KM Board Approves Scaled-Back New England Pipeline for $3.3B
Yesterday the board of directors for Kinder Morgan approved a $3.3 billion investment in the company’s proposed Northeast Energy Direct pipeline project–a huge project that includes a new supply pipeline from Susquehanna County, PA to Schoharie County, NY, and a new market delivery pipeline from Schoharie County, NY to Dracut, MA. It is the market delivery pipeline as it passes through both Massachusetts, into New Hampshire and then back into Massachusetts that seems to be stirring up the most controversy that the board approved yesterday with a price tag of $3.3B. But beneath the headline news that the board has given the OK to spend big money is the “real” story–which is that KM has chosen to build a smaller 30-inch pipeline rather than the pre-filed 36-inch pipeline they had hoped to build. Why? Because they haven’t gotten any major new customers to sign on for capacity in the pipeline since the initial open season (see Kinder Morgan Fails to Sign Up New NED Customers in Last 8 Mos). The smaller pipeline means smaller compressor stations. It also means a little less disruption when it’s built as KM will need less space to store pipes. But the more modest environmental impacts don’t assuage anti-fossil fuelers who want to eliminate all fossil fuels and, we suppose, go back to the stone ages with camp fires and animal skins for clothes…
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While all eyes have been on the possible hostile takeover of midstream giant Williams by another midstream giant, Energy Transfer Equity (see 
There was a rupture of a gas pipeline at a Jay-Bee Oil and Gas drill pad in the Big Run area of Tyler County, WV early Friday morning. There was no explosion, and no one was injured–but there was a fire and the fire could be seen for miles in the dark early morning. The fire from the ruptured pipe (cause still being investigated) burned for an hour before it was extinguished. The wells on the pad are currently shut-in while the WV Dept. of Environmental Protection investigates. This is not the first Jay-Bee accident in the Big Run area…
In May Pennsylvania “in over his head” Gov. Tom Wolf announced the formation of the Pipeline Infrastructure Task Force (PITF)–an effort to “promote unprecedented collaboration of stakeholders to facilitate the development of a world-class pipeline infrastructure system” (see 
Another new un-legislated law, euphemistically called a “rule”, is on the way from the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA). Last week the PHMSA released details of a new rule that would, among other things, require operators of interstate pipelines (pipelines that cross state borders) that flow natural gas or natural gas liquids or oil or condensate or… you get the idea–those pipelines must report a leak within 60 minutes (but “at the earliest practicable moment” meaning 60 seconds or less if you can manage it) to the feds from when the company becomes aware of such a leak. The new “rule” will also punish big pipeline projects costing more than $2.5 billion by hiking fees on the pipeline to cover PHMSA expenses in putting such a project through a PHMSA anal exam/review. Want to reverse the flow of the already-built pipeline? Tell the PHMSA first. Want to provide a tap on a pipeline for farms? Tell the PHMSA first. Had an accident/spill? Every employee from the janitor on up who may have had something to do with the operation of that pipeline will now get subjected to a PHMSA drug AND alcohol test. Welcome back to the USSR PHMSA…