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Think energy is expensive now? Wait until 2029

Bradford Era. Op-Ed Daniel Weaver/PIOGA. 2.13.26

The energy statistics in the United States have not changed: Pennsylvania remains the second-largest producer of natural gas in the country. If the Appalachia Basin region (Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia) was its own country, it would be the fourth largest producer in the world.

From century-old “conventional” wells to far-larger Marcellus and Utica “unconventional” shale wells, these resources have supported grid reliability, driven industrial competitiveness and supplied relatively affordable and reliable energy to millions of Pennsylvanians.

How crazy is it to think, then, that by 2029 tens of thousands of families and businesses in the commonwealth could be left in the cold without reliable and affordable energy and heat?

The current direction of the commonwealth’s energy policy, particularly the Department of Environmental Protection’s planned implementation of a federal methane reduction rule known as Subpart OOOOc, will turn that nightmare into reality.

Subpart OOOOc, adopted by the Biden-era U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, is scheduled to be enforced through Pennsylvania’s “State Implementation Plan” under the Clean Air Act beginning in 2029. The rule imposes sweeping new monitoring, reporting and equipment mandates across only the oil and gas sector to reduce methane emissions, but it does so by treating low-production conventional wells in largely the same way as high-volume shale facilities, despite vast differences in production levels, emissions profiles, operating margins and infrastructure.

Link to full article:Think energy is expensive now? Wait until 2029 - PIOGA

Think energy is expensive now? Wait until 2029 - The Bradford Era

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