Illinois Prof Discovers Way to Convert Carbon Dioxide into Propane
Something crossed our desk that we consider pretty cool. A professor at the Illinois Institute of Technology recently published a paper in the journal Nature Energy that reveals a promising breakthrough in “green” energy. The prof and SHV Energy created an electrolyzer device capable of converting carbon dioxide into propane in a way that is both scalable and cost-effective. The good prof’s invention won’t win him any friends among the irrational left that hates all fossil fuels, including propane. It makes no difference that his system can capture and use any CO2 emitted by burning propane to create more propane. If it’s a fossil fuel, it’s evil (for the left). For the rest of us, it’s an interesting and useful invention.
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MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Deputy General Counsel, Equitrans Midstream Corporation; NATIONAL: Why has Biden declared war on natural gas?; Productivity gains offer short-term relief for shale; INTERNATIONAL: Asian buyers may seek U.S. LNG if Australia worker disputes worsen.
Tennessee Gas Pipeline (TGP) experienced an explosion and fire at Compressor Station 860 near Centerville (Hickman County), TN, last Friday around 8:30 a.m. The location is about 60 miles southwest of Nashville. The explosion blew out the upper tier of the walls of the building. One employee experienced a medical emergency not directly related to the blast and was taken to an area hospital. That employee has since been discharged. The six on-site employees during the incident are okay and accounted for. A one-mile evacuation was ordered but lifted later in the day on Friday.
It’s getting even uglier out there. For the sixth week in a row and the 15th of the last 16 weeks, the U.S. active rig count lost rigs. A lot of rigs. Last week the number decreased by a whopping 12 rigs after falling by five rigs per week for the three weeks prior. The total is now down to 642 active rigs across both oil and gas. Sadly, the Marcellus/Utica dropped three rigs last week (after losing two the week before) for a combined M-U rig count of 40–the lowest this year. Last week Pennsylvania picked up two rigs after losing two the week before, but the additions in PA came at the expense of Ohio (lost 2 rigs) and West Virginia (lost 3 rigs).
In August 2020, MDN brought you the news that Competitive Power Ventures (CPV) wanted to build a state-of-the-art 1,250-megawatt natural-gas-fueled, combined-cycle electric generation facility in Grundy County, Illinois (see 
This is so frustrating. Last week, the University of Pittsburgh (Pitt) issued fake research reports that supposedly link proximity to shale wells with a minuscule (less than one-tenth of one percent) rise in one type of childhood cancer (see 
Last week we told you about a new $2 billion hydrogen project coming to West Virginia (see 
We should have known there was a price to pay, a “pound of flesh” to be exacted, when we read the announcement that the Bidenistas of the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) had approved EQT’s deal to buy Tug Hill’s West Virginia assets. Two days ago, EQT issued a press release to announce the deal had been blessed by the FTC and would happen within the next seven days (see 
Yesterday we told you about a new $2 billion hydrogen project coming to West Virginia (see 
We’ll say aloud what no one else appears ready or willing to say: The long-ballyhooed PTT ethane cracker plant project in Belmont County, Ohio, announced eight years ago, is dead. That’s our humble opinion. We periodically look for signs of life in the project, and it has been a flat line for YEARS. Nothing. A local news article from earlier this week asked, “What is the future of the Belmont County Ethane Cracker plant project?” Local county leaders are still “very optimistic” it will get built. We say it’s time to face reality.
On August 17, the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) posted an Interim Final Environmental Justice Policy to guide DEP’s permit application reviews and outreach efforts in environmental justice areas throughout the Commonwealth. New Environmental Justice (or EJ) policies are a euphemism for regulations that prohibit drilling and pipelines built in neighborhoods of color or economic hardship zones because, says the left, those people can’t fight them. It is a uniquely dystopian and prejudiced view of the world. We call it “all shale drilling is racist” regulations. Completely repugnant. The DEP will publish their new anti-shale regs in the Pennsylvania Bulletin on September 16 and immediately implement them on the same day. Meaning the DEP will begin to slow or deny new permits for wells and pipelines as of that date–based on violating made-up EJ standards. We hope the Marcellus industry sues the DEP to stop it.
Last week S&P Global Ratings, the largest and most important of the Big Three credit-rating agencies, which include Moody’s Investors Service and Fitch Ratings, announced it is ditching its system of numerically ranking corporate borrowers on their ESG risk (see 
New shale permits issued for Aug 7 – 13 in the Marcellus/Utica crashed for a second week in a row. There were 10 new permits issued last week, down 14 issued the previous week (half of the 29 issued three weeks ago). Last week’s permit tally included 10 new permits in Pennsylvania, no new permits in Ohio, and no new permits in West Virginia (third week in a row for WV). The top permittee for the week was Chesapeake Energy, receiving 6 permits–4 in Bradford County and 2 in Susquehanna County.