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Recent NEXUS Pipe Decision by DC Circuit Benefits LNG Exports

A few weeks ago, the U.S. District Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia (the D.C. Circuit) sided with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and NEXUS Pipeline against Big Green and the City of Oberlin, OH, in a case that challenged FERC’s right to approve NEXUS based on the pipeline exporting some of its natgas across the Canadian border (see DC Circuit Rules NEXUS Pipeline Approval by FERC was Righteous). The decision establishes an important precedent that helps not only other pipelines, but LNG export facilities too.
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DC Circuit Signals NEXUS Pipe Approval by FERC was Righteous

Last year Big Green lobbyists using the City of Oberlin, Ohio contested the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) decision to approve the Enbridge/DTE Energy NEXUS pipeline, a a $2 billion, 255-mile pipeline from the Ohio Utica Shale into Michigan that’s been flowing for years connecting to a pipeline that exports some of the gas into Canada (see Oberlin, OH Still Fighting to Shut Down Long-Running NEXUS Pipe). Big Green/Oberlin claims FERC’s approval of NEXUS was faulty because some gas gets exported to Canada and is not “in the public interest.”
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Oberlin, OH Still Fighting to Shut Down Long-Running NEXUS Pipe

Radical environmentalists continue to use the City of Oberlin, Ohio to try and advance their agenda of ending the use of natural gas pipelines. And Oberlin willingly lets them do it. We’re referring to the latest court filing by Oberlin (actually by Big Green lobbyists using Oberlin) contesting the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) decision to approve the NEXUS pipeline, a pipeline from the Utica Shale into Michigan that’s been flowing for years connecting to a pipeline that exports some of the gas into Canada. Oberlin says FERC’s approval of NEXUS is faulty because some gas gets exported and is not “in the public interest.”
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NRG Won’t Convert Coal Electric Plant to Utica Gas After All

disappointmentThis is disappointing. For over a year utility and electric generating giant NRG had planned to convert a coal-fired electric generating plan in Avon Lake (Lorain County), OH to burn Utica Shale gas instead. NRG’s plan includes building a $40 million, 20-mile pipeline to feed the Avon plant. That pipeline was finally approved in June (see OH Agency Greenlights NRG Utica Pipeline to Feed Electric Plant). The disappointment is that NRG has just announced they will not convert the plant from coal to natgas after all–at least not any time soon. Instead, they will add new pollution control equipment and continue burning coal. Why the change in plan? Part of the reason has to do with bats…
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NEXUS Pipeline Sues for Survey Access, Wins Most of the Time

An update on a story we brought you one week ago. Last Monday MDN told you that the NEXUS pipeline, primarily a project of Spectra Energy, sued four Medina County, OH landowners who refuse NEXUS surveyors access to their property (see NEXUS Pipeline Sues 4 Medina County Landowners for Survey Access). On Friday, a Medina County Common Pleas judge rejected NEXUS’ request for a restraining order that would allow them access. The case goes to trial on September 24. But lest we leave the wrong impression, judges in just about every other Ohio county where NEXUS has had to sue for survey access have granted NEXUS the restraining orders they were seeking…
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OH Agency Greenlights NRG Utica Pipeline to Feed Electric Plant

Utility energy giant NRG, with loads of coal and natural gas electric generating plants scattered across the country, has just received the OK from the Ohio Power Siting Board to build a 20-mile pipeline from rural Lorain County, OH (where it will connect with a Dominion East Ohio pipeline) and connect to an NRG-owned natural gas powered electric generating plant in Avon Lake. The pipeline will flow Utica Shale gas to power the plant. Some landowners along the proposed route fought the plan, but the Ohio Power Siting Board rejected their claims there are better routes, saying NRG looked at all the possible routes. With the Board’s approval, NRG is taking the landowners to court with eminent domain cases…
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CORNy Letter to FERC: NEXUS Pipeline will Contaminate our Creeks

The anti-drillers who inhabit Oberlin (Lorain County), OH are nothing if not determined. In November 2013 Oberlin voted to commit economic suicide by passing a so-called Community Bill of Rights law, which is nothing more than a ban on shale drilling (see Economic Suicide Avoided in 2 OH Cities but Oberlin Pulls Trigger). Of course so-called “home rule” laws have since been overturned by the Ohio Supreme Court (see OH Supreme Court Strikes Down Home Rule in Gas Drilling Case). The NEXUS gas pipeline is planned to run through the Oberlin area, so a group calling themselves CORN–Coalition to Reroute NEXUS–popped up in Oberlin and surrounding counties to oppose the pipeline. Why? Because it will flow nasty, evil fossil fuels. We call it the CORNy opposition. A member of CORN from the Oberlin City Council has written to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)–which is reviewing the NEXUS project–to say if the pipeline is built, it will “result in the contamination of the streams that produce water for the city’s domestic use.” Just one CORNy lie right after another…
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CORNy Opposition to NEXUS Pipeline in Eastern Ohio

A group opposed to the NEXUS gas pipeline met over the weekend in Oberlin (Lorain County), Ohio in a “private strategy meeting” to plan how they will stop the pipeline from coming through their area in eastern Ohio–Lorain, Medina, Fulton, Lucas and Summit counties. The NEXUS, you may recall, is a 42-inch, $1.5 billion natural gas pipeline that will carry Utica and Marcellus Shale gas spanning 11 counties in Ohio, 3 counties in Michigan, and eventually connect to the Dawn Energy Hub in Canada (see NEXUS Gas Pipeline Pre-Files with FERC, New Details Come to Light). The small group meeting in Oberlin is trying to get the pipeline re-routed. They call their group CORN–or Coalition to Reroute NEXUS from Lorain, Medina, Fulton, Lucas and Summit counties…
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US Steel Lays off 642 in OH & 142 in TX, Blames Low Oil Prices

A second mass layoff ostensibly due to low oil prices is affecting Ohio and Texas. U.S. Steel will lay off more than 600 workers at its plant in Lorain, OH and more than 140 in their Houston, TX plant. Both plants make steel pipes used in shale drilling in the northeast and beyond. Shale drilling is slowing down, and now too are the companies that supply them…
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Economic Suicide Avoided in 2 OH Cities but Oberlin Pulls Trigger

A happy note about yesterday’s elections in Ohio. Two communities where a so-called “community bill of rights” (anti-drilling ban flying under a different name) was on the ballot was voted down. In Youngstown (Mahoning County) this was the second time anti-drillers have tried to convince voters to commit economic suicide, but fortunately they didn’t (see Economic Suicide Attempt #2: Youngstown to Vote Again on Frack Ban). The voters in Bowling Green (Wood County) also decided to vote down a ban–even though there is no recoverable Utica Shale under Bowling Green. Freedom is always a smart choice–good decision Bowling Green.

However, voters in a third OH community, Oberlin (Lorain County), where there likely is recoverable Utica Shale gas, sadly decided to pull the trigger and commit economic suicide…
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