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FERC Wins Lawsuit Against Sierra Club re NFG’s Northern Access Pipe

National Fuel Gas Company (NFG) and its pipeline subsidiary Empire Pipeline have worked on a plan to build the Northern Access Pipeline since 2016. Northern Access is a 97-mile project from McKean County in Pennsylvania into and through Allegany, Cattaraugus, and Erie counties in New York that will flow Marcellus gas into New York State. The project was repeatedly delayed by the radicals of the Andrew Cuomo (now Kathy Hochul) administrations in NY. NFG still wants to build the project but needs more time. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) gave NFG an extra 35 months to get the project done in a decision in June 2022. The Sierra Club challenged FERC’s time extension. On Friday the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia (DC Circuit) rejected the Clubbers and said FERC properly extended the time to build the project.
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NFG Lawsuit Alleges Fraud, Counterfeit Parts Used at Compressor Stn

Here’s the kind of thing you don’t want to read about. Utility giant National Fuel Gas Company, headquartered in Buffalo and parent to Seneca Resources and NFG Midstream (and Empire Pipeline), is suing a former employee and several vendors for buying and installing counterfeit parts at several compressor stations. One such part caused the temporary shutdown at one compressor station in New York’s Southern Tier when the part failed to work correctly.
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Western NY NatGas Utility EnergyMark Buys Crown Energy Services

Local natural gas utility EnergyMark, LLC located in Williamsville, NY (provider of natgas to the Buffalo Bills stadium), announced the acquisition of the assets of another gas utility, Crown Energy Services, Inc. of West Seneca, NY. The two energy supply companies are among the longest-standing suppliers of natural gas in Western New York. Both companies have provided natural gas supply service to industrial, commercial, and residential clients in New York and Pennsylvania for over 20 years.
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FERC Gives NFG Extra 3 Years to Build Northern Access Pipeline

National Fuel Gas Company (NFG) and its pipeline subsidiary Empire Pipeline have worked on a plan to build the Northern Access Pipeline since 2016. Northern Access is a 97-mile project from McKean County in Pennsylvania into and through Allegany, Cattaraugus and Erie counties in New York, that will flow Marcellus gas into New York State. The project was repeatedly delayed by the radicals of the Andrew Cuomo (now Kathy Hochul) administration. NFG says it still wants to build the project, but needs more time. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) just gave NFG an extra 35 months to get the project done.
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NFG On Track to Build Northern Access Pipe in NY in 2022/23

National Fuel Gas Company (NFG), the utility and midstream giant based in Buffalo, NY, remains committed to building it’s Northern Access Pipeline project, a $500 million project that includes building 97 miles of new pipeline along a power line corridor from northwestern Pennsylvania up to Erie County, NY. The project also calls for 3 miles of new pipeline further up, in Niagara County, along with a new compressor station in the Town of Pendleton. Although New York State (under the profoundly corrupt Andrew Cuomo) continues to try and block the project, NFG says they will build it–in the 2022-23 time frame.
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NFG’s Northern Access Pipe in NY/PA Gets FERC Approval

NFG’s Northern Access 2016 Pipeline map – click for larger version

National Fuel Gas Company (NFG), the Buffalo-based utility giant with both a drilling subsidiary (Seneca Resources) and a midstream/pipeline subsidiary (Empire Pipeline) filed an application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in March 2015 for a pipeline project they call Northern Access 2016 (later renamed to simply Northern Access Project, dropping the “2016” part). The $455 million project includes building 97 miles of new pipeline along a power line corridor from northwestern Pennsylvania up to Erie County, NY. The project also calls for 3 miles of new pipeline further up, in Niagara County, along with a new compressor station in the Town of Pendleton (see NFG’s Marcellus Pipeline from NWPA to NY Hits Resistence). In July 2016, FERC issued a favorable Environmental Assessment, paving the path for full approval (see NFG’s Northern Access Pipeline Gets Favorable FERC Review). NFG had hoped to have the project done and in-service by November of this year. However, due to foot-dragging by FERC, NFG recently announced the project would get delayed (see FERC Delay Pushes Back NFG’s Northern Access Pipeline Project). Perhaps that announcement was premature? On Friday, FERC approved the project and granted NFG their certificate to build it, although NFG is still saying the new/delayed schedule is the schedule they will stick to in building it…
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CNG Customers Gather to Celebrate Grand Opening in…

CNGEarlier this week a $2.85 million compressed natural gas (CNG) filling station was opened with a large crowd of people eager to begin using it. Nexus Natural Gas, a consortium of seven different companies, unveiled their first collaborative CNG fueling station aimed at cars, trucks, tractor-trailers and buses. The state got involved with a $570,000 grant–recognizing the benefits of using natural gas as a transportation fuel (burns cleaner, natural gas is a home-grown fuel). Local utility/pipeline companies are involved too–to deliver cheap, abundant and clean-burning Marcellus Shale gas to the new fueling station. What’s that? Where’s this new CNG fueling station located–where crowds of natgas lovers congregated to celebrate? Would you believe, in New York State!…
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MDN Prediction Comes True: Anti Criticizes Bills Sale to Fracker

Just last week, with respect to the sale of the Buffalo “Marcellus” Bills to East Resources CEO Terry Pegula, we said the following tongue-in-cheek: “What’s interesting to us is that there’s zero talk about how Marcellus “blood money” has purchased the Bills. No talk that Pegula is an evil, nasty fracker….The talk, universally, is of a really great guy with a big heart that’s whip smart and committed to the Buffalo region (he previously bought the NHL Buffalo Sabres team). Where are the crazies and their loony toons criticisms? Where are the protesters? Nowhere to be found” (see Buffalo “Marcellus” Bills – Team Sold to Fracker for $1.4B). Well, such a loon has now been found, and a Wilkes-Barre newspaper published his rantings…
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Buffalo “Marcellus” Bills – Team Sold to Fracker for $1.4B

Marcellus BillsAs MDN previously told you, Marcellus money has just purchased the Buffalo Bills NFL team (see Buffalo Bills Stay in Buffalo, Thanks to $1.4B of Marcellus Money). Yesterday NFL owners, who had gathered to vote, took all of about 15 seconds to approve the $1.4 BILLION purchase of the Bills team by East Resources (and former Marcellus Shale driller) Terry Pegula and his wife Kim. The vote was 32-0 in favor of the sale. We think in honor of this momentous occasion the team should be renamed to be the Buffalo Marcellus Bills. Maybe we can just call them the “MarBills” for short?…
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NY Gov. Cuomo Backs Billionaire Solar Guy Over Fracking

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is about to direct $750 million of taxpayer’s hard-earned money to go to Elon Musk, founder of Paypal and Tesla Motors, a man whose net worth is $11.7 BILLION. Why? It’s Cuomo’s crony capitalism move to get Musk to build a manufacturing plant near Buffalo that will produce (don’t laugh) solar panels. Can anyone say “Solyndra”? Cuomo is hoping to buy votes Upstate NY jobs with his latest sleazy move. Meanwhile, if Cuomo would only open the state for hydraulic fracturing, he wouldn’t have to spend a dime of taxpayer money to create thousands of new jobs and lift the standard of living for everyone in Upstate. Instead, he prefers to steal from already-poor taxpayers and reward the super rich. Here’s more on the latest travesty unfolding in NY…
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National Media Acknowledges Marcellus Shale Saved the Bills

It’s not often that MDN sets the trend for national news, but we have to say we believe we did this time. Going back to June 2014, MDN speculated that if the Buffalo Bills franchise was purchased by billionairre Terry Pegula, it would be Marcellus money funding the purchase (see Fascinating Connection Between NFL & Marcellus/Utica). We then brought you the news that Aubrey McClendon, the former Chesapeake CEO and fracking “bad boy” the media loves to hate, would also help fund the purchase via his purchases of Marcellus and Utica property from Pegula (see Aubrey McClendon’s Money Makes Purchase of Buffalo Bills Possible). Last week the deal was struck and indeed, Pegula the Marcellus fracking billionaire, was the winner (see Buffalo Bills Stay in Buffalo, Thanks to $1.4B of Marcellus Money). After we reported that story on Wednesday, it took a couple of days, but eventually even Gannett and the Binghamton Press & Sun-Bulletin had to admit we were right. In an interesting twist, the PSB reports that NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo is gushing with praise for Pegula, which of course just points out his sleazy, political double-standard on the fracking issue…
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Buffalo Bills Stay in Buffalo, Thanks to $1.4B of Marcellus Money

For some time we’ve followed, with interest, the story of the sale of the Buffalo Bills NFL football team (see Fascinating Connection Between NFL & Marcellus/Utica). East Resources–an oil & gas driller with extensive holdings in the Marcellus–is owned by Terry Pegula. Terry sold much of his Marcellus holdings in 2010 to Shell/SWEPI for $4.7 billion. He later purchased the Buffalo Sabres NHL hockey team. Not long ago he sold off more (the rest?) of his Marcellus and Utica acreage to Aubrey McClendon for $1.75 billion (see Aubrey McClendon’s Money Makes Purchase of Buffalo Bills Possible). Terry has, according to “sources” of Buffalo Business First, won the bidding contest for the Bills. The price? Uncoincidentally, $1.4 billion–the highest price paid for any NFL franchise in the history of the league…
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Will Marcellus Blood Money Buy the Buffalo Bills?

If you’re an anti-driller in Western New York and a Buffalo Bills fan, you’re in a serious quandary. The Bills NFL franchise is for sale, for the first time ever, and it may be your single best hope for keeping the Bills in Buffalo is if Terry Pegula buys the team. As MDN previously reported, Pegula is the owner of the Buffalo Sabres NHL team. He’s also the founder and CEO of East Resources, an evil oil and gas company. Could it be that the Marcellus Shale–and money derived from it–will save the Buffalo Bills? Can anti-drillers ever live with themselves if that happens? Will anti-drilling Bills fans switch allegiance to their arch rivals the New York Giants or the hated Pittsburgh Steelers if Pegula buys the Bills with his Marcellus “blood money”? All burning questions for inquiring minds…
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Marcellus Gas to the Rescue: WNY Customers Avoid Step Price Jump

National Fuel Gas Company is a large, integrated energy company with its HQ in Buffalo, NY. They have operations spanning from upstream (Seneca Resources, a major Marcellus Shale driller) to midstream pipelines to a downstream utility company serving customers in western New York State and northwestern Pennsylvania. A story from the NFG utility company caught our eye today. NFG is putting the word out to its hundreds of thousands of customers that they might want to consider hopping on the budget plan–to spread out their winter heating bill payments. Why are NFG’s customers paying a lot more this winter to heat with natural gas? Simply because this is one of the longest and coldest winters we’ve had in decades.

The interesting part of the NFG “you ought to get on the budget plan” story is that, according to the company, it could have been a lot worse than it is. The price of NFG’s natural gas is steady and has not gone up. What’s helping to save western NY (and NWPA) gas customers from huge price spikes being experienced elsewhere? PA Marcellus Shale gas…
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Run Donald Run! Will “The Donald” Challenge Frackless Andy in NY?

Could Donald Trump slay the evil frackless dragon Smaug (otherwise known as Gov. Andy Cuomo)? Only if he runs for governor. Last October we told you of rumors circulating that Donald Trump was considering a run against sitting Gov. Andrew Cuomo (see Can Donald Trump Save Fracking in NY?). He’s frankly the only person with enough name recognition that could even possibly pose a serious challenge to Cuomo. Soon after we ran that story, however, Trump seemed to tamp down the rumor.

But what’s this? It appears The Donald is reconsidering and may yet run (which we earnestly hope he does)…
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