Biden Admin Issues New Federal Drilling Permits Despite “Ban”
Psst. Don’t tell anti-fossil fuel nutjobs this, but Joe Biden’s “ban” on issuing new permits for drilling on federal and offshore land has loopholes. Since Biden seized power and began occupying the White House, HIS administration (not Trump’s) has issued “at least” 31 new drilling permits for federal and/or offshore drilling. It seems there are big loopholes in Biden’s federal permit moratorium that most news organizations are not reporting.
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Anti-fossil fuel nutters increasingly realize that solar and wind will never, EVER, be able to provide all the energy needs of the world. There will always be a need for some sort of liquid fuel for airplanes, heavy equipment, ships, etc. So antis are now embracing hydrogen as the next Big Thing to save Mom Earth. Just one tiny thing they overlook: Some 75% of hydrogen produced comes from natural gas! Doh…
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Energy industry terms Biden lease moratorium a blow to Pennsylvania; NATIONAL: Like fracking under Obama, mining poised to grow during Biden years; Laid-off Keystone XL worker says decision to cancel pipeline ‘is going to hurt a lot of people’; Top technologies transforming energy in 2021; Biden’s “climate day” will live in infamy.
Equitrans Midstream’s Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP), which stretches 303 miles from Wetzel County, WV to Pittsylvania County, VA, is backed into a corner by anti-fossil fuelers. The project is 92% complete and in the ground, yet somehow antis have successfully blocked an Army Corps of Engineers Nationwide Permit 12 (NWP12) that allows the project to cross creeks and rivers and mud puddles. Antis have convinced three leftist judges on the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn the NWP12 permit–twice. But, MVP has just outmaneuvered the antis.
Now that Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) has outsmarted radicalized environmental groups like the odious Sierra Club by changing the type of permit they will use to finish the 92% complete project (see today’s lead story), antis are hoping to continue blocking the project by convincing the Democrat judges on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn a FERC order from last December that allows MVP to resume certain portions of construction (see 
President Biden is expected to sign a new Executive Order today that turns a 60-day pause on issuing new oil and gas leases on federal lands into an ongoing moratorium for as long as he’s in office. According to a Wall Street Journal article, “Many of his [Biden’s] actions have been expected, but the administration’s speed and willingness to target the industry have surprised its leaders and analysts.” Really? Nobody who reads MDN should be surprised. We predicted these attacks. Biden, whether willingly or by reason of mental defect, has been co-opted by environmental radicals within his own party.
Members of the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America (INGAA) announced yesterday a set of climate change commitments that outline in detail its mission to help address climate change, including working together as an industry towards reaching net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from natural gas transmission and storage by 2050. INGAA members pledging to hit that target include the biggest pipeline companies in the M-U, including Williams, Kinder Morgan, and Enbridge.
A day literally does not go by that we don’t read about yet another city, or even state, declaring that it will ban natural gas from new-build structures like homes and businesses. It’s bloody insane! And yet it’s happening more and more. We spotted an article written by a union member in California who says while “climate change” is “real” and we need to “do something” about it (we disagree), he says we need to “do something that works for all of us, not just the coastal elite and the wealthy.” The union member goes on to outline the great harm being done to the poor by these silly, virtue-signaling bans.
For the second week in a row, two of three M-U drilling states received permits to drill new shale wells. Pennsylvania scored 10 permits to drill new shale wells last week. Ohio received no new permits for Utica wells (second dry week in row). West Virginia received 4 new permits to drill new shale wells last week.
Here in the Marcellus/Utica region (PA, OH, WV) we have a lot of natural gas production. We are the #1 gas-producing region in the United States. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, the M-U will produce 34 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of natgas this month (see 
Two of New York City’s five retirement pension funds, representing 70% of the $239.8 billion retirement system, announced yesterday they will divest their portfolios of all investments in fossil fuel companies. The two pension funds together own roughly $4 billion worth of fossil fuel securities. The divestment will take place gradually, over the next five years. A third pension fund with $7.8 billion under management is expected to do the same, soon.
One of the aims of both drillers and environmentalists is to reduce the amount of methane escaping from pipelines and well pads into the atmosphere–so called “fugitive methane.” Environmentalists make wild claims that methane molecules floating around in the atmosphere are a gajillion times more potent in causing mythical global warming. Whatever. Drillers and pipeline companies want to capture and keep captured every last molecule so they can sell it! Thing is, there is a cost beyond which it doesn’t make sense to try and capture stray methane molecules.
This is an early test for how the Biden administration, specifically Biden’s pick to run the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), Richard “Dick” Glick, will respond to requests for additional infrastructure related to fossil fuels. Last week Venture Global filed a “pre-filing” request with FERC ultimately looking for permission to build a major new LNG export facility next door to another facility (Calcasieu Pass Project) Venture Global is currently building. The new project is dubbed CP2 and will come with a (gasp) 87.5-mile greenfield pipeline.