If Spire STL Pipeline Shuts Down, People Will Die This Winter
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 Spire Pipeline Ready to Flow Marcellus/Utica Gas to St. Louis). Unfortunately, in June three far-left Democrat judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit overturned the certificate the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued for building Spire STL, meaning it must now shut down (see Fed Court Overturns Marcellus to St. Louis Pipe – Shutdown Coming?). The parent company is warning in the strongest possible language that if the pipeline is shut down, people will die this winter.
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Ohio mineral rights owner Gateway Royalty researched unitization (aka force pooling) in the state and discovered a disturbing change introduced in existing unitization beginning three years ago. Since February 13, 2018, a “market enhancement” clause has been included in Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources’ (ODNR) forced pooling unitization orders, which allows the unit operator to deduct post-production costs from the royalties owed to mineral owners. These post-production costs are sometimes as much as 95% of the gross sale price. Gateway called attention to the practice and ODNR has since backed down and no longer includes the market enhancement clause in new unitization orders.
The New York State Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DEC), completely corrupted by radicals under the thumb of outgoing Gov. Andrew Cuomo, has struck again. The DEC has filed a letter with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) blasting a plan to boost capacity at two existing compressor stations along the Iroquois Gas Transmission System pipeline. DEC says more natural gas flowing along the pipeline (desperately needed in both New York City and in New England) will cause more mythical global warming and therefore FERC should reject the request. How sad. How intellectually bankrupt.
Mariner East 2 (ME2) Pipeline is the gift that keeps on giving…for the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP). The DEP keeps assessing fines for alleged construction violations that happened a year or more ago. This time the DEP has fined ME2 for supposed violations happening in early 2020 in four Pennsylvania counties: Blair, Cumberland, Juniata, and Lebanon. The problems were “inadvertent returns” of drilling mud in several swamps (“wetlands”) and creeks. Yes, ME2 is once again up Snitz Creek…
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has disregarded the petulant demands of anti-fossil fuel fanatics and has given its permission to Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) project to switch the method it uses to cross 136 streams and 47 wetlands. For roughly 70 miles of the pipeline’s 303-mile route, MVP asked FERC in early February to change the method of installation from open trench to trenchless, drilling under the body of water using horizontal directional drilling (see 
In February 2020 we told you about a mob of anti-fossil fuelers attempting to block the final few feet of construction for a 6.8-mile natural gas pipeline stretching from Brownsville to North Brooklyn in New York City (see 
Somehow the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) thinks it can tell the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) what it can and can’t do with respect to evaluating pipeline projects. EPA is “advising” FERC to begin incorporating the “social cost of carbon” into its environmental reviews, taking an added look at the climate change impacts of natural gas infrastructure projects. Who the heck does the EPA think it is? Climate God?
Yet another fine for Energy Transfer (ET), assessed by the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP). This time the DEP has fined ET $140,000 for violations that occurred in 2019 and 2020 during the construction of ET’s B15 Well Connect Pipeline construction project located in Beaver County, PA. According to the consent order and agreement (COA), “sections of the pipeline project were not temporarily stabilized, areas of the site showed accelerated erosion and sedimentation, waterbars were not installed properly or not installed in the approved locations, and erosion and sedimentation best management practices (BMP) were inoperable or ineffective.”
You have to say one thing about environmentalist wacko zealots–they never give up. Ever. We’re talking about the Big Green money behind Appalachian Mountain Advocates, Southern Environmental Law Center, and the Natural Resources Defense Council (among 19 groups in total) which have filed a “request” (i.e. demand) with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to expand an environmental review for Equitrans Midstream’s 303-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) project.
A new bill just introduced in the Pennsylvania House by State Rep. Eric Davanzo (Republican from Westmoreland County), House Bill (HB) 1763, clears up the confusion and bastardization of the term “royalty,” making it easy for everyone to know what can and cannot be deducted from royalties with respect to oil and gas leases. Davanzo got 23 of his fellow House members to co-sponsor the bill. It is a refreshingly simple bill that does not change any existing contracts. It defines the point to establish the value of gas (or oil) as that point when it is sold to an unrelated third-party purchaser. Simple!
No doubt you’ve heard plenty in mainstream media recently about the $1 trillion so-called infrastructure bill currently being debated in Congress. What the mainstream media won’t tell you is the truth–that this bill is incredibly bad for the country in its current form. The bill includes measures allowing more federal control over state and local building codes to force everyone to adopt Biden’s “appliance electrification” plan by discouraging the use of natural gas in homes and businesses. Yes, Biden plans to phase out your right to burn natural gas in your furnace and in your stove. Welcome to the USSR.
The CO2 Coalition, a nonprofit established in 2015 for the purpose of educating thought leaders, policymakers, and the general public about the important contribution made by carbon dioxide to our lives and the economy, has just published a detailed analysis of Pennsylvania’s plan to join the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative, or RGGI (full copy below). In the report, more than 70 top scientists conclude that PA Gov. Tom Wolf’s justifications for the RGGI carbon tax “are invalid and its claims of environmental and economic benefits are fiction.”
In June MDN brought you the news that Enbridge’s Texas Eastern Transmission (TETCO) pipeline is 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 
The anti-fossil fuelers of Nicetown, PA (near Philadelphia) aren’t so nice. Even though a Marcellus gas-fired power plant in Nicetown has already been built by the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) and is currently in operation (has been since last November) providing cheap electricity for railroads and heat for a local bus depot, antis want it all shut down. They claim it’s racist to have the facility located in the community where it’s located. The Joe Biden EPA is investigating Nicetown with an eye to shutting it all down. What a tragedy on so many levels. Once again energy has been politicized by the left in this country.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is moving to revise a two-decade-old standard that guides approval of proposed interstate natural gas pipelines. FERC Chairman Richard “Dick” Glick informed a congressional panel last week of the impending changes. Glick wants to permanently change the standards used so future FERC commissioners will be handcuffed to his twisted view of global warming when considering whether or not to approve a pipeline project.