PennEast Pipeline

Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | PennEast Pipeline | Pipelines | Regulation

Radical Enviros Beg FERC to Pull Plug on PennEast Pipeline
September 27, 2016September 27, 2016

Yet another desperate attempt by radical environmentalists to stop the much-needed PennEast Pipeline from getting built. Yesterday the New Jersey Conservation Foundation (NJCF) and Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed Association (SBMWA) asked (more liked begged) the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to withdraw the PennEast application, something called a “no alternative” action, and just let it die a stillborn death. Their argument to FERC seems to rely on the old tactic of “if you can’t dazzle them with brilliance, baffle them with bull$#@!.” Because a few sympathetic rads exist within government agencies like the EPA and Fish & Wildlife Service, and because those agencies were co-opted into sending negative comments about the project to FERC, the radicals at NJ Conservation and Stony Brook Watershed tell FERC it’s best just to scrap the whole thing. No sense in continuing. Move along–nothing else to see here. A nice try at bamboozling FERC, but it’s an agency wise to such deceptions…
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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | PennEast Pipeline | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Statewide PA

PennEast Tweaks Pipeline Route in 26 PA, 7 NJ Locations
September 26, 2016September 26, 2016

Contrary to irrational fossil fuel haters and the lies they spread about pipeline companies, those companies do listen and work with local communities and individual landowners to tweak the route of a proposed pipeline in an effort to minimize impacts. Case in point: PennEast Pipeline is a $1 billion, 118-mile, primarily 36-inch pipeline that will get built from Dallas (Luzerne County), PA to Transco’s pipeline interconnection near Pennington (Mercer County), NJ. It’s being vigorously opposed by anti-drillers including THE Delaware Riverkeeper, the Sierra Clubbers and others. Last Friday PennEast filed 33 changes to the proposed route with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), to accommodate landowners and communities. This is how adults behave, unlike the childish, petulant, spoiled children who run organizations like Riverkeeper and the Sierra Club. PennEast listened, reflected, and changed. The response from the antis? “You can’t build it. CAN’T CAN’T CAN’T CAN’T CAN’T.” There is no reasoning with people who are un-reasonable. Here’s a description of the changes PennEast made to the route through PA and NJ…
Read More “PennEast Tweaks Pipeline Route in 26 PA, 7 NJ Locations”
Energy Services | Exporting | Industrywide Issues | PennEast Pipeline | Pipelines

Dispelling the Notion that PennEast Pipe Gas Will Get Exported
September 22, 2016September 22, 2016

For the gazillionth time, PennEast Pipeline is addressing the lie spread by opponents that “most a that thar gas will get exported overseas.” Virulent anti-drillers try to whip up opposition to the pipeline any way they can, including spreading the lie that PennEast gas will not stay local and benefit local residents. The single counter-argument that utterly destroys that lie is this: In order to export gas, PennEast would first have to apply for and receive permission from the U.S. Dept. of Energy. Guess what? PennEast has not (nor is going to) apply to the DOE for export permission, as they indicate in the following Letter to the Editor…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | PennEast Pipeline | Pipelines | Regulation

Obama EPA, National Park Service Try to Rain on PennEast Parade
September 15, 2016September 15, 2016

Various government agencies populated with liberal Democrats, including the Obama Environmental Protection Agency, the Obama National Park Service, the Obama Fish & Wildlife Service, and the New Jersey Environmental Protection Agency, filed negative comments about the PennEast Pipeline with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on Monday. The last day to file public comments on PennEast was this past Monday, Sept. 12. In what almost seems like a coordinated attack, various agencies all filed their highly inflammatory and negative comments at the eleventh hour. The Obama EPA’s comments were particular egregious, making fantastically wild claims like building PennEast “may” end up causing arsenic in groundwater supplies. Talk about bogus B.S. (Barbara Streisand). The question is, will this unwarranted assault by federal and state agencies cause further delays in the already-delayed PennEast project?…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | PennEast Pipeline | Pipelines

NJ Sierra Club Game Plan – Kill Pipelines by Slowing Approvals
September 12, 2016September 12, 2016

PennEast in NJ – click for larger version

An Associated Press article tackles the issue of the dozen plus natural gas pipelines planned to carry new supplies of Marcellus/Utica gas into New Jersey, and how/why those projects are moving along so slowly. Today is the final day for public comment on the much-needed PennEast Pipeline from the Wilkes-Barre, PA region southeast to the Trenton, NJ area. The next step is an environment study, to be done by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). THE Delaware Riverkeeper (aka Maya van Rossum) along with other virulent anti-fossil fuel nutters, like the NJ Sierra Club, are vigorously opposed–throwing as much horse manure and legal roadblocks at the project as they can. In other areas of the country it would take a project like PennEast about seven months to get approved. So far it’s been over two years for PennEast, with an end now in sight IF construction begins next year. The article is an update on the PennEast, with comments mostly against (a few for). The interesting part of the article is, for us, the very last sentence. We’ve told you for years that the game plan from antis is to delay and slow down approvals in hopes of getting projects canceled. We’ve had a front row seat of that (very effective) strategy here in New York State. The interesting final sentence in the AP article is an admission by the NJ Sierra Club that delay of PennEast is indeed their game plan, with the intent to “kill the pipeline”…
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Crime | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | PennEast Pipeline | Pipelines

NJ Anti Indicted for “Terroristic Threats” Againt PennEast Workers
August 25, 2016August 25, 2016

PennEast in NJ

In April MDN told you about the case of an anti-driller who crossed the line into terrorism (see Anti Arrested for Terrorist Threats, Waves Gun at PennEast Workers). Three surveyors working on the PennEast Pipeline in Holland Township (Hunterdon Township), New Jersey were approached by a man with a rifle. The man asked them if they were there working on the PennEast. When the 3-man crew responded “yes,” the man waved the gun in the air, shouting at them that he would stop the pipeline. It was a clearly a menancing threat to the men who were doing nothing more than a survey. Holland Township Police later arrested Lester Kinney Jr., charging him with “making terroristic threats and possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose.” Although arrested for his crimes, you need an indictment (from a grand jury) in order to prosecute such a crime. The wheels of justice grind sloooooooooowly. We finally have some good news. A grand jury has indeed indicted Mr. Kinney for his criminal act. He will now either plead guilty, or go to trial…
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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | PennEast Pipeline | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Regulation | Statewide PA

More Bleating from Radical Anti Groups re FERC PennEast Hearings
August 18, 2016August 18, 2016

We’re sorry to beat a dead horse (or goat, in this case) to death, but we can’t help it. We have another shining example of far-left environmental radicals who are bleating about the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) change-up in the way they accepted public comments on the PennEast Pipeline project. We first reported the antis are up-in-arms two days ago (see FERC Alters PennEast Hearing Process to Reduce Antis’ Bleating). Yesterday we shared the spitting and sputtering done by THE Delaware Riverkeeper herself, Maya van Rossum (see THE Delaware Riverkeeper Mad – Can’t Bleat at FERC Hearings). Today it’s the radicals at the New Jersey Conservation Foundation and Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed Association. Maaaaaaahhhh…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | PennEast Pipeline | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Statewide PA

THE Delaware Riverkeeper Mad – Can’t Bleat at FERC Hearings
August 17, 2016August 17, 2016

As we reported yesterday, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has found a way to eliminate the histrionics practiced by anti-fossil fuel nutjobs who want to oppose the PennEast Pipeline at FERC hearings (see FERC Alters PennEast Hearing Process to Reduce Antis’ Bleating). FERC is denying antis an audience in front of which to engage in the circus-like freak show they love to perform. And that has THE Delaware Riverkeeper–Maya van Rossum–hopping mad. She calls the new procedure of delivering comments in a private room before a single FERC rep and stenographer “a faux public hearing.” You see, antis needs an audience, otherwise their pathetic lives have no meaning. Without hooting and hollering and making outrageously false claims (i.e. lies), where’s the fun? Without an audience, Maya’s minions will just stay home instead. Oh oh. That’s not good! Here’s how Riverkeeper stenographers at the Philly Inquirer are reporting it…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Lehigh County | Northampton County | PennEast Pipeline | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Regulation

FERC Alters PennEast Hearing Process to Reduce Antis’ Bleating
August 16, 2016August 16, 2016

We’ve sat through our fair share of public hearings and open houses for pipelines–from Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) hearings to state agency hearings to open houses sponsored by midstream companies (see Vicariously Attend FERC Scoping Hearing on Constitution Pipeline). The script is always the same. Anti-fossil fuel freaks show up and perform before the cameras and microphones. That’s what they are there to do–engage in a circus act. When they are denied such an opportunity, they complain (see Williams’ Smart Open House in Lebanon County Confounds Antis). FERC hearings are always the same–show up and sign up to speak, with 3 or 4-minute allotments for each speaker. And speakers are taken in the order in which they signed in. Those in the audience who are for or against typically applaud or issue boos and insults. We have often said FERC personnel should get hazard pay for sitting through 4-hour marathons of this nonsense. FERC has wised up. They held a public hearing last night in the Bethlehem, PA area for the proposed PennEast Pipeline project. Instead of a public forum, FERC set two private rooms with a stenographer in each. FERC recorded comments two-at-a-time, in private. And they saved themselves all of the theatrics by anti-drilling trolls. And of course, that didn’t sit well with the antis. Most of the antis who spoke were reading from cue cards prepared for them by THE Delaware Riverkeeper, Maya van Rossum. The antis are so dumb they can’t even form their own thoughts about why they are against the project! Too funny…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | PennEast Pipeline | Pipelines

Opposition to PennEast Pipeline Fading Away, Anti Meetings Shrink
August 4, 2016August 4, 2016

We found this story amusing. A group of 40 anti-fossil fuel nutters met at the Towamensing Township fire hall Tuesday night to “hone their arguments and strategies on how to derail or at least delay construction” of the $1.2 billion PennEast Pipeline. Why is that amusing? Because if the media is reporting there were 40 there, that means there were really 20-25. And when you read the story, you get the distinct impression that a very small group of hardened anti-fossil fuelers move these meetings around–it’s the same small group–and that their movement to stop PennEast is dying. Rapidly. Here’s the latest evidence…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | PennEast Pipeline | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Statewide PA

PennEast Pipeline Responds to Sierra Club’s “Tittelations”
August 1, 2016August 1, 2016

PennEast Pipeline Route Map – click for larger version

Jeff Tittel, director of the radical, fringe New Jersey Sierra Club, tried to “Tittelate” green wackos in New Jersey and Pennsylvania to oppose the much-needed, completely safe Penn East Pipeline with a recent column (full of lies) published in the Easton (PA) Express-Times. Why mainstream newspapers continue to publish outright lies is beyond us–but that’s the day and age we live in. So it fell to Penn East to publish a response to Tittel’s column, to set the record straight…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | PennEast Pipeline | Pipelines

FERC Agrees to Consider Hearing on Need for PennEast Pipe in NJ
July 28, 2016July 28, 2016

We’re not sure how important (or not) this news is, but it’s certainly worth reporting. Yesterday the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) announced it will “consider” a motion for an evidentiary hearing on PennEast Pipeline’s application about whether or not the pipeline is needed in New Jersey. Last month radicals at the Eastern Environmental Law Clinic (EELC) on behalf of enviro-Nazis at the New Jersey Conservation Foundation (NJ Conservation) and Stony Brook – Millstone Watershed Association (SBMWA), filed a motion requesting FERC conduct a hearing to assess whether there evidence of public need in New Jersey for the proposed PennEast Pipeline. Yesterday FERC said they’ll consider a hearing–FERC has not (yet) said it would actually conduct such a hearing. Here’s the news as sent to us from the radicals…
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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | PennEast Pipeline | Pipelines | Regulation | Spectra Energy

Pot Shot: PennEast Partner Seeks to Stop New England Pipeline
July 27, 2016July 27, 2016

In September 2014, PSEG (Public Service Enterprise Group) Power–New Jersey’s largest utility company–became the fifth company to become a partner in the much-needed PennEast Pipeline, the $1 billion pipeline project that would flow cheap, abundant and clean-burning Marcellus Shale gas from northeast Pennsylvania all the way to Trenton, New Jersey (see NJ’s Largest Utility Becomes 5th Partner in PennEast Pipeline). You know the travails PennEast has had in trying to get the project approved. Nutjobs like THE Delaware Riverkeeper, funded by the William Penn Foundation, Heinz Endowments and others, has continually harassed and sued PennEast. One of Riverkeeper’s favorite tactics is to write gajillions of letters to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission telling FERC that PennEast isn’t needed and isn’t wanted. So we found it a tad hypocritical to read that PSEG Power has turned around and filed their own letter with FERC–telling FERC another pipeline project, Spectra Energy’s much-needed Access Northeast pipeline which will bring more Marcellus gas to New England, isn’t needed and isn’t wanted…
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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | PennEast Pipeline | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Regulation | Statewide PA

Major Step Forward – FERC Issues Favorable DEIS for PennEast Pipe
July 25, 2016July 25, 2016

PennEast Pipeline Route Map – click for larger version

THE Delaware Riverkeeper, Maya van Rossum, is “spitting” mad. Why? Because the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has signaled it will approve the PennEast Pipeline, a $1.2 billion, 119-mile desperately-needed natural gas pipeline from Luzerne County, PA to Mercer County, NJ that will haul Marcellus Shale gas from northern PA to markets in southeastern PA and NJ. On Friday FERC issued a Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) that finds while there are a few things to fix in the PennEast plan before the pipeline gets built, they are fixable and the pipeline won’t have significant environmental impacts. van Rossum, upon learning of the favorable DEIS, said “The deadline for comments is an offensive abuse of power and spit in the face of all the communities that will be so deeply harmed by this project.” Needless to say, FERC’s decision put a smile on our face. PennEast calls it a “major step forward.” Indeed. It all but assures that this project will get approved and built…
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Energy Services | PennEast Pipeline

Two Major NJ Business Groups Join Chorus Supporting PennEast Pipe
July 15, 2016July 15, 2016

PennEast in NJ

Nearly every major business and labor organization in New Jersey is now on record supporting the much-needed PennEast Pipeline Project. Yesterday two more business groups, on opposite sides of the state, joined the chorus calling for PennEast to get built. The Meadowlands Regional Chamber of Commerce and the Southern New Jersey Development Council, collectively representing hundreds of businesses and thousands of employees, have endorsed the PennEast Pipeline Project. Here’s what they had to say…
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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | PennEast Pipeline | Pipelines

NJ Judge Dismisses Trespassing Lawsuit Against PennEast Pipeline
July 8, 2016July 8, 2016

In May MDN told you about a sham lawsuit brought by two radical environmental groups–Homeowners Against Land Taking – PennEast Inc. (HALT PennEast) and the New Jersey Conservation Foundation–against the PennEast Pipeline (see PennEast Responds to Sham NJ Lawsuit Re Surveying w/o Permission). The lawsuit falsely claimed PennEast was surveying on New Jersey landowners’ property without permission. PennEast has responded that the claims of trespassing to survey are (our words) horse manure. PennEast checks carefully before entering a property to survey. So the company mounted a “vigorous defense.” A New Jersey State Superior Court judge yesterday tossed the HALT lawsuit…
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