There had been an ongoing legal squabble in Trumbull County, OH over a proposed Utica gas-fired electric plant in Lordstown, located next door to another gas-fired plant (see Squabbling Over 2nd Lordstown Utica-Fired Elec Plant Near an End). The squabbling ended Friday when the two sides agreed to settle their differences.
Read More “Legal Dispute Resolved for 2nd Lordstown Utica-Fired Elec Plant”
In November seven anti-pipeline residents of Chester and Delaware counties (Philadelphia suburbs) filed a lawsuit against the Mariner East pipeline projects–1, 2 and 2X–alleging the pipelines are unsafe. It didn’t take long for others to jump on the litigation bandwagon:
Read More “Delaware County Asks to Join Lawsuit Against Mariner East Pipes”
MDN recently brought you news that two different large LNG export plant projects in Nova Scotia had agreed to pay an undisclosed amount of money to the The Mi’kmaq (pronounced mic-mac) indigenous peoples of Nova Scotia (i.e. Indians) to leave them alone so they can build their facilities (see Pieridae Energy Pays Off Nova Scotia Indians to Allow LNG Plant and Nova Scotia Indians Shake Down a 2nd LNG Export Project). Now we know why.
Read More “Nova Scotia Indians Illegally Shut Down NatGas Storage Site”
Earlier this week Energy Transfer, the company that built the Rover Pipeline in Ohio, the Revolution Pipeline in southwestern Pennsylvania, and the Mariner East pipelines that run from eastern OH clear across PA to Philadelphia, issued its fourth quarter and full year 2018 update. The thing that caught our attention is an admission by ET’s CEO Kelcy Warren that the company has made “mistakes” with its pipeline projects in PA, and has learned from those mistakes.
Read More “Energy Transfer CEO Learns from “Mistakes” Made in Pa.”
Last November the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) signaled a project by TransCanada called the Portland XPress Project (PXP) would soon get a final approval, by giving the project a favorable environmental review (see FERC Grants Portland XPress Project Environmental Approval). Not even three months later, FERC has just given final approval for the project to begin.
Read More “FERC Approves New England Pipeline Expansion”
US Methanol broke ground in September 2017 in Institute (Kanawha County), WV to build its very first methanol production plant (see US Methanol Breaks Ground on First Plant in West Virginia). Methanol plants convert natural gas into methanol, used as a chemical feedstock (raw material) to create other things, like gasoline, antifreeze, plastic bottles–even LED and LCD screens. Methanol plants use a LOT of natural gas, hence our interest.
Read More “Methanol Plants Huge Users of Marcellus/Utica Gas”
Natural gas storage fields are an important, but often overlooked, part of the natgas ecosystem. Equitrans (nee EQT Midstream) owns a natgas storage field in Greene County, PA, in the southwest corner of the state. The state Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) is threatening to shut down that storage field, because of coal mining in the area.
Read More “PA DEP Threatens to Close Equitrans Gas Storage Field in SWPA”
Now that the reality has begun to sink in that there will be no magic bullet, no magic wand waved to prevent Consolidated Edison from refusing to add new customers (like hotels, apartment buildings, etc.) to its natural gas distribution system in Westchester County, NY, politicians and business leaders in the county are beginning to soil themselves. Certainly metaphorically–maybe literally.
Read More “Westchester County Soiling Itself re NatGas Moratorium”
On Tuesday we brought you an update about New Fortress Energy’s LNG plant planned for Wylausing (Bradford County), PA (see Wyalusing, PA LNG Export Plant Making Progress). In researching that story we stumbled across news that (so far) nobody else has published: There is a second LNG plant planned for Wyalusing. In fact, the second plant is under construction right now!
Read More “Exclusive: 2nd LNG Operation Coming to Wyalusing, PA”
CNX was fracking their Shaw 1G Utica well in Washington Township (Westmoreland County) on Saturday, Jan. 26, when they detected “a strong drop in pressure” and stopped fracking (see CNX Hits Major Problem Fracking Utica Well Near SWPA Reservoir). Turns out the well was “communicating” (i.e. losing gas to) several nearby conventional wells.
Read More “CNX Faulty Utica Well in SWPA Will Cost Company $30M+”
Three more cheers for Pennsylvania State Senator Lisa Baker (Republican from Luzerne County). Rather than wait for the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) to move forward with adopting a threatened ban on fracking that includes several counties in PA, Baker isn’t waiting. She’s taking a different approach to defeating a proposed DRBC frack ban. Her approach is to bankrupt the DRBC if they decide to move forward with it.
Read More “PA Bill Requires Landowner Compensation if DRBC Bans Fracking”
Williams is in the process of conducting open houses for a series of compressor station projects part of it’s recently announced Leidy South Project. The project will expand capacity along the Transco Pipeline system, including the newly minted Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline portion of Transco, adding another 582 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) of capacity to the Transco in northeast PA.
Read More “Williams Planning 2 New, 2 Upgraded Compressor Stations in NEPA”
A single township in Washington County, PA, Smith Township, is home to two “sprawling” shale gas complexes that process and separate Marcellus/Utica gas extracted in southwestern Pennsylvania. One is MarkWest Energy’s Harmon Creek complex, and the other Energy Transfer’s Revolution complex. Area residents think they have quite enough infrastructure and are asking town officials to throttle back new development.
Read More “Smith Twp Residents Say They Have Enough Processing Plants”
PA Attorney General Josh Shapiro, a sleazy politician, is investigating so-called environmental “crimes” committed by shale companies in a bid to boost his chances of being the next nominee to run for governor (see PA AG Investigates Shale Drillers for “Enviro Crimes”). One of Shapiro’s sham investigations is into Range Resources and the long-ago settled “Haney” court case.
Read More “PA AG Continues Marcellus Witch Hunt, Impanels Grand Jury”
Last October Competitive Power Ventures’ 680-megawatt CPV Valley Energy Center in Wawayanda (Orange County), NY fired up and began producing, using Marcellus gas, enough electricity to power 600,000 liberal NY homes (see CPV Marcellus-Fired Elec Plant in Orange County Now Online!). New York Gov. Cuomo tried his best to block the plant from going online, but failed.
Read More “Judge Refuses to Shut Down Orange County, NY Gas-Fired Plant”
On Tuesday EQT filed lawsuits in both Pennsylvania and federal courts against two former employees it had fired, claiming the employees, before they were fired (sensing it was coming) had systematically copied confidential information from company computers and took it with them when they left.
Read More “EQT Claims 2 Fired Workers Stole Confidential Information”