Antis Seek to Silence Pipe Industry Free Speech Ads to Minorities
There is a very dangerous thing happening across the country. If you happen to have an opinion, a viewpoint, that’s different from the socialist left–and if you want to express that opinion in social media, via paid ads, etc., the left wants it shut down, calling it “dangerous.” You see, the socialist left can’t compete in the marketplace of free and open ideas and tolerance. Leftists are the most intolerant among us. Case in point: the group Natural Allies for a Clean Energy Future (founded in 2010) promotes information about the useful role of natural gas and the pipelines that flow it–and those ads target (among others) black and Latino voters. The ads are effective, so the socialist left is attempting to shut them down–kill free speech.
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Columbia Gas, a subsidiary of Canada-based TC Energy (formerly TransCanada), wants to build a tiny 3.37-mile, 8-inch pipeline under the Potomac River from Maryland to West Virginia. The Eastern Panhandle Expansion, as it is called, is being blocked by the lefties in Maryland (see
LNG seems to be the word on everyone’s lips these days–everyone in the oil and gas space, that is. Two weeks ago TC Energy (formerly TransCanada), a huge midstream/pipeline company, issued its first quarter update and held a conference call with analysts. We’re just now learning about some of the chatter coming from that update–very interesting chatter. LNG was a hot topic–flowing more molecules, especially Marcellus/Utica molecules–to LNG export facilities along the Gulf Coast. TC Energy CEO Francois Poirier said during a conference call that roughly one-quarter (25%) of all the molecules that flow to U.S. LNG export facilities get to those facilities by traveling through TC’s pipelines.
In July 2020 Dominion Energy announced it was canceling the Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP)–a 600-mile Marcellus/Utica pipeline project from West Virginia through Virginia and into North Carolina (see
The Iroquois Gas Transmission pipeline project called the Enhancement by Compression (ExC) increases horsepower at three compression stations–two in New York and one in Connecticut–by an extra 125 MMcf/d, flowing more Marcellus/Utica gas into New York City and New England (see
TC Energy Corp., the former TransCanada, held its annual investor day on Dec. 1. TC owns extensive liquids and natural gas pipelines across North America, including the Columbia Gas Transmission interstate pipeline network that blankets Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia. If anyone has its ear to the ground and watching for/discerning longer-term trends, it is big pipeline companies like TC Energy. During the investor day update, one of TC’s executives, Tracy Robinson, said she expects natural gas demand in North America to grow 25% by 2030. That’s a remarkable amount of growth!
How does this sound? You’d like a good job in the oil and gas pipeline industry, something skilled that requires some schooling. But you have a job now and can’t attend a class full-time and you can’t afford the tuition. If you live West Virginia, a huge opportunity has just opened up for you. TC Energy (pipeline giant based in Canada) is partnering with Kanawha County’s BridgeValley Community and Technical College to create programs to train future gas technicians for jobs that are expected to be in high demand in the next three to five years. If you live and stay living in WV, the 60 credit-hour (two-year) college program is tuition-free. Much of the work can be done online in a blended format–traveling to school for lab work only.
Here’s a connection we hadn’t made until we read about yesterday’s oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court in PennEast Pipeline vs. New Jersey. The connection is this: The PennEast case also has huge ramifications for another currently-stalled M-U pipeline. Columbia Gas wants to build a tiny 3.37-mile, 8-inch pipeline under the Potomac River from Maryland to West Virginia. It is being blocked from doing so by the lefties in Maryland (see
Here’s another “XPress” pipeline to add to Columbia’s (TC Energy’s) long list of other XPress pipelines: East Lateral XPress. Columbia has built a number of XPress pipelines, including Gulf XPress, Mountaineer XPress, WB Xpress, Leach XPress, Rayne XPress, Buckeye XPress, and Louisiana XPress, all of which work together to flow (in part) Marcellus/Utica natural gas to points south, including to the Gulf Coast (
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) finally, after months of dithering, granted approval to TC Energy to begin construction of its Louisiana XPress project to beef up flows along the existing Columbia pipeline system by an additional 850 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) by adding three new compressor stations and expanding a fourth compressor in Louisiana.
Here’s a new one for us: The Leach XPress pipeline project has a teeny tiny presence in the southwestern corner of Pennsylvania. We did not know that! Just 1.74 miles of the pipeline runs through PA, but that small section has earned the builder, Columbia Gas, a big fine.
“Hurry it up, will ya?” That was the upshot of a message sent by TC Energy to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) with respect to giving final approval for its Louisiana XPress project. FERC granted the project a favorable environmental assessment (EA) on February 6 (see 