Manchin Permitting Bill Takes One Small Step, Remains Stalled
U.S. Senator Joe Manchin from West Virginia (aka Traitor Joe) spoke to the Pittsburgh Business Times Wednesday afternoon about a bill he and Republican Sen. John Barrasso (from Wyoming) recently introduced, the Energy Permitting Reform Act of 2024 (see Barrasso, Manchin Release Bipartisan Energy Permitting Reform Bill). Manchin told PBT reporter Paul Gough he thinks it’s likely to get a vote on the measure by both the Senate and House by the end of this year. We want to drink some of the same funny juice Manchin is drinking.
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In 2019, the Rhode Island Energy Facility Siting Board waived a licensing requirement for a “temporary” LNG storage facility in Portsmouth to prevent another gas outage episode from happening again (see 
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Range announces retirement of Steve Gray from the board; Antero Midstream executive sells over $343k in company stock; Rising PJM capacity prices lift returns for all assets; NATIONAL: Harris skips over climate change even as party touts green wins; Unexpectedly large storage build drives gas futures downward; INTERNATIONAL: Crew evacuated from Houthi-stricken oil tanker in Red Sea. 
Earlier this month, MDN told you that the Appalachian Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub (ARCH2) has officially received its first $30 million from the Bidenistas (see 
With all of the hoopla at yesterday’s ribbon cutting in Morgantown, WV, for the new Appalachian Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub (ARCH2) headquarters, we thought it appropriate to share a couple of studies analyzing whether and how existing natural gas infrastructure (pipelines) and appliances (furnaces and stoves) can use the hydrogen that will get produced by ARCH2. Three weeks ago, we noticed a study published by U.K. utility company National Gas that announced results from an experiment it had conducted that showed its pipeline system could be converted to flow 100% pure hydrogen, which was a shocker for us. Then, last week, a U.S. study was published, largely led by members of the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), that reports the opposite — using existing natgas pipelines to flow 100% pure hydrogen is “mostly unusable” and won’t work. Which study is right? Because they both can’t be right.
Dominion Energy plans to build four small “peaker” electric generating plants in Chesterfield County, VA, near Richmond (see 
Five months ago, the New York Senate passed a bill already passed by the Assembly to ban the use of carbon dioxide in shale drilling (so-called “CO2 fracking”). Democrat Gov. Kathy Hochul, a reliable anti-fossil fueler, has still not signed the bill into law. What the heck is going on? A small group (seven, by our count) of environmentalist wackos turned up outside the main gate at the just-opened New York State Fair in Syracuse yesterday to hold signs and protest to remind Hochul she needs to do their bidding. 
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 
A study led by Binghamton University and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) claims it has uncovered that energy companies pressure landowners into allowing hydraulic fracturing (fracking) on their properties, “often resorting to persistent and personalized tactics.” In other words, those nasty frackers bully poor landowners into signing leases. We have no doubt there are landmen who twist arms a little too tightly, but this study has a few flaws in our humble opinion. 
New York State has become the North Korea of the United States. It is narrow and parochial and devoid of freedom. If you operate a business in New York and you are not in a protected or favored class, or if your business does not bribe someone in the Democrat Party, you are in danger of losing that business. New York is aggressively hostile to any business remotely connected to fossil fuels. A “bitcoin miner” operating in beautiful Upstate NY, near the shore of Seneca Lake, uses a clean-burning (very small) natural gas power plant to power its 15,300 computer servers. The radical Democrats running the state, including Gov. Kathy Hochul, want it shut down and gone. Last October, NY antis were close to achieving their objective. But what’s this? The bitcoin miner is hanging tough and challenging the state in court. The facility is still online!
We have news of a second southern gas-fired power plant to share today. This one is tiny, a 75-megawatt peaker plant in Madisonville, Kentucky. The Kentucky Municipal Energy Agency (KYMEA) and the City of Madisonville recently announced the development of the KYMEA Energy Center I, a natural gas electric generating facility. The new facility, with four reciprocating internal combustion engine (RICE) generators, will be able to start up at a moment’s notice. The raison d’etre for the facility? To supplement unreliable renewable energy that can’t meet sudden increases in demand for electricity. 
Recently, we’ve told you about the coming demand for natural gas to generate electricity that data centers and artificial intelligence will need (see