Upper Burrell Supervisors Adopt Regulation Banning Injection Wells
Upper Burrell (Westmoreland County, PA) town supervisors have historically been receptive (or at least tolerant) to the Marcellus Shale industry that has so blessed their town and Westmoreland County. But attitudes seemed to change last December, at least with respect to wastewater injection wells (see Upper Burrell Twp Makes Moves to Ban Wastewater Injection Wells). The town’s Board of Supervisors instructed the town solicitor to draft an ordinance with stricter rules for the use of abandoned wells in the township. These wells could (theoretically) be used as wastewater injection wells. The board voted on Wednesday to adopt the new regs, which essentially block any injection wells in the town. Read More “Upper Burrell Supervisors Adopt Regulation Banning Injection Wells”
Unlike Ohio, with its over 200 oil and gas wastewater injection wells, Pennsylvania operates just 18 such wells (
We’re not sure how to feel about this story. Outrage. Relief. Sarcasm. Befuddlement. All of those emotions swirl in our heads. For years, we have chronicled the radical/left position of former Attorney General (and now Governor) Maura Healey in Massachusetts with her opposition to pipelines and natural gas energy (here’s one of many examples: 
Hardly a day goes by without a story about AI data centers here on MDN. Why? Data centers use electricity either from the local grid or generate it themselves on-site. Either way, the electricity almost always comes from gas-fired power plants. Increasingly, the data centers themselves are opting to host their own gas-fired power plants on-site. Whether the power is coming from the grid or on-site, M-U molecules power it. But there’s a problem for data centers with on-site gas needs: Either there isn’t a pipeline (yet) to the site, or if there is a pipeline, it’s not big enough to flow the gas required. A company in Houston, Texas, has developed a brilliant solution for data centers that require gas and are ready to build now… 
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Cambria County will complete switch to CNG buses for urban fleet in 2027; NETL database upgrade to help PA communities in Marcellus; NATIONAL: U.S. natural gas futures edge up as storage meets expectations; IPAA announces new president and CEO; USA hits new crude oil production record; Shale oil pessimism could be overdone; US gas power capacity set for big jump as renewables growth slows; INTERNATIONAL: Oil slips ahead of OPEC+ supply talks; Shell mulls selling stake in Aussie LNG plant; Mexico fears the United States will stop the flow of natural gas; U.S. sanctions halt Colombia’s plans to import gas from Venezuela. 
Yesterday, the Pennsylvania Independent Fiscal Office (IFO) released its latest quarterly Natural Gas Production Report for April through June 2025 (full copy below). There were 105 new horizontal wells spud (drilled) in 2Q25, a huge increase of 42 wells (+67%) compared to 2Q24. Natural gas production volume was 1,954 billion cubic feet (Bcf) in 2Q25, up 162 Bcf (+9%) from 1,792 Bcf produced in 2Q24. The average Pennsylvania spot hub price was $2.38, an increase of $0.90 (+61%) from the prior year. All in all, it was a great second quarter for the PA Marcellus. 
U.S. natural gas futures rose for a sixth consecutive session, with production lower, LNG feedgas flows holding up, and the weather forecast calling for higher temperatures. The NYMEX “front month” futures contract for October settled up 1.8% at $3.064/MMBtu. Traders think that the price will move in the upward direction for a while (let’s hope so). However, we aren’t out of the woods just yet. As for the physical spot price of natural gas, the Henry Hub spot price yesterday closed at $2.895, up 27 cents from the previous day. A very nice bump. What about the spot price around the Marcellus/Utica? 
Range Resources sunk the very first Marcellus well back in 2004. It was the beginning of the shale revolution in the northeast. Range CEO Dennis Degner spoke at the recent Hart Energy DUG Appalachia Conference in Pittsburgh (August 27th). He discussed driving sustainable growth in the Marcellus/Utica region. The number one way to do that? More pipelines. But what about the coming Constitution Pipeline that will flow another 660 MMcf/d of Marcellus molecules out of northeastern Pennsylvania into New York and beyond? 
On Tuesday, the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) provided an update on the cleanup of the spill from the closed Eureka Resources frack wastewater treatment facility in Williamsport (Lycoming County), PA. On August 17, Eureka’s Second Street facility (one of the three previously operated by Eureka) leaked some of its stored untreated wastewater, which ended up in the nearby Susquehanna River via a storm drain (see 
Last week, we told you that EQT Corporation announced it had contracted with Sempra’s Port Arthur LNG Phase 2 project in Jefferson County, Texas, to buy 2 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) of LNG from the facility for a 20-year term (see 
Earlier this year, a video circulated on social media featuring a Biden EPA political appointee talking about “tossing gold bars off the Titanic,” intentionally rushing to get billions of tax dollars out of the agency before Inauguration Day. The EPA’s new sheriff, Lee Zeldin, located $20 billion of those gold bars sitting at a Citibank bank account (see 
In May, pipeline giant Williams filed a 246-page request with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to expedite the reissuance of a certificate for the Northeast Supply Enhancement (NESE) project, a billion-dollar-plus project designed to increase Transco pipeline capacity and flows of Marcellus gas heading into New York City and other northeastern markets (see 
Coming out of left field, Enbridge (based in Canada, owner of significant Marcellus/Utica pipeline assets) announced yesterday that it had reached a final investment decision (FID) on two new pipeline projects, one of which will flow an additional 75 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) of Marcellus/Utica molecules through the Algonquin Gas Transmission pipeline throughout New England and the northeast. The project is called the Algonquin Reliable Affordable Resilient Enhancement (AGT Enhancement) project and is estimated to cost $300 million for “system upgrades within, or adjacent to, existing rights-of-way.” 
Eureka Resources and its now shuttered three frack wastewater treatment plants continue to be under the microscope of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). In August, one of the three facilities, located in Williamsport, PA (Lycoming County), leaked some of its stored untreated wastewater, which ended up in the nearby Susquehanna River via a storm drain (see