FERC Shuts Down ALL Work on Mountain Valley Pipeline in WV, VA
The radical Sierra Club can claim a new temporary victory in its war to stop a major natural gas pipeline. We previously told you the Clubbers, who use money from donors to weaponize our own court system against us, convinced the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit to overturn permits issued by the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) and Bureau of Land Management (BLM) that allows EQT Midstream’s 303-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline to cross 3.5 miles of Jefferson National Forest in West Virginia and Virginia (see Court Cancels Permits for Mountain Valley Pipe on Fed Land). The court says USFS and BLM didn’t come to the right conclusion about sedimentation and erosion impacts of MVP. The judges (who don’t know a thing about these issues) say USFS and BLM’s contention that impacts can be adequately mitigated is in error. Because the project is stopped at that one tiny 3.5-mile location, on Friday the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a stop work order for the entire project. At least for now. In the stop work order, FERC indicates they think the USFS and BLM will soon reissue the permits overturned by the Fourth Circuit, and when that happens, work on the rest of the project will resume. But FERC can’t predict when that will happen, so in the meantime, all work (except to stabilize certain areas to protect against erosion) must stop. What gripes us is that Sierra Club radicals were able to shut down an entire project by concentrating on a technicality at one, small point. What a disgusting, anti-American organization. MVP issued a statement this morning to say the the pipeline will get built, and will likely keep its schedule of going online in the first quarter of 2019…
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The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) yesterday voted 3-2 to allow construction to resume on the Mariner East 2 and 2x pipelines in West Whiteland Township, Chester County (near Philadelphia), ending a weeks-long stoppage specific only to that area. The shutdown began in May after a PUC administrative law judge’s highly questionable ruling, which affected ME1, ME2 and ME2x (see 
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) continues to play hardball with Energy Transfer over the Rover Pipeline. FERC refuses to allow four Rover laterals–feeder pipelines to shuttle gas from where it’s produced into the main Rover pipeline–to start up (see 
Once upon a time, before far-out liberal governors like NY’s Andrew Cuomo weaponized the federal Clean Water Act (CWA), states would use their federally-delegated authority under the CWA (Section 401) to provide feedback and get changes/tweaks to interstate pipelines passing through their respective states. Then Cuomo (now others) started bending the intent of their delegated authority under the CWA and began abusing it to block federal policy by blocking approved pipelines that benefit the citizens of many states. That’s why the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) was created–to review and authorize energy projects, like pipelines, that pass through multiple states. If not for FERC, no pipelines (or electric transmission lines) would ever get built across state lines because one state will selfishly block such projects–“What’s in it for us?” Andrew Cuomo has stated publicly that he has and will continue to block interstate pipeline projects and new gas-fired electric plants (see 
An interesting development on Friday, when the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) issued a press release to announced that three radical environmental groups have dropped their objections to permits the 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. What does it mean that they “settled?” According to the announcement, “The settlement does not alter any of the 20 permits in the appeal.” In other words, this is face-saving by the radical groups. They backed down. Gave up. Threw in the towel–recognizing that ME2 is about to be completed. In other words, they’ve lost. And we won! We love saying that. No matter how hard the radicals tried to spin the news (via their affiliated mouthpieces, like StateImpact Pennsylvania), you simply can’t gloss over the fact that they’ve backed down…
Bureaucrats deeply embedded in the federal Bureau of Land Management (BLM) are engaged in denying private property owners with property in the Ohio Wayne National Forest (WNF) their property rights. That’s the very serious (and true) charge being levied by members of the National Association of Royalty Owners (NARO). After “seven years of inaction,” property owners in WNF have taken their case to Washington, D.C.–to elected representatives from Ohio, along with federal agencies–in hopes of getting Utica drilling under way in WNF. After 10 long years, the BLM finally auctioned 719 acres in WNF in December 2016 (see 
Yesterday the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) issued administrative orders requiring three oil and gas companies–Alliance Petroleum Corporation (a subsidiary of Diversified Gas & Oil), XTO Energy, and CNX Resources–to plug 1,058 abandoned oil and gas wells across Pennsylvania. Alliance has 638 wells, CNX has 327, and XTO has 93. In a quick scan of the list of wells to be plugged, we didn’t spot a single shale well. All 1,058 wells are conventional/vertical wells. So why is this news for MDN? Because all three drillers (but in particular CNX and XTO) drill shale wells, and plugging old conventional wells takes time and money–time and money that could be spent on drilling shale wells. It takes anywhere from $10,000 to $100,000 to plug an abandoned conventional oil/gas well. Most of the wells are located in the southwestern part of the state. CNX responded that in reviewing the list, some 190 of the wells in their list (out of 327) were part of a recent asset sale. Here’s the details on where, and how long these companies have, to plug old/abandoned oil and gas wells…
Despite intense opposition from nutty so-called environmentalists (i.e. fossil fuel haters), the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission issued permission on Tuesday to Dominion Energy to commence construction of the 600-mile, $6 billion Atlantic Coast Pipeline as it passes through North Carolina. Antis like those from the Southern Environmental Law Center are up in arms. Their strategy to stop the project is to attack it in small, specific areas. There is a pending lawsuit against the project using the Endangered Species Act, potentially blocking construction in certain geographies. If that lawsuit goes against the pipeline, it only affects construction in a small area and for a limited time. Yet Southern Environmental Law Center claims that if a pipeline project is stopped at any point along its route, that should trigger stopping the entire project at all points along the route. FERC isn’t buying into the legal bull and has cleared Dominion to start up the bulldozers. This pipeline will get built, despite the best efforts of antis. In fact, Dominion says it will be built and online by late 2019…
Yesterday MDN posted a story about our growing grumpiness that Federal Energy Regulatory (FERC) Commissioner Rob Powelson is about to leave FERC to further his own career, jeopardizing a number of important pipeline projects (see 
Anti fossil fuel radicals continue to try and stir up opposition to the Mariner East 2 (ME2) pipeline project near Philadelphia. Local supervisors in Middletown (Delaware County, PA) walk a tightrope between a desire to protect area residents and anti groups fomenting irrational fears. The Board of Supervisors hired a consultant to advise them on potential safety issues with ME1 & 2. Monday night the supervisors held a public meeting to allow residents to hear from and ask questions of the consultant. The consultant, to his credit, maintained his objectivity. He’s not for or against pipelines–he’s looking at safety issues and discussing realistic scenarios. His responses to some of the questions were not what antis in the crowd wanted to hear. They wanted him to feed their fear-mongering (and false) beliefs. The consultant refused to do so. We found one bit of news from the session highly instructive. There is an anti group calling itself Middletown Coalition for Public Safety. The group presents itself as a “nonpartisan grassroots group of parents and residents whose goal is to educate elected officials and the public regarding the risks associated with the proposed Mariner East 2 pipeline.” It is the exact opposite. Rabidly partisan (Democrat). And not composed of residents. The people who belong to the group, at least its leaders, aren’t from Middletown! At the Monday meeting one of their members, Eric Friedman, was not allowed to question the consultant because he doesn’t live in Middletown. What does that tell you about how these “grassroots” groups are operated and funded?…
Our sadness that Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Commissioner Rob Powelson is leaving is quickly turning to anger–against Powelson. In June we told you that Powelson will be leaving FERC in mid-August (see 
Anti-fossil fuel nutters are on a holy mission to stop a 3.5-mile, 8-inch pipeline from being built under the Potomac River by Columbia Gas, from Maryland to West Virginia (see 
The outspoken Bill Siderewicz, builder of a string of gas-fired electric generating plants in Ohio and elsewhere, is (surprise!) speaking out. Siderewicz, president of Boston-based Clean Energy Future, is the builder of the Lordstown Energy Center in Trumbull County, a project begun in 2016 and now nearing completion (see 
You don’t often read about pipeline projects that seek to flow more Pennsylvania Marcellus gas into the Ohio Utica region. In January, Dominion Energy filed a request with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to expand capacity along the existing Dominion Energy Transmission Inc. (DETI) pipeline from Pennsylvania to Ohio (see