FERC Makes it Official: 1-Yr Limit State Water Permits for Pipes
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) is finally making official what has, until now, been unofficial (but enforceable via court orders): State environmental agencies have exactly one year to either grant or reject issuing a Clean Water Act Section (CWA) 401 permit for pipelines (and other federal projects) to cross rivers and streams and wetlands. A final rule is now drafted and 90 days after it’s published in the Federal Register the rule will be in place and enforceable.
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Make no mistake–Big Oil companies like Exxon, Chevron, and Shell are not friends of the shale industry. Indeed, these so-called supermajors despise smaller competitors called independents. Which explains why these three companies, along with seven other major oil and gas companies, acted like sycophants in a meeting yesterday, obsequiously bowing before dementia Joe’s attack dog Gina McCarthy in pledging their undying support of a carbon tax that they foolishly believe won’t somehow end up shutting down their own companies. For big, important people, the CEOs of these companies sure can be stupid.
Just two of the three M-U states received permits to drill new shale wells last week. Pennsylvania received only 3 new permits for two drillers. One of the two is a completely new company for us! Ohio received 0 new permits last week. And West Virginia received 7 new permits, all for the same company in the same county on the same well pad as all of the permits issued two weeks ago.
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Heavily discounted basis in Appalachia hits tipping point as injection season nears; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: US liquefied natural gas project scrapped; NATIONAL: U.S. LNG exports in EIA’s AEO2021 side cases vary with crude oil, natural gas prices; Shale drillers rushing to refinance debt at record-low rates; U.S. LNG exports on track to hit record high in March; INTERNATIONAL: China buys more Iranian and Venezuelan oil, in a test for Biden.
All the wheels have officially come off the cart for a proposed $346 million pipeline project in northeastern Virginia called the Header Improvement Project. Virginia Natural Gas (VNG) filed a plan last December to build the Header Improvement Project, 24 miles of new pipeline and two new compressor stations (expanding a third compressor) connecting to the mighty Transco pipeline system to flow Marcellus/Utica gas to the northeast Virginia region (see 
In February West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice announced a plan to eliminate the state’s personal income tax. Who wouldn’t love that idea? But in order to replace the $2.1 billion received annually from the personal income tax, Justice would raise other taxes, including a tiered system that potentially raises the state’s oil and gas severance tax (see 
In February we told you about a group of radicalized anti-fossil fuelers who raised a stink with the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) over the DEP’s routine, nothing-to-see-here renewal of permits for already-running (with no operational problems) shale wastewater recycling facilities scattered around the state (see 
Democrats in Congress continue a vendetta against the fossil fuel (and shale) industry. Their latest attack? House of Representatives (HR) Bill 1512, the Climate Leadership and Environmental Action for our Nation’s Future Act (or CLEAN Future) Act. The bill gives vast powers to the unelected bureaucrats at the EPA to set new regulatory demands before permits can be approved for facilities that produce plastics or the raw materials used to produce plastics, such as ethylene or propylene. A better name would be BANCP (Block All New Cracker Plants) Act.
Two radical left Democrat FERC commissioners and one backstabbing RINO FERC commissioner voted last week to approve an 87-mile natural gas pipeline project in South Dakota and Nebraska. So a natural gas pipeline was approved by two Dems and a RINO (this is not a joke setup). The approval is a good thing, right? No, it’s not. The criteria they used in approving the project establishes a new precedent, new guidelines, that will be used for all pipeline projects going forward. The precedent is to consider how much man-made global warming a new pipeline will generate, which is (of course) nonsensical and can’t actually be measured. In other words, these three will now use made-up, pretend nonsense numbers of their own choosing to decide whether or not to approve any and all pipeline projects moving forward.
Some good news to share as we exit yet another work week. The Enverus U.S. rig count pushed to a fresh 11-month high in the week ended March 17, passing by the 500-mark (502 active rigs). Oil rigs climbed by 4 to 375 (although the Permian lost 2 rigs). Gas rigs were up 6 at 127 active rigs. The Marcellus dropped 2 rigs but gained 1 for a net +1 addition. The Utica stayed even. The M-U collectively had 44 active rigs operating over the past week. The M-U’s primary competitor for rigs, the gassy Haynesville, gained a rig and operated 47 rigs over the past week.
Here’s another “XPress” pipeline to add to Columbia’s (TC Energy’s) long list of other XPress pipelines: East Lateral XPress. Columbia has built a number of XPress pipelines, including Gulf XPress, Mountaineer XPress, WB Xpress, Leach XPress, Rayne XPress, Buckeye XPress, and Louisiana XPress, all of which work together to flow (in part) Marcellus/Utica natural gas to points south, including to the Gulf Coast (
Shale and conventional oil and gas drillers in West Virginia listen up: If you file for a modification to a previously filed permit request, it’s going to cost you $2,500. Currently, it costs nothing. Senate Bill (SB) 404 passed the Senate last week unanimously. On Wednesday the House of Delegates approved it by a vote of 77-22. We expect Gov. Jim Justice will sign it.
Really Dick? This is what you spend your time on these days? Digging up long-addressed and settled and resolved actions (from SIX YEARS ago)–old infractions by pipeline companies like Energy Transfer’s Rover Pipeline. Claiming you will “not look the other way” when there’s a violation (a violation that happened long before you were even a FERC Commissioner). Whoa, you’re such a big man. So self-righteous. Glick is now digging up old pipeline sins to parade around once again. It’s like a dog that buried roadkill a year ago and recently rediscovered the spot, dug it up, and now drags the old rotting carcass around the yard for all to see, all proud of himself.
In July 2018 three radical environmental groups dropped their objections to permits the Pennsylvania DEP previously granted for the Mariner East 2 Pipeline. Clean Air Council, Mountain Watershed Association, and THE Delaware Riverkeeper “settled” their appeal of 20 permits issued to Sunoco for the ME2 project (see