FirstEnergy in Talks to Plead Guilty in Massive OH Nuke Bribery Case
Ohio’s House Bill (HB) 6 law granted billions (plural) of dollars to FirstEnergy in an attempt to prop up the company’s economically failing nuclear power plants. FirstEnergy is accused of bribing state legislators to pass, and keep passed, HB 6 by paying out $61 million (see FirstEnergy Involved in Bribery Scheme to Pass $1B Nuke Bailout Law). It is the biggest bribery scandal in Ohio history. FirstEnergy finally, openly, admitted they paid the bribe money (see FirstEnergy Admits to $61M Payment in Massive Bribery Scandal). However, the company has refused to admit that what they did is a crime. That appears to be changing.
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In 2019, a truly dreadful, jobs-killing piece of legislation in New York State was passed (see 
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Dimock Township, PA receives $95K state investment; Treasurer Riley Moore criticizes reported plans to cut funding for oil, gas industry; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: California governor seeks end to oil drilling in state by 2045; NATIONAL: U.S. LNG terminals seen running at full capacity to meet global demand; Billionaire’s low-carbon frac dream proves a tough sell; How natural gas production has continued to outpace crude since COVID hit; The Green New Deal will impoverish America; There is no climate emergency.
Recently the U.S. EIA (Energy Information Administration) predicted natural gas production in 2021 will increase, slightly, over 2020’s dismal performance (see 
It’s nice to see Pennsylvania’s Republican legislators playing hardball with the out-of-control governor of Pennsylvania, Tom Wolf. Yesterday PA Senate Republicans wrote a letter to Gov. Wolf to advise him they will reject all future nominees to the state Public Utility Commission (PUC) until he withdraws his executive order joining the so-called Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a carbon tax scheme aimed at shutting down coal and natural gas-fired power plants in the state.
MPR Supply Chain Solutions (i.e. Mountaineer Products Inc.) operates a 20-acre transloading facility along the shore of the Ohio River in Belmont County (barge, truck, and rail). In 2015 MDN wrote about MPR expanding its frack sand terminal at that location (see 
Yesterday our illustrious president, Joe Biden, shot off his mouth announcing plans to cut so-called greenhouse gas emissions by 50% in the next 10 years while creating millions of “good-paying, union jobs.” It’s an anti-fossil fuel pig in a poke. Biden announced his latest brainstorm during a “climate summit” with some 40 other world leaders, including Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin. We’re pretty sure both Xi Jinping and Putin were snickering at the prospect of America committing energy suicide, something they have no intention of doing.
The Chester County, PA District Attorney, Democrat Deb Ryan, has pressured and bullied Energy Transfer (ET) and its Sunoco Pipeline subsidiary into signing a “consent decree” that guarantees if ET spills one cup of drilling mud or creates any kind of “public nuisance” in finishing up work on the Mariner East pipeline, the DA gets to haul the company into county court and charge it with a crime. The consent decree means in addition to the state Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) breathing down their necks, ET now gets a second master (AG Ryan) breathing down their necks too. Joy.
Cabot Oil & Gas hosts a series of in-person and virtual events called Think About Energy (TAE). Since the pandemic, the events have been all virtual (webinars). Earlier this week another virtual TAE event was hosted by Cabot executive director of public relations (and MDN friend), George Stark. George had an interesting discussion with Congressman Fred Keller, Republican from Synder County, PA, and U.S. House Whip Steve Scalise, Republican from Louisiana. The topic? American energy independence and the importance of shale energy to our country’s future.
After four months of steady increases in the U.S. rig count, last week (the week ending April 21) the Enverus U.S. rig count “took a step back” with a decrease in the count. It was the first time this year the count has dropped. Oil rigs fell steeply to 404, down 15 for the week, while natural gas-oriented rigs gained four to 126. The Permian oil-focused play was the biggest loser, dropping five rigs last week.
Happy Earth Day! Yes, we are in favor of being good stewards of the planet God gave to mankind to watch over and protect–every plant, animal, and even other humans. Let’s celebrate this wonderful creation today (and the Creator Who made it). Unfortunately, today you will hear the phrase “climate change” about a bazillion times. We detest that phrase. What they really mean to say, in plain English, is “man-made, catastrophic global warming.” Today we tackle the issue of global warming and whether or not mankind’s activity of burning fossil fuels contributes to it, which is the underlying assumption in the phrase “climate change.” We use real, actual temperature data that we believe will open your eyes and hopefully open your mind and your heart on the issue of global warming.
Analysts with S&P Global Market Intelligence say that shale gas drillers in the Marcellus/Utica region have finally learned their lesson and are sticking to their promise to keep capital spending restrained this year–even with an increase in the price of gas. Both spending and rig counts are predicted to stay low this year as drillers work on boosting free cash flow and improving company share price.
Pennsylvania’s Pipeline Investment Program (or PIPE) issues grants covering part of the cost for building new natural gas pipelines to connect homes and businesses, typically in rural parts of the state, to homegrown Marcellus Shale gas supplies. We’ve written about many of the PIPE grant projects in the past (
Not content to rely on politicians alone like the weak-willed Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont, radical anti-fossil fuel zealots recently visited a number of banks located in New Haven, CT, to pressure and bully bank management into divesting from energy projects that contribute to “greenhouse gas pollution.” In particular, the zealots want to defund a critically-needed gas-fired power plant in Killingly, CT.
For those of us unfortunate enough to live in New York State, we’re already screwed with a corrupt governor large and still in charge (even though his actions led to thousands of COVID deaths in nursing homes and even though he’s a sexual predator). The screwing (pun intended) continues. There are bills in both the NY Assembly and Senate that aim to increase the tax on gasoline in the state by $0.55 per gallon! In addition, the bills would increase the tax on natural gas that end users pay–those who use it to heat and cook with, residences and businesses–by an extra 26%!! Translation: Move out of NY while you still can sell your house. And don’t forget to turn the lights off when you leave.