Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Hydraulic Fracturing | Industrywide Issues | New York | Regulation | Statewide NY
3 Mo. After NY Legislature Passed CO2 Frack Ban, Gov Has Not Signed
One month ago, MDN told you that although the New York Senate had 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, had still not signed the bill into law (see 2 Mo. After NY Legislature Passed CO2 Frack Ban, Gov Hasn’t Signed). It’s now three months after the bill passed and the annual legislative session closed on June 6th — and the frack ban bill STILL has not been signed by Hochul. Why?
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Natural gas development in the Marcellus/Utica continues to get cleaner year after year. Updated data shows our region’s natgas producers reduced methane intensity by nearly 17% in a single year. That’s according to a report co-authored by the Clean Air Task Force (CATF), an anti-fossil fuel organization. The CATF and Ceres (an anti-capitalist organization) recently released its fourth annual 2024 Benchmarking Methane and Other Greenhouse Gas Emissions report.
OTHER U.S. REGIONS: A preview on some of the New York energy impossibility; NATIONAL: Midstream an overlooked beneficiary of the AI boom; Biden mandates heat pump water heaters, contractors report probs; INTERNATIONAL: Will the world have a staggering excess of oil by 2030?
Two weeks ago, 31 new permits were issued to drill in the Marcellus/Utica region. Last week, June 3 – 9, the number dropped (dramatically) by 77% to just seven new permits. And that seems to be the pattern: Way up one week, way down the next. Last week, for the second week in a row, Ohio issued ZERO new shale permits. The top permit receiver for last week was HG Energy, which had five permits for a single pad in Doddridge County, WV. The other two permits were issued in PA: one to CNX in Greene County, and the other to Range Resources in Washington County.
In a clear case of sour grapes for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit (4th Circus clowns) who tried to block the 303-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) by rendering arbitrary decisions that caused years of delays for the pipeline, the court flipped the bird to MVP one last time in a decision issued Tuesday of this week (June 11). Three judges from the 4th Circus re-inflated a jury award against MVP for an eminent domain “taking” case in the Bent Mountain, Virginia, area back in May (see 
For months, MDN has told you about a problem brewing that will block new hydrogen projects from getting built in the Marcellus/Utica. It’s an obscure tax rule known as the 45V tax credit, part of the misnamed Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). The Bidenistas at the White House, Treasury Department, and Dept. of Energy proposed a new IRS rule in late December that the 45V tax credits (as provided for in the IRA) can only be used if the hydrogen produced is “green” — meaning NOT made from natural gas. In addition, the electricity used to produce the hydrogen can’t come from fossil fuel sources like natural gas (if you want the tax credit). Biden kneecapped the hydrogen hub projects in the M-U (see 
In early March, President Joe Biden nominated three new candidates to become Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) commissioners (see 
Coterra Energy CEO Tom Jorden sat for an interview with Jim Cramer on CNBC’s Mad Money program Tuesday evening. During the interview, Jorden had an interesting comment and insight that has the power to change the natural gas market. Jorden said that data center operators (big computer server facilities) may cut supply agreements directly with natural gas companies to meet the growing power demands of the artificial intelligence boom. And it may happen a lot sooner than you think.
In January 2020, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled in THE most consequential lawsuit for Marcellus Shale drilling we’ve seen, a case called Briggs v Southwestern Energy (see 
Yesterday, MDN brought you the great news that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) had given permission to Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) late Tuesday to begin service along the 303-mile natural gas pipeline from northern West Virginia to southern Virginia (see 
The grid operator overseeing New York State is warning that the Democrats’ green energy agenda is pushing the grid toward blackouts. The New York Independent System Operator (NYISO), which oversees and manages the state’s power grid, published its 2024 Power Trends report last week, assessing the outlook for energy supply and demand in the region over the next several years. The report warns that the electrification agenda pursued by New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and her fellow Democrats is pushing the state’s grid toward conditions for blackouts as soon as this summer.
Only in the dysfunctional Josh Shapiro administration. Yesterday, the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) announced it had added a Customer Experience Management Advisory Council (CXMAC) to advise the DEP’s Acting Secretary and so-called Chief Customer Experience Officer on strategies and improvements to enhance service delivery to the public. The thing is, none of the board members are actual customers of the DEP! There are no oil and gas members on the board. There are no members of the public on the board. Only well-connected people from private businesses, non-profit organizations, and (worst of the worst) other government agencies landed a spot on the board. Some people actually think PA Gov. Josh Shapiro is presidential material. What a joke!