Rice Brothers Sue EQT to Prevent Proxy Manipulation
In addition to EQT’s 1Q19 update yesterday, Toby and Derek Rice filed a lawsuit against EQT, alleging the company is trying to confuse shareholders by requiring some of board candidates the Rice boys are proposing get commingled with EQT’s own slate of candidates. The Rice boys say the lawsuit is aimed at “preventing EQT from manipulating shareholder election.” The Rices want to elect their own board, tossing out the existing board and following that, tossing out EQT’s current senior management.
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Yesterday the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC) voted 5-0 to deny Sunoco Logistics Partners permission to restart construction of Mariner East 2 pipeline in West Whiteland Township in Chester County. Why? Because construction at that location (Shoen Road), along with three other locations, is currently under review in Commonwealth Court. In other words, for the time being (until the court rules), the PUC’s hands are tied.
Last we had heard, the official word coming from Equitrans, builder of the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP), is that the project will be done and online by the end of this year. However, a partner in the project, NextEra Energy, is now saying otherwise.
A group of four Democrat Pennsylvania State Senators and one RINO, all from the Philadelphia region, have requested the Senate committee that will hold a hearing on reconfirming state Dept. of Environmental Protection Secretary Patrick McDonnell to a second term, be put on hold. The gang of five are fighting the completion of the Mariner East 2 pipeline project and believe McDonnell improperly approved and has covered up problems with the project. Don’t you love it when Dems turn on their own?
MARCELLUS/UTICA REGION: PennDOT audit finds $4.2 billion diverted from repairing roads, bridges; Group of PA lawmakers introduce package of bills to trim state’s 153,000 regulations; Congressman Scott Perry: Natural gas the ‘Green New Deal of the last 10 to 15 years’; Leaders celebrate start-up of new MarkWest plant, largest natural gas facility in nation; Antero Resources sets new 12-month stock price low at $7.31; OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Tellurian works on financing in tandem with equity partnerships for Driftwood LNG; NATIONAL: 7 more things you need to know about Oxy’s new bid for Anadarko; Occidental CEO says she will prevail in bidding war for sought-after oil driller Anadarko; Trump’s removal of this 100-year old law is good news for natural gas; Natural gas and the electric power sector: What are the latest trends?; Methane emissions intensity declines in top shale basins; INTERNATIONAL: America wants to challenge rogue petrostates.
Less than two weeks ago Chevron announced a deal to buy Anadarko Petroleum for $33 billion plus assuming outstanding debt, a deal worth $50 billion (see 
Good news for residents and politicians in Westchester County, NY! (Yes, we’re being facetious.) Consolidated Edison, the local electric and gas utility for parts of New York City and its suburbs, says they’ve cut a deal with Tennessee Gas Pipeline (TGP) to get more gas supplies flowing to Westchester County (northern suburb of NYC) and they will potentially lift their moratorium on new natgas customer hookups…four years from now in 2023.
Andrew Cuomo, the man-child who governs New York State like it’s a third world, tinpot dictatorship (it’s rapidly becoming as poor as a third world country), says NY is going to sue President Trump over his recently signed Executive Order that will make it harder for states like NY to reject pipelines for purely political reasons (see 
In June 2018 MDN told you about a plan by Midwest utility company Vectren to build a 900-megawatt natural gas-fired power plant (and a 50-acre solar farm) to replace a retiring coal plant, in Warrick County, Indiana (see 
On Monday, Toby and Derek Rice filed a proxy statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission and sent EQT shareholders a package and special proxy card (for voting) in an effort to elicit votes for their slate of nine board members at the upcoming July annual meeting–so they can take control of the company. Normally proxy statements are pretty dry affairs. Not this one! There are bombshell accusations in the proxy statement made by the Rice boys against EQT’s current management.