Mainstream Media Catches Up: AI Data Centers are the New Fracking
Please excuse our immodesty while we toot our own horn. MDN first tipped you back in July 2025 that the Democrat anti-fracking movement in Pennsylvania (and beyond) was rapidly becoming anti-data center (see PA Antis Hate Fossil Fuels, Shale Drilling, and Now…Data Centers). The trend only blossomed, with national and international groups joining the chorus against data centers. Here we are in April 2026, some nine months later, and the mainstream media, via the venerable Financial Times of London, has just noticed this fact and published an article that reaches the same conclusion. Read More “Mainstream Media Catches Up: AI Data Centers are the New Fracking”
OTHER U.S. REGIONS: FERC issues DEIS for Sabine Pass Liquefaction; NATIONAL: U.S. natural gas falls as storage injection season gets under way; Environmentalists are fighting our living standards in court; Why U.S. refineries can handle shale oil despite the persistent myth; Why energy predictions are almost always wrong; INTERNATIONAL: Oil surges above $110 on Iran escalation; Why has the WTI oil price surpassed Brent?; UK holds Strait of Hormuz meeting with 40+ countries; Women take helm of BP; Five EU countries call for windfall tax on energy companies. 
As we have in previous years, MDN will not publish on Friday in observance of Good Friday and the Easter holiday. We hope you enjoy this blessed time of year!
The Marcellus/Utica region received a combined 19 new drilling permits last week, Mar. 23 – 29, up 8 from the 11 permits issued two weeks ago. Pennsylvania issued 4 of the permits. Ohio issued no new permits. And, West Virginia issued 15 new permits last week. The drillers who received new permits last week included EQT, Expand Energy, and Range Resources. 
On Tuesday, seven radicalized Big Green groups filed a court challenge to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) authorization for Mountain Valley Pipeline, LLC, to construct the MVP Southgate gas pipeline. The petition for review, filed by the Southern Environmental Law Center (SELC), Appalachian Mountain Advocates, and Sierra Club in the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (DC Circuit), asks the court to vacate the amended certificate of convenience and public necessity issued by FERC in December 2025. 
Homer City Redevelopment, LLC has reached a significant milestone with the commencement of vertical construction, known as “first steel,” at the Homer City Energy Campus in Pennsylvania. Following extensive foundation work, the project has transitioned to above-ground construction, starting with the Gas Insulated Switchgear building. This facility is currently the largest natural gas-powered energy project under construction in the United States, replacing a decommissioned coal plant. 
The Kosciusko Junction Pipeline Project, led by Gulf South Pipeline Company, LLC (a subsidiary of Boardwalk Pipelines), involves the construction of approximately 110 miles of 36-inch natural gas pipeline. The project has an estimated cost of $1 billion and is supported by a 20-year agreement with an anchor customer. It is designed to transport up to 1.16 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) initially, with the potential to expand to 1.58 Bcf/d. The pipeline aims to connect gas supplies from key basins, including the Marcellus/Utica, Haynesville, and Fayetteville, to power markets in the Southeastern United States. In December 2024, Boardwalk pulled the trigger and made a final investment decision (FID) to move forward with the Kosciusko Junction project (see 
The Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates) investment group 2PointZero, via its subsidiary ePointZero, has agreed to acquire U.S. natural gas infrastructure firm Traverse Midstream Partners for $2.25 billion. This acquisition includes stakes in the Rover Pipeline and Ohio River System, which connect the productive Utica/Marcellus shale region to major demand centers and export hubs. Despite escalating Middle East geopolitical tensions and global energy disruptions, the deal underscores the UAE’s commitment to commercial partnerships with the United States. 
Anti-progress and anti-fossil energy Democrats in Pennsylvania are doing their darndest to try to block new AI data centers from getting built in the state. Just last week, the Democrat-controlled House passed a bill to block new data centers (see 
In January, MDN broke the news that Duke Energy is considering constructing a 1,360-megawatt natural gas power plant on 1,600 acres in Davidson County, North Carolina (see 
The Rockwood Area School District in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, has been awarded a $570,084 state grant to extend natural gas service to its facilities. The project will install around 15,100 feet of natural gas pipeline. Announced by State Representative Carl Walker Metzgar and Senator Pat Stefano (both Republicans), the funding comes from the Pipeline Investment Program (PIPE). The project is designed to replace the district’s current heating system (an old coal-fired boiler), effectively resolving the environmental issues caused by coal burning. 
Southwestern Pennsylvania voters chose poorly when they elected a Communist radical as their representative to the U.S. Congress: Democrat Summer Lee. She and two other far far far far far left radicals, Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib (Democrat from Michigan), and Congresswoman Adelita Grijalva (Democrat from Arizona), together just launched what they euphemistically call the People’s Environmental Justice Caucus in Congress. A better name is the “oil and gas is racist” caucus, an attempt to smear the oil and gas industry with the label of racism, claiming that O&G projects only get built in communities of color or where the residents are poor—people who (says Lee & co.) can’t fight back against the industry. 
CERAWeek 2026 was held in Houston, Texas, from March 23–27, 2026, focusing on “Convergence and Competition: Energy, Technology and Geopolitics”. The conference highlighted the accelerated pace of the “energy transition,” centering on energy security, skyrocketing AI power demand, infrastructure bottlenecks, and natural gas as a durable, competitive asset. In reviewing the reports published following CERAWeek, it’s obvious that natural gas was the belle of the ball.