Williams' Transco Pipeline Plans

Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline Price Tag Is $2.1 Billion

Williams Energy pipeline will service 7 million homes from NYC to Georgia

From an Article by Casey Junkins, Wheeling Intelligencer, April 14, 2015

Wheeling, WV – Williams Energy plans to service 7 million homes from New York City to Georgia with about 1.7 billion cubic feet of Marcellus Shale natural gas daily via its $2.1 billion Atlantic Sunrise pipeline project.

If the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) grants approval, the Atlantic Sunrise will join several other pipeline projects designed to ship the natural gas drawn from West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Ohio to metropolitan markets.

“Atlantic Sunrise is a vital piece of North American energy infrastructure needed to transport low-cost, abundant supplies of natural gas from the Marcellus producing region in Pennsylvania to hungry markets along the Atlantic Seaboard,” Rory Miller, senior vice president of Williams Energy Atlantic-Gulf operating area, said. “Shippers have signed long-term commitments for the expansion’s entire capacity, which represents enough natural gas to serve approximately 7 million homes.”

The natural gas companies working in the Marcellus formation are now producing about 14.6 billion cubic feet daily, compared to just 1.3 Bcf per day in 2010. These yields could continue increasing once new pipeline projects are placed into service, the agency believes.

Williams officials hope to place the Atlantic Sunrise into service before the end of 2017 to keep up with demand for infrastructure. The new project will be an expansion and extension of Williams’ Transco pipeline system, which runs some 10,200 miles from south Texas to New York City, providing natural gas to numerous metropolitan areas along the way.

A Penn State University report indicates the Atlantic Sunrise pipeline’s design and construction would support about 8,000 temporary jobs, as well as 29 full-time jobs once the operation is running.

“Penn State’s report clearly shows how vital this project and others like it are for Pennsylvania’s economy,” Pennsylvania Chamber of Business & Industry President Gene Barr said. “We need to take advantage of all of our natural resources, and the best way to do that is through more gas infrastructure. The Atlantic Sunrise expansion to the Transco pipeline is projected to support thousands of jobs during construction and thousands more in the drilling and supply chain industries.”

The Atlantic Sunrise joins the following transportation systems developing to move Marcellus and Utica shale natural gas to large markets: the $5 billion Atlantic Coast Pipeline designed to ship gas to North Carolina; the Leach XPress that will send gas toward Huntington, W.Va.; the Mountain Valley Pipeline, which will ship gas southward from Wetzel County; and the Texas Eastern Transmission’s Gulf Markets Expansion project, operated by Spectra Energy, which will carry gas from the Upper Ohio Valley to Gulf Coast states.

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WV-DEP: 132 Barrels of NGL Spilled Into Marshall County Creek — Williams to be sanctioned for pollution by NGL condensate

From an Article by Casey Junkins, Wheeling Intelligencer, April 14, 2014

Glen Dale, WV – West Virginia regulators will cite Williams Energy for “conditions not allowable in state waters” after the company’s pipeline rupture allowed 132 barrels of Marcellus Shale condensate to spill into Little Grave Creek last week.

The 4-inch condensate conduit broke late Thursday, less than three hours before a 12-inch natural gas pipeline – also operated by Williams – failed in the Bane Lane area of Marshall County along U.S. 250.

“Other violations may be issued depending on the evolution and discovery of site conditions,” West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection spokeswoman Kelley J. Gillenwater said of the 4-inch pipeline rupture. “The condensate has impacted approximately 6 miles of Little Grave Creek in Marshall County.”

Gillenwater said a visible sheen remains along Little Grave Creek, along with a slight odor. This stream ultimately leads to the Ohio River, but she said no drinking water intakes have been impacted. Gillenwater said an environmental remediation company hired by Williams has placed containment booms in the creek to prevent the material from proliferating.

“Williams has and will continue to take water samples of Little Grave Creek starting at the mouth of the Ohio River, and sampling all public accesses of the stream to the right of way,” Gillenwater said. “An unnamed tributary is also believed to have been impacted and this stream is also being sampled.”

Friday, Williams spokeswoman Helen Humphreys said company officials believe “heavy rains in the area, which may have destabilized soils, were a contributing factor” in the two pipeline failures late Thursday. Monday, Humphreys said both pipelines remain shutdown as company and state inspectors determine the full cause of the ruptures before initiating repairs.

Williams transports natural gas and liquids for Chevron, Southwestern Energy, Gastar Exploration, Trans Energy, and several other producers in northern West Virginia. The firm operates a massive pipeline and processing infrastructure network in Marshall County. It runs the Oak Grove processing plant, the Fort Beeler processing plant and the Moundsville fractionator, all of which are connected by pipelines.

Humphreys said the 12-inch line that broke near Bane Lane Thursday collects natural gas from producing wells throughout the area for shipment to the nearby Fort Beeler plant. She said officials knew they had a problem because of a noticeable pressure drop.

“Company personnel have taken soil samples in the area of the rupture and are developing a recovery plan,” she said of remediation efforts related to this failure.

On April 5, 2014, a 12-inch Williams pipeline ruptured near the Oak Grove plant. After the investigation, Gillenwater said this “explosion created a 10-foot crater, and the resulting fire scorched trees over an approximately 2-acre area.”Unlike last year’s event, Humphreys said neither Thursday rupture created a fire.

See also:  www.MAREproject.org

Charleston, WV 5/20-21

WV Chapter of the Sierra Club and WV Interfaith Power & Light join forces for gathering the week of Earth Day (April 22, 2015)

From an Article by Michael Barrick, Appalachian Preservation Project, April 1, 2015

Charleston, WV – The West Virginia chapters of The Sierra club, one of the nation’s most renowned environmental preservation groups, and Interfaith Power & Light (IPL), a new entity in the Mountain State, have partnered to support a conference being held in Charleston on April 20th and 21st at the St. John’s XXIII Pastoral Center. The unprecedented interfaith and interdisciplinary gathering, “Preserving Sacred Appalachia: Gathering, Speaking and Acting in Unity,” is being held to educate Appalachian people and others about the many threats to the well-being of the people, ecology and wildlife of West Virginia and Appalachia.

The gathering will features about 20 speakers, including ministers, laity, environmental activists, educators and artists. The event is being sponsored by St. Luke’s United Methodist Church of Hickory, N.C. and coordinated by the Appalachian Preservation Project of Bridgeport, W.Va.

Founded by legendary preservationist John Muir in 1892, the Sierra Club is the nation’s largest and most influential grassroots environmental organization, with more than two million members and supporters. The Sierra Club exists to protect the wild places of the earth, to practice and promote responsible environmental stewardship, and to educate the public about how to protect and restore the quality of the natural and human environment.

While the Sierra Club can trace its roots to the 19th century, Interfaith Power & Light was formed at the beginning of this century. It was established to draw together the religious community and spiritual people to provide a voice of conscience to address the dangers to people and the environment associated with climate change. The national organization began as a single state chapter; it now has not only a national outreach, but also 40 state chapters. A core group of West Virginia faith community leaders have joined to foster formation of the 41st state IPL chapter, West Virginia Interfaith Power & Light.

The West Virginia chapter of the Sierra Club is working on energy efficiency and renewable energy and also has joined with other preservation groups to counter the public health and safety problems associated with fracking and mountaintop removal. Bill Price, the organizing representative of the West Virginia chapter said, “Members of the Sierra Club in West Virginia are excited to be working on the ‘Preserving Sacred Appalachia’ conference. For too many years, the health and well-being of people in West Virginia have been damaged by the extractive industries. For many years, the Sierra Club in West Virginia has worked to reduce those impacts and move to a brighter future. Partnering with people of faith is a key component of that ongoing work. I hope to see many old and new friends at the gathering.”

The Rev. Mel Hoover, a member of the steering committee of West Virginia Interfaith Power & Light, offered, “This partnership demonstrates that we are at a crossroads in the Mountain State. We have always known that we must work together to address the many environmental issues impacting the people and ecology of West Virginia. This conference, by joining together people of faith with scientists, educators, artists and others, sends a clear message that cannot be ignored – we are united in purpose.” He continued, “Global warming is one of the biggest threats facing humanity today. The very existence of life – life that religious people are called to protect – is jeopardized by our continued dependency on fossil fuels for energy. Every major religion has a mandate to care for Creation. We were given natural resources to sustain us, but we were also given the responsibility to act as good stewards and preserve life for future generations.”

He added, “We are excited about forming the nation’s newest IPL chapter. The rapidly growing movement has more than a decade of success in shrinking carbon footprints and educating hundreds of thousands of people in the pews about the important role that we play in addressing the threats to public health and the environment.”

Hoover concluded, “As people of faith, our mission includes being advocates for vulnerable people and communities. It is poor people who are being hit first and worst by environmental degradation. We also aim to make sure that all people can participate in and benefit from the growing clean energy economy.”

The conference is open to the public, though advance registration is required. Folks can register by visiting the website of the Appalachian Preservation Project. They can also learn more about the agenda and view a brief video explaining the conference.

The Script: "the frack bubble is bursting"

Enviros Blamed for Bursting Frack Bubble

From an Article by Richard Heinberg, EcoWatch.com, August 11, 2014

Here’s The Script, in four despicable acts:

Act 1. Fracking boom goes bust as production from shale gas and tight oil wells stalls out and lurches into decline.

Act 2. Oil and gas industry loudly blames anti-fracking environmentalists and restrictive regulations.

Act 3. Congress rolls back environmental laws.

Act 4. Loosened regulations do little to boost actual oil and gas production, which continues to tank, but the industry wins the right to exploit marginal resources a little more cheaply than would otherwise have been the case.

You can bet The Script is being written in operational detail right now at corporate headquarters in Oklahoma City and Houston, and in the offices of PR firms in New York and Boston. Each of its elements has the inevitability of events in a Shakespearean tragedy.

It’s fairly clear that the fracking bubble will burst soon—almost certainly within the decade. Our ongoing analysis at Post Carbon Institute documents the high per-well decline rates (a typical well’s production drops 70 percent during the first year), the high variability of production potential within geological formations being tapped and the dwindling number of remaining drilling sites in the few “sweet spots” that offer vaguely profitable drilling potential.

Meanwhile, as the Energy Information Administration (EIA) has recently documented, the balance sheets of fracking companies are loaded with debt while surprisingly short on profits from sales of product—with real profits coming mostly from sales of assets (drilling leases).

The industry continues to claim that tight oil and shale gas are “game changers” and that these resources will last many decades if not centuries. Though the CEOs of companies engaged in shale gas and tight oil drilling are undoubtedly aware of what’s going on in their own balance sheets, hype is an essential part of their business model—which can be summarized as follows:

Step 1. Borrow money and use it to lease thousands of acres for drilling.

Step 2. Borrow more money and drill as many wells as you can, as quickly as you can.

Step 3. Tell everyone within shouting distance that this is just the beginning of a production boom that will continue for the remainder of our lives and the lives of our children and that everyone who invests will get rich.

Step 4. Sell drilling leases to other (gullible) companies at a profit, raise funds through Initial Public Offerings or bond sales, and use the proceeds to hide financial losses from your drilling and production operations.

The rest of this Article is on Page 2.

>>> Richard Heinberg is the author of ten books including: The End of Growth: Adapting to our New Economic Reality (June 2011). He is Senior Fellow-in-Residence of the Post Carbon Institute and is widely regarded as one of the world’s foremost educators. He has authored scores of essays and articles that have appeared in such journals as Nature, The Ecologist, The American Prospect, Public Policy Research, and the Quarterly Review. He has appeared in many documentaries, including Leonardo DiCaprio’s 11th Hour, and is a recipient of the M. King Hubbert Award for Excellence in Energy Education. <<<

To Be Largest Climate March Ever

People’s Climate March—Largest Climate March in World History—Set for Times Square in NTC

From an Article of EcoWatch.com, July 30, 2014

A spirited press conference in Times Square has launched the People’s Climate March, the largest climate action in world history.

Scheduled for Sept. 21 in New York City, the People’s Climate March will coincide with September’s UN Climate Summit, where world leaders including President Barack Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping will be in attendance in answer to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon summons to consult on climate change.

Key organizations, representing hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers and millions nationwide, hosted the press conference today to explain the goals of the mobilization and to share expectations for the UN summit. Representatives from New York City Environmental Justice Alliance, Sierra Club, 350.org, UPROSE and a number of local unions were there, as well as faith leaders, speakers from superstorm Sandy-impacted communities and millennials.

“The voice of youth is crucial in the People’s Climate March,” said Elizabeth Yeampierre, executive director of UPROSE. “They are the first and last generation that can make a difference in this global crisis. We have to work inter-generationally to build momentum for frontline communities and provide our people with the resources to address this complex issue.”

The People’s Climate March will highlight the climate crisis and the need to act now with bold solutions. More than 500 organizations—from community and labor groups to international NGOs and faith organizations—around the world have joined to organize or endorse the event. They describe the motivation for the march as follows:

With our future on the line and the whole world watching, we’ll take a stand to bend the course of history. We’ll take to the streets to demand the world we know is within our reach: a world with an economy that works for people and the planet; a world safe from the ravages of climate change; a world with good jobs, clean air and water, and healthy communities.

“To the untrained eye, this looks like an alliance of unusual bedfellows—labor joining hands with faith joining hands with national environmental groups,” said Eddie Bautista, executive director of New York City Environmental Justice Alliance. “But the idea that there is choice between environment and economy is a dated paradigm. The climate change march is not about slicing and dicing a political agenda—it’s a big tent. We invite all with an interest in the future.”

Bill McKibben, 350.org founder, hopes you’ll be there. In an EcoWatch blogpost he said, “We need to show just how big and unified our movement has grown, from the environmental justice advocates fighting fossil fuel pollution in our communities to the students demanding divestment on our campuses, from the scientists who have seen their warnings so far ignored to the clergy now showing real moral leadership.

If you’re wondering how to react to the devastating news that the Antarctic is melting out of control: New York. If you’re scared like I am by the pictures of the fire and drought across the West: New York. If you’re feeling like it’s time to change the trajectory of this planet: we’ll see you in New York.”

See also:

Big Polluters Cry Wolf Over EPA Plan to Fight Climate Change and Protect Human Health

The Allegheny Defense Project has provided this report, abbreviated below from its appearance in EcoWatch.org:

A federal judge has scheduled argument for July 2, 2012 (9 a.m., in the Erie Federal Courthouse) regarding recent motions in litigation over oil and gas drilling in the Allegheny National Forest. U.S. District Court Judge Sean McLaughlin ordered the arguments in the case, Minard Run Oil Co. v. U.S. Forest Service.

The litigation began three years ago after the Forest Service entered into a settlement agreement with three conservation groups—Forest Service Employees for Environmental Ethics, Allegheny Defense Project and Sierra Club. Under the settlement, the Forest Service agreed to undertake “appropriate” environmental analysis of proposed oil and gas drilling projects prior to authorizing access across Allegheny National Forest lands.

The plaintiffs in the litigation, Minard Run Oil Co. and PA Independent Oil and Gas Association, sued the Forest Service and the three conservation groups, claiming the settlement exceeded the Forest Service’s authority to protect Pennsylvania’s only national forest from the impacts of oil and gas drilling.

In December 2009, Judge McLaughlin granted the plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction, which blocked the settlement from going into effect while the case was being litigated. Both the Forest Service and the conservation groups appealed that preliminary decision. In September 2011, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit upheld Judge McLaughlin’s preliminary decision. According to the courts, because the Forest Service does not own the mineral rights beneath 93 percent of the Allegheny National Forest, the agency cannot regulate access to the mineral estate, even though that access directly impacts national forest lands through extensive road, well site and pipeline construction.

How should the case should proceed?  The conservation groups want Judge McLaughlin to reconsider his preliminary decision because of new research into the history of the creation of national forests in the eastern U.S. The oil and gas plaintiffs want Judge McLaughlin to simply convert his previous preliminary decision into a permanent injunction against the Forest Service. That would effectively bar the Forest Service from attempting to implement any measures to mitigate the environmental impacts of most oil and gas drilling in the Allegheny National Forest—a result that is already contributing to cross-state pollution entering New York.

For example, the New York Department of Environmental Conservation (NYDEC) recently filed an administrative complaint against U.S. Energy Development Corporation because of sediment pollution from its oil and gas operations in Pennsylvania’s Allegheny National Forest. The amount of sediment runoff from oil and gas roads in the Allegheny National Forest is staggering. A recent report by Penn State’s Center for Dirt and Gravel Road Studies concluded that oil and gas roads in the Allegheny National Forest produce 450 percent more sediment pollution than other public roads in Pennsylvania. The Forest Service should obviously be allowed to regulate to protect our forested watersheds from that kind of reckless pollution.

According to the courts, however, the Forest Service is powerless to regulate this pollution in the Allegheny National Forest. The courts and the oil and gas industry assure the public that this does not mean that oil and gas drilling will go completely unregulated in the Allegheny National Forest because the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (PA DEP) still regulates oil and gas drilling at the state level. Of course, if the PA DEP were doing its job, the NYDEC would not have to file an administrative complaint against U.S. Energy for sediment pollution originating in Pennsylvania.

The fact is, the PA DEP sees itself as a facilitator of oil and gas drilling rather than a regulator. That is why the Forest Service must be allowed to regulate to protect the Allegheny National Forest—and it is precisely why eastern national forests, including the Allegheny National Forest, were created in the first place.

[ ..  ..  ..  ..  .. ]

There is nothing in the congressional record indicating that Congress did not intend for the Forest Service to regulate private oil and gas drilling activities in eastern national forests. In fact, just the opposite is true. The congressional record reveals that Congress intended the Forest Service to have the same power over eastern national forests as it had over national forests in the western U.S. That would include the authority to require private oil and gas companies to implement reasonable mitigation measures to reduce their environmental impact in the Allegheny National Forest.

Hopefully, we can get quick responses from the courts to resolve the issues in this case because the Allegheny National Forest, indeed public lands across the nation, need the full protection that federal law can provide. Previous background information is here.

Visit EcoWatch’s FRACKING page for more related news on this topic.

CBS “Sunday Morning” today carried a commercial from “energyfromshale.org” saying that Williamsport, PA, is much better because of the new natural gas drilling and fracking activities in the area.  Here is an example of the message from their web-site:

In towns across America, like Williamsport, PA, people are experiencing the benefits of shale energy.  New jobs.  Renewed hope.  They’re also asking questions, like “How are you protecting our water?”  The energy industry is answering these questions with facts.  Like the fact that we encase our wells in multiple layers of steel and cement.  And that we monitor and test as we drill for oil and natural gas.  These questions and answers are important.  Because we know success in a town like Williamsport means success for us all.

However, another web-site entitled “usclimateactionnow.org” has a different message, namely:  Gas industry sponsored ads sometimes show an intent, inquisitive, blond-haired toddler crouched on a patch of perfect, green grass; he is peering through a big magnifying glass, directing his sight into the earth. His background is a pleasant, out-of-focus expanse of green leaves.

The headline reads: “WHERE IS AMERICA FINDING MORE THAN A CENTURY’S WORTH OF CLEAN, DOMESTIC ENERGY?” The answer, placed below the large picture of the toddler, is stated as “RIGHT BENEATH OUR FEET.” Additional text asserts: “technology has improved”, “safely recover”, “practices employed to protect the environment”, “transform America’s energy security”, “creating jobs and growing the economy”, and “let’s unlock it.”

Here is the question: HOW IS THE IMPEDIMENT TO CLIMATE STABILIZATION POSED BY ADS SUCH AS THIS EFFECTIVELY COUNTERED?   Answers are provided below.

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Resource Insights is a web-site raising questions about the natural gas industry, as an independent source of news on natural resources and the environment, edited by Kurt Cobb.

If you live in the United States and bother to turn on your television, it’s almost impossible to avoid ads telling you that natural gas from shale is both abundant and environmentally safe to develop. In these ads, so many happy people seem to enjoy burning natural gas that it would be difficult to imagine that their smiles might come to a premature end.

Though the ads will probably not be withdrawn, the emerging facts run counter to the gleeful tone of this television commercial produced by America’s Natural Gas Alliance, a consortium of shale gas drillers.

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Joe Gingerich, editor of The O’Dwyer’s PR Daily, reports that front groups are waging public relations warfare in the fracking debate.  He reports on the real issues and problems involving fracking chemicals, contaminated water supplies, the federal loophole in regulations, human health effects unchecked, and climate change due to the greenhouse gases that are released.

It comes as little surprise then, that natural gas companies now find themselves on the defensive, and are sinking historic sums into PR, marketing, advertising and lobbying efforts to sway citizen opinion and influence legislation. A 2011 Common Cause report found fracking companies have funneled nearly $750 million to lobbyists in the past decade to inspire laws ameliorative to hydraulic fracturing practices.

A bombardment of pro-fracking ad campaigns has followed. A series of commercials funded by ExxonMobil began appearing in 2011: in one, a particularly smug geologist discusses whether fracking can be performed safely. “At ExxonMobil, we know the answer is yes,” he says, aside bustling main street vistas of Everytown, U.S.A. In another series of national print and TV ads (titled “I’m an Energy Voter”), a montage of citizens carefully picked from an assortment of ages and racial varieties repeat the mantra “I vote,” before a repetition of varying subordinate clauses: “for more domestic energy,” “for energy security,” “for energy from all sources.”

This commercial was funded by Energy Citizens, a front group backed by the American Petroleum Institute. One tactic is bussing in hundreds of energy employees to bogus “rallies” created by the group to oppose cap-and-trade legislation. By establishing a perceived public support for fracking, Energy Citizens is able to cast the illusion that its services are a response to interests voiced by the masses.

The O’Dwyer report says further that perhaps no pro-fracking group has been as successful or more influential than Energy in Depth (EDI), a Washington, D.C.-based front group formed by the American Petroleum Institute and the Independent Petroleum Association of America, and funded by BP, Occidental Petroleum, Marathon, Chevron, Shell, Halliburton, El Paso Corporation, and the Ohio Oil and Gas Association.

At a November conference in Houston — titled “Media and Stakeholder Relations: Hydraulic Fracturing Initiative 2011” — EID called on trade groups to engage opponents with a “community approach” that includes a “focus on local concerns” and to remind them of “local opportunities: jobs, revenue, cost-savings.” Handling PR duties for Energy in Depth is FTI Consulting (formerly FD Public Affairs Americas). IPAA is also an FTI client.

At the Houston event, Matt Pitzarella, Spokesman for Pennsylvania energy giant Range Resources, was quoted stating his company is currently employing former military counterinsurgency officers to handle media inquiries, quell citizen concerns and ward off grassroots opposition to hydraulic fracturing in Pennsylvania. “We have several former psyops folks that work for us at Range because they’re very comfortable in dealing with localized issues and local governments,” Pitzarella was quoted saying.

True or not, blogs and Internet discussion forums are now abuzz with the rumor that the U.S. energy industry is hiring psychological warfare experts to perform duties previously reserved for Madison Avenue boardrooms.

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Roger Stone has written a blog on “biggovernment.com” entitled “Energy Independence: Frack We Must.”    He is overlooking the adverse impacts to the environment and our infrastructure as follows:

We must look at the scientific facts before making a policy decision, and the facts about shale gas, when you cut through a great deal of disinformation, are simple. First, it’s less expensive than the fossil fuel alternatives. At $66 per megawatt-hour, natural gas beats the dirtier and more dangerous coal, which costs around $90 per MWh. It even costs less than solar, wind (off and onshore), nuclear, oil and bio-diesel.

And shale gas doesn’t just save money, it saves lives. On average, fifty to sixty coal miners die every year. Every miner must wear artificial breathing apparatus to protect them in case of a disaster, disasters which happen with alarming frequency. Explosions, cave-ins and methane leaks combine to make coal mining the most dangerous job in the United States today.