Did Constitution Pipeline Prospects Improve with Trump Exec Order?
During the signing ceremony on Wednesday when President Trump signed two executive orders to make it harder for states to block new pipelines for political reasons, Trump revealed part of the motivation for the EOs when he said, “And also, in New York, they’re paying tremendous amounts of money more for energy to heat their homes because New York State blocked a permit to build the Constitution Pipeline.” So we ask the question, will Trump’s EO actually help get the Constitution built?
Read More “Did Constitution Pipeline Prospects Improve with Trump Exec Order?”
President Trump visited Houston, Texas yesterday to sign a pair of Executive Orders to help spur more energy infrastructure development across the country. In particular, the orders were aimed at clearing away roadblocks some states (like New York) put up to try and block new pipelines. Was it a silver bullet that will mean projects like the Constitution Pipeline will now get built? Sadly, no. But it was, according to many in the oil and gas industry, “a step in the right direction.”
Last week MDN reported that the white hot chatter that President Trump will soon issue an Executive Order (EO) overruling states like New York from preventing critical federal pipeline projects is about to become a reality (see 
Last August the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a decision overruling the New York Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to allow National Fuel Gas Company’s Northern Access Pipeline project to proceed (see 
In addition to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) slapping down the New York DEC this week (see our lead story), on Wednesday the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals slapped down both New York and North Carolina regulators who tried to block three important Williams pipeline projects, all related to the mighty Transco Pipeline.
The Cuomo-corrupted New York Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DEC) is spitting and sputtering, “warning” the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission that if they (FERC) decide to rule that NY took too long to approve the Williams Constitution Pipeline and now gives the project a go-ahead, the DEC intends to rain down all sorts of legal hell on the agency. Which tells us one thing: the DEC is VERY nervous that their power to block pipeline projects is about to be neutered.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo finally got his wish last year by forcing the operator of the Indian Point Energy Center (nuclear power plant) located near New York City to agree to partially close down next year, and fully close down in 2021. We recently got a small preview of what will happen when Indian Point goes offline. In March Indian Point went completely offline for two weeks–scheduled outage for one reactor, and a malfunction in the other. Guess which form of energy took up the slack? It wasn’t solar. It wasn’t wind. It wasn’t hydro. It wasn’t magic fairy dust. It was natural gas that rode in to save the day.
Anti-fossil fuel radicals are making noises, threatening noises, about how they may react when and if (as seems likely) the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) decides to overrule New York State and allow the Williams Constitution Pipeline to finally, after five years, get built.
Utility giant National Grid has officially begun to caution (promise? warn? threaten?) “dozens of midsize companies” in New York City now applying to become new natural gas customers they may not be able to hook up for natgas–unless Williams’ Northeast Supply Enhancement Project (NESE) is approved in a *timely* fashion. Promise made, promise kept.
Andrew Cuomo, contrary to the picture he attempts to paint for gullible voters and the even more gullible mainstream news reporters, is a very weak “leader.” In what has become an identifiable pattern, when Cuomo is put under pressure by the fringe left environmental lobby, he folds to that pressure like a cheap suit. Totally gives in and accedes to whatever weird demands they make–like no new gas pipelines. Even when it economically hurts the state.
Here’s a story we found interesting–about landowners in western New York who had leased their land for a wind farm. The company that owns the wind farm had a dispute with a contractor helping to build it, and the contractor sued–the landowners! Sound familiar?
In 2016 Crestwood Equity Partners formed a joint venture with New York City’s largest utility company, Consolidated Edison Inc., to operate a critical link of pipelines and storage facilities in the heart of the Utica/Marcellus, called Stagecoach Gas Services (see 
On Friday MDN told you that Consolidated Edison’s deadline to apply to be added as a natural gas customer in Westchester County had arrived (see