PA Climate Zealots Spit and Sputter Over Harris’ Fracking Flip-Flop
By now, you’ve read here on MDN and likely heard via mainstream news that Kamala Harris claims she’s had a change of heart and won’t (if she’s elected president, God perish the thought) ban fracking. How magnanimous of her. Praise Kamala. We don’t believe her for a New York minute, and neither should you. However, her recent remarks in attempting to rewrite history that she never did want to ban fracking (liar!) and that she won’t now is not sitting well with climate zealots in Pennsylvania. People like THE Delaware Riverkeeper and the co-founder of the Better Path Coalition. Read More “PA Climate Zealots Spit and Sputter Over Harris’ Fracking Flip-Flop”
In August 2023, MDN told you about a Cambridge University study published in the journal Science exposing the sale of carbon credits as a scam (see 
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Hope Gas celebrates ‘Hope’ 24-months after acquisition; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Data centers face seven-year wait for Dominion power hookups; NATIONAL: Why this Democrat decided Donald Trump is the best choice for president; INTERNATIONAL: OPEC+ likely to proceed with planned output hike from October; Oil fell sharply on expected OPEC+ output increase; BP stock trails Shell as investors turn away from green energy; USA Centcom says Houthis attacked 2 oil tankers. 
For the week of August 19 – 25, a total of 34 permits were issued to drill new shale wells in Marcellus/Utica. The Keystone State (PA) had 16 new permits. PA’s top recipient was Chesapeake Energy, with six permits in Bradford County. Coterra Energy was a close second, with five new permits issued in neighboring Susquehanna County. The Buckeye State (OH) received 13 new permits, with Encino Energy (EAP) receiving eight and Ascent Resources five. OH’s permits were spread across Guernsey, Harrison, and Noble counties. Finally, the Mountain State (WV) received five new permits, all of them for Northeast Natural Energy in Monongalia County. 
On May 1, a section of the 303-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) ruptured during final pressure testing in Roanoke County, Virginia (see 
Earlier this month
Up/down, up/down, up/down, up/down… We can’t count how many times the Freeport LNG export facility has come online to go offline again, with the cycle repeating (
Venture Global is developing an LNG export facility in Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, approximately 20 miles south of New Orleans. Phase One of the project is currently under construction. Venture Global recently asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for permission to unload a tanker full of LNG to be used for testing the facility. The LNG (from Norway, because the Jones Act prohibits American LNG) will be used to cool down parts of the Plaquemines facility as part of the plant’s testing and commissioning process. Our question: Why is Venture Global allowed to do *anything* with the Plaquemines facility when it continues to screw its contracted customers at its Calcasieu Pass facility?
Whoever would have thought both Facebook and Google would turn to fracking to feed the power beast that they are? Unicorn farts (wind and solar) alone don’t do the trick, it seems. Earlier this week, MDN brought you news about Facebook and Google signing agreements with companies that use a process “similar” to fracking (fracking under a different name) to drill geothermal wells that will help power electric plants to power some of the many (many) computers each company uses (see 
Here’s a lawsuit that flew under our radar — until now. Several landowners in West Virginia sued Jay-Bee Oil & Gas, alleging “improper royalty deductions” were made from royalty checks for post-production work from 2010 to 2023. The landowners (their lawyers) convinced a court to turn the lawsuit into a class action. Jay-Bee denies the claims in the lawsuit but has agreed to settle the dispute to avoid additional litigation by paying $42.6 million into a settlement fund established to disburse payments to participating class members.
In February, MDN told you about Dominion Energy’s filing to build a new 45-mile pipeline to connect Equitrans’ (now EQT’s) MVP Southgate pipeline project with Duke Energy’s planned new natural gas power plants on Hyco Lake’s southern shore (see 
Hats off to Pennsylvania State Senator Gene Yaw, who is floating yet another bill that will benefit the state, electric ratepayers, and the Marcellus industry — all at the same time. Yesterday, Yaw announced his intention to float a new bill that would create the Pennsylvania Baseload Energy Development Fund. What is it? It’s a fund that would set up a revolving loan program at a low interest rate to encourage private companies to build more baseload electric power generation in the state. That is, build more gas-fired power plants.
Yesterday, MDN brought you the news that two dozen states have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to place a temporary block on new EPA regulations that will put all coal plants out of business and block most (if not all) new gas-fired power plants from getting built (see 
The International Gas Union (IGU), Snam, and Rystad Energy partnered (as they have in the past) to produce and release the Global Gas Report 2024 (full copy below). The authors are sounding the alarm. According to the study, should gas demand continue to grow as it has in the last four years without additional production development, a 22% global natural gas supply shortfall is expected by 2030. If demand continues to strengthen, the shortfall will be even more pronounced. There is, say the authors, an urgent need to scale up investments. NOW.