FERC Changes How it Approves NatGas Pipes, Chatterjee a Backstabber
Two radical left Democrat FERC commissioners and one backstabbing RINO FERC commissioner voted last week to approve an 87-mile natural gas pipeline project in South Dakota and Nebraska. So a natural gas pipeline was approved by two Dems and a RINO (this is not a joke setup). The approval is a good thing, right? No, it’s not. The criteria they used in approving the project establishes a new precedent, new guidelines, that will be used for all pipeline projects going forward. The precedent is to consider how much man-made global warming a new pipeline will generate, which is (of course) nonsensical and can’t actually be measured. In other words, these three will now use made-up, pretend nonsense numbers of their own choosing to decide whether or not to approve any and all pipeline projects moving forward.
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Here’s another “XPress” pipeline to add to Columbia’s (TC Energy’s) long list of other XPress pipelines: East Lateral XPress. Columbia has built a number of XPress pipelines, including Gulf XPress, Mountaineer XPress, WB Xpress, Leach XPress, Rayne XPress, Buckeye XPress, and Louisiana XPress, all of which work together to flow (in part) Marcellus/Utica natural gas to points south, including to the Gulf Coast (
Really Dick? This is what you spend your time on these days? Digging up long-addressed and settled and resolved actions (from SIX YEARS ago)–old infractions by pipeline companies like Energy Transfer’s Rover Pipeline. Claiming you will “not look the other way” when there’s a violation (a violation that happened long before you were even a FERC Commissioner). Whoa, you’re such a big man. So self-righteous. Glick is now digging up old pipeline sins to parade around once again. It’s like a dog that buried roadkill a year ago and recently rediscovered the spot, dug it up, and now drags the old rotting carcass around the yard for all to see, all proud of himself.
In July 2018 three radical environmental groups dropped their objections to permits the Pennsylvania DEP previously granted for the Mariner East 2 Pipeline. Clean Air Council, Mountain Watershed Association, and THE Delaware Riverkeeper “settled” their appeal of 20 permits issued to Sunoco for the ME2 project (see 
In February 2020, Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) Secretary Pat McDonnell sent a letter to the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA). McDonnell’s letter alleges Shell’s 97-mile, two-legged Falcon pipeline system that will carry ethane to the mighty Shell cracker plant now under construction in Beaver County, PA, “may have been constructed with defective corrosion coating protection.” It’s an explosive charge just coming to light now, more than a year later.
Williams, via its wholly-owned subsidiary Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line (Transco), has filed a lawsuit against Mountain Valley Pipeline (a competitor) over MVP’s plan to extend the pipeline an extra 75 miles from southern Virginia into North Carolina. Williams claims some of the land MVP wants to use under eminent domain crosses into Transco’s easements and building MVP so close to Transco may damage Transco’s pipeline and the cathodic anti-corrosion system that protects it.
Gulfport Energy continues to try and wiggle out of legally-signed and binding long-term contracts with multiple pipeline companies, including deals that move Marcellus/Utica gas through the Rover and Rockies Express (REX) pipelines. Last year the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) told Gulfport a very loud NO in breaking those contracts (see 
Last August the North Carolina Dept. of Environmental Quality (DEQ) rejected a water permit for Equitrans’ proposed Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) Southgate project (see 
The good news for Equitrans’ 303-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) is that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit last week overruled North Carolina’s Dept. of Environmental Quality in rejecting a water permit for the project (see today’s lead story). However, MVP wasn’t letting last year’s DEQ action slow it down. In January MVP reluctantly filed eminent domain lawsuits against 100 landowners who refuse to reasonably negotiate an easement for the pipeline.
In early February MDN told you that it was likely the Biden administration, although anti-drilling and anti-pipeline, would have no choice but to support an active case before the U.S. Supreme Court dealing with eminent domain for the PennEast Pipeline project (see 
Two Democrat federal judges with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia (D.C. Circuit) are second-guessing a long-completed and flowing natural gas pipeline in the St. Louis, MO area–a pipeline that flows Marcellus/Utica gas to residents, businesses, and electric generating plants in the region. Why are we not surprised?
Masquerading as a nonpartisan, independent nonprofit, the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) reportedly “conducts research and analyses on financial and economic issues related to energy and the environment.” The Institute’s stated mission is “to accelerate the transition to a diverse, sustainable and profitable energy economy.” In other words, they’re anti-fossil fuel, populated by biased Democrats with a vested interest in seeing Big Oil and Big Gas bankrupted. It’s no surprise the IEEFA just released a “report” saying the financial rationale for building the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) has “evaporated” and, you know, Equitrans (the builder) should just forget about finishing the project and write off the billions already spent.
We are so sick of the left and their twisted view of everything! For years we’ve covered a recurring claim from the left in their misguided attempt to smear natural gas and the pipelines that flow it. The left claims every time a pipeline runs near or through an area where the population is African American, or Hispanic, or rural poor (in other words, just about everywhere), that pipeline is automatically assumed to be racist.
Richard “Dick” Glick became a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) commissioner in 2017, hand-picked by Sen. Chuck Schumer (see 
This week is IHS Markit’s CERAWeek conference. Normally it’s a huge event with over 5,000 attendees gathered in Houston, TX. Because of the pandemic, this year’s event is virtual. But still just as relevant and important. During a session yesterday, Matthew Palmer, senior director at IHS Markit, expressed a sentiment and opinion we’ve seen expressed by others, including Williams CEO Alan Armstrong. Palmer said he doesn’t expect any new big interstate gas pipes to get built after Mountain Valley Pipeline (from West Virginia to Virginia) enters service. For the foreseeable future. What a shame.
On Monday PennEast Pipeline filed its opening brief in a case to be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court in April. The case appeals a lower court ruling that disallows PennEast from using eminent domain to build across land owned or controlled by the State of New Jersey. PennEast calls the previous ruling by the 3rd Circuit Court of Appeals “deeply flawed” and “seriously misunderstands both eminent domain and sovereign immunity.” What are PennEast’s chances of winning, and if they do win, when will PennEast get built?