Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Electrical Generation | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | New York | Orange County | Regulation
Danskammer Energy Gives Up Trying to Expand Gas-Fired Peaker in NY
Danskammer Energy, which operates a gas-fired peaker power plant along the Hudson River in Newburgh, NY, has been working on a project to upgrade the plant since 2018 — seven years. On Monday, Danskammer Energy withdrew its permit application with the fossil fuel-hostile state, formally ending attempts to expand after years of trying. It’s time to throw in the towel in NY State and let the idiots who keep the Dems in power sit in the dark.
Read More “Danskammer Energy Gives Up Trying to Expand Gas-Fired Peaker in NY”
For those (like the dunce who heads up the Dept. of Energy, Jennifer Granholm) who say Uncle Joe’s “pause” on authorizing new LNG export requests isn’t having an impact, how do you respond to this?… Russia has overtaken the United States as the top exporter of natural gas to Europe. Why? Because the Europeans are scared to death they will run out of natgas promised by the U.S. Biden’s pause on new export authorizations has Europe scrambling to ensure their citizens don’t freeze to death next winter.
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Dominion Energy donates more than $4.2 million to non-profits; Shell explains nighttime fire alarm at Beaver County cracker plant; NATIONAL: US shale oil output to grow for years before peaking; Natural gas continues to look volatile; Texas leads 19-states challenging green energy transition mandate; API shares campaign expectations as Biden, Trump face off; One owner of Colonial Pipeline seeking sale of stake; Biden prepared to use oil reserves again to lower gas prices; 3 reasons why natural gas prices will go up, 3 reasons it won’t; Acquisition premiums return to the oil patch; How U.S. oil production is setting records despite flat growth; INTERNATIONAL: Could European oil majors relocate to the USA?
Today, June 19th, is a stock exchange and bank holiday. Juneteenth is a federal holiday in the U.S. commemorating the emancipation of enslaved African Americans. Juneteenth marks the anniversary of the announcement of General Order No. 3 by Union Army General Gordon Granger on June 19, 1865, proclaiming freedom for enslaved people in Texas. Originating in Galveston, the holiday has since been celebrated annually on June 19 in various parts of the United States, often broadly celebrating African-American culture. The day was first recognized as a federal holiday in June 2021, when President Joe Biden signed the Juneteenth National Independence Day Act into law. As with other bank holidays, MDN will not publish today.
We often mention gas-fired power generation here on MDN for a reason — it’s a HUGE customer for the natural gas locally extracted. The more power plants we build in the Marcellus/Utica region, the more our gas stays right here at home (a win/win for everyone). The power grid that covers the M-U region is called PJM. New data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) shows coal-fired generation in PJM accounted for 14% of the market’s total generation in 2023, down from 44% of total generation in 2013. That’s a whopping 68% fall in the use of coal in just ten years. The reason? Coal generation was largely replaced by natural gas-fired generation.
Being reasonable and seeking compromise and the middle ground exited American politics about a decade ago. Maybe 20 years ago. What we have today, at least on the left of the political spectrum, is “my way or the highway.” Tyranny. It is the very definition of unreasonableness. Here is a perfect example: Yesterday, the Pennsylvania House Environmental Resources & Energy Committee, chaired by Democrat Rep. Greg Vitali (a Marcellus shale hater), held a hearing on Hydrogen Hubs and Climate Change. The name of the hearing says it all. Vitali paraded mind-numbed robots (“we hate fossil fuels, we hate fossil fuels”) from radicalized organizations like Earthjustice to testify before the hearing. The stupidity on display was breathtaking.
Tallgrass Energy, majority owner of the Rockies East Express (REX) pipeline — a 1,712-mile pipeline that runs from Colorado and Wyoming to Ohio — has owned 75% of REX since buying out a 25% share from Sempra Energy in 2016 for $440 million (see 
President Joementia Biden’s regulators recently finalized a flood of major energy and environmental rules in hopes they’ll stick when Donald Trump returns to the White House next January. A sort of “burn the ships” strategy. Bidenistas embedded across the D.C. swamp hustled to complete sweeping new regulations in recent months — including everything from a high-stakes power plant rule to a policy governing the conservation of public lands. When Trump came to power in 2016, he used something called the Congressional Review Act (CRA) to reverse such policies put in place by the Obamadroids. The Bidenistas think they have bullet-proofed their regulations against the use of the CRA.
On Friday, Equitrans Midstream, the builder and majority owner of the 303-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) that runs from Wetzel County, WV, to Pittsylvania County, VA, announced the pipeline has, after a decade of planning and building, finally begun to flow Marcellus/Utica molecules. Who is buying those molecules? We know of at least one company. In a separate announcement, Roanoke Gas Company (a large local utility) said it had begun to purchase M-U molecules from MVP on Friday. Roanoke Gas said for the first time since 1965, the Roanoke Valley now has access to a new interstate natural gas pipeline via two interconnections Roanoke Gas has with MVP.
Tennessee Gas Pipeline’s (TGP) plan to flow an extra 115 MMcf/d of Marcellus gas to Westchester County, NY, and New York City to be used for Consolidated Edison customers is called the East 300 Upgrade Project. The project took a giant leap forward in April 2022 when the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued permits that allow TGP to upgrade two existing compressor stations (in PA), and build a brand new compressor station in West Milford (Passaic County, NJ), just across the border and not far from Westchester County (see 
MDN told you the bottom had dropped out of the rig count two weeks ago (see 
Last Friday, MDN told you about a problem brewing that will block new hydrogen projects from getting built in the Marcellus/Utica (see