FERC Can’t (or Won’t) Produce Document Naming Phillips in Charge
In November 2021, the U.S. Senate confirmed regulatory lawyer Willie Phillips to serve as a commissioner on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), replacing Neil Chatterjee (see Senate Confirms D.C. Swamp-Dwelling Democrat Lawyer to FERC). Before joining FERC, Phillips was chairman of the Public Service Commission for the District of Columbia. We were concerned that he would be yet another Biden rubber stamp since he has spent his life living and working inside the Washington Beltway. We’ve been pleasantly surprised that he is not. When FERC Chairman Richard “Dick” Glick left in January of this year, Phillips was named by Biden to take over as Acting Chairman (see Willie Phillips Takes Over as Acting FERC Chairman, Dick Glick Gone). However, nobody at FERC has (or is willing to produce) paperwork that confirms Phillips’ elevation to that position.
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Hope Gas, a Local Distribution Company (LDC) or a utility company, provides gas service to approximately 112,000 residential, industrial, and commercial customers in thirty-five West Virginia counties. Hope Gas recently received approval from the Public Service Commission (PSC) of West Virginia to acquire nearly 900 miles of gathering pipelines in northern West Virginia from Equitrans Midstream and add the pipeline to the 2,000 miles of WV gathering pipes it already owns (see 
According to analysts writing for S&P Global Commodity Insights, the long-range forecast from the U.S. National Weather Service calls for milder temperatures in the U.S. Mid-Atlantic region this winter. Warm temps equal less natural gas usage. Williams’ Transco Regional Energy Access Expansion (REAE) project will partially come online in October, flowing an initial 450 MMcf/d (out of 829 MMcf/d) of Marcellus gas to PA, NJ, and Maryland. More supply with less demand is a classic economic prescription for lower prices in New York, New Jersey, and the Mid-Atlantic region. So says the S&P analysts.
The Algonquin Gas Transmission pipeline (owned by Enbridge) transports up to 3.09 Bcf/d through 1,131 miles of pipeline. Algonquin connects to Texas Eastern Transmission (TETCO), Millennium Pipeline, and Maritimes & Northeast Pipeline and supplies New England with critically needed natural gas supplies for power generation and consumer use. Enbridge is conducting an open season to gauge interest in expanding Algonquin’s capacity to flow more gas into New England–mainly from the Marcellus/Utica–called Project Maple.
In April 2019, President Trump signed an Executive Order (EO) instructing the Environmental Protection Agency to review Section 401 of the Clean Water Act–the section that grants states (and tribes) the right to have a say in pipeline and other infrastructure projects (see 
In August 2022, Columbia Gas Transmission (a subsidiary of TC Energy) filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to build the Virginia Reliability Project (VRP), which includes two new compressor units and the replacement of existing pipeline (see 
Actions have consequences. Environuts, like the lefties in Maine, seem to forget that. In early 2021, Summit Natural Gas of Maine, a regional utility company, announced plans to extend its service territory into Maine’s Midcoast region with a $90 million pipeline project (see 
Equitrans Midstream Corporation, the builder and (soon to be) operator of the 303-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) project, announced the company’s CEO, Thomas Karam, will retire at the end of the year just as MVP is coming online. Diana Charletta, currently president and chief operating officer of Equitrans, will succeed Karam as Equitrans’ newly appointed CEO. There’s no surprise or mystery there–Charletta has been the heir apparent for some time. However, what the official press release doesn’t tell you is that the Equitrans board is showering Karam with a $7.5 million bonus as his reward for dragging MVP across the finish line.
The swamp gets swampier. U.S. Senator Joe Manchin, from West Virginia, Chairman of the powerful Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, is rumored to be pushing a staff member to fill the open Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Commissioner slot. There is an open seat for a Democrat after Manchin blocked Richard “Dick” Glick from continuing beyond the end of his second term (see 