Spectra: All 4 TETCO Pipes in SWPA Now in Service After Explosion
On April 29, Spectra Energy’s Texas Eastern Transmission (TETCO) “Delmont Line 27” pipeline exploded in Westmoreland County, PA, seriously injuring one resident who was burned over much of his body (see Texas Eastern Pipeline Explodes near Pittsburgh, Antis Celebrate). The reason for the explosion and fire was corrosion on welds covered with a particular kind of pipe tape no longer in use (see Spectra Says PA Pipeline Explosion “Unacceptable,” Blames Pipe Tape). In September we brought you the disturbing news that an investigation four years ago (in 2012) discovered corrosion in the very area where the pipe would eventually explode (see Spectra Admits Detecting Corrision in Exploded TETCO Pipe 4 Yrs Ago). It’s been a long road back, but finally, after more than six months, Spectra reports all four lines are now back in service…
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The radicals at the Sierra Club are at it again. Causing private companies to expend big money to defend their Constitutional, capitalistic rights. The NEXUS Pipeline is a $2 billion, 255-mile interstate pipeline that will run from Ohio through Michigan and eventually to the Dawn Hub in Ontario, Canada. It is a critically needed pipeline to move Utica and Marcellus Shale gas from an over-saturated market in the northeast to markets in the Midwest and Canada. The Sierra Club has just sued DTE Energy, one of the sponsors of the project, falsely claiming DTE’s electric customers will end up paying more for electricity because of the pipeline…
Paul Driessen is senior policy adviser for the Committee For A Constructive Tomorrow (CFACT), which is sponsoring the All Pain No Gain petition against global-warming hype. He also is a senior policy adviser to the Congress of Racial Equality and author of “Eco-Imperialism: Green Power – Black Death.” Driessen writes and publishes in a number of venues, including Townhall. A recent article penned by Driessen (below) absolutely nails the anti-pipeline movement in our country. We’ve long known that antis moved from fracking to piplelines, figuring they could stop the use of fossil fuels if they can strangle the pipeline network necessary to move oil and gas to market. But as Driessen explains, the real root of this movement, the thing that motivates them more than anything, is not saving Mom Earth. It is the total annihilation of capitalism (and our country). That’s what drives these anti-pipeline fanatics…
Earlier this week we ran the news that Canadian pipeline giant TransCanada’s plan to radically lower the cost to pipe natural gas from the western regions of Canada to the eastern part of the country, in an effort to undercut Marcellus/Utica gas from flooding into the region, failed (see 
Earlier this week MDN brought you the news that the New Jersey Division of the Rate Counsel (NJDRC)–a state government agency responsible for representing the interests of residents, businesses and other rate payers in dealing with regulated public utilities and insurance firms–responded to PennEast Pipeline’s release of a study obliterating the NJDRC’s claims that the pipeline isn’t needed (see 
Last month MDN wrote a post outlining an initiative to begin regulating small, low-pressure gathering pipelines–something not now done (see 
Somehow or other MDN wound up on the distribution list for Deutsche Bank’s Equity Research (North America) updates. Which we like! Germany-based Deutsche Bank (DB) is the world’s 11th largest bank. They have some sharp analysts who keep tabs on multiple industries, one of those industries being oil and gas. Given the recent happenings with the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL), and the happenings with the Ohio Rover pipeline–both pipelines projects of Energy Transfer Equity–DB decided to do a quick update on both projects, giving us the investor/trader view of what will happen over the next 2-3 months. We found the update interesting and think you will too…
Yesterday MDN told you that a war of words has broken out between the Obama U.S. Army Corps of Politicized Engineers and Energy Transfer Equity (ETE) over the Dakota Access Pipeline (see 
You may recall that TransCanada, one of Canada’s leading midstream/pipeline companies, cooked up a deal 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 
The New Jersey Division of the Rate Counsel (NJDRC) is a state government agency responsible for representing the interests of residents, businesses and other rate payers in dealing with regulated public utilities and insurance firms. In September the NJDRC filed a so-called analysis with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) slamming the need and cost recovery plan for the PennEast Pipeline–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. PennEast responded to the NJDRC’s analysis with an independent report written by Concentric Energy Advisors, rippping to shreds the arguments put forward by NJDRC (see 
We have to state up front that we are fans of Google’s services. We love the Chrome browser and Chrome OS, Android (for phones), Gmail for email, Google Drive…the list goes on and on. But at the same time, we detest the far-left, in-bed-with-Big-Green-groups leadership of Google. And we don’t like some of their initiatives–including their creepy snooping into every aspect of our lives. We spotted a story about Google’s roaming Street View cars that ride along our roads snapping pictures. Snapping pics isn’t enough for Googlers. In Pittsburgh they’ve added methane sniffers to help detect elevated levels of (they say) global warming causing methane escaping into the atmosphere, like a fugitive. Supposedly the methane sniffers will help People’s Natural Gas (which we suspect was bullied by Google) to identify where People’s 50 year-old natgas pipeline network is experiencing leaks. Look, we’re all for finding and fixing gas leaks–don’t get us wrong. But the motivation here is not the safety of the residents of Pittsburgh. It’s to bow down and worship at the altar of the Global Warming gods. Quick! There goes the Google car–turn off the gas grill…it might mistake your backyard barbecue for a gas leak! All joking aside, what will Google strap onto those cars next? Maybe they’ll snap a pic of a fat customer walking into McDonalds and send it to his friends to shame him. Or maybe they’ll snap a pic of (gasp) someone walking into a Donald Trump campaign office–sending it to that person’s boss. Yeah, that’ll fix ’em. It was no surprise to learn that PA Gov. Wolf also butted in on the Google methane sniffing action, along with the radical anti-drilling Environmental Defense Fund and PA Dept. of Environmental Protection…
The big Texas law firm Bracewell, which until earlier this year was Bracewell & Giuliani (Rudy left in January), has put together an helpful analysis of what changes we can expect under a President Trump Administration. Although they tackle a number of areas, we were interested to read their predictions for what will be happening with energy and the environment under President Trump. What’s in store for pipelines? Obama’s Clean Power Plan? EPA’s onerous regulations? The Bracewell legal beagles haul out their crystal ball and give us a glimpse…