News February 2023

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MVP Comment Period for EIS Extended by US Forest Service to February 21st
by Frack Check WV: admin 04 Feb '23

04 Feb '23

# [MVP Comment Period for EIS Extended by US Forest Service to February 21st](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2023/02/04/mvp-comment-period-for-eis- extended-by-us-forest-service-to-february-21st/) [![](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/wp- content/uploads/2023/02/D5286E9D-BF84-49F4-9A4D-2E1545516F15-300x168.jpg)](… content/uploads/2023/02/D5286E9D-BF84-49F4-9A4D-2E1545516F15.jpeg) Appalachian Voices held a COMMENT WRITING PARTY on Jan. 25th **USDA Forest Service Mountain Valley Pipeline and Equitrans Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement Update** >> From the [USDA Forest Service](https://content.govdelivery.com/attachments/USDAFS/2023/02/03/file… (forestservice(a)public.govdelivery.com), February 3, 2023 **In December of 2022 we informed you that the Forest Service’s Mountain Valley Pipeline Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (DSEIS) was available. The USDA Forest Service (FS) had prepared a DSEIS to the 2017 Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) and the 2020 FS Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (FSEIS) for the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) and Equitrans Expansion Project.** Publication of the Notice of Availability of the DSEIS in the Federal Register on December 23, 2022 initiated a 45-day public comment period on the DSEIS that was scheduled to end on February 6, 2023. **We are extending the comment period by two weeks. The comment period for the DSEIS will now end on February 21, 2023. Interested parties have been notified in accordance with 36 CFR 220.5(f)(3) and public notification of this comment extension will appear in the Federal Register on February 10, 2023.** **The preferred method to provide specific, written comments during the 45-day comment period is by submitting comments electronically to:** <https://cara.fs2c.usda.gov/Public/CommentInput?Project=50036>. This web-based comment form will only be active during the designated comment period. Written comments may be mailed to: Dr. Homer Wilkes, Under Secretary, Natural Resources and Environment, U.S. Department of Agriculture, c/o Jefferson National Forest, MVP Project, 5162 Valleypointe Parkway, Roanoke, VA 24019. Please note, this project will not be subject to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s project level 36 CFR 218 Subparts A and B pre decisional administrative review process because the responsible official is the Undersecretary, Natural Resources and Environment, U.S. Department of Agriculture, (36 CFR 218.13(b)). For more information on this project or to request documents in another format, please contact Joby Timm, Forest Supervisor for the George Washington and Jefferson National Forests, by leaving a voicemail at 1-888-603-0261. Individuals who use telecommunication devices for the deaf (TDD) may call the Federal Information Relay Service (FIRS) at: 1-800-877-8339 between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m., Eastern Time, Monday through Friday. For inquiries for the BLM, contact Robert Swithers, District Manager, BLM Southeastern States District Office, by phone at 601-919-4650 or by email at BLM_ES_SSDO_Comments(a)blm.gov. >> **Sincerely, Joby Timm, Forest Supervisor,** George Washington and Jefferson National Forests **SOURCE** ~ [20230203 Mountain Valley Pipeline DSEIS _Interested Party Comment Extension.pdf](https://content.govdelivery.com/attachments/USDAFS/2023/02/0… URL: <https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2023/02/04/mvp-comment-period-for-eis- extended-by-us-forest-service-to-february-21st/>

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Put MVP on ICE! Support the CCAN Polar Bear Plunge @ National Harbor!
by Frack Check WV: admin 03 Feb '23

03 Feb '23

# [Put MVP on ICE! Support the CCAN Polar Bear Plunge @ National Harbor!](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2023/02/03/put-mvp-on-ice-support-the- ccan-polar-bear-plunge-national-harbor/) [![](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/wp- content/uploads/2023/02/D5F396A2-6E1C-4CC8-B0C3-F07A4A47153E-300x168.png)](… content/uploads/2023/02/D5F396A2-6E1C-4CC8-B0C3-F07A4A47153E.png) Hopefully, this will be the last we will hear about the MVP! **Take the Polar Bear Plunge on Sat. Feb. 11th. SIGN UP NOW!** From the [Invitation of Mike Tidwell, Chesapeake Climate Action Network](https://us-p2p.engagingnetworks.app/7945/keepwintercold), February 1, 2023 **Fighting dangerous fossil fuel projects like the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) is tough work, I’ll admit it. This year we’re fighting harder than ever to make sure fossil fuels stay in the ground and the MVP never gets built. But we can’t do it alone.** That’s where you come in. Spread the word, join the movement to move from fossil fuels to a sustainable future by joining our CCAN Polar Bear Plunge on Saturday February 11 (just one week away)! Like I said, saving the climate is tough work. That’s why it’s important to make a little room for joy. Warm towels! Free pizza! Yes, you read that right. Joy! The Polar Bear Plunge is FUN. You almost don’t feel the shock of cold when you run into the icy waters. That’s because you’re surrounded by so many loving activists who are all in this together. Then you get to join your friends afterwards for free pizza. [So sign up now!](https://us-p2p.engagingnetworks.app/7945/keepwintercold) We have big plans in 2023. In addition to fighting dangerous pipelines in Virginia, we’re working to electrify buildings in Maryland and push for rapid implementation of the historic clean-energy initiatives in the federal Inflation Reduction Act. These are just a few of the ways that we'll fight climate change this year with the funds raised by the Polar Bear Plunge. Our Polar Bear Plunge Sponsors know how important this event is to CCAN's work. I’d like to thank Neighborhood Sun, Green 2.0, MOM's Organic Market, US Wind, and Orsted for taking the Plunge with us in 2023 and supporting our upcoming campaigns. **Our annual CCAN Polar Bear Plunge is only one week away!** [SIGN UP NOW to take a winter swim with us on Saturday February 11](https://us-p2p.engagingnetworks.app/7945/keepwintercold). The Plunge brings in one third of our funds raised from individuals. The more we raise, the more flexibility and power we have to win our campaigns! [See you there, Mike Tidwell, Executive Director,](https://us-p2p.engagingnetworks.app/7945/keepwintercold) **Chesapeake Climate Action Network** #######+++++++#######+++++++####### **NOTE RECORDING ~** [Mountain Valley Pipeline Lunch and Learn February 2, 2023](https://wvrivers.org/2023/02/mvpfeb2023/) – WV Rivers Coalition **ACCESS WINDOW~** <https://wvrivers.org/2023/02/mvpfeb2023/> **YouTube Recording ~** <https://youtu.be/42d-68a1-tc> URL: <https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2023/02/03/put-mvp-on-ice-support-the-ccan- polar-bear-plunge-national-harbor/>

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Groundhog Day Webinar: WV Rivers Discusses the Mountain Valley Pipeline
by Frack Check WV: Duane Nichols 02 Feb '23

02 Feb '23

# [Groundhog Day Webinar: WV Rivers Discusses the Mountain Valley Pipeline](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2023/02/02/groundhog-day-webinar-wv- rivers-discusses-the-mountain-valley-pipeline/) [![](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/wp- content/uploads/2023/02/D946DE1A-A2AA-4A05-8CAE-3754695AF6AE2-300x251.jpg)]… content/uploads/2023/02/D946DE1A-A2AA-4A05-8CAE-3754695AF6AE2.jpeg) Punxsutawney Phil has relatives in West Virginia who care! **West Virginia Rivers Coalition on the MVP** >>> Received on January 31 at 8:41 AM Make sure you join us Thursday, February 2nd, for a special #GroundhogsDay webinar on the [Mountain Valley Pipeline](https://bit.ly/MVPGroundhogsDay). Right now, there are two permits from federal agencies pending approval and you have the opportunity to comment! **Learn how you can send your comments. This a webinar is set for 12:00 Noon!** All registrants will receive a recording of the webinar. Register here: <https://bit.ly/MVPGroundhogsDay> URL: <https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2023/02/02/groundhog-day-webinar-wv-rivers- discusses-the-mountain-valley-pipeline/>

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The Largest Owner of Oil & Gas Wells (Diversified Energy) Could Go Bankrupt
by Frack Check WV: Duane Nichols 01 Feb '23

01 Feb '23

# [The Largest Owner of Oil & Gas Wells (Diversified Energy) Could Go Bankrupt](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2023/02/01/the-largest-owner-of-oil- gas-wells-diversified-energy-could-go-bankrupt/) [![](https://www.frackcheckwv.net/wp- content/uploads/2023/02/F991AFB1-B2D7-4A9D-9FE5-FC022EA11081-240x300.png)](… content/uploads/2023/02/F991AFB1-B2D7-4A9D-9FE5-FC022EA11081.png) Diversified Energy has ~ 70,000 wells, mostly for natural gas **Diversified Energy’s liabilities exceed its assets — Will public wind up paying to plug its ~ 70,000 wells** From an [Article by Kristina Marusic, Environmental Health News](https://www.ehn.org/abandoned-oil-and-gas-wells-2659296731.html), January 26, 2023 PITTSBURGH — Diversified Energy Company, the largest owner of oil and gas wells in the country, might abandon up to 70,000 oil and gas wells throughout Appalachia without plugging them, according to a new report. The company, headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama, spent the last five years acquiring tens of thousands of aging, low-producing conventional oil and gas wells and some fracking wells primarily in Pennsylvania, Ohio, West Virginia and Kentucky. Conventional oil and gas wells are traditional wells where fossil fuels are extracted through vertical boreholes. **A new report, published by the Ohio River Valley Institute,** finds that the company’s financial liabilities exceeded its assets by more than $300 million in June 2022. It’s rare for an oil and gas company’s liabilities to exceed its assets to this extent, prompting concerns that Diversified Energy will go bankrupt without plugging its wells. “We don’t want to see citizens and taxpayers have to pay for plugging these well after this company is gone,” Ted Boettner, author of the report and a senior researcher with the Ohio River Valley Institute. “The way Diversified’s business model is set up, this is a distinct possibility.” Boettner’s report expands on a previous report on Diversified Energy published by the same organization in April 2022 that found the company did not have enough funds on hand to plug its rapidly growing inventory of wells. The company claims it can plug wells at a cost less than half the industry average, claims dying wells will continue producing for decades longer than can be reasonably anticipated, and misrepresents methane emissions. “These unusual assumptions — as well as accounting practices that function to punt cleanup costs down the line — are not used by any other company in the industry,” says Kathy Hipple, report coauthor and research fellow at the Ohio River Valley Institute. A spokesperson for Diversified Energy told EHN, “like other publicly traded peers, we’re held to strict financial reporting standards, including third- party auditing, and we’re measurably reducing emissions by deploying hand-held methane detectors, eliminating or replacing pneumatics, and upgrading equipment.” They added that Diversified Energy retires wells responsibly and is “helping states tackle the orphan well challenge.” **The Ohio River Valley’s new report comes on the heels of a December report by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection finding that abandonment of wells and improper reporting by the conventional oil and gas industry are the norm, rather than the exception in Pennsylvania. The agency found more than 17,000 violations at conventional well sites between 2017 and 2021, with more than 3,300 violations issued over operators’ attempts to abandon a well. “Clearly,” the report stated, “there is significant noncompliance with relevant laws in the conventional oil and gas industry in Pennsylvania.”** Unplugged oil and gas wells can emit climate-warming methane and air pollutants that are hazardous to human health, contaminate soil and groundwater, and allow gas to migrate into occupied buildings, creating a risk of fatal explosions. When drillers abandon wells without plugging them, taxpayers are generally left to clean up the mess. **In 2021, reporters for Bloomberg visited 44 of Diversified Energy’s aging wells throughout Appalachia and found methane leaks and an observable lack of maintenance at most of them, with many wells appearing abandoned.** **Corporate welfare is on the table** The 2021 federal Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act allocated $4.7 billion to plug abandoned oil and gas wells throughout the country. Soon after the legislation was passed, Diversified Energy began acquiring well-plugging companies to take advantage of these federal funds. **Diversified Energy has not received federal funds to plug its own wells, but the new report from the Ohio River Valley Institute found that through one of its new well-plugging subsidiaries, the company secured federal funding to plug other orphan wells at a per-well cost more than six times greater than the company earmarks to plug its own wells. “All of this leads me to believe that Diversified’s business model is built on a faulty foundation,” Boettner said. “This is something regulators should be taking a closer look at.”** Boettner also noted that many wells listed as abandoned by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection and submitted to the federal government for its orphan well plugging program actually have documented owners, including Diversified Energy, which by law should be liable for plugging them. In May 2022, the Sierra Club informed the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection that the federal list of orphaned wells that state regulators hope to use federal funds to plug includes 7,300 active wells in Pennsylvania that still have identified owners. The group urged state regulators to require the companies that have profited from these wells to pay for their cleanup instead of putting the burden on taxpayers. The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection said it doesn’t have the resources to track down the owners of these wells and require the companies to pay for plugging them and was considering hiring contractors to help. The Sierra Club, along with a number of other environmental advocacy groups, also petitioned Pennsylvania state regulators to look into increasing bonding for the oil and gas industry to protect against abandoned wells in the future. **Pennsylvania’s current bond rate for conventional oil and gas wells is $2,500 per well or a blanket bond of $25,000 to cover all of a company’s wells.The petition, however, estimates that the full cost of plugging and reclaiming a conventional oil and gas well is $38,000 and a Marcellus Shale fracking well is $83,000, so it recommends raising bond rates to those levels.** Wells drilled before 1984 don’t require any bonds in Pennsylvania, so the actual funds on file to cover Pennsylvania’s conventional wells amounts to just $15 per well, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. The agency is studying whether raising bonding rates to the levels recommended by the petition is feasible. **Unusual accounting practices** ~ The new report highlights a number of unusual accounting practices used by Diversified Energy, which Boettner said are not typical for the oil and gas industry. They include claiming it can plug wells for less than half the industry standard cost, assuming dying wells will continue producing for longer than they’re likely to in order to delay plugging them, understating the rate at which oil and gas production is likely to decline over time, recording acquisitions as financial gains, and carrying forward $183 million in unused tax credits, which it generated when gas prices were low. “It’s honestly hard to make heads or tails of the way they report some of these financials,” Boettner said, “but we do know that much of what they’re doing is not typical.” Every well is different and requires different costs to plug based on its age, depth and location. Some wells can be plugged for as little as $5,000, while some can cost as much as $125,000 to plug, Boettner said, noting that Diversified Energy could streamline some of its plugging costs now that it owns several well-plugging companies. “But even given all of that, these numbers are still well below industry norms,” he added. “No matter how you look at it, they’ve just continued to make very questionable assumptions regarding retirement of their well inventory.” Gas prices have soared in recent years, but Diversified Energy has missed out on most of that revenue because it engages in a practice known as “hedging” — locking in a price for oil and gas to hedge against volatile shifts in the market. This ensures that they’ll get that minimum price even if the market price is lower, but also prevents them from reaping large profits when the market price is high. “The bottom line is that it’s highly unlikely that this company will have enough revenue to be able to plug all of its wells,” Boettner said. “Their financial outlook is not good, and if something happens to this company, we’ll all be on the hook for it.” URL: <https://www.frackcheckwv.net/2023/02/01/the-largest-owner-of-oil-gas- wells-diversified-energy-could-go-bankrupt/>

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