MVP Allowed to Restart Pipe Construction at WV Trail Crossing
Although EQT Midstream’s 303-mile Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) project has experienced a number of legal and regulatory setbacks and is currently blocked from constructing pipeline across/under/near any river, stream, or wetland in all of West Virginia and all of Virginia (some 1,100 different locations), believe it or not there are still many places where MVP can and is still installing pipeline (see Mountain Valley Pipe Keeps Building Despite Court Action re Permits). The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, rather than shut down all MVP construction as is being demanded by antis, continues to grant permission to MVP to build. Here’s a few more such places in West Virginia.
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Two weeks ago Enbridge, owner of the Texas Eastern Transmission Company (Tetco) Pipeline, announced it had put part of its Texas Eastern Appalachian Lease (TEAL) natural gas pipeline project in Ohio into service (see 
A near-capacity crowd (over 300 people) filled the Storer Ballroom at Shepherd University in Shepherdstown, WV on Wednesday to hear and talk about the Mountaineer Gas Eastern Panhandle Expansion Project–a project to deliver natural gas to a new industrial facility in Berkeley County, WV, and provide gas to other local businesses and residents in the Tri-State area. The meeting (a public hearing) was hosted by the West Virginia Public Service Commission. It was moved to Shepherdstown from Charleston at the request of fussing Sierra Clubbers.
According to those who attended, the second and final day of the Shale Insight conference in Pittsburgh closed “quietly.” That is, no protesters outside the convention center. You may recall yesterday we reported that on the first day of the event a small group of Indians (dancing and worshiping water from the nearby river) and hippies gathered to rant against fracking and the use of fossil fuels (see 
The “best of the rest”–stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading: Energy Sec. Perry stumps for ‘all of the above’ energy in Philadelphia, Camden; Diversified sees older shale wells as next piece of massive Appalachian position; Steel Nation heading to Southpointe; Backed into a corner, NY AG fails to produce ‘smoking gun’ in #ExxonKnew lawsuit; Manufacturers to Acting NY AG Underwood: Your frivolous and costly lawsuit will fail; The anti-fracking initiative in Colorado is bad policy; Young people are suing the trump administration over climate change. She’s their lawyer; Trump indicates he might formally tap Wheeler to lead EPA; UK to receive US LNG cargo; Gulf countries need to adjust natural gas supply strategy on rising power demand; The dirtiest part of the cleanest fossil fuel is price; Europe’s liquefied natural gas imports have increased lately, but remain below 2011 peak; The low-cost gas supply driving the LNG Canada project.
We now have a date for when EQT (the driller) and EQT Midstream (the pipeline company) will split and become two separate, independent companies that will no doubt continue to work together, but will in fact be two companies. That date is November 12. In a pair of press releases issued yesterday, EQT outlined how the transition to two publicly traded companies, EQT Corporation (stock ticker EQT) and Equitrans Midstream Corporation (ticker ETRN) will happen. One of the releases names four new members for the EQT board once the split occurs, and reaffirms that current EQT CFO Robert McNally will stop “Acting” and become the full, official President & CEO of EQT.
EPA Chief Andrew Wheeler wasn’t the only speaker at yesterday’s Shale Insight event in Pittsburgh (see EPA Head Andrew Wheeler Addresses Shale Insight re “New EPA”). There were a number of other sessions addressing issues from the technical to the philosophical. A speaker from XTO Energy said the Utica Shale is only just getting started and the potential of the Utica “enormous.” A panel spoke to the critical nature of pipelines and addressed the issue of how we can better “tell our story” to the public with respect to pipelines. And another panel discussed whether and how natural gas development is affecting public health. Here’s a few select reports.
Investors are a critical part of the shale picture. Without big investors putting big money into shares of stock, and without private investors financing drilling programs, E&Ps (exploration and production) companies would cease to exist. Which is the aim of the divestment movement we sometimes talk about. However, the focus of this post is that the way investors size up and decide whether (and how much) to invest in an E&P is changing. The ratios and numbers investors track to help them make investment decisions is shifting.
What’s the best, most efficient way to produce electricity? The winner, hands down, is natural gas. That’s according to a recent report from the Manhattan Institute titled “The Real Fuel of the Future: Natural Gas” (full copy below). The report indicates that dollar-for-dollar, investment in natural gas generates 16 times the amount of power as solar panels, and eight times the amount of windmills. Tell us again how superior wind and solar are!
Dominion’s 600-mile Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP) from West Virginia to North Carolina has had its share of setbacks. But these days, it appears the project is building momentum and government/regulatory decisions are breaking in ACP’s favor. The project is on track to finish by the end of 2019, so says Dominion. The latest win for ACP came yesterday when the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) granted permission for ACP to begin construction pretty much in all locations in West Virginia. The only prohibitions are small areas in National Park Service land and a few locations where there may be Indiana bats.
Aqua America, the nation’s second largest water/wastewater utility company headquartered near Philadelphia, announced it is buying Peoples Gas, the nation’s fifth largest natural gas utility company headquartered in Pittsburgh, for $4.275 billion. This story interests us because the buyer, Aqua America, provides services to Marcellus/Utica shale drillers, and because Peoples Gas is a buyer of Marcellus/Utica gas. The combined company will both serve the shale industry as part of the supply chain, and buy the output of the shale industry as a customer. How cool is that? What made Aqua interested in Peoples? It has to do with old pipes in the ground. And similar natures.