VA’s New Republican Gov Pledges to Cancel RGGI Carbon Tax
Virginia’s new incoming governor, Glenn Youngkin, said yesterday that he will use his executive power to withdraw Virginia from a program called the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI)–nothing more than a high tax on carbon dioxide. Youngkin called RGGI a tax on electricity ratepayers and a bad deal for ratepayers and for business. Youngkin, unlike Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf, gets it. He understands. And he’s willing to put ratepayers and businesses first.
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Project Canary, a program that certifies natural gas drillers and pipeline companies as producing responsibly sourced gas (RSG), continues to make big inroads in the Marcellus/Utica. Earlier this week MDN told you that Olympus Energy will use Project Canary to certify both its drilling and (believed to be a first in the country) its gathering pipeline system (see 
The DUG East (Developing Unconventional Gas) was held this week in Pittsburgh, PA. A number of big names–CEOs of major Marcellus/Utica companies–gave talks to those who attended. Two of the biggest names on the platform were Toby Rice, CEO of EQT Corporation (the largest natural gas producer in the United States), and Nick DeIuliis, CEO of CNX Resources, the separated arm of what used to be CONSOL Energy, a coal company. Both men are evangelists for natural gas, but both have a distinctly different style and way of going about their advocacy. It’s like apples and oranges.
Even though U.S. LNG exports help the U.S. by providing more jobs and economic prosperity, and even though U.S. LNG exports help the world by providing a green alternative to coal and other forms of environmentally destructive fuels, some Democrats continue to bash away at natural gas and are actively trying to kill the industry in our country. Legislation introduced Dec. 7 by Representative Jan Schakowsky (Democrat-Illinois), and Nanette Diaz Barragán (Democrat-California), would bar the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) from approving new LNG terminals.
Underinvestment in oil and gas development extended into a second year in 2021 even as global energy demand rebounded, raising the prospect of price shocks, scarcity, and growing energy poverty, according to a new report by the International Energy Forum (IEF) and IHS Markit. Oil and gas investment will need to return to pre-COVID levels and stay there through 2030 to restore market balance, the report states. If more investment doesn’t happen quickly, the world will experience more price gyrations and it will lead to “adverse economic consequences,” such as wider energy poverty, more frequent scarcity, and fuel switching to more polluting energy sources such as wood and coal.
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: CNX chief calls wind and solar “make believe energy”; NATIONAL: Kinder Morgan woos investors with financial discipline, ESG commitments; Washington policymakers need energy realism and energy humanism; Stupid inflation tricks, round 2.
Hart Energy’s DUG (Developing Unconventional Gas) East event was held this week in Pittsburgh, wrapping up this morning. Unfortunately, MDN could not attend the event this year. Some major news is coming from the event. One of the headline speakers from yesterday was CNX Resources CEO Nick DeIuliis who said he thinks it’s high time to seriously look at revising the now-ten-year-old impact fee that drillers pay (PA’s equivalent of a severance tax), a fee created as part of the Act 13 law. What would Nick change about the impact fee/tax?
Yesterday MDN brought you the news that the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) along with the state Dept. of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) jointly fined Energy Transfer’s Mariner East 2 (ME2) pipeline project $4 million and is requiring it to perform another $4+ million worth of work at Marsh Creek Lake where construction last year caused an accidental spill of 8,000 gallons of nontoxic drilling mud (see 
Back in October Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro, who is running for the Democrat nomination for governor in 2022, told trade union workers he didn’t like current Democrat Gov. Tom Wolf’s plan to join the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a huge tax on carbon dioxide assessed on coal and gas-fired power plants (see 
It’s not often we get an inside look at the finances and customers behind a privately owned midstream (pipeline) company. Ratings giant Fitch Ratings has given us that inside look with Blue Racer Midstream, a natural gas gathering and processing pipeline company operating in southeastern Ohio and the panhandle of West Virginia. Yesterday Fitch affirmed Blue Racer’s Long-Term Issuer Default Rating (IDR) at ‘B+’ and its $750 million senior secured revolving credit facility (what we call a line of credit) at ‘BB+’. Fitch also upgraded Blue Racer’s senior unsecured notes to ‘BB-‘ from ‘B+’. Blue Racer’s Rating Outlook is Stable.
There was a healthy number of new permits issued in all three actively drilling Marcellus/Utica states last week. In Pennsylvania, 14 new shale well permits were issued across the state. In Ohio, five new shale permits were issued, four of them to a single driller (Ascent Resources) in a single county (Jefferson). West Virginia came roaring back after getting skunked with no permits two weeks ago. WV issued 10 new shale permits last week with five going to a single well pad in Monongalia County.