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NFG Asks FERC for Extra 3 Yrs to Build Northern Access Pipe in NY

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Four years ago National Fuel Gas Company (NFG) proposed and filed to build the 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 (also in Niagara County). The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) granted final approval for the project in February of 2017 (see NFG’s Northern Access Pipe in NY/PA Gets FERC Approval). However, in April 2017, the New York Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DEC) ruled against granting the project stream crossing permits, effectively killing it, at least for now (see Cuomo’s Corrupt NY DEC Blocks NFG Northern Access Pipeline Permit).
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FERC Pulls the Plug on Rhode Island Gas-Fired Electric Plant

MDN previously told you about a natural gas-fired electric plant planned for the socialist paradise of Rhode Island, home to old money and people who oppose change of any kind (see New NatGas Powered Electric Plant Coming to…Rhode Island?!). The proposed plant would lower RI residents’ electric bills by a collective $280 million and replace aging coal and oil power plants–cleaning the air in the process. With the jobs created, the investment in the facility, and lower electric rates, it’s calculated this single plant will have a $1.3 billion impact on the economy of RI. And yet so-called environmentalists still opposed it. The plan was to begin construction in summer 2016 and have the plant up and running by 2019, which didn’t happen. The plan to build it is now effectively dead.
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Emera Sells 3 New England Gas-Fired Plants for $590M

Emera Inc., an energy services company headquartered in Halifax, Nova Scotia, has just signed a deal to sell three natural gas-fired electric plants that it owns in New England to investment firm Carlyle Group for $590 million. The three plants–Bridgeport Energy, Tiverton Power and Rumford Power–collectively generate 1,100 megawatts of electricity. We’re always interested in such transactions because of the potential to sell Marcellus/Utica gas to feed the plants. The Carlyle Group owns a number of assets in the M-U region, perhaps most prominently the Philadelphia Energy Solutions (PES) refinery.
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First Responders Ready for ME1/ME2 Emergencies, If There Are Any

Last week MDN told you about seven anti-fossil fuelers in the Philadelphia area who have filed a request with the PA Public Utility Commission requesting the PUC shut down both the Mariner East 1 pipeline, which has been flowing since 2016, and Mariner East 2 pipeline, which is about to go online any day now (see Desperation: 7 Philly Antis Ask PA PUC to Stop ME1, Block ME2). Why shut them down now? Because, the antis say, Sunoco Logistics (the builder) hasn’t done a proper job of preparing those who live near the pipelines to prepare for a rare (almost never happens) emergency. What their request, and mainstream media, doesn’t reveal is this: Sunoco formed the Mariner Emergency Responder Outreach (MERO) program years ago and has (so far) trained some 2,350 firefighters, police officers, emergency medical service providers, municipal emergency management officials, and other public safety personnel. How much more prepared can any community be? We’re delighted to bring you a guest post today responding to concerns about pipeline safety–specifically about ME1 & 2 safety.
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Allegheny Twp Antis Ask PA Supremes to Consider Frack Ban via ERA

In November 2015, MDN first reported on a zoning court case in Westmoreland County, PA that’s still playing out (see 3 Western PA Antis Weigh Appeal of Court Ruling in Zoning Case). Three ladies brought a lawsuit against Allegheny Township because the town approved a permit for CNX Gas to drill a well on a farm owned by John and Anne Slike. Since the farm is about 1,200 feet from where the ladies live, they objected. The ladies’ legal argument is that fracking is a violation of the state’s Environmental Rights Amendment (ERA). After losing in lower courts, they eventually lost their case in PA Commonwealth Court in October (see PA Antis Suffer Crushing Defeat in SWPA Zoning Case re ERA). Which should have been the end of it. But it seems the pockets of Big Green groups (which are funding the lawsuit) is bottomless. The ladies and their Big Green lawyers have just appealed the case to the PA Supreme Court. Will the Supremes accept it?
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Treating PA’s Acid Mine Drainage & Frack Wastewater Together

Pennsylvania has had a seriously bad problem with acid mine drainage for years–water that washes through old/abandoned coal mines that comes back out heavily laden with minerals that make it acidic and a danger to the environment. More recently, with the shale revolution, PA has also found itself with an abundance of shale wastewater–most of it “produced” water that comes from deep in the earth (not surface drinking water), also laden with all sorts of minerals. Both acid mine water and shale wastewater are not easy to treat. Some sharp kids and their professors at the University of Pittsburgh got the bright idea to combine the two together, and treat them together, at the same time. Why? Because they have opposite amounts of barium and sulfates. Combine the two and you can more easily remove the nasty stuff via “precipitation.” How cool is that?
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Oink: Dominion Energy Turns to Pig Poo for New Methane Supplies

We bring you the following story purely for your (and our) entertainment. Dominion Energy, a huge company with its fingers in many energy pies (pipelines, LNG exports, power generation, utility company), is teaming up with the world’s largest pork producer, Smithfield, to “harness methane gas from thousands of malodorous hog lagoons.” That is, they will capture methane from pig poop and use that methane to “heat homes and combat climate change.” (Excuse us while we get up off the floor from laughing so hard!) The story comes from the well known fake news purveyor Washington Post, so we can’t be 100% sure of its accuracy. But we’ll go with it, simply for laughs.
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Energy Stories of Interest: Wed, Nov 28, 2018

The “best of the rest”–stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading: Summit focuses on ways to improve region’s infrastructure; Giant Longaberger basket for sale – maybe someone in shale wants to buy?; Proposed change to Dallas Twp. zoning laws may help gas companies; Gravity Oilfield Services is proving that agility is the key to growth; How Shell plans to use rail and road to capitalize on opportunities in Beaver County; Cheniere ramps up feedgas deliveries to LNG export terminal in Texas; Get your natural gas in Texas for 25 cents, if you can; Reality star in Texas poised to become America’s richest oil mogul; Methanol’s U.S. revival and global growth scenarios; Saudi Aramco to attract $150bn in investment for gas programme; UK shale gas momentum builds as IGas spuds exploration well.
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