FERC Denies Time Extension to Build PA to NY Northern Access Pipe
National Fuel Gas Company (NFG), the utility and midstream giant based in Buffalo, NY, remains committed to building it’s Northern Access Pipeline project, a $500 million project that includes building 97 miles of new pipeline along a power line corridor from northwestern Pennsylvania up to Erie County, NY. The project also calls for 3 miles of new pipeline further up, in Niagara County, along with a new compressor station in the Town of Pendleton.
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On Monday MDN told you about a cool new website called LandGate that offers instant valuations for oil and gas rights sitting under a property, along with the location of wells drilled nearby (see 
Last week MDN told you that the judges of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit signaled they will overturn, for a second time, a permit issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers that allows the 92% completed Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) from finishing its work by installing pipe under or through creeks and rivers (see 
The Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) is in major butt-covering mode with the state’s conventional (non-shale) oil and gas industry. During an industry-led advisory committee meeting held yesterday, members of PA’s conventional oil and gas industry delivered some rather blunt comments to DEP Deputy Secretary for Oil and Gas Management Scott Perry, accusing the DEP of “ramming the most punitive set of regulations on this industry to date.”
Two years ago the Maryland Board of Public Works (BPW), which has three members (two leftwing Democrats and RINO Gov. Larry Hogan), rejected an 8-inch, 3.5-mile pipeline (tiny!) that would travel under the Potomac River, even though 12 other pipelines have previously been built under the Potomac in the same general vicinity (see 
Enbridge’s Weymouth compressor station project, the final piece of the $452 million Atlantic Bridge expansion project, last week received permission from the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) to begin operations in early December. This is a MAJOR victory.
A truly bipartisan bill ensuring only those people in Pennsylvania who actually need pipeline safety information have access to it was signed into law last week by Gov. Tom Wolf. PA House Bill (HB) 2293 requires pipeline operators to provide emergency response plans upon request to the secretary of the Public Utility Commission, the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency, and the Emergency Management Director for each county where the pipeline runs through a densely populated area.
Every now and again we hear from MDN readers who mildly (or strongly) disagree with our politics and view of the leftwing Democrat Party and the frail, mentally-challenged Joe Biden (who won’t last two years in office before he’s pushed out for medical and/or mental reasons). They tell us a Biden presidency isn’t the end of oil and gas, and maybe he will even help our industry! (Even though Biden promised to “transition away from oil” in his last debate appearance.) We’re mystified that anyone can hold the view that Biden will be good for O&G, but there are people (in our audience) who do hold that view. The article below does a good job of capturing their viewpoint and thinking about the incoming Biden administration.
“OK Jim, what’s *really* going to happen to the oil and gas industry under a Joe Biden presidency? None of your apocalyptic B.S. please.” We’ve heard that sentiment/question expressed on occasion by MDN subscribers. Last week the Dallas Federal Reserve Bank and the Kansas City Reserve Bank hosted a virtual conference titled, “Energy and the Changing Economy: Navigating the Changing Energy Landscape.” Some of the best experts in the industry (some of them Biden supporters) delivered their best guess as to what will realistically happen over the next four years to the oil and gas industry under a Biden administration…
The natural gas industry is proving effective at policing itself–far more effective than having the jackboots of the federal government step on its neck. Case in point: an industry group called Our Nation’s Energy Future (ONE Future), a coalition of 32 natural gas companies, released its 2019 report (below) that shows member companies collectively beat the group’s methane intensity goal by 67% for the year.
Earlier this month the Sierra Club filed yet another lawsuit (we’ve lost count of how many they’ve filed) attempting to block construction of the final 8% of Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP). The Clubbers asked the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit to “temporarily” block a permit issued by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (see 
Eastern Shore Natural Gas Company (ESNG), a subsidiary of Chesapeake Utilities Corporation, filed a request with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in Sept. 2018 to build 19+ miles of new pipeline, called the Del-Mar Energy Pathway Project, in Delaware and Maryland. Last week the Maryland Dept. of the Environment (MDE) approved the project. Now the project must pass by the Board of Public Works (BPW). We give it a 50/50 chance of getting approved by the three libs on the BPW.
In June, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), in conjunction with the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA), published final rules to allow specially constructed tanker cars for railroads (DOT-113 tank cars) to ship LNG (see 
The Pennsylvania Senate previously passed and yesterday “concurred” (signed-off on) Senate Bill 790, sending it to Gov. Tom Wolf for his signature. SB 790 restores sanity to regulations for conventional oil and gas drillers in the Keystone State. Unfortunately, Gov. Wolf has stubbornly said he will veto this common sense bill. Why are we not surprised?