PA Antis Rally in Harrisburg to Destroy Data Center Opportunities
Somehow, the radicalized Food & Water Watch (Big Green) was able to attract, prod, and cajole “hundreds” (more likely about 75) anti-fossil fuelers to show up at the Pennsylvania State Capitol Rotunda to support a “bipartisan” bill that would ban new data centers from being built in the Keystone State. Senate Bill 1359, sponsored by the uber-left Katie Muth (a strong anti-fossil-fueler), would impose a three-year moratorium on building new data centers in Pennsylvania. You might as well call it what it is: a permanent ban. Why? Because the data center rush to build will happen in the next three years. There won’t be anything (or very little) left to build after three years, and Muth knows it. Read More “PA Antis Rally in Harrisburg to Destroy Data Center Opportunities”
The Tennessee Valley Authority’s preliminary 2026 Integrated Resource Plan calls for adding 7 to 26 GW of natural gas capacity through 2040, citing load growth—driven largely by data centers and AI—that already outpaces its reference forecast and approaches its higher-growth scenario. TVA also plans up to 5 GW of nuclear, 1-5 GW of storage, 2-5 GW of unreliable renewables, and 2-3 GW of efficiency and demand response. It recommends pursuing solar while suspending wind, extending nuclear licenses, and continuing to operate its coal fleet. 
OTHER U.S. REGIONS: DTE Energy names Renee Tomina president and COO of DTE Gas; The largest U.S. wind facility to begin operations this month; NATIONAL: Traders sell natural gas futures despite building heat risk; Westinghouse Electric, DOE announce $17.5B loan program; U.S. LNG feedgas starts to soar; INTERNATIONAL: Crude extends losses; More vessels transit Hormuz, Qatar-linked LNG tankers return; Qatar sees most LNG output returning within weeks; US, Qatar push back against EU methane rules; Amid 2026 energy chaos, oil and gas giants prosper; “Ecocide” Joker in the deck. 
Seneca Resources, National Fuel Gas Company’s exploration and production arm, and Evolution Well Services announced a three-year strategic agreement to deploy electric hydraulic fracturing technology (e-fracking) across Seneca’s Appalachian Basin operations, including the Marcellus and Utica shales. The companies said Evolution’s electric frac systems, in-house power generation and field-gas conditioning will use Seneca’s own responsibly sourced natural gas to power completions. This isn’t the first time Seneca has used e-fracking.
In early April, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the Kosciusko Junction Pipeline Project in Mississippi (see 
Earlier this month, Homer City Generation announced the early completion of demolition and excavation work at its Indiana County, Pennsylvania, site, marking a major milestone in transforming the former coal-fired power plant into a gas-fired power plant and AI data center complex (see 
Freeport LNG has become something of a punchline for its frequent outages. Except it’s no laughing matter. Outages at Freeport have happened so frequently that we’ve lost count (
Honestly, this story is likely to spike your blood pressure the way it did ours. Breathe in, breathe out. Find your calm, center space. OK. Now you’re ready to hear about it. Foreign companies and billionaires are funneling money to American NGOs and law firms that use the money to attack (in court) fossil energy companies. If a lawsuit prevails and either a settlement or a judgment is entered, the foreigners who helped finance it receive a cut of the “profits” from the settlement. And they don’t pay taxes on their so-called profits! IT IS DISGUSTING and an outright attack on our country. AND IT MUST STOP. NOW. A group of 21 energy-related organizations has sent a letter to both the U.S. House and Senate, outlining a loophole in our laws that allows this immoral practice and urging them to fix it. Pronto. 
We purposely waited to release the permit numbers, intending to do so last Thursday, ahead of taking off on Friday. But we waited because we thought perhaps more permits would be added to the various state databases on Thursday or Friday (or maybe even Saturday). But no. The only permits we can find for the week of June 9 – 14 are two Pennsylvania permits, both in Butler County. Ohio’s ODNR has issued no new permits for two weeks in a row (are they lazy, or were there really no new permits issued?). West Virginia issued no new permits after issuing just one the prior week. 
Last week, the combined Marcellus/Utica Baker Hughes rig count remained at 36 active rigs for the sixth week in a row. The M-U’s chief competitor, the Haynesville, maintained its count of 55 active rigs, operating 19 more than the M-U. The national count regained 1 rig last week (after losing it the week before), bringing the total back up to 563 rigs, the highest number the count has reached in a year. Baker Hughes said oil rigs held steady at 433 last week, while gas rigs rose by one to 122, their highest since early June, and other miscellaneous rigs held steady at eight. 
Last week, MDN brought you the great news that the Pennsylvania impact “fee” (tax on drilling) generated $243.8 million in fees collected from producers for the 2025 reporting year, a whopping 48% increase over 2024 (see 
In March, we told you about a deal made by Maryland Eastern Shore developer TeraWulf to acquire the retired Morgantown Generating Station in Charles County (on the Potomac River), proposing to transform the site into a massive natural gas-powered data center campus (see 
A new report from UConn’s Connecticut Center for Economic Analysis, bought and paid for by the anti-fossil fuel Connecticut League of Conservation Voters (meaning it’s useless propaganda), argues that the state’s past expansion of natural gas saddled customers with costly infrastructure upgrades without lowering fuel prices. The so-called report says most of the increased gas demand went to power plants—including three new or expanded facilities—rather than heating homes. The propagandists claim that Connecticut, a net electricity exporter, supposedly “absorbed pollution costs,” while benefiting neighboring states. 
Last week, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) launched a sweeping investigation into how power grids and utilities divide the soaring costs of supplying electricity to data centers. FERC issued six “show-cause” orders directing regional grid operators—PJM, SPP, MISO, CAISO, ISO New England, and NYISO—to prove that data center connection rates are “just and reasonable” and shield ordinary ratepayers from cost-shifting, or face federal fixes. FERC wants regional grids to speed up data center connections while protecting residential ratepayers. And they WILL do it, or else.