More States Look to Blacklist BlackRock, Other ESG-Focused Funds
More states are looking to divest state pension funds from BlackRock and other woke ESG investment banks that push anti-fossil fuel agendas. BlackRock, the largest investment firm in the world with some $10 trillion under management, is hemorrhaging customers. Last week we told you that South Carolina had joined Louisiana, Texas, West Virginia, and Florida in announcing it is divesting its state pension funds from BlackRock (see Boom! BlackRock Loses Another $200M – from South Carolina). It appears Nebraska and other unspecified states are getting ready to join them in divesting from divestor BlackRock.
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ESG investing is a euphemism from the left that means divesting from fossil energy companies. ESG investing has become all the rage in recent years. We have shared a number of articles about large pension funds in places like New York City divesting from fossil energy companies. As is typical, California is way ahead of the rest of the country in this regard. The huge California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS), with $479 billion in assets under management, has been investing using ESG guidelines for more than a decade. A recent Wall Street Journal article revealed CalPERS has lost huge amounts of money by focusing on ESG investing (see 
This is how deeply global warming brainwashing has gone in our children. A couple of kids (judging from media pictures) who belong to a fringe group called Just Stop Oil want to influence the British government to stop ALL new oil and natural gas projects–onshore and offshore. The tactic chosen by the kids to convince the adults to stop all new drilling was to throw tomato soup on a priceless Vincent van Gogh painting called “Sunflowers” in London’s National Gallery last Friday.
NATIONAL: Energy Aspects says shale oil output threatens to peak in 2024; DOE seeks public input on energy systems improvement in remote areas; How Saudi Arabia took advantage of President Biden.
The Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) has assessed a $670,000 fine plus extra “cost recovery” charges of nearly $30,000 against the Shell Pipeline Company for work done between 2019 and 2021 on Shell’s Falcon ethane pipeline project. The DEP says that a series of inspections showed “failure to comply” with this paperwork requirement and that paperwork requirement. There were a few instances of erosion into “waters of the commonwealth.” But in the end, the DEP acknowledges, “no visual aquatic impacts were observed.” No muddy water. No dead fishies. No dead salamanders. No dead nothing. In other words, the DEP fined Shell for nothing–no lasting impacts on the environment from the work done to construct the Falcon pipeline.
In March 2019, MDN told you about a new Williams plan to beef up the Transco pipeline in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, to deliver an extra 829 MMcf/d (originally 1 billion cubic feet per day) of Marcellus gas to PA, NJ, and Maryland (see 
Two days ago, MDN told you that the Apostle of LNG, Toby Rice (CEO of EQT), had convinced his buddies at Williams and TC Energy (two pipeline companies) to join him in his latest effort to push for more U.S. LNG exports (see 
Capital from private investors and banks is leaving (or rather, not entering) the Marcellus/Utica region and is, instead, heading to the Gulf Coast–in particular, capital investment is heading to the Haynesville Shale in Louisiana and East Texas. That was the observation of several speakers at the recent Hart Energy America’s Natural Gas conference. According to Kevin Little, senior vice president for natural gas at Macquarie Energy, the lack of pipelines and infrastructure in the M-U is not just keeping the gas in the region, the lack of pipelines is keeping investment (for more drilling) out. Here is the real tragedy: “U.S. LNG export capacity is primed to ramp up and the largest, most economic natural gas basin [the M-U] is left out of the action, unable to increase production to meet the higher demand.”
Last year the Bidenistas initiated a massive power grab to transfer the right of individual states to regulate local natural gas gathering pipelines to the federal government’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (see 
President Joe Biden has, on many occasions, stated that the U.S. would step up LNG exports to help our European friends (see 
Another week of pathetically low numbers for new shale drilling permits issued during the week of Oct. 3-9. The previous week saw only nine new permits too. All of a sudden, Pennsylvania is seeing far fewer permits issued than is typical. Just five new permits were issued in PA for Oct. 3-9, with all five in the northeastern part of the state. Chesapeake received two permits, and Coterra received three permits. In Ohio, just four permits were issued, with two going to Diversified Energy (typically doesn’t drill new wells) in Monroe County, and two going to Encino Energy in Harrison County. West Virginia had a big, fat, goose egg last week. No new permits.
Yesterday the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) and its Environmental Quality Board (EQB) rammed through (in a rush) a set of regulations to control volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and by extension methane, for conventional drilling sites throughout the site. The DEP has had SIX YEARS to get these regulations done, and has missed deadline after deadline. Now, with a Dec. 16 deadline approaching to finish up the regs or risk losing half a billion dollars in federal highway funds, the DEP is trying to bully the conventional drilling industry into accepting its onerous regulations with no comment period, no feedback, no nothing–under threat of risking half a billion dollars. It’s DEP blackmail, plain and simple. What will the conventional industry do? Take it lying down? Or fight?
EQT Corporation filed a Form 8-K on Tuesday with the Securities and Exchange Commission to let regulators (and investors) know that the company has lost money on derivatives. EQT told regulators that (on paper), the company lost $1.627 billion on derivatives during the third quarter of 2022, and has lost a total of $5.55 billion in total for the first nine months (quarters 1-3) of this year. But does that mean EQT has actually paid that much money out of pocket?
ShalePro Energy Services, headquartered in Pittsburgh, PA but with five regional offices scattered across seven states (including offices in each of the three Marcellus/Utica states), announced it has just closed on a deal to acquire Tight Line Services, based in Hickory, PA (Washington County). Tight Line, which provides civil construction services to the natural gas industry, is the fifth company acquired by ShalePro. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed. Tight Line’s seven full-time employees, along with the company’s current CEO, have joined ShalePro.