Shapiro’s Strategy for RGGI Carbon Tax: Force OH & WV to Join Too
We remember (years ago) hearing Rush Limbaugh postulate this observation about liberals: “Liberalism is spreading misery equally.” Instead of cutting taxes, which boosts economic prosperity for everyone, including those at the bottom of the economic ladder, liberals seek to make more people pay more taxes. Spread the misery. Instead of allowing people to choose their form of energy, force them to use only certain (very expensive) forms, or force them to cut back on the energy they use (Jimmy Carter’s “throw a sweater on in the winter” comment in the late 1970s). Spread the misery. We now see this truism playing out with liberal Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro concerning the so-called Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) — a clever name for an obscene carbon tax.
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Penneco Environmental Solutions wants to site a second injection well in Plum Borough (Allegheny County), PA, next to an existing one. Penneco’s first wastewater injection well in Plum finally opened for business in mid-2021, overcoming all sorts of smears, slanders, and lawsuits by the enviro-left (see 
“May the odds be ever in your favor.” – Hunger Games. For nearly two years, we have covered the topic of the Bidenistas’ Hunger Games contest to award $7 billion to some 6-10 “hydrogen hubs” across the country. Each winning hub will receive $500 million to $1 billion of government largesse to help build a hub in a given region. The money for the hub projects was allocated as part of the so-called Infrastructure Bill, passed in November 2021 (see 
Investors are voting with their money that unreliable renewables are not worth it. Investors dumped renewable energy funds from July through September at the fastest rate on record. Renewable shares “took a beating” from higher interest rates and soaring material costs, which are squeezing profit margins. In the six months from January through June, investors poured $3.36 billion into renewable shares. Investors took $1.4 billion (nearly half) out of renewables in the three months from July through September. That is the biggest-ever quarterly outflow. Investors are dropping renewables like a hot potato.
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Natural gas prices will decrease in W.Va. for 2023-24; NATIONAL: Electric vehicles all queued up with nowhere to go; U.S. crude oil exports reached a record high in first half of 2023; Exxon to buy shale rival Pioneer for $59.5 billion in stock; INTERNATIONAL: Spot LNG prices languish ahead of seasonal demand uptick; OPEC will have a pavilion at COP climate summit for first time; Israel-Hamas conflict directly impacts oil and gas prices.
The U.S. rig count dropped again last week, for the third week in a row. The count shed another four active rigs, now down to 619 — the lowest point since February 2022. The count in the Marcellus/Utica, after falling by one two weeks ago, held steady last week at 38, which is the lowest it has been since the beginning of this year. The national rig count is down 143, or 19%, below this time last year. There’s no indicator the trend will reverse anytime soon.
Marcellus/Utica natural gas producers and marketers are adapting to a new status quo. We live in a world where new pipeline takeaway capacity out of the Northeast is hard (almost impossible) to come by and is more or less capped permanently. That’s the reality. Without pipeline expansions, drillers no longer drill with abandon in hopes that the capacity will eventually get built. Reality has sunk in. Instead, drillers practice restraint by (1) slowing drilling activity, (2) delaying completions, and (3) choking back producing wells to manage their inventory during periods of lower demand and prices.
Last November, MDN told you about a lawsuit filed by a family in Washington County, PA, against Chevron (now EQT) for drilling and fracking done in 2011-2012 near the family’s home (see 
Last November MDN told you about a research paper published by Penn State that says the state should look at repurposing old conventional oil and gas wells for use as geothermal energy sources (see 
It’s Columbus Day! MDN will not publish our regular list of stories today — but have no fear; we will be back tomorrow (Tuesday) with a full lineup. Take a moment today to celebrate the world’s most famous Italian, the guy who started it all, the guy who discovered the Americas, and what would one day become the greatest country on earth: The United States of America!