VNG Cancels Pipeline Expansion Plan for NE Virginia
All the wheels have officially come off the cart for a proposed $346 million pipeline project in northeastern Virginia called the Header Improvement Project. Virginia Natural Gas (VNG) filed a plan last December to build the Header Improvement Project, 24 miles of new pipeline and two new compressor stations (expanding a third compressor) connecting to the mighty Transco pipeline system to flow Marcellus/Utica gas to the northeast Virginia region (see Va. Turns Down Anti Request to Delay Hearing on VNG Pipe Project). The plan has officially been filed in the trash can.
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In July 2018 three radical environmental groups dropped their objections to permits the Pennsylvania DEP previously granted for the Mariner East 2 Pipeline. Clean Air Council, Mountain Watershed Association, and THE Delaware Riverkeeper “settled” their appeal of 20 permits issued to Sunoco for the ME2 project (see 
Williams, via its wholly-owned subsidiary Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line (Transco), has filed a lawsuit against Mountain Valley Pipeline (a competitor) over MVP’s plan to extend the pipeline an extra 75 miles from southern Virginia into North Carolina. Williams claims some of the land MVP wants to use under eminent domain crosses into Transco’s easements and building MVP so close to Transco may damage Transco’s pipeline and the cathodic anti-corrosion system that protects it.
Earlier this week the Ohio Supreme Court expanded on one of its prior rulings concerning the Ohio Marketable Title Act (MTA) to try and make things a little bit clearer concerning previously severed mineral rights (severed from surface rights). What is at stake in the MTA is whether surface rights owners can regain possession of mineral rights by using the MTA–at least in some cases. Indeed they can, but certain rules must be obeyed.
Gulfport Energy continues to try and wiggle out of legally-signed and binding long-term contracts with multiple pipeline companies, including deals that move Marcellus/Utica gas through the Rover and Rockies Express (REX) pipelines. Last year the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) told Gulfport a very loud NO in breaking those contracts (see 
Last August the North Carolina Dept. of Environmental Quality (DEQ) rejected a water permit for Equitrans’ proposed Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) Southgate project (see 
The good news for Equitrans’ 303-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) is that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit last week overruled North Carolina’s Dept. of Environmental Quality in rejecting a water permit for the project (see today’s lead story). However, MVP wasn’t letting last year’s DEQ action slow it down. In January MVP reluctantly filed eminent domain lawsuits against 100 landowners who refuse to reasonably negotiate an easement for the pipeline.
In early February MDN told you that it was likely the Biden administration, although anti-drilling and anti-pipeline, would have no choice but to support an active case before the U.S. Supreme Court dealing with eminent domain for the PennEast Pipeline project (see 
Chesapeake Energy has screwed over landowners in northeastern Pennsylvania (and elsewhere) for years. Under the provisions of a “settlement” just brokered by PA’s shale-hating Attorney General, Josh Shapiro, Chesapeake will get away with settling the royalty case for pennies on the dollar. The average landowner will get just over $300 from this “settlement.” What a cruel joke. This is all about headlines and showmanship for Shapiro who hopes to run for governor next year. Don’t fall for his “I’m the savior of landowners” schtick. He just sold landowners down the river in return for a headline his campaign can use.
Two Democrat federal judges with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia (D.C. Circuit) are second-guessing a long-completed and flowing natural gas pipeline in the St. Louis, MO area–a pipeline that flows Marcellus/Utica gas to residents, businesses, and electric generating plants in the region. Why are we not surprised?
On Monday PennEast Pipeline filed its opening brief in a case to be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court in April. 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. PennEast calls the previous ruling by the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals “deeply flawed” and “seriously misunderstands both eminent domain and sovereign immunity.” What are PennEast’s chances of winning, and if they do win, when will PennEast get built?
Some two and a half years after Energy Transfer’s (ET) Revolution Pipeline entered service in western Pennsylvania and exploded following a landslide, the pipeline finally returned to service yesterday. The Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) issued a press release to say it had extracted another $125,000 from ET and has allowed the pipeline to resume service.