Spectra Energy, a U.S. midstream (transmission and storage) company is excited about the possibilities of the Marcellus and Utica Shale and shipping shale gas from the northeast to the south and southwest U.S. They’re so excited, in fact, they’re hard at work and spending more than $4 billion on infrastructure projects in the northeast to do just that, according to Spectra president Bill Yardley…
This story will help lighten the mood for Friday. Our entertainment for today comes courtesy the continuing antics of a small group of New York City protesters who object to what Mayor Michael Bloomberg has called “vital” to the city—more natural gas. Spectra Energy is building a pipeline from New Jersey, under the Hudson River, over to a pier in New York to help bring more badly-needed natural gas supplies to the city. Natural gas that will come mostly from the Marcellus Shale.
MDN told you a few weeks ago about protesters getting naked and painting themselves green (see this MDN story). On Wednesday of this week, one of the pipeline protesters (get this) didn’t even tell himself he was going to protest! He spontaneously chained himself to a backhoe. Here’s what happened:
Yet another case of unhinged anti-drilling protesters, this one in New York City. For some time, protesters have rallied against a new 20-mile, $1.2 billion natural gas pipeline being built from New Jersey to New York City by Spectra Energy (see this MDN story). It’s the first new natural gas pipeline built to NYC in decades. According to NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg, without new sources of natural gas, New York City residents won’t just pay higher rates for heating and electricity, they’ll run out of it (see this MDN story).
Anti-drilling protesters don’t let reality and common sense get in the way of a good protest, however, so they’ve taken to so-called acts of “civil” disobedience—attempting to block workers in NYC as they try to construct the new pipeline. Yesterday, their antics got two of them arrested.
On Tuesday MDN brought you the news of a major new Utica Shale gas pipeline that will be built from Ohio through Michigan and into Canada by DTE Energy, Enbridge Inc. and Spectra Energy Corp (see this MDN story). It didn’t take long for anti-drillers, like EcoWatch, to announce their opposition.
This is what passes for news on MSNBC:
Three companies have formed a joint venture to build a new Utica Shale pipeline from Ohio through Michigan and eventually into Canada, delivering Utica Shale gas to Midwestern markets. The three companies are DTE Energy—a Detroit-based energy company, Enbridge—Canada’s largest natural gas distribution company, and Spectra Energy—one of North America’s largest pipeline companies and a member of the Fortune 500 list. The partners plan an open season to lock in customers for the new pipeline later this year. The pipeline won’t be built and in service until late 2015 at the earliest.
From the joint press release issued this morning:
Recently the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approved the construction of a 20-mile pipeline from New Jersey to New York City (see this MDN story). Spectra Energy is constructing the pipeline to the tune of $1.2 billion (a mini-economic boom for NJ/NY). The new pipeline and the cheap natural gas it will bring to NYC will reduce oil burning, which will be mandated starting in 2015 when NYC residents and landlords will no longer be allowed to burn No. 6 fuel oil. The new pipeline will be the equivalent of taking the emissions of 1 million cars off city streets per year. A good thing, no?
According to Sierra Club, that is a “no.” The Sierra Club doesn’t want cheap natural gas delivered to NYC, saving customers millions of dollars and saving the environment, because they don’t like fracking and the gas will mostly come from the Marcellus Shale. And that doesn’t fit with the the Sierra Club’s “attack everything natural gas” philosophy. So they’ve begun the process of protesting the approval for the pipeline, a process that will eventually end in federal court. Stunningly, in the paperwork they filed last week, they blame FERC for doing its job!
Spectra Energy’s proposed $1.2 billion natural gas pipeline for New York City finally won approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on Monday. The 20-mile new pipeline to be built will connect New York to New Jersey and deliver 800 million cubic feet of natural gas per day to homes and businesses in New York. Most of the gas will come from the Marcellus Shale. It will ease the energy needs of New York because starting in 2015 the City will no longer allow No. 6 fuel oil to be burned.
The new pipeline and the energy it will deliver by saving all that oil burning will be the equivalent of taking 1 million cars off the road. That’s a good thing, right? So how have some New Yorkers responded? Thankful that they too will be able to access cleaner burning, lower cost natural gas? Thankful that this new pipeline will result in cleaner air? You guessed it—they don’t want it!
A proposed natural gas pipeline extension that would run from Staten Island through Bayonne, NJ, and Jersey City to the West Village in Manhattan has received the endorsement of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commisssion (FERC), the agency that has final say in the $850 million project.
The project has faced opposition from groups in both NY and NJ. A final decision will be made in a vote by the five-member commission.
Chesapeake Energy, American Electric Power and Spectra Energy are joining forces to build 70 miles of new pipeline in Ohio that will connect Utica and Marcellus gas wells in eastern Ohio to Spectra’s Texas Eastern pipeline system, which runs from Texas to New York. The new joint project is called the Ohio Pipeline Energy Network (OPEN). The estimated cost for the project is $500 million according to Spectra Energy.
Spectra Energy has received Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approval for their Texas Eastern Appalachia to Market (TEAM) 2012 pipeline expansion project which expands Texas Eastern’s existing pipeline system and allows them to deliver extra Marcellus Shale gas to the northeast market in the U.S. A map detailing the existing pipeline and the proposed upgrades is embedded below.