PA Labor Union Slaps FERC for Delays in Approving Pipe Projects
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) under current Chairman Richard “Dick” Glick has intentionally slammed the brakes on approving pipeline projects across the country, including those here in the northeast (something we predicted if Biden were to win the White House). Glick’s excuse for delaying new approvals is that FERC is trying to figure out how to account for mythical man-made global warming when evaluating whether or not to approve a new project. It’s pure horse manure, and a prominent Pennsylvania labor union is calling FERC out on its ongoing delay tactic.
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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 planned for Charles City County (near Richmond, Va.) in June 2018 (see 
Antis love to work in anonymity. Some of them anyway. They love to anonymously lob lies and smears on Facebook and Twitter and other social media platforms about projects like the 303-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) project. Just who is behind those social media accounts? MVP wants to know and has filed a subpoena in federal court asking Facebook to disclose who is behind the Facebook group Appalachians Against Pipelines. Facebook is only too happy to block conservative groups, but for some strange reason, Facebook likes to protect leftists. It’s called censorship and under our Constitution should be illegal. We’ll see if Facebook complies with the court order to disclose the identities of those behind the anti-MVP group.
The price of natural gas has almost doubled over the past year. In September 2020 the NYMEX Henry Hub price stood at $2.41/MMBtu. Yesterday the price closed at $4.64/MMBtu. Astonishing! The question keeps coming: Why is the price of natgas high and staying high, even though production in the country’s largest shale gas basin–the Marcellus/Utica–is on the rise? It’s a paradox. The short answer is that (1) production in other basins has not bounced back like the M-U following the pandemic, and (2) there is more demand, in the form of exports, for American natgas (via pipeline and LNG). Increasing demand with the same or less supply equals higher prices.
Yesterday a group of ~30 protesters rallied at the Historic Courthouse in Chester County, PA, and marched, while chanting, to the County Justice Center. Their protest is against almost completed Mariner East 2 (ME2) pipeline construction and against a long-completed and flowing Mariner East 1 (ME1) pipeline. The protesters, some who were left wing nuts, others who were honest folks who have been duped by Big Green and scaremongers in the media, asked county commissioners to file a Petition for Emergency Relief with the state Public Utility Commission (PUC) to stop any further construction of ME2 and shut down the already-operating ME1 pipeline that runs through the county.
Having struck out at the state level, a group of Big Green radicals is now asking dementia Joe to cancel a tiny 6.8-mile natural gas pipeline stretching from Brownsville to North Brooklyn in New York City that’s already pretty much built. Their false claim? That pipeline is RACIST. That’s right folks. We bet you didn’t know a hunk of inanimate steel buried in the ground could be racist. The radicals claim it can be and is, and Uncle Joe should just wave his magic leftist wand and cancel it.
Although some 92% of the 303-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) is already built and in the ground, important segments remain unfinished, including pipeline built under or through rivers, streams, and wetlands. One of the key remaining segments for water crossings is in Virginia. Last Thursday the Virginia Dept. of Environmental Quality (DEQ) issued a draft Section 401 of the federal Clean Water Act permit that would approve plans to let MVP finish its work in the state. The DEQ is now accepting comments on the plan. Anti-drilling zealots have gone nearly berserk with the news. Did they really think they would stop this $6 billion project?
In June MDN brought you the news that Enbridge’s Texas Eastern Transmission (TETCO) pipeline was being flow-restricted by the Pipeline and Hazardous Material Safety Administration (PHMSA). Some 40% of the Marcellus/Utica molecules that flow through TETCO’s pipeline to destinations in the southeastern U.S. disappeared and were predicted to stay that way until the end of September (see 
Chester County, PA commissioners are, once again, attempting to instill irrational fear into county residents over the construction and operation of the Mariner East 2 (ME2) pipeline. ME2 runs hundreds of miles across the state, from eastern Ohio all the way to the Marcus Hook refinery near Philadelphia. The pipeline runs through Chester on its way to Marcus Hook. Chester commissioners are preparing to pay big bucks to hire a consultant to help the county draw up emergency plans for the pipeline in case it blows up or leaks. It’s a scare tactic. “The sky is falling!” MDN friend Garland Thompson has written a cogent and devastating response to an article highlighting news of the commissioners’ attempt to amplify people’s fears about ME2. His response offers the bigger (and truer) picture about ME2 safety.
It’s that time of year again. Annual maintenance along pipelines that feed several major U.S. liquefaction (LNG) facilities will negatively impact gas deliveries to some terminals over the next six weeks according to notices to customers. Pipelines that serve the Cove Point, Maryland LNG facility and the Sabine Pass, Louisiana facility will be affected. Marcellus/Utica gas flows to both facilities.
In an effort to flow more Marcellus natural gas to a gas-starved New York City, Kinder Morgan cut a deal with utility company Consolidated Edison in 2019 to beef up capacity along its Tennessee Gas Pipeline (TGP) that feeds NYC, allowing Con Ed to avoid cutting customers off from natgas hookups (see 
Last October the Sisters of the Corn (our name for a group of leftist nuns in Lancaster County, PA) filed yet another frivolous lawsuit against Williams over a pipeline that crosses their land–a pipeline (Atlantic Sunrise) that has been up and running for years (see 
The federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) recently issued a “warning letter” to Shell concerning the company’s ethane pipeline, called the Falcon Pipeline. PHMSA claims the pipeline committed two “probable violations” by failing to place pipeline sections at a construction site in Beaver County on protective padding. PHMSA told Shell to fix it, or else.