Pipelines

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    Demand Picks Up for Pipeline Workers in PA Downstream

    Here on MDN we talk a lot about big interstate natural gas pipelines–like Rover and NEXUS, Atlantic Sunrise and Atlantic Coast. But we don’t talk so much about the tiny (in diameter) gas pipelines that connect to people’s homes. In oil and gas industry parlance, those pipelines belong to the “downstream”–or the end users of natural gas. From time to time we’ve covered stories about NiSource and other utilities spending big money to replace aging local distribution pipelines (see NiSource 3Q14: A Lot of Irons in the Fire, Spending Billions). However, we’re starting to see more such stories. The latest is from Philadelphia-based PECO, Pennsylvania’s largest electric and natural gas utility delivering gas to more than half a million customers. In a story about PECO’s project to replace gas mains near Philly, we learn there is so much work in replacing old gas lines, there is now a premium on contractors and qualified pipe mechanics…
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    Green Energy Device Generates Electric from Compressor Station Fans

    Click for larger picture

    Green electric generation has just come to pipeline compressor stations across the fruited plain–potentially in the Marcellus/Utica. If you’ve ever visited a pipeline compressor station–used to pressurize pipelines to keep the gas flowing along–one thing you will immediately notice is a ginormous fan (or more than one fan if there are multiple compressors at the site). Those fans are there to help cool the machinery working to compress and flow the gas. Here’s a genius observation: fans move air. Now let us tell you about some real genius. What if you attached something to that moving air, say a small turbine, and that turbine powered an electric-generating motor–so you could produce electricity. Maybe even enough electricity to power the entire compressor station. Now that IS genius! CEGEN (Clean Energy Generation) conceptualized, built, tested and is now selling such a device. Their “generator in a box” device has a constant, 24/7/365 source of “wind” to power it. It is green energy meets fossil energy–and it’s a match made in heaven…
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    Would Antis Oppose Pipelines If They Flowed Beer Instead of Gas?

    Installing Belgium’s beer pipeline

    Antis have lots of excuses for why they don’t want pipelines built. Digging trenches will cause erosion. Drilling mud may get spilled into ecologically sensitive areas, like swamps (i.e. wetlands). Landowners are “forced” to accept easements on their property and can’t build things over top of where a pipeline runs. But mostly, it’s because of what’s inside the pipeline that antis get their knickers in a twist. They irrationally hate fossil fuels–and pipelines flow fossil fuels (natural gas, gas liquids, oil, etc.) through them. And that runs counter to the gospel of renewable energy. But what if you replaced natural gas with, oh, chocolate? Or what about replacing it with beer? Yeah, that’s the ticket! What if there were a pipeline flowing beer instead of natural gas. Would antis still oppose it? You no longer have wonder. There IS such a pipeline–in Belgium. Plenty of antis inhabit Belgium. When it came time to build a new bottling plant some two miles from the Half Moon brewery, there was a problem: How to get the beer to the bottling plant. So Half Moon built a pipeline–under the streets of Bruges, a World Heritage Site full of historical sites. Yep, right underneath–and not a single protest…
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    Judge Orders “Eco-Terrorists” to Vacate PA Property, Allow Pipe

    MDN has extensively covered the story of a family in Huntingdon County, PA radicalized by the Big Green movement into opposing the Mariner East 2 pipeline across their property. The Gerhart family, with the assistance of what Sunoco Logistics Partners calls “eco-terrorists,” have pledged to illegally block construction of the pipeline. So a few weeks ago Sunoco asked a Huntingdon County judge to grant an injunction against the Gerharts AND the interloping eco-terrorists–to have them forcibly removed if they attempt to stop construction which is about to begin (see Sunoco Seeks Injunction Against Radicalized ME2 Pipe Protesters). The good news is that late last week the judge granted the injunction. The Gerharts and their eco-terrorist friends will sit their butts in jail if they scarper up a tree to sit, or stand in the way when the bulldozers rev their engines…
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    ME2 Begins Building Pipeline in Lancaster County, PA

    Click for larger version – Clay & West Cocalico in northern tip

    Mariner East 2 (ME2), Sunoco Logistics Partner’s 350-mile NGL (natural gas liquids) pipeline that will run from Eastern Ohio to the Marcus Hook refinery near Philadelphia, has begun construction in northern Lancaster County, PA. Currently the work is getting done in the townships of Clay and West Cocalico. Which is great news. Here’s the even bigger news, that most mainstream news outlets are not reporting: “Officials for the two townships…[said] the pipeline faced no opposition.” Huh. Who woulda thunk? Lancaster County, home of the nutjobs who have threatened to establish an eco-terror camp to block Williams’ natural gas pipeline called Atlantic Sunrise–and yet with ME2, an NGL pipeline, no opposition. Nothing. Of course there are still pockets of resistance to ME2 (see today’s lead story about the eco-terrorists in Huntingdon County). But perhaps lack of opposition to ME2 in Lancaster County is a sign that Big Green is running out of steam (or money to pay protesters)…
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    Mich. Official Says She’ll Stand in Front of Dozer to Stop Rover

    A liberal Democrat County from the Washtenaw County, Mich. Board of Commissioners, someone who obviously ignores the rule of law, has pledged to break the law in her misguided attempt to stop Energy Transfer’s Rover Pipeline project from coming through her county. Lib Dems often like to pick and choose which laws they will obey and which they’ll ignore, so we’re not surprised by the mouthy reaction from Commissioner Michelle Deatrick, D-Superior Township. She’s like many other radical anti-fossil fuelers. Michelle is an Al Gore fan and has apparently overdosed on trailers for Gore’s forthcoming Inconvenient Truth Part Deux fictional flick, called “Truth to Power,” because that’s the exact phase she used at a recent board meeting. Here’s what mouthy Michelle had to say…
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    Enbridge Withdraws $3B Access Northeast Pipeline Application

    Last December Spectra Energy pushed the pause button on their Access Northeast Pipeline project, a roughly $3 billion project in New England to connect four existing pipeline systems (with enhancements): Texas Eastern, Algonquin Gas Transmission, Iroquois and Maritimes & Northeast (see Spectra Energy Puts Access Northeast Pipe to New England on Hold). Spectra’s original strategy was to bring natural gas to New England by cutting deals with electric companies who need the gas to produce cheaper electricity at their natgas-fired power generation plants. However, the green environmental Nazis came out in force against the plan, (sadly) aided and abetted by Spectra’s competitors, and those plans are now in ruins with three states blocking any such plans. So Spectra changed strategies, targeting local natural gas distribution companies (LDCs) as potential customers (see Spectra Energy Changes Strategy re New England Pipeline). Spectra needs customers to sign on the dotted line–committing to long-term contracts–before they can raise the funding and build the project, so they pushed the pause button last December. Since that time, Spectra completed selling itself to Enbridge (see Spectra Energy is No More – $28B Merger with Enbridge Complete). So just to confuse things, the Access Northeast project is now an Enbridge project. Yesterday Enbridge sent a letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, the agency that oversees such projects, to officially withdraw the application. But the project is NOT dead. Enbridge says they will be back to file again–once the New England states get their energy policy crap together…
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    NJ DEP Rejects Water Permit for PennEast Pipeline – What’s Next?

    The New Jersey Dept. of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) sent PennEast Pipeline a letter yesterday saying they have closed the application for water-crossing permits for the project–without granting those permits. In April the NJDEP temporarily rejected the permits, giving PennEast another 60 days to respond to requests for more detailed information about the project (see NJ DEP Temporarily Rejects PennEast Request for Wetland Permits). The NJDEP says PennEast isn’t making sufficient progress and so they are simply closing the book on it. Which may sound like the end of the line for PennEast. That is, if you read statements by radical environmentalists like Jeff Tittel from the Sierra Club. Except it’s not game over. PennEast says, in essence, “No problem. Thanks anyway. We’ll be back and refile the application shortly.” Which they can do. Below is a copy of the letter from the NJDEP, some select (biased) coverage from anti-fossil fuel mainstream media, and a full statement from PennEast, to set the record straight…
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    Rover (Again) Asks FERC for Permission to Finish Horizontal Drilling

    Yesterday Energy Transfer Partners, the builder of the Rover Pipeline, once again asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) if they could pretty-please-with-a-cherry-on-top resume horizontal directional drilling (HDD) in a couple of key locations in Ohio, so they can finish phase one of the pipeline somewhere close to on-time. Rover is a $3.7 billion, 711-mile Marcellus/Utica natural gas pipeline that will run from PA, WV and eastern OH through OH into Michigan and eventually into Canada. It is a critical piece of sorely needed infrastructure for the Marcellus/Utica industry. As soon as ET received approval for the project in February, they began building it. But they hit a few snags along the way, including an “inadvertent return” (i.e. leak) of 2 million gallons of drilling mud in a swamp next to the Tuscarawas River (Stark County, OH). Following that leak and other leaks, FERC told Rover to stop any new underground drilling not already under way (see FERC Slaps Rover Pipeline with Stop Drilling Order). A few weeks later ET asked FERC if they could begin drilling again in a few key locations (see Rover Gets Serious About Mud Spills, Asks FERC for OK to Drill). But so far, nyet. Yesterday ET asked again, “respectfully,” to restart HDD drilling…
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    FERC Gives Dominion VA/MD/DC Pipeline Favorable Enviro Assessment

    In October 2016, Dominion announced a new pipeline project called Eastern Market Access Project (see Dominion Announces $145M Project to Expand Gas Supply to DC & MD). The project will beef up two compressor stations in Virginia, build a new compressor station in Maryland, and add a couple of pipeline taps near Washington, D.C. The purpose of the $145 million project is to deliver more gas to Washington Gas (and its customers), and to deliver gas to a new gas-fired electric power plant being built in Maryland. A Dominion spokesman confirmed for MDN that the gas will come from either the Marcellus or Utica plays. Some good news to report: the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has issued a favorable environmental assessment (EA) for the project…
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    Marathon Completes 49-Mile Utica Condensate Pipeline in Ohio

    Click map for larger version – Harpster & Lima in the center

    In February MDN reported that Marathon Petroleum had begun to build a 49-mile condensate pipeline, called HALI–the Harpster to Lima Pipeline (see Marathon Begins to Build New 49-Mile Utica Pipeline in Ohio). The purpose of the project is a pipeline “for efficient and safe delivery of condensate from the Utica Shale to refineries where it can be processed into gasoline and diesel in order to meet the needs of producers, mid-streamers, marketers, diluent blenders, and refiners as the Utica Shale continues to develop.” At the time, the pipeline was expected to go online in July. It’s not quite July, but the good news is that the pipeline is now online and delivering…
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    NG Advantage Meets with Virtual Pipe Neighbors in Broome County

    NG Advantage is making a concerted effort to dispel false rumors and misunderstanding on the part of neighbors who live near a proposed “virtual pipeline” site that is a series of compressor stations grabbing gas from the Millennium Pipeline in a Binghamton suburb, compressing it and loading onto tanker trucks. As MDN reported yesterday, two different groups have now filed lawsuits to stop work at the site, one by a local elementary school (more than a half mile away) and one by residents living nearby, including a local Catholic church parish (see Church Asks NY Court to Stop Broome County CNG Virtual Pipeline). Last night officials with NG held a meeting for area residents (with more meetings scheduled for tonight) to answer questions and get the truth out about the facility. Two items in particular were front and center: (1) There are no emissions from the compressor station–it is a series of compressors (4 initially, up to 12 in all) that are powered with electricity, not diesel. So there are zero emissions from the plant. NONE. (2) The plant will be quieter than the Interstate highway it sits next to. If you are walking in the nearby Port Dickinson park (as MDN editor Jim Willis sometimes does), you will continue to hear the highway which runs overhead–but you won’t hear the compressor station. Neither will neighbors like the Catholic church hear it. Here’s a summary of last night’s meeting…
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    PA Anti Strategy: Weaponize Recent Court Ruling Against Shale Dev

    It’s clear that radical environmentalists who (irrationally) oppose the use of fossil fuels believe the recent decision by Pennsylvania Supreme Court is a gift from Gaia (Mother Earth goddess). As MDN previously reported, last week the Pennsylvania Supreme Court of Appeals, in a sharply divided 3-2 decision, sided with a virulent anti-drilling group, the Pennsylvania Environmental Defense Foundation, against the state in saying that any revenue generated from leasing and drilling on state-owned land MUST be used solely for conservation and the environment (see PA Supreme Court Hands Antis Partial Victory re State Land Drilling). However, denying the state Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DCNR) from funding itself with lease/royalty revenue was inconsequential, a distraction from the real aim. The decision, according to the radicals, further strengthens the state’s so-called Environmental Rights Amendment to the state constitution. What it means, in very practical terms, is that the antis now plan to use a decision ostensibly about how a single state agency gets its funding, to apply the philosophical underpinnings (the right to a clean environment) as a weapon against judges and the Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP), to force them to consider whether or not issuing a given permit for a project “harms” the “rights” of PA citizens to a “clean environment.” In other words, the radicals are weaponizing a court decision to use against the shale industry–and they’re signaling, via their sycophantic mouthpieces at StateImpact Pennsylvania, that’s exactly what they intend to do…
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    Son of NED: Tennessee Gas Considers Another New England Pipeline

    Is Kinder Morgan’s NED pipeline project getting reincarnated?! You may recall that over a year ago, in April 2016, anti-fossil fuel nuts in Massachusetts and other northeastern states were orgasmic that Kinder Morgan announced the company had suspended (not necessarily canceled) any further spending/time/effort on the Tennessee Gas Pipeline expansion from NY through MA, otherwise known as the Northeast Energy Direct (NED) project (see NED is Dead – Kinder Morgan Suspends $3.3B New England Pipeline). Now antis are nervous again. On May 23, Kinder Morgan launched a new open season (copy below) for increased capacity/delivery along the Tennessee Gas Pipeline (TGP) in New York, Massachusetts and New England. Kinder says while NED is truly dead, there’s still demand for more gas in New England they want to provide it. The company is (rightly) being cagey about how they will deliver that extra gas–if the market demand is there. Will it be a another pipeline, like NED? Will it be more compressor stations and pipeline “looping” along the existing route? Nobody knows yet. Sounds to us like this is shaping up to be Son of NED…
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    Lancaster Anti-Pipeliners Reach New Low with Fake Graveyard

    Just when you thought you’ve seen how low some anti-pipeline fanatics will go, they surprise you and go even lower. Antis set up a fake graveyard with a half dozen authentic, 19th century tombstones, right next to a pipeline right of way for the Williams Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline in Lancaster County, PA. Williams is hypersensitive to ensure they don’t violate any “Native American” or other kinds of historic sites. So when they came across the fake graveyard, they thought it was real and proceeded as such, spending time and money to plan a route for construction that would protect the fake site. And antis, with full knowledge, lied to Williams’ people (not telling them is the same as lying in our book). And laughed their considerable derrieres off the entire time, wondering when those poor dunderheads at Williams would figure it out. Now Williams may have the last laugh, because what the antis did is fraud and prosecutable. So-called local Native Americans (i.e. Indians) were in on the “joke.” And now those Indian activists have the gall to say if Williams didn’t recognize something as fake, how will they recognize real Indian artifacts that need protecting? We ask a different question: Who will ever believe these so-called Native American activists again–when they are self-professed liars?…
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    Indian Tribe Fights FERC Over Tiny Pipeline in Mass.

    In March 2016, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approved Tennessee Gas Pipeline’s (TGP) Connecticut Expansion project (see FERC Approves TGP Connecticut Expansion Pipeline Project). The project includes building 13.42 miles of new pipeline loops in three states: Connecticut, Massachusetts and New York. When completed, the new looping will serve an additional 72,100 dekatherms of (mostly) Marcellus Shale gas to three utility companies in Connecticut. The $86 million project is in no way connected to TGP’s now-dead Northeast Energy Direct (NED) pipeline project. However, antis continue to pitch a fit and try to block the project. Can you imagine? They don’t want a single new inch of pipeline anywhere, for any reason. They are, in a word, insane. The latest tactic is to invoke the Indian gods to try and stop it. A local Indian tribe in Massachusetts has filed paperwork with FERC accusing the agency of violating the National Historic Preservation Act by not protecting “ceremonial stone landscapes” supposedly found along the path of the pipeline. If FERC refuses to “re-hear” their decision to allow the project, the Indians say they’ll sue in court…
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