Industrywide Issues

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    Court Backs WVDEP Move to Cancel Permits for Mountain Valley Pipe

    In March, the West Virginia Dept. of Environmental Protection (WVDEP) issued a federal water crossing permit for the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP)–a $3.5 billion, 301-mile pipeline that will run from Wetzel County, WV to the Transco Pipeline in Pittsylvania County, VA (see WV DEP Grants Mountain Valley Pipeline Water Crossing Permit). In June, a group of profoundly radical “environmental” organizations (Sierra Club, West Virginia Rivers Coalition, Indian Creek Watershed Association, Appalachian Voices and Chesapeake Climate Action Network) filed a lawsuit in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit against the WVDEP for doing their job issuing the permit (see Radicals File Lawsuit Against WV DEP for Approving MV Pipeline). Because of the pressure of that lawsuit, the WVDEP caved and reversed their decision in September, rescinding (called “vacating”) the permit for MVP (see Trouble for Mountain Valley Pipe: WV DEP Withdraws Water Permit). The WVDEP said they will “re-evaluate the complete application to determine whether the state’s certification is in compliance with Section 401 of the federal Clean Water Act.” On Tuesday, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld WVDEP’s decision and granted the agency’s motion to invalidate the previous certificate they granted the project. Which means the process begins all over again–a temporary victory for antis. It’s temporary because while all of this nonsense was going on, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved the project–so it will get built…
    Read More “Court Backs WVDEP Move to Cancel Permits for Mountain Valley Pipe”

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    Court Considers if PA Towns Can Regulate ME2 Pipeline Location

    In May six anti-pipeline residents living near where the Mariner East 2 pipeline will pass asked the Middletown (Delaware County, PA) town council to reject the path of the pipeline near their property because it would, supposedly, pass closer than town code allows. The town council told the residents they’re out of luck–the town will not pursue any action to block Mariner East 2. Period. The residents, amped-up, agitated and funded by Big Green groups filed a lawsuit against the pipeline, to force it to conform with Middletown’s ordinance (see 6 Middletown Antis Sue Sunoco LP to Stop Mariner East 2 Pipe). The lawsuit was filed in the the Delaware County Court of Common Pleas. The judge dismissed the case in June, so the antis, again funded by Big Green groups, appealed the case to the next higher court, Commonwealth Court. On Wednesday, an “en banc” panel of Commonwealth Court heard arguments in the case (“en banc” meaning all of the judges heard the case, indicating its high importance). One report of the session indicates the judges expressed skepticism that Sunoco Logstics Partners, the builder, does not have to follow local town ordinances because the pipeline is overseen by the the state and state regulations preempt local ordinances. Needless to say if the case goes against ME2/Sunoco, it will make it harder (but not impossible) to finish work on time…
    Read More “Court Considers if PA Towns Can Regulate ME2 Pipeline Location”

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    Clean Energy Breaks Ground on CNG Fueling Station in the Bronx

    Andrew J. Littlefair, president and CEO of Clean Energy Fuels; Mark Riley, vice president, Clean Energy; Spiro Kattan, DSNY; and Steve Tufo, Baldor Food Transportation Manager, participate in the groundbreaking of Clean Energy’s Bronx, NY. CNG station.

    Yesterday Clean Energy Fuels, the City of New York and various community leaders (i.e. politicians) held a ground-breaking ceremony to launch work on what will be the very first compressed natural gas (CNG) station in the Bronx. According to the Clean Energy press release: “The use of natural gas fuel, produced domestically in North America, reduces greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) by up to 21 percent versus diesel and gasoline. Using natural gas is one of the ways New York City can meet its goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 80 percent the next few decades.” The New York City Department of Transportation said it is “proud to be part of this unique groundbreaking, which will benefit the Hunts Point community and all of New York City.” So why does New York’s corrupt governor, Andrew Cuomo, continue to block pipelines that will bring greenhouse gas-reducing natural gas that benefits all communities to MDN’s beloved home state? Yesterday we told you about an upcoming hearing to discuss two natural gas-fired electric microgrids coming to Albany (see Public Hearing Next Wk on Albany, NY Fracked Gas-Fired Electric Plant). Now we read of this CNG fueling station coming in the Bronx. Where will all of the gas come from to feed these projects without new pipelines? Here’s the good news from Clean Energy about the Bronx CNG station…
    Read More “Clean Energy Breaks Ground on CNG Fueling Station in the Bronx”

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    Locals Pumped About OH Cracker; WV Cracker Still Not Dead

    Belmont County Port Authority Director Larry Merry says he “can’t think of a single reason” why PTT Global Chemical won’t build a promised $6 billion ethane cracker facility in Dilles Bottom. Mike Jacoby, VP of business development for the Appalachian Partnership for Economic Growth concurs, saying he is “optimistic” and sees “no problems” ahead for the PTT cracker. In addition to locals in Ohio pumped about the PTT cracker and the promised final investment decision by the end of this year, there is still hope for a cracker plant in West Virginia too. WV officials say Braskem is still expressing interest in a cracker project in the Parkersburg area. Here’s some of the chitter-chatter among pumped-up officials attending a forum last month in Wheeling, WV…
    Read More “Locals Pumped About OH Cracker; WV Cracker Still Not Dead”

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    Will New Pipes Coming Online Lift Marc/Utica Prices This Year?

    With new pipelines coming online in the Marcellus/Utica, will the price of natural gas bought and sold at regional trading points, like Dominion South and TGP (Tennessee Gas Pipeline) Zone 4 go higher? It certainly makes sense that with more of our gas flowing out of the area, there will be less gas left in the area and therefore will fetch a higher price. In fact, just after Energy Transfer’s Rover Pipeline, now in partial service, began to flow, the price of gas at the Dominion South hub jumped 31% (see Rover Pipeline Triples Volume of Gas Flowing, Prices Go Up). However, the analysts at BTU Analytics are not convinced. BTU is running a complimentary webinar on Nov. 2 titled, “Northeast Pipes Have Arrived. Now What?” Ahead of that webinar they’ve posted a blog teasing some of their thinking. The bottom line from that post: “Will Rover or this year’s takeaway projects help uplift weak prices in the Northeast? We don’t think so.” Hmmmm. Looks like we’ll have to attend the webinar to find out all the reasons why they that so. In the meantime, BTU provides some helpful background in their blog…
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    Alogonquin Defends AIM Pipe Project Against Radicals in DC Court

    Last year a group of radical environmental groups including Riverkeeper Inc., Sierra Club and Food & Water Watch (Big Green groups) joined a federal appeal (i.e. sued) to stop Spectra Energy from building their Alogonquin Incremental Market (AIM) Project, a project to expand the capacity of the Algonquin Gas Transmission system to flow more Marcellus/Utica gas to markets in the northeast, including New England (see Radical Enviro Groups File Appeal to Stop AIM Pipeline in NY/CT). Most of the project is 20 miles of new pipeline in the Hudson Valley area of New York. In March 2016, New York’s spineless Gov. Andrew Cuomo asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to stop work on AIM near a nuclear power plant (see Gov. Cuomo Asks FERC to Halt Algonquin Pipeline Near Nuke Plant). Within a few days FERC said NO (see FERC Denies NY Request to Stop Work on Pipeline Near Nuke Plant). That didn’t make the anti-fossil fuel nutters happy at all. They thought they had a real winner by painting nightmare scenarios of the AIM pipeline blowing up and taking a nuclear plant with it. Their scare tactics didn’t work–so they fell back to the tried and true: gang up and ask a liberal judge to stop it. This week briefs were filed with the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. Algonquin argued yesterday in court that parties to the lawsuit, including the Mayor of Boston, don’t have standing to bring a challenge to FERC’s approval of the project…
    Read More “Alogonquin Defends AIM Pipe Project Against Radicals in DC Court”

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    US DOJ Demands Payments from GE re Unsold Water Biz

    In July, GE Oil & Gas completed its merger/buyout of oilfield services giant Baker Hughes (see Baker Hughes and GE Complete Merger, World’s 1st Fullstream Co.). As is typical in these kinds of megamergers, governmental agencies that review the deal make the deal contingent on certain requirements. In the case of GE/Baker Hughes, the U.S. Dept. of Justice demanded GE sell its Water & Process Technologies business. GE agreed, and lined up a buyer (Suez, a French waste and water group). However, the deal has not happened (yet), and because there is a delay in making it happen due to “various administrative challenges,” the DOJ is demanding GE make DAILY payments–to the DOJ–as an “incentive” to get the deal done. The amount of the payments is unspecified. Where will all that money go? We don’t know, but we can certainly imagine. What do swamp-dwellers do with free money?…
    Read More “US DOJ Demands Payments from GE re Unsold Water Biz”

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    PA Frankenstein House Bill Merges Severance Tax & Minimum Royalty

    As predicted earlier this week, yesterday the Pennsylvania House Finance Committee voted to approve a 3.2% severance tax on top of the existing 5%+ impact tax (see RINOsaur DiGirolamo Says Vote on PA Severance Tax Coming Soon). Democrats and mainstream media are nearly orgasmic–this is as far as any severance tax bill has ever gotten in PA. The bill, House Bill (HB) 1401, now goes to the full House for a vote–maybe. It remains to be seen whether or not House Speaker Mike Turzai will allow a vote in the full House. There are procedural ways to tie up the bill. While it’s a crap shoot as to whether or not the full House would pass a Marcellus-killing severance tax, there is a section in HB 1401 that is sure to kill the bill–a guaranteed minimum royalty for landowners of 12.5%. Don’t get us wrong–we think the minimum royalty issue is very important and deserves a vote. PA Rep. Garth Everett has championed the issue, introducing a bill to accomplish that objective three times in the last six years (see PA Rep. Garth Everett Reintroduces Minimum Royalty Bill, 3rd Time). No doubt HB 1401’s chief sponsor Gene DiGirolamo (RINOsaur from the Philadelphia area) is hoping to gain support from landowners for the severance tax by grafting on the minimum royalty provision–in the style of Dr. Frankenstein’s monster. Take a body part here (severance tax) and a body part there (guaranteed minimum royalty), sew it together (HB 1401) and shock it into life with a vote. Landowners should beware of this ruse. The minimum royalty issue needs to be addressed separately, on it’s own, and not part of a severance tax bill…
    Read More “PA Frankenstein House Bill Merges Severance Tax & Minimum Royalty”

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    Southwestern Energy Offers $5/Acre for Seismic Testing in WV

    In 2014, Southwestern Energy cut a massive deal to buy 413,000 Marcellus/Utica acres from Chesapeake Energy, most of it in northern West Virginia, for $5.375 billion (see Chesapeake Sells Close to 25% of Marcellus/Utica Operation). Southwestern has done some drilling on that acreage since, but all the signs are now visible that the company intends to really ramp up their WV drilling program. In August, Southwestern nailed down some missing acreage in the Wheeling area by leasing 66 acres from the Wheeling Park School District for $231,000 (see Wheeling Park HS Signs Lease with Southwestern for $3500/Acre). Just last week we reported that midstream giant Williams has cut a deal with Southwestern to provide gathering and processing for over 200,000 acres in Marshall and Wetzel counties (see Williams Launches Major WV Expansion to Serve Southwestern Energy). And now, further evidence: A contractor working for Southwestern plans to begin seismic testing covering 260 square miles–stretching from Donegal (Westmoreland County), PA through northern WV all the way to Shadyside (Belmont County), OH–next year. The contractor, in speaking with members of the Bethlehem Village Council (Wheeling, WV area), said Southwestern is offering the “standard” price of $5 per acre for seismic testing…
    Read More “Southwestern Energy Offers $5/Acre for Seismic Testing in WV”

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    Poor Prospects for Moving Marcellus/Utica Ethane to Gulf Coast

    According to the energy experts at RBN Energy, ethane production in the Marcellus/Utica region will go from 470,000 barrels per day now to 800,000 barrels per day by 2022–a 70% increase. Ethane, which is sometimes up to 10% of the hydrocarbons coming out of Marcellus/Utica wells (from wet gas and oil wells), can be an important revenue stream. However, you have to have someplace to sell it. Right now, many Marcellus/Utica producers have to mix in the ethane with the methane stream in order to get rid of it. In other words, it costs them money. It’s a waste product. However, when the Shell cracker plant in Beaver County, PA and (possibly) the PTT Global cracker plant in Belmont County, OH go online, important new markets will open up. But even two huge crackers won’t be able to buy all of the available ethane. There are a slew of new cracker plants coming online in the Gulf Coast over the next five years that could use Marcellus/Utica ethane. But will they? The problem, as always, is pipelines. According to an analysis by RBN, the prospects for moving more of our ethane to the Gulf Coast do not look good…
    Read More “Poor Prospects for Moving Marcellus/Utica Ethane to Gulf Coast”

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    PA Supreme Court Hears Arguments on DEP Request to Unblock Regs

    PA Supreme Court Justices

    In October 2016, after five years in the making, Pennsylvania adopted new shale drilling regulations (see PA’s New Chapter 78a Drilling Regs Go into Effect Oct 8). Although the regs were ready at the end of the Gov. Tom Corbett Administration, Corbett fumbled the ball and the regs didn’t get adopted, which left them vulnerable to the incoming left-leaning Tom Wolf Administration. Wolf’s people mangled the regulations under the Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) Dictator/Secretary John Quigley, who got fired over unethical collusion with Big Green groups. Some of the good stuff remained, but onerous new elements were introduced. The Marcellus Shale Coalition (MSC), which represents PA’s biggest shale drillers, filed an appeal in Commonwealth Court to block the most onerous aspects of the new regulations (see Marc. Shale Coalition Files Lawsuit to Block PA Chapter 78a Regs). The judge agreed to “temporarily” block some of the items in the MSC list (see PA Judge Temporarily Blocks Some DEP Chapter 78a Drilling Regs). In December, the DEP escalated the case by asking the PA Supreme Court to undo the block on those regulations imposed by the lower Commonwealth Court (see PA DEP Asks Supreme Court to Overturn Stay on New Regs). Yesterday the Supremes heard oral arguments in the case. Although one activist justice (Sallie Updyke Mundy) seems to want to grant the DEP’s request to allow the stopped rules from going into effect, several other justices appear to want to let the issue play out in the lower Commonwealth Court, preferring to goose the lower court into speedier action…
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    PA DEP Public Hearing on Japanese Gas-Fired Elec Plant in SEPA

    EmberClear Corp. (and its parent Ember Partners) is a Canadian-based company that builds and operates natural gas-fired electric generation plants in North America. In 2015, EmberClear filed an application to build a new 488-megawatt natural gas-fired electric plant in Birdsboro, in Berks County, near Philadelphia (see New NatGas-Fired Electric Plant Coming Near Philadelphia). In April of this year, two different Japanese companies, Sojitz Corporation and Tokyo Gas, each purchased a one-third share ownership of the project (see Japanese Now Own 2/3 of Marcellus-Powered Electric Plant in SEPA). We call the Birdsboro project a “Japanese-owned” project, which it is, but in reality EmberClear is still the company building and operating it. The PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) has just announced they will hold a public hearing on the project, to consider issuing both a water permit and an erosion/sediment control permit for the project. The hearing will be on Nov. 2 in Birdsboro…
    Read More “PA DEP Public Hearing on Japanese Gas-Fired Elec Plant in SEPA”

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    Public Hearing Next Wk on Albany, NY Fracked Gas-Fired Electric Plant

    In May MDN brought you the news that New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo had announced plans to construct a new “state-of-the-art, locally-sourced mini-power grid” that will connect to the statewide electric grid but will also be able to operate independently, to power the Empire State Plaza in Albany–a complex of buildings in downtown Albany housing much of New York State government (see NY Gov Cuomo Building New Fracked Gas Elec Plant to Power Albany!). The energy-efficient microgrid will supply 90% of the power for the 98-acre downtown Albany complex, and is expected to save the Plaza more than $2.7 million in annual energy costs. The project will also remove more than 25,600 tons of greenhouse gases from the atmosphere each year–the equivalent of taking more than 4,900 cars off the road–supporting New York’s goal to reduce emissions by 40 percent by 2030 from 1990 levels. The fuel that will power this engineering marvel? Fracked shale gas from the Pennsylvania Marcellus Shale. Yep. Cuomo is a disgusting hypocrite. He won’t allow pipelines to bring in fracked gas, but he’s building a microgrid to power state government that uses that same fracked gas. Next Wednesday, Oct. 25, the NY State Power Authority and the Office of General Services will host a public information meeting to discuss the microgrid. There will no discussion of IF the plant gets built because Dictator-in-Chief Cuomo has decreed it. The meeting will be to parcel out details to the hoi polloi, so the little folk know what to (shut up and) expect…
    Read More “Public Hearing Next Wk on Albany, NY Fracked Gas-Fired Electric Plant”

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    FERC Chairman Neil Chatterjee Pledges Faster Pipeline Approvals

    Neil Chatterjee

    Newly minted chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), Neil Chatterjee, made his first public appearance on Tuesday since being sworn in last August. Chatterjee addressed the Energy Bar Association’s 2017 Mid-Year Energy Forum in Washington, DC. Among some of Chatterjee’s choice comments, he said he wants to “significantly reduce” the amount of time it takes to review and issue certificates for natural gas pipelines. He also said he “strongly disagrees” with fellow FERC commissioner Cheryl LaFleur’s vote against authorizing the Atlantic Coast Pipeline and Mountain Valley Pipeline projects. In an extensive presentation, Chatterjee laid out his priorities, which he said is not a “drastic change” from the work done by FERC in previous years. Here is a revealing look into the thinking of Chatterjee, and what lies ahead in the coming months (and years) at FERC…
    Read More “FERC Chairman Neil Chatterjee Pledges Faster Pipeline Approvals”

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    WV Builder Tells PSC Power Plant Can Burn Methane AND Ethane

    Energy Solutions Consortium, aka the father and son team of Andrew and Matthew Dorn–have been trying to build a 750 megawatt natural gas-fired electric plant in Follansbee (Brooke County), WV for years. In fact, the Dorns have a number of gas-fired electric plant projects on the board for WV, and have since 2015 (see Big News: 3 More Marcellus-Powered Electric Plants Coming to WV). However, the regulatory environment in WV creeps along, like molasses, and none of the projects are even under construction–yet. Last month WV’s Commerce Secretary Woody Thrasher said WV is downright unfriendly to electric plant projects (see WV Sec Commerce Says State Unfriendly to Gas-Fired Power Plants). Never a truer word spoken. Yesterday Andrew Dorn was in Charleston to testify before the state Public Service Commission about his company’s plans for the Follansbee plant. One of his comments caught our eye. The plant will be able to flip back and forth between burning methane and ethane, depending on the price. Dorn said his dual-fuel plant will give drillers in the region an outlet to sell their ethane, in case they can’t sell ethane to a cracker plant…
    Read More “WV Builder Tells PSC Power Plant Can Burn Methane AND Ethane”

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    PA House Passes New Budget Bill w/No Sev. Tax, Wolf Demands Tax

    Yesterday the Pennsylvania House of Representatives passed House Bill (HB) 542 to try and finalize the three month plus late PA budget. This latest bill (see the summary below) uses mostly borrowing, against tobacco settlement money and small tax increases on online businesses and fireworks distributors to balance this year’s budget. The bill does NOT include a severance tax. Sounding like Johnny One-Note, PA Gov. Wolf immediately said any final deal must include a Marcellus-killing severance tax, or he won’t sign it. Some of the traitorous Republicans in the Senate still want to see a severance tax too (see Traitorous PA Senate Republicans Pass Severance Tax Bill). As we reported yesterday, RINOsaur Sen. Gene DiGirolamo believes a Senate committee will today report out his horrible 3.2% severance tax bill (see RINOsaur DiGirolamo Says Vote on PA Severance Tax Coming Soon). Talk of a 3.2% severance tax is false, because it would be added on top of the existing impact fee (i.e. tax) which is already the equivalent of a 5%+ severance tax. DiGirolamo’s bill, if passed, would vault PA into the position of having the highest effective tax on oil and gas in the country–killing any new Marcellus drilling in the state. Existing wells deplete over time, so in essence it would be a moderately slow death to the industry (and tax revenues from it)–dissipating to nothing in 5-10 years. Which is just fine for “Republicans” like DiGirolamo. At any rate, here’s the details on the House plan passed last night, with NO severance tax, and Johnny One-Note’s insistence on a tax…
    Read More “PA House Passes New Budget Bill w/No Sev. Tax, Wolf Demands Tax”