Green Zealots Challenge FERC Approval of Northeast Expansion Pipe
Last week the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) finally approved the Williams Regional Energy Access Expansion (REAE) project, an upgrade to the Transco pipeline in Pennsylvania and New Jersey to deliver an extra 829 MMcf/d of Marcellus gas to PA, NJ, and Maryland (see FERC Approves Transco $950M Northeast Expansion Pipe Project). No good deed goes unpunished. Right on cue, the leftist green mob has come out of the woodwork to challenge the project. The first step is to request a rehearing by FERC, and when FERC turns that down, file a lawsuit in court.
Read More “Green Zealots Challenge FERC Approval of Northeast Expansion Pipe”
In March 2019, MDN told you about a new Williams plan to beef up the Transco pipeline in Pennsylvania and New Jersey to deliver an extra 829 MMcf/d of Marcellus gas to PA, NJ, and Maryland (see 
On Wednesday, the American Petroleum Institute (API) held an event in Washington, D.C., to unveil (and talk about) the organization’s 2023 plan for Congress that will “Make, Move and Improve American Energy.” Several members of Congress spoke along with API CEO Mike Sommers. One of the big topics of discussion at the event is the need for pipeline permitting reform, NOW, in this Congress. The API report (full copy below) says there is enough demand to send another 4.6 Bcf/d (billion cubic feet per day) of natural gas into northeastern markets–and we could and would have been doing just that if not for canceled pipeline projects due to lawsuits, delays, and government opposition.
Pennsylvania General Energy (PGE) is constructing a natural gas pipeline, a freshwater pipeline, and facilities to withdraw fresh water at a site along the Loyalsock Creek, north of Montoursville in Lycoming County, PA. The company’s work resulted in a sediment plume that appeared in Loyalsock Creek for several miles downstream of the construction site, caused by the failure of erosion and sediment controls following a heavy rainstorm. The state Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) issued notices of violation (NOVs) on three separate occasions from September to November (see 
Residents living in the vicinity of Energy Transfer’s Revolution Pipeline cryogenic plant in Bulger (Washington County), PA, got a nasty “present” on Christmas morning. Around 7:30 am, residents report hearing an explosion, followed by a fire, at the plant used to separate NGLs (natural gas liquids, including ethane, propane, and butane) from the raw gas stream that flows through the Revolution gathering pipeline (see 
As we told you last week, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has a new “acting” Chairman, Willie Phillips (see 
Yesterday MDN brought you the news that the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) held a hearing in December to explain new regulations coming from the PUC, based on directives from the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), to begin regulating previously unregulated natural gas gathering pipelines (see 
Finally! Richard “Dick” Glick is no longer a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) commissioner. He is also no longer Chairman of this key agency that has the power to block new pipeline projects. We’ve complained about Glick, a former wind lobbyist, for years–pretty much since Donald Trump nominated him to serve at the behest of Chuck Schumer (see 
Here we go again. On Dec. 22, the U.S. Forest Service published a Draft Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement (DSEIS, full copy below) that allows the nearly-completed Mountain Valley Pipeline to finish up construction through 3.5 miles of Jefferson National Forest straddling West Virginia and Virginia. This is the THIRD time the Forest Service has issued this permit. Two previous attempts at the same permit were overturned by the three clown judges from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit (i.e. 4th Circus). The public has until Feb. 6 to file official comments on this latest plan.
The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) has traditionally not regulated nor overseen low-pressure natural gas gathering pipelines in the state because it’s not required to (nor allowed to) by the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA). That has changed. The PHMSA published new standards that bring gathering pipelines under its regulatory umbrella. The PA PUC held a public hearing in early December and subsequently published material from that hearing in the Pennsylvania Bulletin in late December–material that discusses how the change in PHMSA’s gathering pipeline regulations affects PA.
It’s that time of year. Typically at the end of a year, or the very beginning of a new year, publications will pontificate on what they predict will happen in the coming 12 months. We’ve seen a number of such articles about the energy space, including some predictions targeted specifically for the Marcellus/Utica. We’ve selected three such articles to share with you–all of them from authors and publications we highly respect.
