Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Bradford County | CNG/LNG | Energy Services | Exporting | Industrywide Issues | New Fortress Energy | Pennsylvania | Regulation | Statewide PA
NFE Caves to Radicals, “Pulls the Plug” on Wyalusing, PA LNG Plant
It’s always a sad day when radical Big Green groups win a victory over American energy. Such has happened with the New Fortress Energy (NFE) LNG plant proposed for Wyalusing in Bradford County, PA. Three Big Green groups challenged an extension for a permit previously issued for a new liquefaction facility proposed by NFE located in northeastern PA. NFE has caved and agreed that should it proceed with the project, it will need to file all over again and get a new permit–which doesn’t look likely.
Read More “NFE Caves to Radicals, “Pulls the Plug” on Wyalusing, PA LNG Plant”
One year ago, in March 2021, Eureka Resources announced plans to build a Marcellus Shale wastewater treatment facility in Dimock (Susquehanna County), Pennsylvania (see 
Drillers have their certification schemes to prove the natural gas they extract is “responsible”–meaning most if not all of the methane doesn’t leak as it’s extracted (see 
Exactly three weeks ago MDN brought you the big news that Equitrans Midstream was considering an appeal of two recent rulings by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit that overturned a permit and FERC decision to allow Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP), now 94% complete, to finish construction (see 
Our advice to landowners who own land in the path of a pipeline has always been to negotiate with the pipeline builder. It may seem as if the builder holds all the cards, especially if they have eminent domain authority (the power to condemn and “take” the land for use in constructing the pipeline). Our observation has been that most pipeline companies are reasonable and willing to accommodate requests to tweak routes. What is not reasonable is to refuse to negotiate in hopes you can block the pipeline from crossing your property. In those cases, the property is taken anyway and you then go through a protracted, years-long process of a court case to determine the value of the taking. Such a case has just begun in Roanoke, Virginia federal court over property taken for Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP).
How many times must we say this before it sinks in: FERC (the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission) is an economic agency, NOT an environmental agency. FERC’s role is to ensure pipelines, electric transmission lines, etc. are able to get built and are economic and not an undue burden for ratepayers. FERC’s role is NOT to worry about so-called global warming. Yet the liberal Democrats inside FERC, and now the liberal Democrats on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, insist FERC reopen already-approved projects, like a tiny pipeline expansion in Massachusetts, and re-do long-completed evaluations in light of global warming considerations. It’s INSANE.
We’ve written about Doug McLinko, Commissioner for Bradford County, PA, a number of times. McLinko has been a strong supporter of the shale industry for years. In a recent interview with a local newspaper, McLinko and fellow Commissioner Daryl Miller took national leaders to task, including President Biden, for their pursuit of foreign energy sources over domestic sources. In particular, McLinko believes rail and pipelines could be an effective countermeasure to move our energy around, guarding against wild price gyrations.
Earlier this week the Deputy Chief Administrative Law Judge of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) issued a ruling against the now completed Mariner East 2 pipeline project, assessing a $51,000 fine on the project. Which is relatively minor considering the project has already been fined by the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) more than $20 million. This latest parting shot at the now-done NGL pipeline project levied for being too loud and not doing enough to communicate with residents in an apartment complex near where the pipeline was doing construction work in Delaware County.
Hackers, believed to be “state-sponsored,” aggressively targeted computers belonging to current and former employees at two dozen major natural gas suppliers and exporters. The aim seemed to be an attempt to cripple U.S. LNG exporting ability. One of the targets of the attacks was EQT Corporation, the largest natural gas producer in the U.S. The activity occurred on the eve of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. You do the math to figure out who the “state sponsor” of the attacks was.
Even though construction is completed for the Mariner East pipeline system, anti-fossil fuelers are still lying about the project and its status. Energy Transfer said during its recent quarterly update that Mariner East is in the process of being commissioned, i.e. tested (see 
U.S. Senator Joe Manchin, Democrat from West Virginia, is in a grumpy mood. The cause? The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). Manchin is meeting with FERC commissioners tomorrow and he plans to take them to the proverbial woodshed for a good thrashing. Two things are on Manchin’s mind: FERC’s new rules that use global warming as a standard for reviewing pipeline projects, and ongoing delays with finishing the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) project.
Summit Midstream Partners, formed in 2009 and headquartered in The Woodlands, Texas, operates natural gas, crude oil, and produced water gathering (pipeline) systems in several unconventional shale plays, including the Marcellus and Utica. Last week Summit issued its fourth quarter and full-year 2021 update. The company’s Marcellus/Utica segment (now called Northeast) continued to be the star performer. Flows through the company’s pipeline system are down for both 4Q and 2021 versus the prior year. Revenues were down from the same period a year ago as well.