FERC Approves Dominion Eastern Market Access Project for Startup
In October 2016, Dominion announced a new pipeline project called Eastern Market Access Project (see Dominion Announces $145M Project to Expand Gas Supply to DC & MD). The $145 million project was slated to beef up two compressor stations in Virginia, build a new compressor station in Maryland, and add a couple of pipeline taps near Washington, D.C. The new compressor station was eventually axed, and along with it some of the extra capacity. But Dominion completed the other work and last Friday the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) gave the OK to begin service.
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Sunoco Pipeline, a division/part of Energy Transfer, has just been fined (again) for work related to the construction of the Mariner East 2 pipeline project. This time around Sunoco got two fines: One for problems with their work in 2018, to the tune of $240,840, and one for work done back in 2017, to the tune of $78,621. Total bill: $319,461. So far the Mariner East project (ME1, ME2, and ME2X) has incurred over $13 million in fines with over 80 violations.
Last week the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) asked the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) to “reinitiate consultation” (i.e. reconsider) its earlier finding that the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) project would not significantly harm protected fish and bats in its path. FERC believes there is new information on which USFWS should consider when issuing a permit that allows the pipeline to accidentally kill a few threatened species during construction.
Must be it was “pile on Mountain Valley Pipeline” week last week. In addition to FERC requesting U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to pull a permit for the project (which happened), a small group of leftists fanned out and snapped pictures of supposed “violations” of the MVP project in West Virginia. The “volunteers” are spun by lefty media outlets as concerned, salt of the earth citizens. We call them pipeline snitches.
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: Investors are hoping for a great Rice 2.0 at EQT Corporation; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: FERC staff to prepare Environmental Assessment for Louisiana XPress project; NATIONAL: Fewer U.S. oil & gas rigs can’t slow record production; Baker Hughes takes a different path in struggling oilfield services sector; Battery Fantasy (video); INTERNATIONAL: China aims to rev up shale gas drive, wean itself off imports amid U.S. trade row; U.S. to help Poland, Ukraine disconnect from Russian gas.
Reversing a decision they made in January 2018 (see 
EdgeMarc Energy, headquartered in Canonsburg, PA (with 50,000 acres of Marcellus/Utica leases), filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in May, looking to sell all of the company’s assets (see 
Andrew Cuomo, so-called governor of New York State (more like a ruling mob boss), is feeling the heat from HIS decision to block the Northeast Supply Enhancement (NESE) pipeline from getting built to provide more gas to the New York City region. Because of HIS decision, National Grid, one of two natural gas utility companies for NYC and Long Island, has slapped a moratorium on all new customers of any kind from being added to the gas delivery system. If they add new customers, they run the risk of running out of gas during peak usage times in the winter. Cuomo is now threatening to replace National Grid as the utility supplier, displaying true mob boss-like behavior.
Last week the Pennsylvania Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) revoked the right of the Beaver County Conservation District (BCCD) to issue and monitor permits for erosion and sediment control, two permits used in building both pipelines and drill pads (see 
Pennsylvania antis from the Philadelphia area who don’t want pipelines running through their neighborhoods (NIMBY types) beat the drums of war so loud and for so long, they finally began to intimidate the non-partisan, shouldn’t-be-intimated PA Public Utility Commission (PUC). In June the PUC launched a “major review of its safety regulations for hazardous liquids pipelines” in response to pressure from Mariner East 2 pipeline foes (see 
We’ve mentioned this in passing in a few articles in the past, but thought it might be good dedicate an entire post to it. What happens, currently, with the prodigious amounts of ethane produced in the Marcellus/Utica? Ethane, as you may know, is one of the natural gas liquids (NGL) hydrocarbons that comes out of the ground along with methane. Methane is CH4, ethane is C2H6. Next to methane, ethane is the most produced hydrocarbon in the M-U. How much gets produced, and what happens to all that ethane?
MDN is not a blog/news site about the myth of man-made global warming, but we do address the topic from time to time because the false belief of man-caused warming is at the root of opposition to fossil fuels and shale energy. We’re accused of being Luddites. Not with the times. Out of touch. Climate deniers. We say we’re simply seeing the issue clearly. A recent article brings into focus for everyone how the masses have been lied to by media and leftist scientists. There is no global warming happening–at least not because of mankind–since 2005. We have incontrovertible proof…