Chester DA Abused Power by Charging ME Pipe Guards with Crimes
The former Chester County District Attorney, Tom Hogan, is guilty of politicizing his office (we’d call it legal malpractice) by charging a couple of off-duty constables (peace officers) with a crime–just because they moonlighted by working as security guards to protect anti-pipeline nuts from hurting themselves at Mariner East 2 pipeline construction sites (see SEPA DA Charges Off-Duty Police w/Crime for Providing Pipe Security). Hogan says the off-duty officers used their official badges (and carried weapons) as they moonlighted and that constitutes a “criminal” offense. We spotted a letter-to-the-editor that exposes Hogan’s action for the political, sleazy outrage it is…
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TC Energy (once upon a time called TransCanada Corporation) is a major pipeline company in North America. The company has a big presence in the Marcellus/Utica region via its Columbia Pipeline subsidiary. Last week TC Energy issued its fourth-quarter and full-year 2019 update and hosted a quarterly conference call with analysts. While the official update contains a mention about the company’s Buckeye XPress project (see 
Score another victory for the Mariner East Pipeline project in southeast Pennsylvania. On Tuesday Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court ruled against Chester County Commissioners and their attempt to obtain an injunction to stop construction of the Mariner East pipeline project. The petition fought to curtail open trench construction rather than horizontal directional drilling on two easements the county gave to the pipeline. Energy Transfer/Sunoco Logistics wants to change from using underground horizontal directional drilling (HDD) to instead use conventional bore or open trench technology on those easements, which would avoid more problems with HDD already experienced during construction.
A U.S.-based compressor station facility had to shut down operations for two days after sustaining a cyber attack that prevented personnel from receiving crucial real-time operational data from control and communication equipment, according to the Dept. of Homeland Security. We do not know if the compressor was located in the Marcellus/Utica or another shale play. We do know this is a serious–and an increasing problem. We consider it cyber terrorism.
Bills aimed at clamping down on illegal pipeline protests (which pretending to be free speech but aren’t) have been introduced in both the Ohio and West Virginia legislatures. In WV, House Bill (HB) 4615 passed the House last week and is now under active consideration in the WV Senate. In Ohio, Senate Bill (SB) 133 was passed last May. The bill was recently reported out of a House committee and likely to see a full House vote soon. It’s obvious that regular folks are tired of radicals and their illegal attempts to block pipeline projects.
Mob rule is the opposite of the rule of law. Mob rule is what’s being advocated under the guise of “protest” in Brooklyn, NY where a mob of anti-fossil fuelers are attempting to block the final few feet of construction for a 6.8-mile natural gas pipeline stretching from Brownsville to North Brooklyn. Utility company National Grid, responsible for flowing more natural gas to *meet demand* (and not run out) is working to complete a new gas main pipeline–and a mob in Greenpoint is hell-bent on stopping it. Why? Because they believe in “global warming” and have an irrational hatred of fossil fuels, including natural gas.
Big Green continues its fight to strip away the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s (FERC) right to use tolling orders when considering requests to “rehear” decisions to approve pipelines (see 
Last Friday the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) filed a request with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) asking for an extra 45 days to revise an Endangered Species Act (ESA) review of the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) project. Also from last week: anti-fossil fuelers (Big Green groups) virulently opposed to MVP (which is 90% built) continued to hound the project by pestering the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) over minor violations the DEQ found in construction activities from September to December. Big Green wants to know what the DEQ is going to “do” about the violations.
UGI Corp. has just won a case on appeal at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit that overturns an order by a lower court ordering UGI to pay more than $380,000 combined to two sets of property owners for taking their land as part of the Sunbury Pipeline in Snyder County, PA. The landowners who sued used a so-called expert whose testimony was, according to the judges, “speculation and conjecture” and “not good science.” Therefore the lower court award was overturned.
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 
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.