Pipelines

Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Kinder Morgan | Pipelines | Regulation | Tennessee Gas Pipeline

NH New State Motto: “Live as Slaves then Die” – Plans to Nix Pipe
January 7, 2016January 7, 2016

The official motto for the State of New Hampshire used to be “Live Free or Die.” Sometime over the past 200+ years it changed. These days the new motto in New Hampshire is, “Live as Slaves then Die.” How else do you explain why NH leaders (Republicans!) have introduced a blizzard of bills that would essentially outlaw a simple natural gas pipeline from being added to the ground–in a state where thousands of miles of pipelines are already buried in the ground? Why are they all of a sudden allergic to the safest form of transportation in existence? The only explanation we can find is, they want to be slaves to Big Green and forsake modern conveniences like electricity and automobiles…
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Columbia Pipeline Group | Energy Services | GE Oil & Gas | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines

Columbia Gas Gets “Intelligent” Pipelines from GE/Accenture
January 7, 2016January 7, 2016

Who knew that pipelines could actually be “intelligent”? We sure didn’t. GE and Accenture have just announced that Columbia Pipeline Group (CPG) is the first company to deploy their “Intelligent Pipeline Solution”–a breakthrough software solution that helps pipeline operators make informed decisions about pipeline safety and integrity. Columbia Pipeline Group has deployed the GE/Accenture Intelligence Pipeline Solution on 15,000 miles of interstate pipelines–much of that flowing Marcellus and Utica Shale gas. The software monitors pipeline threats, improves risk management and provides “situational awareness” in near real-time…
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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Kinder Morgan | Pipelines | Regulation | Tennessee Gas Pipeline

FERC Extends New England Pipeline Comment Period by 1 Week
January 6, 2016January 6, 2016

The comment period during which those in favor of, or more likely, those opposed to, the Tennessee Gas Pipeline Northeast Energy Direct (NED) project was supposed to end today, Jan. 6. But the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has extended the comment period for one more week because a glitch with FERC’s online commenting system–a glitch that prevented people from filing comments from Dec. 24-27 and Dec. 31-Jan. 3. Oops. To compensate FERC is extending the window. It also gives antis more time to sleazily file as intervenors (see Intervenor Contagion Catching on with Radical Green Groups in NE). Here’s the poop scoop…
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Berks County | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Sunoco Logistics

How to Successfully Negotiate a Pipeline Easement & How Not To
January 5, 2016January 5, 2016

This is the story of two landowners in Berks County, PA whose property Sunoco Logistics needs to cross/use for the Mariner 2 set of pipelines. One landowner, on whose property Sunoco not only wants to install the pipeline but also wants to install a big valve in his front yard, successfully negotiated with Sunoco and got his price. The other landowner, who owns a dog park where Sunoco wants to put a pipeline, hasn’t negotiated and is trying to stop the pipeline from coming through his property. Guess which landowner will be the biggest loser? Here’s the story of how to craft a pipeline deal, and how not to, if you are a landowner faced with the threat of eminent domain…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Fulton County | Industrywide Issues | Kinder Morgan | Medina County | NEXUS Pipeline | Ohio | Pipelines | Regulation | Tennessee Gas Pipeline

Intervenor Contagion Catching on with Radical Green Groups in NE
January 5, 2016January 5, 2016

Like a contagion moving through the small-but-dedicated anti-fossil fuel movement in the northeast, the strategy of filing as an “intervenor” in pipeline permitting is catching on. MDN first alerted you to this sleazy tactic being used by THE Delaware Riverkeeper back in October 2015 (see Delaware Riverkeeper Scams FERC in Review of PennEast Pipeline). In short, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has a process known as a motion to intervene. Individuals, towns and organizations with a vested, *legitimate* interest can file to “intervene” in a pipeline project application, which gives them special standing to receive updates from FERC and to ensure their views are fully considered by FERC. THE Delaware Riverkeeper and others began registering everyone–including their own children–as “intervenors” which essentially overloads FERC’s system and greatly slows down the permitting process (ses FERC Confirms “Intervenors” Slowing Down Pipeline Approvals). It is an abuse of the system–but then anti groups are no strangers to violating the rules, or laws. They revel in “catch me if you can” behavior. Intervenor abuse is catching in Massachusetts where radical greens are trying the same tactic to slow down approvals for the Tennessee Gas Pipeline’s Northeast Energy Direct (NED) project. Radical greens in Ohio are also using the tactic to try and slow down approvals for the NEXUS pipeline there. The intervenor contagion has now spread from PA to MA to OH, with no end in sight…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Kinder Morgan | Pipelines | Tennessee Gas Pipeline

Mass. Green Radicals Plan 3-Day, 34-Mile Pipeline Walk-a-Thon
January 5, 2016January 5, 2016

About 20 radical green protesters in Massachusetts who oppose a pipeline in the ground because it will flow a fossil fuel–natural gas–are planning a 3-day, 34-mile walk-a-thon along a small portion of the pipeline’s pathway. And it’s big news for newspapers in that part of the country. Go figure. We suppose when you get a bunch of kooks and crackpots together it may sell a few more newspapers than reporting on the happenings at the local town board meeting (snore). So why not? The Greenfield, MA Recorder is reporting that monks from the Leverett Peace Pagoda (local Buddhist shrine) will lead a 3-day walk to oppose the Tennessee Gas Pipeline Northeast Energy Direct (NED) project that would deliver abundant, cheap, clean-burning Marcellus Shale gas to New England, ultimately leading to not only lower natgas prices but lower electricity prices. New England pays four times the rate for their electric that other parts of the country pay. Apparently the protesters want to keep it that way permanently. The monks and other green radicals planning the walk will do so in the name of the great Martin Luther King, because (they claim) King was a green radical like they are…
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Energy Services | Enterprise Products Partners | Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines

Marcellus/Utica Ethane can Now Hitch a Ride to LA via Aegis Pipe
January 4, 2016January 4, 2016

Last week Enterprise Products Partners reported completing the remaining portion of the Aegis ethane pipeline that runs from Lake Charles, Louisiana to Napoleonville, Louisiana. Aegis is now online and flowing ethane. And that’s good for the Marcellus/Utica. Wait….what? Why is an ethane pipeline built in LA good for the northeast? Because that pipeline will almost certainly be flowing ethane from the Marcellus/Utica. Here’s the connection…
Read More “Marcellus/Utica Ethane can Now Hitch a Ride to LA via Aegis Pipe”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Exporting | Industrywide Issues | NEXUS Pipeline | Ohio | Pipelines | Statewide OH

CORN Questions Canadian Decision to Buy American NatGas via NEXUS
December 23, 2015December 23, 2015

On Monday MDN told you that the Ontario Energy Board (OEB) has cleared the way for the Canadian portion of the NEXUS Gas Transmission pipeline by approving two 15-year contracts to use the pipeline to deliver natural gas to the Dawn Hub (see Canada Approves Marc/Utica NEXUS Pipeline to Dawn Hub in Ontario). A group of anti-fossil fuel radicals who call themselves CORN (Coalition to Reroute NEXUS) has popped up to manufacture a controversy where none exists. Apparently one or two staffers at the OEB offered a dissenting opinion (as is often the case) for why the two contracts for the NEXUS should not be granted. Somehow those internal documents were leaked to the CORNballs (our name for members of CORN) who are now attempting to claim the OEB ignored the recommendation of its own staff and approved the contracts when (according to CORN) it should not have. We wonder if the CORNballs know that an average 7 billion cubic feet of natural gas flows from Canada to the United States every day, and that an average 1.5 Bcf/d flows from the U.S. to Canada every day? Do they know that gas has been going back and forth across our border with Canada for decades? Why do they oppose this particular pathway of trade with Canada, which would strengthen ties with our friends to the north?…
Read More “CORN Questions Canadian Decision to Buy American NatGas via NEXUS”
Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Lease & Royalty Payments | NEXUS Pipeline | Ohio | Pipelines | Statewide OH

Columbus Law Firm: How to Get the Best Pipeline Easement Deal
December 22, 2015December 22, 2015

Goldman & Braunstein is a Columbus, OH law firm that’s carved a niche out of representing landowners in eminent domain disputes with pipeline companies. Earlier this year the firm asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to disallow Energy Transfer Partners’ use of eminent domain in building the ET Rover pipeline (see OH Law Firm Asks FERC to Stop ET Rover Pipeline Eminent Domain). Michael Braunstein and Bill Goldman are at it again. Last week they held a meeting in Huron County, OH to advise landowners who potentially face eminent domain action by the NEXUS Gas Transmission pipeline project. They offer some good counsel. But make no mistake–they’re there to drum up business. Goldman & Braunstein do not say landowners can block the pipeline from coming through their property. What they do say is that their firm can get landowners a better deal, and ensure pipeline installation is “put in properly” by using (yep) Goldman & Braunstein. The firm believes landowners should be paid “over $100 per foot” for any deal they do with NEXUS. That’s the highest per-foot price we’ve ever heard of when it comes to pipeline easements. If they can pull that off, more power to ’em!…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Dominion Energy | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Upshur County | West Virginia

Sierra Club Pressures WV County to Oppose Atlantic Coast Pipeline
December 22, 2015December 22, 2015

The Virginia Chapter of the Big Green (and very radical) Sierra Club is pressuring county commissioners in Upshur County, WV to support their effort to block the Atlantic Coast Pipeline. Atlantic Coast is a $5 billion, 564-mile natural gas pipeline from West Virginia through Virginia and into North Carolina. Dominion is the company building it. The strategy being employed by the radicals at the Sierra Club (and at other Big Green groups that should lose their non-profit status because the engage in political activities) is to try and force the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to combine all of the pipelines being proposed into one, massive environmental impact review–hoping that by combining separate projects together it will trigger a decision to deny all of them. The problem is by law FERC cannot combine separate projects together. Not all of those projects will get built. And they run in different geographies. FERC’s mandate, under U.S. law, is to evaluate each project individually. But silly things like obeying the law never stops Big Green groups–they just keep right on community agitating…
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Ethane | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Processing Plants | Statewide WV | West Virginia

IOGAWV Rep Says Marcellus/Utica Can Support “8 or 9 Crackers”
December 21, 2015December 21, 2015

The president and CEO of Eagle Manufacturing in Wellsburg, WV is Joe Eddy. During a recent meeting in Oglebay Park, Eddy represnted the WV Indpendent Oil and Gas Association. He had some interesting things to say. Among them: the Marcellus/Utica region could right now support “eight or nine crackers.” He also spoke out against three ethane pipelines that transport northeast ethane to other regions…
Read More “IOGAWV Rep Says Marcellus/Utica Can Support “8 or 9 Crackers””
Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | NEXUS Pipeline | Pipelines | Regulation | Spectra Energy

Canada Approves Marc/Utica NEXUS Pipeline to Dawn Hub in Ontario
December 21, 2015December 21, 2015

Everybody always talks about the Henry Hub, which is the natural gas delivery point where more physical natural gas is bought and sold than any other single location in North America. However, do you know what the second largest physically traded gas hub in North America is? We just learned this interesting factoid ourselves. The #2 location for trading natural gas, after the Henry Hub, is the Dawn Hub in southwestern Ontario (Canada)–not far from the border of Michigan. The Dawn Hub is in the news because of the NEXUS Gas Transmission pipeline project. Last week the Ontario Energy Board approved applications from Union Gas Limited and Enbridge Gas Distribution to move gas along the NEXUS, once its built, to the Dawn Hub. In other words, Canada has just approved the Canadian portion of the NEXUS project. We’re glad Canada isn’t holding grudges against the U.S after the Obama Administration obtusely rejected the Keystone XL pipeline project, a Canadian pipeline coming through the U.S. Here’s the good news from Spectra Energy on Canada’s approval of NEXUS…
Read More “Canada Approves Marc/Utica NEXUS Pipeline to Dawn Hub in Ontario”
Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Sunoco Logistics | Washington County

Judge Rules Yes, Mariner East Pipe IS a Public Utility After All
December 21, 2015December 21, 2015

In June we told you that Sunoco Logistics Partners had sued two different families/landowners in Washington County, PA using eminent domain to complete a pipeline part of the Mariner East project (see Mariner East Invokes Eminent Domain Against 2 SWPA Landowners). As we said at the time, nobody wins when it comes to using eminent domain for pipelines. In the case of the Mariner East pipeline, the ongoing legal question/issue has been whether or not the pipeline qualifies as a public utility with the right to invoke eminent domain. Last week a Washington County judge ruled that yes, Mariner East is a public utility and that the state of Pennsylvania controls permitting for the pipeline, not the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). The Washington County landowners who sued have lost their appeal of the eminent domain case against Sunoco, and the pipeline will now cut through their property…
Read More “Judge Rules Yes, Mariner East Pipe IS a Public Utility After All”
Chenango County | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | New York | Pipelines | Regulation | Statewide NY | Williams

NY Econ Dev Grant Signals Constitution Pipeline Approval Imminent
December 17, 2015December 17, 2015

Some very good news for supporters of the long-overdue Constitution Pipeline slated to run from Susquehanna County, PA to Schoharie County, NY. So far, New York has delayed granting stream-crossing permits for the project. We’ve advocated that it’s time for Williams and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to take NY to court (see Time to Force NY DEC to Issue Permit for Constitution Pipeline). In fact, a Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DEC) official has said the DEC is in danger of permanently losing control over issuing such permits if they don’t approve the Constitution’s request (see DEC Official Says NY in Danger of FERC Taking Over Pipeline Permits). The good news is that NY has approved funding for a project that will build a $1.5 million, 18-mile feeder pipeline from the Constitution Pipeline to a forklift manufacturing plant in Chenango County. After banning fracking and the multi-billion dollar economic bonanza it would have brought to upstate NY, Andrew Cuomo has stolen $2 billion from taxpayers statewide to fund “economic development” via something called Upstate Revitalization Initiative grants. There are four grants of $500 million. One of those grants was just made to the Southern Tier area, where fracking would have been the strongest had it been allowed. In other words, this is a bribe being paid to upstate voters. But we digress. Tucked into the $500 million “grant” (i.e. bribe) for the Southern Tier is $1.5 million to build a feeder pipeline from the Constitution Pipeline to Raymond Corporation in Greene, NY. Why approve $1.5 million for a feeder pipeline if you’re not going to approve the Constitution Pipeline itself? You wouldn’t–ergo the Constitution is about to get approved…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Regulation | Statewide PA

The One Thing Everyone Agreed on at PA Pipeline Task Force Mtg
December 17, 2015December 17, 2015

Yesterday saw another in a series of meetings by the Pennsylvania Task Force on Pipeline Infrastructure Development–the penultimate meeting for the group of 48 members appointed by Gov. Tom Wolf and the PennFuture Dept. of Environmental Protection Secretary John Quigley. At the last meeting, in November, the group introduced a list of 184 “recommendations” in a 335-page document that would “guide” future gathering pipeline development in the state (see PA Gathering Pipeline Draft “Recommendations” from Wolf Task Force). At yesterday’s meeting the usual anti-fossil fuelers were present to complain, which is what they always do. Seems they’re only happy when they can make other people’s lives miserable–and they did their best to do just that at yesterday’s meeting. According to one report, there was one thing (amazingly) everyone agreed on yesterday…
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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Lebanon County | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Williams

Township in Lebanon County, PA Welcomes Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline
December 14, 2015December 14, 2015

One township in Lebanon County, PA hasn’t caved to the very loud (and very small in number) anti-pipeline ninny nannies–and that has them spinning and sputtering. South Annville Township supervisors decided last Wednesday night that they would NOT pass a resolution expressing opposition to Williams’ Atlantic Sunrise pipeline. Why not? Because (a) its a meaningless gesture–FERC won’t consider it in their decision-making, and (b) there are a lot of people in the town who WANT the pipeline. So kudos to the supervisors of South Annville Twp for doing the right thing…
Read More “Township in Lebanon County, PA Welcomes Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline”