Mountain Valley Pipe Permit in Va. Delayed After Montana Decision
Disgusting anti-fossil fuel lunatics have hassled the Keystone XL oil pipeline in the Midwest with frivolous lawsuits for years. Last week an Obama-appointed liberal judge serving in Montana, U.S. District Judge Brian Morris, vacated a permit for the Keystone project, once again stopping construction. The permit vacated was issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and is called a Nationwide Permit 12–the equivalent of a Section 401 permit under the Clean Water Act–allowing projects like pipelines to be built across or under streams, rivers and “wetlands” (swamps). The problem with the judge’s action is that it potentially affects all pipeline projects across the country using an NP12 permit–including the delayed Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP), a 303-mile Marcellus/Utica gas pipeline from West Virginia to southern Virginia.
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Virginia Natural Gas (VNG), a company that serves customers in northeastern Virginia, wants to build new natural gas infrastructure in Prince William and Fauquier counties. VNG is seeking state approval to build 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 region. The Header Improvement Project, as it’s called, will help service VNG’s 300,000 natural gas customers and is needed to deliver natural gas to two proposed new gas-fired power plants.
The Narragansett Indian Tribe in Rhode Island won’t be smoking the peace pipe any time soon. The Tribe tried to block construction of Tennessee Gas Pipeline’s (TGP) Connecticut Expansion pipeline project as a violation the National Historic Preservation Act by not protecting “ceremonial stone landscapes” supposedly found along the path of the pipeline (see 
Marcellus/Utica propane flows from eastern Ohio and southwestern Pennsylvania all the way to southeastern PA via the Mariner East pipelines (ME1 and ME2). A petrochemical facility operated by Braskem America in Marcus Hook (near Philadelphia) processes some of that propane, turning it into polypropylene–the raw plastic used to make N95 masks, hospital gowns, and sanitary wipes–items in critical demand right now to protect health care workers against the COVID-19 coronavirus. This will bring tears to your eyes as it did ours: Some 40 workers at the Braskem plant voluntarily decided to stay at the plant for 28 days straight–working 12-hour shifts–not leaving once during that time so they could be sure of no COVID contamination while they worked to make polypropylene that in turn would be used to make personal protective equipment for healthcare workers. We salute them one and all!
Michael Moore, the uber-leftist filmmaker, has just trained his sights on destroying his own leftist brethren in the Big Green movement. Two days ago Moore released a full-length documentary on Youtube called “Planet of the Humans” (embedded below) questioning the claims of “green” wind and solar farms, pointing out the environmental destruction being caused by so-called “renewables.” Moore is no longer on the Christmas card list of Big Green groups after this one.
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: CNX Responds to the COVID-19 Crisis; Montgomery County to receive $181,000 rebate for using compressed natural gas; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Reeling Oklahoma oil producers win right to keep leases while wells shut; NATIONAL: ‘Roller coaster’ continues at full speed for natural gas futures; Senators call for federal government loans to U.S. energy producers; Baker Hughes confident natural gas markets improving; Class 8 natural gas truck sales increase nearly 30 percent.
Yesterday MDN told you that miracle of miracles, the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) has finally, after more than two years of evaluation, granted a permit to build a wastewater injection well in Plum Boro in Allegheny County, near Pittsburgh (see 
A fairy tale is a made-up story. Fiction. Something not rooted in truth or science. That’s what the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) recently issued in a so-called report about how man-made global warming (euphemized to be “climate change”) is going to toast the Keystone State. Aside from the fact man-made global warming is non-existent, want to know how we know this report is a fairy tale? The DEP, with a straight face, says chicken farms will double by 2050…because the warmer climate will make PA more conducive to raising chickens and by then it will be too hot for chicken farms in southern states.
One of the worst overreaches and offenses of the Obamadroids was to redefine what “waters of the United States” (or WOTUS) actually means. As they were getting ready to leave power, the Obama EPA redefined WOTUS as everything down to large mud puddles–no lie (see 
The number crunchers at our favorite government agency, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), have analyzed recent additions to the national electric grid–the new power generating plants that have been added. As you know, electricity can be generated by coal, natural gas, water (hydro), nuclear and yes, so-called renewables. At first blush, the report issued by EIA yesterday looks to be a win for renewables. In 2019 onshore wind added 9,100 megawatts of new electricity and solar added 5,300 MW of new electricity (combined total of 14,400). In 2019 natural gas added 8,300 MW of new electricity to the grid. Yet when you look at the bigger picture, how much electricity is generated by any given single source, natgas produces far more electricity than any other source.
As the price of oil continues to crash and burn, U.S. shale oil companies are “living a nightmare.” Companies are now laying off employees by the thousands and beginning to shut-in wells. Everyone is holding their collective breath waiting for a tidal wave of bankruptcies, hoping it won’t come, fearing it will. What is it like living inside the oil price crash bubble in Texas? Believe it or not, an article in the well known fake news source New York Times does a pretty good job of describing the hell that America’s shale oil companies are now living through. A quote from one operator: “April is going to be terrible, but May is going to be impossible.” And, “I’m just living a nightmare.” That about sums it up.
Earth Day is the day Big Green has a collective orgasm over Mom Earth and their efforts to keep her clean. We have no issue with responsible stewardship of our natural resources and keeping the environment clean. Everyone (with a brain) aspires to that. We do have a problem with worshiping the creation instead of the Creator. Worshiping the earth is what Earth Day is all about. Each year it gets nuttier than the last. This year is the 50th year so-called Earth Day (as a “thing”) has been celebrated. We celebrate Earth Day each year by celebrating the life-changing good brought to humankind by fossil fuels.
Frankly, we’re speechless. Yesterday the price of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) oil for near-term May contracts went from trading at $18.27 per barrel (bbl) to minus $37.63, a drop of $55.90 in a single day. This is the first time in history sellers of oil in the U.S. (more properly the contracts to buy oil) are paying buyers to accept it–because the sellers have no place to store physical oil should they keep the contracts. This is a complete and utter meltdown in the oil market. Trading for May contracts ends today, thank God. The June contract is (so far) showing deals trading at $15.59/bbl. That’s still a disaster, but not as bad as paying someone else to take the oil! What caused this price crash, and where does it go from here?