Big Green Challenges FERC Order Allowing Pipe Projs During Lawsuits
One of the environmental left’s favorite tactics to defeat fossil fuel projects is to challenge every single infrastructure project (pipeline or otherwise) connected to fossil energy at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). As soon as a company files an application to build a new project, and FERC approves it, Big Green will challenge it, first at FERC, and eventually via the courts. FERC has an internal rule, called Order No. 871, that states a company cannot begin construction (even though FERC has approved the certificate) until all such legal challenges are resolved. Which can take YEARS. Which is the point—delay, and eventually some of the projects will give up and won’t build. Run out the clock. Read More “Big Green Challenges FERC Order Allowing Pipe Projs During Lawsuits”

In December 2017 (7.5 years ago!), MDN told you about the bastardization of our justice system by Michael Bloomberg. Bloomberg funneled money to the New York University (NYU) School of Law, which in turn pays to hire radical (Democrat) attorneys to work inside the offices of the attorneys general in Democrat-controlled states, including Pennsylvania (see
Here’s an important update for a project we haven’t discussed since last October. The Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) is building a $2.1 billion state-of-the-art natural gas plant in Cumberland City, Tennessee (see
Penneco Environmental Solutions wants to build a second wastewater injection well in Plum Borough (Allegheny County), PA, next to an existing injection well. Penneco’s first wastewater injection well in Plum finally opened for business in mid-2021, overcoming all sorts of smears, slanders, and lawsuits by the enviro-left (see
A pipeline court case to celebrate (we take our victories where we can find them). Washington Gas Light Company (WGL) seeks to install a 24-inch-diameter high-pressure natural gas pipeline through the Pimmit Hills neighborhood in Fairfax County, Virginia. Fairfax County is a suburb of Washington, D.C. The County Zoning Board of Appeals claimed the project needs a “special exemption” issued by the County Board of Supervisors (nine of the Supervisors are Democrats, one is a Republican). The Court of Appeals for Virginia knocked that bogus claim down.
Well, you knew this was coming. Radicalized green groups are gearing up to challenge two recently resurrected Williams pipeline projects: The Constitution Pipeline, a 124-mile, 660 MMcf/d greenfield (brand new) pipeline from the gas fields of northeastern Pennsylvania (in Susquehanna County) into and through New York to Schoharie County; and the Northeast Supply Enhancement (NESE) project, designed to increase Transco pipeline capacity and flows of Marcellus gas heading into New York City and other northeastern markets.
In early April, MDN brought you the exciting news that THE largest gas-fired power plant in the country, along with a MASSIVE data center complex, will be built at a former coal-fired power plant site in Indiana County, PA (see
The lawfare battle brought by radical green groups in New Jersey, including Food and Water Watch, the NJ Highlands Coalition, and the Sierra Club, aimed at overturning the decision to permit and build an electric compressor station and a pipeline that connects to it, is over. Done. Finished. Can we please stick a fork in it? We’re talking about the battle to block a compressor project in West Milford, NJ, part of Kinder Morgan’s Tennessee Gas Pipeline (TGP) East 300 expansion project, an upgrade of TGP to deliver an extra 115 MMcf/d of natural gas to Consolidated Edison and its customers in New York City and surrounding suburbs. The radicals just flamed out in a NJ appeals court and have no options left to challenge it.
A kerfuffle has erupted in Morgan Township (Greene County), PA, between drilling and pipeline giant EQT Corporation and the town over the issue of hauling heavy equipment on Morgan’s roadways. Morgan supervisors prohibited EQT from using local town roads to haul heavy equipment to work sites. On June 18, EQT filed a lawsuit against the town, which the town is sure to lose (copy below). There is word that an agreement is already in the works to settle the dispute.
MDN previously brought you the news that the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) approved a plan by Catalyst Energy to convert an existing conventional gas production well on Route 646 in Cyclone (Keating Township, McKean County, PA) into a shale wastewater injection well (see
EQT Corp. has agreed to pay $167.5 million to investors who claimed the company overstated the benefits of its $6.7 billion merger with Rice Energy, according to a motion filed yesterday seeking preliminary approval of what the investors called the largest-ever stockholder suit deal lodged in Western Pennsylvania federal court. The proposed settlement comes after six years of ongoing litigation.
The West Virginia Supreme Court recently issued two 3-2 decisions reinforcing that oil and gas producers generally cannot deduct post-production costs from royalty payments to mineral owners unless lease agreements explicitly permit such deductions. We previously reported on both decisions. On June 6, the Supremes ruled in Kaess v. BB Land LLC on “in-kind” royalty leases (see