Oracle founder and billionaire Larry Ellison already owns about 98% of Lanai, a small Hawaiian island with approximately 3,000 residents nine miles from and politically part of Maui. Two weeks ago, the island announced that...more
General Qassem Soleimani, the Commander of the Quds Force of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corp (IRGC), was killed by a United States drone strike this morning in Baghdad. Soleimani was the second most powerful man in Iran,...more
2019 was the year in which reality smacked the Marcellus Shale Basin in the face. Long held assumptions about asset valuation and infrastructure development fell apart. By year’s end, some of the most famous names in the...more
Climate negotiations at the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Madrid ended in failure last Sunday. Despite enormous publicity and the presence of celebrities like Time Magazine Person of the Year Greta Thunberg, the...more
Earlier this week, Flaster Greenberg's Airport and Environmental PFAS Team presented a webinar on the origin, chemical make-up, and concerns throughout the country of the potentially harmful human health and environmental...more
The Middle East turned on its axis last week. Thanks in large part to the shale revolution, few Americans heard about it – and most did not care who did.
Originally published on Forbes.com November 5, 2019....more
11/7/2019
/ Energy Sector ,
Foreign Policy ,
Hong Kong ,
Iraq ,
Lebanon ,
Middle East ,
Natural Gas ,
Oil & Gas ,
Protests ,
Saudi Arabia ,
Shale Gas ,
Syria ,
Turkey
Two of the legal worlds that I straddle – energy and aviation – collided last week in the Mediterranean Sea. The implications for these two disciplines, as well as world security, could be enormous.
Originally published on...more
11/7/2019
/ Cyprus ,
Drones ,
Energy Sector ,
Greece ,
Israel ,
Middle East ,
Natural Gas ,
Offshore Drilling ,
Oil & Gas ,
Syria ,
Turkey
Pacific Gas and Electric provided its customers in northern California with a glimpse of the future last week. Due to extremely dry conditions coupled with the prospect of strong winds, and cognizant of last year’s massive...more
11/6/2019
/ Chapter 11 ,
Commercial Bankruptcy ,
Corporate Restructuring ,
CPUC ,
Energy Sector ,
Natural Gas ,
Oil & Gas ,
PG&E ,
Pipelines ,
Renewable Energy ,
Utilities Sector ,
Wildfires
Pittsburgh International Airport (PIT) announced this week that it is establishing a microgrid to supply power at the airport, connected to the main electrical power grid in case of emergency but otherwise separate from...more
11/6/2019
/ Airports ,
Carbon Emissions ,
Climate Change ,
Electronically Stored Information ,
Fossil Fuel ,
Marcellus Shale ,
Microgrids ,
National Security ,
Natural Gas ,
Oil & Gas ,
Renewable Energy ,
Solar Panels ,
Sustainability ,
Sustainable Projects ,
Utilities Sector
Only one part of Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s policy statement known as the Green New Deal actually deals with the environment. Most of the statement seeks to promote more jobs-oriented policies such as...more
8/1/2019
/ Carbon Emissions ,
Clean Energy ,
Clean Water Act ,
Climate Change ,
Energy Policy ,
FERC ,
Fossil Fuel ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
Infrastructure ,
Oil & Gas ,
Pipelines ,
Power Grid ,
Regulatory Standards ,
Renewable Energy
Two attacks on oil tankers in the Strait of Hormuz have sent the energy world, and the world at large, on edge. It also shows the folly of the unilateral energy disarmament being practiced on the West Coast and in New...more
6/17/2019
/ Exports ,
Global Disputes ,
Imports ,
Iran ,
Liquid Natural Gas ,
Marcellus Shale ,
Oil & Gas ,
Oman ,
Saudi Arabia ,
Trump Administration ,
Yemen
By a vote of 17-11, the Oregon State Senate last week just passed a five-year moratorium on fracking in that State. The Senate bill cut in half a 10-year moratorium passed in March by the Oregon House of Representatives, but...more
At 8:30 p.m. yesterday, the State of New York Department of Environmental Conservation rejected Williams Corporation’s proposal for the Northeast Supply Enhancement (NESE) natural gas pipeline. Citing potential water...more
While little noticed outside of the energy industry, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is about to make one of the seminal decisions of his tenure. Before May 16, 2019, Governor Cuomo must decide whether to allow the New York...more
5/1/2019
/ Certifications ,
Department of Environmental Conservation ,
Energy Projects ,
Energy Sector ,
Environmental Policies ,
FERC ,
Fracking ,
Governor Cuomo ,
Marcellus Shale ,
Natural Gas ,
Oil & Gas ,
Pipelines
President Trump joined the pipeline battle last week by issuing two Executive Orders aiming at limiting the power of state officials to determine federal policy. One Order calls on the Environmental Protection Agency to...more
4/15/2019
/ Clean Water Act ,
Climate Change ,
Energy Policy ,
Energy Sector ,
Environmental Policies ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Executive Orders ,
Governor Cuomo ,
Interstate Commerce ,
Oil & Gas ,
Renewable Energy ,
Trump Administration
West Virginia Governor Jim Justice made one of the most curious gubernatorial moves in recent years recently, when he vetoed a bill that would have directed money to plug the Mountain State’s approximately 4,000 abandoned gas...more
Residents of the Siberian town of Pervouralsk have been horrified by a sight they never expected – green colored snow. Vladimir Putin’s Russia, in the same way as the Communist Soviet Union, industrializes with little regard...more
3/11/2019
/ Canada ,
Eminent Domain ,
Energy Sector ,
Environmental Policies ,
Hydropower ,
Marcellus Shale ,
Natural Gas ,
Offshore Wind ,
Oil & Gas ,
Private Property ,
Russia
To nobody’s surprise, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf began his second term by calling for a mineral extraction tax to be layered upon the State’s local impact fee. Of course, the Governor never mentioned the impact fee in...more
2/11/2019
/ Economic Downturn ,
Energy Policy ,
Environmental Policies ,
Governor Cuomo ,
Governor Wolf ,
Impact Fees ,
Industry Consolidation ,
Infrastructure Financing ,
Marcellus Shale ,
Mineral Extraction ,
Natural Gas ,
Pipelines ,
State Taxes
While President Trump and House Speaker Pelosi bicker about nonsense, two very important parts of the world are on a hair trigger today....more
1/24/2019
/ Energy Sector ,
Foreign Relations ,
Government Shutdown ,
Imports ,
Iran ,
Israel ,
Obama Administration ,
Oil & Gas ,
Russia ,
Shale Gas ,
Syria ,
Trump Administration ,
Venezuela
Last week, New York City area utility Consolidated Edison notified regulators that, as of March 15, it would accept no new natural gas customers in Westchester County due to supply shortages. It is possible that cutoffs in...more
1/23/2019
/ Carbon Emissions ,
Energy Sector ,
Environmental Policies ,
Gas Prices ,
Governor Brown ,
Governor Cuomo ,
Local Ordinance ,
Marcellus Shale ,
Natural Gas ,
Oil & Gas ,
Pipelines ,
Political Parties ,
Renewable Energy ,
Shale Gas ,
Venezuela
2018 began with the United States producing immense amounts of oil and natural gas; pipeline companies struggling to build out the national pipeline system but not being transparent about how they are doing it; Europe, led by...more
12/28/2018
/ Coal ,
Energy Costs ,
EU ,
Explosions ,
FERC ,
Gas Royalties ,
Germany ,
Governor Cuomo ,
Governor Wolf ,
Land Owners ,
Land-Use Permits ,
Marcellus Shale ,
Natural Gas ,
Oil & Gas ,
Pipelines ,
Political Parties ,
Renewable Energy ,
Russia ,
Severance Tax ,
Solar Energy ,
State Legislatures ,
Transparency ,
Wind Power ,
WV Supreme Court
Pipeline issues continue to dominate the natural gas news. Last week, the pipeline industry got some good news, some bad news, and some news potentially so devastating it could threaten the entire industry....more
12/18/2018
/ Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) ,
Department of Environmental Protection ,
Eminent Domain ,
Environmental Violations ,
Explosions ,
False Reporting ,
Marcellus Shale ,
Natural Gas ,
PA Supreme Court ,
Permits ,
PG&E ,
Pipelines ,
Power Infrastructure ,
Public Safety ,
Public Utilities Commission ,
Safety Violations ,
Wildfires
The simmering dispute over waterway rights between Ukraine and Russia broke into armed conflict this week. Its implications are enormous both for the energy world as a whole and especially for us in the Marcellus Shale...more
11/29/2018
/ Energy Sector ,
EU ,
Germany ,
Inland Waterways ,
Marcellus Shale ,
Military Conflict ,
Natural Gas ,
Oil & Gas ,
Pipelines ,
Popular ,
Ports ,
Russia ,
Trump Administration ,
Ukraine ,
Water Rights
On Black Friday, the Trump Administration released Volume II of the National Climate Assessment. Running 1,600 pages, the report is the second volume of the fourth National Climate Assessment, which was mandated by Congress...more
The tortured story of the Mariner East 2 Pipeline construction may be coming to an end. If so, it will end the way it began, mired in controversy and inconsistent with what had been proposed and promised by the developers....more
11/19/2018
/ Amazon ,
Construction Project ,
Energy Sector ,
FERC ,
Gas Prices ,
Governor Cuomo ,
Local Ordinance ,
Marcellus Shale ,
Natural Gas ,
Permits ,
Pipelines ,
Political Candidates ,
Shale Gas ,
State and Local Government ,
State Regulators ,
Water Quality