PA DEP Begins Review of Mariner East 2 Pipe; August Hearings
Seems like we’ve been talking about the Mariner East 2 pipeline proposed by Sunoco Logistics Partners, well, forever (see our list of ME2 stories here). Sunoco proposes to build a 350-mile natural gas liquids pipeline that will stretch from eastern Ohio to the Philadelphia area, bringing NGLs from Ohio and western Pennsylvania to the Marcus Hook refinery where those NGLs will get sent to both domestic and international customers. The project has faced stiff opposition and a number of lawsuits. Sunoco LP has had to file numerous eminent domain cases (some of which are still pending). Even though the project is opposed by radicals like THE Delaware Riverkeeper, it will get built–everyone knows it. And so the state Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) has launched a review of the project and will hold a series of public meetings in August for the project. Below is the DEP’s announcement about their review and details for the meetings–meetings where supporters need to show up and make their voices heard to drown out the naysayers…
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It’s not all doom and gloom in the Marcellus/Utica. Seems like for the best part of a year we’ve only heard about layoffs and companies filing for bankruptcy, due to the major slowdown in drilling in our neck of the woods. But that’s not an accurate picture. Take an old steel plant in the Wheeling, WV area that had been closed for 30 years. A new business now occupies the old Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel Corp. plant in Benwood, WV. JLE Industries has set up shop in the old plant with (so far) 25 full-time workers to inspect and repair metal tubes used in shale drilling. Chris Harris, the owner/operator, believes the company will continue to grow…
In May MDN told you about a sham lawsuit brought by two radical environmental groups–Homeowners Against Land Taking – PennEast Inc. (HALT PennEast) and the New Jersey Conservation Foundation–against the PennEast Pipeline (see 
The federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) filed a lengthy comment with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) last week regarding the Williams Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline project (full copy below). The EPA said, in a nutshell, that more studies should be done. The EPA said the pipeline could have “significant adverse environmental impacts.” They also said alternate routes should be considered. A few things to know about the EPA’s filing: First and foremost, the EPA is treated like any other individual or organization who files comments on a project with FERC. That is, the EPA’s comments will receive no special treatment or consideration. Second, the only value in EPA’s comments is publicity for anti-pipeline nutters. Third, the “alternate routes” the EPA professes to prefer have already been considered, thoroughly, and discarded by FERC. So this is a lot of smoke and noise and mirrors–and nothing else…
Another day, another attack on natural gas by the radicals of the Sierra Club. In this case, the Virginia chapter of the Sierra Club found a retired geologist they could buy, er, a, hire to write a report slamming the Mountain Valley Pipeline, a $3.5 billion, 301-mile pipeline that will run from Wetzel County, WV to the Transco Pipeline in Pittsylvania County, VA. The pipeline is due to be built by EQT, NextEra Energy and several other partners. The geologist who sold himself out to the Sierra Club says the pipeline would run through a “karst” area–an area of sinkholes and caves–and building the pipeline could potentially damage the water aquifer in that area. Below is a news report and a copy of the sham report released by the Virginia Sierra Clubbers…
This is how it works with adults, those who wear “big boy pants.” A few weeks ago the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) told Energy Transfer that their Rover pipeline, 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, and Columbia Pipeline that their Leach XPress pipeline, running from Marshall County, WV through Ohio to Leach, KY, that a small section where the pipelines cross must be reworked or it’s a “no go” for both projects (see 
A poll recently conducted for Consumer Energy Alliance (CEA) shows that Massachusetts voters believe that energy issues are important, and that Massachusetts voters STRONGLY support the use of natural gas for electricity generation, AND the expansion of existing natural gas infrastructure. Some 73% of Mass. voters want to use natural gas to generate electricity. That is an astonishing majority in a very liberal state. Some 68% of those voters say energy issues will affect how they vote in November. Here’s the results…
In 2008 Dominion approached oil and gas producers in West Virginia, before the Marcellus Shale was a household word, looking to build a pipeline for “several hundred million dollars” (ended up costing $750 million). Dominion held several meetings and told West Virginia’s independent natural gas producers that the producers would need to commit to firm transportation if they wanted to sell their natural gas. At those meetings Dominion handed out forms asking producers to write down how much production they might have for firm commitment. Following the meetings, producers received contracts in the mail “out of the blue” with a very short deadline and a not-so-subtle threat that if they wanted to sell their gas, they would sign on the dotted line. The producers say they were pressured into signing a 10-year deal. Dominion’s Appalachian Gateway Project, with 110 miles of new pipeline and upgrades to several compressor stations, went online in September 2012 (see 
Once again a group of so-called religious leaders, including a serial criminal, were arrested in Boston blocking work on a very short, 5-mile pipeline (West Roxbury Lateral) that will bring cheap, abundant, clean-burning Marcellus Shale gas to local residents in the Boston area. Some 26 were arrested, some of the same nutters were arrested in May (see 
Three radicalized environmental groups–the Allegheny Defense Project, the Appalachian Mountain Advocates and Damascus Citizens for Sustainability–have filed a motion with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to challenge FERC’s approval of three tiny pipeline expansion projects in Pennsylvania. Kinder Morgan’s Tennessee Gas Pipeline’s 300 line is proposing to expand three different segments of the line, serving different customers, and rightfully asked FERC to consider the three projects as separate and to not commingle them together. The radicalized groups are insisting FERC evaluate all three bundled together, in an attempt to slow down and hopefully stop progress on the projects…
The Energy Equipment and Infrastructure Alliance (EEIA) is an association of associations. EEIA represents the shale energy supply chain. The groups that make up the EEIA represent more than 600,000 workers, employed in over 120,000 companies in 60 industries, annually contributing more than $170 billion to the U.S. economy, working in every state of the union. EEIA’s mission is “to mobilize and lead the supply chains voices to achieve policies at all levels of government that encourage full development of shale resources, while protecting the environment, health and safety; and to gain widespread public support for shale energy development.” So it is welcomed news that the EEIA has formed a special group called the Pipeline Support Network. The purpose of the group is to counter opposition from Big Green groups that are trying to stop pipeline projects. We sincerely hope the EEIA is effective!…