14 Democrat Attorney Generals Pressure Feds to Block LNG-by-Rail
In June 2020 the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), in coordination with the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), published final rules to allow LNG (liquefied natural gas) to be safely transported by special rail cars (see PHMSA and Fed Railroad Admin Publish Final LNG by Rail Regs). Anti-fossil fuel zealots hate fossil fuels, including natural gas, so much, they launched two lawsuits to prevent the new LNG-by-rail rules from taking effect. One lawsuit was filed by 14 Democrat state attorneys general, including PA AG Josh Shapiro (see 14 AGs Join Radical Green Groups Suing to Block LNG by Rail). Those same 14 AGs are now pushing the PHMSA to indefinitely suspend the LNG-by-rail regulation.
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This edition of the Marcellus/Utica permits report covers the past two weeks as MDN was taking a break during the last week of 2021. For the period of December 20 through January 2, there were 29 permits issued to drill new shale wells in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia. PA had 16 new permits (most of them located on two well pads), OH had 12 new permits (spread across five well pads), and WV had just one new permit. Must be WV DEP took the last two weeks of the year off.
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: New Monaca Shell cracker plant to hold hiring event in Lisbon; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Lack of gas infrastructure sends New England’s power prices soaring; NATIONAL: US becomes world’s top LNG exporter for first time ever; INTERNATIONAL: OPEC+ agrees to revive more output; Here’s why OPEC+ didn’t respond to U.S. calls for more oil.
In September MDN told you about an announcement by American Energy Partners, Inc. (AEPT), based in Allentown, PA, to buy an unnamed “privately held energy services company” located in the Marcellus/Utica region (see 
Once again we return to the topic of pipelines in the Marcellus/Utica. Specifically, lack of pipeline capacity to handle all of the production we could be making were it not for constraints. Those constraints are because of vicious, anti-American leftists who oppose new pipeline projects by abusing our own court system. The M-U is forecasted to hit production of 42 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) by 2025–and there it will stay because no new pipelines will get built or completed after 2023. We will be stunted.
Baby, it’s cold outside! At least here in the northeastern U.S. Cold temps in the northeast are causing an increase in the use of natural gas for both heating and electricity production. That increase in demand is (you guessed it) causing an increase in prices, and the increase in prices is causing some natural gas flows to reverse course and head north instead of south out of the Marcellus/Utica.
Economists are still analyzing the impact of the coronavirus pandemic from 2020, let alone assessing impacts from 2021. Cleveland State University researchers have run the numbers and have discovered something interesting. Of Ohio’s 88 counties, only 18 grew their economies in 2020. Of those 18, two counties stood head and shoulders above the rest for increases in economic activity. Both counties have something in common: Utica Shale drilling.
Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP) had laid 31 miles of pipeline and had cut trees for 222 miles along the 600-mile route before Dominion Energy, the builder, decided in 2020 it no longer wants to be in the interstate pipeline business, canceling ACP (see 
Energy Transfer’s (ET) Revolution Pipeline in southwestern Pennsylvania runs through Bulter, Beaver, Allegheny, and Washington counties. The 24-inch gathering pipeline shifted and exploded in September 2018, just as it was entering service (see 
Some really good (and expected) news to report. The West Virginia Dept. of Environmental Protection (WV DEP) issued a key permit for the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) to finish work crossing rivers and streams in the Mountain State. MVP, a 303-mile pipeline from West Virginia into southern Virginia, is currently 94% built and in the ground. There are several portions left to complete it, including crossing rivers and streams in both Virginia and West Virginia. The permits needed to do so come from three sources: the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Virginia Water Control Board, and WV DEP.
In 2015 Kelsy Warren and his Energy Transfer Equity (now just Energy Transfer) company pursued Williams, wanting to merge Williams into its own operation. Williams initially fought ET tooth and nail, but in the end, caved and cut a deal (see