WV DEP In-Person Hearing Today for Ammonia/Power Plant Project
In April 2023, MDN told you about the Adams Fork Energy project, a multi-billion-dollar clean ammonia production facility planned for Mingo County, WV (see CNX to Provide NatGas for WV Hydrogen Hub Clean Ammonia Plant). It was/is an anchor project in the Appalachian Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub (ARCH2), one of seven regional hydrogen hubs to be funded by Joe Biden’s Hunger Games hydrogen competition (see Reuters Reporting ARCH2 Hydrogen Hub Wins Funding in M-U Region). There is a WV DEP in-person hearing scheduled for this afternoon, 4:30 p.m. to 8 p.m., for the project, but not for the ammonia plant. The project has grown from the original plans. Read More “WV DEP In-Person Hearing Today for Ammonia/Power Plant Project”

Recently, two neighboring towns in Greene County, PA, declared a Disaster Emergency related to a “frac-out” at the EQT Lumber well that happened three years ago, in July 2022 (see
The New York State Public Service Commission (PSC) is meeting today and will vote on whether to approve National Grid’s natural gas plan, which includes using more natural gas from the Williams Transco pipeline. More gas would be delivered to National Grid via the proposed Northeast Supply Enhancement (NESE) pipeline project that will add a new 23-mile pipeline from the shore of New Jersey into (on the bottom of) the Raritan Bay, running parallel to the existing Transco pipeline before connecting to the Transco pipeline offshore from Long Island. The odious National Resources Defense Council (NRDC) convened a Zoom call featuring dingbat actor Mark Ruffalo to trash-talk the project ahead of the vote.
Evolution Well Services, headquartered in Houston with a regional office in Pittsburgh, specializes in electric fracking (“e-fracking”) — using natural gas from the well pad instead of diesel fuel to power turbines that create electricity to drive fracking pumps. It’s a much quieter, less-polluting version of fracking. EQT Corporation, the country’s second-largest natural gas producer, uses Evolution Well Services for much (all?) of its drilling. Evolution and EQT issued an announcement yesterday about a series of record-breaking achievements they’ve made in the Marcellus/Utica.
Under orders from the Biden White House in 2022, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Chairman Richard “Dick” Glick tried to permanently enshrine global warming considerations as a requirement to approve all new pipeline projects (see
NATIONAL: WTI falls on stockpile, Fed moves; U.S. natural gas futures mixed ahead of storage data; DOJ urges Supreme Court to intervene in Boulder climate case; Gas turbine prices are up — and aren’t going down anytime soon; INTERNATIONAL: Slovakia and Hungary resist Trump bid to halt Russian energy; Analysts sum up mood at APPEC event; Italy’s Edison to buy U.S. LNG under 15-year deal with Shell; OPEC’s 2014 bid to tame U.S. shale failed – will 2025 be different?
In early April, MDN brought you the exciting news that pipeline giant Williams, via its subsidiary, Will-Power, is planning to build two Utica/Marcellus gas-fired power plants in the New Albany International Business Park in Licking County, Ohio (see
In April, Knighthead Capital Management, Homer City Redevelopment (HCR), and Kiewit Power Constructors Co. announced a plan to convert the former Homer City Generating Station, previously the largest coal-fired power plant in Pennsylvania (Indiana County, 50 miles east of Pittsburgh) into a more than 3,200-acre natural gas-powered data center campus, designed to meet the growing demand for artificial intelligence (AI) and high-performance computing (see
Each fall in the September/October timeframe, Cove Point LNG shuts down for a few weeks (typically around three weeks) for annual maintenance. That time has arrived. According to a notice posted on the Berkshire Hathaway Energy Informational Postings website, reductions in flows to the Cove Point facility will happen between Monday, September 15, and Friday, October 10 (a whole month). Having said that, feedgas flows will not be zero during all of that period, but will be significantly reduced.
A new group, the
Last week, MDN told you that there was a disagreement brewing between those who operate the PJM Interconnection power grid and Big Tech, including Amazon, Google, Microsoft, and others, regarding the issue of adding data centers to the PJM grid (see
We’ve railed against the Jones Act for years. The Jones Act, passed in 1920, requires goods shipped between U.S. ports to be transported on ships that are built, owned, and operated by U.S. citizens or permanent residents. The problem is, big LNG tankers are all built, owned, and/or operated by foreign countries. You can’t fill up an LNG tanker in Sabine Pass or Cove Point and float it into Boston Harbor and unload it because the ship is not “U.S.-flagged.” It’s illegal under the Jones Act. We came close to repealing it during the first Trump administration, but ultimately failed (see
The American Exploration & Production Council (AXPC) yesterday released a new study (full copy below) analyzing the upstream oil and natural gas sector’s profound impact on the U.S. economy. The study found that upstream, onshore independent producers supported 3.1 million jobs nationally, contributed to $277 billion in labor income, and paid $129 billion in taxes — accounting for 87% of the sector’s total economic contributions in 2024. As vital contributors to America’s energy security, independents accounted for over 85% of onshore crude and condensate production and over 90% of onshore gas production from 2022 to 2024.
Following three years of negotiations, Lycoming County Commissioners celebrated closing a deal with Range Resources to lease 1,350 acres in Jackson Township for shale drilling. The county is receiving a $5.4 million signing bonus, which works out to $4,000 per acre. Sweet. However, the county will receive just a 2% royalty for any oil/gas produced from the property. You read that right (not a typo)—just 2%, which has to be the lowest royalty rate we’ve ever seen negotiated, either with a private landowner or a municipality.
Earlier this month, we brought you the bombshell news that Antero Resources, the country’s fifth-largest natural gas producer and largest producer in West Virginia, is preparing to market its Ohio Utica assets, hoping to fetch $900 million to $1 billion (see