Tank Explosion at Westmoreland County Conventional Well Site
On March 25, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) was called to the scene of a conventional well explosion in East Huntingdon Township in Westmoreland County. The explosion involved a production storage tank at the pad. The incident happened around 10:25 AM when the well tender was “blowing out the well” to the storage tank (we’ll explain). A “well tender” refers to the person responsible for the day-to-day monitoring, routine maintenance, and operation of a well site after it has been drilled and completed. Read More “Tank Explosion at Westmoreland County Conventional Well Site”
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 29 Pennsylvania Bulletin that the Executive Director of the SRBC gave his approval to or renewed 50 (!) general water use permits in February for individual shale gas well drilling pads in Bradford, Centre, Clearfield, Clinton, Lycoming, Potter, Susquehanna, and Tioga counties in Pennsylvania. 
Last week, Pennsylvania State Senator Gene Yaw (Lycoming County), chairman of the Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee, sounded the alarm for all Pennsylvanians. Yaw said, “We are going to have to suffer some hardships. Meaning, we probably are going to have some blackouts, brownouts.” Why would PA, an electricity exporter, experience blackouts? The plain, simple, and short answer is because of Governor Josh Shapiro’s idiotic energy policies. 
We think the headline of this post pretty much says it all with respect to why it costs five times more to plug orphaned wells in Pennsylvania than in other states (see 
The Appalachian Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub (ARCH2), led by West Virginia and Ohio, was one of seven projects to win the Bidenista Hunger Games competition to receive a chunk of $7 billion to build a regional hydrogen hub (see 
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Dimock fractivist hero told by the court to shut up or else; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Judge rules against sale of Gulf of America oil drilling rights; PJM defends itself in NJ energy blame game; General Assembly energy package a mixed bag for environmental groups; NATIONAL: Trump administration cancels clean energy grants as it prioritizes fossil fuels; USA crude oil inventories down 3.3MM barrels WoW; Trump’s trade tactics are driving new LNG deals; INTERNATIONAL: Oil slips despite weekly gain; Microsoft pulls back from more data center leases in US and Europe; It’s the biggest failure in history…nearly $1 Bn lost in hydrogen; India weighs scrapping import tax on US LNG, boosting purchases; Nova Scotia Mi’kmaw chiefs oppose new fracking law, considering legal action; Greta Thunberg — from climate warrior to Israel hater. 
For the week of Mar 17 – 23, the number of permits issued in the Marcellus/Utica to drill new shale wells dropped by nine from the previous week. Last week, 22 new permits were issued, with 16 going to the Keystone State (PA). PennEnergy Resources took the lion’s share with 11 permits for a single pad in Butler County. PA General Energy received four permits for a single pad in Lycoming County. Range Resources got one new permit in Washington County. 
On March 27, the Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC) online Hydrologic Conditions Monitor showed low stream flows have triggered restrictions on 18 shale gas water withdrawal points in Bradford, Potter, Susquehanna, Tioga, and Wyoming counties. Another 17 shale gas withdrawals are approaching restrictions. Of the water withdrawal points regulated by SRBC, only shale gas development water withdrawals currently have restrictions because they take water from smaller streams. 
Donald Trump has taken significant actions to eliminate “environmental justice” programs within the federal government during his second term, which began on January 20, 2025. What is so-called environmental justice (EJ)? EJ is the leftist theory that energy projects like pipelines and well pads target locations where there are black, brown, or poor people who can’t fight back legally. They don’t want the projects, but they have no way ($$) to fight them. And so their populations suffer the negative environmental consequences of living near polluting energy projects. Energy projects are presumed to be inherently racist. It is a disgusting, loathsome political theory peddled mainly by the far-left of the Democrat Party. Although Donald Trump has quashed EJ on the federal level, the Josh Shapiro Department of Environment Protection’s EJ program keeps chugging along, oblivious that nobody wants it, nobody respects it, and it’s a “dead man walking.” 
Toby Rice, CEO of EQT Corporation, took part in a presentation by natural gas industry leaders at the West Virginia Capitol on Wednesday. The group was briefly joined by Gov. Patrick Morrisey, who was there to promote an expansion of electric microgrids in the state to power data centers. Morrisey is pushing legislature, House Bill 2014, to do just that (see 
From time to time, we like to check in on what the price of natural gas is doing, both the “futures” NYMEX price (front month) and the spot price at various points around the Marcellus/Utica. We’re certainly well off our highs over the past month from when the NYMEX price hit $4.49 on Monday, March 10, 2025. We like it above $4. Yesterday, the NYMEX price closed up 2.3% to $3.95, close to $4.00. Where will the price head next? Up or down? Will we go above the psychological $4 barrier again soon? 
On March 24, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal from a group of kids pushing for federal action on climate change since filing their lawsuit, Juliana v. United States, in 2015. Represented by Our Children’s Trust, the 21 youths argued that the government’s energy policies violated their constitutional rights to life, liberty, and security by exacerbating climate change. The case faced repeated setbacks in federal courts, with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that the plaintiffs lacked standing to sue, leading to a lower court’s dismissal of the case. The Supreme Court’s decision not to take up the appeal centered on this procedural issue of standing, effectively ending the long-running litigation. The nonprofit behind the suit had asked the Court to delay its decision pending another case on standing, but the justices proceeded, closing a significant chapter in youth-led climate activism. 
This story isn’t directly connected to the Marcellus/Utica. The “environmental” group in question, Just Stop Oil, has never (as far as we can tell) done any “direct actions” in the Marcellus/Utica. However, the groups’ unrealistic aim of blocking and stopping ALL new oil and gas projects, no matter where they are in the world, implicitly includes the M-U. We have written about this radicalized group many times before (
Today, we introduce you to a new advertiser on Marcellus Drilling News: 
On Monday, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia (Roanoke Division) ruled in two of five cases before it in which Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP), which is now majority-owned by EQT Corporation, sued radical protesters who blocked the construction of the pipeline in Roanoke County, Virginia. The court dismissed one count in the two cases (count #4) against the protesters, which the media focused on. The media doesn’t want to talk about the fact that there are five other counts, far more serious than the dismissed count, that the court is allowing to advance. These protesters are in a world of legal hurt over their illegal blocking of MVP construction.