Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Equitrans/EQT Midstream | Industrywide Issues | North Carolina | Pipelines
After Killing ACP, Antis Attempt to Do Same to MVP Southgate
Anti-fossil fuel nutters, emboldened by the cancelation of the 600-mile Atlantic Coast Pipeline project (see Dominion Cancels Atlantic Coast Pipe, Sells Pipe Biz for $9.7B), have turned their hopes and dreams and desires on defeating a much smaller project–the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) Southgate pipeline.
Read More “After Killing ACP, Antis Attempt to Do Same to MVP Southgate”
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 
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.
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.
Equitrans Midstream’s 303-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) project is now 92% complete and will be done and online in early 2021 (see 
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’ 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.
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.
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).
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.
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.
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.
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.