PennEast Pipe Decision Makes Pipeline Under Potomac River Likely
Yesterday MDN brought you the news that the U.S. Supreme Court decided that yes, the PennEast Pipeline *can* use federally-delegated eminent domain in order to install a pipeline across New Jersey state-owned land after all (see PennEast Pipeline Squeaks Out 5-4 Supreme Court Victory Over NJ). While this is a victory for PennEast, it’s a bigger victory for all pipelines. In fact, another pipeline project (Columbia Gas) currently blocked by the State of Maryland may now move forward because of the PennEast decision.
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As we previously predicted would happen, New Jersey lost its Supreme Court case to block PennEast Pipeline from using eminent domain to cross NJ-owned or controlled land. This was a critical case to prevent blue states like NJ, and New York, and California from blocking ALL new interstate pipelines aimed at crossing states to deliver product from other states. NJ’s lawless action was an overt attempt at blocking interstate commerce and a direct challenge to one of the purposes of the Natural Gas Act, passed in 1938. Disappointingly PennEast won by only one vote. Still, it’s a victory!
Last October MDN told you that DTE Energy, a long-time pipeline builder and operator in the Marcellus/Utica region, was considering either selling or spinning off its pipeline business (see 
On June 3 we published a post posing the question of whether or not the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers would delay the already-years-delayed Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) for yet another year (see 
Earlier this month MDN told you that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), under the direction of Chairman Richard “Dick” Glick, had hit the pause button on finishing up final approvals so the agency can take the next six months to complete full environmental impact statements (EIS’s), gauging whether or not five pipeline projects will cause too much mythical, man-made global warming (see 
We’re always jazzed when we unearth information related to the Marcellus/Utica nobody else has yet discovered or highlighted. We think we’ve found something interesting related to a recently updated spreadsheet maintained by the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA). On Friday the EIA published a post to trumpet the news that 19 “liquids” pipeline projects are “moving toward completion in 2021.” In reviewing the list we discovered two projects related to the M-U in 2021, and a third M-U project coming in 2022. All three have an impact on the ability of M-U drillers to move NGL’s out of our region to higher-paying markets.
We find it kind of amusing that anti-fossil fuelers dead set against a plan by Kinder Morgan to build a new compressor station in Passaic County, NJ, and dead set against upgrading an existing compressor station in neighboring Sussex County, NJ, were all worked up to attend a Sussex County Board of Commissioners meeting where a Tennessee Gas Pipeline representative was supposed to make a presentation, but the rep didn’t show. He had (ahem) “car trouble” and couldn’t make the meeting in person. Antis were all dressed up with nowhere to go.
Here’s an interesting concept. What if you were to replace the natural gas flowing through a pipeline, say an old, unused pipeline, with compressed air instead? And what if you retooled an existing gas- or coal-fired power plant so the compressed air itself spins the turbines in the compressor to produce electricity? That’s the concept being floated by the appropriately named company called Breeze.
Here’s a peer-reviewed, published research study you won’t read about in mainstream media. Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University (CMU), Penn State University, and the North American Electric Reliability Corporation recently published research in The Electricity Journal (full copy below) detailing how much money it cost New England electric ratepayers in 2014 when there was a cold-weather event that caused a shortage of natural gas used for power plants, due to lack of pipelines. New Englanders paid $1.8 BILLION for that one event in skyrocketed electric rates–due to the folly of their elected leaders in blocking new pipelines to the region.
Three far-left Democrat judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit have attacked the Marcellus/Utica by overturning a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approval for a long-completed and flowing natural gas pipeline in the St. Louis, MO area–a pipeline that flows M-U gas to residents, businesses, and electric generating plants in the region. The Spire STL pipeline now faces closure. It is a 
The West Virginia Dept. of Environmental Protection (WV DEP) is moving forward with its constitutional duty to evaluate whether or not the state should issue a federal Clean Water Act permit allowing Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) to finish crossing water bodies it hasn’t already crossed under a previous permit (which was overturned by the lefties of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit). WV DEP will hold an online, virtual hearing tonight at 6 pm to accept comments from the public.
Last night the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) held a virtual hearing on a compromise plan between Energy Transfer/Sunoco Logistics and the DEP to allow ET/Sunoco to complete construction of the Mariner East 2 pipeline project in the Marsh Creek State Park area (Chester County) where there have been some “issues” that halted work in the area. Given the buildup by the anti-fossil fuel left to turn out and mouth off at the hearing, we’re struck that (so far) it is radio silence in mainstream media about the hearing. We can’t find a single story about the hearing. We do, however, have a report on more than two dozen pro-pipeline speakers who turned out for the virtual hearing. Perhaps that’s why the media is silent?
Sabal Trail is a $3.2 billion, 515-mile interstate natural gas pipeline in Florida, Georgia, and Alabama built to deliver (in part) Marcellus gas to the southeast. Sabal Trail connects to Williams’ Hillabee Expansion Project, which is a pipeline spur built off the huge Transco pipeline system. On June 15 the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued orders extending the time for both projects to complete the final bits of their construction by another two years.