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US Fish & Wildlife Agrees with FERC re MVP Impact on Candy Darter
We know you’re just dying to know the outcome of whether or not the cute, little candy darter is safe if the big, evil Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) finishes building across several 136 streams in Virginia and West Virginia. Relax. The candy darter is safe. So says the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) in a memo sent to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on Tuesday. The USFWS memo answers a request by FERC to weigh in on several threatened and endangered species (plants and animals). The bottom line from USFWS is that the final bits of work to be done on the 94% complete MVP will not present a problem for threatened and endangered species.
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Our friends at NGI (Natural Gas Intelligence) are running an excellent series providing expert forecasts for the global natural gas and oil markets in 2022. The latest installment interviews several experts about the prospects for the Marcellus/Utica. With the Shell ethane cracker plant coming online sometime this year, the prospects for NGL sales in the M-U have picked up. Also in the discussion: capping Pennsylvania’s orphaned wells, drilling in the Wayne National Forest, and the Mountain Valley Pipeline coming online.
It’s “mission accomplished” for anti-fossil fuel zealots who say even if the 303-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) from Wetzel County, WV to Pittsylvania County, VA gets completed (now 94% done), their constant lawsuits and hassling of the project has ensured no one else in their right mind will attempt another big pipeline project like MVP–ever again. At least not in the northeast. How sad when evil triumphs over good, when Big Green can corrupt and abuse our court system by launching frivolous lawsuit after frivolous lawsuit (at least 57 of them) to stop a legal, righteous, and much-needed pipeline like MVP.
Some really good (and expected) news to report. The West Virginia Dept. of Environmental Protection (WV DEP) issued a key permit for the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) to finish work crossing rivers and streams in the Mountain State. MVP, a 303-mile pipeline from West Virginia into southern Virginia, is currently 94% built and in the ground. There are several portions left to complete it, including crossing rivers and streams in both Virginia and West Virginia. The permits needed to do so come from three sources: the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Virginia Water Control Board, and WV DEP.
Far-left Democrat and so-called civil rights “leader” Rev. William Barber II “preached” to a crowd of fellow lefties on Saturday. The topic of the reverend’s sermon? The evil, racist Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP). We bet you didn’t know that MVP is “an abusive sin,” did you? Yeah, it’s right there in Revelation. That’s what Rev. Barber told his audience. That evil ole’ snaking pipeline will “harm the poor” and people of color. The rally was arranged ahead of this week’s Virginia State Water Control Board vote (on Tuesday) to allow MVP to cross minor creeks and swamps in the state.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is (surprisingly, under the current regime) sticking up for its decision made during the Trump administration to allow Equitrans’ 303-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) from West Virginia into Virginia to continue working on completion of the 92% done project. A coalition of Big Green groups has repeatedly, viciously challenged and tried to block completion of the pipeline, more than doubling costs for the project due to court delays. On Friday, FERC filed a defense of its orders from late last year to allow MVP to restart construction on all but a very few locations still being litigated (primarily a small section through Jefferson National Forest).
Equitrans Midstream, formerly known as EQT Midstream, issued its third quarter update yesterday. The main focus (for us) of the update is new or updated information related to the company’s all-important Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) project and those projects connected to MVP–including Hammerhead and Southgate. Yesterday we learned Equitrans still believes MVP, a 303-mile pipeline from West Virginia to southern Virginia, is on track to start up in “summer 2022.” The company plans to begin construction of a related extension of MVP, called Southgate (from Virginia into North Carolina) in 2022 and bring it online in early 2023.
Last week MDN told you the news that EQT Corporation has sold part of its reserve capacity along the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) to “an undisclosed investment-grade entity for six years” (see 
It’s splitsville for EQT and Equitrans Midstream, the midstream company that was once part of EQT. In releasing details about third quarter performance, EQT announced yesterday it has sold nearly half of its contracted capacity with Equitrans for the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP). MVP, when it goes online next year, will ship gas south. It seems EQT is looking West. In the same announcement yesterday, EQT said it has signed a new contract with the Rockies Express (REX) pipeline to ship even more of its gas to markets in the Midwest.