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IMG Midstream: Army of Tiny PA Marcellus-Powered Electric Plants

MDN first told you about IMG Midstream in August 2014 (see 7 Small Marcellus-Powered Electric Plants Coming to NEPA). At the time, IMG was proposing to build seven “tiny” natural gas-fired electric plants–each plant producing on the order of 20-22 megawatts of electricity (enough to power 13,000 homes). IMG added a couple of more to their plans in November 2014 (see Details on IMG’s “Tiny” Marcellus-Powered Electric Plants in NEPA). The beauty of IMG’s tiny natgas electric plants is that they are really small–about the size of a basketball court; they produce almost no air pollution; and they are quiet. It’s a really cool concept. IMG’s very first tiny electric plant, in Susquehanna County, PA, went online in October 2015. The second plant, in Bradford County, PA, went online this past June (see IMG’s Tiny NatGas-Fired Electric Plants Take Off in the Marcellus). The former 9 planned plants ballooned with plans for 25 plants operating within the next five years! We spotted a recent article about IMG’s activities in southwestern PA and that got us to thinking. How are they doing with their plan to build 25 plants? So far, they’ve built 11 and are on the prowl for more locations. We have the latest update on IMG and their startegy of zigging (building small power plants) when everyone else is zagging (building large plants)…
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Virginia DEQ Plans to Give 2 Pipeline Projects Detailed Exam

The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) announced yesterday that it would require water quality certifications under Section 401 of the federal Clean Water Act for each segment of both the Atlantic Coast Pipeline project (Dominion) and the Mountain Valley Pipeline project (EQT & NextEra Energy). Apparently the DEQ considered using the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Nationwide Permit 12 process–a less rigorous review (saves about half a forest of trees in paper). But in the end, the DEQ said they were caving to political pressure from anti groups (our words), and instead put Atlantic Coast and Mountain Valley on notice to get ready for a detailed exam. It will be painful. However, it’s not anything either company isn’t already used to/hasn’t done before. We wouldn’t say “it’s no big deal,” but neither is this a show stopper. The more relevant question: Is the DEQ ready to review the blizzard of paperwork that will come at them, IN A TIMELY MANNER? The real question is whether or not the DEQ is equipped to conduct the extensive review they’ve now demanded, and what happens if they can’t?…
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Bipartisan Support from WV, VA, NC for Atlantic Coast Pipeline

In what has to be a major blow to the morale of anti-pipeline crusaders in West Virginia, Virginia and North Carolina, the top elected state officials in the legislatures of all three states, both Republicans AND Democrats (16 of them in all), sent a letter on Tuesday to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) requesting FERC approve the Atlantic Coast Pipeline project. Dominion wants to build a $5 billion, 594-mile natural gas pipeline that will stretch from West Virginia through Virginia and into North Carolina. The leaders of all three state legislators have told FERC, we want this pipeline, we NEED this pipeline, please approve it. Today is the last day FERC will receive public comments on the project. Here’s who signed, along with a copy of the letter sent to FERC…
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PennEast Files for Water Crossing Permits in NJ – Antis All Atwitter

Today is, hopefully, a joyous day for the PennEast Pipeline. Today is the day that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is supposed to, after three delays, issue the project a final Environmental Impact Statement. If/when that final EIS is issued, the only step remaining, from the federal perspective, is a certification of the project. Typically a favorable final EIS is the big step, and the certification then is perfunctory–a given. We have to confess we are on pins and needles because the project has now been delayed three times, a red flag in our book (see FERC Delays PennEast Pipe 3rd Time, PennEast Spins as ‘Good News’). However, anticipating a favorable final EIS, PennEast applied with the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) for a Freshwater Wetlands Impact Permit. For some reason, the act of filing for that permit before receiving the final FERC EIA has anti-fossil fuelers in an outrage. They claim PennEast has jumped the gun, that they are behaving like the project is “inevitable” (which it is, by the way). Arrogant. And how dare these evil, filthy, fossil fuel-polluting companies DARE do something they (anti-fossil fuel nutters) don’t want them to do? That’s the “moral” outrage we’re seeing in New Jersey’s far-left “media” reporting on it. For us, it’s a routine application for a permit. For them, it’s the end of their contrived, perfect, snowflake world…
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Help Wanted: 15,000 Workers Needed for Rover Pipeline, STAT!

[4/7/17 UPDATE: Since publishing this post, MDN has been flooded with calls and emails asking, “Where do I apply for a Rover job?” After reaching out to Rover numerous times, what we have learned is that Rover is using contractors, and union labor. There is no HR office at Rover to accept job applications. Job seekers must either find a job with a local contractor already working with Rover, or by heading down to the local union hall to see if they can help. MDN plans to publish another article next week with more details and strategies on finding a Rover Pipeline job. Stay tuned.]

Some really big news coming from the Utica Upstream conference held Wednesday at Walsh University (in North Canton, OH). As we previously reported, Rover Pipeline got permission from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to begin construction on March 3rd (see FERC Green Lights Rover Pipeline Construction). And construction began, immediately. A local TV station recently did a flyover of one area where construction is happening, and the video is an awesome sight (see Video of Rover Pipeline’s Massive & Complex Construction in OH). Operating all of those bulldozers and backhoes, driving trucks, shoveling dirt, moving material from Point A to Point B–takes people. A LOT of people. So far Rover has hired 4,500 workers–but they need 15,000! And they need them NOW, as soon as possible, stat. What happens if they don’t get enough workers? They won’t make their deadline of completing the first phase of the Rover project by July 1st. What stands in the way of hiring another 10,000+ workers? In a word, drugs. Rover can’t find enough warm bodies who can pass a drug test, which is a sad commentary on society today…
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NEPA Anti Newspaper Supports Eminent Domain for Pipelines

Luuucy! You have some ‘splainin’ to do! Somebody at the Scranton Times-Tribune, a reliably anti-drilling rag in the heart of Marcellus country, will have some explaining to do about an editorial that just ran in the Times-Tribune’s sister publication the Wilkes-Barre Citizens’ Voice. We can’t remember the last time we read a positive editorial about the drilling industry in either the Times-Tribune or the Citizens’ Voice, but yesterday it happened. A editorial in the Citizens’ Voice deals with eminent domain being used for pipeline projects, including Atlantic Sunrise. You may recall we recently highlighted the news that Williams has (regrettably) had to file eminent domain cases against 27 holdout landowners in northeast PA (see Atlantic Sunrise Uses Eminent Domain in Northeast & Central PA). Spring-boarding from that news, the Citizens’ Voice editorial concludes that as distasteful as it is, there is precedence and the U.S. Constitution, allowing for it, and that eminent domain for pipelines actually accomplishes the “public good”…
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Biggest Jump Yet in Patterson-UTI Rig Count, Up 10 Rigs in March

As we do every month, MDN tracks how many rigs oilfield services company Patterson-UTI Energy reports operating–as a proxy for when/if the drop in rig counts for the Marcellus/Utica will turn around. Patterson operates a number of rigs in the northeast, as well as other areas of the continental United States (and Canada). Patterson was our “canary down the mine shaft” for discerning when the deep, dark recession in drilling would turn around. It happened in June 2016–and every single month since that time, including the month of March. In fact, Patterson’s March rig count jumped by 10, to an average of 88 active rigs operating in the U.S. That’s the biggest single monthly increase since they began adding rigs again last June…
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Atlantic Sunrise Uses Eminent Domain in Northeast & Central PA

As sometimes happens, Williams has had to file 27 eminent domain lawsuits against landowners in northeastern and central Pennsylvania–landowners who have refused to negotiate with the company to allow the now FERC-approved Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline to cross their property. We understand the reluctance of some landowners who would rather not have the pipeline cross their property. But we also understand the necessity of the project–and the need to be reasonable. Some landowners are not reasonable. And so eminent domain is a rare, option-of-last-resort necessity in those cases. But don’t shed too many tears for landowners now being sued. One PA landowner in Luzerne County (Wilkes-Barre area) was originally offered $260,000 for an easement on 7.6 acres of land ($34,211/acre!). He refused. The price has now dropped to $225,000. Guess he should have signed before eminent domain was on the table…
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FERC Favorable EA for Millennium Pipeline Eastern System Upgrade

The Millennium Pipeline stretches ~244 miles from Independence in Steuben County, NY to Buena Vista in Rockland County, NY. The Millennium, which is supplied by local production and storage fields and interconnecting upstream pipelines, serves customers along its route in New York’s Southern Tier region and helps meet the energy needs of northeast markets. In August 2016, the Millennium filed an application for what it calls its Eastern System Upgrade (see Millennium Pipe Asks FERC to Approve Eastern System Upgrade in NY). The ESU would add 7.8 miles of extra looped pipeline in Orange County, upgrade a compressor station in Delaware County, build a new compressor in Sullivan County and make some minor tweaks to metering stations in Rockland County. The ESU will pump another $275 million into the New York economy with the end result of increasing the flow of natural gas for New York and beyond by fall 2018. Despite the best efforts by THE Delaware Riverkeeper to stop this (and all other) pipeline projects, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued a favorable environmental assessment (EA) on Friday for the project (full copy below). A favorable EA indicates the project is on track for a final approval this year. The projected in-service date is fall 2018…
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Marcus Hook Propane Exports Heat Up

Marcus Hook

Over the past five years the U.S. has flipped from being a net importer of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG, or propane and butane), to being a net exporter. Why? Yep–shale drilling. Most of the LPG getting exported goes from the Gulf Coast. However, Sunoco Logistics’ Marcus Hook terminal near Philadelphia is now online and has, over the past 12 months, begun to make a big impact on the LPG export market. RBN Energy, with some of the best analysts in the business, recently turned their analytic eye on LPG in the northeast and provided a very interesting update on what’s happening at Marcus Hook. How much LPG is being exported–and where is it going?…
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Video of Rover Pipeline’s Massive & Complex Construction in OH

Rover Pipeline passes through tip of Richland Co.

MDN spotted a story and video from an Ohio television station about the construction under way for Energy Transfer’s Rover Pipeline, in Richland County, OH. The video, taken from an airplane, shows just how massive and complex such a project actually is. The video shows the swatch being worked on, for miles and miles, to clear a right-of-way and the trench being dug to lay the pipe. We couldn’t count how many bulldozers, backhoes and people are working over the several miles the video covers. Again, it is a MASSIVE and complex project, with multiple locations where the builder must drill underneath roads, streams and other areas where you can’t just dig a trench. Below is a screenshot from one segment of construction in Richland County, and a link to watch the full 3 minute video (worth the watch!)…
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Enviros Shut Down Duke U Meeting Where FERC Chair to Speak

Extremist environmental protesters who don’t want to hear any viewpoints other than their own (i.e., fascists who LOVE to suppress free speech), got a bit violent and ugly on Tuesday and shut down a meeting at Duke University (headquarters for insane environmentalism) where the Acting Chairwoman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Cheryl LaFleur, was scheduled to speak. Beyond Extreme Energy was one of the groups behind the illegal action. They have dogged FERC Commissioners for years. Perhaps some in the crowd were the same Beyond Extreme Energy lunatics that Pennsylvania Public Utilities Commissioner Rob Powelson previously called “jihadists”–because they show up at FERC Commissioners’ homes and threaten them (see Potential FERC Com. Powleson Calls Anti-Fossil Fuelers “Jihadists”). The lunatics at Duke forced their way into a meeting where LaFleur was going to speak, blathering on about FERC being a “rubber stamp” for the natural gas industry, which shows their complete and utter stupidity. The Beyond Extreme Energy extremists specifically object to bringing “fracked Marcellus and Utica gas” via Dominion’s proposed Atlantic Coast Pipeline to North Carolina. After shutting down the meeting using banners made in part from fracked natural gas, wearing clothes that come from petrochemicals, sneakers made from petrochemicals, arriving at the meeting via fossil-fuel powered vehicles, they went back to their dorms and homes–heated with natural gas. Pretty extreme, wouldn’t you say? Welcome to Wonderland, Alice…
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FERC Grants Atlantic Bridge Pipe OK to Begin CT Construction

In January the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) gave its final stamp of approval for Spectra Energy’s Atlantic Bridge project (see FERC Approves Atlantic Bridge Project for New England/Canada). Atlantic Bridge will beef up capacity on the Algonquin Gas Transmission and Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline systems–to move more Marcellus/Utica gas to New England and Canada. Even though FERC has “approved” Atlantic Bridge, Spectra Energy must still ask for “Mother May I?” permission to begin construction on specific, individual portions of the project. “Mother FERC, may I begin the bulldozers in Danbury, CT at the Danbury meter station?” And, “Mother FERC, may I begin construction at the Mill Plain Road Contractor Yard?” You get the picture. Spectra asked permission to begin construction at a variety of projects in Connecticut on March 14th (see Anti-Pipeline Jihadists Pressure FERC re Atlantic Bridge Project). Earlier this week FERC granted Spectra Energy permission to begin construction on all of their requests from the 14th…
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FERC Grants Dalton Expansion Permission to Begin Flowing Gas

In March 2015, Williams announced that its Transco pipeline subsidiary had filed an application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for its Dalton Expansion Project, which will expand the Transco and flow more Marcellus Shale gas from New Jersey all the way to Mississippi, primarily for electric generation plants, but also for local natural gas distribution by utilities (see Williams Files with FERC to Expand Transco Pipeline from NJ to MS). Most of the Dalton project will be built in, and benefit, the State of Georgia, by delivering natural gas to an existing electric generating facility in northern Georgia operated by Oglethorpe Power Corp., delivering gas for local distribution company Atlanta Gas Light, and delivering gas for the City of Cartersville. Transco has customers signed up under binding contracts for 100% of the Dalton Expansion Project, which will increase Transco’s capacity by 448,000 dekatherms per day of natural gas. FERC approved the Dalton Project last summer (see Marcellus/Utica Gas Heading to Georgia via FERC-Approved Pipeline). In February of this year, antis tried to use a creative new way to stop construction. They noticed that some of the pipe being used came from Greece, so they’re asking FERC to stop the project because it doesn’t use American-made pipeline (see Antis Ask FERC to Block Dalton Expansion Project, Using Greek Pipe). Nice try, but no cigar. Construction is now done and this past week the extra gas began flowing through the now-completed project. On Tuesday, FERC OK’d up to an extra 208,000 dekatherms (equivalent of 208 million cubic feet) of natgas to begin flowing. On Wednesday, FERC authorized the rest, another 240,000 dekatherms. The full 448,000 dekatherms of extra Marcellus/Utica fracked gas now flows south, all the way to Mississippi…
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Williams Closes Deal to Increase Ownership in NEPA Pipeline System

Click for larger version

In 2014 Williams bought out Access Midstream, the renamed and former division of Chesapeake Energy called Chesapeake Midstream (see Big News: Williams Partners Buying Access Midstream for $6B). When Williams bought Access, one of the regional pipeline gathering systems it got as part of that deal is what Williams calls the Bradford Supply Hub (named after Bradford County, PA). In February, Williams announced a deal with a part-owner for portions of the Bradford Supply Hub, Western Gas, to buy out Western’s portion (see Williams Cuts Deal to Increase Ownership in NEPA Pipeline System). Through an elaborate deal, Williams gets Western’s 33.75% ownership stake in what is called the Rome and Liberty natural gas gathering systems (part of the Bradford Supply Hub), along with a check for $155 million. In return, Williams is transferring to Western its 50% ownership stake in the Delaware Basin JV Gathering pipeline system, located along the New Mexico/Texas border. That deal, first announced in February, is now done…
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Pipeline Jihadists “Double Down” on Other Pipes After Losing DAPL

We don’t use the word “jihadist” lightly or flippantly. A jihad is, according to Websters, “a crusade for a principle or belief.” Most of the time the media uses the term in reference to radical Muslims who perpetrate acts of terror and crime in a holy war to convert the world to Islam. We think there’s a close parallel to some (not all) extreme environmentalists. It is irrefutable that many in the environmental movement view their cause as a kind of holy war–against those they believe are harming Mom Earth. Against those who don’t or won’t “convert” to their philosophy on how best to protect the environment (i.e. dump the use of fossil fuels). Some of these extremists tip over into criminal and even terrorist activities. We saw it in the protests of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) project in North Dakota, when so-called protesters vandalized millions of dollars of equipment, set tires on fire, illegally blocked roads, and (one) even shot at police officers (see Police Remove Pipeline Protesting THUGS from Private Land in ND). Last week, in a coordinated attack, holes were burned in two different Dakota Access Pipeline above-ground valve stations in two different states (see Eco-Terrorists Burn Holes in Dakota Access Pipeline in 2 States). With oil now flowing through DAPL (the antis lost), the same group of people who opposed DAPL are now pledging to “double down” on several proposed pipeline projects–to stop them by any means necessary. One of the projects targeted for aggressive opposition is Dominion’s Atlantic Coast Pipeline–right here in the Marcellus/Utica. Given their previous behavior, we think it’s warranted to label these people as environmental jihadists. We certainly hope the FBI is paying attention to their activities…
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