Thomas J Shepstone's Blog – September 2018 Archive (34)

Australian Carbon Tax Shows How Little Enviros Care About the Poor

This post by IER economist Robert Murphy is about an Australian carbon tax proposal but illustrates how little enviros and fractivists care about the poor.

An article last month in the New York Times showcases the futility of climate legislation, regardless of one’s views on the desirability of government measures to reduce greenhouse…

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Added by Thomas J Shepstone on September 28, 2018 at 10:45am — No Comments

Delaware Riverkeeper Lobbies for Critical Infrastructure Vandalism?

The Delaware Riverkeeper, which says it does no grass-roots lobbying, is engaged in exactly that, opposing making critical infrastructure vandalism a crime.

The Delaware Povertykeeper a/k/a Riverkeeper, the last time it filed a 990 return, told the IRS it does zero grass roots lobbying, not one whit of it. Earlier this week, though, they engaged in precisely what the IRS defines as grass roots lobbying, broadcasting an appeal to their supporters to oppose a…

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Added by Thomas J Shepstone on September 28, 2018 at 9:04am — No Comments

PA Senators Challenge DRBC Power to Enforce Fracking Ban

PA Senators are challenging how the DRBC, made up of five unelected individuals, has the power to regulate natural gas drilling in the Delaware Basin.

There are two lessons from the petition by Pennsylvania State Senators Lisa Baker and Gene Yaw and Senate President Pro Tempore …

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Added by Thomas J Shepstone on September 27, 2018 at 5:05pm — No Comments

Is It A Winged Dragon, An EV or A PacMan Subsidy Gobbler?

The electric vehicle; is it the future, a winged dragon fantasy or just another corporatist scheme to grab government subsidies? What’s the point exactly?

Ser Jaime Lannister—eldest son of Lord Tywin Lannister, twin brother of Cersei, and older brother of Tyrion—climbed on a winged dragon last week and flew eastward to kick off one of the most amazing…

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Added by Thomas J Shepstone on September 27, 2018 at 9:19am — No Comments

Foreign Influence on Pennsylvania Gas Industry Taken to Task

The Pennsylvania Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee held a hearing on the subject of Foreign Influence on natural gas development.

Yesterday, I was honored to be asked to testify at a hearing conducted by the Pennsylvania Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee on the subject of Foreign Influence on Natural Gas Development in Pennsylvania. Three of us testified, including Tom Murphy, the Director of the …

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Added by Thomas J Shepstone on September 26, 2018 at 9:09am — No Comments

Williams BBQ Cookoff Pulls in Up to $90K for Charity from Gas Industry

The Williams BBQ Cookoff held every year in Tunkhannock is a great event and raises huge money for local charity from the gas industry operating in the area.

One would think that even people driving past LazyBrook Park in Tunkhannock Township on Sept. 14 were tantalized by the smell of barbecue in the air. Thirty-nine teams vied for bragger’s rights in three esteemed categories for the seventh year in a row as Williams conducted its annual BBQ cook-off to…

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Added by Thomas J Shepstone on September 26, 2018 at 8:34am — No Comments

Pennsylvania State Senators Lay Down A DRBC Takings Marker

PA State Senators Joseph B. Scarnati, Lisa Baker and Gene Yaw have moved to be admitted as intervenors in what they effectively called a DRBC takings case.

When the Wayne Land and Minerals Group (WLMG) initially filed its lawsuit against the DRBC’s attempt to regulate gas drilling as if a well pad was somehow a water project, three Pennsylvania State Senators filed …

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Added by Thomas J Shepstone on September 25, 2018 at 9:04am — No Comments

Why Are Mariner East 2 Opponents Continuing A Fruitless Battle?

Mariner East 2 opponents continue to make noise and fight against a pipeline that is essentially finished. There is a reason why and it’s not pretty.

Last week, the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) blocked Sunoco Logistics Partners from building a valve station for the Mariner East 2 project in West Goshen Township, Chester County where it wanted to build it. The PUC voted to accept a …

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Added by Thomas J Shepstone on September 24, 2018 at 9:16am — No Comments

Tom Wolf Is Already Getting More Than His Fair Share of Impact Fees

While Tom Wolf is demagoguing about natural gas not paying its fair share, Tom Wolf is exploiting the impact fees it generates to play politics.

Governor Wolf proudly announced on Twitter yesterday that he is giving out several million dollars to fund various projects across the state. He makes himself sound like a hero and gives the impression that the money is coming from the general fund. In reality, this money is coming from the natural gas impact…

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Added by Thomas J Shepstone on September 21, 2018 at 9:02am — No Comments

Dale Howell is Grateful for Natural Gas Development and All Its Benefits

Dale Howell talks about the benefits natural gas development has brought to Susquehanna Co. and his family in Cabot’s Looking Back, Moving Forward series.

Dale Howell lives in Springville, Susquehanna County. He was raised on a farm in nearby Wyoming County and moved back to Susquehanna County to purchase land in Auburn Township. In recent decades, he was watching farms shutting down one after another.

“As farming died, all the little towns died too,”…

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Added by Thomas J Shepstone on September 21, 2018 at 8:27am — No Comments

If the Problem Is Environmental Injustice, Natural Gas Is the Solution

Environmental injustice does, in fact, exist. It comes from phony environmental scams the poor and moderate income are forced to subsidize. Gas is the fix.

Serial protester fractivist groups have been on an environmental justice kick recently, running scams intended to undermine energy projects on the basis they would unfairly…

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Added by Thomas J Shepstone on September 20, 2018 at 12:54pm — No Comments

Appalachia Shale at the Front in the Shale Revolution

The Marcellus and Utica Shale plays, now jointly referenced as the Appalachia shale region, are at the very front lines of the American shale revolution.

The latest “Drilling Productivity Report” issued by the Energy Information Administration (EIA) is mind-blowing for those who might imagine (correctly) the Northeast is a difficult place to do oil…

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Added by Thomas J Shepstone on September 19, 2018 at 8:53am — No Comments

The Adam Diaz Success Story: Made Possible by the Shale Revolution

Adam Diaz talks about hard work, job creation and business growth, all thanks to the shale revolution, in Cabot’s Looking Back, Moving Forward series.

Coming from a family known county-wide for its strong work ethic, it’s little surprise that Adam Diaz had the foresight to diversify his assets to not only accommodate the various needs of the natural gas industry but to reinvest those profits into his existing businesses and buy up small companies on the verge…

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Added by Thomas J Shepstone on September 18, 2018 at 5:52pm — No Comments

The Massive Lobbying of Special Interest Fractivist Foundations



The Institute for Energy Research is assembling invaluable documentation of the massive grass-roots lobbying by special interest fractivist foundations.

We often use this blog to repost important articles authored by our friends at the Institute for Energy Research (IER). They put…

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Added by Thomas J Shepstone on September 18, 2018 at 8:50am — No Comments

Silicon Valley “100 Percent Renewable” Myth Is Pure Propaganda

Apple, Google, other Silicon Valley and politically correct corporate types like to say they’re “100 percent renewable” but it’s both myth and propaganda.

Facebook and …

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Added by Thomas J Shepstone on September 17, 2018 at 9:42am — No Comments

The Dysfunctional DRBC Has No Idea What It’s Doing

The dysfunctional DRBC hasn’t got a clue. There’s a vacuum of leadership that has let it drift under the control of demagogic politicians and fractivists.

Talk about a dysfunctional mess.

The Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC), a governmental organization remote-controlled by Big Green special interests, doesn’t even know how to communicate with another governmental organization; the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).

Earlier this…

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Added by Thomas J Shepstone on September 14, 2018 at 11:13am — No Comments

No More Feel Good Solar Games; Let’s Get Moving on Gas

Vic Furman makes some poignant observations about the feel good solar games going on in Broome County and other parts of New York. It’s time to get real.

Broome County, like much of New York, has been playing some very stupid solar games, which I wrote about …

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Added by Thomas J Shepstone on September 14, 2018 at 9:04am — No Comments

Range Resources Explains PA Natural Gas Impact Fees

Range Resources recently posted an informative new video on YouTube explaining the impact fee, Pennsylvania’s tax on natural gas producers.

Range Resources has been drilling Pennsylvania Marcellus Shale since 2014. They drilled their first successful well, called the Renz #1, in Washington County. As an energy producer in Pennsylvania, Range, as well as other producers, pay…

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Added by Thomas J Shepstone on September 13, 2018 at 2:04pm — No Comments

The Politically Orchestrated Junk Science of DRBC Fracking Opponents

DRBC fracking opponents have politically orchestrated the release of junk science intended to gin up public pressure on the Commission to vote for a ban.

Earlier this week, the Manhattan-based Damascus Citizens for Sustainability and other DRBC fracking opponents …

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Added by Thomas J Shepstone on September 13, 2018 at 10:53am — No Comments

Solar Panel Waste: Solar Energy Not So Green After All

Discarded solar panels are ending up in landfills, instead of being recycled, where toxic solar panel waste is leaking into the ground and water.

Solar photovoltaic panels, whose operating life is 20 to 30 years, lose productivity over time. The International Renewable Energy Agency estimated that there were about 250,000 metric tons of solar panel waste in the world at the end of 2016 and that the figure could reach 78 million metric tons by 2050.…

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Added by Thomas J Shepstone on September 13, 2018 at 9:54am — No Comments

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