FERC Grants Portland XPress Project Environmental Approval
TransCanada is attempting to do what so far, no one else has been able to accomplish: Increase flows of Marcellus/Utica gas into New England. The way they’re doing it is via the Portland Natural Gas Transmission System (PNGTS), a 295-mile pipeline that spans New England from the Canadian border to pipeline connections in New Hampshire, Maine and Massachusetts. No, TransCanada is not proposing to build any new pipelines as part of their plan. In fact, there is very little construction in what TransCanada is calling its Portland XPress Project (PXP). Phase I is now under construction and Phase II will soon be under construction. TransCanada filed for Phase III in June. Earlier this week FERC issued a favorable environmental assessment (EA) for Phase III of the project, which is prelude to issuing a final approval.
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It takes a loooong time for the wheels of justice to turn, but (usually) turn they do. In 2016 Kathleen Kane, former Pennsylvania Attorney General who prosecuted and persecuted others, particularly in the gas drilling industry, was convicted of committing perjury (i.e. lying under oath) about leaking privileged grand jury information in a case unrelated to gas drilling. She was, in October 2016, sentenced to jail (see 
We pride ourselves on keeping close tabs on the market. Yet somehow the construction of a smallish NGL (natural gas liquids) pipeline gathering system in western PA slipped by us. The pipeline is now built and the builder, Stonehenge Energy Resources, is putting the “finishing touches” on the Stonehenge Laurel – Clarion Pipeline System before it goes live. The pipeline will connect to Laurel Mountain Energy’s wells in Clarion County and collect up the NGLs (things like ethane and propane) from those wells and flow it neighboring Butler County where the NGLs will hitch a ride via Energy Transfer’s Revolution Pipeline system to Washington County, PA where they will get cleaned up and separated.
In early October MDN reported that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit had “vacated” (canceled, overturned) a permit issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in West Virginia that would allow Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) to use a more environmentally friendly form of crossing four rivers in the state than is technically allowed under federal Clean Water Act regulations (see 
Reuters has published a “hit piece” against Energy Transfer (ET) and two of its recent big pipeline projects–Rover Pipeline (in Ohio & Michigan), and Mariner East 2 Pipeline (in Ohio and Pennsylvania). Reuters is usually more balanced than, say, Bloomberg with these types of articles. Reuters usually doesn’t go out of its way to denigrate the industry. The article evaluates the number of permit violations issued for both projects. Together that number exceeds 800. Is that a lot? Reuters says they’ve analyzed “four comparable pipeline projects” and found an average of 19 violations per project (or 38 for two projects). So yeah, 800 vs. 38 sure sounds like a lot to us.
Last week MDN told you about seven anti-fossil fuelers in the Philadelphia area who have filed a request with the PA Public Utility Commission requesting the PUC shut down both the Mariner East 1 pipeline, which has been flowing since 2016, and Mariner East 2 pipeline, which is about to go online any day now (see 
We bring you the following story purely for your (and our) entertainment. Dominion Energy, a huge company with its fingers in many energy pies (pipelines, LNG exports, power generation, utility company), is teaming up with the world’s largest pork producer, Smithfield, to “harness methane gas from thousands of malodorous hog lagoons.” That is, they will capture methane from pig poop and use that methane to “heat homes and combat climate change.” (Excuse us while we get up off the floor from laughing so hard!) The story comes from the well known fake news purveyor Washington Post, so we can’t be 100% sure of its accuracy. But we’ll go with it, simply for laughs.
Still no sign from PTT Global Chemical that they will announce a final decision to proceed with building a $6 billion ethane cracker in Belmont County, OH, by the end of this year. The project was first announced in April 2015 (see 
The move to dissolve MLPs (master limited partnerships) and replace them with a corporate structure continues. In March, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) took “significant action” to address the Trump tax cut legislation enacted last December (see 
Earlier this month MDN brought you the exciting news that New Fortress Energy (NFE) is planning to build an LNG (liquefied natural gas) liquefaction plant in Wyalusing (Bradford County), PA in order to export Marcellus gas (see 
In a pattern that has repeated itself with both the Mountain Valley Pipeline and (now) the Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP), a key permit that allows ACP to build under and through streams and rivers and wetlands has been, for now, revoked. The permit is called a Nationwide Permit (NWP) 12 and was previously issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to allow ACP to build through streams, etc. in all three states where it runs–West Virginia, Virginia and North Carolina. Earlier this month the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals put a temporary stop on constructing the pipeline across/under/through streams and rivers in WV (see 
NEXUS Pipeline, a $2.6 billion, 255-mile interstate pipeline that runs from Ohio into Michigan, began a partial startup in October, and is now fully online. Although there was early opposition to the project, and some complaints from landowners along the route of construction, the project is noteworthy for the just how little complaining there actually was. Not all of the restoration work–things like reseeding and landscaping–is done. Most of it is done, but not all. A few landowners still have some scattered complaints related to unfinished work. Massive amounts of rain in the region have prevented final restoration work, which NEXUS now says will have to wait until spring 2019. In the meantime, local school districts and municipalities are rubbing their hands, anticipating tax payments that will begin to flow into their coffers.
Seven antis from Greater Philadelphia, with money and lawyers from Big Green groups backing them, on Monday asked the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission to shut down Mariner East 1 pipeline (which has operating for more than a year), and to block the startup of Mariner East 2 pipeline. The chutzpah of these people is breathtaking. To put it in perspective, Chester and Delaware Counties, which is where the seven antis hail from, has a combined population of 1,083,989 people (as of 2017). Seven people represents .0006% of the population. Meaning 99.999% of the population either don’t care, or are not against these pipeline projects. Both ME1 and ME2 carry natural gas liquids (NGLs)–meaning ethane and propane–from the western side of PA across the state to Delaware County and the Marcus Hook refinery. From the very beginning there have been a committed few (with the help of Big Green) fighting the ME2 project every inch of the way. They’ve thrown everything they have at it–multiple lawsuits, pleas to regulatory agencies, legislative hearings, illegal protests–you name it, they’ve done it. This latest action appears to be a last gasp, “Hail Mary” attempt at convincing a regulatory agency to stop both pipelines. Which isn’t going to happen.
Security at energy companies is no longer an afterthought, no longer an annual “audit” that’s done to ensure you have good policies in place. It’s now something that must be actively managed day-to-day. Threats come in all sizes and types, from nutty pipeline protesters who tip over into violence, to Russian and Chinese hackers looking to screw with our electric grid and steal our secrets. Knowing this, Dominion Energy, a huge company with its fingers in many energy pies–from pipelines to electric generation (wind, solar, natural gas, nuclear) to local electric and gas delivery (utility company)–has just hired the former FBI division chief for Richmond, Va. as its new Chief Security Officer–a newly created role in the company. Our prediction: You’ll see more CSOs in the future.
There is a political mess brewing in North Carolina–a mess that has made for some strange bedfellows. Rabid anti-fossil fuelers are supporting Republicans in a bid to target NC’s Democrat governor because his administration granted a permit for Dominion Energy’s Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP) in the state. We first reported on this developing situation back in September (see