Four Possible Outcomes for Stalled Mountain Valley Pipeline Project
The 303-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) that runs from Wetzel County, WV, to Pittsylvania County, VA is 94% complete (has been for two years) but sits idle, waiting for the other 6% to be completed so it can start up and begin to flow Marcellus/Utica molecules to the southeastern U.S. Lawsuits funded by Big Green groups (with foreign connections) have blocked the completion of the project…for YEARS. It would be fair to say the project is currently in a stalemate with Big Green radicals, who somehow have coopted the help of three Democrat judges who sit on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Stalemates don’t go on forever. One way or the other, this situation will get resolved–likely this year. There are four potential outcomes for the stalled MVP project, a project critical to the future of the Marcellus/Utica.
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An environmental group purporting to be run by political conservatives, calling itself Conservatives For Responsible Stewardship (CRS), is pushing for Pennsylvania to adopt the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI)–an obscene carbon tax that will kill the Marcellus shale industry in the state. In what has to be the ultimate example of chutzpah, the president of CRS, Dave Jenkins, argues in a column appearing in the Erie Times-News, that RGGI is (don’t laugh) a “market-based program” and the type of thing old Ron Reagan would have liked. HOGWASH!
We live and work in Upstate New York State (sad to say). It is our birthplace, and our families live here. However, New York has fallen. We are overwhelmed with Democrat socialists who don’t care about traditional American values like freedom. The best illustration of this is our newly-elected Governor, Kathy Hochul. She not only wants to ban natural gas hookups for new homes and businesses across the entire state, she wants to force all EXISTING homes and businesses to give up using natural gas (and fuel oil, and coal, and wood) as well. It’s certifiably insane. Yet that’s how the Democrat socialist mind works. Fortunately, there are at least a few Dems left willing to push back on some of this insanity. Where do plans stand to ban natgas in the Empire State?
Last year MDN told you about an interesting development for an LNG export project in Canada we’ve tracked for years. Bear Head LNG in Nova Scotia was sold to Houston-based Buckeye Partners for an undisclosed sum (see 
NATIONAL: New poll shows strong support for HR 1 Lower Energy Costs Act; Oil jumps as sentiment improves; Science shows natgas stoves are not a hazard to indoor air quality; Nat-gas prices plunge on ample inventories and robust output; INTERNATIONAL: Russia diesel exports heading for record; Energy agency chief warns transition to renewables is way off track.
CNX has reached a settlement with the Municipal Authority of Westmoreland County (MAWC) in a lawsuit brought by MAWC in 2016 claiming that CNX (and partner Noble Energy) claimed post-production deductions from royalties that should have been paid to MAWC. The original lawsuit sought combined damages of $3.6 million. The final number to be paid by CNX, according to reports, is $600,000.
The mighty Shell ethane cracker seems to have “issues” in getting and staying fully up to speed. We’ve previously reported on a series of emergency flaring episodes at the plant (see 
A disabled Navy veteran and his wife, who live in a rural, wooded area of Cambria County, PA, say their lives were upended beginning in 2017 when Sunoco (Energy Transfer) began constructing the Mariner East 2 NGL pipeline across their property. According to the vet, Sunoco cut down more than 60 large trees on his property, destroyed several small ponds, destroyed his water well, and destroyed (caved in) his septic system. The property is now susceptible to frequent flooding and sewage backups into the house.
We continue to be majorly disappointed with the new “Acting” Secretary of the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection, Rich Negrin. Last Friday, we told you that Negrin is hewing to the far-left, promoting the concept that all wells and pipelines in poor communities and communities of color are automatically racist (see 
We have been closely tracking the restart of the shuttered Freeport LNG export terminal following its emergency shutdown in June 2022 after an explosion and fire. Earlier this month, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) granted permission for the final pieces of the facility to return to full service (see 
Talk about brazen. The “reporters” of Bloomberg, who report exactly what the Democrat Party dictates they should report, are bragging about how Big Banks and Big Investment Firms are now burying information about ESG requirements in their documentation (just not talking about it) in order to “avoid losing lucrative business.” That’s right. Banks and investment firms (like SVB, now failed, and BlackRock, the largest investment firm in the world) haven’t actually changed their policies–they just change the way they talk about it. They hide it. Cover it up. Change the words.
The sharp analysts at RBN Energy have sifted through the announcements and “guidance” statements from 42 of the country’s major publicly-traded oil and natural gas drillers for 2023. Among them are 11 gas-focused drillers, nine of which have operations in the Marcellus/Utica region. Looking at the list of 11 gas-focused drillers, RBN finds production will be just about the same in 2023 as it was in 2022–projecting a dip of 1% this year. The analysis also finds collectively that the 11 gas-focused drillers will spend around 9% more on drilling this year due to Bidenflation. Spending more to produce the same–not a winning formula for a politician to run on.