Energy Stories of Interest: Thu, Jun 13, 2019
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: ODNR approves 11 permits in Utica shale; Gov. Justice blasts anti-fossil fuel campaign; Exxon stripped of most defenses in NY AG’s climate case; State AGs’ climate cover-up; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: North Dakota makes small bet on natural gas infrastructure company; Low natural gas prices drive up generation share in US Midwest; NATIONAL: U.S. Senators call for equal tax treatment of LNG fuel; From goats to glory: The monster oil discovery nobody is talking about; FERC Dems make climate change case in house hearing; INTERNATIONAL: U.S. ‘freedom gas’ aims to loosen Russia’s grip on Europe’s market.
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The war to control EQT continues. On Monday, Toby and Derek Rice (the Rice brothers) sent an open letter to EQT shareholders to “set the record straight on EQT’s misleading comments” about the Rice boys and their plan to take over EQT. In fact, the Rices’ say EQT has made “a number of false claims” and engaged in “personal attacks.” Yesterday, EQT issued a response to “correct the Toby Rice Group’s false and misleading statements” about what EQT said, and to “highlight significant omissions and errors” in the Rice analysis of EQT’s recent performance.
In Feb. 2016, lawsuits filed by some ~200 West Virginia residents against Antero Resources were combined into a class action (see 
Dominion Energy has laid 35 miles (so far) of the 600-mile Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP) project that will run from West Virginia to North Carolina to bring Marcellus/Utica gas to the South. However, the project has been stalled for months due to multiple lawsuits brought by colluding Big Green groups. We recently told you about a whispering campaign that says Dominion may abandon the project (see 
Attendees at the LDC Gas Forum Northeast conference in Boston heard from speakers on Monday who said supplying natural gas for LNG export operations is creating “a large opportunity for Northeast producers and midstream operators,” but those producers and operators need to be “more aggressive in pushing back against opponents” of their projects.
Shale driller Huntley & Huntley (H&H), headquartered in Monroeville (Allegheny County), PA, organized a private meeting last night in Plum, PA for “officials from local municipalities, the state Department of Environmental Protection and the oil and gas industry.” The meeting was an effort at good communication, so local officials know what is and is not allowed, and who regulates what, when it comes to shale drilling. Of course anti-drillers got wind of the meeting and pitched a fit until H&H opened up the meeting to let them attend.
Last week Shaledirectories.com and TopLine Analytics hosted the one-day Appalachian Storage Hub Conference in Canonsburg, PA. Charles Zelek, a senior economist with the U.S. Dept. of Energy’s Office of Fossil Energy was one of the speakers. According to our friends at Kallanish Energy who attended, Zelek “implored” the audience to establish an ethane storage hub in the Tri-State area. Like now, before it’s too late.
In May MDN told you about a Pennsylvania Supreme Court decision that allows shale drilling to happen *anywhere* in a township, so long as such drilling satisfies standards to protect public health, safety and welfare (see 
Anti-fossil fuelers in Massachusetts who are desperate to block a federal (and state) approved compressor station from getting built in Weymouth, MA continue to use a mix-up at the state Dept. of Environmental Protection (over air sample test results) as an excuse to bully the DEP into reversing its decision to grant a permit for the project. The DEP, to its credit, is not caving to the pressure.
We had high hopes for Steve Tambini, former vice president of operations at Pennsylvania American Water, when he was appointed Executive Director of the Delaware River Basin Commission in 2014 (see 
Michael Bloomberg, the billionaire former mayor of New York City who owns 12 houses, a private jet and a helicopter and has a bigger “carbon footprint” than some small states, presumes to know more about how you should get your electric power than you do. Cause, you know, he’s just smarter than you. Bloomberg has partnered with two of the absolute worst of the leftist/Communistic “environmental” organizations on the planet–the odious Sierra Club and Earthjustice–spending $500 million to launch a new “Beyond Carbon” campaign–to deny you the right to buy electricity from either coal OR natural gas-fired plants.
NATIONAL: Almost all U.S. coal production is consumed for electric power; US calls ‘false’ the narrative that LNG cannot compete with pipeline gas; Capstone Turbine names FERC ex-commissioner to its board; API’s Sommers: U.S. energy ‘breaking records left and right’; INTERNATIONAL: Corridor Resources seeks permit to frack in New Brunswick; The Dutch are readying a climate tax on flying, and the EU may follow.
A few weeks ago MDN brought you the news that THE Delaware Riverkeeper had finally (months after everyone else knew) woke up to the fact that New Fortress Energy is planning to build an LNG loading facility on the banks of the Delaware River, on the New Jersey side, near Philadelphia (see