Massachusetts Antis Want Eversource to Block New Gas for Customers
There is no explaining lunatics like those belonging to the Columbia Gas Resistance Campaign in Springfield, Massachusetts who seek to block new and expanded delivery of natural gas to its customers. Following the disaster in September 2018 from a series of explosions that occurred in Columbia Gas’ local delivery pipelines north of Boston (see Local NatGas Pipes Explode Near Boston Killing 1, Injuring 25), Columbia was forced to sell its Massachusetts natural gas-delivery franchise to Eversource, a competitor (see Columbia Selling Mass. Gas Utility Biz to Competitor Eversource).
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Anti-fossil fuel nutters believe they have an opening to try and bully the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) into de-certifying a fully permitted and ready-to-start compressor station in Weymouth, Massachusetts because of an “emergency” release of a few puffs of natural gas during final testing of the facility.
Energy Transfer (Sunoco Pipeline) is pushing back against a demand by the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) that the company’s Mariner East 2X pipeline project be rerouted around Marsh Creek State Park (in Chester County, PA) following a drilling mud spill in August. Sunoco has asked the PA Environmental Hearing Board, a special court created to hear appeals of DEP decisions, to override the DEP’s demand to reroute ME2X.
This would be funny if it weren’t so darned sad. In Lansing, NY, just outside of Planet Ithaca in Tompkins County, the local utility (NYSEG) wanted to build a short pipeline in 2017 to supply new customers with natural gas, but was blocked by crazies who irrationally hate fossil fuels (see 
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) finally, after months of dithering, granted approval to TC Energy to begin construction of its Louisiana XPress project to beef up flows along the existing Columbia pipeline system by an additional 850 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) by adding three new compressor stations and expanding a fourth compressor in Louisiana.
Once again the Mariner East 2 pipeline project is up Snitz Creek…without a paddle? There have been a number of “inadvertent returns” or mud spills in Snitz Creek, place where drilling mud is used to grease a drill bit for drilling holes under the creek. Mud has popped up where it’s not supposed to. Some of the mud spills have been, literally, just a couple of gallons. NOTHING. A recent spill on Oct. 19 was for 200 gallons.
Radicalized leftists from environmental groups like the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) are no longer content to try and prevent the construction of new natural gas pipelines, they now seek to shut down already-built and flowing pipelines. Case in point: A year ago the Spire STL pipeline came online flowing Marcellus/Utica molecules to the St. Louis area (see 
Anti-fossil fuelers are predictable and their motives transparent. A movement anti in Chester County (liberal, far-left Democrat) wanted to expose confidential safety information about the Mariner East 2 (ME2) pipeline public. Specifically, he wanted to reveal “blast radius” information in hopes of inflaming opposition against the pipeline in his near-religious effort to get the pipeline permanently shut down. It’s a holy war for these people. Zealotry.
Enough! How many times do we have to put up with Obama/Clinton liberal Democrat judges from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit blocking the legal and legitimate construction of Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP)–a project which is 92% in the ground and done! Last Friday the clowns did it again for the umpteenth time–slapping a “temporary” order blocking construction because the anti-America, Russia-backed Sierra Club filed yet another frivolous lawsuit against the project.
Even if and when Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) gets completed and goes online, flowing Marcellus/Utica gas to the southern U.S., it still will not be enough to significantly lift the price of natgas for M-U drillers. That’s according to an analysis by the experts at S&P Global Platts.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, located in Massachusetts, has ruled that Enbridge, builder of the Weymouth compressor station, can keep a previously-issued state permit for the station, a permit that allows it to operate. This is the final humiliation and defeat of rabid anti-fossil fuelers who dedicated themselves to blocking the plant.
DTE Energy has been a long-time pipeline builder and operator in the Marcellus/Utica region. DTE, based in Detroit, is both a utility company and a midstream/pipeline company. According to an in-depth Forbes article (quoting Bloomberg), DTE is “exploring options” to either sell or spin-off its natural gas pipeline assets, including those in the M-U.
Over the years we’ve written about pipeline systems being built or expanded and upgraded to carry Marcellus/Utica natural gas to other regions, including as far away as the Gulf Coast, where the gas either gets used in petrochemical plants or (more commonly nowadays), gets exported as LNG. We now have some estimates for just how much of the 33+ Bcf/d (billion cubic feet per day) of our gas goes to the Gulf Coast.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) would like the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in on whether it (FERC) or the bankruptcy courts have the final say in whether or not drillers can wiggle out of long-term pipeline contracts by declaring bankruptcy. Chesapeake Energy is trying to do so now, attempting to shed several contracts including some in the M-U region (see 
Late Friday the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) granted permission to Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) to restart work on all but a 25-mile segment of the 92% completed project (see