The $7.5 billion project has gone over its original budget and past its original completion schedule because of court challenges, bad weather and labor issues.
Natural gas producer EQT is buying the company that’s building the Mountain Valley Pipeline.
Pittsburgh-based EQT Corporation said Monday it would buy Equitrans Midstream, the company building the 303-mile MVP.
The $7.5 billion project has gone over its original budget and past its original completion schedule because of court challenges, bad weather and labor issues.
EQT was set to be the pipeline’s biggest customer, transporting up to 1.2 billion cubic feet of gas a day of the pipeline’s capacity of 2 billion cubic feet a day.
“Equitrans is the most strategic and transformational transaction EQT has ever pursued, and we see this as a once in a lifetime opportunity to vertically integrate one of the highest quality natural gas resource bases anywhere in the world,” said EQT President and CEO Toby Rice, in a statement. “As we enter the global era of natural gas, it is imperative for U.S. natural gas companies to evolve their business models to compete on the global stage against vertically integrated rivals.”
The MVP opens up gas produced in north central West Virginia to additional markets in the mid-Atlantic, and potentially for export through Gulf Coast terminals.
Environmental groups and landowners continue to fight the project, though federal courts have dismissed multiple lawsuits in the past several months.
The companies value the transaction at $35 billion.
Equitrans Midstream, the builder of the Mountain Valley Pipeline, said Tuesday that challenging winter weather in January has delayed the project’s completion to the second quarter of the year.
Equitrans Midstream, the builder of the Mountain Valley Pipeline, said Tuesday that challenging winter weather in January has delayed the project’s completion to the second quarter of the year.
The delays have also boosted the projected cost to nearly $7.7 billion from $7.2 billion.
“Along with unforeseen construction challenges, throughout much of January, construction crews encountered adverse weather conditions, including precipitation well above 20-year averages,” she said. “While our construction plans took into account the potential effects of winter weather, these conditions were far worse and longer in duration than anticipated, imposing a significant impact on productivity, which, in turn, impeded our ability to reduce construction headcount. Collectively, these factors resulted in our updated timing and total project cost targets.”
The 303-mile, 42-inch pipeline is expected to transport as much as 2 billion cubic feet of gas per day from north central West Virginia to southern Virginia.
It faced many court challenges over the past several years from landowners and environmental groups. The project has been delayed multiple times.
Congress mandated its completion last year as part of the Fiscal Responsibility Act. It is a top priority for the state’s elected leaders and the gas industry.
It’s part of an effort to tackle one of the most problematic drivers of global warming.
CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story should have said companies can eliminate half their emissions with existing technology at no net cost.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said over the weekend that it will curb methane emissions from oil and gas production.
The EPA seeks to cut methane emissions from oil and gas by 80 percent over the next 15 years.
It’s part of an effort to tackle one of the most problematic drivers of global warming. Methane is many times more potent a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide, though CO2 lasts longer in the atmosphere.
John Rutecki, regulatory and legislative manager in Appalachia for the Environmental Defense Fund, says companies can eliminate half their emissions with existing technology at no net cost.
“This will stop wasted gas,” he said. “So by keeping more energy in the pipeline, you’re obviously ensuring that you’re bringing more gas to market.”
The EPA’s methane rule will begin to take effect next year. One oil producer, BP, welcomed the rule.
This week on Inside Appalachia, we visit with West Virginia trappers to learn about the fur trade in the 21st Century. We also meet a county fair champion who keeps racking up the blue ribbons and has released a cookbook of some of her favorites. And we hear an update on the Mountain Valley Pipeline. Construction has begun again, but some people wonder if it’s even needed.
This week, we visit with West Virginia trappers to learn about the fur trade in the 21st century.
We also meet a county fair champion who keeps racking up the blue ribbons and has released a cookbook of some of her favorites.
And we hear an update on the Mountain Valley Pipeline. Construction has begun again, but some people wonder if it’s even needed.
These stories and more this week, Inside Appalachia.
Before coal or timber, the fur trade was one of Appalachia’s first industries.
Fur trapping flourished for centuries, made fortunes and led to wars and was still lucrative into the last few generations.
Now, most West Virginia fur trappers struggle to earn a living, but some have adapted or found new careers using their particular skills. Folkways Reporter Lauren Griffin brought us the story.
Blue Ribbon-Winning Fair Food
There’s nothing quite like the county fair, where you can pet a goat or get motion sick on the tilt-a-whirl.
A staple of county and state fairs are the annual craft competitions, where the hopeful vie for the coveted blue ribbon.
Few people have been as successful as Russell County, Virginia resident Linda Skeens, who has won hundreds of ribbons, become a social media sensation and released a cookbook featuring some of her winning recipes.
Producer Bill Lynch spoke with her about winning contests and collecting recipes.
Cruising With Vintage Vehicles
For over 50 years, in Roanoke, Virginia, on any given Friday night, you can see modified cars and trucks with neon lights, spinning rims and streamlined spoilers strutting from north to south and back again. And often — you’ll see old timey antique cars out there among them.
Host Mason Adams reported this story in 2020, about a family of mechanics who have spent years developing the skills to get those vintage cars just right.
The Mountain Valley Pipeline Saga Continues
We’ve reported on the Mountain Valley Pipeline for years. Completion of the pipeline has been held up because a federal court keeps throwing out its permits. The U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled to allow work to resume again. But some energy analysts question whether the pipeline is even needed.
WVPB’s Curtis Tate spoke with Suzanne Mattei of the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis.
Extended Family Pitching In To Care For Dementia Patients
Spouses or adult children typically care for people with dementia, but more and more extended family members are taking on that role. CareEx is a project at the Center for Gerontology at Virginia Tech that studies extended family caregivers in central Appalachia.
WVPB’s Eric Douglas spoke with project coordinator Brandy McCann about their work.
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Our theme music is by Matt Jackfert. Other music this week was provided by the Carolina Chocolate Drops, Sturgill Simpson, Ron Mullennex, Mary Hott and Noam Pikelny.
Bill Lynch is our producer. Zander Aloi is our associate producer. Our executive producer is Eric Douglas. Kelley Libby is our editor. Our audio mixer is Patrick Stephens.
You can send us an email: InsideAppalachia@wvpublic.org.
A board of high-ranking Maryland officials on Wednesday rejected a proposed pipeline across the western part of the state that would carry natural gas produced in Pennsylvania to West Virginia.
The Board of Public Works voted 3-0 against an easement for TransCanada’s pipeline. It would run under the Potomac River near Hanover, Maryland, and extend 3 miles (4.83 kilometers) from Columbia Gas’ network in Pennsylvania to Mountaineer Gas’ distribution system in West Virginia.
Comptroller Peter Franchot, a Democrat, cited testimony that the pipeline could bring Maryland environmental problems without economic benefits. The board also includes Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican, and Treasurer Nancy Kopp, a Democrat.
Environmentalists and residents have been vocal in opposing the pipeline.
“Marylanders and many of their leaders have consistently opposed the threats fracked gas pipelines pose to our health, water, climate, and communities,” said Josh Tulkin, Sierra Club Maryland chapter director.
The board’s vote came after more than 60 lawmakers sent a letter urging board members to reject the proposal. The lawmakers noted that Maryland approved a law, which Hogan signed in 2017, to ban the hydraulic fracturing drilling process known as fracking in Maryland. The process is used to extract natural gas. Maryland was the first state where a legislature voted to bar the practice that actually has natural gas reserves.
“Given that Maryland has banned fracking, it defies our state’s existing energy policy to bring the same public health risks to our residents by way of a pipeline,” the letter said. “Moreover, enabling fossil fuel production runs counter to our state’s goals of increasing renewable energy production.”
The letter, which was sent this week, also noted that the pipeline would affect at least 10 wetlands and 19 streams, in addition to the Potomac River.
While the board delayed a vote on the easement at its last meeting, Hogan said the unanimous vote would have happened without the letter from lawmakers.
“It had nothing to do with any letter from the legislature,” Hogan said at Wednesday’s board meeting.
Anne Havemann, an attorney for Chesapeake Climate Action Network, said she hopes the board’s vote marks an end to the proposal.
“We’ll see if (the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission) gets involved or the courts get involved, but for now it’s a welcome delay and we hope a permanent end to this pipeline,” Havemann said shortly after the vote.
A major natural gas pipeline under construction in West Virginia and Virginia cannot continue construction under streams, rivers and wetlands across its entire 303-mile route, following the decision late last week by a federal agency.
In a letter sent Friday, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Pittsburgh District told Mountain Valley Pipeline officials they were suspending the project’s water crossings permit, also known as the Nationwide Permit 12, for Wetzel and Harrison counties.
The decision marks the third suspension or invalidation of the project’s water crossings permits. Earlier this month, a federal court threw out the Mountain Valley Pipeline’s water crossings permit issued by the Army Corps of Engineers’ Huntington District, which covered pipeline construction through much of West Virginia.
Three days later, the Army Corps’ Norfolk District in Virginia suspended all water crossings there.
“Friday’s suspension makes clear yet again that the permits hastily given to the fracked-gas Mountain Valley Pipeline don’t stand up to scrutiny,” said Anne Havemann, general counsel at Chesapeake Climate Action Network, in a statement. “Key permits for the Mountain Valley Pipeline have been thrown out again and again, confirming that this pipeline — and the similarly destructive Atlantic Coast Pipeline — is too dangerous to ever be built.”
A coalition of environmental groups that oppose the pipeline have asked federal regulators at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to issue a full stop-work order for all pipeline construction. They argue the invalidation of the Army Corps’ water crossings permit means the project lacks full approvals and should be temporarily stopped.
Mountain Valley Pipeline spokeswoman Natalie Cox said in a statement the project expects to receive a new or resissued water crossings permit in early 2019. After that happens, she said the pipeline expects the two suspended permits in West Virginia and Virginia to be reinstated.
Until then, Cox said the pipeline will continue other construction and does not expect the lack of water crossings to affect the pipeline’s projected in-service date of late 2019.
The Army Corps estimates the Mountain Valley Pipeline will be constructed under streams, rivers or wetlands 1,146 times, inclduing 59 stream crossings and 62 wetland crossings in Wetzel and Harrison counties.
