SC Antis Fuss Over Pipeline to Carry Marcellus Gas to Charleston

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 pipeline will grab that 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…
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In December MDN told you that anti-fossil fuelers who oppose Sunoco Logistics Partners’ Mariner East 2 Pipeline were making a last, desperate attempt to stop the project by appealing an eminent domain case to the Pennsylvania Supreme Court (see 
In March of this year, MDN told you that LNG Limited (from Australia) registered with the Canadian government for an environmental assessment for a pipeline they want to build in Nova Scotia–the Bear Paw Pipeline (see
Spectra Energy’s Access Northeast Pipeline project, a roughly $3 billion project to connect four existing pipeline systems (with enhancements): Texas Eastern, Algonquin Gas Transmission, Iroquois and Maritimes & Northeast, has suffered a string of setbacks this year. 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 (see
A little good news to share about the PennEast Pipeline project–a $1 billion, 118-mile, primarily 36-inch pipeline that will get built from Dallas (Luzerne County), PA to Transco’s pipeline interconnection near Pennington (Mercer County), NJ. Last month PennEast got some bad news–a further delay from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in delivering a final environmental review. The review was supposed to be done last August, but got pushed to this December. Then in November, FERC announced it would be next February before the final review is delivered (see
Rover Pipeline is turning up the heat on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). 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. In July, FERC issued a favorable final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the project (see
Seems like every few weeks we read about yet another pipeline either getting built, or reversed, in order to send Marcellus/Utica gas to other parts of the country. The latest one that surprised us (hadn’t heard of it before) is Kinder Morgan’s plan to add bidirectional capacity to their Kinder Morgan Louisiana pipeline (KMLP) to flow gas to Cheniere Energy’s Sabine Pass LNG export facility. KMLP is a pipeline in Louisiana–how does reversing it get Marcellus gas to Sabine Pass? As you might have guessed, KMLP connects with other pipeline systems, including Columbia Gulf Transmission and ANR Pipeline. Both of those pipeline systems, which flow Marcellus gas, are adding bidirectional capacity as well. When it’s all done, (more of) our gas will head to Sabine Pass for liquefaction and then export to other countries. How cool is that? Here’s an update on KMLP changing directions…
The litigious and environmentally radical Sierra Club, backed by Big Green money from billionaires like Tom Steyer, is attempting to block two important pipeline projects in the Marcellus: Dominion’s $5 billion, 594-mile Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP), a natural gas pipeline that will stretch from West Virginia through Virginia and into North Carolina; and DTE Energy/Spectra Energy’s NEXUS Pipeline, a $2 billion, 255-mile interstate pipeline that will run from Ohio through Michigan and eventually to the Dawn Hub in Ontario, Canada. It’s no secret groups like the Sierra Club have tried to stop such projects. But their latest strategy in opposing these two projects is worthy of examination. The Clubbers are claiming that ACP and NEXUS have an unfair competitive advantage over alternative energy sources, like wind and solar, and therefore should be stopped. That is, the Sierra Club is attempting to use U.S. antitrust laws dating back to the late 1800s in an attempt to claim these pipelines are anti-competitive and therefore should be canceled. Talk about chutzpah…
Last Wednesday MDN (via a story from NGI) brought you the good news that the Rockies Express Pipeline (REX) had begun to flow an extra 200 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) of natural gas from East to West along the pipeline–moving more Utica and Marcellus gas from Ohio to places like the Chicago area (see
Last week MDN told you about Gulfport Energy’s deal to buy 85,000 acres of leases with 48 horizontal wells in Oklahoma’s SCOOP shale play in a $1.85 billion deal (see