Judge Asked to Certify Class Action Against Glenn O. Hawbaker, Inc.
Glenn O. Hawbaker, Inc., long known for providing stone quarries and asphalt plants in Pennsylvania and Ohio, also provides civil construction services for shale well sites. In August 2021, Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro announced a plea deal with Hawbaker to pay back $20 million in alleged “stolen wages” from over 1,000 Hawbaker employees (see PA Construction Co. Glenn Hawbaker Pays $20M for “Stolen Wages”). According to Shapiro’s office, Hawbaker deposited retirement funds from one set of employees into a retirement fund account that benefits other employees, including Hawbaker management. Following the plea deal, three former Hawbaker employees filed a civil lawsuit against the company. Last week the three asked a federal judge to convert their lawsuit into a class action.
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Here’s a question: What are the 15 biggest (by company revenue) natural gas-owning pipeline companies in the world? The U.S. has the biggest natural gas pipeline infrastructure in the world, covering a distance of 333,000 kilometers (206,917 miles). Even so, only one U.S.-based company is in the top 5 biggest pipeline companies. Can you guess which country takes the top 2 spots on the list?
OTHER U.S. REGIONS: New program helps finance natural gas pipelines into Chicago suburb; NATIONAL: Wind turbines taller than the Statue of Liberty are falling over; Exports are now the driving force in U.S. crude, gasoline and distillate markets; INTERNATIONAL: Envoy says USA to boost pressure on China to stop importing Iran oil; How will Russia’s oil and gas industry fare in 2023?; Germany still years away from replacing Russian gas capacity; The single oil spill that can disrupt the global energy supply.
It hasn’t been a problem-free startup for the mighty Shell ethane cracker plant in Monaca (Beaver County), PA, now called the Shell Polymers Monaca facility. We’ve noted some of the more prominent issues as we’ve spotted them in the news. Things like the plant exceeding allowed air emissions (see 
Last Thursday, the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court dismissed the Dept. of Environmental Protection’s (DEP) claim that the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), an obscene carbon tax on gas-fired power plants being forced on PA businesses (and electricity consumers) by former Gov. Tom Wolf and his henchman DEP Secretary Pat McDonnell, was unlawfully delayed by the PA Senate. It is a good news/bad news decision.
On January 18, every single Republican member of the Pennsylvania State Senate signed (and sent) a joint letter to newly-minted Gov. Josh Shapiro urging him to take steps “immediately” to undo PA’s entrance into the insane Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) carbon tax, a plan forced on the state by Shapiro’s wacky predecessor Tom Wolf. During the campaign, Shapiro prevaricated on whether or not he would pull PA’s plan to enter RGGI.
In what has become something of a parlor game, we have yet another prediction about when the 2 Bcf/d Freeport LNG export terminal, located in Quintana Island, Texas, will return to service. Freeport has been offline since June 2022, when the plant experienced an explosion and subsequent fire (see 
Do you remember studying Prohibition in grade school? In the United States, from 1920 to 1933, a nationwide constitutional law prohibited the production, importation, transportation, and sale of alcoholic beverages. A bunch of ninny nannies thought they knew better than everyone else whether or not anyone should consume adult beverages. The ninny nannies eventually got enough politicians to vote in favor of the 18th Amendment to the Constitution. The 21st Amendment, passed some 13 years later, repealed the 18th Amendment. A modern-day version of the same thing is now happening, with cities (and some states, like New York) attempting to ban natural gas stoves, based on false claims that gas stoves are a health hazard. Just like alcohol was a health hazard 100 years ago?
Zooming out for a broader view of issues around the world that affect the natural gas market here in the U.S. is helpful from time to time. What’s happening in Europe right now, and how will that affect our gas market in 2023? How about China? Is supply/demand in balance, and how does that affect the Henry Hub price? And what about LNG? Rigzone looks at six things the natural gas market can expect in 2023. Their insights give us an interesting view of what the year may hold for natgas.
New shale permits issued for Jan. 9-15 in the Marcellus/Utica included 18 new permits in Pennsylvania, 5 new permits in Ohio, and 2 new permits in West Virginia. The top recipient of permits for last week was PennEnergy Resources, grabbing 6 permits to drill on a single pad in Butler County, PA. Right behind PennEnergy was Southwestern Energy with 5 permits total spread across all three states–3 in PA, and 1 each in OH and WV.
John Reinhart is the former President and CEO of M-U driller Montage Resources Corporation before that company was gobbled up by Southwestern Energy in 2020 (see 