Sen. McCormick Defends Homer City Power Plant Against “Uniformed”
U.S. Senator Dave McCormick recently visited the $10 billion Homer City Redevelopment project in Indiana County, Pennsylvania, where a new natural gas power plant and hyperscale data center are replacing a former coal facility. McCormick compared current environmental protests against data centers to early opposition to Marcellus Shale fracking, arguing both face “uninformed” anxiety despite offering massive economic and job benefits. Gee, where else have you heard the comparison between anti-fracking and anti-data center? MDN was perhaps the first to identify the trend, first tipping you back in July 2025 that the Democrat anti-fracking movement in Pennsylvania (and beyond) was rapidly becoming anti-data center (see PA Antis Hate Fossil Fuels, Shale Drilling, and Now…Data Centers). Read More “Sen. McCormick Defends Homer City Power Plant Against “Uniformed””
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Team Pennsylvania outlines commonwealth goals for renewed nuclear era; McCormick hails Shippingport power plant conversion; PJM board names David E. Mills as PJM President and CEO; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Rockefeller Fund bankrolls MD Gov. Moore’s ‘climate study’; NATIONAL: U.S. natural gas rises on below-estimate storage build; Sen. Cotton bill names FERC as sole lead agency for pipelines; A growing grid needs market discipline – 5 principles for transmission policy; INTERNATIONAL: Oil swings on Iran deal doubts; US, Iran engage in fresh clashes near Hormuz; IEA says Middle East conflict altering medium-term gas outlook; EU purchases from Russia’s largest natural gas field hit record £3bn; Big Oil resists push to prioritize output growth. 
In April, MDN reported that anti-fossil fuel fanatics had not yet given up on trying to block construction of the Williams Northeast Supply Enhancement (NESE) pipeline, a $1 billion+ project designed to increase Transco pipeline capacity and flows of Marcellus gas heading into New York City and other northeastern markets. Even though there was an official groundbreaking ceremony at Brooklyn’s Floyd Bennett Field in New York City in April, antis are still doing their best to block this project. They pinned one of their last hopes on a relatively obscure state agency in New Jersey, pressuring it to refuse to issue a license for the project (see 
UGI Corporation’s UGI Energy Services and Prime Data Centers yesterday announced a strategic partnership to develop natural gas supply infrastructure in Pennsylvania’s northern tier for a proposed gas-fired power facility serving future hyperscale data center operations. Under the deal, UGIES will sell Prime some of its property while retaining about 15 billion cubic feet (Bcf) of underground storage capacity and related oil and gas rights. Prime’s gas demand is expected to exceed 100,000 dekatherms per day (100 MMcf/d) within three to five years. A major new customer for PA Marcellus gas! 
New research by the Commonwealth Foundation finds that Pennsylvania’s foolish pursuit of joining the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a carbon tax scheme, led to a loss of $5 to $8 billion in energy sector investment over six years, stalling power projects and reducing electricity generation capacity. The state’s attempt to join RGGI, initiated by executive order under then-Governor Tom Wolf, was ultimately overturned by the courts and (eventually) by legislative action, citing it as an unconstitutional tax. Meanwhile, neighboring Ohio, not part of RGGI, saw an increase in energy projects, highlighting the differing regulatory environments. 
The European Union’s idiotic methane regulations begin in earnest next year. Domestic (European) oil, gas, and coal companies must monitor, measure, and report their emissions. The same restrictions will apply to energy imports from other countries, including imports from the U.S. (see 
DT Midstream (DTM) is an owner, operator, and developer of natural gas interstate and intrastate pipelines, storage and gathering systems, compression, treatment, and surface facilities, including major assets that are in (or flow molecules from) the Marcellus/Utica. Last week, the company issued its first quarter 2026 update. CEO David Slater announced two new projects to expand pipelines that carry Marcellus/Utica molecules. He also announced a project to build a new lateral to an Indiana power plant and a new interconnect that flows more M-U molecules into the NEXUS pipeline. Great things are happening at DTM! 
Three weeks ago, the Trump Department of Energy announced it is moving forward with funding for five of the original seven Biden-awarded hydrogen hub projects, spending $5 billion of the originally allotted $7 billion (see 
We had to do a double-take when we spotted an editorial, written by the editors of the liberal Bloomberg News service, running under the title, “Data Centers Aren’t the Enemy — They’re the Future.” Bloomberg’s editorial board argues that proposed restrictions or moratoriums on data centers would be a major mistake, given their growing importance to cloud computing, AI, and the broader economy. Do you like using Facebook? Do you search Google? Do you have an Amazon Alexa in your home that you use with voice commands? Do you talk to your cell phone with voice commands? That all comes from data centers (some of it AI). If you block data centers, you block the internet. It’s that simple. 
Devon Energy and Coterra Energy shareholders have approved all proposals needed to complete the companies’ previously announced all-stock merger, which is expected to consummate on May 7, 2026. More than 98% of the votes cast by Devon shareholders and more than 99% by Coterra shareholders supported the deal. Executives said the merger will create a larger shale operator with complementary assets, improved scale, enhanced margins, free cash flow growth, and stronger shareholder returns.