New Poll: 62% of Virginians Support Mountain Valley Pipeline
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 including WGL (see today’s companion story). The project has faced stiff opposition from landowners in West Virginia (see Mountain Valley Pipeline Sues 103 WV Landowners for Survey Access). The project has also faced opposition from landowners in Virginia (see Mountain Valley Pipeline Wins Right to Survey in VA w/o Permission). Fortunately the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is signaling its favor for the project (see FERC Gives WV to VA Mountain Valley Pipeline Provisional Thumbs Up). However, that doesn’t stop rabidly radical organizations like the Sierra Club from spreading lies (see Sierra Club Attacks Mountain Valley Pipeline with Sham Report). Mason-Dixon Polling & Research conducted a public opinion poll of Virginians, to see what residents think of the project. The results are in. The question asked was this: “The proposed Mountain Valley Pipeline would transport natural gas underground from West Virginia to Virginia to help meet the demand for energy in homes and businesses in various regions of Virginia and the southeastern United States. Do you support or oppose construction and operation of the Mountain Valley Pipeline?” The response? Some 62% of Virginians support the pipeline, while only 26% oppose it (and 12% are clueless)…
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Last week the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approved Columbia Pipeine’s Leach XPress and Rayne XPress pipeline projects (see 
Over a year ago the mighty Transco turned bidirectional, sometimes sending gas northward from the Gulf (as it’s done for 50 years), and now, sometimes sending gas from the Marcellus/Utica southward, to the Gulf. Much more gas will head south once the Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline project gets built (see 
On Monday the New Jersey Pinelands Commission, which oversees a stand of scrub pines in South Jersey, held a public hearing to listen to comments on a plan to build a 22-mile pipeline through the scrub pines, burying it alongside the road so as to not disturb any spindly trees. The pipeline will supply clean-burning natural gas to a power plant currently fed by coal, cleaning up the air and lowering CO2 emissions. But dunderheads in the area are still opposed–largely incited by radical environmental groups like the NJ Sierra Club and the odious Food & Water Watch, who spread lies about the project. So many people turned up for the meeting, it maxed out the meeting room of 260 and some had to wait outside in the rain (which didn’t sit well with the pampered snowflakes). Predictably many who showed up wanted to go on record as opposed to the project. Isn’t that always the case? It’s easy to motivate people to attend a meeting when they’re against something–much harder to attract people who support something. At any rate, the surprising thing about yesterday’s meeting were the many people who turned out to support the pipeline. Also predictable, at least one anti (from the odious Food & Water Watch) couldn’t contain herself and had to be ejected for disrupting the meeting…
President Trump is wasting no time in correcting the mistakes of the Obama Administration. Yesterday Trump signed a pair of Executive Orders meant to restart and advance the XL Keystone Pipeline and the Dakota Access Pipeline projects. The orders include a requirement that the pipes manufactured for the projects be manufactured right here at home, in the U.S. The orders in no way require the projects to get completed, they are simply meant to help clear regulatory hurdles so the projects’ builders can get moving again. Predictably the action is making radical fossil fuel haters apoplectic…
PennEast Pipeline is a very important $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. It will feed local utilities and power generation plants along its route. In April 2016 the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), which oversees permitting for the pipeline, told PennEast the agency would extend the amount of time they are taking until December 2016, rather than the original target of August, to complete their environmental review (see 
Yesterday the U.S. Pipeline & Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) published a final “rule” (actually 31 pages of rules, which we’ve included below) in the Federal Register, which will become law (i.e. official regulation) on March 24th. The new “rule” requires pipeline operators to report incidents or accidents by phone within one hour of when they become aware of the incident/accident. It also steps up drug and alcohol testing requirements for workers. Here’s the latest in unlegislated laws to come down from on (Washington, DC) high…
A former U.S. Steel pipe manufacturing plant near Pittsburgh (in McKeesport) has been leased to Dura-Bond Industries and will re-open in the next 6-9 months, according to the president of Dura-Bond. The plant will hire around 100 people (fantastic news for Pittsburgh). According to the Pittsburgh Business Times, Dominion’s $5 billion, 594-mile Atlantic Coast Pipeline–a natural gas pipeline that will stretch from West Virginia through Virginia and into North Carolina–will use Dura-Bond pipe. Our conclusion: One of the reasons (perhaps THE reason) for the McKeesport facility re-opening is to produce Atlantic Coast Pipeline pipes…
MDN has previously reported on a $900 million natural gas-fired electric generating plant coming to Orange County, NY (see 
Yesterday the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) voted to approve and issue a certificate to Columbia Pipeine’s Leach XPress and Rayne XPress pipeline projects. This is fantastic news for the Marcellus/Utica region. MDN has covered these projects from their beginning. In August 2014 Columbia, then a subsidiary of Nisource, committed to building the two projects that will flow Marcellus/Utica gas to the Gulf Coast (see 
You would think if consumers want natural gas, and private companies are willing to build the pipelines to get the gas to their homes and businesses, such a thing would be possible here in the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave. However, a trade organization in Connecticut tried to block such activity–in court. What makes it doubly distressing is that the trade organization opposing new natgas pipelines represents heating oil distributors (a sister fossil fuel), afraid that they may lose market share to natural gas. So trade group filed a lawsuit to prevent a state initiative that would expand the state’s natural gas pipeline network. Shame on them. Fortunately the Connecticut Supreme Court ruled–and the heating oil distributors lost…
In October 2015, Kinder Morgan’s Tennessee Gas Pipeline (TGP) filed their official, full application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) seeking approval for their Orion Project (see