Power Prose Blog
Need to catch up on the GT Power Hour? Look no further; here are the freshest episodes. I also post some random thoughts, reviews and other content every once in a while, so you might come across that as well. (For older episodes and posts, click here.)
Featured
Hi, i'm rory sweeney
I have been writing professionally since 2000, when the daily newspaper I was working at as an after-school job paid me to write an insider's look at the great season my football team was having (I didn't save a copy and it doesn't seem to be in their archives anymore, so I can't show you -- which is probably for the best), More than a decade and a half later, I've now worked in all facets of the media and mass communications industry, with a focus and specialization in energy and environmental issues.
During 11 years in print media, I worked as a reporter, editor, page designer, photographer, agate clerk and multimedia developer, twice winning statewide awards for coverage. I've spent the five subsequent years in external affairs for two Fortune 100 oil and gas companies, media and marketing consulting and freelance writing, along with other content creation, Beyond telling engaging stories that get results, I have extensive experience in crisis response, third-party advocacy development, community outreach and government relations.
I've worked in front of and behind camera, been the interviewer at times and the interviewee, the consultant as well as the client. I know what both sides need throughout the process, so I can deliver exactly what will make your life easier.
How we meet our energy needs while protecting our environment is the most important decision we – and generations to come – will make. I'm excited and driven to help lead the discussion that produces action on such a significant, profound topic.
Other fun things
Beyond my professional endeavors, I enjoy playing the bagpipes -- both for solo gigs or in bands, if they'll let me -- and participating in the finest sport in the world: rugby. Both activities have kept me thoroughly entertained for years and, hopefully, will continue to do so for many more to come!
You can learn a lot from either one; maybe I'll write about it someday in a post.
With two decades of experience working in all facets of the media and mass communications industry, I specialize in environmental and energy issues.
a selection of articles I've written previously:
NJ Regulator Threatens to Exit PJM Amid States’ Complaints (RTO Insider)
Feature article: Blue & Gray Going Green (Elizabethtown Magazine)
Guest essay: Shouldn’t energy be produced locally as well? (Daily Messenger, Canandaigua, NY)
Sending genes to save a child (The Philadelphia Inquirer)
The Times Leader (Wilkes-Barre, PA):
Mine tunnels seen as assets
The first article in a series explaining energy generation, transmission and distribution. It's not pretty, but you can read a scanned version of the rest of the series here.
The Keystone Edge (the site has since removed some articles; you can find what they still have posted by clicking here):
- Made in PA: Solar Innovations lets the sun shine in
- Trailblazing: Ecotourism in the Former Coal Belts of Northeast Pennsylvania
- Montrose Company Debunking Urban Wind Legends
- Science's Rah-Rah Gal: Philly's Darlene Cavalier Cheers for Discovery
- The Curious Case of Button Oil Company
- Benton's Home Field Advantage Heats Up
- Simple is Better for Entrepreneurial Food Scientist
- Bridging Nano Commercialization's Valley of Death
- At EthosGen, Ethanol is a Family Affair
- Drilling Down: Impact of Marcellus Shale Natural Gas Play
- Drilling Down: Marcellus Shale Positions Pennsylvania as a Clean Energy Hub
- Drilling Down: Marcellus Shale Drives Innovation Across PA, Region
- The Return of the Milkman: How a NEPA Grocery is Bringing Back–and Improving–Home Delivery
- Bricks, Mortar and Styrofoam
- Guns, Cigars and the Algebra of Recession
- Unleashing the Market: The Promise of Electricity Deregulation
a selection of articles where i provided information:
Apache Advances In Egypt Despite Tough Market Conditions
Chesapeake stems flow from blown Pennsylvania gas well
A series on the development of oil and gas assets:
Part 1: Leasehold acquisition
Part 2: Site development and pad construction
Part 3: Well drilling
Part 4: Hydraulic fracturing
Part 5: Production and site reclamation
Part 6: Midstream operations
projects i've overseen:
Apache Corporation's 2015 Sustainability Report
Websites I manage:
MOPRs, ROFRs and NOPRs, oy vey! In which we welcome back Jason Stanek, who chairs Maryland’s Public Service Commission, to discuss the tensions and challenges presented by Maryland’s Climate Solutions Now Act of 2022. Becoming effective on June 1 this year, the legislation is considered arguably the most ambitious climate-change law adopted by any state in the country, and Stanek’s commission will be tasked with getting the state on the right path to accomplish it — all without hiring any additional staff. It’s probably fair to think of Maryland over the next nine years as a bellwether for how feasible, given local objections to the necessary infrastructure development, rapid decarbonization in the power industry is. They’re the “canary in the coal mine,” as Chair Stanek notes, so “keep an eye on Maryland…”
Other topics include PJM’s recently released Grid of the Future study, the FERC/NARUC Joint Federal-State Task Force on Transmission, FERC’s NOPR on transmission, New Jersey’s evaluation agreement with PJM on offshore wind, food recommendations at the diner by the Buffalo airport, hot takes on college mascots, criticizing the U.S. Postal Service’s decision to not purchase EVs for its fleet, New Jersey officials for subsidizing nuclear plants and every overly-confident clean-energy activist on the Internet, thoughts about Maryland politics, its capital city and that big horse race it holds each year.