Pipelines

Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Statewide PA

Potential FERC Com. Powleson Calls Anti-Fossil Fuelers “Jihadists”
March 22, 2017March 22, 2017

Rob Powelson

We can’t speak highly enough of Rob Powelson, member of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) and currently the president of the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC). As we recently reported, Powelson is one of three names being rumored as a nominee to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (see Names Mentioned for 3rd FERC Post, Incl. PA’s Powelson). It can’t happen soon enough! Yesterday Rob spoke at the Upstream PA conference in State College. He didn’t beat around the bush. In a very frank talk, Rob said equated fossil fuel nutters with Islamic terrorists when he said, “The jihad has begun…At the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission groups actually show up at commissioners’ homes to make sure we don’t get this gas to market. How irresponsible is that?” So true. These anti wackos have more in common with anti-American terrorists than they do with common, decent, ordinary Americans. They are so hyped-up and amped-up on global warming hysteria, they’re willing to use extreme tactics–even violence–to force their will on everyone else. It’s about time we started calling it like it is, and that’s just what Rob did yesterday. He also called Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (who just announced his support for a permanent frack ban) an ignoramus, in so many words…
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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | TC Energy/TransCanada

Why TransCanada’s Lowball Pipeline Price is Not a Panacea
March 21, 2017March 21, 2017

TransCanada, one of Canada’s leading midstream/pipeline companies, cooked up a deal last year 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 when/if the NEXUS and Rover pipelines get built (see TransCanada Pipe Drops Price 42% to Compete with Marcellus/Utica). TransCanada dropped their pipeline price to lure drillers by (theoretically) making it less expensive to get gas from Western Canada, some 2,400 miles away, than from the Marcellus, just 400 miles away. In October, TransCanada launched an open season to lock up customers for the new, lower-priced option. The open season was a bust because TransCanada insists on a 10-year commitment (see TransCanada Plan to Lowball M-U Gas Using Canada Pipeline a Bust). TransCanada rejiggered the terms being offered and reopened the open season. This time it worked (see TransCanada Says Plan to Lowball M-U Gas Worked, Shippers Sign Up). Even though natural gas from western Canada will soon flow to Ontario to compete with Marcellus/Utica gas coming from the Rover Pipeline (and perhaps NEXUS, if FERC approves it), analysts are warning that TransCanada’s plan is not a panacea for Canadian producers. Why? Because that gas will have to compete with a flood of Marcellus/Utica gas, and that means the prices will drop like a rock. Although western producers will be locked in for at least five years by signing with TransCanada, analysts are predicting that LNG exports will lure many of them away to sell gas for higher prices to overseas markets. And when that happens (in the next 5-10 years), gas flowing along TransCanada’s mainline will once again slow down to a trickle…
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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | New York | Pipelines | Regulation | Statewide NY | Williams

Federal Judge Rejects Constitution Pipe Request to Bypass NY DEC
March 20, 2017March 21, 2017

A disappointing setback for the much-needed Constitution Pipeline–a $683 million, 124-mile pipeline due to run from Susquehanna County, PA to Schoharie County, NY carrying Marcellus gas. As you may recall, in April 2016, New York’s anti-drilling governor, Andrew Cuomo, decided he would cave to pressure from radical environmentalists and block the building of the federally-approved Constitution Pipeline (see NY Gov. Cuomo Refuses to Grant Permits for Constitution Pipeline). Cuomo’s toadies at the Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DEC) decided not to grant (i.e. denied) the Constitution the permits it needs to cross creeks and swamps. That was finally enough for Williams and the other partners in the project, who promptly sued NY in federal, NOT state, court (see Williams Sues NY Over Constitution Pipe – DEC May Lose Authority). Judge Norman Mordue of the Northern District of New York ruled last week that since NY has not officially denied the water crossing permits–simply not yet acted on them–there is no injury to the project. Even though the pipeline is losing money every day it doesn’t get built due to NY’s inaction. We fail to see how not acting on the permits over the long-term is any different from denying those same permits. It is a distinction without a difference in our book. But that’s what the judge ruled, granting the DEC’s motion to dismiss the case. The thread of hope that remains for the project is another case in which Williams (the builder of the Constitution) filed in an appeals court. Williams is maintaining the second case will go in their favor and when it does, construction is not far behind…
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Energy Services | Energy Transfer Partners | Harrison County | Industrywide Issues | Ohio | Pipelines

OH Couple Illegally Blocks Rover Pipeline Workers from Their Land
March 17, 2017March 17, 2017

A somewhat misguided couple who own land in Harrison County, OH and object to Rover putting a pipeline through their land have decided to break the law. Contractors working for Energy Transfer to clear trees and dig a trench to lay pipeline across their land have been working on their land, on an off, for the past three weeks. Sheila Bittinger and her husband Stanley say they’ve had enough and the couple parked several vehicles across the entrance to their property to prevent any more work on the pipeline. It sounds as if they want to get arrested and that they know this particular bit of “civil disobedience” will result in absolutely nothing. But they’re doing it all the same. If you watch the video (below) you get the impression these are honest, country folks who feel like they’ve gotten a raw deal. We wonder if these landowners have been manipulated by slick lawyers who see a big payday coming from a lawsuit against Rover Pipeline…
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Columbia Pipeline Group | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Lawrence County (OH) | Ohio | Pipelines

Leach XPress Pipeline Begins Drilling Under the Ohio River
March 17, 2017March 17, 2017

Leach XPress Map Showing BM-111 Loop – click for larger version

In August 2014, MDN told you that Columbia Pipeline Group decided to move forward with investing $1.75 billion dollars for two new projects: the Leach XPress and Rayne XPress pipeline projects (see Columbia Gas: $1.75B for 2 Projects to Send Marcellus Gas to Gulf). Leach Xpress will begin in Marshall County, West Virginia, cross Ohio and end up in Leach, Kentucky. In January 2017, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approved the two projects (see FERC Approves $1.8B Leach & Rayne XPress Pipeline Projects). Construction has since begun. Part of the Leach XPress project is a sub-project called the BM-111 Loop, three-mile segment of 36-inch diameter pipe, extending from Columbia’s existing Burlington, OH (Lawrence County) meter station. That segment will go under the Ohio River. Work on the BM-111 Loop, which will employ 140 people during construction, has just begun…
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Energy Services | Energy Transfer Partners | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Michigan | Pipelines | Statewide MI

Michigan Judge Rules Rover Pipeline Can Access Holdout Properties
March 17, 2017March 17, 2017

On Feb. 3, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) gave its final approval to Energy Transfer’s Rover Pipeline project–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 (see ET Rover Pipeline Gets Final Approval by FERC). When FERC approves a project like Rover, the project automatically gets the power to invoke eminent domain against landowners who refuse to sign easements to allow the pipeline. Rover has done that in several states, including Ohio and Michigan. Landowners who own 116 tracts of land in Michigan where Rover will traverse have refused to negotiate or allow Rover access to their land. Those days are over. A federal judge in Michigan has just ruled Rover can immediately seize land along the route of the pipeline and begin tree clearing and construction…
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Energy Services | Energy Transfer Partners | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Ohio | Pipelines | Statewide OH

Some Ohio Landowners Say Rover Violating FERC Tree Clearing Order
March 16, 2017March 16, 2017

A group of approximately 250 Ohio landowners, represented by an Ohio eminent domain law firm, is doing its best to stop Energy Transfer’s Rover Pipeline project dead in its tracks. Rover is playing beat the clock to finish tree clearing following a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) final approval of the project on Feb. 3 (see ET Rover Pipeline Gets Final Approval by FERC). In order to comply with the batty regulation to have trees cleared no later March 31 (due to roosting bats that are protected), Rover moved immediately to begin the tree clearing process. Most Ohio landowners have granted easements and permission to Rover to clear trees. But there are those that have not–either because they want more money, or because they’re anti-fossil fuelers. Regardless, Rover has the right to do it and is using eminent domain procedures to do it. The group of 250 trying to stop Rover has taken two actions: (1) filed a complain with FERC claiming Rover is violating the terms of FERC’s order by not giving landowners advanced notice before clearing trees, and (2) filed a lawsuit in Ohio federal court asking for a restraining order. Will it work?…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Dominion Energy | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Regulation

SC Antis File FERC Challenge to Stop Marcellus Pipe to Charleston
March 16, 2017March 16, 2017

Transco to Charleston Project – click for larger version

In March 2016, Dominion filed an official application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for a 55-mile pipeline project called the Transco to Charleston Project (see Dominion Files Application to Move Marcellus Gas to Charleston, SC). As the name implies, it will be a short pipeline to connect the Transco pipeline, which is in the process of reversing flows to bring Marcellus and Utica Shale gas south. This new pipeline will grab Transco’s Marcellus/Utica gas and send it to the Charleston, SC area. The projected in-service date is November of this year. However, this project, like every square inch of every pipeline project in the Eastern U.S., faces opposition from nutty anti-drilling radicals who vow to try and stop it even if it gets FERC approval (see SC Antis Fuss Over Pipeline to Carry Marcellus Gas to Charleston). In February, just prior to Commissioner Norman Bay resigning and leaving FERC without a quorum, the three FERC Commissioners voted to grant Dominion the certificate to build the Transco to Charleston pipeline (see FERC Approves SC Pipeline to Flow Marcellus Gas to Charleston). So the nutters have flown into action by filing a request for a rehearing of the Commission’s decision, and filing a motion to stop any construction in the meantime…
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CNG/LNG | Dominion Energy | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Regulation

Dominion CEO Asks Senators to Fix Broken Permitting Process
March 16, 2017March 16, 2017

Dominion CEO Diane Leopold

On Tuesday, just as winter storm Stella was beginning to hit along the East Coast, a group of executives testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy & Natural Resources. The session was billed as a “Hearing to receive testimony on opportunities to improve American energy infrastructure.” One of the speakers to address the Senators was Dominion CEO Diane Leopold. The thrust of her lengthy testimony was to encourage (implore?) the Senators to (in our words) fix the very broken process of permitting important infrastructure projects in this country. Leopold shared Dominion’s experience in applying for permits to build the $4 billion Cove Point LNG export project in Maryland. As bad as it was with 55 federal, state and local permits and reviews required, Leopold said Cove Point was a relative walk in the park compared to what they’re now going through with the $5.5 billion Atlantic Coast Pipeline project. Something has got to change if anything is going to get built in this country…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | PennEast Pipeline | Pipelines | Regulation

THE Dela. Riverkeeper Issues Final Orders to Minions re DRBC Mtg
March 15, 2017March 15, 2017

Today is the day that (some of) Maya’s minions will show up at a meeting of the Delaware River Basin Commission to attempt to bully DRBC staff during the public comments period. As we’ve been reporting (from a well-placed mole on the DRBC email list) Maya has been issuing orders to her minions–people who apparently aren’t bright enough to form their own thoughts about matters like the PennEast Pipeline (see Mind-Numbed Antis Need Maya’s Instructions re DRBC Mar 15 Mtg). Maya has written out a treatise of objections to PennEast, to be read WORD FOR WORD by the minions–or else. We now have the script that Maya’s mind-numbed robots will read from (see it below). We also have her last-minute instructions to the dolts doing the reading…
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CNG/LNG | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines

Trinidad LNG Exports Keep Falling – When Will it Affect New England?
March 15, 2017March 15, 2017

Last June, MDN quasi-predicted that natural gas prices may spike during the 2016-2017 winter season in New England, due to a coming shortage of LNG from Tinidad (see Is New England Heading for Huge NatGas Price Spike this Winter?). With a warmer than normal winter, and with newfound natural gas supplies making their way to New England, prices did not spike. However, New England continues to pay prices 3-4 times higher than the rest of the country for their natgas–due to lack of supply. That hasn’t (and won’t) change, until more supplies make it to New England–either by pipeline or ship. Opponents of new pipelines to New England have included LNG importers in the region. Specifically, GDF Suez imports Trinidad gas at the Everett, MA LNG import terminal, near Boston (see New England Importer Received 59% of All LNG Ship Imports 1H15). LNG imports are one of the primary sources of natgas for New England. Antis holler and scream, “Forget the pipelines. If you must use gas, use LNG. There’s more than enough LNG to supply New England.” In a macro sense that may be true–the world is awash in LNG. But arranging shipments and sources for it takes months, even years. Right now most of the LNG GDF Suez imports comes from Trinidad. As we pointed out in our article last year, Trinidad’s natural gas sources are drying up. The country is exporting less and less. We spotted yet another article about how Trinidad’s natural gas exports are rapidly declining. Sooner or later Trinidad’s falling exports will affect GDF Suez’s imports of LNG to New England. Once again, like that famous New Englander Paul Revere, we’re issuing a warning that New England needs new sources of natgas (via pipelines), and they need it sooner rather than later…
Read More “Trinidad LNG Exports Keep Falling – When Will it Affect New England?”
Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | TC Energy/TransCanada

TransCanada Says Plan to Lowball M-U Gas Worked, Shippers Sign Up
March 14, 2017March 14, 2017

TransCanada, one of Canada’s leading midstream/pipeline companies, cooked up a deal last year 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 when/if the NEXUS and Rover pipelines get built (see TransCanada Pipe Drops Price 42% to Compete with Marcellus/Utica). TransCanada dropped their pipeline price to lure drillers by (theoretically) making it less expensive to get gas from Western Canada, some 2,400 miles away, than from the Marcellus, just 400 miles away. In October, TransCanada launched an open season to lock up customers for the new, lower-priced option. The open season was a bust because TransCanada insists on a 10-year commitment (see TransCanada Plan to Lowball M-U Gas Using Canada Pipeline a Bust). TransCanada revived their plan in February. The original deal required a 10-year term with a long-term tolling rate between C$0.75/GJ to C$0.82/GJ. In February, the advertised deal was for a 10-year term and a simplified single rate of C$0.77/GJ (see TransCanada Revives Plan to Lowball M-U Gas Using Canada Pipeline). Although it looked almost like the same deal all over again with the same 10-year term and about the same price, TransCanada dropped a minimum amount to be shipped and is letting shippers opt out after five years under certain conditions. The changes worked…
Read More “TransCanada Says Plan to Lowball M-U Gas Worked, Shippers Sign Up”
Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | PennEast Pipeline | Pipelines | Spectra Energy

Spectra Energy Buys PSE&G’s Stake in PennEast Pipeline
March 14, 2017March 14, 2017

That was fast. Last Friday MDN reported that New Jersey’s largest utility, Public Service Enterprise Group (PSE&G), is shopping its ownership stake in the $1 billion PennEast Pipeline project (see PennEast Pipeline Investor Looks to Sell its 10% Ownership Share). PSE&G owns a 10% stake in the project primarily because it will be one of the biggest customers for the pipeline when (not if) it gets built. PSE&G wants to sell its share not because it has lost confidence in the project, but because of a change in corporate strategy. The bigwigs running PSE&G want to put their money into more power generating plants, rather than the pipelines that feed those plants. Fair enough. Yesterday Spectra Energy (now a part of Enbridge), another investor/partner in PennEast, said it will buy out PSE&G’s share. Spectra currently owns a 10% stake in the project, as does PSE&G, so it will double its ownership share…
Read More “Spectra Energy Buys PSE&G’s Stake in PennEast Pipeline”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Delaware County (PA) | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | NGLs | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Research | Sunoco Logistics

Report by Philly Antis Proves Mariner East 2 Pipeline is Safe
March 14, 2017March 14, 2017

A group of anti-fossil fuel nutters from the Philadelphia suburb of Middletown, PA (Delaware County) spent good money to buy themselves a report from an “independent” consultant that they say proves the Mariner East 2 Pipeline is too dangerous to build through their township. We don’t know how much the Middletown Coalition for Community Safety blew on the study, but we do know that Middletown Township is blowing $45,000 of taxpayer’s hard-earned money for a similar study (see Middletown PA Decides to Blow $45K (not $100K) on Mariner 2 Study). The Middletown Coalition was antsy, they didn’t want to wait for the town study to be completed, and they couldn’t risk a truly independent study finding the pipeline will be safe. So the Coalition moved ahead, no doubt using money from Big Green organizations to produce a report titled “Hazard Calculations for the Mariner East II Pipeline” (full copy below). The Coalition asked Quest Consultants, an Oklahoma-based firm, to evaluate what would happen IF a bunch of unlikely events were to happen. The report concludes: “IF the pipe were to rupture in Middletown Township, and IF the pipeline were operating at 1,500 psi while transporting ethane, and IF the release were oriented near to horizontal in the direction of the wind, and IF there are few obstructions to vapor cloud dispersion, and IF the weather conditions were 5 mph winds and stable atmosphere, the flammable vapor cloud could extend up to 1,800 feet from the pipeline.” The huge, gaping omission, the question the report does not address, is this: How likely is it that any or all of those things would actually happen? Our answer: near zero percent. In other words, the report just released by the Middletown Coalition proves that ME2 is safe!…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Statewide WV | West Virginia

WV Residents Sound Off on Mountain Valley Pipeline
March 13, 2017March 13, 2017

The Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) is a $3.5 billion, 301-mile pipeline that will run from Wetzel County, WV to the Transco Pipeline in Pittsylvania County, VA. The project, which filed an official application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission in October 2015, is being built by EQT, NextEra Energy and several other partners. The project has faced stiff opposition from landowners in West Virginia (see Mountain Valley Pipeline Sues 103 WV Landowners for Survey Access). Last week the West Virginia Dept. of Environmental Protection held three public hearings on the project. As usual, the root of opposition against the pipeline is based on an irrational hatred of fossil fuels. One of the speakers at the Clarksburg hearing, a retired liberal Democrat school teacher, believes man-made global warming is a disaster in the making and this pipeline will contribute to the problem. There’s just no reasoning with people like that…
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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | NEXUS Pipeline | Pipelines | Regulation

Has the Clock Run Out for NEXUS Pipeline?
March 13, 2017March 13, 2017

Is there still a market need for the NEXUS Pipeline project? That is the $2 billion question. Last December, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued a positive final Environmental Impact Statement (see FERC Approves NEXUS Pipeline, Project on Track for 2017). The remaining obstacle for NEXUS is to obtain a certificate of public convenience and necessity from FERC, to begin construction. NEXUS had hoped to have that approval in hand on Feb. 3rd, when FERC issued a flurry of such certificates. However, NEXUS didn’t get one (see In FERC’s Game of Musical Chairs, NEXUS Pipeline Left Standing). Here’s the facts. The main competitor to NEXUS, Energy Transfer’s Rover Pipeline, DID get a certificate from FERC and is now under construction (see FERC Green Lights Rover Pipeline Construction). In addition, TransCanada is trying, hard, to entice western Canadian drillers to ship their gas east to Ontario in order to undercut both Rover and (if it gets built) NEXUS (see TransCanada Revives Plan to Lowball M-U Gas Using Canada Pipeline). While Rover’s pipeline capacity is 95% sold, only 59% of the NEXUS project is sold. So when a full FERC quorum is once again in place and willing to consider NEXUS, the question becomes, is the need still there?…
Read More “Has the Clock Run Out for NEXUS Pipeline?”