Anti-Drilling/Fossil Fuel | Energy Services | Equitrans/EQT Midstream | Industrywide Issues | Litigation | Pipelines | Regulation
US Forest Service Issues Approval for MVP Thru Jefferson Forest
In mid-December, the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) issued an environmental impact statement (EIS) that supports plans for Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) to run through 3.5 miles of woodlands, and under the Appalachian Trail, in the Jefferson National Forest in Monroe County in West Virginia, in and Giles and Montgomery counties in Virginia (see US Forest Service Issues EIS Supporting MVP Thru Jefferson Forest). The good news is that yesterday USFS issued a final approval, which allows MVP to proceed with construction (once the BLM chimes in with a right-of-way grant and permit).
Read More “US Forest Service Issues Approval for MVP Thru Jefferson Forest”
Not a day that goes by without a story in Big Media announcing another municipality has passed (or is considering passing) a law/regulation prohibiting new homes and businesses from using natural gas for heating, cooking, etc. The proffered solution by these foolish dunderheads is that new structures must use electric for heat. Eventually (like here in New York by 2050), not only new structures but existing homes and businesses will have to convert to all-electric too (see 
In our book, methane (CH4) is methane and needs no justification to be drilled for and widely used. But for those who drill for it, or flow it through pipelines, methane now has to be perceived as “green” or risk going the way of the dodo bird. This is how the game is played. Various organizations have sprung up in an effort to prove drillers (and others) are harvesting and moving methane in an environmentally safe manner. One of those systems for certifying the greenness of gas is the Responsible Gas program by Independent Energy Standards Corp. (see 
Because of constant court challenges, the Trump administration just completed a redo of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Nationwide Permit 12 (NWP12), a general permit used in constructing pipelines. Antis believe the redo will make it easier for the incoming Biden administration to simply delete oil and gas pipelines from the permit. The cancel culture strikes again.
Well, the apocalypse has happened. We now have single party (Democrat) rule in Washington, D.C., and that spells trouble ahead for shale energy–for both oil AND gas. We’ll keep our opinions to ourselves on the politics. What’s done is done. Instead, we’ll let the analysts from S&P tell you what you can expect with new appointments at key federal agencies, and how energy policy under the Biden administration, with a big assist from a Democrat-controlled Senate, will likely play out in the coming years.
Don’t you love playing a game with a child and part of the way through the game, the child simply changes the rules for how the game is played (particularly when they are losing)? That’s what comes to mind with the Virginia Dept. of Environmental Quality’s (DEQ) recent action in disallowing any pipeline bigger than 36 inches to use a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Nationwide Permit 12 (NWP12) to cross creeks, rivers, and wetlands. The move is meant to block Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP), a 42-inch pipeline, from finishing its installation work (the pipeline is 92% complete).
Anti-fossil fuel zealots including THE Delaware Riverkeeper are attempting to convince the Biden administration to block the now fully permitted and authorized LNG export terminal New Fortress plans to build on the New Jersey shore of the Delaware River in Gibbstown. They’re hoping they can appeal to Biden’s parochial concerns for his home state of Delaware, hoping to scare an old man with dementia into blocking LNG ships from transiting the Delaware River by lying about safety issues.
Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP), a 303-mile, 2 Bcf/d pipeline to move Marcellus/Utica gas from West Virginia to southern Virginia, has been hounded by radicals from Big Green groups including the Sierra Club for years. Big Green apparently has the clown judges from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in its back pocket because the clowns keep overturning legal and legitimately issued permits by government agencies including the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (see 
David Blackmon is an independent energy analyst/consultant based in Mansfield, TX. Blackmon is a Forbes contributor and has a 39-year career in the oil and gas industry, most of it in public policy and managing regulatory and legislative issues for various companies, including Burlington Resources, Shell, El Paso Corporation, FTI Consulting and LINN Energy. Blackmon has been around the block a few times and understands not only the technical aspects of our industry, but the politics as well. He recently peered into his crystal ball and predicted what lies ahead (i.e. challenges) for the O&G industry in 2021, including a “regulatory onslaught” from Joe Biden…
The five voting members of the Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) met in early December and voted 4-0 (one abstention) to approve a 1,300-foot-long pier in Gibbstown, NJ which will be used to load LNG tankers (see 
Anti-fossil fuelers love to protest things. Fine. Let them protest. This is (still) America. But when antis tip over into illegal acts like blocking legal activities of building pipelines or drilling wells, or when antis tip over into acts of vandalism like destroying equipment, that’s NOT okay. Antis call it “protesting.” We call it criminal behavior. A bill just passed in the Ohio legislature calls such activity what it is–crimes. And now (provided Gov. DeWine signs the bill into law, which is expected), such miscreants will pay stiff fines and in some cases do jail time for their crimes.