NatGas Storage Injections 15% Below 5-Yr Avg, Yet Inventory High
According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), injections into natural gas storage so far this injection season (April 1–October 31) is 15% (166 Bcf) *less* than the previous five-year average (2019–23) for the same period. Injections into storage are also 15% (172 Bcf) less than this same time last year. Yet working natural gas inventories in the Lower 48 states are 17% *higher* than the five-year average and 8% higher than this time last year. How can that be?
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On Monday, U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin (I-WV), the chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, and Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY), the ranking Republican member of that committee, released the Energy Permitting Reform Act of 2024 (see 
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Pa. Democrat leaders talk up Shapiro as VP pick; Steel Nation names business development manager; Companies chip in to help Encino raise $100K for charities; The Green New Deal may decide the election; NATIONAL: Conservatives praise ‘brilliant’ swing state GOP ad attacking Harris; Harris campaign working overtime to hide her far-left record; The SEC’s climate disclosure rule is a dark cloud over energy abundance; INTERNATIONAL: Vancouver reverses ban on the use of natural gas in new homes; Co-founder of anti groups sentenced to 5 years in UK prison.
In April, MDN brought you the news that EQT Corporation, the largest natural gas producer in the country (totally focused on the Marcellus/Utica) had signed two agreements with Glenfarne Energy’s Texas LNG Brownsville export facility to liquefy 2.0 million tons per annum (MTPA) of EQT-extracted shale gas (see 
Yesterday, 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. One contractor began working at the site, while a bunch of others did a “pre-bid walkthrough” to look at what is there to make bids for cleaning it. AMS is permitted by the ODNR to temporarily store up to 600 tons of fracking waste, like drill cuttings and wastewater. ODNR estimates there are some 10,000 tons of fracking waste at the site. AMS ran out of money, and vendors quit accepting the waste. After failing to meet a court-ordered July 22 deadline, ODNR stepped in to handle the cleanup.
As we have been reporting, Austin Master Services, a radiological waste management solutions company in Martins Ferry (Belmont County), Ohio, that handles fracking waste (trucks it for disposal), ran into trouble when it ran out of money. The facility where waste is temporarily stored went from a permitted maximum of 600 tons of stored waste to over 10,000 tons, in violation of its permit. The Ohio Attorney General’s office filed a lawsuit against the company to force compliance. As is always the case, there are two sides to every story. The side of AMS and its owner, Brad Domitrovitsch, is not getting much media coverage. We have an update on Brad’s side of the story…
The Passaic Valley Sewerage Commission operates the largest sewage treatment plant in the state of New Jersey — in Newark. When Hurricane Sandy hit in 2012, the sewer plant lost power and dumped BILLIONS of gallons of raw sewage into the Passaic River. The Commission has a plan to prevent that from happening again: Build a tiny natural gas peaker plant to generate electricity. It would only be used to prevent such environmental damage again (i.e., rarely used, only for emergencies). We told you last week that the ultra-liberal Phil Murphy administration approved the project (see 
In June, three new commissioners joined the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (see 
The Bidenistas (or maybe we should now call them the Cackleistas) can’t help themselves. They want to end the use of natural gas. Democrat mayors and governors are trying it in various “blue” states, although the courts are beginning to overturn such lunacy (see 
Here is an incontrovertible fact: In a CNN town hall debate during the 2019 presidential primary, Kamala Harris said, “There’s no question I’m in favor of banning fracking.” She hasn’t changed her position in the last five years. And that’s a problem for Harris in “swing” states like Pennsylvania. She said she would ban it from “day one” on federal lands and then work her way around to private lands later. The left always uses incrementalism. There is no question that Harris is left of Joe Biden if such a thing is possible. We think it’s quite possible Harris will try to recruit PA’s dud, do-nothing Governor, Josh Shapiro, to run with her as her VP candidate to try and persuade PA voters that her radical position supporting a fracking ban shouldn’t prevent them from voting for her. Harris figures that if Shapiro is on the ticket, it will assuage voters’ concerns. Don’t fall for it. If Harris loses PA, she loses the election.
In November 2018, under intense pressure from activist investors, EQT split itself into two companies: EQT Corporation and Equitrans Midstream (see 
Austin Master Services (AMS) is a radiological waste management solutions company in Martins Ferry (Belmont County), Ohio. The Ohio Attorney General lodged charges against AMS in March, accusing the company of storing 16+ times more drill cuttings at the facility than it’s rated for (see 
This is BIG (and really great) news… Williams has asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for permission to bring the final pieces of the Regional Energy Access Expansion (REAE) project online by the end of this month. REAE expands the mighty Transco pipeline in Pennsylvania and New Jersey to deliver an extra 829 MMcf/d of Marcellus gas to PA, NJ, and Maryland. About 450,000 MMcf/d of the total capacity went online in late 2023 along Transco’s Leidy Line in Pennsylvania (see 
Yesterday, the Biden-Harris Administration and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced selected recipients of over $4.3 billion in so-called Climate Pollution Reduction Grants from the misnamed Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) aimed at “community-driven solutions that tackle the climate crisis, reduce air pollution, advance environmental justice, and accelerate America’s clean energy transition.” In other words, it’s bribe money going to the Democrats’ favored donors and to states where they need votes this November. Handing out $4.3 billion will buy a LOT of votes. One of the big winners, unsurprisingly, is the swing state of Pennsylvania and its Democrat Governor, Josh Shapiro, who received $329 million (7.7% of the entire total).
Finally, there is some good news regarding Freeport LNG restarting. Reuters reports that an LNG carrier left one of Freeport LNG’s berths over the weekend, carrying the facility’s first cargo since July 5. The report also says another carrier was filling up yesterday, and two more vessels were waiting near the port. However, the facility is still running at only about one-third of its rated capacity (one of three trains).