Snap: Va. Dems Total Crack with Reality – Call Pipelines “Death Rattle”
A rather juvenile, kindergartenish attitude appears to be taking root in the Democrat Party–at least in the Old Dominion. Dems there have decided that wind and solar, which provide something like 2.9% of all electric generation in the country, should just take over now and that we should stop building any/all pipelines that flow evil, nasty, “yesterday’s energy” called fossil fuels. And on that self-deluding basis, a group of Dems from Roanoke and across the state signed a (blithering idiot) letter to Democrat Gov. Ralph Northam demanding that he just stop both the Mountain Valley Pipeline and Atlantic Coast Pipeline projects in Virginia–federal projects. Of course the Dems are not really THAT stupid. This is a sleazy political calculation–playing to the nutjob base that elects them. States don’t have the right to overrule the federal government. The last time Virginia tried to overrule the federal government was in 1860, and you know how that turned out…
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The vast majority of Rover Pipeline is done, and most of it is now up and running (see
Theresa “Red” Terry (whom we call Grandma Red) and her daughter Minor Terry finally came down from the trees where they were perched since April 2 in an illegal attempt to block Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) from cutting the trees. They came down on Saturday after a federal judge said if they stayed past midnight Saturday, they would each be fined $1,000 per day. The money would go to MVP. Red said, “Mountain Valley has taken enough from us…There wasn’t a lot more I could do up there besides show my ass and give them money.” As we previously reported, a number of Virginia lawmakers expressed their support of the Terrys and their flagrant disregard of the law (see
TransCanada, one of Canada’s leading midstream/pipeline companies, cooked up a deal in 2016 to pipe natural gas from Canada’s West Coast to the East Coast in order to fend off cheap supplies of Marcellus/Utica gas that will flow into Canada from the NEXUS and Rover pipelines (see
On March 3, the Mariner East 1 (ME1) natural gas liquids (NGL) pipeline was suddenly switched off by order of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) after a sinkhole opened up under the pipeline in Chester County, exposing some of the bare steel to the open air (see
There is nothing mysterious or complex about the actions taken by a Virginia State Senator, Chap Petersen (Democrat from the swamp, the D.C. area). Petersen is a lawyer and has just sued the U.S. Forest Service because the Forest Service is blocking a road in the Jefferson National Forest, which is their RIGHT to do (they manage it), because down that gravel road are several ILLEGAL TRESPASSERS who refuse to come down from trees that need to be cut down to make way for the federally-approved Mountain Valley Pipeline. There’s nothing complex in understanding that Petersen (did we mention he’s a Democrat?) supports lawlessness and anarchy. Imagine that, a lawmaker who supports people that break the laws he makes. How idiotic is that? Here’s the story of how Virginia Dems in high places continue to flout the laws of our country in their quest to retain political power (and contributions) by currying favor with radical Big Green supporters…
This story should make every patriotic American good and angry–at how Russia continues to try to defeat the American shale miracle (for Russia’s own selfish economic reasons). And it should make anti-fossil fuelers ashamed at how easily they’re played (and how stupid they really are), to fall for the propaganda campaigns run by Russia against American shale energy. An article recently appearing on the McClatchy news service exposes how Russian operatives, using false identities on Twitter and other social media platforms, convinced a handful of stupid anti-fossil fuelers in Miami to turn up at a fake rally, and then a Russian television network swooped in to film it, circulating that footage, convincing even more antis to organize and rise up against the Sabal Trail pipeline. It was a resistance movement generated whole cloth from nothing by Russia. All in an effort to get the pipeline shut down. Which may now happen! Bottom line: a bunch of stupid American antis allowed themselves to be played by Russians against their own country. Russian money also pours into groups like the Sierra Club via offshore accounts. The Sierra Club turns around and uses that money to oppose American infrastructure projects in the oil and gas industry. Call Robert Mueller! Somebody needs to investigate!…
An order from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued yesterday allows Energy Transfer (ET) to begin full operations along the North Market Segment of the Rover Pipeline–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. On April 13 ET asked FERC for permission to start up service along another major chunk of it’s massive Rover Pipeline (see
Late last week Dominion Energy issued its first quarter 2018 financial and operational update. Dominion is not only a large utility company (electric and gas), but also a huge pipeline company. Dominion has it’s fingers in a lot of Marcellus/Utica pies, so we like to keep track of the company and what it says about various critical projects for our region. Dominion CEO Tom Farrell had a lot of interesting updates, including updates for: Atlantic Coast Pipeline, a $6.5 billion Dominion pipeline from West Virginia through Virginia and into North Carolina; Cove Point, the $4 billion LNG export facility that began commercial operations in April; Greensville County (VA) Power Station, a $1.3 billion natural gas-fired combined cycle power plant; and the proposed merger with SCANA Corporation, the main electric and gas company for much of South Carolina. Buckle up, there’s lots of news here…
Different people oppose fossil fuel projects for different reasons. It’s easy to simply paint everyone who opposes fossil fuel projects with the broad brushstroke of calling them “antis.” Yes, they are “anti” something–pipelines, shale drilling, compressor station, etc. However, many who are “anti” are really just “not in my back yard” (NIMBY), not driven by a particular ideology beyond a perceived threat to their own property. Then there are those we call antis who *are* driven by ideology–an irrational ideology that says all fossil fuels are evil and we must convert to so-called renewables now, before it’s “too late.” The problem is when NIMBYs (i.e. landowners) form alliances with agenda-driven, anti-fossil fuelers. Landowners figure, like the old Arab proverb, that “the enemy of my enemy is my friend.” Landowners who oppose pipelines, drilling, etc. are striking a bargain with the devil when they form these alliances in opposing their pet projects. When a particular battle is over, landowners may be surprised to learn that they themselves are the next target for groups like the Sierra Club, Environmental Defense Fund, Riverkeeper, Food & Water Watch, etc.–the very groups they thought were their friends. We spotted a column in the Houston Chronicle that does a great job of exploring this issue, well worth the couple of minutes it takes to read it. Landowners who adopt the NIMBY mindset, and the radical green groups they align themselves with, are actually harming the environment by their actions–not saving it. Here’s how…
In January 2018, Williams, builder of the proposed Constitution Pipeline–124-mile pipeline from Susquehanna County, PA to Schoharie County, NY to move Marcellus gas into NY and New England–took their last, best shot at overturning a politically-based decision by the corrupt New York Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to deny the Constitution necessary water permits to build (see
One of the ways anti-fossil fuel groups have tried to stop the Mariner East 2 Pipeline project is by tying it up in court. Various lawsuits have been filed going back years (
As we previously reported, someone(s) stole a bunch of dynamite and the blasting caps (used to ignite the dynamite) on the weekend of April 14-15 from a locked storage trailer sitting at an Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline construction site in Lancaster County, PA (see
Pipeline companies are known for their largess in showering local schools, towns and nonprofit agencies with money for worthy causes. Among those who engage in this civic practice is Williams’ Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline project. 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, PA. In 2015, the Atlantic Sunrise Community Grant Program was established to benefit community organizations in communities within the Atlantic Sunrise footprint. Since 2015, the Atlantic Sunrise has doled out more than $2 million across the 10-county project area in support of noteworthy projects. And they’ve just done it again. A total of 41 PA organizations have just received a total of $264,300 in contributions–more than a quarter of a million dollars! We have the full list below, along with information about how your organization can apply for the next round…