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FERC Gives NYC Transco Pipeline Expansion Favorable Enviro Review
Some great news for the Williams Northeast Supply Enhancement (NESE) project–a project to beef up capacity along the Transco pipeline system going into New York City. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), after delaying a decision for four months, has just issued a final *favorable* environmental impact statement (EIS) for the project.
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There’s just no getting around the obvious–that the shale industry is once again heading into something of a dip. We’re not just talking about shale oil drillers scaling back drilling new wells in places like Texas and North Dakota. We’re talking about big gas drillers in the Marcellus/Utica who are signaling that 2019 will see less spending and less drilling, although production won’t decline.
A few weeks ago MDN brought you an updated map showing where Utica drilling has (and has not) happening in Ohio (see 
A couple of developments to share with you about the Mariner East 1 NGL pipeline which has been completely shut down since Jan. 21 when a new sinkhole appeared in Chester County exposing a few feet of the bare pipe (see 
We didn’t think it would take long for the oil and gas industry to push back against efforts to raise the state’s severance tax from 5% to 6% and use the “extra” money to fix secondary roads in the state (see 
OTHER U.S. REGIONS: Newport, R.I., suffers through days-long natural gas outage; R.I. Gov. Raimondo says state is investigating natural gas outage; NATIONAL: America needs more oil and natural gas pipelines; America cannot afford to ‘keep it in the ground’; INTERNATIONAL: China to use nuclear bomb detonator to mine shale gas in quake zone; Natural gas plan gets boost in small Canadian towns; US LNG landing in Portugal; Europe tops buyers for U.S. LNG with winter cargo influx.
MDN previously reported that last Sunday a new sinkhole appeared exposing a tiny section of the Mariner East 1 (ME1) NGL pipeline in Chester County, PA, prompting Sunoco Logistics Partners to close down ME1 in the Greater Philadelphia area (see 
Coincidentally on the topic of royalty lawsuits (see today’s companion story, 
Since 2012, Pennsylvania has collected the equivalent of a severance tax from Marcellus Shale drillers via something called an impact fee. Same concept as a severance tax. You drill a well, gas comes out, you pay a tax. Except with an impact fee you pay whether or not anything comes out of the ground–a more reliable source of tax revenue than a severance tax!
Why do politicians never seem to grasp the obvious? Distressingly, we’re now reading that a West Virginia State Senator, Randy Smith (Republican, Tucker County), wants to add another 1% to the already-high 5% natural gas and oil severance tax, in order to use the money to fix back roads across the Mountain State.
Utility company Consolidated Edison recently announced it will slap a moratorium on hooking up new customers for natural gas in Westchester County (NYC suburb) beginning March 15 (see 
Last year we reported on rumors that President Trump may issue an Executive Order to overrule states like New York, forcing recalcitrant states to allow new pipeline projects as a matter of national security (see