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Williams Sues Competitor MVP Southgate Over NC Route
Williams, via its wholly-owned subsidiary Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line (Transco), has filed a lawsuit against Mountain Valley Pipeline (a competitor) over MVP’s plan to extend the pipeline an extra 75 miles from southern Virginia into North Carolina. Williams claims some of the land MVP wants to use under eminent domain crosses into Transco’s easements and building MVP so close to Transco may damage Transco’s pipeline and the cathodic anti-corrosion system that protects it.
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A third Pennsylvania township, Clara Township in Potter County, is about to be lured onto the same litigation rocks by the siren song of the uber-radical Community Environmental Legal Defense Fund (CELDF) as two other towns, by adopting an illegal “home rule” law in an attempt to block a new wastewater injection well. CELDF lured two other towns onto the same litigation rocks, where they’ve crashed–Grant Township in Indiana County and Highland Township in Elk County. Both towns were sued by the state Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) when they tried to block injection wells using the same home rule tactic (see 
Earlier this week the Ohio Supreme Court expanded on one of its prior rulings concerning the Ohio Marketable Title Act (MTA) to try and make things a little bit clearer concerning previously severed mineral rights (severed from surface rights). What is at stake in the MTA is whether surface rights owners can regain possession of mineral rights by using the MTA–at least in some cases. Indeed they can, but certain rules must be obeyed.
OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Iowa House passes bill banning anti-natural gas, propane ordinances; NATIONAL: EIA expects crude oil prices to rise through April because of lower OPEC production; Understanding the volatile relationship between LNG and global gas markets; U.S. shale prioritizing debt over drilling, just as OPEC predicted; Oil and gas industry isn’t going away anytime soon; INTERNATIONAL: Russia: LNG action plan approved.
New Fortress Energy (NFE), the brainchild of billionaire Wes Edens, came out of nowhere just a few years ago to become one of the world’s leading natural gas infrastructure and logistics operators, delivering natural gas (typically LNG) to customers in a number of other countries. NFE also builds and operates gas-fired electric plants in some of those countries. They own most of the supply chain, from liquefying the gas to shipping it, unloading it, and using it in plants built and operated by the company. We track NFE for their plan to build an LNG liquefaction plant in Bradford County, PA (northeastern part of the state). What’s happening with that project?
Just at the time U.S. exports of LNG are once again ramping up, along comes a “bipartisan” group of legislators proposing a bill to require some LNG exports (as well as some petroleum exports) to be transported from our shores on U.S.-built and U.S.-flagged LNG carriers. The problem is, none currently exist! This is yet another massive screwup coming from some who mean well, and some who don’t. Some of the people backing the bill, like hapless Sen. Bob Casey (from Pennsylvania) likely don’t know this bill will destroy exports of Marcellus/Utica molecules. He’s just too dull to comprehend it. But others, we suspect, know exactly what this bill would do.
All three M-U states received permits to drill new shale wells last week. Pennsylvania received 18 new permits for three drillers, all of them in the western part of the state. Ohio received 5 new permits for two different drillers. And West Virginia received 5 new permits, all for the same company in the same county on the same well pad.
Gulfport Energy continues to try and wiggle out of legally-signed and binding long-term contracts with multiple pipeline companies, including deals that move Marcellus/Utica gas through the Rover and Rockies Express (REX) pipelines. Last year the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) told Gulfport a very loud NO in breaking those contracts (see 
Nuverra Environmental Solutions (formerly Heckmann) is one of the largest companies in the United States that handles transportation and disposal of shale drilling wastewater and leftover rock and dirt from drilling. The company has major operations in the Marcellus/Utica region. In November, the company reported less-than-rosy results for the third quarter, because of the coronavirus and producers slowing down their drilling programs (see