Industrywide Issues

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    Paradise Comes to Kentucky: TVA NatGas Elec Plant Fires Up

    Last week the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) held a dedication ceremony for the Paradise Combined Cycle Gas Plant in Drakesboro, Kentucky. The Paradise plant is a natural gas-fired plant that replaces two now-closed coal plants at the site. The new plant is capable of producing 1,100 megawatts of electricity (really big plant). The cool part, for us, is that Marcellus/Utica gas is either already feeding the plant, or soon will. The plant is fed by a 20-mile pipeline connecting to the Texas Eastern pipeline system (Tetco). We don’t know for sure whether Tetco is now carrying Marcellus/Utica gas south, but we do know that last December the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued certificates for three Spectra Energy projects to expand Tetco to carry Marcellus/Utica gas to Ohio, Kentucky and Mississippi (see FERC Issues Certificates for 3 Spectra Energy Pipe Projects in M-U). So either Paradise is getting gas from our region, or it soon will. Either way, hey, it’s Paradise for Marcellus drillers!…
    Read More “Paradise Comes to Kentucky: TVA NatGas Elec Plant Fires Up”

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    Trump Forces G20 to Acknowledge Role of Fossil Fuels Worldwide

    At the G20 summit of industrialized nations in Germany last week, something pretty incredible happened. All of the European nations part of the G20 are attempting to bully the United States into dumping fossil fuels. Donald Trump stood up to them last week and got them to add language to the official communique that Washington will “work closely with other countries to help them access and use fossil fuels more cleanly and efficiently.” Folks, this is major! Europe backed down. Trump stood firm and he stood tall. Europe has been in this fugue of denial, claiming the world will just be able to flip and switch and convert to so-called renewable energy–any year now. Trump got them to admit that false pretense is not reality. He got them to admit that fossil fuels are and will be a part of the world’s energy mix for the foreseeable future (generations, with an “s”). No doubt the Europeans didn’t like being shamed into admitting the renewable emperor has no clothes. Here’s an even bigger surprise. The lib editors at the Detroit News think Trump did the right thing–and say fossil fuels are here to stay for a long time…
    Read More “Trump Forces G20 to Acknowledge Role of Fossil Fuels Worldwide”

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    Latest Amount Shell Paid for Ethane Pipeline Easements Goes Down

    Bit by bit, piece by piece, Shell is getting landowners in Beaver County, PA to sign easements for its 94-mile Falcon Ethane Pipeline–a pipeline with two “legs” that will feed Shell’s mighty ethane cracker plant. MDN exclusively broke the news in February 2016 that Shell had begun to sign leases with landowners for the pipeline (see Exclusive: Shell Leasing Land for 2 Pipelines to PA Cracker Plant). More easements signed in January, and again in May. However, it was not until last month, June, that we learned what money Shell is paying out for those easements. The numbers for leasing 3,138 feet of space for the pipeline in Greene Township worked out to be roughly $75 per foot (see New Easement for Shell Ethane Cracker Pipeline Reveals Price Paid). Which is far higher than any other rate we’ve seen for pipeline easements–ever. We now have another recorded easement from Shell for the ethane pipeline in Beaver County. This one is a bit more modest: $43 per foot. That’s still a lot more than the typical pipeline easement, but quite a bit less than the previous deal. Bear in mind this is only the second time we’ve spotted actual numbers, so we have no way of knowing what the average price is that Shell has been paying…
    Read More “Latest Amount Shell Paid for Ethane Pipeline Easements Goes Down”

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    MVP Surveyors Outsmart Va. Landowners, Survey at Crack of Dawn

    Just yesterday MDN reported on a small group of gentry landowners living in the lavish Bent Mountain area of Roanoke County, VA who illegally blocked access to surveyors from Mountain Valley Pipeline (see Va. Landowners Illegally Block MVP Survey Crew on Bent Mountain). Even though the surveyors have the right, under Virginia law, to enter their property and conduct survey work, even without landowner permission, the landowners called in the cops and the cops “suggested” to the surveyors that they get a court order first. Even though a court order is not required. It is an abuse of law enforcement and a waste of time and money. So the surveyors left. And then they returned the next morning (yesterday morning) at the crack of dawn, before the gentry landowners had risen to sip their first cup of coffee. The surveyors got their work done–and left. And when the landowners found out, they were outraged–that they had been outsmarted, by lowly, hoi polloi surveyors. People who get their hands dirty on the job…
    Read More “MVP Surveyors Outsmart Va. Landowners, Survey at Crack of Dawn”

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    Dela. Riverkeeper Changes Strategy, Targets Small Pipe Project

    A change-up in tactics for Maya van Rossum, THE Delaware Riverkeeper. Until now, Riverkeeper has mostly concentrated it’s efforts on big, federally regulated interstate pipeline projects, like the PennEast Pipeline (see THE Delaware Riverkeeper Plans to Pack DRBC Hearing to Oppose PennEast). However, new marching orders have been delivered from Riverkeeper’s overlords at the William Penn Foundation. Time to go after the small potatoes too. So Riverkeeper (which is funded by William Penn) obeys, and has filed a petition against building a small, 14-mile pipeline near Philadelphia that will feed a proposed Birdsboro Power project, slated for construction in 2018. Birdsboro Power is a proposed 488-megawatt natural gas-fired electric plant in Birdsboro (Berks County), to be built by EmberClear with major backing by two Japanese companies (see Japanese Now Own 2/3 of Marcellus-Powered Electric Plant in SEPA). DTE Midstream plans to build a 14-mile pipeline from the nearby Texas Eastern Transmission Company (Tetco) pipeline to feed the plant. Riverkeeper has filed a complaint about the DTE pipeline with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), trying to slow or cancel the pipeline project–which would prevent the Birdsboro plant from getting built. Riverkeeper’s aim is to stop the use of fossil fuels, and do so using the excuse of “pipelines harm the environment.” The change in strategy for Riverkeeper is in moving from big pipeline projects to smaller pipeline projects…
    Read More “Dela. Riverkeeper Changes Strategy, Targets Small Pipe Project”

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    Frustrated FERC Gives Rover Todo List, HDD Drilling Still Blocked

    Yesterday the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) sent a letter to Energy Transfer regarding the Rover Pipeline project. You may recall that Rover hit some bumps along the way in its aggressive schedule to get part of the pipeline up and running by the end of this month, and the rest operational by the end of November. In Ohio, Rover experienced a series of mishaps, the most serious of which spilled 2 million gallons of non-toxic drilling mud in a swamp near the Tuscarawas River back in April (see Rover Pipeline Accident Spills ~2M Gal. Drilling Mud in OH Swamp). An investigation by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (OEPA) found the presence of diesel fuel in the drilling mud, which means the mud wasn’t so non-toxic after all (see OH EPA Says Diesel Fuel Found in Rover 2M Gal Drilling Mud Spill). Since that time, FERC has stopped all new underground horizontal directional drilling (HDD) for the Rover project. Rover has asked FERC, several times, for permission to restart the HDD work–at least in a few select locations. In this latest letter from FERC, the agency slaps Rover around and says, (1) you still can’t start HDD, (2) we (FERC) are still investigating the 2 million gallon spill, and you (Rover) are not helping–because Rover hasn’t provided key personnel for interviews by FERC, and (3) you (Rover) need to dispose of the diesel-tainted drilling mud in an approved landfill before we’ll even consider restarting your HDD activities. The letter closes with a paragraph that says, essentially, “We’re watching you.” We have the FERC letter below, with its 4-point todo list for Rover, along with analysis of the letter and the current status of Rover…
    Read More “Frustrated FERC Gives Rover Todo List, HDD Drilling Still Blocked”

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    Mich. DEQ Rejects Stop Rover Request, Senators Appeal to FERC

    Isn’t it interesting how a small-but-mouthy group of anti-fossil fuelers can drive a media narrative? Just two days ago MDN told you about a meeting of 100 (likely far less) anti-fossil fuel protesters in Dexter Township, Michigan, who rallied to protest the impending construction of the Rover Pipeline in that area (see Mich. Rover Protesters Illustrate Irrational Anti-Fossil Fuel Psychosis). Our point in that post was to highlight the sad lack of brainpower in the anti movement. One young speaker said they were there to protest “all extraction industries”–including oil and gas. She is woefully ignorant of just how much her life is tied to extraction industries. At any rate, the small group, and the Big Green groups (with deep pockets) using them as puppets, have had an impact. Earlier this week, an attorney supposedly representing residents from the Silver Lake area (Dexter Township) filed an “URGENT Request for Stop Work Order on wetlands trenching, ET Rover Pipeline” with the Michigan Dept. of Environmental Quality (DEQ). The DEQ politely told him, “No.” And so the small group of antis using Big Green money appealed to their two Democrat U.S. Senators, Gary Peters and Debbie Stabenow, for help. The two Dem Sens promptly sent a bloviating letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), asking for a temporary stop work order in the Silver Lake area…
    Read More “Mich. DEQ Rejects Stop Rover Request, Senators Appeal to FERC”

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    Rockies Express Pipeline Adds Another 180 MMcf/d from Ohio to Ill.

    NGI’s Rockies Express Zone 3 Tracker – July 13, 2017 (click for larger version)

    The Rockies Express Pipeline (REX) was originally built from Colorado and Wyoming to Monroe County, OH to bring natural gas from west to east. In 2015, REX began the process of reversing the flow for a large and important section of the pipeline–to send gas from the Utica/Marcellus to the Midwest. By January of this year, REX had reversed and was flowing 2.6 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of gas from Clarington, OH to Mexico, MO (see REX Pipe Completes Expansion Today, 2.6 Bcf/d Flowing East-to-West). Except REX wanted more! The demand is there, and REX announced in February they were working on a plan to flow another 150 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) of natgas from Ohio to the Midwest (see REX Pulls Rabbit Out of Pipeline – Adding Another 150 MMcf/d). REX ran a new open season and got commitments for 180 MMcf/d, and began flowing it in June, according to an announcement released yesterday. The announcement also shared that REX (independent subsidiary of Tallgrass Energy) has a new CEO: Crystal Heter. Crystal was once an engineering intern at REX and has steadily risen through the ranks to now sit in the big chair. We congratulate her! Here’s the info about REX’s latest coup in adding another 180 MMcf/d of capacity to its Zone 3, reversed pipeline…
    Read More “Rockies Express Pipeline Adds Another 180 MMcf/d from Ohio to Ill.”

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    PA PUC Rejects West Goshen Appeal, ME2 Building Valve Station

    West Goshen Township, in Philadelphia suburb of Chester County, has failed yet again to stop Sunoco Logistics’ Mariner East 2 NGL pipeline in its community. Last March MDN told you about the desperate last stand taken by liberal anti-pipeliners in West Goshen (see West Goshen’s Last Stand to Stop Mariner East 2 Pipeline). West Goshen signaled it would deny Sunoco a zoning permit for a valve on the pipeline. Sunoco politely, but firmly, told West Goshen the pipeline doesn’t need a permit from the town to install a valve because it’s a state-permitted project. Sunoco said it would move forward at the appropriate time with a valve installation. Last week West Goshen tried again, by filing a 135-page petition with the state Public Utility Commission on Monday, asking the PUC for an emergency order to stop construction of the new valve station that Sunoco is set to begin work on any time (see West Goshen Pulls Legal Stunt in Attempt to Stop ME2 Pipeline). The PUC has now responded to West Goshen: NOPE…
    Read More “PA PUC Rejects West Goshen Appeal, ME2 Building Valve Station”

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    PA RINOs Pressure House Speaker to Allow Severance Tax Vote

    RINOsaur Gene DiGirolamo

    A group of 12 Pennsylvania House of Representatives RINOs–Republicans in Name Only–have signed a letter to House Speaker Mike Turzai (full copy below) asking him to allow a vote in the House on a plan to impose a Marcellus-killing severance tax. We’re not really sure why the 12 run as Republicans–when they really aren’t Republicans, at least not in any meaningful way. Most of them come from the Philadelphia area, or other large population centers. The RINO ring leader is Gene DiGirolamo, a RINOsaur (an old RINO, nearly a fossil himself) from the Philly area, someone we covered for years because he keeps wanting to steal money from drillers and landowners to give away to his favorite causes (see our DiGirolamo severance tax stories here). On the other hand, PA Republicans have nobody to blame but themselves for this pressure. Republicans hold majorities in both chambers, and they passed an unbalanced, $32 billion budget–about $2 billion short of projected revenues. They should have had the intestinal fortitude to NOT OVERSPEND in the first place–but they didn’t. So they’ve left themselves open to extreme pressure from Democrats and RINOs. Now they must navigate this mess. An aside: If Republicans cave and implement a severance tax, it will lead to much-reduced drilling in PA. That’s a fact. PA drillers already pay a higher tax rate than other states with a severance tax–via an impact fee coupled with corporate income taxes (that other states don’t have). Just because PA’s taxes on drillers are not officially called a “severance tax” doesn’t mean drillers aren’t taxed. RINOs and Dems continually lie about that fact…
    Read More “PA RINOs Pressure House Speaker to Allow Severance Tax Vote”

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    New Canaan, CT Votes to Install NatGas Service, Pipelines

    It’s so darned unusual, we felt we had to share the news that in the heart of liberal New England–about 48 miles from New York City–the town of New Canaan, Connecticut has voted to add natural gas service to a 4.7 mile area around town. That means installing (digging and drilling) pipelines to carry the gas. The gas will first be installed at three (three!) schools (gasp!!), a YMCA (oh no!), an eldercare center (the inhumanity), and even (say it ain’t so) gas for “some residents.” Yes dear reader, common sense has broken out in a small pocket of New England, and their local elected leaders, the Board of Selectmen, voted unanimously to bring low cost, clean-burning natural gas into the heart of their community. What will happen next? Perhaps no increase in local property taxes this year? Well, let’s not get crazy…
    Read More “New Canaan, CT Votes to Install NatGas Service, Pipelines”

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    Sunoco Extending Public Water to Homes Affected by ME2 Drilling

    MDN previously reported about problems experienced last week in Chester County, PA (suburb of Philadelphia) with underground horizontal directional drilling (HDD) by Sunoco Logistics Partners for its Mariner East 2 Pipeline project (see ME2 Pipe Work in Chester County Creates Water Well Issue for Some). Sunoco is accepting the blame for fouling a dozen private water wells in West Whiteland Township with drilling mud. The short-term fix was to provide hotel rooms from some of the families most affected–and to provide bottled water for all of them. Sunoco isn’t wasting any time with a long-term fix. The long-term fix is going to cost plenty. Sunoco is working on a deal to extend a municipal water pipeline to some 30 homes in the area. The devil is, of course, in the details. Timing for the water main extension, along with whether or not Sunoco will be on the hook for the long term to help pay for the water service are being worked out now…
    Read More “Sunoco Extending Public Water to Homes Affected by ME2 Drilling”

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    West Goshen Pulls Legal Stunt in Attempt to Stop ME2 Pipeline

    Last March MDN told you about the desperate last stand taken by liberal anti-pipeliners in West Goshen Township, in the Philadelphia suburb of Chester County (see West Goshen’s Last Stand to Stop Mariner East 2 Pipeline). West Goshen signaled it would deny Sunoco a zoning permit for a valve on the pipeline. Sunoco politely, but firmly, told West Goshen the pipeline doesn’t need a permit from the town to install a valve because it’s a state-permitted project. In other words, go pound sand. Sunoco said it would move forward at the appropriate time with a valve installation. Sunoco requested assurances from West Goshen that the town would not send in a local cop to stop them. West Goshen hasn’t sent a cop (yet), but they did file a 135-page petition (full copy below) with the state Public Utility Commission on Monday, asking the PUC for an emergency order to stop construction of the new valve station that Sunoco is set to begin work on any time…
    Read More “West Goshen Pulls Legal Stunt in Attempt to Stop ME2 Pipeline”

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    Ohio Steals $15M from O&G Severance Tax Fund for Non-O&G Purpose

    The Ohio Controlling Board, part of the Office of Budget and Management, has raided (i.e. stolen) $15 million from Ohio’s severance tax fund to use in settling a lawsuit from the late 1990s–a lawsuit that has nothing whatsoever to do with oil and gas. According to the American Petroleum Institute Ohio, the misappropriation of the money is likely illegal. The Controlling Board was set up by the Ohio legislature to handle “necessary adjustments to the state budget.” In other words, it was set up to pick one pocket and put the money in a different pocket. In 1997 Ohio widened a dam spillway in the western part of the state, and the result flooded the property of some unfortunate landowners, who sued. The lawsuit has languished for years, and it’s now time to pay up. The Controlling Board decided to raid/steal the money from the severance tax fund–a fund that’s supposed to be used for things like plugging abandoned orphan o&g wells. Most drilling in Ohio happens on the eastern side of the state. The flooded property in 1997 happened on the western side of the state. Anyone else see a disconnect and sleazy politics going on here? The severance tax fund has become the personal piggy bank for certain Columbus politicians…
    Read More “Ohio Steals $15M from O&G Severance Tax Fund for Non-O&G Purpose”

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    Williams Hillabee Project Goes Online, NatGas Flowing to Florida

    We have a correction to a previous story. In June MDN brought you the news that the Sabal Trail Transmission pipeline, a $3.2 billion, 515-mile interstate natural gas pipeline in Florida, Georgia and Alabama, had been placed into service, flowing natural gas to Florida electric generating plants (see Marcellus Gas Hitches a Ride to Florida Power Plant). We indicated in that story that Marcellus and Utica Shale gas, via Williams’ related Hillabee Expansion Project, was flowing to Florida. Not quite yet. In an announcement issued yesterday, Williams said yes indeed, the Hillabee project is now up and running–but for now, it’s flowing gas from the Haynesville Shale and the Midcontinent region. The announcement said that Marcellus/Utica gas would “soon” flow through the Hillabee expansion–just as soon as the Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline gets built in Pennsylvania, which will flow Marcellus gas into a reversed portion of the Transco Pipeline…
    Read More “Williams Hillabee Project Goes Online, NatGas Flowing to Florida”

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    Va. Landowners Illegally Block MVP Survey Crew on Bent Mountain

    In May, MDN noted a disturbing trend in the Commonwealth of Virginia of entangling law enforcement in the non-criminal issue of surveying for a federally-authorized pipeline project (see VA Landowner Uses State Police to Eject Pipeline Surveyors). A small minority of landowners continue to use (abuse) local law enforcement in their zeal to oppose 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. Under Virginia State law, surveyors may enter a property without the property owner’s express permission to survey, as long as they have sent a prior notice to the landowner with target dates of when they will be on location. Some landowners, knowing the surveyors are coming, call in the cops to pressure the surveyors to leave. And the cops play along. Not a good situation. What typically happens is that the surveyors will leave and subsequently file for a court order of eminent domain, forcing the property owner to later allow the surveyors on their property. It happened again last month when a landowner in Franklin County called in the county Sheriff (see Franklin County, VA Landowners Use Sheriff to Eject MVP Surveyors). It’s now happened again–this time in Roanoke County…
    Read More “Va. Landowners Illegally Block MVP Survey Crew on Bent Mountain”