2025, up 3.4% from 2024 and marking the fourth straight annual record high. Growth was led by all-time highs in natural gas, crude oil, natural gas plant liquids, and unreliable renewables. Dry natural gas output rose more than 4% to 39 trillion cubic feet, with gains concentrated in Appalachia, the Permian, and Haynesville. Incidentally, natural gas has been the largest source of U.S. domestic energy production since 2011. Who knew?! 
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Utica Shale Academy receives $50,000 award; Large-scale emergency drill tests county response; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Venture Global signs new LNG supply deals with TotalEnergies, Vitol; Oglethorpe Power breaks ground on $3.3B Monroe natgas plant to meet rising demand; NATIONAL: U.S. natural gas futures settle higher; “Green Machine” targets plastics at consumer expense; CFACT presses utility giants on costly Green energy fence-sitting; Why the U.S. now dominates global LNG markets; INTERNATIONAL: Oil jumps as Hormuz crisis deepens; China LNG imports signal recovery; Carney moves to fast-track federal approval for major projects. 
Last week, the combined Marcellus/Utica Baker Hughes rig count remained at 37 active rigs for the seventh week in a row. The M-U’s chief competitor, the Haynesville, remained at 58 active rigs after adding two rigs two weeks ago, some 21 more than the M-U. Clearly, drillers are choosing to put their money into the Haynesville over the M-U. The national count added one rig last week and now operates 548 rigs. 
Ascent Resources, formerly American Energy Partners, was founded by Aubrey McClendon and is a privately held company that focuses 100% on the Ohio Utica Shale. Ascent, headquartered in Oklahoma City, OK, is Ohio’s largest natural gas producer and one of the largest natural gas producers in the U.S. The company issued its first quarter 2026 update last week. First quarter net production averaged 2,132 MMcfe/d, consisting of 1,838 MMcf/d of natural gas, 11,500 bbls per day of oil, and 37,589 bbls per day of natural gas liquids (NGLs), putting liquids at 14% of the overall production mix for the quarter. 
EOG Resources is one of the largest crude oil and natural gas exploration and production companies in the U.S., with proved reserves in the U.S. and Trinidad. The company bought and merged with Encino Energy’s extensive Ohio Utica operation last August, making EOG one of the largest drillers in the Buckeye State (see 
It’s been nearly a year since we last wrote about WhiteHawk Energy (now undergoing a rename to WhiteHawk Minerals), a natural gas mineral and royalty interest owner in the Marcellus and Haynesville plays, with over 3.4 million gross acres under lease for drilling (see 
In March 2025, the Wall Street Journal reported that Shell is “exploring a potential sale of its chemicals assets in Europe and the U.S.,” which includes the Monaca (Beaver County, PA) ethane cracker complex (see 
The Marcellus/Utica region received 19 new drilling permits last week, Apr. 27 – May 3, up from the 12 permits issued two weeks ago. Pennsylvania issued 5 of last week’s permits. Ohio issued the lion’s share, with 13 new permits (four of which were from two weeks ago). West Virginia issued just 1 new permit last week. The drillers who received new permits included: Ascent Resources, Campbell Oil & Gas, CNX Resources, EOG Resources, Gulfport Energy, and Range Resources. 
In February, MDN brought you the big news that Devon Energy is buying out and merging with Coterra Energy, paying $21.4 billion in Devon stock (see 
You have to hand it to Dominion Energy, the company has brass… courage. In June 2023, Dominion announced plans to build four small “peaker” electric generating plants in Chesterfield County near Richmond (see