Kentucky Antis File Lawsuit to Stop TGP NGL Pipe Reversal
Kentucky antis have gone to court to try and block a plan by Kinder Morgan to convert a portion of the Tennessee Gas Pipeline that flows natural gas from the Gulf Coast to the northeast, to reverse the pipeline and flow natural gas liquids from the Marcellus/Utica region to the Gulf. Part of the 964-mile project runs through Kentucky (see KM Plans to Convert Tennessee Gas Pipeline to Flow M-U NGLs South). The first step in the reversal process was approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission last October (see FERC Advances Plan to Reverse Part of TGP to Haul M-U NGLs to Gulf). Antis in Kentucky got their bluegrass knickers in a twist over FERC’s action. They filed a request for “rehearing” of FERC’s decision, which is the first step in a process that typically ends up in court. First the “aggrieved party” (antis are in a perpetual state of being aggrieved) must request a rehearing. If FERC denies the rehearing request, antis (Big Green groups with deep pockets representing them) then file a lawsuit in federal Appeals Court to try and stop FERC from continuing to approve the project. Normally FERC has 30 days to decide on a rehearing, however, they have a little tactic they call a “tolling order” which allows them to extend the amount of time to make a rehearing decision–indefinitely. FERC pulled out the tolling order card and played it with the TGP project last November (see FERC Frustrates Kentucky Radicals Seeking to Stop TGP Pipe Reversal). The antis aren’t waiting. They’ve just filed a lawsuit challenging the FERC tolling order. Here’s the latest from the enviro nuts in the Bluegrass State…
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The efforts by radical environmental groups like THE Delaware Riverkeeper and PennFuture to try and shut down the Marcellus industry in Pennsylvania never stop. Like ocean waves that continue to crash into the shoreline, Riverkeeper and PennFuture constantly, regularly, launch new initiatives aimed at hassling, slowing, stopping and reversing the Marcellus industry. Sometimes (often) their efforts are focused on filing frivolous lawsuits. Sometimes it’s a publicity stunt/protest. And sometimes they take aim at regulatory bodies, like the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP). It is that last one that is the focus of a new campaign to stifle the Marcellus industry. Every three years the DEP conducts a review of water quality standards. Riverkeeper and PennFuture have put the call out to their radical faithful to inundate the DEP with public comments (due by Feb. 16) to create new regulations that will “protect” PA streams “from impacts like brine gas drilling wastewater” and “road salt applications in the winter”–perfectly safe salt that comes from processed wastewater. In other words, this is yet another attempt to shut down the drilling industry by neutering its ability to properly dispose of brine wastewater…
It’s fun to watch the left eat its own. That’s exactly what’s happening in Boston. We’ve provided a fair bit of coverage on the issue of lack of pipelines in New England and the fallout from it. Because of lack of natural gas pipelines, both natural gas AND electricity prices in New England are sky high. Natgas is used to generate most of New England’s electricity. When it gets cold out, residents and businesses use more natgas for heat, causing a shortage of natgas, further causing insane price hikes. At some point, there just won’t be any more gas at any price–and that’s when rolling blackouts begin. It will happen sooner than you think. Important politicians in New England, like U.S. Senator Elizabeth “Pocahontas” Warren and Attorney General Maura Healey (both from Massachusetts) have actively worked to block new natgas pipelines. The result? LNG tankers with illegal Russian gas are supplying a good share of the region’s natgas supplies during cold snaps. It’s disgusting. It’s so disgusting, even the far-left libs who write and edit the Boston Globe can’t stand it anymore. The Globe published an editorial yesterday titled “Our Russian ‘pipeline,’ and its ugly toll,” taking Healey and the enviro left to task. Yeah, it’s fun to watch the left eat its own!…
It’s about time! The gloves need to come off and our side (pro-fossil fuel) needs to aggressively launch lawsuits against the lawyers and groups who continue to launch a barrage of frivolous lawsuits against us, trying to shut down all fossil fuel companies (but not before they empty fossil fuel company coffers). Exxon is fighting back. The gloves are off. It’s time to talk about Fight Club–out in the open. We have, from time to time, chronicled the lawsuits launched by New York State’s out-of-control Attorney General, Eric Schneiderman. Schneiderman, Massachusetts AG Maura Healey and other lefty Dems formed an unethical secrecy pact in their campaign to shake down Exxon Mobil by claiming the company “knew” man-made global warming exists and that burning the nasty fossil fuels the company produces contributes to it (see 
A far-left group of radicals calling themselves Ending Dirty Gas Exploitation Philadelphia (EDGE Philly) is borrowing a tactic first pioneered by THE Delaware Riverkeeper, to oppose a short pipeline project near Philadelphia. In November, MDN shared the exciting news that an old oil pipeline stretching from Northampton County, PA through Bucks, Montgomery, and Chester counties, terminating in Delaware County at Marcus Hook, had been purchased by a subsidiary of New Jersey Resources and will get converted to flow Marcellus natural gas to the greater Philadelphia region (see 
In November 2015 MDN reported on a seemingly obscure zoning court case in Westmoreland County, PA (see 
“Keep It In the Ground” (KIITG) activists have launched a new, deceptive campaign in their holy mission to end the use of fossil fuels. The same people behind Food & Water Watch, Food and Water Action, the Sierra Club and other Big Green groups have/are launching fake landowner coalitions in Ohio. These fake coalitions (one of them being the Tri-County Landowners Coalition) have one aim and one aim only–to convince unsuspecting landowners to hate fossil fuels and anything (i.e. drilling, pipelines) to do with fossil fuels. It is a sleazy and disgusting tactic by the ultra-left, preying on honest, hardworking folks who join coalitions hoping to receive guidance on the best way to protect their land while at the same time profiting from it. Don’t fall for these fake coalitions! Our friends at Energy in Depth are sounding the alarm on this latest move by anti-fossil fuel radicals…
It doesn’t happen often, but we’re speechless. We’ve lived under the apparent illusion that as stupid and insane as liberal leftist environmentalism is, that deep down underneath there’s still at least a small sliver of pragmatic truth that lives. Example: Even though NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo has banned fracking, and blocks natural gas pipelines from getting built (bowing to pressure from the enviro left), at least Cuomo is on board with building a tiny natgas-fired electric generating plant in the heart of Albany, to power the bloated government complex that exists (see 
The State of New Jersey and its elected leaders (Governor and Attorney General) continue their quest to hassle and block the PennEast Pipeline from entering a small portion of their state. Why? To answer that question you’d have to enter their brains to understand all of the political calculations that go on–a very scary proposition. NJ Attorney General Gurbir Grewal (far-left Democrat) on Friday rejected PennEast’s request to use state-owned land for small part of the pipeline’s route. Also last week, the NJ Dept. of Environmental Protection (an executive branch agency, reports to NJ’s newly elected LibDem Gov. Phil Murphy) told PennEast the DEP is closing the books on PennEast’s water crossing permit application for lack of information. PennEast says the DEP’s action was not a surprise and that they will refile the application with the additional information sought. It all just points to a very hostile (to private business) government that has seized power in The Garden State. Don’t worry, PennEast isn’t letting NJ’s hostility stop them. This pipeline will still get built…
This is a somewhat personal story that perfectly illustrates the point we’ve been making for years. MDN editor Jim Willis lives with his wife and family in the Binghamton, NY area. Jim likes to say he “lives behind enemy lines”–meaning New York State under Andrew Cuomo and his radical left base are hostile to the fossil fuel industry. The cost of Cuomo’s actions for every New Yorker (at least those of us living in Upstate) is now on full display for all to see. A few weeks ago Jim got his monthly electric bill from New York State Electric & Gas (NYSEG, owned by the Spanish company Iberdrola). Jim’s eyes about fell out of their sockets. Jim largely uses electricity for heating (with a fuel oil furnace as backup). No natural gas lines where Jim lives, unfortunately. Even in the dead of winter Jim’s electric bill is rarely over $200 in any given month–typically around $150. This time? Nearly $700!!!! At first, Jim chalked it up to the cold snap and the constant running of his electric heat source. Then he spotted an article (below, sent to us by Vic Furman), that shows Jim is not the only one. Across the entire region folks received bills that are double and triple the usual amount. Why the spike in price? It seems the lack of natural gas via pipelines is not only hurting New England, it’s now hurting Upstate NY. Due to a lack of natgas supplies and the huge regional demand for natgas–for home heating as well as for electric generators–the spot price for gas went through the roof and along with it NYSEG’s cost for both natgas and electricity generated by natgas also went through the roof. Consequently, Cuomo’s frack ban and (now) pipeline ban on importing natgas from PA are having very real, tangible consequences–in our electric bills. All of Cuomo’s precious renewable sources of energy will not, indeed cannot, make up for a lack of natgas. Cuomo’s stupidity is costing ME real money…
Crazy Bernie Sanders (yes THAT Bernie Sanders, U.S. Senator from Vermont) along with ultra-radical 350.org and its leader Bill McKibben, have launched a new campaign called Fossil Free. It’s actually “thinking free” (as in the absence of all thinking), but we’ll leave that for another post. The new campaign is the ultimate outcome of global warming belief metastasized. Bernie, who is a political rock star for naive young Millennials, appeared with several other speakers at an event in Washington, D.C. that was live streamed to more than 300 “watch parties” across the country. The theme of the campaign is to end the use of all fossil fuels. One of the watch parties was a group of students at Penn State. By all accounts, the young skulls full of mush sat there bedazzled by Crazy Bernie–mouths open, drool trickling down the corner of their mouths. They were brainwashed. They worship this almost-octogenarian for who knows why? The problem is, these kids have not been taught to think critically. They accept, at face value, the lies spread by people like Sanders and McKibben. The kids just automatically believe it–like a blind faith–because Bernie says it. Penn State is (or was) a good school. What’s going on that they’re turning out kids who don’t, and won’t, think for themselves? Here’s recap of the Penn State Crazy Bernie “watch party”…
Big Green leftists HATED President Richard Nixon (frankly, they hate any/every Republican before and since). They hated Nixon even though he created the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Did you know that Nixon created the EPA? And now the EPA’s first-ever Secretary, William Ruckelshaus (a card-carrying member of the swamp dweller’s club) is criticizing current EPA Sec. Scott Pruitt for returning the EPA to its roots–to clean up superfund sites and target polluters. Pruitt has pledged to roll back EPA’s cancerous expansion under Obama, with its wild attempt to regulate anything and everything under the excuse of trying to prevent man-made global warming. Why are we not surprised that a has-been like Ruckelshaus is criticizing Pruitt? Ruckelshaus isn’t the only swamp dweller who hates Pruitt (and yes, hate is the accurate word to use). The National Resources Defense Council (NRDC), one of the worst of the worst so-called environmental groups, recently said it is gearing up to launch dozens (!) of lawsuits against the EPA and Pruitt. NRDC is part of the Washington, D.C. swamp. It seems the swamp doesn’t like getting drained and is fighting back. That’s OK. President Trump loves a good fight. It’s about time somebody took the fight to unelected, Big Government-loving nongovernmental organizations like NRDC. Rather than taking something away, Trump and Pruitt are trying to return the EPA to its original mandate. Make no mistake. At it’s core this is a fight about fossil fuels. Big Green disastrously wants to kill the use of fossil fuels–NOW. Here’ a look at how the swamp is fighting back against Trump’s efforts to drain it…
Do the anti fossil-fuel foes in Orange County, NY still not get it? Do they not understand a new gas-fired power plant is about to go online? Competitive Power Ventures (CPV) is building a legal, legitimate, safe, low-emissions electric generating plant in Wawayanda. The plant is almost done and is now preparing for commissioning. This is the same facility Manhattanite Hollywood star James Cromwell (with a summer home in the area) has protested over the past few years (