Energy Services | Energy Transfer Partners | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Regulation | Statewide PA
Time to Finish Mariner East 2 Pipeline Says SEPA Former Senator
In January the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) finally, after more than a year, agreed to lift a moratorium on new construction work for several Energy Transfer pipeline projects in the state, including the Mariner East 2 and 2X projects (see PA DEP Clears Way for ET to Complete Mariner East Pipelines). A few weeks later the DEP assessed a $1.95 million fine on the Mariner East 2 project (see PA DEP Slaps Energy Transfer Again – $2M Fine re Mariner East 2). Fine paid, permission granted…At least ET can restart work on ME2 now, right? Wrong.
Read More “Time to Finish Mariner East 2 Pipeline Says SEPA Former Senator”
A Boston University professor has gone on a so-called “hunger strike” in his campaign against fossil fuels and a compressor station near Boston that will flow more of them. And you actually *pay* to send your kids to BU?
The Ohio Supreme Court ruled yesterday that the Ohio tax commissioner correctly charged Tallgrass Energy’s Rockie Express (REX) pipeline $2 million in excise tax (based on $699 million of income), for gas transported from and to (within) Ohio. REX claimed it did not owe the tax because the same law that exempts gas transported out of state applies to gas sales in-state. But the tax commission, and now the Supremes, say that the portion of gas transported through REX that stays in Ohio is not exempt and can be taxed. So pay up.
Yesterday Dominion Energy issued its fourth quarter and full-year 2019 update. As part of the update, Dominion’s top brass talked about 2020 and beyond. Of particular interest for us was a bunch of news about the company’s stalled Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP) project. In particular, Dominion has purchased a small stake in the pipeline from partner Southern Co. for $175 million. The new price tag for the project has now gone to $8 billion. Even with the delays and setbacks in court, Dominion remains 100% committed to building ACP.
Andrew Cuomo’s blockade of important pipeline projects like the Williams Constitution Pipeline (from northeast PA into NY) continues to keep the price of natural gas high in the Empire State. The Constitution, which was supposed to be built years ago, is supposed to connect to two other interstate pipelines, one of them the Iroquois (see 
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has taken the first, very big and important step of approving an environmental assessment (EA) for TC Energy/Columbia Transmission’s Louisiana XPress Project. TC/Columbia filed an application with FERC last July for the project (see 
Yesterday we received a somewhat strange note from the Delaware River Basin Commission. We’re subscribed to receive communications from the DRBC relating to the PennEast Pipeline project. The DRBC note says that PennEast has withdrawn their application seeking permission from the DRBC to use or discharge water from the basin during the construction of the pipeline project. DRBC doesn’t quite know what to make of the request and says they are “currently reviewing the letter” and have “no additional comment at this time.” Oooo…chilly.
In January the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) finally, after more than a year, allowed Energy Transfer to restart the final bits of construction needed to complete the Mariner East 2 (ME2) pipeline project (see 
Opposition from green extremists continues against a tiny 16-inch, 7.3-mile natural gas transmission pipeline in the Albany, NY area. The purpose of the new pipeline is to beef up supplies of natural gas in the Capitol region of the state. The thing is, the people protesting the pipeline (those who live in the area) heat their homes with natural gas. Will they be the first to give up their gas, as a demonstration of their own sacrifice to Save the Planet? Not on your life!
Yesterday the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) handed the PennEast Pipeline project a huge victory in its fight to overturn a poor decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit. FERC said the judges of the Third Circuit were wrong in their ruling that PennEast cannot use FERC’s delegated power of eminent domain to cross property owned or managed by the State of New Jersey. The FERC ruling bolsters PennEast’s appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court, making it far more likely the high court will now hear the case.
With the big news about Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) support of the PennEast Pipeline project, FERC ruling the pipeline CAN cross New Jersey state-controlled lands using eminent domain (see today’s lead story), another important bit of PennEast news from yesterday seems to have gotten lost in the sauce. PennEast filed a request yesterday with FERC to build the pipeline project in two phases. Break the project in two.
Last December the husband and wife team of Mark and Melinda Clatterbuck got themselves arrested for illegal trespass and disorderly conduct at a Mariner East 2 (ME2) pipeline site near Philadelphia (see