Republicans Say FERC Should Not Regulate Hydrogen Pipelines
Given the record of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) with blocking new natural gas pipeline projects (and harassing already-built pipelines), Congressional Republicans are questioning the role FERC should play in approving hydrogen pipelines. The U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee held a hearing yesterday, and Republican Senator John Barrasso of Wyoming expressed concerns that FERC may use blending hydrogen with natgas in pipelines as an excuse to impose new restrictions on existing natgas pipelines.
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In a March 3rd Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee hearing, Senator Bill Cassidy (R-LA) asked Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Chairman Richard “Dick” Glick this question: “Has anyone higher up in the [Biden] administration ever spoken to you in regards to somehow slow-walking or otherwise impeding or otherwise accentuating policy that would have the effect of impeding the development of natural gas pipelines?” Chairman Glick responded with an unambiguous “no.” Yet FERC refuses to release records of communications and meetings with the White House to back up Glick’s statement. FERC has just been sued to force the release of those records.
OTHER U.S. REGIONS: U.S. Coast Guard contains over 1 mn gallons from longest oil spill; NATIONAL: Joe Biden’s war on fossil fuels; Don’t bet on Biden’s promises that oil prices will drop; INTERNATIONAL: Putin says Nord Stream will restart, with conditions; European natural gas prices hovering near $50.
In the most recent U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) Short-Term Energy Outlook (STEO), the EIA predicted that by the end of this year, the United States will produce an average of 96.2 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of natural gas (see 
Last week MDN reported that Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf, in a final act of thumbing his nose at the prolific Marcellus industry in his own state, vetoed a bill, Senate Bill (SB) 275, that would have prohibited municipalities from banning the use of natural gas (see 
The number crunchers at the U.S. Energy Information Administration once again overestimated natural gas production in the Marcellus/Utica in the agency’s monthly Drilling Productivity Report (DPR). Last month the EIA predicted total production in the Marcellus/Utica region (which they call Appalachia in the report) would be 35.39 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) during July. In the monthly DPR issued yesterday, EIA revised the July number down to 35.12 Bcf/d. Not a huge difference. It translates to 270 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) less in production–roughly 1/4 Bcf/d.
Trying to follow the ups and downs of natural gas prices–predicting where prices will go–will drive you crazy. A little over one month ago, the NYMEX front-month futures price for natgas was hitting new modern highs, closing in on $10/MMBtu (see 
Natural gas-fired power plants have become a very important customer and user for Marcellus/Utica (and other shale play) natural gas. This week may set a new record for power plant usage of natgas. Temperatures across the south and Midwest (and northeast) are set to break records. Consecutive days of 100+ degrees Fahrenheit are forecast for Texas, Kansas, Missouri, Tennessee, Mississippi, and others. According to S&P, this Thursday (July 21), U.S. power burn is forecast to use an average of 48.6 Bcf/d of natgas in what would be a new single-day demand record.
If you monitor the oil and gas industry long enough, you’ll come to discover cycles, trends, and the old saying, “Everything old is new again.” That’s what is happening with the LNG market. For years (several decades), LNG was sold on long-term contracts of 10 to 20 years. Buyers would agree to purchase X amount of LNG for Y amount of cash for long periods of time. Long-term contracts offer price stability and guaranteed availability. But then came shale…
The crazies are getting crazier–if such a thing is possible. The Kool-Aid drinkers–those who are so brainwashed into the climate cult they refuse to think for themselves–are now demanding “real zero” carbon emissions. They say companies like Amazon and Google and Apple and other Big Green leftist idols who have pledged to be “net zero” carbon emissions by such and such a date are hiding. Those companies are actually still belching out CO2 by the megaton but claim they’re “green” by using nonsensical net zero pledges. Companies that pretend to be net zero use carbon offsets “over there” in order to keep belching out carbon “over here.” Now the crackpots are demanding total, worldwide “real zero” carbon emissions–the end of society as we know it.
Joe Manchin was “this close” to selling out the country by voting for the Democrat Build Back Better (BBB) nonsense that does nothing to actually save the planet but does hand out large gobs of money to favored political cronies (and stokes inflation even more). Manchin STILL may sell out his country and vote for such madness, but he hit the pause button to say he wants to see July’s inflation numbers (reported in August) first before he commits to jumping off the political cliff with the rest of the Democrats. Manchin’s simple act of hitting the pause button caused the left to become unhinged, savaging Manchin in mainstream media. Unfortunately, BBB is not dead. Far from it.
This is one of those more bizarre court cases we’ve heard about. In April 2021, MDN reported that a group of West Virginia landowners/rights owners filed a claim against EQT, alleging the company had allowed leases to lapse, then at a later date, reentered their property and drilled new wells without permission (see 