Maryland Congressman Demands FERC Answers re MVP, ACP
Leftist Democrat Congressman Jamie Raskin, from Maryland, is asking the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to provide reams of documents on how it handles landowner complaints about natural gas pipelines crossing their land. Raskin is Chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Subcommittee on Civil Rights and Civil Liberties. He’s got his knickers in a twist over the centuries-old concept of eminent domain–that the government (under the Constitution) has the right to seize individual property with just compensation in rare but necessary cases.
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Every now and again we hear from MDN readers who mildly (or strongly) disagree with our politics and view of the leftwing Democrat Party and the frail, mentally-challenged Joe Biden (who won’t last two years in office before he’s pushed out for medical and/or mental reasons). They tell us a Biden presidency isn’t the end of oil and gas, and maybe he will even help our industry! (Even though Biden promised to “transition away from oil” in his last debate appearance.) We’re mystified that anyone can hold the view that Biden will be good for O&G, but there are people (in our audience) who do hold that view. The article below does a good job of capturing their viewpoint and thinking about the incoming Biden administration.
“OK Jim, what’s *really* going to happen to the oil and gas industry under a Joe Biden presidency? None of your apocalyptic B.S. please.” We’ve heard that sentiment/question expressed on occasion by MDN subscribers. Last week the Dallas Federal Reserve Bank and the Kansas City Reserve Bank hosted a virtual conference titled, “Energy and the Changing Economy: Navigating the Changing Energy Landscape.” Some of the best experts in the industry (some of them Biden supporters) delivered their best guess as to what will realistically happen over the next four years to the oil and gas industry under a Biden administration…
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: DRBC lawsuit update: still waiting on the federal court; Canton Chamber moves Utica Downstream event to January as COVID-19 cases spike; Renewables, GOP supermajority loom large over energy and environmental groups’ 2021 state legislative priorities; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: SDG&E to test blending hydrogen with natural gas supply; NATIONAL: Biden names John Kerry as ‘climate czar’ in new administration; Investment in US clean energy to total $55 billion in 2020: Generate Capital; Could U.S. propane demand plus exports draw down inventories enough to spike prices?; Pipe dreams leave U.S. energy firms caught in climate trap; INTERNATIONAL: Oil majors are paying the price for investing in renewables.
Last Wednesday Shawn Lehman, from the Pennsylvania Dept. of Conservation & Natural Resources’ (DCNR) Resource Inventory and Monitoring Section, gave an update on DCNR’s ongoing efforts to monitor environmental and natural resource impacts of shale gas drilling on state forest land. We learned some interesting facts about shale drilling on PA state land as part of the presentation.
When a pipeline company considers whether or not to build a new pipeline, the company conducts an “open season”–a time when drillers (producers), traders, buyers and others who want guaranteed capacity along that pipeline can sign long-term contracts. Such contracts guarantee pipeline companies will be able to make back the considerable amount of money they have to spend to build the pipeline. What happens when those 5-, 10-, and 20-year contracts expire?
The plot thickens in the $60 million FirstEnergy nuclear subsidy bribery scandal. Last week MDN brought you the news that Ohio’s Attorney General, David Yost, had filed a second lawsuit to stop the collection of money from ratepayers that funds $150 million annual payments to FirstEnergy provided for under the law known as House Bill 6 (see 
The natural gas industry is proving effective at policing itself–far more effective than having the jackboots of the federal government step on its neck. Case in point: an industry group called Our Nation’s Energy Future (ONE Future), a coalition of 32 natural gas companies, released its 2019 report (below) that shows member companies collectively beat the group’s methane intensity goal by 67% for the year.
Kimmeridge Energy Management Company is a private equity investment firm focused on the upstream energy sector (drillers). Last week the firm published a white paper entitled, “Bringing Alignment and Accountability to the E&P Sector” (full copy below). The thesis of the paper is this: the alignment between drilling company executives and shareholders is “broken” and “a root cause” for the problem of poor earnings at drilling companies.
Earlier this month the Sierra Club filed yet another lawsuit (we’ve lost count of how many they’ve filed) attempting to block construction of the final 8% of Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP). The Clubbers asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit to “temporarily” block a permit issued by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (see 
Believe it or not, there are still two environmentalist wackos living up a tree in Montgomery County, Virginia, preventing work crews for Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) from cutting trees to clear a path for the pipeline. This has been going on for years and frankly, everyone is tired of it. A county judge has found the two cowards not willing to reveal their names (known as Tree-sitter 1 and Tree-sitter 2) in contempt of court. Starting today if they don’t come down, they are both on the hook for a $500 per day fine.
We were wrong. In August MDN told you that the tenth and final mini-train had gone online at Kinder Morgan’s Elba Island, Georgia LNG export facility (see 
Northeast Natural Energy (NNE) is a small-to-midsized driller headquartered in Morgantown, WV. The company drilled its first shale well in 2013. NNE currently owns 49,000 acres of leases “in the heart of the Marcellus Fairway,” operating 27 Marcellus wells and over 100 conventional oil and gas wells, mainly in West Virginia (with some located in southwestern Pennsylvania). In April 2017 MDN reported that NNE had obtained $300 million of investment from two investment firms (see