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    DC Court of Appeals Legislates New Law re FERC & Global Warming

    Yesterday the D.C. Court of Appeals ruled in a case that may have long-term, very negative consequences for the oil and gas industry related to pipeline development. The profoundly litigious (and anti-fossil fuel) radicals of the Sierra Club previously filed a lawsuit against the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) blaming FERC for not considering mythical man-made global warming as it conducted a review of three pipelines in the southeast. The Southeast Market Pipelines Project is an umbrella project for three natural gas pipelines in Alabama, Georgia, and Florida. The linchpin of the project is the Sabal Trail pipeline, which travels from Tallapoosa County in eastern Alabama, across southwestern Georgia, and down to Osceola County, Florida, just south of Orlando (nearly 500 miles). Sabal Trail will connect with two other pipelines. The first is the Hillabee Expansion, which will boost the capacity of an existing pipeline in Alabama and feed gas to Sabal Trail’s upstream end for transport to Florida. The downstream end of Sabal Trail connects to the Florida Southeast Connection, linking to a power plant in Martin County, Florida, 120 miles away. MDN has covered Sabal Trail and the Hillabee Expansion because of its potential to flow Marcellus/Utica gas all the way to Florida (see Williams Hillabee Project Goes Online, NatGas Flowing to Florida). The Sierra Club nutters said the three projects together didn’t take into consideration an increase in carbon and methane that would result from the three projects getting approved, and that said carbon and methane will contribute to (don’t laugh) global warming. The D.C. Court of Appeals agreed (copy of the decision below) and has instructed FERC to reconsider its environmental assessment of the three projects–vacating an approval of the main part of the project, the Sabal Trail pipeline. Just one teeny tiny problem (for the nutters), all three pipelines–Sabal Trail, Hillabee Expansion and Florida Southeast Connection–are up and running. While the radicals hope the three will now be shut down, that’s unlikely to happen. Frankly, it’s all a mess at this point with respect to those specific pipelines and their future. The larger consideration coming from this court decision, however, is for projects not yet FERC approved, including (according to the Sierra Club) the PennEast Pipeline, which they sincerely hope FERC will now not approve…
    Read More “DC Court of Appeals Legislates New Law re FERC & Global Warming”

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    PTT Global Buying Land Next to Proposed Ohio Cracker Site

    Work is now underway on Shell’s $6 billion ethane cracker in Beaver County, PA. What’s the status of the region’s second likely cracker plant, in Ohio? PTT Global Chemical previously announced they are interested in building a $5 billion petrochemical complex, including an ethane cracker, in Belmont County, OH at the site of the old R.E. Burger power plant. However, they have repeatedly said a “final investment decision” (FID) will not happen until the end of 2017. This is the same routine Shell used. In fact, Shell dragged out their FID a lot longer than PTT has. As with Shell, we look for signals that the FID will be a positive decision to move forward with construction. And as with Shell, we see those positive signs. Shell purchased the land for the site before announcing their FID. As we told you last month, PTT has now done the same–buying the former R.E. Burger site from FirstEnergy for $13.8 million (see PTT Global Buys Land for Belmont, OH Ethane Cracker Plant). Shell then bought some of the surrounding land next to the original site. And now we see the same behavior from PTT, which has signed option agreements to buy land from eight properties in the area close to the R.E. Burger site. We take that as a VERY good sign about the future of this project…
    Read More “PTT Global Buying Land Next to Proposed Ohio Cracker Site”

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    FERC Issues Rover 8 Commandments to Restart Horizontal Drilling

    Rover is a $3.7 billion, 711-mile natural gas pipeline that will run from PA, WV and eastern OH through OH into Michigan and eventually into Canada. While Phase 1A of the pipeline is essentially done and ready to begin service by the end of this month (see Rover Pipe Ready to Flow! Seeks FERC Permission for Aug 31 Start), other important parts of the pipeline are not done. If Rover wants the entire pipeline to be up and running by the end of the year, they must restart underground horizontal directional drilling (HDD) in various locations where it is now stopped. In Ohio, Rover experienced a series of mishaps, the most serious of which spilled 2 million gallons of non-toxic drilling mud in a swamp near the Tuscarawas River back in April (see Rover Pipeline Accident Spills ~2M Gal. Drilling Mud in OH Swamp). An investigation by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (OEPA) found the presence of diesel fuel in the drilling mud, which means the mud wasn’t so non-toxic after all (see OH EPA Says Diesel Fuel Found in Rover 2M Gal Drilling Mud Spill). Rover believes sabotage may have been the cause (see ET Says Accident or Anti Sabotage Caused Diesel in Rover Mud Leaks). Since April, FERC has blocked all new underground HDD for the Rover project. Rover has asked (begged, pleaded) FERC, several times, for permission to restart the HDD work–at least in a few select locations. In July FERC gave Rover an initial todo list to get back in its good graces, but still would not lift the ban on HDD (see Frustrated FERC Gives Rover Todo List, HDD Drilling Still Blocked). FERC has finally responded with a list of eight (big) things Rover must do before HDD drilling can restart. We call them FERC’s Eight Commandments…
    Read More “FERC Issues Rover 8 Commandments to Restart Horizontal Drilling”

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    Energy Transfer Sues Big Green Groups for Inciting Terrorism in ND

    It’s about time our side litigated back! Energy Transfer, the company that built the Dakota Access Pipeline, filed a lawsuit yesterday against rabid, radical “green” organizations including Greenpeace, Earth First! and others, for manufacturing and disseminating “materially false and misleading information about Energy Transfer and the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) for the purpose of fraudulently inducing donations, interfering with pipeline construction activities and damaging Energy Transfer’s critical business and financial relationships.” Because of Greenpeace and other Big Green groups, DAPL was delayed, people were hurt during protests, violent acts were committed, property was damaged and the environment that the protesters profess to love was also damaged. It was a coordinated and organized attack against Energy Transfer, so the federal lawsuit is suing using federal and state racketeering statutes. Energy Transfer says Greenpeace led an organized effort to put eco-terrorists on the ground among regular protesters. Finally! Someone willing to call out these jerks and take the fight back to them! You may wonder why we cover this story here on MDN. Energy Transfer is also building the Rover and Mariner East 2 pipeline projects here in the Marcellus/Utica region. Both projects are vigorously opposed by Big Green groups with paid protesters. This lawsuit puts other Big Green groups on notice–your days of smearing and lying and agitating are over…
    Read More “Energy Transfer Sues Big Green Groups for Inciting Terrorism in ND”

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    Energy Attorneys Hint it’s ‘Lights Out’ for Constitution Pipeline

    On Monday we brought you the sad news that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has ruled against the Constitution Pipeline and their lawsuit against the Cuomo-corrupted New York Dept. of Environmental Conservation (see Court Rejects Constitution Pipe’s Case Against NY DEC; Now What?). To boil it down to its essence, the court said the DEC had the right to reject issuing stream crossing permits for the critically-needed pipeline, even though it would shut down the project. That is, individual states have the right to stop a federally-approved project. Frankly, it’s distressing. The one sliver of light is that the DEC took too long to issue their rejection–more than the one year allowed. Constitution may be able to request an approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), overruling the DEC, because the law in question provides that if a state doesn’t issue (or reject) a permit within one year of application, FERC then has the right to issue the permit. So we might still win on a technicality. That’s our hope. But we spotted analysis of this court decision by two energy attorneys–people who work for drilling-friendly law firms. Their analysis is sobering. They hint (our words) that it is likely “lights out” for the Constitution–that the project will not get built. Are they right?…
    Read More “Energy Attorneys Hint it’s ‘Lights Out’ for Constitution Pipeline”

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    NY AG Schneiderman Takes Russian Oil Money, Attacks US Shale

    NY AG Schneiderman

    If this doesn’t beat all. New York State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman has, for years, been at the center of a conspiracy to shake down Exxon Mobil by claiming the company “knew” that burning its fossil fuels would lead to man-made global warming, and that Exxon actively worked to suppress that knowledge in the public sphere. Earlier this year Schneiderman refused (still refuses) to turn over emails that show he has been colluding with Big Green groups and those who fund them in a conspiracy against Exxon (see NY’s AG Schneiderman Sowing the Seeds of His Own Destruction). It’s now time to remove Schneiderman from office. Evidence has come out that Schneiderman has accepted more than $60,000 from a Ukranian billionaire with ties to Russia’s big oil companies. That is, Scheiderman has taken campaign money (bribes?) from Russian oil–and turned around and attacked American oil and gas. Schneiderman is fully behind New York’s ban on fracking. He’s also in there fighting against natural gas pipelines. Scheiderman has also received a whopping $251,000 from liberal billionaire Communist George Soros (and the Soros family). Soros is another Exxon enemy. So how does that work Mr. Schneiderman? You take money from Russian Big Oil and Communists, only to turn around and attack America’s shale industry? Really? It’s corrupt, and Schneiderman needs to go, NOW…
    Read More “NY AG Schneiderman Takes Russian Oil Money, Attacks US Shale”

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    Radicals Admit #ExxonKnew Effort Aimed at Suppressing Free Speech

    A radical activist “closely aligned” with the #ExxonKnew campaign to try and bankrupt the oil giant has admitted the campaign is not really about a “cover-up” by Exxon that it “knew” global warming is real and that its oil/gas is contributing. In a bombshell admission, Naomi Oreskes says the #ExxonKnew campaign is actually about punishing Exxon for arguing against specific Big Green climate policies–not about what the company “knew”. That is, she admits it is about removing Exxon’s right to free speech. Shutting them up. Bullying them into silence. This is how free speech dies folks–when the fascist left demands nobody says anything they don’t like. Thankfully, Exxon is sticking up for free speech and our First Amendment rights…
    Read More “Radicals Admit #ExxonKnew Effort Aimed at Suppressing Free Speech”

  • Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Wed, Aug 23, 2017

    The “best of the rest” – stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading. In today’s lineup: Youngstown City Council votes today on anti-fracking charter amendment; rig count steady in Ohio Utica; Kinder Morgan pipe expansion in Connecticut topic of public hearing; antis flood Virginia gov with form letters opposing pipelines; BHP quits the shale business; red flag for US shale; Microsoft and Halliburton team up; PHMSA should play more active role in natgas pipelines; China’s LNG imports double; and more!
    Read More “Marcellus & Utica Shale Story Links: Wed, Aug 23, 2017”

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    PA State Senator Floats Bill to Make Criminal Protesters Pay

    PA residents in Lancaster County have a keeper in freshman Senator Scott Martin. Back in May MDN reported that Martin was cooking up legislation to send the cleanup bill for illegal protests–to the protesters (see PA State Senator Introducing Law to Send Protesters Cleanup Bill). The bill is now here–Senate Bill (SB) 754 (full copy below). Sen. Martin has refined his ideas. Law and order folks (those of us who are sane, rational people) are tired of the lawless actions by a few who oppose pipelines, drilling, Trump…whatever. Sen. Martin and those in the drilling/pipeline industry fully support free speech the right of antis to make fools of themselves. It provides entertainment! What Sen. Martin and those in the industry don’t support, however, is when paid protesting thugs break the law by destroying property and blocking access to legal businesses attempting to do legal work. We saw how so-called environmentalists (who were actually anarchists) “protested” in South Dakota–leaving behind an environmental disaster that cost millions to clean up–far worse than any pipeline spill would have been. Police and first responders were deployed–at a cost of millions of dollars. South Dakota bore most of the cost. That is, taxpayers paid for it. Under Sen. Martin’s bill, if protesters break the law while protesting in PA, incidents that require police and other first responders to handle the situation, those law-breaking protesters will pay the cost of said police and first responders. WE LOVE IT! It’s about time people were actually held accountable for their illegal actions…
    Read More “PA State Senator Floats Bill to Make Criminal Protesters Pay”

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    New 870 MW Gas-Fired Electric Plant in NW Ohio Begins Operation

    Oregon Clean Energy Center

    Ohio Gov. John Kasich officiated at a ceremony to launch a new Utica gas-fired electric generating plant in Oregon (Lucas County), near Toledo, yesterday. CME Energy’s Oregon Clean Energy Center plant will generate 870-megawatts of electricity, enough to power 700,000 homes. The plant cost $900 million to build and employed close to 1,000 people during construction (which began in Nov. 2014). Engineering firm Black & Veatch built the plant for CME. This is the first of 10 new Utica-fired projects either under construction or planned (see List of 10 Utica-Powered Electric Plant Projects Coming to Ohio). Gov. Kasich was jazzed about the new plant, calling it “the future” and “a big deal.” Indeed it is! The Oregon Clean Energy Center plant is “one of the most technologically advanced natural gas plants in the country.” Let’s pop a cork on the champagne bottle and join the celebration…
    Read More “New 870 MW Gas-Fired Electric Plant in NW Ohio Begins Operation”

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    KM Plans to Convert Tennessee Gas Pipeline to Flow M-U NGLs South

    TGP – section of pipeline to reverse & convert to NGLs (click for larger version)

    Here’s a story that wasn’t actively on our radar. It’s an old story, but is now in the news again with the recent quorum reestablished at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). In August 2013, exactly four years ago, midstream giant Kinder Morgan and competitor midstream company MarkWest Energy (now part of Marathon Petroleum) signed a joint venture agreement to repurpose a significant portion of Kinder’s Tennessee Gas Pipeline (964 miles of it) running from the Louisiana Gulf Coast to Ohio. That 964-mile portion of TGP currently flows natural gas from the Gulf northward. Kinder and MarkWest want to reverse the flow and instead flow natural gas liquids (NGL) through the pipeline from the Utica and Marcellus region south to the Gulf Coast. The project would also build a new 200-mile pipeline from TGP in Louisiana to Texas. In order to make the project happen, the first step is to ask FERC for permission to “abandon” (stop using) the 964-mile segment, called Pipeline No. 1, from Louisiana to Ohio. Which TGP did in Feb. 2015. The project progressed. Last November FERC issued a favorable environmental assessment for the project (full copy below). And then FERC lost a quorum of voting members in February of this year, stalling further progress. With a quorum now restored, antis in Kentucky, a state that seems to be allergic to any kind of pipeline for any purpose, have begun bellyaching about it. Which is what caught our attention. We’ve gathered together information we can find on this project–a potentially very important project–to move Marcellus/Utica NGLs to the Gulf Coast…
    Read More “KM Plans to Convert Tennessee Gas Pipeline to Flow M-U NGLs South”

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    Hypocrite Maryland Gov Hogan Throws Switch on NatGas Elec Plant

    Must be Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (Republican in Name Only) didn’t read the rest of the memo from his Big Green pals. You may recall Hogan, a first-term Republican, campaigned on a platform of supporting natural gas development in his state and after getting elected, he caved to radical Big Green extremists and signed a law that bans fracking (see Maryland Gov. Hogan Pulls the Trigger, Commits Fracking Suicide). You see, according to Hogan’s Big Green pals, extracting fracked gas is evil. Not only is extracting from the ground bad for the environment–burning it to produce electricity and burning it for fuel is evil too. It’s positively Satanic. Yet last week Hogan attended a ceremony to flip the switch on a brand new electric/heat generating plant at the Peninsula Regional Medical Center in Salisbury. That’s right. The new plant uses evil, Satanic fracked natural gas as its fuel! Anyone else see a problem here?…
    Read More “Hypocrite Maryland Gov Hogan Throws Switch on NatGas Elec Plant”

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    Using FOIA, Antis Discover 2 Minor Infractions by Rover in WV

    Anti-fossil fuel activists attempting to stop the unstoppable Rover Pipeline are doing their best to smear and prejudice people against the project. Rover has had its share of problems. We’ve chronicled those problems–like leaking 2 million gallons of drilling mud in Ohio when performing underground horizontal directional drilling (see Rover Pipeline Accident Spills ~2M Gal. Drilling Mud in OH Swamp). The company also had problems with water filling up trenches dug for the pipeline when severe rain hit (see OEPA & Rover at Odds Over Storm Water Runoff, “Fine” Now $714K). Rover also had problems in West Virginia. The WV Dept. of Environmental Protection to stop work in two of four counties after storm water runoff/erosion issues there (see WV DEP Orders Rover to Stop Pipe Construction in 2 of 4 Counties). The stop work order was lifted after a few weeks. Antis, using the Freedom of Information Act, have “discovered” that Rover was cited for similar issues in two other counties. However, WVDEP and Rover worked it out and resolved those issues…
    Read More “Using FOIA, Antis Discover 2 Minor Infractions by Rover in WV”

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    Coal Supporters Still Trying to Stop WV NatGas Electric Plants

    The West Virginia Public Service Commission will host a public hearing tomorrow on a proposed power plant in Brooke County, WV. The 750-megawatt Marcellus-fired electric plant will be built by Energy Solutions Consortium–the father and son team of Andrew and Matthew Dorn (based in Buffalo, NY). The Dorns are currently building another gas-fired plant–in Marshall County (see Progress for 3 WV NatGas Electric Plants; 1 Breaks Ground in 2016). In addition to Marshall and Brooke, the Dorns plan to build a third plant in Harrison County. The locals are on board with this project, which will generate millions in tax revenue and put some 400 people to work during construction. In March the Brooke County Commission and Brooke County Board of Education approved a PILOT (payment in lieu of taxes) for the project–meaning the plant will pay out $27.3 million to the county over 30 years. However, as has happened in the past, some misguided folks who advocate for (and work in) the coal industry are opposing the project. They think gas-fired electric plants will lead to layoffs in the coal industry…
    Read More “Coal Supporters Still Trying to Stop WV NatGas Electric Plants”

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    Antis Pressure Virginia DEQ to Delay or Deny Permits for 2 Pipelines

    Anti-fossil fuelers, aided and abetted by liberal local media, continues the drumbeat to pressure the Virginia Dept. of Environmental Quality to either block, or greatly slow down, approvals needed to build both the $5 billion, 594-mile Dominion Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP) project and the $3.5 billion, 301-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP). Both pipelines start in West Virginia. ACP crosses through Virginia and stretches into North Caroline. MVP terminates in southern Virginia. Some oppose the projects due to an insane hatred of fossil fuels (the same fossil fuels that make their existence and protest possible). Others don’t want a pipeline cutting across their favorite horse pasture. Ruins the look, ya know. There have been a blizzard of lawsuits and legal actions to try and stop both projects (see Corrosive Use of Legal System Attempts to Stop M-U Pipelines). However, antis have learned if they can pressure, coerce or otherwise threaten environmental agencies, that can be the most effective strategy of all. It has certainly worked in New York, where our Dept. of Environmental Conservation, bowing to political pressure, has (so far) blocked three urgent/critical pipeline projects. Virginia antis are hoping for a repeat there. If they can only pressure the DEQ into blocking or delaying ACP and MVP, it would give new meaning to their pathetic lives…
    Read More “Antis Pressure Virginia DEQ to Delay or Deny Permits for 2 Pipelines”

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    Dominion Asks FERC to Allow Feed Gas for Testing at Cove Point LNG

    Fantastic news to report! Dominion has asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) for permission to begin flowing feed gas (for testing purposes) to parts of the Cove Point LNG export facility. We are now getting close to startup at the facility, which is supposed to go online in the fourth quarter of this year. Cove Point sits along the coast of Maryland. Dominion began work on the $3.5 billion plant in 2015. When complete, the plant will liquefy and export 1.8 billion cubic feet per day (Bcf/d) of Marcellus/Utica Shale gas to India and Japan. Currently there is only one export facility in the U.S. in operation, along the coast of Louisiana (Cheniere Energy’s Sabine Pass). That one facility has fundamentally changed the economics of LNG (liquefied natural gas) here at home and around the world. Just imagine what another 1.8 Bcf/d will do! And it’s ALL from our region. Here’s more about the good news that Cove Point is ready to begin testing…
    Read More “Dominion Asks FERC to Allow Feed Gas for Testing at Cove Point LNG”