Dominion Energy | Electrical Generation | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Statewide VA | Taxation | Virginia
Dominion Drops RGGI Fee Added to Customer Bills in Virginia
In 2021, as he was running for Governor in Virginia, Glenn Youngkin pledged that if he won, he would remove the state from the onerous carbon tax on coal- and gas-fired power plants called the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). Youngkin kept his promise, although it took longer than he had hoped (and is still being challenged in court). In addition to not paying as much for electricity post-RGGI, ratepayers just got another gift: Dominion Energy, the primary utility company servicing Virginia, is dropping an average fee of $4.50 per month from the utility bills of Virginia residents.
Read More “Dominion Drops RGGI Fee Added to Customer Bills in Virginia”
The Bidenistas at the EPA attacked coal and gas-fired power plants in April, threatening to destabilize the existing electric power grid with new regulations (see 
Liberals are so funny to watch. Their own words condemn them. For example, the far-left-leaning POLITICO “news” organization held an Energy Summit yesterday. It was a virtual event, as far as we can tell. One of the big discussion topics was Biden’s “signature” climate law, the misnamed Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), made possible by a single vote from Joe Manchin. The IRA is better named the Green New Deal. It’s an abysmal law that targets fossil fuel energy for extinction. Judging from the comments made at the Summit, the libs are clearly worried that if Donald Trump wins, he will take an ax to the IRA (as he should).
NATIONAL: U.S. LNG exports are climbing; Carbon capture projects are worse than a public nuisance; INTERNATIONAL: OPEC+ outcome appears problematic for 2025, Macquarie warns; GALACTIC: Carbon detected in galaxy observed 350m years after Big Bang.
The Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) released production numbers for the first quarter 2024 yesterday. Oil production, led by Encino Energy wells, is the headline news. Oil production from Encino represented 51.3% of all Ohio Utica oil production in 1Q. Ascent Resources was the next closest oil producer, with 21.8% of Utica oil produced. As for natural gas, Ascent Resources dominated with 42.8% of all Ohio Utica natgas production. In the number two slot was Gulfport Energy with 17.6% of natgas production, followed closely by Encino with 16.0% of natgas production. Below, we have lists of the top 25 gas and oil wells by production in 1Q24, along with charts showing gas and oil production by both drillers and by county. You’ll only find this news (and this level of detail) here on MDN.
Four out-of-state pipeline protesters (two from New Jersey, one each from Vermont and Maryland), all senior citizens who thought it was cutesy to block access to work sites for the almost-done Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP), are about to learn a hard lesson. They have been sued by MVP for BIG BUCKS — for the costs to compensate for lost time AND for punitive damages. We’ll see if the protesters’ Big Green benefactors will pony up the lawyers and money they need to fight the lawsuits. It’s about time our side begins to play hardball. You play hardball by suing these crazies and making them pay. Kudos to MVP.
NiSource Inc. is one of the largest fully-regulated utility companies in the United States, serving approximately 3.3 million natural gas customers and 500,000 electric customers across six states through its local Columbia Gas and NIPSCO brands. Earlier this year, NiSource hosted representatives from LRQA, a global engineering, technical, and business services organization based in the U.K. (owned by the Lloyd’s Register Foundation). NiSource hosted the LRQA reps at its Columbia Gas of Pennsylvania service territory. The LRQA reps were there to review safety practices. NiSource and its Columbia Gas of PA subsidiary passed the review with flying colors, resulting in NiSource receiving the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 55001 and American Petroleum Institute’s Recommended Practice (API RP) 1173 certifications.
In early March, President Joementia Biden nominated three new candidates to become Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) commissioners (see 
On May 14, 2024, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published the final Greenhouse Gas Reporting Rule requirements for petroleum and natural gas systems under 40 C.F.R. Part 98, Subpart W in the Federal Register (full copy of the 266-page rule included below). The changes to this rule resulted from passing the misnamed Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA) which required EPA to develop standards to collect payment on methane from facilities that exceed specific thresholds. (Incidentally, the IRA passed due to a single vote: Joe Manchin.) The final rule applies to a wide range (more than originally thought) of oil and gas facilities operated by the petroleum production, gas transmission, and utility industries. The new rule will impose *significant* budget-busting administrative and recordkeeping costs on those industries, as well as requiring them to pay fees for reported methane emissions. It is a flat-out attack on natural gas and oil.
Price volatility is how much and how fast a price, like the NYMEX futures price of natural gas at the Henry Hub, changes. How much the price “swings” up or down, and how suddenly, is a measure of volatility. In 2022, when the price of natgas spiked to new multi-year highs, it did so quickly. The price in 2022 also came down about as quickly as it rose, meaning extreme volatility. Since early 2022, NYMEX prices, in general, along with volatility, have settled down. The extreme price swings are gone — at least for now. Sadly, higher prices for natgas are also gone for now.
Newly released information gathered from a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request shows that as Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) tested its 303-mile pipeline from Wetzel County, WV, to Pittsylvania County, VA, some 130 potential problem areas were located. Running a PIG (pipeline inspection gauge) device through the pipeline to check for dents and other weaknesses found 50 “anomalies” that required further excavation work to check. Another 80 excavations were needed after tests using an electric current to probe for weaknesses in the pipeline’s special anti-corrosion coating.
In February, the Ohio Oil & Gas Land Management Commission (OGLMC) met to award contracts to drill under (not on) several Ohio state parks, including 5,700 acres of the 20,000-acre Salt Fork State Park in Guernsey County (see 
In April, EQT Corporation and Equinor (formerly known as Statoil) announced a deal to swap land in Pennsylvania and Ohio (see 