4th Circus Rejects MVP Appeal for En Banc Hearing – Supremes Next?
The clown judges of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit (i.e. the 4th Circus) have done it again. Two weeks ago Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) asked the full court, all of the judges (called en banc) to rehear a couple of recent decisions by three of their clown members (see MVP Appeals 4th Circuit Decisions – Asks Full Court to Rehear). The full court turned their collective noses up and refused. One possible next step is for MVP to appeal the decisions to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Read More “4th Circus Rejects MVP Appeal for En Banc Hearing – Supremes Next?”
Because of constant court challenges, the Trump administration completed a redo of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Nationwide Permit 12 (NWP12), a general permit used in constructing pipelines, just prior to leaving office. From the beginning of the Biden administration, anti-fossil fuel fanatics have attacked NWP12, hoping they can cancel it or otherwise make it so onerous nobody will use it (see 
The ongoing tiff between the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and Energy Transfer (ET) over a drilling mud spill in Ohio back in 2017 (five years ago!) has become a steamy, cheesy plotline for an episode of the TV series Dallas. We’re talking about the original Dallas series from the 1980s with Larry Hagman and storylines of “who’s jumping into bed with whom.” FERC is faulting ET for creating a company culture of drill and build fast that led to a contract worker adding diesel fuel to a stuck drill bit in an effort to work it free, fining the company a staggering $40 million for the presence of diesel in a drilling mud spill. ET says the diesel situation was the result of a rogue contract worker (a foreman) under pressure and distracted by rumors of another foreman sleeping with the wife of one of his workers. No, we’re not kidding. You can’t make this stuff up.
In what one industry watcher calls an “abrupt about-face,” yesterday all five Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) commissioners voted to pull back onerous new regulations to use global warming considerations when approving pipelines. Three Democrat FERC commissioners voted to adopt the new guidelines just one month ago (see 
The Iroquois Gas Transmission pipeline project called the Enhancement by Compression (ExC) increases horsepower at three compression stations–two in New York and one in Connecticut–by an extra 125 MMcf/d, flowing more Marcellus/Utica gas into New York City and New England (see 
While yesterday’s news that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), under the thumb of the Biden administration, has made a major about-face with respect to using global warming factors when evaluating pipeline projects (at least for now) is good, there is much more than can and should happen. On Wednesday four of the largest trade groups representing natural gas–the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America, the Natural Gas Supply Association, the American Gas Association, and the Independent Petroleum Association of America–sent a letter to President Biden requesting that he push his various agencies (like FERC) to go ahead and approve more LNG export plants and more pipelines.
The Pennsylvania House Environmental Resources and Energy Committee, chaired by State Rep. Daryl Metcalfe (Republican from Butler County) is scheduled to hold a meeting on Monday, March 28 to consider two proposed bills. One is a bill that would give the legislature authority to participate in any decision about adopting the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI) carbon tax scheme. The other bill is a resolution that would be sent to the leftist governors of New York and New Jersey asking them to allow new pipelines to be built into and through their states, to flow more fracked PA gas.
If an upstream (drilling) company with a long-term pipeline contract files for bankruptcy, does that give the company the right to break its pipeline contract? A major shipper on the Rockies Express (REX) pipeline, Ultra Resources, filed for bankruptcy with the express plan to skip out on its obligations to REX (see 
Environmental radical Freeda Cathcart, who was once arrested for resisting and interfering with a U.S. Forest Service agent at the site of tree cutting for Mountain Valley Pipeline in Giles County, VA (see 
In early March MDN brought you information from the Toronto Financial Post that said the Ukrainian crisis has put East Coast Canada LNG export facilities “back on the map” (see 
Drillers have their certification schemes to prove the natural gas they extract is “responsible”–meaning most if not all of the methane doesn’t leak as it’s extracted (see 
William S. Scherman worked as general counsel (the head lawyer) for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) from 1990-1993, during the presidency of George H.W. Bush (the elder Bush). Scherman worked in FERC when Iraq invaded Kuwait. President Bush wanted options from FERC, asap, about what the agency could do to help alleviate an energy crisis being caused by madman Saddam Hussein. Sound familiar with what’s happening today? Back then FERC went on a “wartime footing” and relaxed rules that restricted the output of traditional and alternative electric generators and granted special permission for natural gas to be produced and transported flexibly and freely nationwide. Scherman says it’s time for FERC to go on wartime footing again.
In May 2021 MDN told you that Louisville Gas and Electric Company (LG&E) had won Kentucky state approval to build a new 12-inch, 12-mile pipeline near Louisville to supply gas to 62 homes and businesses that can’t connect to LG&E’s local natgas utility system (see 
Cancel culture strikes again. The Evil Empire has won another battle (but not the war). MDN first told you about plans to build the Chickahominy Power Station, a 1,650 megawatt state-of-the-art natural gas-fired power plant in Charles City County, VA, in June 2018 (see 
Consolidated Edison (Con Ed), the local gas and electric utility serving Manhattan Island and Westchester County in the New York City region, has proposed increasing electricity rates by 17.6% and natural gas rates by a stratospheric 28.1% beginning Jan. 1, 2023. Why so high for both? Lack of natural gas in the region. Why is there a lack of natural gas? Lack of pipelines from the Pennsylvania Marcellus Shale.
BofA (Bank of America) Global Research recently issued a research report stating that natural gas production in both the Marcellus/Utica and the Permian Basin faces constraints in 2023 and likely will have to dial back on production. Both regions will hit capacity with existing pipelines in 2023 and there are no new pipes coming online. Also, one of the largest growing customers for our natgas supplies has been LNG exports. No new LNG facilities will come online in 2023, says BofA, which hasn’t happened since we began exporting LNG in 2016.