Kinder Morgan

Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Kinder Morgan | Pipelines | Regulation | Tennessee Gas Pipeline

FERC Delays New England Pipeline to Allow More Public Comment
September 1, 2015September 1, 2015

Yet another delay for Kinder Morgan’s proposed Northeast Energy Direct project–an extension of the Tennessee Gas Pipeline from the shale fields of northeastern Pennsylvania through New York, into Massachusetts, then New Hampshire before ending near Boston. It is a $6 billion project with 177 miles of new (greenfield) pipeline construction meant to alleviate the severe shortage of natural gas in New England. Last Friday the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), the government agency in charge of permissioning the project, issued a memo stating they have extended the deadline for public comment on the plan. A new deadline has not yet been decided. The delay delights anti-fossil fuelers…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Kinder Morgan | Pipelines | Tennessee Gas Pipeline

Antis Trot Out 60s Hippie Icon for NH Stop the Pipeline Concert
August 25, 2015August 25, 2015

We have to chuckle. Anti-drillers are so predictable. As we’ve said going back as far as an event we attended in Binghamton when the former mayor of DISH, Texas, Calvin Tilman (in 2010), we observed that many in the audience are 60s hippies with a new cause in life–to oppose drilling/pipelines/fossil fuels in general (see DISH, Texas Mayor Calvin Tillman Visits Binghamton – Marcellus Drilling News was There). That impression–seeing old men with graying long hair in pony tails (bald on top)–has been repeatedly reinforced at other events we’ve attended over the years where antis organized or attended. Yes that’s probably painting with too broad a brush–but it’s funny, because there’s a lot of truth to it. Witness the latest: Anti-fossil fuelers in New England have are dragging out a 60s hippie, singer/songwriter Tom Rush, to headline an anti-natural gas pipeline concert in New Hampshire…
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Energy Services | Energy Transfer Partners | Industrywide Issues | Kinder Morgan | M&A | Spectra Energy | Williams

More Suitors Line Up to Buy Williams – Spectra Energy Makes a Bid
August 19, 2015August 19, 2015

Early in the year, midstream giant Energy Transfer Equity began an attempt to woo another midstream giant Williams into a buyout. Williams resisted and the whole thing went public in June when ETE announced they would pursue a hostile takeover (see Energy Transfer Makes “Indecent Proposal” to Buy Williams for $48B). Williams has continued to spurn the overtures of ETE and has instead gone shopping for another suitor (see Williams Continues to Resist ET Offer, Talks with Other Suitors). We now know of one serious alternative suitor to ETE. Reuters published an exclusive, insider story revealing that Spectra Energy is now bidding to merge with/takeover Williams. Kinder Morgan is also interested and sniffing around, but at this point Spectra seems to be in the lead…
Read More “More Suitors Line Up to Buy Williams – Spectra Energy Makes a Bid”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Kinder Morgan | Pipelines | Transco

Holy Potatoes & Finnish Immigrants – Latest Tactic to Stop Pipeline
August 11, 2015August 11, 2015

Ever hear the phrase, “diggin’ deep”? That’s what anti-drillers are doing in New Hampshire with their opposition to a pipeline slated to come through their area in Hillsborough County. As plans for Kinder Morgan’s $6 billion Northeast Energy Direct (NED) pipeline project that will stretch from Pennsylvania through New York into Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and back into Massachusetts near Boston progress, more and more articles appear in newspapers, like the Monadnock Ledger-Transcript, attempting to convince people the pipeline is from Satan himself. In fact, according to the latest article, NED may just be from Satan! The Ledger-Transcript claims the pipeline, if it follows the same route as already-built high voltage electric lines, would cut through a hay field that (151 years ago) used to be a potato field and is the site of a miracle of importance to Seventh-Day Adventists…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Kinder Morgan | Pipelines | Tennessee Gas Pipeline

Small Group Shows Up to Speak Against NED Pipeline in Dracut, MA
August 4, 2015August 4, 2015

If you were to glance at the headline and first graf (“paragraph” for those not in the publishing industry where we use a lot of lingo) of a story in the liberal Lowell (Massachusetts) Sun, you would think there is a huge, crushing, mammoth, tidal wave (!) of opposition to Kinder Morgan’s Northeast Energy Direct (NED) pipeline project–certainly by people in the Dracut, MA area and possibly by almost every MA citizen in the commonwealth with the exception of a few freakish conservatives who may happen to still live in the state. The headline in yesterday’s issue blares: “In Dracut, public unloads on gas pipeline plan.” The first graf details all of the nightmares that will come true if the pipeline is built: “From the impact on crop yields and watersheds to diminishing property values and the demise of the eastern brook trout, elected officials and citizens from across the commonwealth aired their concerns about the proposed Kinder Morgan natural-gas pipeline before a state regulatory board Monday night.” It’s not til near the end of the second graf you discover there were maybe 100 people who showed up to the meeting–and since it’s a liberal rag with a tendency to inflate the numbers, that means there were actually 50-75 people who showed up to gripe and moan about the pipeline…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Kinder Morgan | Pipelines | Regulation | Transco

Antis Use Their Own Children as Cheap Props at FERC Hearing in NH
August 4, 2015August 5, 2015

A picture truly is worth a thousand words, as the old saying goes. So let’s show you a picture and see what you think (view it below). It is a picture of young children tricked out in “Stop the Pipeline” yellow shirts and red Stop the Pipeline hats–sitting on the floor playing with toys at a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) hearing in southern New Hampshire last week. Two hearings were held to gather public comments on Kinder Morgan’s Northeast Energy Direct natural gas pipeline. As they usually do, anti-fossil fuelers turned the hearings into freak shows–using (we’d call it abusing) children as props. We ask: Who would do something like that to their own children? Why would you brazenly use your own child as a cheap prop in a sleazy attempt to gain attention and sympathy for a political viewpoint? How low can you go?…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Kinder Morgan | Litigation | Pipelines | Tennessee Gas Pipeline

Deerfield’s 2nd Bite at the Litigation Apple Against NED Pipeline
August 3, 2015August 3, 2015

Back in February MDN told you about a group of aging hippies, er, a, New Englanders from Deerfield, MA who decided to sue the federal government to block Kinder Morgan’s Northeast Energy Direct (NED) pipeline project from being built across their property (see Mass. Town Sues FERC to Stop Pipeline Claiming Gas is for Export). The Town of Deerfield is using the pro bono services of a lawyer that doesn’t live in Deerfield, Cristobal Bonifaz. Bonifaz filed the lawsuit in federal court. His argument is that “most of the gas” flowing through NED will be exported and not even used in New England, and taking private property via eminent domain to do so is illegal. His claim is false–but truth isn’t what always wins in court cases. These days it’s finding a liberal judge you can influence that wins in court. Bonifaz is back and he’s filed the same exact lawsuit a second time–with a different (small) group of people from Deerfield and surrounding areas…
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Alternative Energy | Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Kinder Morgan | Pipelines | Tennessee Gas Pipeline

New England’s Obdurate (and Foolish) Opposition to Pipelines
July 31, 2015July 31, 2015

Yet another example (not that you need it) that most folks who oppose pipelines, and shale drilling, and anything to do with shale energy–do so because they irrationally hate fossil fuels. This latest example comes from the land of liberal lunacy–Massachusetts. Leigh Youngblood, director of the Mount Grace Land Conservation Trust, community organized a protest rally preceding a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) scoping session on Wednesday in Greenfield, MA. The FERC scoping session was to hear about potential environmental impacts from the proposed Tennessee Gas Pipeline interstate project known as Northeast Energy Direct, or NED. Youngblood, true to lib Dem form, believes that Massachusetts should dump dirty fossil fuels and instead concentrate their “superior” intellects on using so-called alternative energy sources. Renewable energy is the future, dontchya know…
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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Kinder Morgan | Pipelines | Tennessee Gas Pipeline | UIL Holdings

UIL Invests $80M in Kinder Morgan’s Northeast Energy Direct Pipeline
July 28, 2015July 28, 2015

UIL Holdings, a Connecticut-based utility with 725,000 electric and natural gas customers in two states, is investing $80 million in Kinder Morgan’s Northeast Energy Direct (NED) natural gas pipeline project that will stretch from NY to near Boston, MA to bring cheap, abundant and clean-burning natural gas to New England. One of UIL’s subsidiary companies is Berkshire Gas Company, one of NED’s anchor shippers. Berkshire, you may recall, is at capacity now with respect to natural gas supplies they receive from Kinder’s Tennessee Gas Pipeline. Berkshire has put a moratorium on accepting any new hookups for natural gas in Franklin County, MA (see Guts: No New Pipeline in MA? Then No New Natgas for Utility Customers). You may also recall that UIL is the company that offered the City of Philadelphia the best deal it will ever get to sell the city-owned Philadelphia Gas Works utility, a deal ultimately scuttled by the Democrat-controlled–and profoundly corrupt–Philadelphia City Council (see Philly City Council Kills the Phila. Gas Works $1.86B Deal). UIL will get a 2.5% ownership stake in NED in return for it’s $80M investment…
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Industrywide Issues | Kinder Morgan | Pipelines | Research | Spectra Energy | Transco

Report Says New England Pipelines Not Cost Effective for Maine
July 22, 2015July 22, 2015

A disappointing report was recently delivered to the Maine Public Utility Commission (PUC) that may result in Maine sticking its head in the proverbial sand along its lovely coastline and miss out on cheap, abundant, clean-burning natural gas. In an effort to lower electric power prices, in 2013 the Maine Legislature authorized the PUC to spend up to $75 million a year to buy up to 200 million cubic feet per day of natural gas through an “energy cost reduction contract” (ECRC) that would be paid for by electric ratepayers if it is cost effective. Three companies provided proposals to the PUC: Spectra Energy, Tennessee Gas Pipeline and Portland Natural Gas Transmission System. The PUC hired the Boston-based London Economics International (LEI) to evaluate the proposals and the report is in (full redacted copy below). LEI says none of the three proposals provide enough cost savings to Maine consumers to make them worthwhile…
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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Kinder Morgan | Pipelines | Tennessee Gas Pipeline

KM Board Approves Scaled-Back New England Pipeline for $3.3B
July 17, 2015July 17, 2015

Yesterday the board of directors for Kinder Morgan approved a $3.3 billion investment in the company’s proposed Northeast Energy Direct pipeline project–a huge project that includes a new supply pipeline from Susquehanna County, PA to Schoharie County, NY, and a new market delivery pipeline from Schoharie County, NY to Dracut, MA. It is the market delivery pipeline as it passes through both Massachusetts, into New Hampshire and then back into Massachusetts that seems to be stirring up the most controversy that the board approved yesterday with a price tag of $3.3B. But beneath the headline news that the board has given the OK to spend big money is the “real” story–which is that KM has chosen to build a smaller 30-inch pipeline rather than the pre-filed 36-inch pipeline they had hoped to build. Why? Because they haven’t gotten any major new customers to sign on for capacity in the pipeline since the initial open season (see Kinder Morgan Fails to Sign Up New NED Customers in Last 8 Mos). The smaller pipeline means smaller compressor stations. It also means a little less disruption when it’s built as KM will need less space to store pipes. But the more modest environmental impacts don’t assuage anti-fossil fuelers who want to eliminate all fossil fuels and, we suppose, go back to the stone ages with camp fires and animal skins for clothes…
Read More “KM Board Approves Scaled-Back New England Pipeline for $3.3B”
Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Kinder Morgan | Pipelines | Regulation | Tennessee Gas Pipeline

NH Gov Hassan Asks FERC to Schedule More Hearings for KM Pipeline
July 17, 2015July 17, 2015

New Hampshire Gov. Maggie Hassan seems to be playing both sides of the fence in the debate to bring cheap, abundant Marcellus Shale gas to New England to help relieve sky-high electric and natural gas prices in the region–particularly in the winter months. Hassan is one of six New England governors who previously backed the concept of a new natural gas pipeline to the region (see Blue State Blues: 6 New England States Want New Natgas Pipeline). Yet lately, Hassan, one of the five Democrat governors supporting a pipeline, seems to be backing away from the concept and calling on Kinder Morgan with its proposed Northeast Energy Direct (NED) pipeline plan to bend over backwards, sideways and any which way it can to please her lib constituents. The latest in her escalating rhetoric is a letter sent Wednesday to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) asking them to schedule more than just three scoping hearings. As we’ve often commented, anti-drilling nutters need cameras and open forums to feel good about themselves. They parade and preen and behave in the wackiest ways when they know a camera and microphone are present. Hassan wants to provide more such opportunities for her supporters…
Read More “NH Gov Hassan Asks FERC to Schedule More Hearings for KM Pipeline”
Energy Companies | Energy Services | Hilcorp Energy | Kinder Morgan

Big Oil & Gas Money Flows to Jeb Bush Campaign, Disappointingly
July 17, 2015July 17, 2015

We promise not to wade too far in to presidential politics this year and next. But when the race to replace Obama–and reverse his disastrous decisions–impacts the oil and gas space, we may have a thing or two to say. Like today when we read that big money Texas oil billionaires like Boone Pickens, Hilcorp Energy Co. founder Jeffery Hildebrand and Richard Kinder of Kinder Morgan are financially backing Jeb Bush–a major disappointment in our book. Jeb is a RINO–we’ll NEVER swing a lever for him, even if he’s the Republican Party pick for 2016…
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CNG/LNG | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Exporting | Industrywide Issues | Kinder Morgan | Shell

KM Buys Shell’s Share in Elba LNG Export Plant, Marcellus Exports?
July 16, 2015July 16, 2015

Kinder Morgan, the country’s largest midstream/pipeline company, announced yesterday they are buying out Shell’s share of a joint venture in building an LNG (liquefied natural gas) export facility at the existing LNG import facility on Elba Island, Georgia–near Savannah. Currently Kinder owns 51% of the Elba Island LNG export project and Shell owns 49%. Kinder will now own 100% of the project after they pay Shell $630 million. Depending on how fast the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) acts, Kinder believes construction will begin by the end of this year an LNG exports will begin “in late 2017.” What does this have to do with Marcellus/Utica? Maybe nothing, but we suspect something. Kinder’s arch rival Williams owns the mighty Transco pipeline that connects, via the Elba Express pipeline, to the LNG facility. Currently Elba Island imports LNG. However, Williams has been on a mission to send Marcellus gas south–including to Georgia (see Marcellus Gas Heading to Georgia via Transco Pipeline). We don’t think it’s much of a stretch that Marcellus Shale gas, via the Transco, will be at least some of, if not the primary, source for gas exported from the Elba facility…
Read More “KM Buys Shell’s Share in Elba LNG Export Plant, Marcellus Exports?”
Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Kinder Morgan | Pipelines | Regulation | Tennessee Gas Pipeline

Kinder Morgan Scores Important Victory in NH to Build NED Pipeline
July 1, 2015July 1, 2015

The first domino has fallen. Kinder Morgan won an important victory in New Hampshire with respect to building the Northeast Energy Direct (NED) pipeline project–an extension of the Tennessee Gas Pipeline from New York through Massachusetts into New Hampshire and back into Massachusetts. On Friday the staff of the NH Public Utilities Commission (PUC) signed off on a request by the state’s largest utility company, Liberty Utilities, to buy capacity from the new NED pipeline as it passes through the state. Because Liberty’s action will potentially affect ratepayers (some of the cost may be passed to utility customers), the PUC must approve it. Full approval for Liberty to contract for capacity on NED will happen later in July–but full approval is almost certainly a foregone conclusion because of this initial approval…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Kinder Morgan | Pipelines | Regulation | Transco

Mass. DPU Rejects Anti Group’s Request to Join Pipeline Hearing
June 24, 2015June 24, 2015

ENOUGH of these anti-pipeline, anti-drilling, dump-all-fossil fuels protesters and their strategies to stop pipelines in New England. That’s essentially what the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities (DPU) said in refusing to allow the anti-pipeline group Pipeline Awareness Network for the Northeast (PLAN-NE) “full intervenor status” at a series of hearings the DPU will hold today, tomorrow and Friday to consider whether the contracts sought by the local gas distribution companies (local gas utilities) who want to get cheap, abundant and clean-burning Marcellus natural gas from Kinder Morgan’s proposed Northeast Energy Direct pipeline, are in the public interest. The DPU wants to concentrate on the real issues at hand and not be distracted and derailed by the antics of anti-pipeliners, so the DPU turned down PLAN-NE’s request…
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