Last week MDN brought you the exciting news that Williams says their $3 billion Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline that runs through 10 Pennsylvania counties to connect Marcellus Shale natural gas from northeastern PA with the Williams’ Transco pipeline in southern Lancaster County will go online in August (see Williams: Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline Going Online in August). We have no reason to doubt Williams. After all, if they make an announcement like that and then don’t live up to it, there will be PR hell to pay. It’s in their own best interests to tell the truth about these things. Then again, deadlines have been known to slip and companies always like to put the best possible spin on company news–in an effort to boost the stock price for investors. So perhaps it’s good to have an independent, third party come along from time to time to verify claims like those of Williams and Atlantic Sunrise. But how in the world can you verify a claim that a pipeline is almost done and will go online in the next month or so? By using drones and/or airplanes to fly over the entire length of the project, that’s how. And that’s what Genscape, an analytics and real-time data company has done. Their conclusion? Williams is telling the truth–Atlantic Sunrise WILL go online sometime in August…
