Last month the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) gave permission to TransCanada’s Columbia Pipeline group to start up a portion of the Mountaineer XPress Pipeline in West Virginia (see FERC OK’s Mountaineer XPress Pipe to Start Up in WV). Columbia says the rest of the Mountaineer project is now ready to go online.
Read More “Rest of Mountaineer XPress Pipeline Ready to Go Online Now”
Here’s something we didn’t know: In West Virginia there’s a regulation on the books, put there decades ago (pre-shale), that stipulates wells targeting “deep” formations including the Utica Shale must be at least 3,000 feet apart.
Read More “Bill to Encourage More Utica Wells Advances in WV Legislature”
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s foolish policies have finally come home to roost. You can only overtax and overregulate for so long before a state’s economy comes tumbling down–and that’s just what’s happening to poor Andy, who went hat-in-hand to the White House on Tuesday to beg and plead with The Donald to tweak the newly implemented tax federal tax cut.
Read More “Trump Tells Cuomo F2F – You Should Allow Fracking & Pipelines”
Last week ExxonMobil and Qatar Petroleum announced a final investment decision (FID) to build Golden Pass LNG terminal, on the Texas side of the Sabine-Neches Waterway. That’s a stone’s throw from Cheneire Energy’s Sabine Pass LNG terminal on the Louisiana side of the waterway. Marcellus/Utica gas flows to the Cheniere facility. Will it also flow to Exxon’s when it’s built?
Read More “Exxon Building New Gulf Coast LNG Export Plant, M-U to Feed”
It’s no secret that getting a gas pipeline project of any kind approved in New York State is an uphill battle because our governor, Andrew Cuomo, blocks all new pipelines in a bid to keep his left wing supporters happy. An important project from Williams, the Northeast Supply Enhancement (NESE) which would beef up capacity along the Transco pipeline system going into New York City, is about to get two hearings with the state Dept. of Environmental Conservation.
Read More “It’s Time to Support Williams’ NESE Project in NY – Here’s How”
Yesterday MDN began our lead story about a big fine for Antero Resources by saying, “This has to be a record-high amount for a fine plus remediation work, at least in the Marcellus/Utica.” We humbly admit we were wrong. In checking our records, we found that in a similar case from 2014, Trans Energy paid even more, quite a bit more. We researched what this whole business is about, why Antero and others were fined, interviewing a top Antero official, and we now have a far better understanding of what happened and why.
Read More “The Real Story of Antero’s $11M Clean Water Act Violations”
In 2013 some 10,000 West Virginia landowners/rights owners filed a class action lawsuit against EQT over their practice of post-production deductions from royalty checks. The lawsuit was scheduled to go to trial last November, but at the last minute, it didn’t. Word leaked that EQT had settled out of court (see EQT Avoids Trial, Settles WV Class Action re Royalty Deductions). Since that time we haven’t heard a peep–until this morning when EQT announced the terms of a “tentative” settlement.
Read More “EQT Settles WV Class Action Royalty Lawsuit for $53.5M”
It’s that time of year for energy companies to issue updates on just how much oil and gas they own in the ground, recoverable at current prices. Both CNX Resources and Range Resources, two major Marcellus/Utica producers, recently issued statements outlining their “proved reserves.” CNX has 7.9 trillion cubic feet equivalent (Tcfe) in proved reserves as of Dec. 31, 2018. Range Resources has 18.1 Tcfe in proved reserves.
Read More “CNX, Range Resources Proved Reserves Both Go Up”
A partisan left-wing group calling itself the West Virginia Center on Budget & Policy along with another partisan left-wing group called the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) released a report last week that claims WV’s shale industry has “fallen short” in delivering on economic promises, and the way to fix it is to boost the severance tax from 5% to 10%! Yeah, they’re out of their collectivist minds.
Read More “New “Report” Attacks WV Shale, Advocates 10% Severance Tax”
Although Dominion Energy’s 600-mile Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP) is facing serious delays and cost overruns mainly due to lawsuits brought by Big Green groups, the company is still committed to building the pipeline (see Dominion “Still Committed” to Building Atlantic Coast Pipeline). The project is now delayed until late 2020 for a partial startup, with full service sometime in 2021, and the new price tag has ballooned to $7.5 billion. Where, exactly, do things stand? What’s holding it up? Give us a sitrep!
Read More “Atlantic Coast Pipeline – Where Do Things Stand?”
This has to be a record-high amount for a fine plus remediation work, at least in the Marcellus/Utica. Antero Resources has cut a deal with three government entities–the U.S. Dept. of Justice, federal Environmental Protection Agency, and West Virginia Dept. of Environmental Protection–to pay a $3.15 million fine and spend another $8 million to mitigate and restore 32 sites in West Virginia.
NOTE: MDN posted an important followup to this story after speaking with Antero, providing more context and background, here: The Real Story of Antero’s $11M Clean Water Act Violations.
Read More “Antero to Pay $11M in Fines/Restoration for Clean Water Violations”
NOTE: See our follow-up post on this, with important new information: New Details on Williams and Unpaid Pipe Contractors in Lancaster.
Hey Williams, get off your rear-ends and start paying the bills owed for work done on YOUR pipeline! At least 77 local businesses in and around Lancaster County, PA are caught in the crosshairs of a dispute between Williams and one of its main contractors, Welded Construction (see Williams Withholds Payment Forcing Pipeline Builder into Bankruptcy).
Read More “PA Businesses Still Not Paid for Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline Work”
Yesterday the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) granted TransCanada’s Columbia subsidiary permission to begin a partial startup of the Gulf XPress Project that adds additional compression to the Columbia Gulf Transmission pipeline to flow more Marcellus/Utica gas to the Gulf Coast.
Read More “FERC Approves Partial Startup of Columbia’s Gulf XPress Pipe”
Ohio’s current Governor, Mike DeWine, is an establishment-type swamp dwelling Republican. DeWine was Attorney General for Ohio in November 2017 when he was manipulated into suing Energy Transfer claiming the Rover Pipeline project was guilty of “polluting state waters while constructing a natural gas pipeline across Ohio” (see OH EPA Director Manipulates Atty General to Sue Rover Pipeline). The lawsuit has essentially gone nowhere since that time.
Read More “ET Still Fighting Ohio AG re Rover Pipe Enviro Violations”
The folks of Weymouth, Massachusetts have for years tried to block a new compressor station project, part of a Spectra Energy/Enbridge project to beef up capacity along the Algonquin Gas Transmission pipeline. Algonquin filed a lawsuit against Weymouth Town and its conservation commission in District Court of Massachusetts. The court ruled in Algonquin’s favor and the town appealed the ruling to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit.
Read More “Weymouth, MA Loses Fed Court Case to Block Compressor Station”
It is beyond bizarre that the Sierra Club, which claims it defends the environment, works so hard to stop electric generating plants from converting from coal to natural gas. As we pointed out yesterday, gas-fired plants produce a small fraction of nasty pollutants like sulfur dioxide, compared with coal (see PA DEP to Issue “Acid Rain Permit” to Scranton Gas-Fired Power Plant). Yet the Sierra Club continues to launch lawsuit after lawsuit aimed at stopping conversion from coal to gas. Why?
Read More “NY Court Shoots Down Request to Roll Back Power Plant Conversion”