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Fed Court Strongly Rebukes Riverkeeper for Harassing ME2 Pipe
A federal court in Pennsylvania has just verbally slapped down THE Delaware Riverkeeper–both the umbrella Riverkeeper organization and (by name) the person who claims to be THE riverkeeper of the Delaware, Maya van Rossum, for a transparent and pathetic attempt at blocking the Mariner East 2 pipeline project with yet another frivolous lawsuit. In the decision, the judge says the litigation tactics of the Riverkeeper organization “do nothing to protect the environment.” The judge also said to impose liability against ME2 in this case “would offend basic principles of fairness and effect an absurd result” and “violate due process.” Ouch.
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Last December MDN told you that investment firm Blackstone Infrastructure Partners, a major investor in pipeline company Tallgrass Energy, pursued and caught the company, tentatively convincing Tallgrass to sell its public shares of stock to Blackstone, which will take the company “private” –meaning no publicly traded shares of stock (see 
Officials from both Delaware County and Chester County (suburbs of Philadelphia) sent a letter to state officials earlier this week asking the state to once again shut down critical work being done on the Mariner East 2 pipeline project. The county officials, at the prompting (control?) of the uber-leftist and radical Clean Air Council, are using the COVID-19 crisis as their excuse to try and shut down work on the project. In their letter, county officials cite unnamed and anecdotal “sources” who claim (lie?) that workers on the pipeline are violating social-distancing rules–at work and off. Ninny nannies tattling. Do you think workers would jeopardize their own health and the health of their families? No, we don’t think so either.
We see a very positive sign that the U.S. Supreme Court is potentially interested in accepting and ruling on a case of tremendous importance to the oil and gas industry. The case is PennEast Pipeline v State of New Jersey. NJ is attempting to block the PennEast project by denying it access to run across tracts of land either owned or controlled by the state, claiming federal eminent domain authority does not apply to state-owned land. NJ won the case in lower courts and PennEast appealed it all the way to the Supremes, who have now taken an active interest. No, they haven’t officially accepted the case…yet. But they have just signaled a strong interest.
A newly passed and signed-into-law bill in Virginia, House Bill (HB) 167, purportedly aims to “protect” electric consumers from shouldering the costs of new pipelines that would feed gas-fired power plants. What the bill actually does is remove freedom of choice for utility companies, driving 
Williams is one of the premier midstream (pipeline) companies in the United States. They own and operate more than 30,000 miles of pipelines, including the mighty Transco, the nation’s largest volume pipeline handling some 30% of all natural gas in the U.S., used every day for clean-power generation, heating and industrial use. Recognizing the economic carnage underway in many communities across the country due to the COVID-19 coronavirus, Williams has stepped up to offer $1 million in grants to nonprofit organizations–501(c)3s, K-12 public schools, and first responders. Details below on how to apply.
In February Williams official gave up on building a long-delayed project to flow natural gas from northeastern Pennsylvania into central New York, called the Constitution Pipeline (see 
Remember that old Abbott and Costello comedy routine, “Who’s on First?” That aptly describes what appears to be happening at the Pennsylvania Dept. of Community and Economic Development (DCED). PA Gov. Tom Wolf issued an edict several weeks ago that bans businesses from working unless they appear on a list of “life-sustaining” activities, in an effort to halt the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus. Companies can apply for a waiver if they’re not on the life-sustaining list. The DCED is in charge (if you can call it that) of reviewing and issuing the waivers. Yesterday the DCED issued waivers to Energy Transfer to button up some final bits of work on the Mariner East 2 (ME2) pipeline project in several locations near Philadelphia. A few hours later DCED rescinded/pulled those waivers. What’s going on?
A couple of weeks ago midstream giant Williams said it had swallowed a big, fat poison pill (see 
Nuverra Environmental Solutions (formerly Heckmann) is one of the largest companies in the United States that handles transportation and disposal of shale drilling wastewater and leftover rock and dirt from drilling. The company has major operations in the Marcellus/Utica region. Given that Nuverra’s customers, oil and gas drillers, are canceling work right and left meaning less work for Nuverra, the company announced it is laying off roughly 100 employees, cutting the salaries of everyone else, and slicing other non-essential expenses in an effort to ride out the coronavirus/oil price crash storm.
A recent column appearing in a Virginia newspaper shares what it believes is a revelation: When big energy/utility companies like Dominion Energy say they will achieve “net-zero carbon emissions,” they don’t mean they will stop using fossil fuels to create energy. Not by a long-shot. What “zero carbon” or “net-zero carbon” means is that all carbon dioxide (generated when burning natural gas to generate electricity, for example) is captured and used for something else. CO2 is not released into the atmosphere. Even though companies like Dominion are able to capture and reuse CO2, and prevent methane from leaking, it’s STILL not good enough for those who irrationally hate fossil fuels.
Leftist anti-fossil fuelers (nutters all) have worked themselves into a frenzy with a new campaign to bombard the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) with requests and demands to begin all over again in its review of the PennEast Pipeline project. Last week MDN told you about the Delaware River Basin Commission’s haughty demand that it be given the right to review and pass judgment on the project before construction begins (see 