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Flows Drop to Zero @ Cove Point LNG, Closed for Annual Maintenance
Feedgas flows from the Marcellus/Utica to the Cove Point LNG export facility located on the shore of Maryland fell to zero last Friday, Sept. 20. It was the start of the facility’s annual maintenance outage. The question is, how long will Cove Point be out of commission for liquefying and exporting LNG? According to Reuters, maintenance forcing the facility offline will last “for about three weeks.” Each year, the plant closure is a moving target and a guessing game about how long it will remain offline. Every day counts! Read More “Flows Drop to Zero @ Cove Point LNG, Closed for Annual Maintenance”
Last Thursday, Sept. 19, Pennsylvania State Rep. James Struzzi (R-Indiana) introduced House Bill (HB) 2573, which creates an Independent Energy Office headed by a new Energy Advocate with the authority to veto any regulation, policy or action of any state agency that “may harm energy reliability and affordability.” This bill appears to be completely different from a State Senate bill that passed on May 1 creating an Independent Energy Office (see 
The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is a federally-owned electric utility corporation in the U.S. TVA’s service area covers all of Tennessee, portions of Alabama, Mississippi, and Kentucky, and small areas of Georgia, North Carolina, and Virginia. TVA is the sixth-largest power supplier and the largest public utility in the country. Yesterday, TVA released a draft version of its 25-year plan. The plan includes new capacity needs; firm, dispatchable generation technologies; solar expansion; natural gas expansion; energy efficiency deployment; storage expansion; wind additions; and new nuclear technologies. Within minutes of releasing the plan, anti-fossil fuel nutters jumped on it because it includes major expansion for the ONLY energy source that is reliable—natural gas. 
Our friend Tom Shepstone, over at the 
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Trump promises PA ‘pumping, fracking, drilling, producing like never before’; Bob Casey’s facade of moderation; NATIONAL: Decline in natgas price drove decrease in U.S. O&G revenue in early 2024; US natural gas prices jump 7% to 12-week high on storm worries; INTERNATIONAL: Energy revenue fuels a war-time Moscow boom; Trouble deepens for North Sea oil and gas. 
Two weeks ago, the national rig count, which counts all oil and gas rigs, added an astonishing eight rigs to the count after languishing for months — the biggest weekly gain in a year. 
In late July, the Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources (ODNR) opened up the shuttered Austin Master Services (AMS) radiological waste management solutions company in Martins Ferry (Belmont County), Ohio, to begin cleanup work at the facility (see 
Dimock Township (Susquehanna County), PA, resident Ray Kemble was one of several Dimock landowners who sued and later settled with Cabot Oil & Gas (now Coterra Energy) over claims that Cabot’s drilling had “polluted” their water wells (with methane). In 2012, Kemble received $180,000. As part of the settlement, Kemble agreed to not publicly bash Cabot. Kemble proceeded, with money given to him by Big Green groups, to attend meetings across the country and overseas bashing Cabot (see 
The Susquehanna River Basin Commission (SRBC) published a notice in the Saturday edition of the Pennsylvania Bulletin that says the SRBC’s Executive Director recently approved or renewed 24 general water use permits for shale gas drilling pads in Bradford, Cameron, Clearfield, Clinton, Lycoming, Susquehanna, Tioga and Wyoming counties in the Keystone State (full list below). Approval by the Executive Director is the first step in the process. Each permit will also require a separate water withdrawal approval before water begins to flow from the Susquehanna (and its tributaries) to shale well pads. 
The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is a federally-owned electric utility corporation in the U.S. TVA’s service area covers all of Tennessee, portions of Alabama, Mississippi, and Kentucky, and small areas of Georgia, North Carolina, and Virginia. TVA is the sixth-largest power supplier and the largest public utility in the country. In July 2021, MDN told you that TVA announced investments of over $1 billion to replace six coal-fired plants with natgas-fired turbines (see 
Last Thursday, one of our favorite authors (and energy expert/philosopher), Alex Epstein, testified before the U.S. House Budget Committee at a hearing called “The Costs of the Biden-Harris Energy Crisis.” His main point was that the government-dictated “green” energy policy, practiced by Biden-Harris and many other governments, is ruinous. When you shackle the most cost-effective and scalable source of energy, fossil fuels, and subsidize unreliable solar and wind, energy necessarily becomes more expensive, less reliable, and less secure. Alex debunked 12 grossly inaccurate myths peddled by Trevor Higgins of the leftwing Center for American Progress which supports the Biden-Harris energy policy disaster we now have. 
There were 15 permits issued to drill new shale wells in Marcellus/Utica for the week of Sept. 9 – 15, up one from the previous week. The Keystone State (PA) had six new permits, and all six went to EQT for a single well pad in Greene County. The Buckeye State (OH) had nine new permits. The top recipient in OH was Southwestern Energy, which received six permits for Monroe County. Ascent Resources had two permits in Harrison County, and INR (Infinity Natural Resources) had a single new permit issued for Guernsey County. The Mountain State (WV) had a big, fat, zero new permits even though it’s been adding rigs like crazy! 
We have no words (but we’ll try). Venture Global’s Calcasieu Pass LNG export facility received Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) authorization to place the final three liquefaction blocks (7-9) into service in November 2023 (see