UTOPIA Pipeline Sues Holdout OH Landowners Using Eminent Domain
Just yesterday MDN was commenting that it seems like Ohio antis aren’t all that bothered by Kinder Morgan’s UTOPIA ethane pipeline (see Why is UTOPIA Pipeline Less “Controversial” than NEXUS in Ohio?). Perhaps we spoke to soon! UTOPIA has gotten a lot more controversial since they just filed a flurry of lawsuits against holdout landowners, using eminent domain statutes. The real eye-popper we learn when reading about the eminent domain proceedings is just how much Kinder Morgan was offering for easements to property owners. Of course what you’re offered all depends on how many feet of land the pipeline will cross. Some landowners were offered up to $63,300 for an easement. In some cases, the offers were “more than 10 times the appraised value of the easement.” It’s certainly in a landowner’s best interest to settle before being forced to settle (for far less) via eminent domain. Here’s how it’s going for several landowners who object to the pipeline…
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Fairmont Brine operates a small wastewater processing plant in Marion County, WV. Last year Antero Resources pulled the rug out from under Fairmont by jilting Fairmont and contracting with a French company to build a new $275 million wastewater treatment plant in WV (see 
Last week MDN brought you the fantastic news that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) had approved Williams’ Transco Pipeline project called the Garden State Expansion–a pipeline project to connect gas that will come through the yet-to-be-built PennEast Pipeline to a yet-to-be-built pipeline in New Jersey called the Southern Reliability Link pipeline (see 
A Delaware court has granted a motion by Williams to hurry-it-up with their recently filed lawsuit against Energy Transfer Equity (ETE)–the company trying to buy Williams. No, Williams is not trying to fend off the purchase. They’re trying to ensure Williams stockholders (and the managers of Williams) get the agreed-to price. Last week Williams sued ETE and its CEO Kelsy Warren for issuing private shares of stock to select investors to help finance the deal (see 
MDN is strongly in favor of property rights. “You don’t tell me I can’t allow drilling a shale well or a pipeline–and I don’t tell you that you must allow it.” That’s always been our guiding philosophy. It pains us when pipeline companies use eminent domain to force landowners to allow a pipeline to be built. Having said that, it’s a pipeline! It’s underground. Farmers can plant crops over top of it after it’s in the ground. After a few years, you’re hard pressed to even tell where the pipeline is buried! We say if there’s widespread opposition to pipelines in a given community, don’t bother building it there. However, if there’s a handful of holdout landowners (often driven by global warming insanity), eminent domain may be justified. Life is complex. These issues are complex. Again, forcefully using eminent domain against any landowner–even the stupid anti-drilling ones–pains us. We don’t like it. But eminent domain is part of our laws, created to benefit wider society. We spotted an article about some Massachusetts landowners who equate opposing Kinder Morgan’s Northeast Energy Direct pipeline with being patriotic, like the patriots from the original Boston Harbor Tea Party revolt. We had to laugh…
NGLs, or natural gas liquids, are the “other” hydrocarbons that come out of the ground along with methane, or natural gas. The most common NGLs that come out of Marcellus and Utica boreholes in southwestern PA, eastern OH and northern WV are ethane, propane and butane. Ever so gradually new markets are opening up to sell NGLs. Right now for many drillers in the region ethane, the most common NGL, actually costs drillers to dispose of. It is an expense. But ethane could be used to feed cracker plants and so much more! Pipelines are beginning to cart NGLs to other regions like Canada, the Gulf Coast and (now) to the Philadelphia area where the NGLs can either be used in petrochemical plants or exported to be used in petchem plants overseas. But what if drillers had a way of storing NGLs until they could get access to pipelines or rail or new petchem plants to use it? That’s the premise behind a brand new startup called Mountaineer NGL Storage. Started by a group of industry veterans and backed with big money from Goldman Sachs, Mountaineer NGL Storage is developing a new underground storage facility in Monroe County, Ohio, near Clarington, along the Ohio River. Yesterday the company announced a non-binding open season for drillers who want to reserve storage capacity in the new facility when it goes live sometime in 2018…
Last week MDN updated you on progress (or lack thereof) for Marathon’s Cornerstone Pipeline project–a 50-mile liquids pipeline connecting several processing plants in Ohio to Marathon’s refinery in Canton (see 
Last Thursday MDN brought you the news that the Dept. of Justice has decided to try to block the merger/buyout of oilfield services company Baker Hughes by bigger oilfield services company Halliburton (see