FERC’s Dick Glick Targets NatGas Pipes Using Eminent Domain
Newly appointed Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Chairman Richard “Dick” Glick is already targeting natural gas pipelines–to keep them from getting built. Since his appointment by Donald Trump, Glick, a Chuck Schumer Democrat, has voted against every single new natural gas pipeline project using the excuse of man-made global warming. Now he’s using the tactic of pitting landowners against pipeline projects over the issue of using eminent domain.
Read More “FERC’s Dick Glick Targets NatGas Pipes Using Eminent Domain”
All three M-U states received permits to drill new shale wells last week. Pennsylvania received 22 new permits. Ohio received 2 new permits. And West Virginia received 8 new permits.
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Natural gas production far exceeded consumption in West Virginia in 2019; Struzzi to Wolf: enough is enough (re severance tax); Industry says Gov. Wolf should attack COVID, not Pennsylvania’s energy producers; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Seattle City Council passes measure to end most natural gas use in commercial buildings and some apartments; Exelon threatens to mothball four nuclear power plants unless paid a premium for their zero-carbon electricity; NATIONAL: The seven elements of our odious American oligarchy; U.S. shale: Biden’s drilling ban actually undermines emission targets; Oil companies push ‘clean shale’ amid Biden’s moves on fossil fuels; Wintry weather lifts natural-gas prices; Exxon Mobil, Chevron CEOs discussed merger; INTERNATIONAL: Shell, C3 AI, Baker Hughes, and Microsoft launch the Open AI Energy Initiative; How fossil fuels are saving lives in developing countries.
On Friday the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) granted its approval to Williams to begin construction on the Leidy South Project in central Pennsylvania. The purpose of the Leidy South Project, which is part of the mighty Transco pipeline, is to connect robust supplies of natural gas in the Marcellus and Utica producing regions in Pennsylvania with markets along the Atlantic Seaboard by the 2021-2022 winter heating season.
Who are the top shale drillers in Pennsylvania, as ranked by the number of shale gas wells drilled in total, to date, from the beginning of the shale play when Range Resources drilled the very first Marcellus well in 2004? It won’t surprise you to learn that Range itself is in the top 5. It’s also no surprise that EQT is at the very top of the list, given it is the #1 natural gas producing company in the U.S. We have full details on the top 5 Marcellus/Utica drillers in PA, along with a list of the other 37 PA shale drillers (42 drillers in all).
In 2016 a group of business and government leaders from Ohio and West Virginia in the Mid-Ohio Valley banded together to form an economic development group called Shale Crescent USA, or SCUSA (see 
Last week MDN brought you Part 1 of a series on the coming crisis in lack of pipeline capacity serving the Marcellus/Utica region (see 
On Friday MDN told you that EQT has partnered with a company called Project Canary (used to be Independent Energy Standards Corporation) to use the TrustWell™ Responsible Gas Program to monitor two EQT gas wells to prove to the world (in particular the global warming lunatics) that EQT’s gas is good and green (see 
Forget about the great American road trip. You won’t be able to charge your electric vehicle quickly enough or (in some cases) at all. Prepare to have your views of the countryside ruined by solar panels and windmills on just about every available hill, mountain, and ridgeline. Oh yeah, and get used to being a vegetarian too, because cows and pigs and chickens burp and fart too much methane and all that animal methane is toasting mom earth. You may think we’re joking, just poking fun at environmentalist wackos. Just read the AP article below and give us your interpretation of what those who now occupy D.C. have planned for YOU–citizens of the US of A.
Yesterday EQT, the largest natural gas producer in the U.S., announced it is partnering with a Denver, CO company calling itself “Project Canary” to run a test on two of its shale gas pads, to prove the gas produced is “certified responsibly sourced” natural gas. The test will purportedly prove that EQT is doing a good job of producing its natgas with “high environmental and social standards.” Personally, we don’t think they have anything to prove, nor should they. But hey, it’s not our company to run.
CNX released fourth-quarter and full-year numbers yesterday, but without the usual press release summarizing the results. CNX’s top brass did hold a conference call with analysts to discuss the update. Right out of the chute CEO Nick DeIuliis opened up the session by making four points. Nick’s very first point was that “2020 marked the most successful year we’ve seen as an E&P” as measured by free cash flow.
Well, this is a bummer. Dave Spigelmyer, someone we consider to be a friend, is retiring from the Marcellus Shale Coalition (MSC) effective today. He will be replaced by MSC board member Dave Callahan, who officially takes over on Monday. Spigelmyer has been president (the second president of the MSC) since 2013. He took over from another terrific person, Katie Klaber, the organization’s first president. Dave Callahan has big shoes to fill, but we’re confident he’s up to the task.
Invoking the words “coronavirus” and “COVID-19” like a magical talisman, Pennsylvania’s far-left, bumbling governor, Tom Wolf, has for the seventh year in a row issued a budget proposal that won’t pass because it includes a Marcellus-killing severance tax on top of the existing severance tax (called an impact “fee”). Every year the urgent/critical reason changes for why Wolf needs to get his grubby hands on hundreds of millions of dollars. Just insert whatever is currently in the news into the blank and it’s the same tired, old appeal. This year the excuse is the coronavirus and restoring PA’s failing economy. Wolf is Johnny One-Note when it comes to proposing a severance tax every year.
Over the past week, the Enverus U.S. rig count jumped up by another 12 active rigs, making the new count 442. That’s the highest the rig count has been since April 2020 when the count began to drop like a rock as the coronavirus pandemic began to bite deeply. The count for both the Marcellus and Utica remained constant at a combined 42.
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) member Neil Chatterjee during a recent webinar “laid out the business case for the GOP to get on board with the clean energy transition.” Chatterjee “urged the natural gas sector to be nimble and open to new opportunities the transition may present.” What kind of “new” opportunities and “transition” is he talking about?