Energy Services | Equitrans/EQT Midstream | Industrywide Issues | Pipelines | Regulation | Statewide VA | Statewide WV | Virginia | West Virginia
MVP Essentially Done, Builder Asks FERC for OK to Start Up May 23
We never thought this day would arrive! We hoped. We prayed. But finally, it’s (almost) here. The 303-mile, 2 Bcf/d Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) is almost ready to begin operation. On Monday, Equitrans Midstream filed a letter (below) with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) requesting a May 23 startup date for the pipeline. MVP (Equitrans) says the pipeline will be in the ground, buried, and ready to begin on May 22 (called “mechanically complete”). Get the champagne on ice and ready…
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You have to hand it to the left. They never give up on their mission to destroy this country. Big Green groups using (abusing) six uppity Virginia landowners who didn’t want the 303-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline to cross their well-groomed horse pastures have appealed a lawsuit recently dismissed by a federal court to the U.S. Supreme Court one last time. That is, if the Supremes decide to consider it again. It’s an open question if the Supremes will accept the case back.
Every major (and most minor) drillers in the Marcellus/Utica have, over the past couple of years, signed on to one or more of the responsible gas certification authorities. Responsible or “certified” or “differentiated” gas is gas that is produced with lower methane emissions as certified by an outside organization like Project Canary, MiQ, or Equitable Origin. Given certification reviews cost big money, you would think (hope) there are actually customers on the other end who *want* to buy the certified natgas, and may be willing to pay a premium to get it. Utility companies are some of those customers who want to buy certified gas in order to comply with various mandates to lower emissions. But certified gas comes at a price — a price that gets passed on to end-user customers. How do they feel about paying more for certified gas?
In a new low, anti-fossil fuelers who have tried and failed to stop the Mountain Valley Pipeline in Virginia (now 99% done) are now attacking the reputation and character of the Director of the Virginia Dept. of Environmental Quality (DEQ), trying to slow things down with an ad hominem (“to the man” or “personal”) attack against the guy who oversees the environmental agency that has a partial role in watching over MVP. It’s shameful. DEQ Director Michael Rolband was appointed to his job by newly-elected Gov. Glenn Youngkin in 2022, back when MVP was already 95% done but stalled due to repeated lawfare by Big Green and cooperative (corrupt) 4th Circuit judges. Even though MVP was already mostly done in Virginia, antis say because Rolband — who did some work for MVP in his prior career before heading DEQ — is somehow compromised or unethical and not doing his oversight job correctly now. Complete hogwash!
Once again, Big Green is attempting to illegally block the final bits of construction of the 303-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline as it travels through Roanoke County, VA. Yesterday, two “protesters” chained or otherwise attached themselves to an old (junk) car, a car made entirely from and with fossil fuels, blocking a road that leads to an MVP construction site. We grow tired of reporting these incidents and debated on whether or not to report this one. However, MDN readers deserve to know how the lawless left behaves. Plus, one of the so-called protesters looks like he (or she) is…well, you can fill in the blank.
Two really big (huge) pieces of news are coming from yesterday’s Equitrans Midstream fourth quarter and full-year 2023 update. The first bit of news is that Equitrans is actively considering a buyout offer. The company doesn’t use that exact language, but that’s what’s happening. This should come as no surprise, given the rumor mill on a potential Equitrans sale heated up last December (see 
Yesterday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia (D.C. Circuit) delivered a HUGELY important decision. In April 2023, 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. The aim of the lawsuit is to prevent any private company from using eminent domain ever again to build public infrastructure — a true disaster of national importance. The D.C. Circuit said in an opinion yesterday that it lacks jurisdiction to rule on the matter, meaning it’s “case closed,” and MVP can finish up the final little bits (it’s about 99% done now).
Last Thursday, 29 far-left nutball groups wrote Mike Rolband, Director of the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), demanding that he issue a stop work order for the 99% completed Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) due to “repeated and widespread violations and damage to waterbodies and private property.” This isn’t the first time these groups have demanded regulators intervene to block MVP based on flimsy grounds. The 29 radical groups include Wild Virginia, The Wilderness Society, Virginia League of Conservation Voters, West Virginia Rivers Association, Chesapeake Climate Action Network, and others (most of them obscure, one-person “groups” pretending to be bigger than they are).
The 303-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP), which runs from Wetzel County, WV, to Pittsylvania County, VA, is nearly done, thanks to our recent warm weather. What’s left to do? Less than one mile of “upland” pipe to install, less than 50 water/wetland crossings, and just one more compression station to finish. According to Equitrans, the majority partner and builder of MVP, the pipeline will come online in March. Finally!!!!
Equitrans Midstream issued its third quarter update yesterday. As you might expect, there was much talk about completing the nearly-done Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) project. Near the top of Equitrans’ 3Q official update is this comment from CEO Thomas Karam: “Once in-service, there is little doubt MVP will be one of the most valuable pipelines in the U.S., directly connecting our country’s largest and lowest-cost natural gas resource and the rapidly growing demand of the mid-Atlantic and southeast markets.” MVP remains on track to be completed and online in 1Q24. We learned a few new details about MVP from the update. However, MVP wasn’t the only hot topic during yesterday’s update. We have new info about the Rager Mountain Natural Gas Storage Field incident, Ohio Valley Connector Expansion Project, and MVP Southgate.
Since work resumed in midsummer, 92 stream crossings had been completed through Oct. 1 for the 303-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) project, according to MVP spokeswoman Natalie Cox. About 330 crossings remain. Can the company realistically complete the rest of the work and get the pipeline operational by Dec. 31 (less than three months away)? That’s the multi-billion-dollar question. Some 4,200 construction workers are actively working on getting it done. It doesn’t help that highly organized “protests” are being inflicted on the project by Big Green-backed groups like Appalachians Against Pipeline.
The left thought it had won the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) battle with three colluding (corrupt) and sympathetic judges from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit (4th Circuit). But then Congress, under the leadership of House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, passed the “debt ceiling” bill that forces the completion of MVP (see 