Add Your Voice to Urge FERC to Secure a Consumer Advocate
We, the undersigned, call on the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to create an Office of Consumer Advocate and Public Participation along the following principles:
>>> The office should be organized in a way to maximize independence. Financing for the Office should be clearly allocated to support the activities of the office.
>>> The office must be able to conduct its own investigations and not be limited to the scope of FERC dockets or proceedings.
>>> The office should include authority to provide intervenor funding to consumer groups to encourage their participation in FERC proceedings.
>>> The office should coordinate assistance and outreach to the public with respect to authority exercised by FERC.
>>> The office should have an advisory board composed of representatives of the non-governmental consumer advocacy community, including organizations representing low-income households and the elderly, and both national and state-based consumer organizations.
Please visit this web-site for signature:
http://action.citizen.org/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=12797
Kirk A Bowers, Virginia Chapter, Sierra Club
Pipelines Program Manager, 106 George Rogers Road
Charlottesville, VA 22911
Home (434) 296 8673, Cell (434) 249 1439
>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Energy Transfer Equity LP to Acquire the Williams Co. — ‘All About Marcellus Gas Takeaway’
From an Article by Joe Fisher, NGI News, September 28, 2015
Energy Transfer Equity LP (ETE) and The Williams Companies Inc. plan to merge in a $37.7 billion deal, including debt, to make what they say will be the third-largest energy franchise in North America and a top-five global energy company. A big focus of the tie-up will be the Marcellus Shale region.
Energy Transfer’s Jamie Welch, group CFO and head of business development, said the combined companies will have an enterprise value of about $150 billion. “This is a natural gas highway system designed to benefit producers and end-user customers: the connectivity of things like [Energy Transfer's planned Rover Pipeline into [Williams'] Appalachian Connector; the ability to capitalize on [Energy Transfer's] Trunkline and Panhandle [Transmission systems] with Transco [Williams' Transcontinental Gas Pipeline]; the connectivity of [Williams'] Northwest Pipeline with [Energy Transfer's] Transwestern. It goes on and on.”
In the interstate natural gas pipeline area, the big area of focus out of the gate is to be the Marcellus and Utica shale region. “On the interstate side, it’s all about Marcellus natural gas takeaway…” Welch said, noting expansions of Transco, and projects such as Williams’ Constitution Pipeline, Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline, Appalachian Connector and others.
Newly created ETE affiliate Energy Transfer Corp. LP (ETC) will acquire Williams Co. at an implied current price of $43.50/share. Williams stockholders may take cash and/or ETC common shares. In addition, Williams stockholders will be entitled to a special one-time dividend of 10 cents per Williams share prior to the closing of the transaction.
Of great importance to ETE will be the assets Williams Co. holds in the northeastern United States:
>>> Williams’ Susquehanna Supply Hub is being built to serve gas producers in northeastern Pennsylvania. The system has a gathering inlet capacity of about 1 Bcf/d and is connected to three major interstate gas pipeline systems. The Susquehanna Supply Hub is expected to be capable of delivering more than 3 Bcf/d of Marcellus Shale production into four major interstate gas pipeline systems.
>>> The Ohio Valley Midstream system in northern West Virginia, southwestern Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio is in the natural gas liquids (NGL)-rich heart of the Marcellus. Assets include a gathering system and a processing facility. Fractionation and additional processing facilities are under construction, with plans to add NGL pipelines.
>>> Williams’ Laurel Mountain Midstream joint venture in southwestern Pennsylvania includes nearly 1,400 miles of pipeline with average throughput of 200 MMcf/d. Williams Partners owns 51% and operates the system. Chevron is the joint venture partner and owns the remaining 49%.
Energy Transfer’s natural gas operations include about 33,000 miles of pipelines; 154 Bcf of gas storage capacity; multiple processing, treating, conditioning and storage facilities, and four NGL facilities. Intrastate transportation and storage assets include about 7,800 miles of gas pipelines and three Texas storage facilities with 74.4 Bcf of working capacity. Interstate gas assets include 18,000 miles of pipelines, one storage facility and a liquefied natural gas (LNG) receipt terminal in Lake Charles, LA, where there are plans to add liquefaction and export capability. The NGL transportation and services segment includes about 2,300 miles of pipeline, as well as four processing plants and 48 million bbl of storage capacity.
The company’s proposed Rover Pipeline would carry gas from processing facilities in the Marcellus/Utica shale region to market hubs that have access to the Midwest, Gulf Coast, Canada and the U.S. Northeast.
Welch said the combination also has substantial impact for the NGL businesses. “We will have a fully integrated liquids platform. It is not secret that we’ve obviously spent an inordinate amount of capital and investment, financial and mental acumen in developing our overall NGL business in Mont Belvieu [TX]. “We have now focused more recently on development of the Northeast and in particular are working in conjunction with [Sunoco Logistics] on our Mariner East and Mariner West system…
ETE said it expects that the earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) from commercial synergies will exceed $2 billion per year by 2020 and will require overall incremental capital investment of more than $5 billion to achieve.
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Gas route fuels concern for landowners in pipeline’s path
RE: Atlantic Sunrise 42 inch Pipeline in Central Penna.
By Eric Scicchitano, The Daily Item, Sunbury, PA, November 23, 2015
Buckhorn, PA – Linda Quodomine fights back tears and shakes off a tremble in her voice as she tells of how a massive natural gas pipeline threatens to shutter her horse veterinary practice in Buckhorn, the culmination of her life’s work.
Should the 183-mile Central Penn extension be laid as planned by the Williams energy company, it will temporarily cut off several pastures not only at her 22-acre business but also at her 19-acre home across Schoolhouse Road where she has nine horses of her own.
A trench dug through her properties would span up to 125 feet during construction, Quodomine says. There will be no room for her own horses to graze, necessitating they be boarded off site. She estimates a mile of fencing would be lost.
Similarly, little room will remain for her clients’ horses — those brought to her clinic to give birth, or for breeding or surgery. Racehorses are boarded there for layup off-track.
“This is lost for two years. That basically cripples my business,” said the 60-year-old horse doctor. “I’ll put ‘for sale’ signs up. It’ll shut my business down. How can I stay here?”
An alternative route exists. It would skirt Buckhorn to the east, adding about an additional mile in piping. Williams studied the alternative but supports the current path. Both are under review by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
Chris Stockton, a company spokesman, says the alternative route would impact 19 additional property owners, would require more timbering than planned, and would run a steeper slope beneath Interstate 80. On-site construction is estimated at up to two months, the company website states.
In related news, Major utility line could go through southcentral Pennsylvania.
“In a way you’re shifting impact which isn’t always a desirable outcome,” Stockton said. “We have not proposed (the alternative) as the preferred route. We still believe the original route has more advantages,” he said.
The pipeline project is dubbed the Atlantic Sunrise. It will funnel natural gas through a 42-inch diameter pipe between the Marcellus Shale region and Williams’ existing Transco line, connecting in southeast Pennsylvania. However, it’s considered an interstate project since the line runs beyond the Keystone State, which allows for eminent domain.
A significant amount of the gas is bound for international export, according to published reports. Williams maintains on its website dedicated for the project that a majority of the gas will be consumed domestically.
The economic impact direct to Columbia County is estimated by Williams at $85 million, with $62 million in support of 1,012 jobs — largely temporary for construction.
Quodomine has about 450 clients, largely for off-site veterinary services. She’s sought their support. She’s also turned to neighbors, some of whom fear falling within the “impact radius” of 1,150 feet on either side of the pipeline should it malfunction and explode.
Sixty-six letters of protest against the pipeline have been filed this month alone ahead of a Monday deadline, and 169 total since October 1st, including some from beyond Columbia County but with concerns in their own backyards. One letter states about 170 Buckhorn properties are within the “impact zone.”
The Quodomine Veterinary Services building and land is an extension of its owner. She built her home in 2001, and purchased the land for her business to which she walks daily in 2009. She’s put countless hours into its development, installing fencing and performing barn work herself, and invested significant dollars in creating the state-of-the-art horse clinic. It only opened in 2013.
Nearly every waking moment, she says, is spent at work or at home. She has faith the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission will mandate the gas line be re-routed around Buckhorn.
For now, though, she’s held off on making further investments to either property. “I can’t throw any more money into this place unless I know I’m staying,” Quodomine said. “If it comes through they’ll shut me down, if they want to admit it or not.”
Source: https://marcellus.com/news/id/132265/gas-route-fuels-concern-landowners-pipelines-path/