Crime | Electrical Generation | Energy Services | FirstEnergy | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Statewide OH
Generation Now Pleads Guilty in $61M FirstEnergy OH Nuke Scandal
On Friday, representatives of a “dark money” political action committee called Generation Now signed a guilty plea admitting their part in the biggest bribery scandal to ever hit Ohio. Generation Now was set up as a social welfare nonprofit but in reality was a shell organization that received “tens of millions of dollars” from FirstEnergy as part of a $61 million bribery scandal to pass and keep passed House Bill (HB) 6 which funnels over $1 billion from Ohio ratepayers to FirstEnergy in order to keep the company’s unprofitable nuclear power plants running.
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Early last week MDN shared the great news that Enbridge’s Weymouth, Mass. compressor station finally, after years of government delays in building it, went online (see 
Earlier this week MDN brought you the big news that the U.S. Supreme Court has decided to hear the PennEast Pipeline vs. New Jersey eminent domain case (see 
HUGE news! This morning the U.S. Supreme Court decided to hear the PennEast Pipeline case. The case appeals a lower court ruling that disallows PennEast from using eminent domain to build across land owned or controlled by the State of New Jersey. The court’s acceptance of the case is an excellent sign PennEast will win the case–which is important not only for PennEast but all future pipeline projects in “blue” states.
After Joe Biden signed an Executive Order in his first few days on the job killing the Keystone XL pipeline project (instantly throwing 11,000 union members of out high-paying jobs), anti-fossil fuel nuts have been salivating (drooling, actually) in anticipation of what else old dementia Joe will do next to kill off other pipeline projects, including Equitrans’ Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP). One of Big Green’s trusty mouthpieces at the AP has penned a wishlist for which projects may get the ax next, and how it will happen.
On Friday the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) granted its approval to Williams to begin construction on the Leidy South Project in central Pennsylvania. The purpose of the Leidy South Project, which is part of the mighty Transco pipeline, is to connect robust supplies of natural gas in the Marcellus and Utica producing regions in Pennsylvania with markets along the Atlantic Seaboard by the 2021-2022 winter heating season.
In December, the Maryland Board of Public Works (BPW), which has three members (two leftwing Democrats and RINO Gov. Larry Hogan), surprisingly approved a 10-inch, 6.83-mile pipeline for the Maryland portion of a 19+ mile project called the Del-Mar Energy Pathway Project, crossing both Delaware and Maryland (see 
U.S. pipeline companies are under no illusion of just how bad the next four years will be for their business, at least for building new pipelines. We told you last week that Williams CEO Alan Armstrong predicted there will be no new greenfield pipelines built during the Biden administration (see 
Equitrans Midstream’s Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP), which stretches 303 miles from Wetzel County, WV to Pittsylvania County, VA, is backed into a corner by anti-fossil fuelers. The project is 92% complete and in the ground, yet somehow antis have successfully blocked an Army Corps of Engineers Nationwide Permit 12 (NWP12) that allows the project to cross creeks and rivers and mud puddles. Antis have convinced three leftist judges on the 4th Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn the NWP12 permit–twice. But, MVP has just outmaneuvered the antis.
Now that Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) has outsmarted radicalized environmental groups like the odious Sierra Club by changing the type of permit they will use to finish the 92% complete project (see today’s lead story), antis are hoping to continue blocking the project by convincing the Democrat judges on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn a FERC order from last December that allows MVP to resume certain portions of construction (see 
Members of the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America (INGAA) announced yesterday a set of climate change commitments that outline in detail its mission to help address climate change, including working together as an industry towards reaching net-zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from natural gas transmission and storage by 2050. INGAA members pledging to hit that target include the biggest pipeline companies in the M-U, including Williams, Kinder Morgan, and Enbridge.
Finally! The Weymouth compressor station, the final piece of the $452 million Atlantic Bridge expansion project that has been years in the making, is either now online and flowing gas, or will be within a day or two at most. However, given a vote last week by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) questioning whether or not enough consideration was given to protesting antis, a cloud remains as to how long (in a Biden-controlled FERC) the compressor will remain online.