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FERC Pushes Back Deadline to Review MVP Southgate to Feb 2020

Latest proposed route for MVP Southgate (click for larger version)

Last November Equitrans (nee EQT Midstream), filed plans with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to extend the 303-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) project *another* 70 miles south, into North Carolina, called the MVP Southgate project (see EQT Makes it Official, Files with FERC to Extend MVP into NC). The Southgate project has been under review at FERC since that time. The original schedule called for FERC to issue a final environmental impact statement (EIS) on Dec. 19. That date has just been pushed back.
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Philly’s Nicetown Marcellus-Fired Plant Wins Appeal, Online Soon

It’s the end of the road for some not-so-nice folks in Nicetown, a Philadelphia neighborhood. In 2016, Philadelphia’s SEPTA (Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority) announced plans to build a Marcellus gas-powered electric plant to provide electricity to SEPTA’s northern Regional Rail lines and a bus garage (see Antis Plan to Shut Down Philly Transit Meeting re NatGas Powergen). Antis, making wild claims of “racism,” opposed the plant because it will burn an evil, nasty, vile “fossil fuel.”
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ExxonMobil Considers Philadelphia Area for Ethane Cracker Plant

MDN previously reported on the rumor that ExxonMobil is sniffing around southwestern Pennsylvania looking for a site to build a multi-billion dollar ethane cracker plant (see Exxon Mobil Sniffing Around SWPA to Build Second Cracker Plant). We then told you Exxon is not only looking in Beaver County (where Shell is building its cracker) but also in nearby Washington and Greene counties too (see Exxon Widens Search to Build SWPA Cracker Plant to Other Counties). But what’s this? We now read about another rumor–that Exxon is also considering southeast PA, the Philadelphia area!
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Time to Defend the Mariner East Pipe Projects – Garland Thompson

Speaking of the Mariner East (ME) pipelines and the NGLs (primarily ethane, but also propane and butane) they flow, why isn’t the organized business community (i.e. Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce) doing more to stick up for the ME pipeline projects? MDN friend Garland Thompson, a gifted reporter/writer who covers energy and technology issues for US Black Engineer & Information Technology magazine, recently penned an open letter to the Philly Chamber challenging them to get off their collective butts and defend ME and the jobs it will create in the greater Philly region.
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U.S. Set to Officially Become Energy Independent Early 2020

For years (maybe a generation) we’ve heard the refrain that America needs to become “energy independent.” But what does that phrase actually mean? It means we produce enough of our own energy (oil, natural gas, nuclear, renewable, etc.) that if push comes to shove, we could actually survive if the rest of the world decided to cut us off from all sources of outside energy. Can you actually measure such an amorphous concept? Turns out you can.
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33 Energy Groups Ask Trump Admin to Finish Energy Reg Overhaul

Some 33 industry associations, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and American Petroleum Institute, sent a letter to White House Council on Environmental Quality (CEQ) Chair Mary Neumayr last Friday asking the agency to “expeditiously proceed” with efforts to “modernize” National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) regulations. What is NEPA and why should you care?
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Non-U.S. Big Oil Companies Want EPA to Regulate Methane Emissions

Here’s something that really bugs us. The Donald J. Trump Administration is doing its best to try and roll back some of the smothering overregulation foisted on the oil and gas industry during the Obama reign of terror. Example: The EPA is looking to reverse direct regulation of oil and gas methane (created by Obama) because the EPA already regulates methane emissions via regulations for volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Yet a few oil “majors” (biggest oil companies in the world) want the EPA to continue its onerous methane regulations. Thing is, the oil majors that want this insane overregulation are NOT American-based companies.
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Shale Energy Stories of Interest: Wed, Nov 27, 2019

NATIONAL: Fluor Corp wins award for gas processing tech; ‘Deep electrification’ means more natural gas; Making history: U.S. exports more petroleum than it imports in September and October; INTERNATIONAL: Yamal LNG cargo heading to Portugal; Global LNG markets are circling the drain; Greta, go to China and protest about climate change to the world’s biggest emitter.
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