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Atlantic Coast Pipeline had Very Good Day in US Supreme Court

Yesterday the Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP) had its day in U.S. Supreme Court–and by all appearances, it was a very good day indeed. The right of the pipeline to cross the Appalachian Trail is the issue under consideration. In a case brought by environmentalist wackos, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled a permit granted by the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) is invalid because the U.S. Park Service manages the trail and according to law, USFS does not have jurisdiction over “lands” owned/managed by the Park Service. In practice such a ruling, if upheld, creates a thousand-mile long barrier across which no pipeline can cross. All of the articles we read about yesterday’s oral arguments before the Supremes indicate a likely decision in favor of the pipeline and against the wackos.
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National Grid Report – There IS a Coming Gas Shortage in NYC/LI

National Grid yesterday released a report outlining how the utility is going to run out of natural gas for its customers within the next decade (maybe sooner) if new supplies of natgas are not made available to it. The company has scheduled public town hall meetings in NYC and Long Island to discuss the report and elicit feedback from the public. In the report, National Grid outlines three solutions to the problem. Guess which solution is the cheapest, quickest and best? That’s right–the Williams Northeast Supply Enhancement (NESE) pipeline.
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Studies Show How Much Shale Wastewater Produced, Recycled in M-U

University of Texas at Austin researchers have just published two new wastewater studies in two different peer-reviewed journals. One study quantifies, for the first time, how much water is produced from oil and natural gas operations in major shale plays (including the Marcellus) compared with how much is needed for fracking. In some plays, there is so much water coming out of the ground from oil and gas wells (after fracking, called produced water) that the volume coming out is more than enough to drill and frack all of the new wells in those plays. No freshwater sources required. In the Marcellus, we use more water than could be provided by recycling produced water from our wells. The second study looks at the potential for using produced water in other sectors, like agriculture, for those plays where there is an abundance of extra produced water.
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EIA Says NatGas in Storage Will Hit Record High Later This Year

Last week MDN told you that our favorite government agency, the U.S. Energy Information Administration, predicts natural gas production from the country’s seven largest shale plays will decrease in March (see EIA: Shale NatGas Production Declines First Time in 39 Months). The trend has reversed and is now heading in the downward direction. Yet this week the same EIA published a post to say natural gas inventories (i.e. storage) will reach a record high later this year. Less production but more storage? How does that work??
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Oil/Gas Execs Respond to Dem Presidential Candidates with NYT Ad

There’s been a lot of hot air around the issue of fossil fuels in the current presidential campaign. Democrat candidates seem to be in a race to say the more outrageous thing about fossil fuels and the companies that extract and transport them. For example, Sen. “crazy” Bernie Sanders has called oil and natural gas executives criminals. Yeah, that’s right. Vice President “sleepy/creepy Uncle” Joe Biden wants to put oil and gas execs in jail! And Sen. Elizabeth “Pocahontas” Warren calls oil and gas execs corrupt. Really? This kind of trash talk comes from so-called leaders–people actively being considered to run the country? No thanks. The Western Energy Alliance took out a full-page ad in the New York Times yesterday to fight back. You just HAVE to see it…
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Shale Energy Stories of Interest: Tue, Feb 25, 2020

MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Construction workers on the Mariner East paid dearly for DEP delays; Slate takes shape for Utica Midstream Conference; Following attacks from challenger, Lamb weighs in on fracking ban; CNX names chief accounting officer; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Activists continue to fight flaring-reducing infrastructure; Tellurian builds Driftwood LNG momentum; Ducey signs bill banning local bans on natural gas; NATIONAL: Natural gas is crushing wind and solar power – Why isn’t anyone talking about it?; CenterPoint Energy to sell natural gas retail business for $400m; Natural gas recovery – dead cat bounce; Tech’s green pose gets less and less convincing; Banning gas stoves is not a serious way to fight climate change; INTERNATIONAL: Kosmos says won’t expand in new oil basins, unveils climate change-focused strategy; The EIB’s attack on gas is counter-productive.
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