Regulation

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    FERC Greenlights Atlantic Coast Pipeline Construction in NC

    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…
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    Energy & Business Groups Urge Trump to Fill Vacant FERC Seat ASAP

    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 FERC Gridlock Coming Thx to Rob Powelson (Selfishly) Leaving). With Powelson gone in mid-August, the Commission will be split 2-2 on approving new pipeline projects. It’s an unfortunate given that the two Democrats on the Commission will vote against all new pipeline projects, claiming mythical man-made global warming as the excuse. Predictable and maddening. But there you go. What is, is. It seems MDN is not the only outpost concerned about the impending gridlock at FERC. A number of energy and business trade groups, led by the Energy Equipment and Infrastructure Alliance (EEIA), drafted and sent a letter to President Trump last week urging the President to nominate a candidate to replace Powelson “at your earliest opportunity.” They point out in the letter there is a serious risk of deadlock with Powelson out of the mix, jeopardizing critical natural gas pipelines, export facilities, and other critical bits of infrastructure. The letter hits all the right notes–jobs, investment, manufacturing…
    Read More “Energy & Business Groups Urge Trump to Fill Vacant FERC Seat ASAP”

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    Speaker Didn’t Tell Middletown Pipe Antis What They Wanted to Hear

    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?…
    Read More “Speaker Didn’t Tell Middletown Pipe Antis What They Wanted to Hear”

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    FERC Gridlock Coming Thx to Rob Powelson (Selfishly) Leaving

    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 Sad News: FERC’s Rob Powelson (from PA) Resigns Effective August). Powelson has been a breath of fresh air and a strong proponent for pipelines. He’s a former utility regulator from Pennsylvania. Smart guy. Nice guy. And now, a selfish guy. It’s predictable and unsurprising that the two Democrats on FERC have sold out to radical elements in their own party and now vote against every new pipeline project that comes along, using mythical man-made global warming as the excuse. With Powleson leaving in August, gridlock will ensue. It’s easy to predict a a string of 2-2 decisions coming, which means important projects will not get approved in a timely manner. Powelson is leaving to further his own career. While we can appreciate that, we think there’s a higher calling for Powelson–to stick around and ensure important projects are not delayed by gridlock. Powelson needs to “take one for the team” and put his own ambitions aside for another year or two. If a string of important pipeline projects are delayed because Powelson leaves, he won’t be remembered fondly. “But,” you may ask, “won’t President Trump just quickly replace him?” “Quickly” is the operative word there. The rumor mill is already in overdrive on who Powelson’s replacement will be. However, most experts who watch this space are predicting the earliest Trump will be able to get someone seated at FERC will be in early 2019. And maybe longer. Meanwhile, important pipeline projects will be in limbo. And that makes us grumpy with Mr. Powelson…
    Read More “FERC Gridlock Coming Thx to Rob Powelson (Selfishly) Leaving”

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    Ohio EPA Takes One More Swipe at Rover Pipe with FERC Notice

    Craig Butler (aka Captain Ahab) has risen up with the Ohio EPA (aka harpoon) one last time to see if he can skewer his great white whale, the Rover Pipeline (aka Moby Dick). According to Energy Transfer Partners, builder of Rover, the Ohio EPA, which Butler heads, has filed a Notice of Violation with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission as a backdoor attempt to prevent the final segments of the pipeline from going online. ET says the NOV is baseless. An ongoing delay in blocking several Rover lateral segments from going into service is causing economic harm to ET’s customers (and to ET). This isn’t the first, nor even second time Butler and OEPA have gone after Rover. It’s the upteenth time (see our Butler/Rover stories here). What’s the baseless charge this time? OEPA says Rover disposed of “spent” drilling mud containing low levels of the chemical solvent tetrachloroethene (PCE) without approval. Rover has fired back at OEPA in a letter to FERC, accusing OPEA of recycling the PCE issue after it had already been investigated and addressed…
    Read More “Ohio EPA Takes One More Swipe at Rover Pipe with FERC Notice”

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    FERC Approves Pipeline Under the Potomac River from Md. to WV

    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 Maryland Antis Oppose 13th Pipeline Under Potomac as “Dangerous”). The pipeline will be built to feed a larger pipeline project from Mountaineer Gas called the Eastern Panhandle Expansion–a pipeline to deliver Marcellus/Utica natural gas via local distribution channels to a new industrial facility in Berkeley County, WV, and to provide gas to other local businesses and residents in the Tri-State area. Mountaineer began building their project in March (see Mountaineer Gas Begins Work on Morgan County, WV Pipeline). We also reported that in March the Maryland Dept. of the Environment had approved the “Potomac pipeline” project, as it’s called by antis. Here’s the inconvenient truth that mainstream news organizations fail to report: This tiny 3.5-mile pipeline will be Columbia’s 13th pipeline under the Potomac! Yet antis insist THIS is the one pipeline that will explode and contaminate the Potomac and make the water flowing down the muddy Potomac undrinkable for millions. Total BS. Here’s the new (and good) news about the Potomac pipeline: Last week the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approved it, so it’s now a done deal and will definitely get built. But FERC was split in its approval, with the Democrats (predictably) citing mythical man-made global warming as a reason to deny it…
    Read More “FERC Approves Pipeline Under the Potomac River from Md. to WV”

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    Lordstown 2nd Gas-Fired Plant in Jeopardy from Trump Policy

    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 Lordstown Energy Center Breaks Ground on $890M Electric Plant). The plant will generate 940 megawatts of electricity when it goes online. In addition to the Lordstown plant, Siderewicz has plans to build a second plant right next to the first. Except maybe now it won’t get built. President Trump’s Dept. of Energy, under Secretary Rick Perry, is hellbent on devising a scheme to “protect” coal-fired and nuclear electric generating plants–in the name of grid resiliency and national security. It’s bogus. We’ve previously written that we do not support it. Neither does Siderewicz. He calls Trump’s energy policy “un-American,” and said, “Everyone [who] has an IQ of more than 25 is upset about this.” Ouch. Tell us what you really think, Bill! The reason he’s upset: If you make the electricity market noncompetitive by favoring certain types of energy sources, there are consequences. Plants like the second Lordstown Energy Center, and the close-to-one billion dollars it takes to build it (and the tax revenues that flow from it) won’t materialize. If you favor coal and nukes, making their more expensive form of electricity artificially cheaper (by using government subsidies), then those who compete freely, like Siderewicz, can no longer compete. The markets are not truly free. And people like Siderewicz decide to not build these important projects…
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    PA DEP Seeks Comments on Pipe Project to Flow Marc Gas to Ohio

    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 Dominion Files FERC Request to Expand Pipeline from PA to OH). Why? To flow more gas that will be used to generate electricity for the Midwest market. The project, called the Sweden Valley Project, is projected to cost $48 million and add another 120 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) of PA Marcellus Shale gas to the existing flow along DETI. Dominion says all 120 MMcf/d is already contracted and spoken for–by an unnamed customer. The project expands existing capacity by building a tiny three miles of new pipeline, with the new pipeline lying next to existing pipeline (in Greene County, PA). The only greenfield/brand new construction is a 1.75-mile pipeline to connect with the Tennessee Gas Pipeline in Tuscarawas County, OH. The other main part of the project is updating three units a compressor station in Licking County, OH. In the constellation of pipeline projects that disturb earth and disrupt landowners, this one is pretty minor–yet it will deliver big results by flowing an extra 120 MMcf/d of gas west to a new market. The PA Dept. of Environmental Protection published a notice in the July 21 PA Bulletin asking for comments on the project in PA–in Greene and Armstrong counties…
    Read More “PA DEP Seeks Comments on Pipe Project to Flow Marc Gas to Ohio”

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    FERC Rejects Riverkeeper re Millennium Eastern System Upgrade

    In August 2016, Millennium Pipeline, which stretches from Corning, NY to just outside New York City, filed an application for what it calls its Eastern System Upgrade (see Millennium Pipe Asks FERC to Approve Eastern System Upgrade in NY). The ESU would add 7.8 miles of extra looped pipeline in Orange County, upgrade a compressor station in Delaware County, build a new compressor in Sullivan County and make some minor tweaks to metering stations in Rockland County. In something of a miracle, the NY Dept. of Environmental Conservation granted permits for the project (see NY DEC Grants Permit for Millennium Pipe Eastern System Upgrade). Predictably, THE Delaware Riverkeeper, hater of all things fossil fuel, moved for a “stay” to block construction and filed a request for rehearing with FERC, and at the same time filed a lawsuit against the DEC’s water permit approval. In March FERC rejected Riverkeeper’s request for a stay, but not the rehearing (see FERC Rejects Riverkeeper Request to Stop Millennium Eastern Upgrade). The other shoe dropped last week when FERC rejected the request by Riverkeeper (and an anti from Orange County) for a rehearing. But not without some drama. In what has become a repeating pattern, the two Democrat members of FERC wanted a rehearing to consider mythical man-made global warming impacts from the project. It’s total horse manure, but there you go. This is how it’s going to be from here on out. The Democrats have politicized everything, even non-controversial pipeline projects like this one…
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    FERC Declines to Overrule NY DEC re Constitution Pipe 2nd Time

    One more thread has broken that holds together hope that Williams’ Constitution Pipeline will ever get built. Perhaps the final thread. Yesterday the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a ruling denying a rehearing request on the project–the second time they have done so. The Andrew Cuomo-corrupted NY Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DEC) refused to grant the pipeline project necessary federal stream crossing permits, blocking construction, in April 2016 (see NY Gov. Cuomo Refuses to Grant Permits for Constitution Pipeline). Williams asked the Federal Regulatory Commission (FERC) to overrule DEC and allow construction to begin. In January of this year, FERC denied that request (see Death of the Constitution Pipeline? FERC Refuses to Overrule NY DEC). In February of this year, Williams asked FERC to reconsider their denial. FERC’s response yesterday: No. Meanwhile, Williams had filed a lawsuit in federal court that eventually was appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court. In April, the Supremes refused to hear the case, shutting down that avenue (see Supreme Court Rejects Constitution Pipe Request to Overrule NY). As we’ve previously written, we now see only two remaining threads of hope–and they are very thin threads at that: (1) NY elects Cuomo’s Republican rival as governor and he reverses course and permits the project (about a snowball’s chance in Hades that Republican Marc Molinaro will win), and (2) President Trump signs an executive order overruling NY. That second thread is about the best chance Constitution now has. And even if Trump were to issue an executive order, we expect NY would go to court to try and stop it, dragging it out for years. As sad as we are to say this, for all intents and purposes, Constitution is dead…
    Read More “FERC Declines to Overrule NY DEC re Constitution Pipe 2nd Time”

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    ME2 Pipe Antis Politely & Completely Skewered at PA House Hearing

    On Tuesday, Pennsylvania State Rep. Chris Quinn (R-Delaware) hosted a House Republican Policy Committee meeting at the Penn State Brandywine Campus (Delaware County) to discuss pipeline safety, construction and siting issues in Chester and Delaware counties. The real aim of the session was to focus on Sunoco Logistics Partners’ Mariner East 2 (ME2) pipeline project–a state-regulated project not under the purview of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Eve Miari of the Clean Air Council and Virginia Marcille-Kerslake from West Whiteland Residents for Pipeline Safety were there to provide an overview of concerns by “the community” with siting and building ME2. MDN friend Garland Thompson, a contributing editor for US Black Engineer & Information Technology magazine, attended the session and wrote a report (below). As usual, Garland does a terrific job in capturing the key points of what was discussed. Spoiler alert: While Garland found Miari and Marcille-Kerslake’s testimony heart-felt, their allegations that nobody was/is in charge of siting a project like ME2, and that Sunoco is not being “transparent” in their building of ME2, were skewered, point by point by point. Here is clear, honest, accurate reporting you won’t get anywhere else…
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    PHMSA Says Leach XPress Still in Danger, Issues 13-Pt To-do List

    Earlier this week MDN told you that TransCanada’s Leach XPress, a 160-mile natural gas pipeline (and compression facilities) located in southeastern Ohio and West Virginia’s northern panhandle, was back online after experiencing an explosion in early June in Marshall County, WV (see Leach XPress Pipe 100% Back Online Following June Explosion). The investigation into why it exploded found the reason to be a “land slip” (i.e. landslide). Disturbingly, Columbia (the division of TransCanada that built and operates Leach XPress) told the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA), which investigates these kinds of incidents, there are six other spots along the pipeline that are “areas of concern” based on soil conditions, steep slopes or indications of slips. Not good. Just coming to light now–on July 9, PHMSA issued a list of 13 to-dos or “corrective actions” that Columbia must perform if it wants to keep Leach XPress up and running. We have the to-do list below…
    Read More “PHMSA Says Leach XPress Still in Danger, Issues 13-Pt To-do List”

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    NextEra Energy Says New England Doesn’t Need New NatGas Pipelines

    Joe Kelliher, executive vice president of NextEra Energy, is also the former Republican chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission under George W. Bush. Testifying before a Senate committee last week, Kelliher said New England doesn’t need new interstate natural gas pipelines to be built. Kelliher parrots language we’ve heard antis use–that New England’s pipeline system is adequate for “all but 12 days of the year.” For years pipeline companies (and grid operators) have been warning that without new pipelines to the region, New England is heading for rolling blackouts when temps get severe. So why would Kelliher take the opposite view at the hearing? Because his company, NextEra Energy, profits from lack of pipelines in the region! Kelliher is not a disinterested party in these matters. In 2016 we told you about NextEra and two other companies that were actively lobbying against new pipelines (see Spectra Energy Pushes Back Against New England Pipeline Naysayers). In the case of NextEra, they own regulated electric generating plants in the region–namely the Seabrook Station Nuclear Power Plant in New Hampshire, and the Bellingham Energy Center (natgas-fired) in Massachusetts. New pipelines to New England would feed unregulated electric generating plants that would compete with NextEra’s plants. NextEra’s position is unfair suppression of competition by attempting to get the government to collude in and endorse that suppression by blocking pipelines. Shame on Kelliher and NextEra for their continued campaign to lock in place electric rates in New England that are on average 4X higher than the rest of the country–for their own selfish gain…
    Read More “NextEra Energy Says New England Doesn’t Need New NatGas Pipelines”

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    Interim EPA Chief Tries to Make Peace with DC Swamp Dwellers

    Andrew Wheeler

    MDN is not a fan of Andrew Wheeler, acting Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency. Wheeler assumed the role following the departure of Scott Pruitt, which (despite what Big Green liberals like the Athens News think), was railroaded out of town for his political and policy views, not for breaking any laws or corruption. Wheeler, a former coal lobbyist (and a former EPA employee from years ago), believes “we can find common ground with Democrats.” He is sadly mistaken. In various articles Wheeler is called a Washington, DC insider. That’s code for swamp dweller. Wheeler doesn’t want to make waves by draining the EPA swamp. Which is exactly the wrong philosophy. You don’t make peace with your enemies. You CLEAN HOUSE. Get the swamp dwelling, overregulating Democrats out of the agency! Sadly, Wheeler is also a believer in the fairy tale of man-made catastrophic global warming. Our suspicions of Wheeler were, unfortunately, justified. We hope Trump wakes up and gets rid of him, pronto…
    Read More “Interim EPA Chief Tries to Make Peace with DC Swamp Dwellers”

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    THE Delaware Riverkeeper Loses FERC Bias Court Case

    Maya van Rossum

    Maya van Rossum, THE Delaware Riverkeeper (as she calls herself) has struck out once again in federal court. THE van Rossum, with backing by Big Green lawyer Jordan Yeager, asked a federal court to rule that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is biased in favor of approving pipeline projects (specifically the PennEast Pipeline) because part of the agency’s funding, via permit fees, comes from the companies it regulates. It’s Miss Maya’s attempt at shutting down all approvals for any pipeline anywhere in the United States–including PennEast. Why use a fly swatter when you can use a hammer, right? Fortunately, the judges on the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals didn’t fall for the ruse. The judges ruled last week that FERC’s decisions about authorizing projects are not tied to, nor influenced by, how the agency is funded. Period. In typical fashion, Riverkeeper complained that the decision didn’t go their way, lying about FERC’s “nearly 100% approval rate.” We’ve explained that approval rate before. FERC project approvals are multi-staged. Pipeline projects either fix issues FERC finds in an initial review, or the sponsors pull the projects from active consideration. The end result is that pipeline projects either meet FERC’s high standards, or they don’t get built…
    Read More “THE Delaware Riverkeeper Loses FERC Bias Court Case”

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    PA Seeks Comments on Boosting Shale Permit Fees 250%

    Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf’s Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP), the agency charged with overseeing oil and gas drilling in the state, “blindsided” the shale industry in February with a proposal to hike the fee required when submitting an application to drill a new shale well (see PA DEP Plans to Raise Marcellus Well Permit Fee by 250%). The current fee is $5,000. The proposed new fee is $12,500–or 2.5 times (250%) higher. We get it…the DEP has fewer people working there than it once did and needs to hire more help. However, the DEP wants to slap this insanely high fee on shale drillers to (in part) cover the expenses associated with non-shale activities! The shale permit fees will, “fund the broad scope of the [DEP] office’s operations, including its oversight of traditional [i.e. conventional] oil and gas wells, gas storage wells, abandoned wells and earthmoving activities.” How is it, in any sense, fair to hike the fees of shale drillers so DEP agents can better keep an eye on non-shale wells? The DEP plans to steamroller this increase through (see PA DEP Hellbent to Ram Through 250% Hike in Shale Permit Fee). The DEP’s own Environmental Quality Board has already approved the increase. The next step is to publish a notice about the increase in the Pennsylvania Bulletin, which happened on Saturday. Publication triggered a 30-day public comment period. It’s now time for you to make your voice heard…
    Read More “PA Seeks Comments on Boosting Shale Permit Fees 250%”