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Antero to Pay $11M in Fines/Restoration for Clean Water Violations

This has to be a record-high amount for a fine plus remediation work, at least in the Marcellus/Utica. Antero Resources has cut a deal with three government entities–the U.S. Dept. of Justice, federal Environmental Protection Agency, and West Virginia Dept. of Environmental Protection–to pay a $3.15 million fine and spend another $8 million to mitigate and restore 32 sites in West Virginia.

NOTE: MDN posted an important followup to this story after speaking with Antero, providing more context and background, here: The Real Story of Antero’s $11M Clean Water Act Violations.
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PA Businesses Still Not Paid for Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline Work

NOTE: See our follow-up post on this, with important new information: New Details on Williams and Unpaid Pipe Contractors in Lancaster.

Hey Williams, get off your rear-ends and start paying the bills owed for work done on YOUR pipeline! At least 77 local businesses in and around Lancaster County, PA are caught in the crosshairs of a dispute between Williams and one of its main contractors, Welded Construction (see Williams Withholds Payment Forcing Pipeline Builder into Bankruptcy).
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FERC Approves Partial Startup of Columbia’s Gulf XPress Pipe

Yesterday the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) granted TransCanada’s Columbia subsidiary permission to begin a partial startup of the Gulf XPress Project that adds additional compression to the Columbia Gulf Transmission pipeline to flow more Marcellus/Utica gas to the Gulf Coast.
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ET Still Fighting Ohio AG re Rover Pipe Enviro Violations

Ohio’s current Governor, Mike DeWine, is an establishment-type swamp dwelling Republican. DeWine was Attorney General for Ohio in November 2017 when he was manipulated into suing Energy Transfer claiming the Rover Pipeline project was guilty of “polluting state waters while constructing a natural gas pipeline across Ohio” (see OH EPA Director Manipulates Atty General to Sue Rover Pipeline). The lawsuit has essentially gone nowhere since that time.
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Weymouth, MA Loses Fed Court Case to Block Compressor Station

The folks of Weymouth, Massachusetts have for years tried to block a new compressor station project, part of a Spectra Energy/Enbridge project to beef up capacity along the Algonquin Gas Transmission pipeline. Algonquin filed a lawsuit against Weymouth Town and its conservation commission in District Court of Massachusetts. The court ruled in Algonquin’s favor and the town appealed the ruling to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.
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NY Court Shoots Down Request to Roll Back Power Plant Conversion

It is beyond bizarre that the Sierra Club, which claims it defends the environment, works so hard to stop electric generating plants from converting from coal to natural gas. As we pointed out yesterday, gas-fired plants produce a small fraction of nasty pollutants like sulfur dioxide, compared with coal (see PA DEP to Issue “Acid Rain Permit” to Scranton Gas-Fired Power Plant). Yet the Sierra Club continues to launch lawsuit after lawsuit aimed at stopping conversion from coal to gas. Why?
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Acid Rain Emissions from Power Plants Flat Thru 2050 Thx to Shale

Yesterday MDN brought you the story of a so-called acid rain permit issued to Pennsylvania’s largest natural gas-fired electric generating plant (see PA DEP to Issue “Acid Rain Permit” to Scranton Gas-Fired Power Plant). We outlined in that article the teeny tiny amount of sulfur dioxide (SO2), the stuff that causes acid rain, that gas-fired plants emit compared to coal and oil-fired plants.
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Energy Stories of Interest: Tue, Feb 12, 2019

MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Roll Group wraps up Elba Island LNG job; SWPA lab serving natural gas industry expanding operations; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Rhode Island lawmakers seek to form natural gas commission; Mayor: LA will ditch plan to rebuild natural gas plants; Ninth Circuit nominee has history of defending Big Oil, including in liability cases; NATIONAL: Congress should vote on the Green New Deal, now; New US gas pipeline capacity installed rose 35% in 2018: FERC report.
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