Sierra Club Files Federal Lawsuit to Stop NEXUS Pipeline
Honestly, the Sierra Club launches so many petitions with FERC (Federal Energy Regulatory Commission), and so many lawsuits against FERC regarding pipelines, it’s hard to keep them all straight. One of the northeast pipelines the Clubbers oppose is NEXUS, a $2 billion, 255-mile interstate pipeline that will run from Ohio through Michigan and eventually to the Dawn Hub in Ontario, Canada. NEXUS got final approval for the project from FERC in August, the first major pipeline to get approved following a newly restored quorum at FERC (see New FERC Quorum Votes Final Approval for NEXUS Pipeline). The Ohio EPA granted a water permit for the project in September (see Ohio EPA Grants Water Permit to NEXUS Pipe, “Learned” from Rover). Seeing the NEXUS freight train moving on down the tracks, the Clubbers filed a request for “rehearing” with FERC in September (see CORNballs, Sierra Club Continue to Fight NEXUS Pipeline in Court). Before anyone can sue to stop a federal pipeline project, the first step is to request a rehearing. If FERC delays or rejects a rehearing request, the supposedly aggrieved party can then launch a lawsuit in federal Appeals Court. And that’s what the Sierra Club did earlier this week. They filed a lawsuit against NEXUS in the Federal Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, asking the court to force FERC to conduct a new review of the project, and in the meantime, shut it all down. The Sierra Club is rather good at shutting down pipelines and destroying jobs, as they recently did in PA (see Sierra Club Pipeline Lawsuit Throws 2,500 in PA Out of Work). Fortunately the PA episode was short-lived (just two days and work resumed). The question now is, will the lib judges in DC put up with yet another lame lawsuit from the Clubbers and shut down NEXUS construction?…
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Sadly, the “leaders” of Richmond County, VA have just voted to commit fracking suicide–a total ban on fracking in the county. They’re not the first. Last year King George County did the same thing, banning it in most of the county (see 
Members of Congress, indeed members of the public, are sick and tired of eco-terrorists targeting our pipeline infrastructure. In October we told you that 84 Members of Congress sent a letter to Attorney General Jeff Sessions asking the Dept. of Justice to step up its enforcement of existing laws against these sick terrorists (see 
Yesterday the Marcellus/Utica experienced a fracking earthquake of historic proportions. That is, a fracking earthquake metaphorically speaking. Yesterday Rice Energy was merged into EQT, creating the largest onshore natural gas producing company in these United States. The $8.2 billion deal was first announced back in June (see 
When did little old ladies become climate jihadists? That’s what happened yesterday in Lancaster County when three old ladies, obviously radicalized at some point (maybe they’re old hippies who have always been radicalized?), tied themselves together with a plastic pipe device that needed to be cut away so they could be removed from the spot where they were blocking Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline construction equipment. The entire episode took three hours. When asked nicely by the police to remove the plastic device and unhook themselves, the old ladies refused. So the police had to carefully operate to cut them apart. We figure their stunt easily cost $3,000 in delays–so we sincerely hope Williams sends each of them a bill of $1K to cover the downtime. Plus the old ladies will need to compensate the police and court system for handling their unnecessary case. These three added to the 29 previously arrested in two other episodes now make 32 arrested opposing Atlantic Sunrise–out the “thousands” the clattering Clatterbucks (Mark and Malinda, the radicals spearheading these actions) claim said would rise up to illegally block construction. So much for the big boasts of radical antis…
Last week’s big news that China committed to invest $83.7 billion in shale and petrochemical projects in West Virginia continues to reverberate (see 
History will have been made this year in America’s shale plays. That’s according to our favorite government agency, the U.S. Energy Information Administration. Yesterday the EIA issued our favorite monthly report, the Drilling Productivity Report (DPR). The DPR is the EIA’s best guess, based on expert data crunchers, as to how much each of the U.S.’s seven major shale plays will produce for both oil and natural gas in the coming month. Last month was a record-breaker when total shale gas output blew by 60 billion cubic feet per day (see 
A group of so-called “health experts” pontificated at an event yesterday hosted by the League of [Liberal Democrat] Women Voters in Pittsburgh. They were supposedly there to discuss shale and public health. One of the gripe sessions took aim against Shell’s now-under construction ethane cracker facility. Speakers tried hard not to come right out and curse shale and the cracker–but they couldn’t help themselves. In the end they made untrue statements that imply the cracker will poison the community and make it unlivable. One speaker’s solution? “Don’t build it.” Typical. All you need to know about yesterday’s meeting is that one of the panelists is the staff attorney for the radical enviro organization Earthjustice. Truth was the main casualty at yesterday’s meeting…
No doubt being advised and funded by national Big Green groups, a group of backbencher local green groups (Little Green) have taken the first step in what will no doubt turn into a lawsuit to try and stop the Atlantic Coast Pipeline project from getting built. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approved Atlantic Coast, a $5 billion, 594-mile natural gas pipeline that will stretch from West Virginia through Virginia and into North Carolina, in October (see 
Yesterday MDN updated you on Eclipse Resources’ program of drilling looooong laterals–the horizontal part of shale wells (see 
In May 2016, MDN brought you the news that a researcher at West Virginia University (WVU) believes a natural gas liquids (NGL) storage hub is what the Marcellus/Utica region really needs (see 
By our reckoning, Antero Resources’ $275 million wastewater recycling facility in Doddridge County, WV is either already operational, or will be within the next few days (sometime this week). In 2015 Antero hired Veolia Water Technologies Inc. to build a new shale wastewater recycling facility in Doddridge County (see 
HydroEdge Solutions is on the grow. The company designs and operates temporary water lines for Marcellus/Utica drillers. The company started in 2013 in Pittsburgh with three employees, and today they have 92 employees! HydroEdge is looking to add another 20 employees using $8 million of debt financing they just received from an unnamed “independent, third party lender.” That money breaks down as a $5 million one-year loan and a $3 million line of credit. Some of HydroEdge’s A-list customers include EQT, CNX/CONSOL, Rice Energy, Statoil, and EdgeMarc Energy. Impressive list. Here’s the lowdown on an up-and-coming service provider in the Marcellus/Utica, flush with cash and ready to hire…
We have long admired Pennsylvania State Rep. Garth Everett, Republican from Muncy (Lycoming County), PA. Everett has been in the forefront of trying to get “minimum royalty” legislation passed that would guarantee PA landowners would get minimum royalty payments of 12.5%–regardless of any kind of post-production expenses. He’s been introducing a bill to do just that for the past three sessions (six years), the most recent attempt this year in February (see