Pipe Welding Inspector Sues Equitrans for Overtime, Class Action

Coincidentally we have a second story today about pipe welding inspectors. In another post, we tell you about a pipeline welding inspector who falsified records (see ME2 Pipe Worker in SWPA Admits Falsifying Welding Records 77 Times), which is very much the exception and not the rule. In this second story, an inspector who worked

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Victory! Atlantic Coast Pipeline Wins US Supreme Court Case

We finally have a major court victory over the forces of anti-fossil fuel evil, so let’s sit back and soak in the warmth and sunshine of this moment. Yesterday the U.S. Supreme Court delivered a decision we expected, a decision that allows Dominion’s Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP), a 600-mile project from West Virginia through Virginia

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PA AG Charges Cabot with Enviro Crimes for Long-Settled Dimock

The door has been closed on “Dimock” (in Susquehanna County, PA) for years. Dimock, you may recall, was made famous by Josh Fox’s so-called documentaries Gasland and Gasland 2, aired endlessly on HBO. His allegations about fracking malfeasance by Cabot Oil & Gas were completely debunked in a real documentary called FrackNation. After a long

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PA Supremes Hear Oral Arguments in Can of Worms Royalty Lawsuit

On Wednesday the Pennsylvania Supreme Court heard oral arguments in a case challenging whether or not the state Attorney General’s office has the right to use a consumer protection law to prosecute companies like Chesapeake Energy and Anadarko over royalty payment shenanigans. The law the AG’s office wants to use has never been used that

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Anti Group Loses Yet Another Penn Twp (PA) Frack Ban Case

A leftist anti-fossil group calling itself Protect PT, in Penn Township (Westmoreland County), PA, backed with big money from Big Green groups, continues to sue in an effort to block shale drilling in the township. And they keep losing their lawsuits. Protect PT has launched multiple challenges to a local Penn Township ordinance which allows Apex

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Atlantic Coast Pipe Reps “Optimistic” Building Resumes Summer ’20

Yesterday MDN reported on Dominion Energy’s third quarter update from last Friday, a session in which CEO Tom Farrell commented the company’s commitment to building the Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP) is “unwavering” (see Dominion Energy 3Q – Commitment to Atlantic Coast Pipe “Unwavering”). Last Thursday a pair of ACP representatives gave an update to Upshur

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Ohio Landowners Sue Encino Energy for Shorting Royalties

Landowners in Carroll and Columbiana counties (Ohio) have filed a class action lawsuit against Encino Energy claiming the company underpaid oil and natural gas royalties. Last November Encino Acquisition Partners (i.e. Encino Energy) completed its purchase of all of Chesapeake Energy’s Ohio Utica Shale assets for $2 billion (see Stop Press: Chesapeake Sells ALL of

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PennEast Asks Full 3rd Circuit to Reconsider Bad Decision

The stakes are about as high as it gets: “The immediate disruption of the natural gas industry,” says PennEast Pipeline. We’re referring to a terrible decision in September by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit that disallows PennEast from using the delegated power of eminent domain to cross properties either owned by,

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Township Loses Appeal to Block Adelphia Gateway Compressor Stn

West Rockhill Twp, Bucks County West Rockhill Township in Bucks County, PA (near Philadelphia) has waged a legal battle to prevent a natural gas compressor station from being built as part of the Adelphia Gateway project, a plan to convert an old oil pipeline stretching from Northampton County, PA through Bucks, Montgomery, and Chester counties,

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Riverkeeper Frustrated as D.C. Circuit Stops PennEast Pipe Lawsuit

It’s hard to keep track of the multiple lawsuits filed against every single new natural gas pipeline project in the Marcellus/Utica. But we try! Take the PennEast Pipeline, for example. PennEast is a $1 billion (or $1.2 billion, depending on the source) new greenfield pipeline project from Luzerne County, PA to Mercer County, NJ. PennEast

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Fed Court Tosses Claim New England Utilities Manipulated Gas Mkt

The radical Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) published a “report” (i.e. propaganda) in 2017 that made the preposterous claim that New England customers have overpaid utility bills by $3.6 billion due to collusion between the natural gas and electricity industries (see EDF Accuses New England Gas Utilities of $3.6B Market Manipulation). That false report led to

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Worst Fears May Come True with PennEast Pipeline Court Decision

Yesterday MDN brought you news of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit ruling that disallows PennEast Pipeline from using the delegated power of eminent domain to cross properties either owned by, or with easements granted to, the state of New Jersey (see Federal Court Rules PennEast Pipe Can’t Run Thru NJ State

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Dominion Confident Courts Will Restart Atlantic Coast Pipe

What’s the status of Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP), a 600+ mile pipeline that will run from West Virginia through Virginia and into North Carolina? Only 35 miles of pipeline is currently built, and all construction, at the moment, is blocked by the U.S. Fourth District Court of Appeals. Almost all of the workers for the

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Most Important Court Case in PA Shale History Heads to Supremes

This Friday Thursday the justices sitting on the Pennsylvania Supreme Court will hear what we believe is the most important shale gas court case in the history of the state: Briggs v Southwestern Energy. We consider this case to be an existential threat to the future of shale gas drilling in PA should the decision

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Philly Dem Senator Loses Bid to Shut Down ME Pipelines

PA State Senator Andy Dinniman In April 2018, a Chester County, PA (Philadelphia area) Democrat State Senator by the name of Andy Dinniman (who we think looks like Tony Soprano) filed a formal, legal complaint with the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission (PUC), asking the PUC to shut down and keep closed all of the Mariner

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