Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Regulation | Statewide VA | TC Energy/TransCanada | Virginia
Columbia Virginia Reliability Pipe Project Gets Favorable dEIS
Last August, Columbia Gas Transmission (a subsidiary of TC Energy) filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to build the Virginia Reliability Project (VRP), which includes two new compressor units and the replacement of 49 miles of existing pipeline (see Columbia Files w/FERC to Replace 48 Miles of Pipe in Southeast Va.). VRP will add 100 MMcf/d of incremental capacity on Columbia’s system to service delivery points in southeast Virginia, namely Virginia Natural Gas. The project rolls on. A few weeks ago, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a draft Environmental Impact State (dEIS) that finds the project won’t hurt Mom Nature.
Read More “Columbia Virginia Reliability Pipe Project Gets Favorable dEIS”
Last November, one of the ten natural gas storage wells at the Equitrans Rager Mountain Gas Storage Area in Jackson Township, Cambria County (in Pennsylvania) began to leak. The well leaked roughly 100 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) of gas into the atmosphere (see 
Yesterday the Bidenistas at the Dept. of (In)Justice (DOJ) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced a “settlement” (i.e. bullying) with three pipeline companies–Williams, MPLX, and Kerr-McGee Gathering. The settlement requires the three to pay a combined $9.25 million in civil penalties and make improvements at 25 gas processing plants and 91 compressor stations in 12 states, including Ohio and West Virginia, worth another $16 million. The two federal agencies claimed the pipeline companies were violating federal and state clean air laws related to leak detection and repair (LDAR) requirements for natural gas processing plants at various facilities they own and operate across the country.
One of the world’s largest chemical companies, the Chemours Company (which you used to know as DuPont), along with TC Energy (which you used to know as TransCanada), announced a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for the potential development of two electrolysis-based hydrogen production facilities at or near Chemours’ Washington Works and Belle manufacturing sites in West Virginia. Both companies are part of the effort to attract a hydrogen hub to West Virginia called Appalachian Regional Clean Hydrogen Hub (ARCH2). The financial terms of the Chemours/TC Energy deal were not disclosed.
Last November, one of the ten natural gas storage wells at the Equitrans Rager Mountain Gas Storage Area in Jackson Township, Cambria County (in Pennsylvania) began to leak. The well ended up leaking roughly 100 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) of gas into the atmosphere (see 
Yesterday the 303-mile, 94% complete Mountain Valley Pipeline project received a Final Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement from the U.S. Forest Service, clearing the way for the pipeline to get built through a piddly 3.5 miles of Jefferson National Forest. Ring the bells! Dance for joy! Blow the party noisemakers, right? Wrong. This is the third time this same permit has been issued. Nobody was impressed. We only found a single news story about it. The stock of Equitrans, the builder, moved up one penny on the news. Why the muted response? Because everyone has seen this movie before.
This is a story that may (or may not) be directly tied to Marcellus/Utica gas, but it makes a larger point nonetheless. Peninsula Pipeline Company (PPC), a subsidiary of Chesapeake Utilities Corporation, just completed an 11.3-mile pipeline expansion that will bring additional natural gas capacity to the Vero Beach, Florida, area. The project, which cost approximately $10.5 million to build, interconnects with existing PPC infrastructure in Sebastian and extends to Vero Beach. The new facilities will transport natural gas to five new delivery points, extending service to the communities of Wabasso, Wabasso Beach, Indian River Shores, North Hutchinson Island, and Harbor Isles.
You knew it was only a matter of time. On March 1, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) issued a 297-page biological opinion of the Mountain Valley Pipeline’s (MVP) potential impact on threatened and endangered species if the 94% complete pipeline is allowed to finish (see 
The left’s insane push to ban the use of all fossil energy, including natural gas, is beginning to bear fruit with large utility companies. Dominion and National Grid–huge electric and gas companies providing service to millions of customers–are rumored to be shopping some of their natural gas pipeline networks. So says the venerable Wall Street Journal. The reason? They believe the end of providing natural gas to customers is now on the horizon, and they want to dump their gas pipeline assets now, while those assets will still fetch big money.
Two weeks ago, MDN did something we don’t often do: We broke news, providing an exclusive that Naceo’s plan to build a $6 billion gas-to-liquids (GTL) refinery on the site of a former coal mine in Newport Township and Nanticoke in Luzerne County, PA, is still alive and active (see 
Last week it was a miracle when the three-judge panel from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit (i.e. 4th Circuit clown judges) turned back an appeal of a permit issued by the Virginia State Water Control Board allowing Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) to cross some 150 streams and wetlands in Southwest West Virginia (see 
In our daily perusal of press releases, we spotted an announcement from Yara and Enbridge about a joint venture to build a “world scale” low-carbon blue ammonia project along the Gulf Coast near Corpus Christi, Texas. We thought, “Hmmm, that’s interesting.” But as we read the announcement, our eyes got wide when they landed on this statement: “Enbridge’s Texas Eastern Transmission Pipeline is expected to provide the transportation service for feed gas that will be used for the production process.” Whoa! Now that’s REALLY interesting! We’ll tell you why…
It’s a miracle, A true blue spectacle, A miracle come true… (Lyrics from Barry Manilow’s tune, It’s a Miracle) In a 3-2 vote taken in December 2021, the Virginia State Water Control Board granted a permit (under the Clean Water Act) for Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) to cross about 150 streams and wetlands in Southwest Virginia (see