PA Partisan Climate Initiative Launches for Mass Brainwashing ERA
The so-called Pennsylvania Bipartisan Climate Initiative officially launched last Friday. The group is made up of liberal Democrats — it is certainly NOT “bipartisan,” as it falsely claims. The aim and goal of the group is the mass brainwashing of the PA public, pushing the state’s poorly-written Environmental Rights Amendment (ERA) law. The group hopes it can turn local municipalities and residents into radicals who use the ERA as a blunt instrument to club the fossil fuel industry into extinction. This is a group of radicalized leftists pushing a hard-left agenda in the Keystone State. Be sure to push back.
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The Argonne National Laboratory, a U.S. Dept. of Energy lab, has tested the efficacy of blending hydrogen with natural gas in existing pipelines. Argonne found blending hydrogen with natgas lowers emissions due to hydrogen production and end-use combustion. However, injecting hydrogen into pipelines leads to higher transmission and distribution emissions and greater energy demand in compressor stations, wiping out the upstream and downstream benefits. In Argonne’s modeling, blending 30% hydrogen (by volume) into gas pipelines yielded a modest 6% decrease in lifecycle greenhouse gas emissions — but hydrogen blending at that level doubles leakage from transmission lines.
U.S. Department of Energy reviews for liquefied natural gas (LNG) export permits have lengthened under President Joe Biden’s administration to 11 months or more, from seven weeks, according to government data. The reason? According to one LNG analyst in the know, the DOE is “sitting on decisions because of politics.” Intentional political foot-dragging. The Bidenistas are feeling the heat from two groups: Big Chemical claims exporting more LNG will raise prices domestically for their feedstock. And shrill environmentalist wackos are being loud and obnoxious (what’s new?).
OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Dominion’s EV charging program in Va. has zero sign-ups; BP explores forming joint ventures to boost US shale; NATIONAL: Crestwood unitholders approve Energy Transfer transaction; Cummins predicts huge growth in natural gas engines; How Kelcy Warren’s pipeline dream powered a nation; Fierce opposition, lack of regs squeeze CO2 pipe projects; INTERNATIONAL: World Bank warns oil could jump above $100; Construction begins on world-first natural gas research facility; Construction of controversial Canadian pipeline complete.
Antero Resources, which is 100% focused on the Marcellus/Utica with over 500,000 net acres under lease (and the largest M-U driller in West Virginia), issued its third quarter 2023 update last week. The company reports net production averaged 3.5 billion cubic feet equivalent per day (Bcfe/d) during 3Q23, an increase of 9% year-over-year. Of that production, liquids (NGLs) averaged 202 thousand barrels per day (MBbl/d), an increase of 18% from the year-ago period. Natural gas production averaged 2.3 Bcf/d, up 4% from the same period last year. The company made $560 million in 3Q23 versus a profit of $18 million in 3Q22 — a huge lift from last year.
TransCanada Corporation, which renamed itself TC Energy in 2019, bought out and merged in U.S.-based Columbia Pipeline Group (now Columbia Gas Transmission) in 2016 (see 
The U.S. rig count rose last week for the third week in a row, albeit by just a single rig. The national rig count added one for 625 active rigs. We remain near the lowest point of active rigs running since February 2022. As we said last week when two rig were added, it feels like a dead cat bounce to us. We’ve reached the bottom, and the count may go up a tiny bit here and there, but overall, we’re at the bottom. The count in the Marcellus/Utica, after gaining one rig three weeks ago (in Pennsylvania), remained steady at 39 active rigs last week. However, the mix changed. PA picked up another rig last week, but WV lost one, so net-net, it stayed even at 39 rigs.
The mental gymnastics leftists go through to justify their anti-freedom, anti-capitalist views is truly a marvel to behold. Take the so-called Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a carbon tax scheme aimed at shutting down coal- and natural gas-fired power plants. Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf could not get the Republican legislature to agree to enroll the state in RGGI, so he seized dictatorial powers and tried to do it himself. Which hasn’t worked out (Republicans sued to block it, still tied up in court). Joseph Otis Minott, President of the Clean Air Action Fund (far-left Big Green group in Philadelphia), is trying to justify RGGI with a new argument: It reduces racism (otherwise called “environmental justice”).
Freeport LNG’s export terminal with three liquefaction “trains” shut down in June 2022 after an explosion and fire (see 
According to RBN Energy, the “responsibly sourced gas” (RSG) space is going through a transformation. It’s no longer OK to claim you have responsibly sourced gas; you now have to prove it is responsible via a certification. According to RBN, the two primary certifiers of natural gas are (so far) Project Canary and MiQ. We have covered both of these initiatives extensively over the past few years.
We finally have a list of the 15 proposed projects that are part of the the West Virginia-led Appalachian Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub (ARCH2) project. Earlier this week, officials with the Dept. of Energy Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations (OCED) and Battelle, the technology lab headquartered in Columbus Ohio that is quarterbacking the ARCH2 project, held an online briefing about ARCH2 (see 
Sometime in the next few months, Murrysville (PA) Council members will make a decision about leasing land for shale drilling under Duff Park (234 acres) and Murrysville Community Park (305 acres). Murrysville is located in Westmoreland County in the southwestern part of the state. Olympus Energy is interested and has pitched proposals to lease under both parks, using their adjacent leased acreage (on private land) to set up rigs to drill under the parks. However, Murrysville Solicitor Wes Long advised council members to seek bids from other companies as well. What did Olympus offer for a signing bonus and royalties? We have the numbers.
EQT Corporation, currently the largest producer of natural gas in the U.S., provided its third quarter update yesterday. And wow! There is plenty to talk about. The company set another drilling world record of 18,264 feet in 48 hours, beating the existing world record set by EQT in the second quarter (see