Antis Gang Up on PennEast Pipe, Bombard FERC Demanding New Review
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 DRBC Oversteps Authority, Says It Must Approve PennEast). In addition to DRBC, the New Jersey Dept. of Environmental Protection (NJ DEP) has also requested FERC redo its review. And those two agencies have somehow prompted the Trump Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to make its own request that FERC redo its environmental assessment for the project.
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One year ago MDN told about a Kinder Morgan’s Natural Gas Pipeline Company of America LLC (NGPL) project that carries Marcellus/Utica gas from the Midwest all the way to the Gulf Coast to feed just about any of the existing or under construction LNG export plants in the region (see 
Both Patterson-UTI Energy and TechnipFMC are big oilfield services (OFS) companies–drilling, fracking, completions, etc. Both have operations in the Marcellus/Utica region, as well as operations in other shale plays (TechnipFMC has ops in other countries). Both companies run in the same pack with much larger (but similar) companies like Schlumberger, Halliburton and Baker Hughes. Because of their presence in the M-U, it caught our attention that both Patterson and TechnipFMC announced major cuts to their capital expenditure budgets for the balance of 2020. Patterson is axing more money from an already axed budget–now 60% lower than what they spent in 2019. TechnipFMC is trimming 30% from their budget this year over last.
The Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) has been co-opted by Big Green groups to do their bidding. The latest example is a letter sent by DRBC to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), arrogantly telling FERC that the DRBC has the power to review the PennEast Pipeline project–to pass judgment on whether or not (and how) it gets built. That authority lies SOLELY with FERC.
Last December the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) filed a request with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) asking for an extra 60 days to revise an Endangered Species Act (ESA) review of the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) project. In February they asked for another 45-day extension (see 
Even amid the coronavirus pandemonium and economic destruction happening everywhere, important oil and gas (and petrochemical) projects continue to make progress. In particular, the PTT Global Chemical plan to build an ethane cracker plant in Belmont County, OH still shows signs of life. In February PTT’s CEO signaled that a final investment decision on whether (or not) to build a multi-billion dollar ethane cracker in Belmont County, OH is coming by “mid-year 2020” (see 
Anti-fossil fuelers are on a holy mission to stop a 3.37-mile, 8-inch pipeline from being built under the Potomac River by Columbia Gas (see 
After we picked ourselves up off the floor from laughing so hard, it dawned on us the far-left radicals at THE Delaware Riverkeeper, Clean Air Council and PennFuture have done both the PennEast Pipeline and Adelphia Gateway pipeline projects a HUGE beneficial service. Those three nutty groups commissioned and have just released a new “study” (copy below) that uses data to show PennEast and Adelphia together, WHEN (not if) they get built, will mean that PA drillers have to drill and connect another 1,913 to 3,061 new shale wells to feed them. Well duuuh! Of course it means that!! And that’s a GREAT thing for all of PA. More economic stimulus. More jobs. More tax revenues flowing to local municipalities. (Do these groups know they’ve just handed us a new argument in favor of these pipelines?)
Is this the beginning of a pullback from LNG projects? Scared of the impacts of the coronavirus and the price of oil crashing, Royal Dutch Shell is pulling out of a 50/50 joint venture partnership with Energy Transfer (ET) to build a new LNG export facility in Lake Charles, Louisiana. In corporate speak, Shell says, “This decision is consistent with the initiatives we announced last week to preserve cash and reinforce the resilience of our business,” and “the time is not right for Shell to invest.” Translation: We’re scared. And who can blame them? All of a sudden there are LNG cargoes sailing the oceans with no place to unload (see 
Last May MDN told you about JAX LNG in Jacksonville, Florida–a joint project between Pivotal LNG (a subsidiary of Southern Company Gas) and NorthStar Midstream (a pipeline company in the Bakken Shale), touted as the “first” small-scale LNG plant to be located along the shoreline, allowing it to fuel up LNG ships–ships that use LNG as fuel, instead of diesel–and also allowing the LNG to be loaded onto trucks and trains for transportation to power plants and industrial/commercial operators (see 
Nearly two weeks ago Shell, at the prompting of local officials, shut down construction of the mighty ethane cracker plant the company is building in Beaver County, PA (see 
The final bits of Columbia Gas Transmission’s Mountaineer XPress pipeline project (most of it located in West Virginia) went online just over one year ago (see 
The confusion over whether or not the Mariner East 2 (ME2) pipeline project has (a) shut down all construction, except certain tidying up aspects at certain locations, or (b) has permission by the state to keep on building, is still not 100% settled. On Monday we told you that ME2 construction was in the process of ceasing under orders issued by Gov. Wolf (see