Energy Services | Equitrans/EQT Midstream | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Regulation | Statewide VA | Virginia
Virginia DEQ Changes Pipe Regs in Effort to Block MVP Finish
Don’t you love playing a game with a child and part of the way through the game, the child simply changes the rules for how the game is played (particularly when they are losing)? That’s what comes to mind with the Virginia Dept. of Environmental Quality’s (DEQ) recent action in disallowing any pipeline bigger than 36 inches to use a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Nationwide Permit 12 (NWP12) to cross creeks, rivers, and wetlands. The move is meant to block Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP), a 42-inch pipeline, from finishing its installation work (the pipeline is 92% complete).
Read More “Virginia DEQ Changes Pipe Regs in Effort to Block MVP Finish”
Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP), a 303-mile, 2 Bcf/d pipeline to move Marcellus/Utica gas from West Virginia to southern Virginia, has been hounded by radicals from Big Green groups including the Sierra Club for years. Big Green apparently has the clown judges from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in its back pocket because the clowns keep overturning legal and legitimately issued permits by government agencies including the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (see 
Yesterday the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued approval to Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) to restart work in private land next to the Jefferson National Forest. The order allows MVP to complete installing pipeline along a 17-mile stretch. Of course, FERC Commissioner Richard “Dick” Glick (Democrat) strongly objected, because he hates all fossil fuels and votes against any and every gas and oil pipeline project.
It seems pretty certain at this point that Joe Biden will seize control of the White House come Jan. 20 (although we still hold out hope for a Supreme Court intervention against the 
Last week MDN told you that the judges of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit signaled they will overturn, for a second time, a permit issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that allows the 92% completed Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) from finishing its work by installing pipe under or through creeks and rivers (see 
Coincidentally, a second dehydration unit fire occurred early Saturday morning, also in Pennsylvania, but this second fire occurred across the state in southwest PA. Our lead story today is about a dehydration unit fire at a well pad in Lycoming County (see Two-Alarm Fire at Alta Resources Well Pad in Lycoming County, PA). The second fire happened at a dehydration unit at a compressor station in Greene County owned and operated by Equitrans Midstream.
The clown judges of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit (one of whom quotes from children’s books in her opinions) have signaled they will overturn, again (for the second or third time) a permit issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that allows the 92% completed Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) from finishing its work by installing pipe under or through creeks and rivers. We have the Sierra Club to thank for the lawsuit, and colluding liberal Democrat judges to thank for continued obstruction of this legally-permitted project from finishing.
Each year East Daley Capital publishes its Midstream Guidance Outlook which looks at themes and trends affecting the midstream (pipeline) sector in the coming year. The latest version of Daley’s report has just been released and draws some interesting conclusions about the midstream in 2021. Namely, associated gas growth in the Permian and elsewhere will go down and result in rising gas demand from the Marcellus/Utica and Haynesville gas plays. The big winners will be M-U pipeline companies, including Williams, Antero Midstream, and Equitrans (EQT Midstream).
Earlier this month the Sierra Club filed yet another lawsuit (we’ve lost count of how many they’ve filed) attempting to block construction of the final 8% of Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP). The Clubbers asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit to “temporarily” block a permit issued by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (see 
Believe it or not, there are still two environmentalist wackos living up a tree in Montgomery County, Virginia, preventing work crews for Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) from cutting trees to clear a path for the pipeline. This has been going on for years and frankly, everyone is tired of it. A county judge has found the two cowards not willing to reveal their names (known as Tree-sitter 1 and Tree-sitter 2) in contempt of court. Starting today if they don’t come down, they are both on the hook for a $500 per day fine.
The Sierra Club, backed with money from Russia (see 
Equitrans Midstream, the lead partner and builder of the 303-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) project, announced yesterday it has (once again) pushed back the in-service date for the pipeline, from 1Q21 to the second half of 2021 (meaning by December), and pushed up the cost of the project, from $5.4 billion to as high as $6 billion. You can thank the jobs-and-economy-destroying Sierra Club for the delays and increase in cost.
Although the big news from yesterday is that EQT is rumored to be eyeing a takeover of CNX Resources (see our lead story today), EQT released its third-quarter 2020 update yesterday with news almost as big. EQT previously announced it is looking to sell its right to ship gas along the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP). Yesterday the company said it believes a sale of its MVP capacity will happen by the end of this year.