Energy Group Says It’s Time to Rein in FERC’s Glick
From the beginning of Richard “Dick” Glick’s tenure at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), we’ve pointed out that Glick votes against every single new pipeline project that comes before him based on cockamamie global warming excuses. Glick took over as Chairman of FERC under dementia Joe Biden. Earlier this year Glick tried to permanently enshrine global warming considerations as a requirement to approve all new pipeline projects (see FERC Democrats Ram Thru Global Warming Policy for Pipe Decisions). Under extraordinary pressure from just about everyone (both Republicans and Democrats), a month later he backed off (see FERC’s Glick Does “Abrupt About-Face” on New Global Warming Regs). But it’s only a temporary retreat. Glick is still using his power to oppose pipeline projects. Power The Future, a national nonprofit organization that advocates for American energy jobs, says it’s time to rein in Glick and others in the Biden administration who are holding back American energy.
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Reuters has noticed that the rate of growth in the production of natural gas has slowed nationally, even though the price for natural gas is at a 14-year high and even though other countries, particularly Europe, are begging for our gas. Why? Lack of pipelines. We have the ability to produce far more natural gas than we do now, but Big Green (funded in part by foreign countries and bad actors) successfully defeats new pipeline projects with a barrage of lawsuits.
Because of constant court challenges against pipelines, 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. In March the Army Corps caved to the pressure and announced it will review (i.e. change) NWP12 (see 
Three Democrat Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) commissioners voted to adopt and immediately begin using new guidelines for approving pipeline projects by taking into account mythical global warming factors back in February (see 
When you only have one main pipeline flowing natural gas from the prolific Marcellus Shale to your region, as does Boston, if that pipe has an outage for any reason, as the Algonquin Gas Transmission (AGT) has had, you’re in trouble. AGT declared a force majeure (an unforeseen act of God) on the 26-inch line of its J System in Massachusetts. The outage in one particular section of the pipeline means “slashing nominations downstream of Trapelo to zero for the foreseeable future.” Ouch. Guess what’s happening to the price of natural gas at the Algonquin Citygates natgas trading hub? Through the roof.
Tennessee Gas Pipeline’s (TGP) plan to flow more Marcellus gas to Westchester County, NY and New York City for Consolidated Edison customers, called the East 300 Upgrade Project, took a giant leap forward last Thursday when the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued permits that allow TGP to upgrade two existing compressor stations (in PA), and build a brand new compressor station in West Milford (Passaic County, NJ), just across the border and not far from Westchester County. This is a major victory and a sign this project will now get completed.
New Jersey Resources’ Adelphia Gateway project converts an old oil pipeline stretching from Northampton County, PA through Bucks, Montgomery, and Chester counties, terminating in Delaware County at Marcus Hook, into a natural gas pipeline. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued final approval for the project in December 2019 (see 
Getting hydrogen from point A to point B by mixing it with and flowing it through existing interstate natural gas pipelines sounds easy. Just hook up to a handy source of hydrogen and let the molecules flow and mingle with methane molecules, right? However, adding hydrogen (H2) to existing methane (CH4) pipelines is NOT a simple thing. There are major roadblocks to flowing H2 through CH4 pipes.
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 
Pipeline giant Williams announced yesterday that it will collaborate with Cheniere Energy, the largest LNG exporter in the U.S., as well as other natural gas midstream companies, methane detection technology providers, and several academic institutions to implement measuring and tracking of so-called greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions at natural gas gathering, processing, transmission, and storage systems. Williams will include the mighty Transco pipeline system in this project, a 10,000-mile pipeline system that flows Marcellus/Utica gas to the Gulf Coast (to Cheniere’s LNG export facilities).
Spire STL is a 65-mile pipeline that connects to and flows Marcellus/Utica gas from the Rockies Express (REX) pipeline to residents and businesses in the St. Louis, MO area. The pipeline began flowing gas in late 2019 (see 
West Virginia Senator Joe Manchin, a Democrat, has (for months) forcefully pushed the issue of completing the 94% done-and-in-the-ground Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) project, a 303-mile pipeline from WV into Virginia. In early March Manchin let all five Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) commissioners know of his displeasure that MVP, along with other pipeline projects, is delayed (see 
Europe wants to buy more American natural gas in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. What does it mean for Pennsylvania? The Philadelphia Inquirer tackled that question in an article on Saturday. The answer to the question of what Europe’s desire for more U.S. natgas means for PA (and by extension West Virginia and Ohio) is, “not much.” Why? Because we don’t have enough pipelines built to carry our molecules to the Gulf Coast which is where most of the LNG export plants are either already pumping out LNG, or in the process of getting built to do so. Lack of pipelines constrains our gas and holds our region back. Lack of pipelines is a big problem for both the M-U and (now) for Europe.