Williams Refiles Application with NY DEC for Transco NESE Project
In April MDN told you that the New York Dept. of Environment Conservation (DEC) had rejected a modest pipeline expansion proposal by Williams’ Transco Pipeline subsidiary (see Cuomo-Corrupted DEC Denies Permit for Williams NESE Pipe Project). The project, which we’ve previously written about and are actively promoting, is called the Northeast Supply Enhancement (NESE) project (see Time to Support Transco’s Northeast Supply Enhancement Project). NESE is meant to increase pipeline capacity and flows heading into northeastern markets. Transco wants to provide more Marcellus natural gas to utility giant National Grid beginning with the 2019-2020 heating season. National Grid operates in New York City, Long Island, Rhode Island and Massachusetts. There are a number of components to the project, but the key component, the heart of the project, is a new 23-mile pipeline from the shore of New Jersey into (on the bottom of) the Raritan Bay–running parallel to the existing Transco pipeline–before connecting to the Transco offshore. The DEC warned Williams that they would reject the application as incomplete unless/until FERC itself provides an environmental assessment of the project. That happened in March, but the DEC said it didn’t have enough time to review it and requested Williams refile (we’ve heard that one before). Given Cuomo is refusing to approve any new natural gas pipeline projects (see him say it point blank in this video), we’re not optimistic that the DEC will actually approve it this time either…
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Good news. The main part of the Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline project–where it runs through Lancaster County, PA–is almost finished. Atlantic Sunrise is a $3 billion, 198-mile pipeline project running through 10 Pennsylvania counties to connect Marcellus Shale natural gas from northeastern PA with the Williams’ Transco pipeline in southern Lancaster County. The most opposition to the pipeline has happened in Lancaster County. Right now 90% of the pipeline has been welded in Lancaster County and sits above ground. By the end of July, all of it will be done and buried in the ground. It won’t be long after that that the entire 198 miles will begin to flow northeast PA Marcellus gas…
We’re simply at a loss for words. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo is not a dictator, or is he? Cuomo said on a recent campaign stop that he will unilaterally, illegally, block all new “fossil fuel” powered electric plants in the state, including clean-burning natural gas-fired plants. The man is delusional. He doesn’t have that power–unless the sheeple that live in NY allow him to get away with it. We New Yorkers must rise up and stop this megalomaniac before he plunges NY into the ash heap of history. During a campaign event last Thursday, May 10, in Manhattan, Cuomo said with respect to new gas-fired electric plants: “I have not approved any new ones, and I won’t.” He also said that the state currently has gas-fired plants “all over the state” and that the “long-term plan is to close them.” Breathtaking arrogance! We’ve checked the state Constitution and we don’t find anything in it that vests the governor with the power to ban specific types of businesses in the state, whether for energy or otherwise. Where does he get off?…
On Tuesday, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) granted Williams’ Transco Pipeline permission to reverse the flow along part of the pipeline to begin sending more Marcellus gas south. The order allows Transco to start up modified compressor stations in Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina, and to begin flowing an extra 150 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) of yummy Marcellus gas southward. Most of the time when we report on Atlantic Sunrise, we talk about the greenfield (brand new pipeline) being installed in 10 Pennsylvania counties. What’s often overlooked are other aspects of the project, like this one, that will kit out the Transco to flow 1.7 billion cubic feet per day of Marcellus gas to the south and to the Gulf Coast. The greenfield portion of the pipeline is due to be completed sometime soon–by “mid-2018.” This latest order allowing the startup of bidirectional flow along certain portions is an important part of the project…
THE Delaware Riverkeeper, Maya van Rossum, issued a letter/petition to THE Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) back in February–which escaped our notice at the time. The petition demands that the DRBC “man up” and exercise complete and total authority over the PennEast Pipeline project–and stop it cold by prohibiting tree clearing. Riverkeeper maintains that if tree clearing is allowed to begin, it will negatively impact water supplies in the Delaware River Basin–therefore it’s within the DRBC’s purview, in fact responsibility, to take hold of the situation and stop it. This is just one of a many-pronged attack by Riverkeeper to try and stop PennEast, a 120-mile pipeline that will run from near Wilkes-Barre, PA to near Trenton, NJ. The planned route passes through Luzerne, Carbon, Northampton, and Bucks counties in PA, and through Mercer and Hunterdon counties in NJ. The pipeline is needed to move PA’s abundant Marcellus gas to markets in NJ. Last week we told you about Riverkeeper’s latest lawsuits to stop PennEast (see 
Is there a white knight that can ride in and save the day for pipelines being blocked by radicals like Andrew Cuomo in New York State? There may just be! Last week while testifying at a House Committee on Science, Space and Technology hearing, Dept. of Energy Secretary Rick Perry said that he believes states do not have the right to block interstate pipelines. Perry stopped short of saying that President Trump would consider issuing an Executive Order to approve projects like the Constitution Pipeline and Northern Access Pipeline projects in New York. But he did appear to hint at the possibility…
On Friday, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued Dominion Energy permission to begin construction of the actual pipeline for the Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP) project–in West Virginia. ACP is a (now) $6.5 billion project, up from a projected $5 billion due to delays from regulatory agencies and frivolous lawsuits filed by Big Green groups, that will run from WV through Virginia and into North Carolina–almost to the border with South Carolina. Until now FERC had allowed prep work, like tree cutting. But now actual pipeline construction can begin, which is a momentous occasion, worthy of celebration!…
What’s happening with Kinder Morgan’s $4 billion Utica Marcellus Texas Pipeline (UMTP) project? In February MDN told you that Kentucky antis went to court to try and block a plan by Kinder Morgan to convert a portion of the Tennessee Gas Pipeline (TGP) that flows natural gas from the Gulf Coast to the northeast, to reverse the pipeline and flow natural gas liquids (NGLs) from the Marcellus/Utica region to the Gulf Coast (see 
Yesterday Energy Transfer Partners held its quarterly conference call with stock analysts to discuss first quarter 2018 results. On the phone call we got some updated information about timing for two critical Marcellus/Utica projects: Rover Pipeline and Mariner East 2 Pipeline. As recently as last week MDN was under the impression that Rover–a $3.7 billion, 711-mile natural gas pipeline that runs from PA, WV and eastern OH through OH into Michigan and on to Canada via the Vector Pipeline–would be 100% done sometime by the end of June. Not so according to ET’s CFO Thomas Long, who said on yesterday’s call that Rover will be fully done and in service by June 1! That is really good news. That means the full capacity of 3.25 billion cubic feet per day of Marcellus/Utica gas will flow to the Midwest, Michigan and Canada within the next three weeks. As for Mariner East 2 (ME2), that project was knocked off its original schedule following an extended shutdown of construction by the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environment Protection. ME2 is actually two pipelines, not one. The first ME2 pipeline, according to Tom Long, will be up and running sometime by the end of September this year. The second ME2 pipeline, referred to as ME2X, will be done by “mid-2019.” Here’s a couple of excerpts from the conference call, along with the full ET 1Q18 update…
Protesting something like a pipeline is one thing. March around, show your signs, talk to the press, make a horse’s rear-end of yourself. Whatever. But showing up at someone’s home and blocking their driveway and erecting a 20-foot tall tower and refusing to move until arrested? That’s something else. That kind of “protest” is threatening, menacing behavior. Bullying. And it’s all too easy for people who have crossed that line to tip over into outright violence. A group of criminal protesters did just what we described–blocked the driveway and erected a wall in the driveway–of Duke Energy CEO Lynn Good at her home in Charlotte, NC on Wednesday. Duke is partners with Dominion Energy in the $6.5 billion Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP) project, a natural gas pipeline from West Virginia through Virginia and into North Carolina. The criminal protesters showed up at Good’s home to oppose the project. The signs they carried revealed their irrational hatred of fossil fuels, which is what motivated them to protest in the first place. Wackos. Here’s how it went down at Good’s home earlier this week…
Apparently the more bizarre your actions, the more likely you are to become a minor celebrity. That’s what’s happening for Grandma Red, Theresa “Red” Terry, who took the bizarre action of climbing a tree on her property and living in the top of it for a month–all in an attempt to stop the tree from being cut to make way for the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP). In the end Grandma Red came down when a judge told her she would begin paying $1,000/day for her bizarre behavior. Now that she’s back on terra firma, Grandma Red is meeting with state officials and attending radical Big Green rallies, showered with praise for her “courageous” action. What’s next? The Tonight Show and The Late Show? Meanwhile, in a well-timed and coordinated attack, Big Green lawyers are asking the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to overturn the decisions of state and federal agencies to allow MVP, simply because Big Green doesn’t like the decisions. Big Green argued the court should overturn a decision by the Virginia State Water Control Board to allow MVP to build, crossing streams, and to overturn a decision by the U.S. Forest Service to allow MVP to build pipeline through a tiny sliver of Jefferson National Forest. Twenty years ago these lawsuits would have been laughed out of court because the country followed the rule of law. Today, with courts packed with Obamadroids, you just don’t know…
One of the lawyers who filed a petition with the U.S. Supreme Court requesting the Supremes hear the Constitution Pipeline case has written a column that rips the mask off New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and exposes him for the corrupt autocrat he is. The column is long and uses a number of legal references and arguments, but we can sum it up this way: (1) Cuomo has been caught admitting he has imposed an illegal moratorium on new pipelines; (2) Cuomo’s action in blocking the Constitution and other pipelines usurps federal authority; and (3) Cuomo’s actions in blocking pipelines threatens national energy security. It’s not often we get the inside thinking of one of the key players in a high-profile lawsuit. Read the following and learn…
Knowing that the PennEast Pipeline project is about to become reality, a very desperate THE Delaware Riverkeeper (aka Maya van Rossum) has launched a major legal attack against the project–using Big Green money. These are not the first legal filings by Riverkeeper against PennEast. The current strategy appears to be “bury them in legal horse manure.” PennEast Pipeline is a 120-mile pipeline from near Wilkes-Barre, PA to near Trenton, NJ. The planned route passes through Luzerne, Carbon, Northampton, and Bucks counties in PA, and through Mercer and Hunterdon counties in NJ. The pipeline is needed to move PA’s abundant Marcellus gas to markets in NJ. The first “legal maneuver” by Riverkeeper this week was to file a petition for a “Writ of Mandamus” in the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, asking the court to force the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to respond to Riverkeeper’s rehearing request on the PennEast project. At the same time, Riverkeeper filed a “Petition for Review” with the D.C. Circuit Court of appeals challenging all of FERC’s orders related to PennEast. It is a full, frontal legal attack by a small organization fronting for other groups like the William Penn Foundation. The question is, will Riverkeeper’s latest attack work?…
As the Competitive Power Ventures (CPV) Valley Energy Center natural gas-fired electric generating plant in Orange County, NY gets ready to begin service, some of the neighbors are not happy with noises coming from the plant. They hope local town officials can meet with Gov. Andrew Cuomo and convince him to lean on the Dept. of Environmental Conservation to revoke permits for the plant that CPV just spent almost a billion dollars to build. We told you a month ago the only sliver of a hope antis have to prevent the plant from starting up is to convince the DEC to block it (see