WV Residents can Comment to FERC on Proposed Pipelines

Greetings from Buckhannon, WV:

This is a reminder that the deadline for submitting comments to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on the proposed Mountain Valley Pipeline is November 27th.

You can do this electronically, so please set about figuring out what impact the pipeline will have on:

• water resources in your area/on your land
• cultural interactions
• historical considerations
• health and safety issues
• environmental impacts

Contact information is all on this internet page:

http://www.ferc.gov/contact-us/contact-us.asp

The docket # for the MVP is CP16-10 (CP16-10-000).

Please forward this to anyone you know who may be a landowner on the MVP. Keep in mind that some landowners do not have email and would need to have this information in print, so if you can, print this email and deliver it to them, or alternatively, give me their land address and I will drop it in the mail to them.

This is an urgent matter. Your help is appreciated.  In gratitude,

>>> April Keating for the Mountain Lakes Preservation Alliance

See also: www.mountainlakespreservation.org

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Deadline to file as an “Intervenor” for the MVP is November 27!

MVP has filed its formal application today — see: Mountain Valley Formal Application. FERC has also released the new docket number — it is CP16-10-000.

There are two possibilities for filing for intervenor status: file as a group or file as an individual. The Greenbrier River Watershed Association (GRWA) will be intervening on behalf of our members, but  individual intervenors are an important part of the FERC process.

Intervening may inundate your inbox with e-mail, but for those passionately opposed to the pipeline, it is important to be actively engaged in the process. An intervenor has a right to file motions, file testimony, cross examine witnesses, and file briefs in any administrative hearing.

You will still be able to submit your comments if you are not an intervenor. If the purpose of intervening is simply to get copies of documents, that can be accomplished by just subscribing to the appropriate docket. The FIRST step is to be registered with FERC. Go to the FERC website and register with the appropriate docket number: CP16-10-000

You need to have “standing” to file as an Intervenor. It is best to prepare this statement ahead of time. Copy and paste this information when prompted to avoid your session timing out. If you are a landowner impacted by the pipeline route that would give you standing, but not all community members will have standing. “Being a concerned citizen” may not give you standing. Dominion may petition FERC to limit the amount of intervenors so prepare a good argument for why you are applying to be an intervenor.

The attorneys at the Appalachian Mountain Advocates (Appalmad) will be submitting the motion for intervention on behalf of GRWA and several other organizations. The primary benefit of working together is to pool our resources and expertise so that we can collaborate to make the best possible case in front of FERC.

Let’s keep in touch on this important matter.  Contact info:  elise@greenbrier.org

>>> Elise Keaton for the Greenbrier River Watershed Association <<<

See also:  www.Appalmad.org

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Energy Transfer pushing for Rover Pipeline approval

From an Article by Shane Hoover, Canton Times Reporter, November 9, 2015

Energy Transfer urged the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on Monday to approve the Rover Pipeline project no later than June. The Texas-based company wants to build two 42-inch-diameter pipelines to carry natural gas from the Utica and Marcellus shales to customers in the Midwest, Great Lakes, Gulf Coast and Canada.

The proposed route crosses parts of Stark, Carroll, Tuscarawas and Wayne counties. Rover would ship 3.25 billion cubic feet of natural gas a day. << See the Note below on WV counties affected. >>

The company says summer construction would be safer for workers and the public and cause less damage to farmland and the environment, according to paperwork filed with FERC. Energy Transfer says it’s essential the pipeline start carrying natural gas by January 2017 to meet market demand.

Before the company can build the pipeline, FERC has to determine the project’s environmental impact. FERC staff plan to complete the review by July 29, 2016 and federal agencies would have until October 27, 2016 to finish their own reviews.

Rover staff have been in contact with FERC since June 2014 and formally applied in February 2015 for permission to build the pipeline. The company argues that “two years is a sufficient period of time” to review a project that will ease pipeline bottlenecks on Utica and Marcellus shale gas, and said it would respond promptly to environmental issues as they are raised.

FERC spokeswoman Tamara Young-Allen said the commission hasn’t decided whether to modify the current review schedule.

Note: The Rover pipeline with its lateral branch lines will likely impact Doddridge, Tyler. Wetzel, Marshall, Ohio, Brook, and Hancock counties in northwestern West Virginia. The FERC Docket Number for the Rover Pipeline Project  is CP15-93-000.

>>> See also an article on the various pipelines of the Energy Transfer – Williams partnership.

Tagged as: ACP, comments, drilling, environmental review, FERC, fracking, marcellus shale, MVP, natural gas, Rover