|
Today, we visited the Upshur County Commission with a request for a committee to study setback distance. The request read thus: January 21, 2015 Whereas, the Robert T. Stafford Act requires that there be a Hazard Mitigation Plan that covers natural hazards and recommends that technological hazards be included, and Whereas, a 42” diameter, high pressure, natural gas pipeline constitutes a public safety hazard, and Whereas, the Atlantic Coast Pipeline is proposed to run close to residential and public areas, including high consequence areas, in Upshur County, and Whereas, the ACP is the largest diameter, highest pressure, natural gas pipeline ever attempted in West Virginia, Virginia, and North Carolina, making this a critical potential hazard, and Whereas, the Department of Homeland Security defines natural gas pipelines as critical infrastructure, Whereas, there is no federal standard for pipeline setback distance, and Whereas, the liability and responsibility for setback distance rests with county government and hazard mitigation planning is based on setback distance, Mountain Lakes Preservation Alliance, the Airport Authority, and LEPC request that the Upshur County Commission form a committee to establish a safe and prudent setback distance for pipelines in our community. This should be based on diameter, pressure, terrain, population density near the pipeline, proximity of critical infrastructure (such as police barracks and the airport), access, vulnerability, and other considerations. After such a committee is established, and a report produced, the Lewis-Upshur-Gilmer LEPC will use this information to produce the required Hazard Mitigation Plan, Evacuation Plans, and Protocols, in such time as to allow enough time for the community at large to be informed of such plans, and the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, LLC to move the route to a more advisable location should this prove necessary before the permit for construction is issued from the FERC, leaving enough time for Dominion and partners to make changes deemed necessary by the committee. April Keating, Chair, Mountain Lakes Preservation Alliance Kevin Campbell, Co-Chair of LEPC Rich Clemens, Upshur Airport Authority Disappointingly, the Upshur County Commission denied our request to form a committee to decide on setback distance for pipelines, which would have been the first step in formulating a disaster plan for the region should a leak, fire, or explosion happen on the ACP. Without a plan, FEMA would not offer financial assistance to an affected community. I informed the commission of this. Ben Hardesty was present. JC Raffety, former president of the commission, was absent. Before we spoke, Commission President Terry Cutright said he wanted to tell us right off the bat he was pro-gas, pro-business, pro-pipeline, and pro-development, and he would not do anything to stop the pipeline. He said he thought it would bring jobs and "progress" to our community. I explained how the jobs numbers were hard to verify and that is why we wanted a third party study done, but that even by Dominion's own figures, the number of permanent jobs in the state of WV for the ACP was projected at 74. Dominion likes to throw around a figure of 17,000 jobs, but this is for three states and only during the construction period. I explained how renewable energy and energy efficiency jobs would bring 2-3 times that number and possibly more to our area, that the market was going that way, and even large companies like GE and Dominion had investments in wind and solar. Hardesty confirmed that. Kevin Campbell of the Lewis-Upshur LEPC told the commission about his telephone conversation with Homeland Security about the Stonewall pipeline, and indicated he would continue to communicate with that agency over this situation. Stonewall is a 36" line; strangely, WV DHS were not aware, and were disconcerted that gas was running in that line already, without any evacuation plan in place. Do we want this scenario with a 42" line running only 1200 feet from our police barracks and 2200 feet from our high school? Predictably, Commissioner Cutright asked me if I had been able to get my own green energy system, or was I still using gas/oil/coal? I responded that I was working on it, but was still tethered. He gave a chuckle and made a side comment that seemed to indicate that somehow I must be a hypocrite. Ad hominem is a classical logical fallacy. I guess I really should have asked Commissioner Cutright how creating a committee to look after the safety of the community would harm or stop the pipeline. Are the two mutually exclusive, and if they are, is the public official who comes out against public safety really fit to sit?
0 Comments
The Fayette County Commission voted unanimously today to pass an ordinance banning oil and gas waste within Fayette County. This ordinance is the first of its kind within West Virginia and outlaws the storage, disposal, or use of oil and gas waste in the county. Headwaters Defense, a local grassroots organization, delivered a petition containing 5,000 hand-written signatures in support of this ordinance. “This is a big step in protecting our water and health here in Fayette County” said Brandon Richardson a local resident and organizer with Headwaters Defense. He continued “The passage of this ordinance today is due to the efforts of local residents who have worked for years to stop oil and gas waste disposal in Fayette County.” Residents have pushed for this ordinance in part because of problems associated with a wastewater injection well operated by Danny Webb Construction (DWC) in Lochgelly, WV since 2002. A property owner neighboring the well site has documented spills, leaks, and releases of oil and gas waste into the Wolf Creek watershed on multiple occasions.[1] On March 4 of 2014, the permit for Webb’s site was revoked[2], but they continued to operate without a permit for over a year. Despite complaints to several government agencies, the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) reissued a permit for Danny Webb’s underground injection operations in September of 2015. [3] Kristy Gilkey, a local resident and Headwaters Defense member, who has worked for years to oppose the well, said, “The County Commission has stepped in where the state of West Virginia and the DEP have failed to adequately protect our land, water, health and safety.” The County ordinance has a provision that allows citizens to enforce penalties against corporations who violate the ordinance in both civil and criminal court. Headwaters Defense is holding a rally tonight at 7pm where they will discuss enforcement strategies. Fayette County is preparing itself for a legal challenge from Danny Webb Construction and the law firm that represents the corporation. “We are determined to protect the rights of the citizens of Fayette County and we are prepared to defend this ordinance in court.” says Brandon Richardson, a member of Headwaters Defense. Here We Go Again by Scott Windom A couple weeks ago, Delegate Woody Ireland was a featured speaker at two “educational meetings” on forced pooling held by the WVU Extension Service in Ohio and Doddridge Counties. The meetings were not the picnic hoped for by politicians carrying water for the oil and gas companies. Instead, members of the public asked pointed questions about why the last bill was so slanted in favor of the industry, and why did Del. Ireland and his fellow supporters oppose any amendments to protect the people’s right to have their cases heard in their own local communities. This year the Marcellus Shale forced pooling bill (House Bill 2688) was defeated on a 49-49 tie vote in the waning hours of the session. It’s clear that industry supporters will try to pass forced pooling legislation again, either in a special session or during the next regular session. We are in the midst of an energy boom. There is more Marcellus gas under our feet than we can ship to market. Untapped reservoirs of Utica Shale gas are anticipated to dwarf the hugely profitable Marcellus wells. West Virginia has had a forced pooling statute for the “deeper” formations below the Onondaga Limestone for two decades. That law, which benefits only the oil and gas companies, requires hearings on forced pooling to be held before the part-time, politically appointed members of WV Oil & Gas Conservation Commission. Last year, they held a total of three forced pooling hearings for the entire state. By contrast, in the past three years in Ritchie and Doddridge Counties, more than 80 lawsuits have been filed by Antero Resources involving “unknown heirs” or the partition sale of oil and gas interests owned by folks who would not lease on the company’s terms. If those 80 cases were sent down to Charleston for hearing before the O&G Commission, it would be completely overwhelmed. Add the other companies that routinely file such suits, like EQT, and multiply that by the number of oil and gas producing counties in the state. It becomes clear that the O&G Commission will be a full time job for anyone unlucky enough to serve there. HB 2688 was a slick attempt by the oil and gas industry and its politicians to pull a fast one on the legislature and the citizens of West Virginia. It offered small concessions to land and mineral owners, but greatly favored the oil and gas industry. Why the rush to pass a new Marcellus forced pooling law? Oil and gas exploration has slowed significantly in past months. Natural gas prices are down--due in part to the glut of gas from the last five years of drilling. Many companies are holding leases that will expire before they can be drilled. Let’s step back and take a breath. Let’s look at the options. Let’s work on a pooling bill that works for everyone, and is fair to everyone. Forced pooling lumps oil and gas owners into large tracts of leased acreage, which are organized into drilling units. Royalty is paid on the percentage of total ownership held in the pool. For instance, if you own 32 acres of oil, gas and minerals, and your property is placed in a 320 acre unit, you would receive 10% of the royalty paid for the entire 320 acre unit--at whatever royalty percentage you negotiated in your lease. But what if your 32 acres is not entirely within the unit? What if you only have 3 of those acres in the unit? Your other 29 acres are going to be drained by the wells producing the unit, and you will only be paid 1% of the total production while all of your oil and gas is being produced. Then there is the issue of what royalty percentage is actually paid to the oil and gas owner. The old industry standard was a fractional 1/8, or 12.5% royalty. In some old leases from the early 1900’s, gas wells paid a flat rate royalty of $300 per year. That was a nice royalty income when public school teachers made about the same in yearly salary, and nurses made much less. In 1912, a Model T Ford cost less than $600. If you were a school teacher with a gas well on your farm, you could buy a new Model T every two years with your flat rate royalty payments. Today, that same $300 royalty wouldn’t fill your car up with gasoline for a month. While HB 2688 attempted to place a floor on royalty payments, it also set an artificial ceiling on how much mineral owners could receive as well. In any such legislation, royalties should be negotiated on what the market is currently paying for new leases. No calculation should include existing leases with a 1/8 royalty because, if you are forced into a pool, the companies should be required to pay you the best rate for what your oil and gas is worth. Anything less amounts to taking something for almost nothing.  In years past, working for Columbia, I was required to certify and test every 3 years to supervise a drilling rig. The classes were held at Union Drillings office. Other than that, I was aware of Precision Pipelines presence in the area last year.
I have personally spoken with Senator Evan Jenkins at the time he was running for senate,...just after he changed from Democrat to Republican. There seems to be more money and favors available from the Republicans right now, so this is who he sides with. We discussed the "Marcellus Lie" and its economic impact on the state. My view has always been that non-renewable resources [oil, coal, metals, etc. ] should never leave the continental US, and that mining royalties and natural gas royalties should be paying for every drop of water that is being pumped by companies like WV American water. I also told him that gas companies were doing extremely dangerous things with the new gas they were finding and even more dangerous things with the fluids. This is happening simply because the new methods and technology have no laws or regulations on the books at this time to govern them. Jenkins does not support most of the current EPA regulations on coal, oil, and gas, and as his voting record will show,...does not want any new rules to be written to protect the public or hinder those industries. Jenkins also stated that developing the Marcellus and Utica was a boost to jobs and the states tax base. I replied "yes, if you own a motel, restaurant, gas station, or have a spare room you can rent out to all of the illegal immigrants working in the area." { I have seen agents from the DOL rounding them up on several sites in Doddridge and Harrison counties and checking for proper contractor licenses that didn't exist.} Big Oil and politicians have always loved cheap labor at any cost, and they're not paying a price for hiring them. The "Marcellus Lie" is this: I have worked with several of the most famous geologists and geo-physicists in WV, and even the CEO for Royal Dutch Shell has stated that there is no gas being produced by shale formations. It is simply a fractured reservoir for gas coming from somewhere else. In the case of the Marcellus, it is coming from the next formation down,...the Onondaga Limestone. Traditionally and by current law, the Onondaga cannot be drilled or produced without a "Deep Well Permit" which is much more involved to engineer and more expensive to permit. Shale has always been considered as "non-porous" and inert by geologists but it fracks easily and companies are exploiting it as a roadway to Onondaga gas. Do you think any "Deep Well" permits are being bought and paid for by Big Oil in WV? LOL. I haven't worked in the state of WV since 5-15-15, after having a serious disagreement at Mobley, WV and West Union, WV over job site safety and several deliberate violations of current federal law. The VP's and Directors of the company I was working for kindly called me and asked me to vacate the premises after I sought advice as to MY LIABILITY from two DEP Inspectors and the Doddridge County Prosecuting Attorneys Office {which would not even return my calls}. I had also refused to witness and sign off on any more DOT required "Hydro Test to Substantiate MAOP" for pipe and compressor facilities as their piping and fail-safe devices were not adequate for the application. They called me a liar. Then the following week after firing me,....they went back and changed many of the devices. Do you think they called me to apologize and offer me my job back? Nope. Instead, I was warned not to "burn any bridges." I have no regrets there, but I do feel sorry for those that are still working for that company, and I hope the law catches up with the criminal element sooner than later. Oh,...did I mention that the primary contractor on that job also fired an Electrical Superintendent and a Mechanical Engineer that were made aware of these hazards and were supportive of my position? I have attached a recent photo of the last project I worked on back in November 2015. This facility processes gas from the Utica and Marcellus for shipping gas "south".  Dominion and its partners in the Atlantic Coast Pipeline (ACP) have made what appears on the surface to be an enticing proposal. They have said that we need a greater supply of natural gas in Virginia to fuel our power plants and our economy. The developers say they must build a 550-mile pipeline to make this possible and that the pipeline will provide many jobs and financial benefits. They ask us to take their word that this is the best option and that they should receive rapid approval with little review in order to get the project underway so that it will be available in time. Upon inspection, we find that the first power plant that requires a new supply of natural gas in Virginia is not scheduled for operation until 2022, the next one is proposed for 2030. So what is the rush? We have plenty of time for thorough deliberation of the options. If the ACP is approved, Dominion claims that thousands of jobs and millions of dollars will benefit the states through which the pipeline will pass. A developer of a similar pipeline through West Virginia and Virginia has admitted that it is likely that just 10% of the workers will come from the area in which the pipeline is built. This means that just a few hundred workers are likely to be hired from West Virginia, Virginia, and North Carolina rather than the thousands that have been advertised. Most of the skilled workers will come from other regions in the U.S. and will send their paychecks home. The main period of pipeline construction in any one area will last just 6-8 weeks. This is not long enough to require area businesses to add more long term employees or for the money to circulate throughout the local economy. Only businesses such as motels, gas stations, bars, fast food restaurants and convenience stores are likely to benefit, and then just for a short time. All but perhaps 5% of the construction material will be purchased from outside the 3-state region. The economic models that were used to create the millions of dollars of projected benefits were developed for situations considerably different from pipeline construction and vastly overestimate the benefits to our local economies. The tax benefits accruing to local jurisdictions along the pipeline route are stated as if they are a net addition to local government coffers. It is not clear if there will be any net tax benefit. The added property value of the pipeline could be offset by reduced property values for the many parcels in or adjacent to the pipeline right-of-way. Higher local expenses for road degradation from the construction traffic, extra police protection, and other extraordinary services could also offset pipeline tax revenues. Developers have painted an image of tax windfalls which may prove to be more illusory than real. The ACP is intended primarily to transport natural gas for power plants. The traditional residential and commercial uses of natural gas for water and space heating are expected to be essentially flat through 2040. The ACP is a wholesale pipeline for large users such as utilities, not for supporting the growth of communities and businesses along its path. The need for additional natural gas supply in Virginia is to fuel a possible new plant in 2022. Finding ways not to use energy (energy efficiency) is far cheaper than building a new gas-fired power plant and saves all ratepayers money when the peak load is reduced. Many believe that solar power, which does not require any fuel, will also be less expensive than gas combined cycle plants within 5-7 years. But assuming more gas supply to Virginia is needed, the question remains – is the ACP the best means to supply it? Two new gas-fired combined cycle plants are being built in Southside Virginia. The Brunswick facility is scheduled for operation in 2016, the Greensville plant is proposed for 2019. A spur from the Transco pipeline is nearing completion and will serve these two plants for an investment of $490 million. Dominion has said that it prefers to use the ACP to provide the gas supply to these plants, but the ACP will require about 300 miles of new pipeline construction and a cost of more than $3 billion to reach these two plants. The ACP developers say that they have long-term commitments from customers wanting to receive natural gas deliveries from the Atlantic pipeline and these commitments are adequate to prove that the ACP is necessary. Nearly all of the purported customers are also subsidiaries (affiliates) of the same holding companies that own the developers of the pipeline. Dominion’s willingness to renege on a 20-year Long Term Supply Agreement with Transco after just a few years of operation of the new pipeline highlights that these commitments are not binding. They are often used by developers to gain approval to construct a new pipeline and are not indications of the economic need for a project, although they are often considered as such by FERC. If 96% of the new Transco spur will go unused if supplanted by the ACP, will Dominion ratepayers have to pay for both pipelines? Since the gas transport fee is part of the fuel cost and is automatically passed through to ratepayers, can Dominion and Duke force their utility subsidiaries to pay for the ACP even if it is more expensive than other alternatives? The ACP developers say the Atlantic pipeline is the only realistic alternative, but that is seldom the case. If the Dominion’s utility subsidiary (Dominion Virginia Power) was free to choose or if they were directed by the SCC to select the lowest cost choice for reliable natural gas supply, what might that be? Currently, natural gas drillers in the Marcellus are continuing to drill, even if prices are below their production costs, in order to generate the cash necessary to service their debts. U.S. natural gas prices declined more than 40% in 2015 compared to a year earlier largely due to excess production in the Marcellus. As yet, there are not enough takeaway pipelines serving the Marcellus production area to move all of the gas into the existing gas transmission system. This “stranded” gas must sell at a discount to the national price in order to find a market. By 2017, this situation will be remedied by the addition of new takeaway pipelines. Dominion has forecast hundreds of millions of dollars of financial benefits for the Atlantic pipeline as a result of this price differential, but it will likely disappear well before the ACP is projected to be in operation. If some price advantage remains for Marcellus gas, the lower price would be available whether the gas is transported by existing pipelines or the ACP. Once these new takeaway pipelines are in operation, the entire Marcellus production can gain access to existing gas transmission pipelines. When this occurs much of the supply to the mid-Atlantic and northeast will come directly from the Marcellus. Traditionally, much of this supply travelled from south to north from the Texas and Gulf Coast supply zones using pipelines in the Transco corridor to serve markets along the Atlantic seaboard. With much of the northeast demand supplied directly from the Marcellus, several of the existing pipelines in the Transco corridor would be available to reverse flow and bring natural gas from the Marcellus to Virginia and the Carolinas. This is the plan identified in the Natural Gas Infrastructure report published by the Department of Energy in February, 2015. The figure below shows just one of the takeaway pipelines under development by 2017. The Atlantic Sunrise Pipeline has a capacity greater than the ACP and is just one of several projects that will bring Marcellus production into the Transco pipelines. Many of these pipelines convey natural gas from wells in Pennsylvania which comprise 90% of the Marcellus production. The figure above shows that using existing pipelines, which are largely paid for, will provide gas supply to Virginia and North Carolina at same the locations proposed for the ACP. Another project, the WB XPress, would provide 1.3 billion cubic feet per day (nearly the amount of the ACP) of additional capacity in the Columbia Gas system requiring just three miles of new pipeline and 26 miles of replacement pipeline in West Virginia and a new compressor station in Virginia and modifications to several existing ones. The project is expected to be in service the second half of 2018 at a cost $875 million dollars. Adding capacity to the Columbia Gas system would provide greater supply to the Chesapeake, Virginia region as well. The main Columbia Gas line feeds the AGL (Virginia Natural Gas) line which supplies the Chesapeake/Norfolk area. The Atlantic Coast Pipeline project proposes a 77 mile 20” pipeline on new right-of-way to connect the Chesapeake area to the Atlantic Pipeline just after it enters North Carolina. Using the additional capacity in the Columbia Gas system avoids the costs and impacts from this new construction. It is obvious from the map that adding over twice the capacity of the ACP in the Transco and Columbia Gas pipelines provides Virginia with a multitude of options for siting the two new gas-fired plants when (and if) they are needed in 2022 and 2030. Compare the coverage of the Transco and Columbia pipelines in Virginia to a single corridor for the Atlantic pipeline. This would provide a great deal of flexibility for growth and development in Virginia without the disruption from new pipeline construction. Pipelines serving North Carolina could connect over the same corridor planned for the Atlantic pipeline or by connecting to the Transco mainline running through North Carolina. Costs and impacts of using existing pipelines to serve North Carolina would be the same or better than with the Atlantic pipeline. Developers of the ACP might argue that they do not possess firm reservations for capacity using existing pipelines as they do by utilizing a pipeline that they own. The producers in the Marcellus are eager to find committed long-term markets to supply with their surplus production. This is the very best time to obtain commitments for low cost supplies. If the ACP were not to be approved, the proposed customers of the Atlantic pipeline would find willing suppliers, if their demand truly exists. One can see that Dominion and its partners would prefer to own the supply pipeline to their captive utilities. There are business advantages to paying themselves more rather than paying someone else less to transport the natural gas. However, the benefits accrue only to them. Ratepayers would pay higher transport fees for the ACP compared to existing pipelines; Virginia would have a poorer infrastructure for future economic development and power plant siting; West Virginia and Virginia public and private landowners would suffer greatly from the impacts of unnecessary new pipeline construction. The spirit of eminent domain is to require a landowner to sacrifice their individual interest in order to serve the greater public good. In this case, the greater public good is better served both economically and environmentally by using existing pipelines. No rights to eminent domain should be granted to developers of the ACP. The superiority of the option of using existing pipelines applies to the Atlantic Coast Pipeline, and to the Mountain Valley Pipeline, the Appalachian Connector and any other major new pipeline construction project intended to bring natural gas from the Marcellus into the Virginia and North Carolina markets. The Department of Energy states that adequate capacity exists in the existing pipeline system to serve this region throughout the multi-decade planning horizon of their studies. We ask that the land, the landowners, and ratepayers of Virginia be respected by selecting the clearly superior option of using existing pipelines to supply the future natural gas needs of Virginia. Dominion and other Virginia utilities are needed for the important role of developing a more reliable and resilient grid for the 21st century that easily accommodates decentralized solar and wind projects which they or other parties develop. Dominion should seek out projects that benefit the ratepayers and residents of Virginia, as well as their shareholders. Setting the interests of shareholders against the interests of customers is not good for any business in the long run. There are numerous other important energy projects where Dominion can work for the good of all Virginians. |
Author - YouIf you have a story about living with fracking or pipelines, please send it to us and we will publish it here. Archives
October 2018
Other blogsCategories |
RSS Feed