Pipelines

Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines

Why Such Intense Opposition to Pipelines in the Northeast?
January 27, 2015January 27, 2015

An excellent article from the Natural Gas Intelligence’s (NGI) Daily Gas Price Index publication, sister to the excellent Shale Daily, delves into the reasons behind the widespread and ongoing opposition to pipeline projects in the northeast. Pipelines like PennEast from Wilkes-Barre, PA to Trenton, NJ, and the expansion of the mighty Tennessee Gas Pipeline across Massachusetts and New Hampshire, have raised the ire of anti-drillers. The Daily Gas Price Index article delves into the reasons why folks in the northeast are resisting new pipeline projects…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Northampton County | PennEast Pipeline | Pennsylvania | Pipelines

SEPA Towns Manipulated by Big Enviro Groups to Oppose PennEast
January 23, 2015January 23, 2015

You might think, in casually reading the local newspaper in southeast Pennsylvania, that all of your neighbors have spontaneously risen up to oppose an evil, nasty, money-grubbing pipeline called the PennEast. Your neighbors are concerned about safety–and YOU should be too! There’s just one teeny tiny problem–national anti-drilling groups are behind this “spontaneous” uprising. Groups like the Sierra Clubbers, and the odious and misnamed Food & Water Watch (FWW), which is not an impartial group that’s “advocating for clean water and safe food.” FWW are virulent anti-drillers who oppose fossil fuels of any kind and are well-organized and flush with Big Enviro money. FWW descends on small towns–places like Lower Saucon Township in Northampton County, PA (population 9,884)–and they hoodwink local political leaders into believing that the pipeline is evil. So a resolution gets passed by the town board opposing it. Voila, “everyone” is against it. Orgasmic joy sweeps over Food & Water Watch HQ. On to the next town…
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Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Regulation

Sen. Inhofe Outsmarts Democrats, Votes to Say Climate Change is Real!
January 23, 2015January 23, 2015

Sen. Jim Inhofe from Okalhoma, Chairman of the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works, has changed the debate on man-made global warming once again, much to the consternation of the wacko left. We saw a press release from Inhofe’s office yesterday (below) saying that Sen. Inhofe and virtually every other Republican in the Senate had just joined the Democrats in voting 98-1 in favor of an amendment on the Keystone XL Pipeline bill that says “climate change is real and it is not a hoax.” We did a double-take. Really? Inhofe says he now believes in climate change?! Then we read further. In the next breath, Inhofe said: “How arrogant is it for people to say that man can do something about changing the climate?” Inhofe, by co-sponsoring and voting for the amendment, is pointing out the corrosion of our language…
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Antero Resources | Energy Companies | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines

Antero Resources Slashes 2015 CapEx Budget 41%, Reduces Rig Count
January 22, 2015January 22, 2015

Earlier this month, Antero Resources, one of the largest leaseholders and drillers in the Marcellus/Utica, announced they are laying off 250 landmen in WV, OH and PA because of low oil and gas prices (see Antero Resources Lays Off 250 Landmen, Blames Low Oil Prices). Seems it was an omen. On Tuesday, the company released details of their 2015 capital budget–and it’s not pretty. Antero is slashing their capital expenditure budget in the Marcellus/Utica by 41% over what they spent in 2014–$1.8 billion in 2015 compared to $3.05 billion in 2014. Ouch. They’ll operate an average of 14 drilling rigs in 2015 compared to the average of 21 they were operating by the end of last year. Ouch. They predict they will complete 130 Marcellus & Utica wells this year, down from 179 completed last year. Ouch. About the only bright spot is that production is predicted to increase, from an average of 1 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) in 2014 to 1.4 Bcf/d in 2015. Why the big cuts? Yes because of the low commodity price for natural gas, but when you dig, you find the price for natgas in the northeast is lower than other areas of the country because of the lack of pipelines…
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Antero Resources | Energy Companies | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Kinder Morgan | Pipelines | Tennessee Gas Pipeline

Kinder Morgan NE Projects Update – Filing with FERC for Broad Run
January 22, 2015January 22, 2015

Kinder Morgan, the largest midstream company in the U.S., issued a press release yesterday nominally to say they’ve raised the quarterly dividend by 10% or $0.45 per share because they had a great year last year, despite the low price of oil and the gyrations in the market. But as part of that update, if you put on your hip boots on and wade through all of the tiny print, you find some interesting nuggets and updates. For example, we get an important update on their Northeast Energy Direct project–an extension of the Tennessee Gas Pipeline through Massachusetts and New Hampshire. We also learn that Kinder is ready to file with FERC–this month–to move forward with the Broad Run Flexibility and Broad Run Expansion projects that will flow Marcellus and Utica Shale gas from West Virginia to delivery points in Mississippi and Louisiana. All (100%) of the capacity for the the Broad Run pipelines is already spoken for, by Antero Resources…
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Dominion Energy | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Regulation | Statewide VA | Virginia

VA May Repeal Law Allowing Pipelines Access without Permission
January 22, 2015January 22, 2015

Accessing a landowner’s property without permission, and later (potentially) forcing that landowner to allow a pipeline across the property via eminent domain have never been supported by MDN. Neither, it seems, is it supported by other pro-drillers, especially those in Virginia. State Sen. Emmett Hanger from Augusta County, VA (located in the Shenandoah Valley on the western edge of VA) is a conservative, business-friendly and pro-drilling Republican. Hanger, like MDN, supports Dominion’s $5 billion Atlantic Coast Pipeline (see Enormous Benefits for All Virginians from Atlantic Coast Pipeline). But Hanger, also like MDN, is not in favor of access without permission. Hanger is attempting to get a 2004 Virginia law repealed that allows access to private property without permission so Dominion (and others) can survey the property for pipeline routes. As Hanger points out, that kind of behavior is working against them in terms of community goodwill…
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Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | PennEast Pipeline | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Statewide PA

PennEast Pipeline Listens to Landowner Concerns, Modifies Route
January 20, 2015January 20, 2015

PennEast Pipeline, a pipeline that will run from Luzerne County in northeast Pennsylvania to the Trenton, NJ area, recently announced they’ve changed the route for the pipeline in a few spots, especially near the end where it will connect. The changes mean there will be an extra two miles of pipeline added and the last 20 or so miles of the pipeline’s route will be affected. Why has the route changed? Because of feedback and input from landowners, agencies and public officials. PennEast has been holding a series of open houses to elicit feedback. The purpose of PennEast’s open houses and the scoping hearings run by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is to hear people’s concerns, and to work with them. That’s what PennEast is doing. Rather than the unreasonable and childish “No, not in my backyard” response from groups like Delaware Riverkeeper and the Sierra Club, the people at PennEast behave like adults. They listen. They educate. They may argue. But in the end they listen and sometimes, they change course to accommodate concerns…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Crime | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Lancaster County | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Williams

Indians on the Anti-Pipeline War Path – Part 2
January 20, 2015January 20, 2015

Last week MDN told you about Indian Chief Carlos Whitewolf from the Northern Arawak Tribal Nation of Pennsylvania (see Indians on the War Path Against Pipeline in Lancaster County, PA). Chief Whitewolf’s tribe doesn’t have any land in Lancaster County, PA. And there are no surviving members of the Conestoga tribe that once did have land in Lancaster County. But that hasn’t stopped Chief Whitewolf from carrying out his stated threat. The good chief warned that he would “make noise, protest and rally, block bulldozers” to prevent the Williams Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline from taversing the “sacred land” of the now-dead Conestogas. What we didn’t realize is that he’d already done so, getting himself arrested on Jan. 5…
Read More “Indians on the Anti-Pipeline War Path – Part 2”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Lorain County | Medina County | Ohio | Pipelines | Spectra Energy | Summit County

CORNy Opposition to NEXUS Pipeline in Eastern Ohio
January 20, 2015January 20, 2015

A group opposed to the NEXUS gas pipeline met over the weekend in Oberlin (Lorain County), Ohio in a “private strategy meeting” to plan how they will stop the pipeline from coming through their area in eastern Ohio–Lorain, Medina, Fulton, Lucas and Summit counties. The NEXUS, you may recall, is a 42-inch, $1.5 billion natural gas pipeline that will carry Utica and Marcellus Shale gas spanning 11 counties in Ohio, 3 counties in Michigan, and eventually connect to the Dawn Energy Hub in Canada (see NEXUS Gas Pipeline Pre-Files with FERC, New Details Come to Light). The small group meeting in Oberlin is trying to get the pipeline re-routed. They call their group CORN–or Coalition to Reroute NEXUS from Lorain, Medina, Fulton, Lucas and Summit counties…
Read More “CORNy Opposition to NEXUS Pipeline in Eastern Ohio”
Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Transco | Williams

Transco Pipeline Hits New Record High in January
January 20, 2015January 20, 2015

As MDN pointed out last week, Williams is spending $100 million per month in the northeast (see Williams Spending $100 million Per Month in the Marcellus/Utica). Some of that money is spent to expand/extend/enhance the might Transco pipeline–a 10,200-mile pipeline that runs from South Texas to New York City. It is one of the most important natural gas pipelines in the country. Williams recently reported the might Transco hit another new record high in early January for the amount of gas it flows…
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Energy Companies | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | NGLs | Pipelines | Range Resources Corp | Sunoco Logistics

Range Cuts 2015 Drilling Budget 33%; Mariner East Up & Running!
January 16, 2015January 16, 2015

In addition to release good news yesterday about record high proved reserves (see today’s companion story), Range Resources issued a second press release yesterday to say they’re scaling back the drilling budget (capital expenditures, or capex) for 2015. Originally they set out to spend $1.3 billion on drilling projects in 2015. They’ve just trimmed it back by 33% to $870 million. They’re scaling back because of the low commodity price of natural gas, plain and simple. That’s the bad news. The good news is that 95% of that money will be spent in the Marcellus Shale. The further good news (why the deuce do we always have to hear these things from Range instead of Sunoco Logistics?!) is that the Mariner East pipeline is now up and running, flowing propane from western PA to storage caverns currently–not all the way to Philadelphia just yet…
Read More “Range Cuts 2015 Drilling Budget 33%; Mariner East Up & Running!”
Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Lancaster County | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Williams

Indians on the War Path Against Pipeline in Lancaster County, PA
January 16, 2015January 16, 2015

A “native American” (i.e. Indian) tribe in Lancaster County, PA doesn’t want the Williams Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline to traverse “sacred” land, and they’re willing to “make noise, protest and rally, block bulldozers” to stop it, according to Chief Carlos Whitewolf. The good Chief Whitewolf is from the Northern Arawak Tribal Nation of Pennsylvania, which arrived in PA in 1898, long after PA was already part of the United States of America. But it gets stranger. There is no Arawak land in Lancaster County. However, there is Conestoga land, belonging to a different tribe. But the Conestoga tribe was “wiped out,” so there are no Conestoga Indians in Lancaster County either. But the good Chief Whitewolf feels an obligation to stick up for them, even though they are no more…
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Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | PennEast Pipeline | Pipelines

Brainwashing NJ Students Against the PennEast Pipeline
January 16, 2015January 16, 2015

There’s plenty of brainwashing of children going on in New Jersey. The brain washers include the Delaware Riverkeeper and the NJ Sierra Clubbers. Like good little mind-numbed robots, the members of the environmental club at Delaware Valley Regional High School in Hunterdon County, NJ invited Riverkeeper and the Sierra Club to present their dog and pony show bashing away at the PennEast pipeline–and apparently they lapped it right up. Note that no one from PennEast was invited to present the other side of the issue. It’s really important that children be brainwashed early on and not be exposed to opposing arguments (i.e. the truth)–so they can enjoy a lifetime of never having to think for themselves…
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Energy Services | EnLink Midstream | Guernsey County | Industrywide Issues | Noble County | Ohio | Pipelines | Washington County (OH)

EnLink Extends Open Season for OH Condensate Pipeline by 6 Weeks
January 15, 2015January 15, 2015

In August 2014, EnLink Midstream announced a new 45-mile condensate pipeline that will stretch across Guernsey, Noble and Washington counties in Ohio (see EnLink Midstream Announces New Condensate Pipeline in ORV). EnLink calls the project, which connects to another EnLink pipeline in Washington County, the Ohio River Valley Pipeline. In mid-December EnLink launched a 30-day binding open season for shippers to sign up for capacity on the new pipeline (see EnLink Launches 1 Month Open Season for ORV Condensate Pipeline). Midstream companies won’t build expensive pipelines (this one will cost $250 million) unless they have 15-20 contracts in place to guarantee they’ll make their money back. Today EnLink announced they’re extending the open season another six weeks–to the end of February. Oh oh, must mean they don’t yet have enough interested customers to build it…
Read More “EnLink Extends Open Season for OH Condensate Pipeline by 6 Weeks”
Allegheny County | Economic Impact | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Jobs | New York | Ohio | Pennsylvania | Pipelines | Statewide NY | Statewide OH | Statewide PA | Transco | Williams

Williams Spending $100 million Per Month in the Marcellus/Utica
January 14, 2015January 14, 2015

There’s an excellent regional television program in Pittsburgh called “Our Region’s Business” hosted by veteran reporter Bill Flannigan. On December 7, Jim Scheel, Senior Vice President for Northeast G&P for Williams, appeared in a segment on the program (video embedded below). Scheel shared some eye-popping statistics about the Marcellus/Utica, and about Williams and their commitment to the region. Scheel said, among many things in the short 7-minute segment, that in 2014 Williams spent an astonishing $100 million per month on pipeline projects in the northeast region. They currently employ 750 people in the northeast and over the next year or so expect to add another 160 people to the payroll. What an exciting, dynamic company! Here’s a few more stats Scheel mentioned…
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Belmont County | Energy Services | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Ohio | Pipelines | Spectra Energy

OH Landowners ask Court to Stop OPEN Pipeline Eminent Domain
January 14, 2015January 14, 2015

In December 2014, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) gave final approval to Spectra Energy’s OPEN (Ohio Pipeline Energy Network) project in Ohio–a $468.5 million pipeline from Ohio to the Gulf Coast (see FERC Approves OPEN Pipeline in Eastern OH, Gas Goes to Gulf Coast). The project includes building 76 miles of new pipeline from Columbiana County to Monroe County (slicing through Belmont County along the way) to connect to the Texas Eastern Pipeline. The pipeline will then reverse its flow–making it bidirectional–in order to carry Marcellus and Utica Shale gas from eastern Ohio to the Gulf Coast. As soon as FERC issued final approval, Texas Eastern, the owner of Spectra Energy, started to issue eminent domain notices to landowners along the 76-mile route who aren’t playing ball with them. A husband and wife are pushing back. With the assistance of the Ohio 1851 Center for Constitutional Law, Roger and Lana Barack of Belmont County have filed their opposition to Texas Transmission’s notice to take “immediate possession” of their land. The Baracks and The 1851 Center call the manner in which Texas Transmission is trying to take their land “abusive” and in essence, a midnight railroading of innocent landowners…
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