WV DEP Proposes Changes in Pipeline Stream Crossing Permit
West Virginia has just published a draft revision for terms and conditions under which the state will issue a “Section 401” water permit for federally approved pipeline projects. Under the federal Clean Water Act (CWA), the federal government delegates some of the responsibility in approving a pipeline project to the individual states. It’s a small but important part of the regulatory pie. Under Section 401 of the CWA, states get one year to review a pipeline project–to evaluate where that project will cross streams and rivers. If the state doesn’t like something about the plan, they tell the pipeline company and the plan gets revised. That’s how it’s supposed to work. Instead, some states (like New York) are abusing Section 401 and simply refusing to issue the permit, effectively killing entire pipeline projects. That’s not the intent of the regulation, something Congress is now looking to fix. We can’t have tinhorn dictators like Andrew Cuomo telling other states (like Pennsylvania) that you can no longer build pipelines into or through a neighboring state. That’s why approval of interstate pipeline projects resides at the federal level and not the state level–to prevent one state holding another hostage. WV has had some issues of their own with respect to Section 401 approvals (see WVDEP Reverses, Waives Water Permit for Mountain Valley Pipeline). Perhaps because of previous problems, like the issue with MVP, the WV Dept. of Environmental Protection has just floated proposed changes to the criteria they use in awarding a Section 401 permit…
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Williams, after years of saying it would so, finally bought out and merged in its Williams Partners MLP subsidiary. The on-paper $10.5 billion merger happened last Friday. Williams originally planned to do this in May 2015 in a deal worth $13.8 billion (see 
The “best of the rest”–stories that caught MDN’s eye that you may be interested in reading: Eight permits awarded in OH Utica last week; another surcharge on your PA gas bill?; WV gas industry pushing for electric plants; fracking industry in Pittsburgh offers a different sort of high-tech job; WVU shale lab digs into M-U permeability testing; water company ordered to pay back wages; Cheniere inks 25-year deal with Taiwan; Toshiba looks to unload US LNG contracts; Bank of the West turns hostile to fossil fuel industry; Solaris Oilfield hires former Range Resources COO for board; and more!
Below is an audio recording (“podcast”) featuring the Top 5 stories most read over the past week on MDN. Just click on the green button to listen. Below the recording is a list of the Top 5 with links to click to read the full stories (available only for subscribers). This list is meant as a way for folks to quickly catch up on the most essential news of the week–“essential” as determined by MDN’s audience of readers. Enjoy!
A boatload of anti fossil fuel zealots from Cooperstown put down their wine glasses long enough to pack an auditorium in nearby Oneonta to bloviate against a sensible plan to build a CNG “decompressor” facility to accept trucks loaded with CNG during wintertime and summertime when area supplies of natgas get dangerously low. We wrote about the proposed facility, described as “a decompression station for compressed natural gas deliveries by truck to supplement resources” two weeks ago (see 
Ever hear of a PILOT? No, not the airplane kind. A PILOT is a “payment in lieu of taxes”–a common arrangement for electric generating plants. If such plants paid property taxes at full market value, the taxes would be so insanely high the plants would be uneconomical and therefore wouldn’t get built. So PILOTs are used instead. Such an agreement was recently reached between EmberClear and Harrison County, OH. In September 2016, MDN reported that EmberClear planned to fund and build a new $900 million electric generating plant in Harrison County (see 
For some reason, Competitive Power Venture (CPV) picks states that are adamantly opposed to new gas-fired electric plants as the location for new projects. We wrote yesterday about CPV’s project in Orange County, NY. With four days left before CPV was due to throw the switch and start the plant, the very corrupt Gov. Andrew Cuomo pulled the rug out from under them (see 
A federal judge turned down a request by six Franklin County, VA landowners to shut down construction of the Mountain Valley Pipeline (MVP) in their area. The six claim that work being done by MVP is leading to soil erosion–that storm water runoff has resulted in mountains of mud ending up on their property. The legal argument is “trespass” for failing to do the work correctly, thereby leading to an intrusion on their property. The judge denied the request. However, the judge did not toss out the entire lawsuit–only a request for a preliminary injunction. The lawsuit itself will continue. Not that it makes much of a difference. All work on MVP is currently stopped anyway (see 
Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf’s Administration has been fiddling with proposed regulations to cut down on so-called fugitive methane emissions from drilling and pipelines for years. The regulations are known as General Permit 5 (GP-5) and General Permit 5A (GP-5A). GP-5 applies to pipelines and compressor stations, while GP-5A applies to well pads and drilling. In June, the PA Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP), author of the revised regs, published its final final final final version of the regs (see 
Just yesterday we posted an article observing that today, Friday, is Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) member Rob Powelson’s last day on the job (see 
Yesterday the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) granted a “certificate of public convenience and necessity” (i.e. official approval) for Rover Pipeline to spend $4.7 million to build a new meter station along Rover’s Burgettstown Lateral. The new meter station, to be located in Jefferson County, OH, will connect a pipeline gathering system built and maintained by Utica Gas Services LLC, connecting the gathering system to Rover. The new connection will flow 350 million cubic feet per day of Utica Shale gas into the Rover pipeline system. But here’s the thing: FERC has not yet given Rover permission to begin flowing gas along the Burgettstown Lateral. FERC is playing hardball, withholding permission for Burgettstown and three other laterals until Rover (i.e. Energy Transfer) gets restoration work done along certain portions of the project (see 
Aubrey McClendon, co-founder of Chesapeake Energy and founder of American Energy Partners (renamed to Ascent Resources) was the first to recognize the importance of the Ohio Utica Shale and once famously said the Utica is “the biggest thing to hit Ohio since maybe the plow.” Turns out he was right, God rest his soul. The Consumer Energy Alliance (CEA), a national group of families, farmers, small businesses, distributors, producers and manufacturers joined together to support America’s energy future, has just released a report that shows from 2006 to 2016, Ohioans saved more than $40 billion (!) on energy costs (natural gas and electricity) because of the Ohio Utica Shale. The report, titled “The Benefits of Ohio’s Natural Gas Production to Energy Consumers and Job Creators” (full copy below), breaks down the savings this way: Ohio residential customers saved close to $15 billion during the 10-year period, while commercial and industrial consumers saved more than $25 billion. But that’s not all. The report also quotes JobsOhio in saying that shale-related investment in the Buckeye State from 2011-2017 was a staggering $63.9 billion. If you add those two numbers together, the amount of money saved on energy (and therefore spent on other things), and the amount of money invested, it totals more than $100 billion of economic impact from shale in Ohio–in ten short years. Put another way, one-tenth of trillion dollars has been spent in Ohio because of shale. Mind-blowing…
Two days ago MDN told you that New York’s tinhorn dictator, Andrew Cuomo, pulled the rug out from under a fully-permitted and permissioned Marcellus-fired electric plant by directing his corrupt Dept. of Environmental Conservation (DEC) to withhold renewing an air permit previously granted (see