On Monday MDN brought you the tremendously sad news that Dominion Energy has canceled plans to build the $8 billion Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP) from West Virginia through Virginia and into North Carolina (see Dominion Cancels Atlantic Coast Pipe, Sells Pipe Biz for $9.7B). However, there is a silver lining in that news and other news from this week for a somewhat competitive project, Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP).
Continue reading
In May a Montana federal judge appointed by Barack Obama capriciously blocked the use of U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Nationwide Permit (NP) 12 for all pipeline projects across the country (see Obama Judge Blocks New Pipe Projects that Use NP12 Permit). In June the Trump administration asked the U.S. Supreme Court to lift the judge’s ban (see Trump Administration Asks Supreme Court to Lift NP12 Permit Ban). Late yesterday the Supremes did just that–lifted the ban. NP12 can now be used for pipeline projects other than the Keystone XL project.
Continue reading
Brian Lego, research assistant professor in the West Virginia University (WVU) Bureau of Business and Economic Research, says while canceling the $8 billion Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP) project is a blow to WV because of lost jobs, the even bigger impact will be less new markets for Marcellus/Utica gas, meaning growth in M-U drilling will be stunted.
Continue reading
Coincidentally we have a second story today about pipe welding inspectors. In another post, we tell you about a pipeline welding inspector who falsified records (see ME2 Pipe Worker in SWPA Admits Falsifying Welding Records 77 Times), which is very much the exception and not the rule. In this second story, an inspector who worked for Equitrans Midstream has filed what he hopes will become a class action lawsuit against the Equitrans, claiming he and others were jilted out of overtime pay.
Continue reading
Equitrans Midstream’s 303-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) project is now 92% complete and will be done and online in early 2021 (see Mountain Valley Pipe Will be Done and In-Service Early 2021). While Equtrans was building MVP a lightbulb went off and the company had a great idea. Why not extend MVP, which runs from West Virginia to southern Virginia, by another 75 miles into North Carolina? This new project is called MVP Southgate–and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has just fully approved it.
Continue reading
Equitrans, formerly EQT Midstream, separated from EQT in November 2018. Equitrans, via its EQM Midstream affiliate, gathers, processes, and flows most of EQT’s natural gas production, getting it to market. In February Equitrans announced it will absorb EQM, a limited partnership, into the fold (see Equitrans Merging in EQM Midstream, Lowers Fees for EQT $535M). The two entities have always operated as a single entity with the same management, but on paper they have different sets of investors and different corporate structures. As of today, the two will become one in the form of a “C” corporation.
Continue reading
We finally have a major court victory over the forces of anti-fossil fuel evil, so let’s sit back and soak in the warmth and sunshine of this moment. Yesterday the U.S. Supreme Court delivered a decision we expected, a decision that allows Dominion’s Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP), a 600-mile project from West Virginia through Virginia and into North Carolina, to cross under the Appalachian Trail. The decision is not only a victory for ACP, which is only about 6% built, but also a victory for the 303-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline, which is 92% built. MVP also needs to pass under the Trail.
Continue reading
Equitrans’ 303-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) project from West Virginia to southern Virginia is now 92% in the ground and complete. That final 8% is frustratingly delayed because of lawsuits and regulatory actions brought on by Big Green groups. But have no fear. In an announcement released yesterday by the builder Equitrans Midstream, MVP will be 100% done and operational in “early 2021.” The end is in sight.
Continue reading
Amid all of the frivolous lawsuits and regulatory actions brought by Big Green, aimed at blocking progress on important projects like the 303-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) that runs from West Virginia to southern Virginia (90% complete), progress is still happening for new pipeline projects. One of those new projects is MVP Southgate, a 75-mile extension of MVP that will run from southern Virginia into North Carolina.
Continue reading
Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP), the 303-mile pipeline from West Virginia into southwestern Virginia, recently received permission from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to change the method it will use to cross over (actually under) the Roanoke River. Not that it makes much difference right now since the entire project, which is 90% complete, is stalled due to a federal lawsuit aimed at blocking an unrelated Midwest oil pipeline.
Continue reading
The nation’s largest natural gas producer, EQT Corporation, is temporarily curtailing or shutting in roughly one-third of its natural gas production in Pennsylvania and Ohio. So says EQT’s main midstream (pipeline) provider, Equitrans (formerly EQT Midstream).
Continue reading
Yet another lawsuit trying to emasculate the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) by attacking its right to delegate eminent domain authority to pipeline builders has been tossed in federal court. Several of these cases have been tried using Marcellus/Utica pipeline projects. This latest case was brought by uppity, privileged landowners in Virginia against the Equitrans Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) project.
Continue reading
Midstreamer Equitrans, the former EQT Midstream (before EQT split itself into two companies) posted its first-quarter 2020 update yesterday and held a conference call with analysts. Of primary concern and focus for us, and most observers was an update on the company’s 303-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) project, which is 90% built and in the ground. The remaining portions of MVP are held up by various court cases and regulatory actions. According to officials on the call, there is a “narrow path” to completing the project by the end of this year at a cost of $5.4 billion. If the timeline slips, the cost goes up.
Continue reading
Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP), a 303-mile Marcellus/Utica gas pipeline from West Virginia to southern Virginia, is 90% built and in the ground. The final 10% is waiting on various lawsuits and regulatory agencies to resolve outstanding issues brought on by radicalized green groups. One of the places the pipeline has long been done and in the ground is Lewis County, WV. It’s a mountainous area. Inspectors recently discovered there have been “slips” of the land resulting in “at least three locations” where MVP has shifted.
Continue reading
Disgusting anti-fossil fuel lunatics have hassled the Keystone XL oil pipeline in the Midwest with frivolous lawsuits for years. Last week an Obama-appointed liberal judge serving in Montana, U.S. District Judge Brian Morris, vacated a permit for the Keystone project, once again stopping construction. The permit vacated was issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and is called a Nationwide Permit 12–the equivalent of a Section 401 permit under the Clean Water Act–allowing projects like pipelines to be built across or under streams, rivers and “wetlands” (swamps). The problem with the judge’s action is that it potentially affects all pipeline projects across the country using an NP12 permit–including the delayed Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP), a 303-mile Marcellus/Utica gas pipeline from West Virginia to southern Virginia.
Continue reading
Last December the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) filed a request with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) asking for an extra 60 days to revise an Endangered Species Act (ESA) review of the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) project. In February they asked for another 45-day extension (see MVP Update: USFWS Needs More Time; Antis Pester DEQ). The new deadline is here and once again FWS is back, asking FERC for more time. This time they want another 32 days–until April 27.
Continue reading
