Victory! Virginia Water Control Board Votes to Approve MVP Permit
On Monday MDN told you about a so-called civil rights “leader”–Rev. William Barber II–who “preached” to a crowd of fellow lefties last Saturday, delivering a “sermon” aimed at pressuring the Virginia State Water Control Board to vote against issuing a permit for the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) to cross creeks and swamps in the Old Dominion (see False Prophet Preaches Against MVP as Va. Permit Vote Nears). The Water Control Board held their meeting yesterday and “sinned” according to Barber. They voted to issue the permit…
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TC Energy Corp., the former TransCanada, held its annual investor day on Dec. 1. TC owns extensive liquids and natural gas pipelines across North America, including the Columbia Gas Transmission interstate pipeline network that blankets Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia. If anyone has its ear to the ground and watching for/discerning longer-term trends, it is big pipeline companies like TC Energy. During the investor day update, one of TC’s executives, Tracy Robinson, said she expects natural gas demand in North America to grow 25% by 2030. That’s a remarkable amount of growth!
The electrical system that powers the United States is made up of individual power grids that connect with each other. Different regions have their own “grid of grids” (called a regional transmission organization, or RTO) that operates to manage the flow of electricity across the entire grid to ensure reliability. In New England, the grid operator/RTO is ISO New England (ISO standing for Independent System Operator). Gordon van Welie, CEO of ISO New England, recently had some startling and stark words about the reliability for New England’s electric grid: Get ready for rolling blackouts.
Two weeks ago MDN told you that New York City is actively considering a ban on new customers from hooking up for natural gas delivery throughout the city, and that Consolidated Edison, one of the biggest utilities that flows gas in NYC, is shockingly promoting the ban (see
According to Robert Bradley, Jr. from the Institute for Energy Research (IER), the Biden Administration’s Build Back Better (BBB) plan is at odds with affordable, reliable energy. The so-called “largest effort to combat climate change in American history” is a bribe-and-bully program to systemically substitute inferior energies for consumer-chosen, taxpayer-neutral ones. The Biden plan is an assault on the free market system and doomed to abject failure.
There was a decent number of new permits issued across all three actively drilling Marcellus/Utica states cumulatively last week. In Pennsylvania, 19 new shale well permits were issued across the state. In Ohio, three new shale permits were issued. West Virginia issued 8 new shale permits last week, with five going to a company we had not previously heard of.
NATIONAL: Banning US LNG exports would be ‘highly destabilizing’; Hilcorp employees in line for $75,000 bonuses after meeting multi-year goals; INTERNATIONAL: Saudis warn traders against shorting oil; When the “climate catastrophe” levee breaks.
As you know, MDN monitors new shale permits in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia by bringing you the weekly new permits issued report, typically on Wednesdays (

A long-fought-over wastewater injection well in Plum Boro (Allegheny County, Pittsburgh suburb) finally opened for business earlier this year, having overcome all sorts of smears and slanders and lawsuits by the enviro-left (see
Nuverra Environmental Solutions (formerly Heckmann) is one of the largest companies in the United States that handles the transportation and disposal of shale drilling wastewater and leftover rock and dirt from drilling. The company has major operations in the Marcellus/Utica region. Because of the company’s major operations in the M-U, we keep track of its performance. Quarter after quarter after quarter, for well over a year, the company has lost money (
S&P Global Platts and its analytics division is a powerhouse provider of information, analysis, and benchmark prices for the commodities and energy markets. We often bring you their insights. Yesterday Platts Analytics released their 2022 energy outlook. Next year, Platts Analytics expects supply will catch up and exceed demand. Let that sink in. In 2022 we will see an increase in LNG exports, a rebound in U.S. shale oil, shale gas, and shale NGLs production–and the return of investment in non-OPEC production. You can guess what all that means for prices…