Springfield, MA City Council Still Resisting 2.1 Mile Loop Pipe
Over the past two years, MDN has told you about a tiny 2.1-mile looping pipeline segment proposed by Kinder Morgan’s Tennessee Gas Pipeline (TGP), to be buried next to the existing TGP, to connect regions around Springfield, Massachusetts to receive more natural gas supplies. Springfield neighborhoods like Holyoke have an ongoing moratorium on hooking up new natgas customers unless/until more supply is provided (see Holyoke, Mass. Gas Moratorium Continues Due to No New Pipelines). And yet the dunderheads on the Springfield City Council still don’t get it. They’re “seeking additional details and answers to concerns” about this tiny pipeline project.
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Last week we told you about the uber-sleazy Attorney General in Pennsylvania, Josh Shapiro, handing down an indictment with 48 counts against Energy Transfer over (mostly) drilling mud spills–accidents that were previously addressed and handled by the state Dept. of Environmental Protection (see 
On August 30, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) issued permits to Powhatan Salt Company/Mountaineer NGL Storage for three planned solution mining wells in Monroe County. The three salt caverns will store NGLs (natural gas liquids, mainly ethane) to potentially be used by ethane crackers including the Shell cracker near Pittsburgh and potentially a second ethane cracker proposed by PTT Global Chemical in Belmont County. The salt caverns can also be used to store hydrogen (H2).
Sand is big business. Just ask U.S. Silica, the largest proppant/sand provider for the oil and gas industry. Sand, as you may know, is used in fracking new shale wells. LOTs of sand is used. Sand (and alternatives like synthetic beads) is called “proppant” because it’s mixed with water, blasted into cracks in shale rock, and when the water returns to the surface the sand remains behind in the cracks and “props open” the tiny cracks to allow oil and gas to escape. The biggest such sand company in the country, U.S. Silica, announced yesterday that it is exploring separating the company’s non-oil & gas division into a separate company and selling it.
Yesterday as Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro falsely accused Energy Transfer (ET) of “crimes” while building the Mariner East 2 (ME2) pipeline, another bit of news about ME2 played out in the state’s court system. The PA Supreme Court agreed to hear a case in which several Big Green groups and a long-time anti-fossil fueler are demanding ET pay them back for legal fees in a lawsuit initiated by them against ET, a lawsuit they ultimately lost. Talk about arrogant.
In October 2020 the Sisters of the Corn (our name for a group of leftist nuns in Lancaster County, PA) filed yet another frivolous lawsuit against Williams over a pipeline that crosses their land–a pipeline (Atlantic Sunrise) that has been up and running for years (see 
In August the Virginia Dept. of Environmental Quality (DEQ) issued a draft Section 401 of the federal Clean Water Act permit that would approve plans to let the 303-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) finish its work in the state (see 
Yet another entrant in what is becoming a crowded field of programs aimed at reducing methane leaks from natural gas systems. A coalition of major U.S. natural gas operators, including Devon Energy, EQT, Sempra, Southern Company, and Williams, have signed on to something called the Veritas project, created by research firm GTI. How will Veritas reduce methane emissions and how is it different from Project Canary and other similar programs?
For years anti-fossil fuelers have sought to make confidential safety information about the Mariner East 2 (ME2) pipeline public. Specifically, they want to reveal “blast radius” information in hopes of inflaming opposition against the pipeline in their near-religious effort to get the pipeline permanently shut down (see 
Everyone wants to be perceived as “responsible” these days, as in “responsibly sourced gas.” How to do it? Project Canary is a Denver-based firm that developed its own methane measurement technology and third-party verification called TrustWell™. A number of Marcellus/Utica drillers, including EQT, Chesapeake Energy, Southwestern Energy, Range Resources, and Seneca Resources have all joined the Project Canary program. Tallgrass Energy’s Rockies Express (REX) Pipeline aims to be the first interstate pipeline system that is Project Canary certified end-to-end, flowing Marcellus/Utica gas responsibly.
States often get excited when the federal government deigns to hand out taxpayer money in dribs and drabs, a billion here and a billion there. Yet the best source of money to pump into an economy is private funds, invested by private companies. Private investment 
Score another victory for the forces of evil, by which we mean leftwing, wackadoodle anti-fossil fuel extremists. Just a short time ago MDN received the statement below from PennEast Pipeline that states, in our words, they’ve given up. Throwing in the towel. Dead. PennEast will not get built. You can’t say we didn’t warn you this may happen.
Enbridge Gas is holding a binding open season for C1 (methane) transportation services from St. Clair (DTE) and/or Bluewater to the Dawn Hub in Toronto, Ontario (Canada) starting Nov. 1, 2023 for a minimum of five years. Shippers seeking access to a reliable, cost-effective means to move gas from St. Clair (DTE) and/or Bluewater to Dawn can submit bids for up to 62,000 GJ/d of annual capacity (12-month term) and up to 107,000 GJ/d capacity for winter only (5-month term). Marcellus/Utica gas is eligible since it finds its way all the way to the Dawn Hub.