PA Commonwealth Court Blocks RGGI Carbon Tax Pending Fall Trial
We finally have some good news to share with respect to Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf’s foolish plan to force PA’s coal- and natural gas-fired power plants to begin paying an obscenely high tax on carbon dioxide emissions as part of the so-called Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI). After exhausting various attempts to block it, Wolf published a final RGGI regulation in the Pennsylvania Bulletin in April (see PA Adopts Carbon Tax, Publishing Final RGGI Reg in Apr 23 Bulletin). The new RGGI reg went into effect on Friday, June 24, despite ongoing lawsuits to block it. But then a wonderful thing happened. On Friday, July 1, a Commonwealth Court judge blocked the state from implementing RGGI until a trial happens this fall to consider a challenge against RGGI by coal and gas-fired power plants.
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In 2016 Laclede Group (later renamed to Spire), a St. Louis-based natural gas utility, said it planned to build a 65-mile pipeline from St. Louis through southwest Illinois and connect to the Rockies Express (REX) and Panhandle Eastern Pipeline (see 
In January 2017 Clean Energy Future (CEF), based in Massachusetts, announced it would build a second Utica gas-fired power plant in Lordstown next to the (then) under construction Lordstown Energy Center (see 
Last year Big Green lobbyists using the City of Oberlin, Ohio contested the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) decision to approve the Enbridge/DTE Energy NEXUS pipeline, a $2 billion, 255-mile pipeline from the Ohio Utica Shale into Michigan that’s been flowing for years connecting to a pipeline that exports some of the gas into Canada (see 
Shippers (drillers, utility companies, others that buy and sell natural gas) are now free to buy and sell producer certified gas (PCG), or responsibly sourced gas (RSG), at all pooling points across the Tennessee Gas Pipeline (TGP) system. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approved the TGP pooling plan after previously rejecting the plan. FERC decided the pooling plan is precisely what we said it was–a marketing thing–and not an endorsement by FERC of whether or not the methane flowing with that designation meets certain environmental criteria.
We’re catching up the permits issued report, but not for last week. This report is for permits issued two weeks ago–June 27 through July 3. The numbers increased from the prior week (27) to 35. Pennsylvania issued the lion’s share of new permits, 25, with most of them going to Olympus Energy (12 permits in Washington County), and a significant number going to a name we’ve 
Today’s list of our “best of the rest” stories is a bit different. We have a mountain of news from the past week while we were on vacation that we think is interesting and relevant for MDN readers–but not deserving of a full post. Instead of providing excerpts and comments on each BOTR story, we have provided a list of the headlines linked to the articles they represent. Most articles are free and open. Some (like the Wall Street Journal) require a subscription to access. We felt this format would be the best way to give you other news you can use in the quickest, most efficient way possible–to catch you up on all the other news you may find useful. We will return to our normal format tomorrow.
If you’ve read Marcellus Drilling News for any length of time, you know it’s a rarity for editor Jim Willis to take a full week of vacation. But he’s decided to do it for the week of July 4-8. We will not post during the week–unless there’s earth-shattering news to share! Otherwise, we will be back on July 11 to catch you up on all the news related to the Marcellus/Utica. We hope you enjoy(ed) the 4th!
Yesterday the U.S. Supreme Court delivered a 6-3 decision in West Virginia v. EPA that changes everything. It’s hard to overstate just how important the court’s decision is. West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey and the attorney generals from 18 other states sought to limit the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and its misinterpretation of the so-called Clean Air Act in order to regulate carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from power plants. The court ruled in favor of WV against EPA, meaning EPA cannot regulate coal- and natural gas-fired power plants out of existence, as it was seeking to do. Let’s all revel in this MAJOR victory!
Sources whispering to Bloomberg say that Gulfport Energy, the third-largest driller in the Ohio Utica Shale (by the number of wells drilled), is having exploratory talks with Encino Energy about selling itself to/merging with Encino. In March the rumor mill said Gulfport was in talks to sell itself to Ascent Resources (see 
Yesterday the NYMEX natural gas price lost 20% of its value in a single day for the second time in two weeks. When news broke on June 14 that the Freeport LNG plant would not likely return to full service before the end of this year, the NYMEX front-month contract lost $1.42 (19.75%) to close at $7.19/MMBtu (see 
National Fuel Gas Company (NFG) and its pipeline subsidiary Empire Pipeline have worked on a plan to build the Northern Access Pipeline since 2016. Northern Access is a 97-mile project from McKean County in Pennsylvania into and through Allegany, Cattaraugus and Erie counties in New York, that will flow Marcellus gas into New York State. The project was repeatedly delayed by the radicals of the Andrew Cuomo (now Kathy Hochul) administration. NFG says it still wants to build the project, but needs more time. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) just gave NFG an extra 35 months to get the project done.
Ohio Lt. Gov. Jon Husted was in Marietta, OH on Thursday for a roundtable discussion regarding the oil and gas industry. The meeting was held at Artex Oil Company and included Energy Transfer, Nine Energy Service, Oil Well Shares (OWS), Ohio Oil and Gas Association (OOGA), Reno Oil and Gas, DeepRock Disposal Solutions, Ohio Oil and Gas Energy Education Program (OOGEEP), and Marietta College. The meeting began as a closed-door session but opened to the public (and the press) after a half hour.
Wow, have the standards at Harvard University slipped! It used to be that Harvard was known for academic rigor–thoroughness and accuracy. Those days are long gone. Now Harvard is controlled by leftists who succumb to groupthink and political ideology instead of the scientific method. Case in point: Harvard recently published a study in Environmental Science & Technology that claims natural gas used for powering household stoves, furnaces, and water heaters “may contain” levels of “cancer-linked compounds” that are “toxic to residents when leaked.” In other words, the left has embarked on a mission to convince you that using natural gas will give you cancer. HORSE MANURE!