Energy Services

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    NG Advantage’s Virtual Pipe Comes to the Rescue in Downstate NY

    NG Advantage, the pioneer in “virtual pipeline” trucked CNG service, majority-owned by Clean Energy Fuels, tried to build a compressor station/trucking hub in a Binghamton, NY suburb, but that effort failed earlier this year due to local opposition (see NG Advantage Virtual Pipeline Project Near Binghamton is Dead). We’re sure the entire situation left a sour taste in NG’s mouth. Even so, this past winter NG didn’t turn its back on New York State, much to their credit. National Grid, one of the largest investor-owned energy companies in the world (covering Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island and the UK), had a problem in Long Island during the winter months. As temps got super low, National Grid needed more natural gas to meet the spike in demand from customers. NY is pipeline-phobic, so what could National Grid do? They turned to NG Advantage and NG rose to the occasion, trucking CNG (compressed natural gas) from facilities in Massachusetts and Vermont to Long Island, helping supply National Grid customers in the Empire State. Here’s the story of a company that didn’t turn its back on NY…
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    Democrat FERC Commissioner Seeks to Block PennEast Pipe

    FERC Commissioner Richard Glick

    In January, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) voted 4-1 to approve the $1 billion, 120-mile PennEast Pipeline project that will stretch from northeast PA to the Trenton area of New Jersey (see FERC Grants Final Approval for PennEast Pipe – Real Battle Begins). Democrat FERC Commissioner Richard Glick (wind lobbyist, hand-picked by hyper-partisan NY Sen. Chuck Schumer), voted against approving the project. A number of Big Green groups filed a request for a “rehearing” of FERC’s decision to approve PennEast. FERC used a “tolling order,” which gives them longer than the statutory 30 days to respond, to play out the rehearing request. The use of tolling orders is the only way to get projects built these days. FERC has to play the game–put off saying “no” to these anti groups, because as soon as they tell them “no” to a rehearing request, antis then run to the courts and try to block the project there. Glick is siding with antis. He issued a statement last week once again trash-talking PennEast, and demanding FERC answer the groups rehearing request pronto so they can hurry like a bunny to the nearest Appeals court to try to stop PennEast…
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    Cove Point LNG Shutting Down for Maintenance This Fall

    Cove Point LNG, built by Dominion Energy, began exporting Marcellus Shale gas in April (see First-Ever Shipment of Marcellus LNG Leaves Cove Point, Maryland). Even though it’s only been up and running for about two months, there’s already talk of shutting Cove Point down. You may recall that two countries have contracted for all of the exported LNG coming from Cove Point: India and Japan (see Dominion’s Cove Point LNG Facility Achieves Important Milestones). Dominion Energy CEO Tom Farrell is currently visiting Japan to commemorate the first two shipments of Marcellus LNG arriving there. Yesterday Farrell shared that although Cove Point is doing just fine, the plant will undergo “brief maintenance” of “a few weeks” in the autumn. Scheduled downtime. Does that mean LNG will quit flowing out of the facility each day? According to Farrell, it “depends” on how full the storage tanks are ahead of the planned downtime…
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    3 Mass. Kids Arrested for Blocking MVP Work in W.V.

    Click image for larger version

    Three radicalized children from Massachusetts–kids who irrationally hate fossil fuels–chained themselves to construction equipment in Monroe County, WV in an attempt to block work on the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP). It’s the latest tactic by the left to overthrow our system of laws and justice in a misguided attempt to stop man-made global warming. The three, one boy and two girls (aged 24, 21 and 18) delayed construction for “a few hours” before police “cut them out” and arrested them. All three were charged with misdemeanors: for trespassing, obstructing justice, and resisting arrest. If convicted, they could spend up to two and a half years in jail. Notice the kids are part of an organized Big Green movement. All three are out-of-staters, sent there to make trouble. We wonder if the glamour will wear off after they sit in a cold, mountain jail cell for a few months? Our only conclusion as to why these kids would behave like this is miseducation. They’re ignorant–of history, the U.S. Constitution, and frankly, of the real world. Too much time with their noses stuck in a cell phone or watching cartoons. No training in rational thinking. Notice (below) how Big Green spins the episode, that the police “threatened violence” against the protesters. Which means the police told the spoiled rotten kids, “stop it now or we’ll (gently) cut you out and take you to police HQ.” That’s how radicals define police “violence.” Here’s the news of the latest Big Green offensive against MVP–an offensive that uses ignorant kids…
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    The Battle for Dawn Hub Begins: M-U vs. Western Canada

    Canadian natural gas customers in Ontario and Quebec can expect to begin paying less for their gas, courtesy of their American cousins. Starting last week, Marcellus/Utica gas is now flowing all the way to the Dawn Hub in Ontario, via the Rover Pipeline connected to the Vector Pipeline (see M-U Gas Now Travels to Dawn Hub in Canada via Rover Pipeline). Western Canadian producers beat Rover to the punch last year when TransCanada radically reduced prices to cart gas thousands of miles away to the Dawn Hub (see Canadian Lowball Shipping Works, Grabs Market Share from U.S.). Now that M-U gas is also hitting the Dawn Hub, there’s an abundance (over abundance?), which has driven prices to their lowest in 10 years. The battle for Dawn Hub, between M-U and Canadian gas, has begun, and Canadian gas customers are already winners…
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    U.S. Supreme Court Lets Stand Eminent Domain for ME2 Pipeline

    It’s been a long, tough fight to get the Mariner East 2 Pipeline (ME2) project built. In fact, it’s still not 100% built (it is about 98% done). Construction on a tiny section near Philadelphia is currently being stopped by a liberal judge (see Antis Get Lib Judge to Shut Down All Mariner East Pipes, Dems Rejoice). We expect that to be resolved soon. However, the project has been sued multiple times in different courts. One of the favored legal arguments was/is to say the project does not have the right to use the power of eminent domain to force recalcitrant landowners from accepting it. One such case, brought by a Lebanon County, PA landowner, was appealed all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. On Monday the Supremes declined to review the case, a challenge to ME2’s ability to use eminent domain, thereby cementing a ruling by the PA Commonwealth Court that ME2 can indeed use eminent domain. Period. End of sentence. The Supreme Court ruling is just the latest in a string of rulings favoring the ME2 project. Last summer, a three-judge Commonwealth Court panel ruled in favor of ME2, upholding its status as a public utility because it will provide increased public access to energy resources like propane. Huntingdon County Common Pleas Court Judge George Zanic ruled against efforts to delay construction of ME2 after Commonwealth Court validated the utility status by dismissing an appeal. None of this is new. The court have repeatedly ruled against challenges to the state Public Utility Commission’s designation of ME2 as a public utility with  public benefits. And now, the Supremes have rendered the final word: ME2 is a public utility…
    Read More “U.S. Supreme Court Lets Stand Eminent Domain for ME2 Pipeline”

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    All MVP Tree-Sitting Protesters have Now Dropped Back to Earth

    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 MVP “Nutty” Protester Drops Back to Earth – Out of Food). But around that same time, another woman, Fern, went up a pole about a mile up the road from Nutty (see “Nutty” is as Nutty Does – 2nd MVP Protester Goes Up a Pole in VA). Fern only last a couple of weeks–not nearly as long as her “hero” Nutty. We’re just happy to say that all of the nuts have now dropped to earth and we can put this sad chapter behind us…
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    M-U Gas Now Travels to Dawn Hub in Canada via Rover Pipeline

    Click map for larger version

    Last Thursday, May 24, Energy Transfer Partners requested (frankly, begged) the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to approve final startup for the rest of Rover Pipeline not yet flowing–by June 1st. ET has contracts to honor and they promised shippers the full pipeline would be up and running by June 1st. ET requested permission to start up the “Majorsville Lateral, Supply Connector Line B, and Mainline B between CS1 and CS2 and between CS3 and the terminus,” along with a request to begin flowing on the “Burgettstown Lateral.” Note that some of the project has two pipelines, side by side (the Mainline and Supply Connector). ET asked that the second pipes in both cases be allowed to start up, along with the Majorsville and Burgettstown Laterals (see the map). ET got some of what it wanted–everything but permission to start up the laterals–yesterday from FERC. With the startup of Mainline B and Supply Connector B, ET says the Rover Pipeline project is now capable of flowing the full 3.25 billion cubic feet per day of natgas all the way to the Dawn Hub in Ontario, Canada. The only “problem” remaining is to find enough gas to flow the full 3.25 Bcf/d. They won’t be flowing the full 3.25 Bcf/d until all of the laterals are brought online…
    Read More “M-U Gas Now Travels to Dawn Hub in Canada via Rover Pipeline”

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    Big Green Sues to Stop DTE Energy’s MI Gas-Fired Electric Plant

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    Last June DTE Energy filed paperwork in Michigan to build a new “state-of-the-art” natural gas-fired power plant in St. Clair County (see DTE Energy Files to Build New Natgas-Fired Elec Plant in Michigan). The gas-fired plant will produce 1,100 megawatts of electricity, enough to power 850,000 homes. If all goes according to plan, the new $1 billion plant will go online in 2022, helping to offset three coal-fired plants set to be retired by 2023. The process is long to approve and then build such a project, with many hoops to jump through. The first hurdle, perhaps THE major hurdle, is an approval by Michigan utility regulators. That happened in April. Right on cue the far-left Sierra Club, Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), and Earthjustice, all of which seem to have unending sources of cash to file lawsuits, have together filed an appeal with the Michigan Court of Appeals to reverse the Michigan Public Service Commission (MPSC) decision to approve the project…
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    Franklin County, VA Turns Down $200K to Store MV Pipe Equipment

    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 Franklin County, VA Landowners Use Sheriff to Eject MVP Surveyors). Over the weekend the last tree-sitting protester, engaging in an illegal attempt to stop the pipeline from coming through Franklin, came down out of the trees (see Last MVP Tree Sitter in Franklin Co. Comes Down, Trees Cut). MVP was and is getting built through the county, but in a childish act of rebellion, three members of the Franklin Board of Supervisors voted to deny MVP the use of 10 acres of county land to temporarily store construction equipment. MVP was willing to pay the county a staggering $200,000–money the county desperately needs. Instead, to make a “statement” by thumbing its nose at MVP, the three supervisors turned down the MVP money and will now soak taxpayers for that revenue instead. We hope the voters of Franklin remember that at the ballot box in November…
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    FERC Defends Atlantic Bridge Pipe Approval in DC Circuit Court

    In January 2017 the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) granted final approval for the Atlantic Bridge expansion project (see FERC Approves Atlantic Bridge Project for New England/Canada). The Spectra Energy/Enbridge project beefs up capacity along the Algonquin Pipeline, along with more capacity for Spectra Energy’s Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline, to carry more Marcellus/Utica gas into New England and (eventually) all the way to Nova Scotia, Canada. Much of the project is now done–except in Massachusetts where a critical compressor station planned for Weymouth is stalled (see Massachusetts Blocking Atlantic Bridge Pipeline from Completion). Weymouth itself along with a smattering of radical environmentalist groups filed a lawsuit against FERC, claiming FERC did a “shoddy environmental review” before approving the project, arguing FERC’s approval should be overturned by the court. On Tuesday FERC fired back asking the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals to toss the frivolous lawsuit and let them get on with finishing this critical project…
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    Towns Compete in PA DEP Hunger Games to Grab $12.6M of ME2 Cash

    Que the music with dramatic drums, cymbals and trumpets. Camera A, zoom in on Secretary McDonnell. The whole state is watching. It’s time for the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) Hunger Games to begin! In February Sunoco Logistics Partners agreed to pay a massive (historically high) $12.6 million fine to the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) for “permit violations related to the construction of the Mariner East 2 pipeline project” (see Sunoco LP Pays PA DEP $12.6M to Resume ME2 Pipeline Construction). Sunoco’s ME2 construction activities caused a few erosion issues here and some drilling mud leaks there–so-called “harms” to the environment. Surely some of the massive, historically high $12.6 million fine will be used to “fix” those problems, right? Wrong. Sunoco had to pay twice–pay to clean up the problems AND pay the fine. The fine was essentially a shakedown, Sunoco had to pay it or they would not be allowed to resume construction work on ME2. In April the DEP announced a new program to distribute the $12.6 million of fine money (see PA DEP Hunger Games Competition to Distribute $12.6M in ME2 Money). In Hunger Games tradition, the DEP is conducting a lottery for the 85 municipalities along ME2’s path, allowing those “districts” to submit begging proposals to request some of the money for programs in their district. The contestants have 45 days, from May 7 to June 20, to make a grab for the cash (i.e. submit a grant application). Here’s how one town in Lebanon County is preparing what they hope is a winning entry–their chance to grab some of ME2’s money…
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    Kinder Morgan Says No Thx to Canadian Civil War, Selling Pipeline

    An interesting development in the pipeline wars. Kinder Morgan has just agreed to sell its Trans Mountain Pipeline system to the Canadian government for C$4.5 billion ($3.5 billion U.S.). Why? Kinder is tired of the ongoing civil war in Canada over extending Trans Mountain from the oil sands of Alberta through British Columbia to the coast for exporting to Asia. As we reported last week, British Columbia is blocking the project and Alberta is now fighting back–and it’s nasty, a civil war in every way except armed conflict (see Canadian Civil War Previews What’s Coming in NY re Pipelines). The federal Canadian government wants this pipeline project to happen. Kinder lost its appetite to make it happen, so Canada is buying the entire project from Kinder, to ensure it gets built. What does an oil pipeline in western Canada have to do with the Marcellus/Utica? It’s a preview of things to come in U.S., where NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo is blocking pipeline projects that PA and other states critically need. We’re watching what happens with the Trans Mountain project as a proxy for what may happen here at home…
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    Sunoco Appealing ME1 Shutdown to Full PUC to Overturn Lib Judge

    As MDN reported last Friday, fossil fuel opponents finally located a liberal judge that they could persuade to abuse her judicial power to shut down not only construction on the 98% complete Mariner East 2 (ME2) pipeline project, but also shut down Mariner East 1 (ME1), a pipeline that has been working with no issues or problems for over a year (see Antis Get Lib Judge to Shut Down All Mariner East Pipes, Dems Rejoice). It is an outrage that a single judge can inflict such economic damage. Sunoco responded by saying they are pursuing “all legal remedies to overturn this Order, including our right to request PUC review of the Order, which will be filed within the next seven days.” If/when Sunoco appeals to the Public Utility Commission (PUC), the full commission can and likely will meet right away, in a non-public hearing, and could restore ME1’s right to flow NGLs immediately, overruling the judge’s overtly political order. It could happen as fast as this week, although it’s more likely to happen next week. In the meantime, every day ME1 is down, great economic harm comes to companies like Sunoco and their customers that use ME1, primarily Range Resources…
    Read More “Sunoco Appealing ME1 Shutdown to Full PUC to Overturn Lib Judge”

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    Last MVP Tree Sitter in Franklin Co. Comes Down, Trees Cut

    MVP protester

    We’ve run out of words to describe just how lunatic (and hypocritical) Big Green radicals are in their quest to stop fossil fuel projects. The last of the tree sitters opposing the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) project in Franklin County, Va. who had taken to climbing and living in trees along the pipeline’s path have come down, after a judge charged them with contempt (in federal court, a very serious charge), and after MVP workers began cutting some of the trees close to where they were located. A tree sitter calling himself Ink (like the stuff used in pens) had been living in the trees in Franklin County for the past two weeks. He claims that when MVP workers began cutting branches and tops of trees nearby, some of which were connected to a spiderweb of ropes put there by the protesters, one of the branches hit Ink and scratched him, making him bleed. Poor baby. Here, let us grab a box of Kleenex to wipe away our tears. After Ink came down, another protester went up, calling herself Sprout. She stayed up there for four hours. After Sprout was ordered to appear in court on federal charges, she came down too, ending the tree sitting in Franklin. For now. We believe there may be two “sitters” (one up a tree, one up a pole) left in other locations. These “brave” people who refuse to use their real names and identify themselves go by names like Ink, Sprout, Red and Nutty. Need we say more? Our point: Fight for your cause in court or with regulatory agencies. Don’t take the law into your own hands. We live in a land with laws, not anarchy where everyone does what is right in his own sight. If the actions of these so-called protesters (i.e. illegal law breakers) are left unchallenged, it is the beginning of the end for our society built on the rule of law…
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    MarkWest to Remediate 2016 WV Mobley Plant Chemical Spill

    In February 2016 there was an accidental release of a hazardous chemical at the MarkWest Energy cryogenic processing plant in Mobley (Wetzel County), WV (see MarkWest’s Mobley Processing Plant Spills Hazardous Oil into Creek). The fluid in question is DOWTHERM™ MX Heat Transfer Fluid, a chemical used as as a heat transfer fluid meant for closed-loop systems. An estimated 3,000 gallons of the fluid spilled, some of it reaching the North Fork of Fishing Creek and some of that entered the water intake for the community of Pine Grove, WV. However, the plant (Pine Grove Water Works) was closed before any of the water was used by local residents–so there was no health threat. A month later MarkWest reported they were done cleaning up the spill and the Pine Grove Water Works was back up and running (see MarkWest Hazardous Spill at Mobley Plant Now Cleaned Up). We thought that was the end of it, but alas, it was not. The Office of Environmental Remediation (OER) at the WV Dept. of Environmental Protection (WVDEP) reports it has just accepted a “Voluntary Remediation Program” application submitted by MarkWest to address ongoing environmental conditions at the Mobley Plant related to the Feb. 2016 spill. The plan will look at current and future uses of the site and determine how best to prevent migration of anything leftover from the spill…
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