4th Circus Rejects MVP Appeal for En Banc Hearing – Supremes Next?
The clown judges of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit (i.e. the 4th Circus) have done it again. Two weeks ago Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) asked the full court, all of the judges (called en banc) to rehear a couple of recent decisions by three of their clown members (see MVP Appeals 4th Circuit Decisions – Asks Full Court to Rehear). The full court turned their collective noses up and refused. One possible next step is for MVP to appeal the decisions to the U.S. Supreme Court.
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Because of constant court challenges, the Trump administration completed a redo of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Nationwide Permit 12 (NWP12), a general permit used in constructing pipelines, just prior to leaving office. From the beginning of the Biden administration, anti-fossil fuel fanatics have attacked NWP12, hoping they can cancel it or otherwise make it so onerous nobody will use it (see 
Depending on your news source, the Biden administration reached an agreement with the European Union last Friday for the U.S. to supply more LNG to the EU beginning this year. Other news sources say it will be next to impossible for the U.S. to ship any more LNG to the EU this year. Yet other news sources (leaning to the far left) point out the agreement actually talks about the EU figuring out ways to *decrease* their natural gas (and LNG) usage. So what, exactly, was the agreement reached last week?
Amtrak has a project underway to renovate and update its 30th Street Station in Philadelphia, PA. Amtrak cut a deal with Philadelphia Gas Works (PGW), the largest municipal-owned natural gas utility in the country, to switch and use onsite gas boilers at the renovated station for some (not all) of the heat. Anti-fossil fuel fanatics are predictably having a cow over the plan. The Philly-based Clean Air Council (CAC), funded with money from Big Green groups, is gearing up to fight the use of natural gas boilers.
Last Thursday 
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Pa. should take lead in hitting Russia in its budget; Sen. Manchin applauds FERC policy shift on natural gas pipelines; NATIONAL: People over 60 account for a third of greenhouse gas emissions; E&P capex and production guidance, and why they aren’t doing more; Natural gas: essential for American’s cleaner energy future; U.S. oil companies have increased drilling by 60% in one year.
The ongoing tiff between the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and Energy Transfer (ET) over a drilling mud spill in Ohio back in 2017 (five years ago!) has become a steamy, cheesy plotline for an episode of the TV series Dallas. We’re talking about the original Dallas series from the 1980s with Larry Hagman and storylines of “who’s jumping into bed with whom.” FERC is faulting ET for creating a company culture of drill and build fast that led to a contract worker adding diesel fuel to a stuck drill bit in an effort to work it free, fining the company a staggering $40 million for the presence of diesel in a drilling mud spill. ET says the diesel situation was the result of a rogue contract worker (a foreman) under pressure and distracted by rumors of another foreman sleeping with the wife of one of his workers. No, we’re not kidding. You can’t make this stuff up.
In what one industry watcher calls an “abrupt about-face,” yesterday all five Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) commissioners voted to pull back onerous new regulations to use global warming considerations when approving pipelines. Three Democrat FERC commissioners voted to adopt the new guidelines just one month ago (see 
The Iroquois Gas Transmission pipeline project called the Enhancement by Compression (ExC) increases horsepower at three compression stations–two in New York and one in Connecticut–by an extra 125 MMcf/d, flowing more Marcellus/Utica gas into New York City and New England (see 
Pennsylvania is the second-largest producer of natural gas in the country. A new poll from Pittsburgh Works Together, a coalition of business and labor groups in Western PA, says Pennsylvanians want to keep PA at the top of the natural gas heap. A poll conducted of 600 PA voters in February finds 73% strongly or somewhat supported the idea that Pennsylvania should ensure that natural gas remains a part of the state’s energy use. That is an overwhelming majority of PA citizens who think natural gas (and natural gas drilling) should continue in the Keystone State.
While yesterday’s news that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), under the thumb of the Biden administration, has made a major about-face with respect to using global warming factors when evaluating pipeline projects (at least for now) is good, there is much more than can and should happen. On Wednesday four of the largest trade groups representing natural gas–the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America, the Natural Gas Supply Association, the American Gas Association, and the Independent Petroleum Association of America–sent a letter to President Biden requesting that he push his various agencies (like FERC) to go ahead and approve more LNG export plants and more pipelines.
Last August, PTT Global Chemical finally came clean and admitted there will be no final investment decision (FID) to build a $10 billion ethane cracker plant project in Belmont County, OH, until they secure a partner to help finance the project (see 
The Pennsylvania House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee, chaired by State Rep. Daryl Metcalfe (Republican from Butler County) is scheduled to hold a meeting on Monday, March 28 to consider two proposed bills. One is a bill that would give the legislature authority to participate in any decision about adopting the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) carbon tax scheme. The other bill is a resolution that would be sent to the leftist governors of New York and New Jersey asking them to allow new pipelines to be built into and through their states, to flow more fracked PA gas.