AES Indiana Gets OK to Convert Petersburg Coal Plants to NatGas
AES Indiana, formerly known as Indianapolis Power & Light Company, is a utility company providing electric service to the city of Indianapolis. It is a subsidiary and largest utility of AES Corporation. In August, AES Indiana said that it wants to invest $1.1 billion in Pike County, IN, to convert the company’s two remaining coal-fired power plants to use natural gas (see AES Indiana Spending $1.1B to Convert Last Coal Plants to NatGas). Unfortunately, the coal lobby pressured some Republican politicians, including Indiana’s Republican candidate for governor, into opposing the plan. Fortunately, the state Utility Regulatory Commission saw through the politics and voted 5-0 yesterday to allow AES Indiana to convert the two coal plants at the Petersburg Generating Station to use natural gas instead. Read More “AES Indiana Gets OK to Convert Petersburg Coal Plants to NatGas”
Donald Trump and J.D. Vance have a monumental task ahead in fixing all of the things broken by the current administration, especially with regard to energy policy. A complete remake of the EPA would be a great place to start. A good house cleaning at the Department of Energy (DOE) would be another. What about policy issues? What should be the top issues to tackle that would have an immediate impact on the country and begin to restore our lost energy security? We have a few suggestions… 
The election of Donald Trump as President for a second term is about the best thing that has happened for Big Green groups in years. Why? They all (and we mean ALL) are fundraising using Trump’s name, hoping to shake some more coins out of the faithful lemmings that contribute to their twisted causes. We’re talking about groups like Earthworks, Sierra Club, Food & Water Watch, Environmental Defense Fund, National Resources Defense Council, and more. In our review of these groups’ websites and press announcements following Trump’s crushing victory, we noticed two things they all are doing: (1) fundraising to “fight Trump” and (2) pledging massive new rounds of lawfare against anything and everything the Trump administration does. Our message to these sickos: BRING IT ON! We’re ready for you this time. 
OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Arkansas electric co-op invests $1B for over 1 GW of new natural gas generation; FERC gives Venture Global permission to introduce natgas into LNG plant; Berkeley voters reject tax on natural gas use in buildings; NATIONAL: API hopes to ‘unleash American energy’ with Trump win; Natural gas futures gain as Trump wins; U.S. propane exports just shy of all-time high; INTERNATIONAL: Booming Iranian oil trade in the spotlight after Trump win. 
In late 2015, MPLX (i.e., Marathon Petroleum) bought out and merged in the Utica Shale’s premier midstream company, MarkWest Energy, for $15 billion (see 
Dan Doyle is president of 
Nearly eight months ago, the New York Senate passed a bill the Assembly had previously passed to ban the use of carbon dioxide in shale drilling (so-called “CO2 fracking”). Democrat Gov. Kathy Hochul, a reliable anti-fossil fueler, still has not signed the bill into law. What the heck is going on? Why is she missing in action? We’ve written about this a few times, beginning two months after the bill was passed (
One of the reasons Kamala Harris lost (and lost big) is a complete tone deafness on energy issues, including the “pause” she and her boss put on approving new LNG export requests all the way back in January (see 
In a very short period of time, data centers and artificial intelligence (AI) appeared on the radar as very large potential customers for natural gas due to their need for power. Out of the blue, we began to read about drillers and pipeline companies talking with potential data center customers about flowing Marcellus/Utica molecules to their operations so they can generate their own electricity (for example, see 
Wow! What a night!! We’re so proud of Pennsylvania regarding the election. Of course, the big story of the night was PA going for Trump. But there’s much more to the PA story. Once again, Republicans have taken a majority in the State Senate. The PA House looks to us like it’s dead even right now and will take another day or two to tabulate the outstanding votes and perhaps to recount several races. There’s a decent chance Republicans will claim a PA House majority. Conservative Republicans swept the statewide offices. In the Attorney General race, Dave Sunday beat Eugene DePasquale (a real putz) in an open contest. For Auditor General, Tim DeFoor beat Malcolm Kenyatta, keeping his seat. And for State Treasurer, Stacy Garrity bested Erin McClelland to keep her seat. Best of all, although it’s still too close to call, it appears (to us) that Dave McCormick will unseat Biden-voting, swamp-dwelling Bob Casey in the U.S. Senate. Hooray! 
CNX Resources filed a request with the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) in April 2023 to build two pipelines—two for natural gas—along a 13.9-mile route in Bell, Loyalhanna, and Salem Townships in Westmoreland County. An additional 4-mile pipeline would be built for water. Called the Slickville Trunkline Project, the DEP originally told CNX its application was “incomplete.” The DEP later told CNX (in March of this year) the agency considered the application “withdrawn” because it hadn’t received any more information (see 
Williams’ Transco Regional Energy Access Expansion (REAE) project expands the mighty Transco pipeline in Pennsylvania and New Jersey to deliver an extra 829 MMcf/d of Marcellus gas to Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Maryland. About 450,000 MMcf/d of the total capacity went online in late 2023 along Transco’s Leidy Line in Pennsylvania. Another 160 MMcf/d went online in PA and NJ in early July. On July 26, FERC granted Williams’s request to bring online the final 219 MMcf/d ahead of schedule (see 
Look for the steady flow of people moving out of Massachusetts to become a stampede. The state is floating new legislation that will outlaw the use of natural gas as energy. The first step is to block any new customers from connecting to gas. The next step is to forbid repairing gas infrastructure, forcing broken pipes to be replaced with alternatives like electricity or geothermal. Eventually, the liberal crazies running the state want to turn off all natural gas. We call it the clinical definition of insanity. Get out while you still can!