Antis Take Over Westmoreland County, VA, Aim to Ban Fracking
Invasion of the body snatchers has become reality in Westmoreland County, Virginia. The Westmoreland Board of Supervisors passed amendments Monday night “to strictly limit gas and oil drilling.” However, that’s just a stopgap measure. The real aim is a full-out, flat-out ban on any kind of oil and gas drilling. Right after taking the vote, the illustrious body-snatched supervisors asked the county attorney to begin researching a moratorium they can enact without landing them in jail. Good luck with that. Virginia doesn’t have the Marcellus/Utica under it–at least not very much. But Virginia does have another shale layer–the Taylorsville. We commented back in 2014 that the state is inching closer to allowing fracking in the Taylorsville and other potential basins (see Virginia Inches Closer to Shale Drilling in Taylorsville Basin). They’re still inching–and it’s not going very fast. Anti-drilling radicals have risen up to oppose anything to do with shale in the state. Westmoreland isn’t the first location to be snatched. The first county in Virginia to become lawless in this regard was King George County, last summer (see King George County, VA Commits Fracking Suicide with Vote to Ban). In the spring, Augusta County followed suit (see Augusta County, VA Votes to Illegally Ban Fracking). And now the body snatchers are invading Westmoreland County. It’s always breathtaking, and disturbing, when a small group of individuals decide to take away the Constitutional property rights of their fellow citizens…
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Last week Virginia’s Water Control Board issued a water permit/certification for the Mountain Valley Pipeline project–a $3.5 billion, 301-mile pipeline that will run from Wetzel County, WV to the Transco Pipeline in Pittsylvania County, VA (see 
In October, local officials in Plum, PA (Allegheny County) approved a plan by Huntley & Huntley (H&H) to drill a series of Marcellus wells on a single well pad in their municipality (see 
In August, Ohio Gov. John Kasich officiated at a ceremony to launch a new Utica gas-fired electric generating plant in Oregon (Lucas County), near Toledo (see 
Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP)–a $3.5 billion, 301-mile pipeline that will run from Wetzel County, WV to the Transco Pipeline in Pittsylvania County, VA–scored an important approval yesterday. Virginia’s Water Control Board issued a water permit/certification for the project. MVP, when built, will run through six Virginia counties. Prior to voting to approve the permit yesterday, the Water Control Board held a public hearing on Wednesday, largely so antis could spout off and feel better about themselves. Following yesterday’s vote, antis did what they always do–behaved like petulant, spoiled rotten children. At least one anti “screamed profanities at the board members and vowed to visit them where they live.” Yeah, bullying. Threats of violence. That’s the anti crowd for you. In early November the West Virginia Dept. of Environmental Protection (WVDEP) waived their right to issue a permit for MVP, instead deferring to the just-as-strict version of the permit issued by the US Army Corps of Engineers (see 
On Wednesday the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (WVDEP) “waived” the state’s authority under the federal Clean Water Act to determine if Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP) will harm rivers and streams, instead deferring to the US Army Corps of Engineers’ (USACE) Nationwide permit. The USACE Nationwide permit has the same exact standards as found in the WV version–so there’s no need to duplicate the paperwork. This is not the first time WVDEP has deferred to the USACE’s permit. They did the same exact thing with a water crossing permit for the Mountain Valley Pipeline project in November (see 
In early October MDN told you about a second Marcellus gas-fired electric generating plant being planned for Greene County, PA (see 
We continue to be really impressed with the current Acting Chairman of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), Neil Chatterjee, and his willingness to take the fight right back to radical antis. Chatterjee is not unlike President Trump, who appointed him to the post. Frankly, it’s a surprise for us, since Chatterjee has worked for years for Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (a swamp dweller). We figured Chatterjee was a swamp dweller too–but perhaps we misjudged him. Chatterjee recently turned up the heat with Facebook posts aimed at nutty Hollywood actor James Cromwell (he of Babe and Star Trek: First Contact fame). Cromwell recently attended a FERC meeting chaired by Chaterjee and proceed to make a king-sized @$$ of himself in the meeting room, requiring security to escort him from the room (see 
A bald eagle’s nest built in a pine tree near where a tiny 7.8 mile pipeline is supposed to pass in Orange County, NY is the latest wrinkle that threatens to stop the pipeline in the ongoing soap opera that is corrupt New York State. The pipeline is a short spur, an offshoot, from the nearby Millennium Pipeline. It will feed the Competitive Power Ventures (CPV) gas-fired electric generation plant currently under construction in Wawayanda. The CPV plant is due to be completed early next year. According to Millennium, if they don’t start construction (tree clearing) TODAY, Dec. 6, there is no way to get the pipeline done in time to feed the plant–and that may well drive CPV’s project into bankruptcy. The eagle’s nest is being used as an excuse by New York (and rabid antis) to try and block the pipeline from getting built. Here’s the latest episode in this ongoing soap opera…
THE Delaware Riverkeeper herself is back with more of her overlord’s money to file yet another frivolous lawsuit against a pipeline project in New York State. In August 2016, Millennium filed an application for what it calls its Eastern System Upgrade (see 
The Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) is picking on Cabot Oil & Gas–or more properly, shaking them down for some cash. Yesterday the DEP announced it had reached an “agreement” with Cabot whereby Cabot will pay the DEP $99,000 “for air quality violations related to equipment at natural gas wells throughout Susquehanna County.” But that’s not all, Cabot failed to file some paperwork–a far more egregious violation for the DEP: “Cabot failed to submit complete compliance demonstration reports for 20 gas wells.” Bad, bad Cabot. Here’s news of the DEP’s latest shakedown of a company that has (so far) invested over $4.6 billion in a single northeast PA county…
The mighty Rover Pipeline project marches on toward 100% completion, even though the Ohio EPA is doing its best to stop it (see 
In October 2015, Kinder Morgan’s Tennessee Gas Pipeline (TGP) filed their official, full application with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) seeking approval for their Orion Project (see 
Iroquois Gas Transmission System is a natural gas pipeline that brings gas from eastern Canada to the New York City area. It is owned by TransCanada Corporation, Dominion Resources, KeySpan Corporation, New Jersey Resources Corporation, and Energy East Corporation. There have been plans, for years, to connect the Constitution Pipeline to the Iroquois and flow Marcellus/Utica gas to Canada by converting Iroquois to be bidirectional. As we all know, the Constitution has been stalled since 2014 because of the corrupt State of New York blocking it. There’s still hope that Constitution will get built. In October they asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to override the New York and allow the project to proceed (see 
In May 2015, Rover purchased a house in Carroll County, OH, located near where the pipeline, and a compressor station for that pipeline, is due to run. Rover bought the house to use for offices for several Rover affiliate companies. After buying it, Rover determined the house was “ill-suited for its intended purpose” and decided to demolish it. Problem was/is, that house was under consideration to be added to the National Register of Historic Places. The house was not yet on the list of Historic Places, but was on a list of properties under consideration. Their action in demolishing the house landed Rover in hot water with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (see