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Trump Admin Releases Updates to National Environmental Policy Act

In January President Trump announced a list of proposed changes to the 50-year-old National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) in an effort to strip away some of the governmental red tape that has built up over the years like plaque in an artery, preventing important infrastructure projects like pipelines, dams, bridges, and roads from getting built (see Trump Seeks to Speed Up Pipeline Projects by Tweaking NEPA Law). Over the past 20 years or so the left has become adept in their use of NEPA to block new projects, claiming environmental harms. Trump wants to reverse that trend. Yesterday the final version of the Trump Administration’s tweaks to NEPA was released, setting off a firestorm of protest from the more radical elements of the “environmental” movement.
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Riverkeeper Lawsuit Challenges Trump Changes to Water Permits

In April 2019, President Trump signed an Executive Order (EO) instructing the Environmental Protection Agency to review Section 401 of the Clean Water Act–the section that grants states (and tribes) the right to have a say in pipeline projects (see Trump Signs Executive Order Making it Harder to Block Pipe). In keeping with the EO, the EPA issued a draft new rule in August 2019 tightening up standards used in Section 401, creating new boundaries so states like New York and Washington can’t continue to “color outside the lines” by rejecting pipelines for political reasons, as they have both done (see EPA Issues Proposed New Rule for Section 401 Water Permit). A final version of the new rule was released on June 1 (see EPA Issues Final Rule to Prevent States from Blocking Pipelines). On Monday, extreme leftist group THE Delaware Riverkeeper filed a lawsuit challenging the new rule.
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North Carolina is Biggest Loser re Canceled Atlantic Coast Pipe

Some 12 days ago Dominion Energy announced it is throwing in the towel and canceling the 600-mile Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP) project that would have stretched from West Virginia to North Carolina. The company also announced it is selling its pipeline business to Warren Buffett (see Dominion Cancels Atlantic Coast Pipe, Sells Pipe Biz for $9.7B). The cancelation of ACP is a major blow to Marcellus/Utica drillers, but it’s an even bigger blow and more impactful for another group…
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Appalachian Storage Hub Conference Aug 27: In-Person and Online

MDN is happy to help promote the 4th Annual Appalachian Storage Hub Conference coming August 27. This conference provides comprehensive information about the development of the petrochemical industry in the Appalachian Basin. Here’s the exciting part: You can attend the event in-person at the Southpointe Office Park (near Pittsburgh), or for the first time, attend online virtually. At this event, you’ll hear…
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Rystad: O&G Drilling to Hit 20-Yr Low in 2020, >5 Yrs to Recover

Rystad Energy, an independent energy research and business intelligence company headquartered in Oslo, Norway (but with major offices in cities including Houston), recently issued their latest assessment of the worldwide oil and gas marketplace. Rystad is predicting the number of oil and gas wells drilled worldwide in 2020 will fall by a staggering 23% from the number drilled last year. Rystad’s prediction models stretch out five years and forecasts over the next five years the number of wells drilled in any given year will *still not* exceed the number of wells drilled in 2019. Yuck.
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