Trump Signs EO to Speed Up Pipe Construction, Bypass Obama Judge
Last Thursday President Trump signed an Executive Order (EO) titled, “Accelerating the Nation’s Economic Recovery from the COVID-19 Emergency by Expediting Infrastructure Investments and Other Activities.” The EO taps the President’s emergency powers to address and mitigate the economic and employment crises resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, by invoking emergency permitting procedures for infrastructure projects, including pipelines, that are otherwise delayed by regulatory roadblocks. This includes projects subject to Clean Water Act water quality permits, the Army Corps of Engineers Nationwide 12 (NP12) permit program, and the Endangered Species Act. This EO potentially has big implications for finishing up both the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) and Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP) projects.
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Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP), the 303-mile pipeline from West Virginia into southwestern Virginia, recently received permission from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to change the method it will use to cross over (actually under) the Roanoke River. Not that it makes much difference right now since the entire project, which is 90% complete, is stalled due to a federal lawsuit aimed at blocking an unrelated Midwest oil pipeline.
Delaware River Basin Commission (DRBC) Executive Director Steve Tambini is such a disappointment. He has totally caved to the hard-left environmental lobby that has its hooks deeply embedded in the DRBC. On June 1 Tambini sent a letter that’s, well, embarrassing. He sent the letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), telling FERC that the DRBC does have a say in whether or not the PennEast Pipeline can get built–even though not one inch of Phase 1 of the project will traverse DRBC’s jurisdiction.
A coalition of so-called environmental groups (leftist, very radical organizations) filed an official request with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on Saturday calling on FERC to conduct a supplemental environmental impact statement (EIS) for a project that’s already been studied to death: Dominion Energy’s Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP). The once $5.5 billion project (now $8 billion because of delays caused by these nefarious groups) will run from West Virginia through Virginia and into North Carolina.
In April 2019, President Trump signed an Executive Order (EO) instructing the Environmental Protection Agency to review Section 401 of the Clean Water Act–the section that grants states (and tribes) the right to have a say in pipeline projects (see 
Yesterday the Pennsylvania House of Representatives passed Senate Bill 790, a bill that restores sanity to regulations for conventional oil and gas drillers in the Keystone State. For years PA’s small, independent conventional oil and gas drillers have objected to the one-size-fits-all regulations concocted by the Gov. Tom Wolf Administration that applies the same regulations to them as to big shale drillers. The two types of drilling are apples and oranges. To make small conventional drillers jump through the same hoops as big shale drillers will bankrupt many of the smaller companies. SB 790 helps correct the situation.
MDN previously told you that Pennsylvania would finally adopt insanely new high permit fees for Marcellus Shale drilling when the state Independent Regulatory Review Commission (IRRC) meets on June 3 (see 
Last time we wrote about a zoning ordinance in Murrysville Township (Westmoreland County) was three years ago, in May 2017, when the town and local drillers struck a compromise on the distance of setbacks (see 
One of the worst overreaches and offenses of the Obamadroids was to redefine what “waters of the United States” (or WOTUS) actually means. As they were getting ready to leave power, the Obama EPA redefined WOTUS as everything down to large mud puddles–no lie (see 
Big time opposition continues to Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf’s plan to force the state to participate in the so-called Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI), a tax on carbon aimed at coal and natural gas-fired electric power plants, with an eye to driving them out of business (
Is it time to turn the gas off for New York City and let the people there reap the “benefits” of having a dictator, Andrew Cuomo, as their governor? On Friday the NY Dept. of Environmental Conservation, thoroughly and completely corrupted by Cuomo, issued yet another rejection for the critically-needed Northeast Supply Enhancement (NESE) pipeline project. It was the last straw for Williams, the builder of the project, which has walked away from the project. Gas customers on Long Island, including parts of NYC, now face the real prospect of running out of natural gas (this is not an exaggeration). Andrew Cuomo is the grossest, most corrupt governor in NY’s history.
In Ohio, it costs drillers $5,500 to file for and receive a permit to drill a new shale well. In West Virginia, the cost is $10,150. In Pennsylvania, it currently costs drillers $5,000 for a new shale well permit. Following an upcoming meeting by the state Independent Regulatory Review Commission on June 3, PA’s permit fee will zoom to the top of the M-U list: $12,500 (2 1/2 times the previous fee).
Virginia’s radially left Attorney General, Mark Herring (Democrat), was among 11 other radically left Democrat AGs who recently sent a letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) requesting the agency just stop doing its job in approving pipeline projects until the COVID-19 pandemic is over (see 