August means one important thing for many families: time to get kids ready to go back to school. The month finds many people packing up their outdoor adventure or water gear – much of it derived from the processing of oil and natural gas – and trading it for new clothes and supplies for children to report to orientation and the first day of classes.

PJM officials recently testified that PJM will not have sufficient power to meet consumer demand if things continue on the current course. PJM said that 20 percent of its existing capacity would retire by 2030. Legislators from both states agreed during the meeting that regulating policies like the multistate Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), overregulation by state agencies, and reliance on renewable energy sources will speed the collapse of the energy grid.

The Supreme Court on Thursday allowed construction to resume on a contested natural-gas pipeline that is being built through Virginia and West Virginia.

The challenges facing infrastructure development to move natural gas out of the Appalachian Basin to markets where it is urgently needed through the construction of the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) arose yet again with the July 11, 2023 stay issued by a panel of judges on the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.

A federal court in Richmond has held up construction, despite a law passed by Congress last month that says it no longer has jurisdiction over the pipeline.

The state Senate confirmed Gov. Josh Shapiro’s pick to oversee the commonwealth’s environmental issues on Tuesday. Rich Negrin won wide, bipartisan support in his nomination to be Secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection. There were 48 yes votes, one no (from Republican Doug Mastriano of Franklin County) and one senator absent.

The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) recently posted detailed information about this year’s distribution of impact fees on natural gas producers – totaling $278,881,450.

The days are numbered for the iconic Homer City Generating Station in Indiana County, a development caused by a number of factors, including stringent environmental regulations, coal pricing and the increased use of natural gas to produce electricity.

The economic benefits of the MVP highlight the need to increase the development of natural gas pipelines across the country, providing clean and reliable energy that benefits all Americans. A predictable and efficient permitting process for all pipeline projects would support this expansion.

The White House sees more work to be done on overhauling the federal permitting process after reaching a deal to include permitting changes in legislation to increase the federal debt limit. The deal reached over the weekend by the Biden administration and congressional Republicans includes provisions to speed up energy permitting under the National Environmental Policy Act and to approve the Mountain Valley natural gas pipeline from West Virginia into Virginia. Congressional leaders are now racing to get the debt limit legislation passed this week.