PA PUC Distributes 2023 Impact Fee – Revenue Dropped $99M YOY
There’s no way to sugarcoat bad news. The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) predicted in January that money raised by the shale impact fee (PA’s version of a severance tax) would plummet this year (see PA PUC Publishes Fee Schedule for Marcellus Impact Fee/Tax 2023). And indeed, plummet it did — not quite as much as the original prediction, but bad enough. The state raised and is in the process of distributing $179.6 million based on 2023 activity. That’s down just over $99 million from a record-high $278.9 million raised and distributed last year from 2022.
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As we report in a companion post today, Pennsylvania is currently dishing out close to $180 million in impact fees raised from 2023 shale activity — PA’s version of a severance tax (see PA PUC Distributes 2023 Impact Fee – Revenue Dropped $99M YOY). As the name implies, some 60% of the money raised goes to the counties and municipalities where drilling happens, those “impacted” by shale drilling. The other 40% goes to the black hole of Harrisburg for redistribution to various state agencies and the other counties with no shale drilling. Let’s look at how some counties and towns will spend the money coming their way.
Radicalized environmental groups, including Trout Unlimited and the Mid State Trail Association, have devolved into trying to block gathering and water pipelines in Pennsylvania. Driller Pennsylvania General Energy (PGE) wants to install 3.7 miles of a gathering pipeline to connect several wells to the Transco pipeline system, along with two 8-inch water pipelines of about the same length, in Lycoming County. Nearly all of the pipeline projects are located on state-owned land.
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.
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.