Columbia, Williams SE Va. Pipe Projects Now Fully Permitted to Build
Two related pipeline projects in southeast Virginia now have all regulatory approvals in hand, and the projects will soon begin construction. Columbia Gas Transmission (a subsidiary of TC Energy) applied 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. VRP will dig up, replace, and double the size of two sections, or about 48 miles, of the Columbia Gas pipeline between Chesapeake and Petersburg. Williams’ Commonwealth Energy Connector Project will feed VRP by building six miles of new pipeline within Transco’s existing right-of-way in Virginia, expanding a meter station, and building a 30,500-hp electric motor-drive compressor. Both projects received final approval by FERC in November (see Columbia, Williams SE Va. Pipe Projects Get FERC Approval to Build).
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Olympus Energy (formerly Huntley & Huntley) drills in the Greater Pittsburgh region, in Allegheny and Westmoreland counties. In 2021, Olympus applied to build a new well pad in a rural part of Allegheny County, in West Deer Township. So-called “concerned citizens” got amped up to oppose the project. They succeeded when town supervisors rejected the Dionysus well pad (see 
The left in Ohio is up in arms again. It’s always up in arms. Everything is a crisis. Everything is a climate tragedy. Everything is a conspiracy — so says the environmental left. Last Thursday, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine signed House Bill (HB) 201 into law. A provision was tacked onto HB 201 late in the legislative process, several weeks before it was passed, that allows natural gas utility companies to charge customers a piddly $1.50 per month ($18 per year) to help fund new pipelines that will get built in rural areas to industrial sites — areas without existing natgas pipes. The aim is to attract new businesses to locate in the Buckeye State. Many companies won’t consider a potential site without cheap, easy access to natural gas already installed. HB 201 helps make it much more likely a business will consider a site in Ohio, given access to cheap Utica Shale gas. Cue the enviro left’s shrill response.
Columbia Gas of Ohio will start work this spring to replace a 4.3-mile section of a 20-inch natural gas pipeline from Clintonville to North Linden (Columbus), a key piece of infrastructure that brings gas to thousands of homes throughout central Ohio. Columbia Gas purchased and will demolish several buildings along the pipeline’s route as part of the project. The work is scheduled to begin in April and finish by the end of the year. Columbia’s president and chief operating officer, Vince Parisi, says the pipeline is “our backbone of Columbus” and is “pretty critical” to natural gas distribution throughout the region.
In what has become a repeating pattern, indicating we may have hit bottom, last week, the Baker Hughes U.S. rig count added two rigs, going from 620 two weeks ago to 622 last week. The pattern is to lose a few and then gain a few every couple of weeks. After Pennsylvania lost a rig two weeks ago (see 
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