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Columbia, Williams SE Va. Pipeline Projects Get FERC Favorable EIS

Map showing the existing Columbia system and the sections being upgraded or replaced as part of VRP (click for larger version)

In August 2022, Columbia Gas Transmission (a subsidiary of TC Energy) filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to build the Virginia Reliability Project (VRP), which includes two new compressor units and the replacement of existing pipeline (see Columbia Files w/FERC to Replace 48 Miles of Pipe in Southeast Va.). VRP will add 100 MMcf/d of incremental capacity on Columbia’s system to service delivery points in southeast Virginia, namely for Virginia Natural Gas. The Columbia project works hand-in-glove with another project by a different company. Williams’ Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line (Transco) asked FERC if it could add new pipeline in an existing right-of-way and one new compressor station (see Transco Pipe Seeks to Build New Compressor Boosting Flows in Va.). The Commonwealth Energy Connector Project, as it is called, will build six miles of new pipeline within Transco’s existing right-of-way in Virginia, expand a meter station, and build a 30,500 hp electric motor-drive compressor. Both projects (considered together by FERC) recently received a favorable final environmental impact statement (EIS).
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Emissions Update for Proposed Dominion Peaker Plant in Va.

Dominion Energy, a huge utility company headquartered in Richmond, Virginia, recently revived a plan to build four small “peaker” electric generating plants in Chesterfield County, VA, a Richmond suburb (see Dominion Plans to Build 1,000-MW Gas Peaker Plant Near Richmond, VA). The Chesterfield Energy Reliability Center in the James River Industrial Center calls for building four 250-megawatt gas-fired power plants (1,000 MW total) that can jump into action during the coldest and hottest days of the year to help supply enough electricity for 250,000 homes. Last week, the Virginia Dept. of Environmental Quality (DEQ) shared an emissions analysis for the proposed project with the state Air Pollution Control Board. The meeting drew a contingent of protesters who looked and acted like freaks in a circus show — standard operating procedure for the left.
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Lefties Say Columbia Virginia Reliability Pipe Project is Racist

In August 2022, Columbia Gas Transmission (a subsidiary of TC Energy) filed with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to build the Virginia Reliability Project (VRP), which includes two new compressor units and the replacement of existing pipeline (see Columbia Files w/FERC to Replace 48 Miles of Pipe in Southeast Va.). VRP will add 100 MMcf/d of incremental capacity on Columbia’s system to service delivery points in southeast Virginia, namely Virginia Natural Gas. In April of this year, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a draft Environmental Impact State (dEIS) that finds the project won’t hurt Mom Nature (see Columbia Virginia Reliability Pipe Project Gets Favorable dEIS). Like mind-numbed robots, the radical left continues to spout nonsense that VRP is racist.
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MVP Files Lawsuit Against Anti Groups, Protesters for $4 Million

Aggressive “protesters” and the nonprofits that organize and send them out are finally getting some of their own medicine. Big Green funds frivolous lawsuits, and when those lawsuits are finally exhausted (and have failed), Big Green pays protesters to engage in illegal stunts aimed at shutting down the construction of projects like the 94% completed Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP). Protesters are aggressively attempting to delay the final 6% of MVP construction, even though the completion of MVP is guaranteed by an Act of Congress (see Equitrans Announces Mountain Valley Pipe to Get Completed in 2023). We’ve reported on the recent actions of MVP protesters in chaining themselves to construction equipment, forcing delays and costing money. Now, MVP intends to collect some of the money they’ve had to pay because of the illegal delays by protesters and the NGOs that sponsor them. It’s about time.
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2 More Out-of-State Protesters Arrested for Blocking MVP Constr.

On Saturday, August 26, a radicalized out-of-state “protester” (i.e., criminal) chained herself to a piece of excavating equipment being used in Montgomery County, Va., to drill and install the final pieces of Mountain Valley Pipeline (see Out-of-State MVP Protester Delays Drilling 7 Hrs – Arrested, Removed). That act of lawlessness was followed up by an act of terrorism on Thursday, August 31, in Franklin County, Va. (see Radicals Get Violent, Burn MVP Excavators with Molotov Cocktails). Yesterday, two more out-of-state lunatics chained themselves to excavating equipment–once again in Montgomery County.
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Radicals Get Violent, Burn MVP Excavators with Molotov Cocktails

Yesterday morning at around 5 a.m., one or more persons used “homemade incendiary devices” (i.e., Molotov cocktails) to destroy two pieces of heavy equipment used for excavating a path for the Mountain Valley Pipeline. The crime happened in the Boones Mill section of Franklin County, Virginia. Virginia State Police, along with the FBI and BATF, are looking for the criminals, seeking the public’s help in tracking down these pieces of human debris.
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7 New Pipeline Projects Planned to Handle 2 Bcf/d from MVP

Last week, MDN brought you information about what happens next when (not if) the mighty 303-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline gets completed (see MVP Prompts New Pipe Expansions for Hungry Downstream Customers). MVP is built to flow 2 Bcf/d (billion cubic feet per day) of Marcellus/Utica gas southward. The problem is there isn’t (yet) enough takeaway capacity at the end of MVP to handle a full 2 Bcf/d of gas. Nor will there be when MVP gets completed by the end of this year (or the beginning of next year). Howeever, there are seven new pipeline projects actively being planned that can help handle the extra load. We have the list.
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Analysts Say MVP Southgate Pipe in NC Not Likely to Get Built

Equitrans Midstream, the builder of the 303-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) project, proposed to extend the pipeline by an extra 75 miles from the current terminus in Pittsylvania County, VA, to Alamance County, NC, to provide natural gas for heating and electric generation. The extension is called MVP Southgate. In typical fashion, Democrats oppose it (see NC Leftist Gov. Cooper Asks FERC to Deny MVP Southgate More Time and 52 NC Legislators Join Gov. in Seeking to Block MVP Southgate). Some energy analysts are chiming in with their view that MVP Southgate will never get built.
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Out-of-State MVP Protester Delays Drilling 7 Hrs – Arrested, Removed

An out-of-state, paid protester locked herself to a piece of excavating equipment used to build the Mountain Valley Pipeline early Saturday morning in Montgomery County, Va. She used a sleeping dragon device (arms in a PVC pipe wrapped in duct tape). She was there for seven hours, causing a delay. Virginia State Troopers and Montgomery County Sheriffs finally freed and arrested her. The unnamed protester was charged with a misdemeanor, and bail was set at $2,500. Here’s the thing: She was there protesting the pipeline because it’s fossil energy–yet the device she used, the sleeping dragon, was made from fossil energy! What a dodo bird.
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Analyst Says MVP Not Ready Until Mid-2024; Won’t Spur New Drilling

East Daley Analytics, based in Colorado, is a consulting firm that specializes in identifying, understanding, and monitoring operational risk throughout the oil and gas value chain. A “Daley Note” published yesterday by the company focused on the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP), providing a status update and a couple of intriguing (some might say controversial) comments. East Daley says while Equitrans, the builder of MVP, says it will finish the project by the end of this year, East Daley’s analysts don’t think so. East Daley also says when (not if) the pipeline gets done and comes online, the newly available capacity won’t translate into new/more shale drilling in the Marcellus/Utica–at least not initially.
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MVP Restarted Va. Construction Aug 4th, 8 Stream Crossings So Far

An Act of Congress (the Fiscal Responsibility Act) cleared away the remaining obstacles to completing the 303-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline (see Equitrans Announces Mountain Valley Pipe to Get Completed in 2023). After a final appeal by antis with their colluding buddies of the 4th Circuit threatened to block the Fiscal Responsibility Act’s MVP provisions, the U.S. Supreme Court stepped in and overruled the 4th Circuit (see Supreme Court Overturns 4th Circuit, MVP to Restart Construction). Following the Supremes’ decision, MVP restarted construction–on August 4 in Virginia. Since then, MVP has installed pipelines through (or under) eight streams and wetlands, and the work continues at a brisk pace.
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MVP Prompts New Pipe Expansions for Hungry Downstream Customers

With the 303-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) now in construction high gear to finish the final 6% of the project, the question becomes can and how will an extra 2 Bcf/d (billion cubic feet per day) of Marcellus/Utica gas make it to the end of the pipeline, and from there, onward to other destinations in the Southeast? The short answer is yes; there’s certainly enough demand for an extra 2 Bcf/d of gas. The longer answer is that it will take time to ramp up to the point a full 2 Bcf/d is being transported and sold. If MVP comes online by the end of this year, it’s doubtful a full 2 Bcf/d will flow. Not because of supply issues–there are plenty of customers, and the pipeline has contracts to fill it to capacity. And not because of technical issues–the pipeline is rated for a full 2 Bcf/d. More gas won’t flow initially because connecting pipelines on the other end currently can’t handle the extra 2 Bcf/d that will come at them. Right now, there’s not enough capacity on other pipelines, which means when MVP begins to flow, it may be flowing only one-third of its rated capacity of 2 Bcf/d.
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Final Lawsuit Against MVP Holds on by a Thread in DC Circuit

In April, the U.S. Supreme Court breathed new life into a long-running lawsuit funded by Big Green groups using (abusing) a small group of uppity Virginia landowners who argue the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) had no right to delegate authority to Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) to use eminent domain to cross land, including the land owned by the small group of uppity landowners in Virginia (see US Supreme Court Keeps MVP Eminent Domain Case Alive in Lower Court). The aim of the lawsuit is to prevent any private company from using eminent domain ever again to build public infrastructure. That lawsuit still hangs on by a thread in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia (D.C. Circuit). It is the last remaining lawsuit that could spell trouble for MVP and all pipelines.
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PHMSA Orders Safety Inspections of Buried & Unburied MVP Pipe

Yesterday we told you the liars of the left are doing their best to sew disinformation and fear about Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) and the installation of the remaining 6% of the pipeline that’s not already in the ground (see MVP Antis Spread Lies About Pipes Sitting in the Sun Too Long). The fearmongering has had the desired effect. The Biden Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (PHMSA) issued orders to Equitrans Midstream, the builder of MVP, to undertake a series of safety inspections along the entire 303-mile project. The inspections include some segments already in the ground and pipeline segments stored aboveground.
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4th Circuit Sees the Light, Dismisses Remaining Two MVP Lawsuits

Looks like the three Democrat judges of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit (4th Circuit) value their own jobs more than defeating the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) project. On Friday, the three-judge panel that has opposed MVP in just about every decision they’ve issued since 2018 dismissed the remaining two cases against MVP after being overruled by the U.S. Supreme Court two weeks ago (see Supreme Court Overturns 4th Circuit, MVP to Restart Construction). Best not to further inflame the Supremes.
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MVP Antis Spread Lies About Pipes Sitting in the Sun Too Long

Even though the radicalized left has been defeated in their attempts to block the 303-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) project, they won’t go quietly (they never do). The liars of the left are trying to plant seeds of fear and doubt in the residents of West Virginia and Virginia that as soon as the remaining 6% of MVP pipe is buried in the ground and begins to flow, a piece of that newly installed pipeline will blow up because the pipe has been sitting above ground for years and the special epoxy coating that prevents corrosion has degraded by sitting in the sun. Yet another lie from the left.
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