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Sierra Club Asks 4th Circus Clowns to Overturn VA, WV Permits for MVP
The Sierra Club, which is likely funded (in part) by foreign bad-acting countries including Russia and China (see EPA Asks DOJ to Investigate Green Groups $$ from Russia, China), is once again using their considerable wealth to challenge recently-issued permits by both Virginia and West Virginia that allow the 303-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) to finish the final 6% of the pipeline not yet built. The permits were made under the federal Clean Water Act’s Section 401 and allow the pipeline to cross creeks and rivers. It is the final major aspect of the project not yet done.
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Some really good (and expected) news to report. The West Virginia Dept. of Environmental Protection (WV DEP) issued a key permit for the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) to finish work crossing rivers and streams in the Mountain State. MVP, a 303-mile pipeline from West Virginia into southern Virginia, is currently 94% built and in the ground. There are several portions left to complete it, including crossing rivers and streams in both Virginia and West Virginia. The permits needed to do so come from three sources: the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Virginia Water Control Board, and WV DEP.
It was one year ago that West Virginia’s two oil and gas trade associations, the Independent Oil and Gas Association of West Virginia (IOGAWV) and the West Virginia Oil and Natural Gas Association (WVONGA) merged into one new organization called the Gas and Oil Association of WV, or GO-WV (see 
There was a decent number of new permits issued across all three actively drilling Marcellus/Utica states cumulatively last week. In Pennsylvania, 19 new shale well permits were issued across the state. In Ohio, three new shale permits were issued. West Virginia issued 8 new shale permits last week, with five going to a company we had not previously heard of.
Project Canary, a program that certifies natural gas drillers and pipeline companies as producing responsibly sourced gas (RSG), continues to make big inroads in the Marcellus/Utica. Earlier this week MDN told you that Olympus Energy will use Project Canary to certify both its drilling and (believed to be a first in the country) its gathering pipeline system (see 
The EQT Foundation was established in 2003 as a dedicated resource for financial, in-kind, and volunteer support to communities where EQT works and has a presence. Since its inception, the EQT Foundation has awarded more than $60 million to nonprofits throughout the operational footprint of EQT. That is an amazing number! In honor of Giving Tuesday, yesterday EQT announced the launch of two new giving programs to support the communities of Greene County, PA, and Wetzel County, WV.
West Virginia, the state legislature in particular, is up to its collective neck in a mess of its own making. The legislature passed House Bill (HB) 2581 on the last day of the annual WV legislative session in April. HB 2581 changes how the State Tax Department values producing oil and gas wells for property tax purposes (see 
In early September the Weirton, WV Zoning Board of Appeals rejected a request by Southwestern Energy to build a well pad inside city limits (see 