EQT CEO Didn’t Show Up for Annual Mtg – CFO Talks of Wild Ride
Last Thursday EQT held its annual shareholder’s meeting. By all accounts it was a sleepy affair with few people attending–inside at least. Even the current interim CEO, David Porges, didn’t bother to show up, sending along CFO Rob McNally to be the official face of the company. McNally spoke about the past few years as hectic, going from “one transaction to the next.” McNally said “there’s a light at the end of the tunnel” for things to now settle down–once the company splits in two later this year (into upstream and midstream). However, a handful of Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) protesters showed up to mouth off–marching outside EQT HQ where the annual meeting was held. McNally said, in so many words, protests of MVP are no big deal. The company thought there would be protesters, and they even planned for illegal protests in the construction timeline (people chaining themselves to bulldozers, etc.). Just one more day in the life of a fossil fuel company that deals with nutters all the time…
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The insidious and well-funded Sierra Club has scored another temporary legal victory in stopping Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) construction throughout West Virginia. One month ago we reported that the Clubbers had claimed a temporary victory in stopping construction work of MVP at four river crossings in WV. At that time (in May), the Clubbers and a mishmash of other radicalized groups filed a motion asking the Fourth District U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to suspend a permit issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that allows MVP to construct the pipeline across streams and rivers in the Mountain State (see 
The good news keeps rolling in for Mountain Valley Pipeline–a $3.5 billion, 301-mile pipeline currently under construction from Wetzel County, WV to the Transco Pipeline in Pittsylvania County, VA. MVP is being built to move Marcellus/Utica gas south. Following multiple lawsuits and regulatory challenges by Big Green groups, MVP is getting work done and on track to be completed this year. Just last week we told you that following delays by illegal protesters sitting in trees in the Jefferson National Forest, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission helpfully extended tree cutting season for MVP to July 31 (see 
In May MDN told you that Big Green groups were successful in getting the U.S. District Court of Appeals for D.C. to force the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to either move forward with, or reject a rehearing request on their decision to approve the Mountain Valley Pipeline (see 
Big Green protesters with names like “Ink,” “Sprout,” “Red,” “Nutty,” “Fern” and “Decard” illegally sat in the tops of trees (or on poles) in Virginia as a tactic to prevent Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) from cutting trees along the path of the pipeline. Some of them sat up there for a few days, some for a few weeks, and some for months. Eventually they all came down, as of early June (see 
We’re happy to report that “Fern” and “Decard” have joined “Ink,” “Sprout,” “Red” and “Nutty” back here on Mother Earth. No, we’re not talking about a new Disney “Snow White” remake (Sneezy, Sleepy, Dopey, et al). The names we listed are the names of so-called protesters who have been sitting in the tops of trees (or in the case of Fern and Nutty, on top of poles) in Virginia, part of an illegal action to prevent the construction of the Mountain Valley Pipeline. These last two protesters, Fern and Decard, were recently forced down to earth and arrested. Pipeline construction through the areas they once occupied has resumed. Which is good news. This bunch of kooks were making a mockery of our justice system. Nutty was a woman who sat on top of a pole for nearly two months. Yeah, her self-selected nom de guerre was appropriate. She finally came down two weeks ago when she ran out of Snickers bars (see 
Talk about cutting off a $200,000 nose to spite your face! One of the counties through which the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) will travel is Franklin County, VA. MVP is a $3.5 billion, 301-mile pipeline that will run from Wetzel County, WV to the Transco Pipeline in Pittsylvania County, VA. For more than a year residents in Franklin County have opposed and hassled the MVP project (see 
The radical Sierra Club is claiming a victory in temporarily stopping construction work of the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) at four river crossings in West Virginia. On Tuesday the Sierra Club and a mishmash of other radicalized groups filed a motion asking the Fourth District U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to suspend a permit issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that allows MVP to construct the pipeline across streams and rivers in the Mountain State. The Clubbers’ tortured logic is this: When construction of the pipeline across a river, the stated standard is that construction can take no longer than 72 hours. MVP says it will need longer when constructing the pipeline across four rivers–Elk, Gauley, Greenbrier and Meadow. Therefore (say the Clubbers), MVP is in violation of the general permit issued by the Corps and that means ALL (not just those four rivers) construction should be stopped, immediately. The Fourth Circuit has not yet rendered a decision, however, the Corps itself said they had reviewed the standards and have (for now) rescinded the permit as it applies ONLY to those four rivers, NOT to any locations. So it’s a partial, and temporary, victory for the Clubbers…
It was a big week for Sierra Clubbers. The radical environmental organization (that irrationally hates all fossil fuels, even fossil fuels they used to love, like natural gas) previously filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court of Appeals for D.C. asking the court to consider whether or not the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) should have issued an approval for Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP). MVP is a $3.5 billion, 301-mile pipeline that will run from Wetzel County, WV to the Transco Pipeline in Pittsylvania County, VA–to move Marcellus/Utica gas south. No, the court did not rule FERC was out of order in its decision. Not yet, anyway. This gets in the weeds just a bit, so bear with us. The first step in the process of challenging a pipeline is to ask FERC to rehear their decision. If FERC refuses to rehear (reconsider) the decision, then whoever asked for the rehearing is free to file a lawsuit in the court system to challenge FERC’s decision to approve a project. FERC has 30 days to make a rehearing decision–unless they pull out the “tolling order” card and play it. A tolling order allows FERC more time to decide on rehearing–months, even a year. FERC played the tolling order card here and told the court, “We haven’t decided on rehearing yet, so you need to toss out the radical Sierra Club lawsuit challenging our decision to approve MVP” (MDN condensed version). This week the court said a very loud “NO” to FERC’s request. The court further told FERC to get off its duff and make the rehearing decision within 30 days. In the meantime, the Sierra Club of course wants MVP construction “paused indefinitely” while they continue to tie it up in legal knots. Don’t look for that to happen…
Apparently the more bizarre your actions, the more likely you are to become a minor celebrity. That’s what’s happening for Grandma Red, Theresa “Red” Terry, who took the bizarre action of climbing a tree on her property and living in the top of it for a month–all in an attempt to stop the tree from being cut to make way for the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP). In the end Grandma Red came down when a judge told her she would begin paying $1,000/day for her bizarre behavior. Now that she’s back on terra firma, Grandma Red is meeting with state officials and attending radical Big Green rallies, showered with praise for her “courageous” action. What’s next? The Tonight Show and The Late Show? Meanwhile, in a well-timed and coordinated attack, Big Green lawyers are asking the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn the decisions of state and federal agencies to allow MVP, simply because Big Green doesn’t like the decisions. Big Green argued the court should overturn a decision by the Virginia State Water Control Board to allow MVP to build, crossing streams, and to overturn a decision by the U.S. Forest Service to allow MVP to build pipeline through a tiny sliver of Jefferson National Forest. Twenty years ago these lawsuits would have been laughed out of court because the country followed the rule of law. Today, with courts packed with Obamadroids, you just don’t know…
Despite all of the media attention on a handful of protesters who sit in the tops of trees or on top of a poll in order to block construction of the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP), the pipeline nonetheless continues to receive regular new permissions from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to construct the actual pipeline and (yes), even to cut trees past the March 31 deadline. The good news is that MVP is on track to be completely built and flowing Marcellus/Utica gas by the end of THIS YEAR! Despite the best efforts of radical protesters and multiple lawsuits by Big Green groups. Recent FERC permissions for MVP include: (1) allow MVP to cut trees in Jefferson National Forest past the March 31 deadline; (2) build parts of the pipeline in Roanoke and Franklin Counties, VA; (3) work 24/7 on building a compressor station in Wetzel County, WV; and (4) build pipeline in Jefferson National Forest, on both the VA and WV sides…
Last September a group of 57 gentry landowners in Virginia and West Virginia, backed by an out-of-state Big Green group, sued the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in an attempt to gut the 80-year old Natural Gas Act that gives FERC the right to grant eminent domain for pipeline projects (see