Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Lycoming County | Pennsylvania | Pennsylvania General Energy | Regulation
PA Antis Want DEP Hearing on 3.9-Mile Rd to Shale Pad in Loyalsock
Three anti-shale drilling groups—the PA Council of Trout Unlimited, the Keystone Trails Association, and the Responsible Drilling Alliance—have requested the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) hold a hearing on the Chapter 105 permit requested for a 3.9-mile shale gas access road and staging area proposed by PA General Energy in Gamble and Cascade Townships, Lycoming County. The aim of their request is not to elicit information or express concerns that can be addressed to achieve a better outcome; rather, it is to flood the hearing with bombastic charges in hopes of blocking the project altogether. Read More “PA Antis Want DEP Hearing on 3.9-Mile Rd to Shale Pad in Loyalsock”
There have been a number of new reports recently released predicting how new AI data center projects will affect (a) demand for electric power, and (b) demand for natural gas to generate that power. We spotted what at first glance appears to be contradictory predictions in two new reports issued this week. On Monday, BloombergNEF (the research arm of Bloomberg) issued a report predicting data center power demand will hit 106 gigawatts (GW) by 2035, a 36% jump from its previous outlook. Two days later, Enverus Intelligence® Research (EIR), a subsidiary of Enverus, issued a report that predicts 30 GW of new U.S. data center capacity will be needed over the next five years (by 2030)—significantly below the 50 GW forecasted by major grid operators. One report is wildly optimistic, the other pessimistic. What gives? 
Another story in our Bizarre Files series. So-called climate activists have made a huuuge discovery. They can burn (flare) methane (CH4) coming out of an abandoned coal mine in Colorado, and it turns into carbon dioxide (CO2). Who knew? The activists declare that burning methane is “better” for the environment — that it’s green! Why? Because methane flying into the atmosphere is a bazillion times more “harmful” to Mom Earth than is carbon dioxide flying into the atmosphere. Yet when the oil industry does the same exact thing, flaring methane that comes out of an oil well instead of allowing it to fly into the atmosphere, those same climate activists declare it’s a climate disaster. It’s the end of mankind. Bizarre. 
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Utica Shale Academy receives grant for security equipment; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Newlab and JERA partner to commercialize next-gen CO2 capture tech; Blame Dems for fueling New York’s ‘affordability’ crisis with their green-energy insanity; NATIONAL: South Korean companies to build ships in the U.S.; Williams leadership foresees moderate, sustained natural gas prices; 2025 was a no good, terrible, very bad year for the energy transition; INTERNATIONAL: Oil closes up as peace deal falls short; Russia oil revenue falls by a third; Europe’s green energy rush slashed emissions—and crippled the economy; Europe finds winter relief in LNG surge from US; Asia backs away as Europe becomes the LNG price-setter. 
Pennsylvania and Ohio should be looking over their shoulders regarding new data centers and their decisions on where to locate them. West Virginia is making serious efforts to be THE destination for new AI data centers to locate in the Marcellus/Utica region. The West Virginia Office of Energy’s recent summit highlighted the state’s unique position to power the booming AI and data center sectors through its vast natural gas reserves. Like PA and OH, WV’s homegrown natural gas offers a reliable, cost-effective, and flexible solution for necessary baseload power. What’s beginning to set WV apart from its neighbors is legislation that explicitly targets data centers. 
We suppose it’s no surprise that left-wing Congressional Democrats from North Carolina and Virginia are attacking two natural gas pipeline projects that are close to final approval and the start of construction. One project is Williams’ Transco Southeast Supply Enhancement Project (SESE), the other is EQT’s MVP Southgate project. Both projects would be built in the same general area, starting at the same point near Chatham, Virginia, and ending near Eden, North Carolina. Both have customers ready to take their gas. Southgate recently received a favorable environmental assessment (EA) from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (see 
Oilfield services company (OFS) Mammoth Energy Services, headquartered in Oklahoma City, OK, operates in the Marcellus/Utica Shale and other major plays like the Permian and SCOOP/STACK. Mammoth announced yesterday that it has completed the sale of its wholly owned engineering subsidiary, Aquawolf LLC, to Qualus, LLC for $30.0 million. The company says the sale advances its “ongoing transformation and portfolio optimization initiatives.” 
New York’s “cap and invest” Climate Act law effectively rations fossil fuels while taxing them heavily. The system limits fuel sales through caps and requires distributors to buy allowances, passing costs on to consumers. With a mandated 30% emissions reduction by 2030, the Climate Act will cause dangerous shortages of essentials such as fuel oil and natural gas for heating and gasoline for transportation. There is a real danger that households will run out of heating fuel during cold winters. Even Gov. Hochul is now criticizing the law as “infeasible.” Capping the state’s main energy sources is an impractical and ruinous strategy that threatens the state’s standard of living. 
Congressman Troy Balderson (R-OH) and Senator Tom Cotton (R-AR) have introduced a bill that is critical to correcting a long-standing abuse of our justice system. The Curtailing Litigation Excess and Abuse Reform (CLEAR) Act of 2025 will streamline American energy infrastructure projects. The legislation targets “serial litigation” by activist groups, ensuring that once a court rules on a project, opponents cannot repeatedly delay it through additional legal battles. By limiting these indefinite delays while still preserving environmental protections, the bill aims to restore investor certainty, lower energy costs, and support national goals regarding AI competitiveness and grid reliability. The bill balances accelerated construction with legitimate oversight. 
Today is data center day here at MDN, given that most of our main stories today revolve around the issue of data centers, facilities full of computers that need enormous amounts of electricity, most of which will be generated by gas-fired power plants. This past summer, Pennsylvania’s newest U.S. Senator, Dave McCormick, convened the Pennsylvania Energy and Innovation Summit in Pittsburgh. Together with the Trump administration, McCormick announced a mind-blowing $92 billion of promised new investment for PA mostly related to AI data centers (see 
Continuing on our data center theme, a new article by MDN friend Gordon Tomb, a senior fellow with the Commonwealth Foundation, makes the case that Pennsylvania needs more energy and sensible regulation to lure data centers. There is a stark contrast to what PA legislators are offering. On the Republican side, legislators are offering a bill that would expedite permits for data center projects that meet or exceed federal standards (see 
We have to (immodestly) say that we spotted the environmental left’s opposition to AI data centers a mile away. We were the first to alert you to PA green groups lining up to oppose data centers based on an irrational hatred of the fossil energy that powers them (see 
More “noise” that will discourage data center development in Pennsylvania: PJM Interconnection’s market monitor, Monitoring Analytics, filed a complaint with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) urging that large data centers be barred from connecting to the grid unless they can be reliably served. The monitor argues that PJM’s consideration of allowing loads that might necessitate periodic blackouts violates its reliability obligations and is unjust. While Monitoring Analytics is independent of PJM, they are usually on the same “side.” Not this time.