Williams Open Season to Expand Transco Gas Eastbound to PA, NJ, MD
A new pipeline project to tell you about! That’s always a red-letter day here at MDN. The mighty Transco pipeline (subsidiary of Williams) is holding a binding open season (which ends today) for its proposed Leidy Access Expansion, which would add up to 175,000 Dth/d (roughly 175 MMcf/d) of firm capacity to move Marcellus/Utica gas east from Pennsylvania toward demand centers in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Maryland by Nov. 1, 2027. The project would use existing Leidy Line infrastructure from the MARC I interconnect in Lycoming County, PA, to a new transfer point in Luzerne County, PA, limiting environmental impacts. Read More “Williams Open Season to Expand Transco Gas Eastbound to PA, NJ, MD”
This is a momentous occasion. Yesterday, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a “Notice to Proceed with Construction” order authorizing Mountain Valley Pipeline (owned by EQT Corporation) to proceed with construction of MVP Southgate pipeline in North Carolina. This follows FERC granting permission to begin building Southgate in Virginia in April (see 
Last week, MDN reported that the Energy Secretary of the very liberal Democrat regime that runs Massachusetts had written a letter to the New England Power Generators Association, asking power generators to get on board and support an expansion of the Algonquin Gas Transmission (AGT) pipeline (see 
Williams’ Transco Southeast Supply Enhancement Project (SESE) is a 55-mile, 42-inch-wide pipeline that will run through Pittsylvania County, Virginia, and Rockingham, Guilford, Forsyth, and Davidson counties in North Carolina. It will provide natural gas to Duke Energy customers. Big Green sued to overturn a federal water quality permit issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Big Green wanted the court to block construction until the full case could be heard. In May, a three-judge panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit (4th Circuit) rejected arguments Big Green put forward that claimed the Army Corps’ decision was “arbitrary and capricious” and refused to block construction (see 
In early April, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) for the Kosciusko Junction Pipeline Project in Mississippi (see 
Last week, the combined Marcellus/Utica Baker Hughes rig count remained at 36 active rigs for the sixth week in a row. The M-U’s chief competitor, the Haynesville, maintained its count of 55 active rigs, operating 19 more than the M-U. The national count regained 1 rig last week (after losing it the week before), bringing the total back up to 563 rigs, the highest number the count has reached in a year. Baker Hughes said oil rigs held steady at 433 last week, while gas rigs rose by one to 122, their highest since early June, and other miscellaneous rigs held steady at eight. 
This is one of those “man bites dog” (or in this case, “woman” bites dog) stories. Rebecca Tepper has, for years, worked for Maura Healey—first when Healey was Attorney General of Massachusetts, and later (now) in Healey’s role as Governor of the state. Tepper is Healey’s Secretary of Energy and Environmental Affairs. Healey is her boss and directs the policies that Tepper executes. So it was a complete shock for us to receive an email from Tepper’s office with a letter attached (see it below) that Tepper sent to Dan Dolan, President of the New England Power Generators Association. The letter encourages (we’d call it demands) New England’s power generators to sign up to receive natural gas during Enbridge’s open season for the recently announced Project Beacon. 
In February 2024, members of the South Carolina Public Service Commission (PSC) approved a proposed project to build a 1,020-megawatt (MW) gas-fired power plant in the state’s Lowcountry, in Colleton County (see 
Owensboro (KY) Municipal Utilities (OMU) is studying a proposed 545-megawatt natural gas power plant on roughly 30 acres at the former Elmer Smith Station site along the Ohio River, where coal generation ended in 2020. The developer, Green River East GenCo, holds an option to lease and has filed a grid interconnection application. OMU hired GDS Associates for a six-month study funded by the developer. OMU General Manager Tim Lyons stressed that the early-stage project isn’t guaranteed and that OMU won’t own the roughly $1 billion plant, citing customer risk. Instead, the plant may pursue power purchase agreements ahead of joining the MISO market in 2027. The plant will employ 15–20 workers. 
The same three judges from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit who blocked the 303-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) for *years* suddenly changed course in late April, ruling on an extension of MVP into North Carolina called Southgate. Big Green, represented by the Sierra Club and Appalachian Voices, sued to block a permit issued by North Carolina regulators for the Southgate project. While the three judges grumbled and complained about Southgate during oral arguments (see 
Earlier this year, the board of commissioners in Montour County, PA, voted unanimously to reject Talen Energy’s request to rezone empty agricultural land near Talen’s Montour Power Plant for a proposed data center (see 
Big Green groups rallied Tuesday in Peekskill (Westchester County, NY) against Enbridge’s proposed Project Beacon, a natural gas pipeline expansion that would increase capacity on the Algonquin Gas Transmission line. Radicals lied by saying the project would “burden ratepayers” already facing high living costs. How do you figure? Algonquin is a transmission pipeline, and its expansion will be paid for by Enbridge (and its shareholders), not by increasing local utility rates. Yet these liars are never called out for their false statements by the media. 
Yesterday, President Trump accused New York Governor Kathy Hochul of reneging on her pledge to allow the 125-mile Constitution Pipeline project to be built in the Empire State. The project was canceled in 2020 after New York repeatedly rejected the necessary permits. President Trump brokered a deal with New York Governor Kathy Hochul to resurrect the project last year (see 
One year ago, in June 2025, MDN brought you news about a commercial lithium production facility already built and being tested in Susquehanna County, PA (see