Tag Archives: LNG

Arrests at anti-fracking FERC sit-in protest

225 years after the French Revolution began with the storming of the Bastille on 14 July 1789, an activist dressed as the Statue of Liberty, a French gift to the United States, was one of 24 arrested in front of FERC, protesting fracking, pipelines, and LNG export.

Brandon Baker wrote for EcoWatch 14 July 2014, 24 Anti-Fracking Activists Arrested in Washington at First-Ever FERC Sit-In Protest,

Twenty-four anti-fracking activists were arrested Monday morning in Washington D.C. in protest of proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) export terminals in the U.S., according to environmental groups tweeting from the scene.

The protest centered on Cove Point, an export terminal that Continue reading Arrests at anti-fracking FERC sit-in protest

March on FERC against Cove Point LNG exports 2014-07-13

Opposition to fracking, pipelines, and LNG export is nationwide and growing. One week ago, activists from Maryland, DC, and Virginia marched on Washington to demand an end to plans for exporting fracked methane from Maryland.

Mike Tidwell wrote for Chesapeake Climate Action Network (ccan) 15 July 2014, ALL ABOUT UNITY: THANK YOU AND ONWARD FROM THE STOP GAS EXPORTS RALLY,

Wow. On Sunday, the heat scorching the streets of DC was palpable. But, even more so, was the passion and power of our movement. THANKS to everyone who turned out to say NO to fracking, NO to gas exports at Cove Point, NO to runaway climate change, and YES to real clean energy solutions.

Click here to check out all the photos on Facebook, and share them to spread the word!

We know the gas industry is all about division — blasting apart the rock beneath our earth, running pipelines through our towns, and further disrupting our fragile climate — now to ship the gas overseas for higher profit.

Continue reading March on FERC against Cove Point LNG exports 2014-07-13

The evitability of Andrea Grover’s fracked methane pipeline

If they can’t even survey for it, they can’t build it, which may be why Andrea Grover just chanted desperately in three newspapers “the Sabal Trail natural gas pipeline is moving forward.” Nevermind almost everyone who has spoken up about it is against it. She didn’t say anything about taking your land for for profit for her company in Houston and for LNG export that would raise U.S. natural gas prices. But one thing she did say is why that can happen with no further permits if this pipeline should go forward.

Almost everybody opposed the pipeline at the “more than 50 open houses and public meetings” Ms. Grover bragged about in the Orlando Sentinel, in the Suwannee Democrat, and in the Moultrie Observer. She didn’t mention that opposition, but you can see it for yourself in these Continue reading The evitability of Andrea Grover’s fracked methane pipeline

Kinder Morgan tries stealth pipeline expansion in Massachusetts

Spectra competitor Kinder Morgan is trying to fly under residents’ radar to gouge its hundred-foot Tennessee Gas Pipeline (TGP) right of way through Massachusetts. This is another $3 billion boondoggle that, like Spectra’ Sabal Trail pipeline through the southeast, could easily be replaced by solar power and conservation, which would keep LNG export from running up the price of existing methane gas supplies.

Nick Miller wrote for Nashoba Publishing 11 July 2014, Why Kinder Morgan fears an informed public,

Kinder Morgan is proposing to build a large, high pressure natural gas pipeline through 45 towns in Massachusetts, including Groton.

More than five month ago, agents of this company entered the town of Groton and began requesting that affected residents sign survey permission forms. They did not disclose Continue reading Kinder Morgan tries stealth pipeline expansion in Massachusetts

Another speed-permit LNG export bill: H.R. 3301

LNG export to Canada or Mexico with almost no permitting and no environmental review of anything but the part that crosses the border. That’s H.R. 3301, just passed by the U.S. House of Representatves, but not yet taken up by the Senate, and already the presdent’s administration “strongly opposes” it; so strongly his advisors recommend vetoing it. Apparently H.R. 6 for blanket export to all WTO countries isn’t likely to pass, so fracked methane pushers are trying a similar approach for fewer countries. Get it across the nearest borders, and then export to other countries? Previously listening Sanford Bishop (GA-02 Albany) voted for both bills in the full House.

On Congress.gov, H.R. 3301 – North American Energy Infrastructure Act 113th Congress (2013-2014) and on govtrack.us.

North American Energy Infrastructure Act—(Sec. 3) Prohibits any person from constructing, connecting, operating, or maintaining a cross-border segment of an oil or natural gas pipeline or electric transmission facility at the national boundary of the United States for the import or export of oil, natural gas, or electricity to or from Canada or Mexico without obtaining a certificate of crossing under this Act.

Requires the Secretary of State, Continue reading Another speed-permit LNG export bill: H.R. 3301

Farmers counter-sue Spectra over British Columbia pipeline

Pipeline suit and countersuit in British Columbia! Spectra Energy sued six Chilliwack farmers (east of Vancouver) and the farmers countersued. Which sounds quite a bit like what’s happening three thousand miles southeast of there in Leesburg, GA this Thursday July 10th, where a group of farmers is countersuing Spectra for trespass. Spectra is telling the same joke in both cases: the vast majority of landowners are for the pipeline, and opponents are only a few outliers. Troublesome farmers, not wanting their crops destroyed without even any compensation, imagine that! Those pesky outliers in Canada have delayed mighty Spectra a year already.

Alina Konevski wrote for Chilliwack Progress 11 June 2013, Farmers defiant as gas company demands access,

Members of the Fraser Valley Association of Pipeline Landowners, led by president Gord Mitchell, want a stringent contract with Spectra Energy before the company enters their land to replace an outdated pipeline under their fields.

Negotiations have failed. Mitchell was served Continue reading Farmers counter-sue Spectra over British Columbia pipeline

Elba Island, GA LNG export

In case you thought LNG export was only for Texas, Louisiana, Florida, Massachusetts, British Columbia, and Nova Scotia, the fossil fuel companies want to push fracked methane out through Georgia, too. KinderMorgan’s Elba Island LNG export terminal, with its north-to-south Elba Island Express pipeline project, is already in the formal permitting process at FERC. And it could easily interconnect with Sabal Trail to get its fracked methane.

KinderMorgan’s Elba Liquefaction Project & EEC Modification Project, announced by Shell 28 January 2013, Shell and Kinder Morgan announce plans to export LNG from the United States, by El Paso Pipeline Partners LP, picked up by Alison Sider in the WSJ 19 December 2013, El Paso, Shell Unit Will Expand Elba Island LNG Project: $500 Million Expansion to Export More Gas from Terminal Near Savannah, Ga, and written up by Mary Landers for Savannahnow.com 14 March 2014, LNG export project moves forward,

Plans continue for $1.5 billion-worth of development at Elba Island to allow the liquefied natural gas import facility to reverse its processes and export the fuel. Southern LNG and Elba Liquefaction Co. filed a formal application for the project with federal regulators earlier this week.

The facility currently Continue reading Elba Island, GA LNG export

150-foot flames from methane pipeline explosion in east Texas 2014-06-26

An explosion from the much larger proposed Sabal Trail fracked methane pipeline could be much worse. And remember, much of this toxic fossil fuel pushing through leaking veins throughout the country is for export to other countries, to profit a few companies at locals’ expense. Maybe you’d like to come to Leesburg, GA to say a few words about that.

ABC 13 Eyewitness News wrote 26 June 2014, Gas line explosion sends 150-foot flames up in air,

EAST BERNARD, TX (KTRK) — Authorities are investigating an gas explosion near a compressor plant just west of East Bernard in Wharton County.

It happened at FM 1164 just south of Highway 59.

According to the Office of Emergency Management, a gas line adjacent to the Kinder Morgan compressor plant blew out, destroying the roadway and catching a nearby truck on fire. Flames as has as 150 feet were shooting out of the blaze.

One person suffered a minor injury and was transported to Oak Bend Hospital in stable condition.

Continue reading 150-foot flames from methane pipeline explosion in east Texas 2014-06-26

See the FERC rubberstamp machine in action

You’ve heard the song, now see the FERC rubberstamp machine in action in videos of Sabal Trail interrogated in Gilchrist County, Florida @ GCC 2014-02-20, of the Valdosta FERC Scoping Meeting @ FERC 2014-03-04, and of the Moultrie FERC Scoping Meeting @ FERC 2014-03-05. See FERC refuse to release a tax-paid RFP and tax-paid-staff-reviewed proposals for an environmental contractor, and then see that very same contractor admit that the Sabal Trail pipeline would take twice the acreage to produce as much power as solar PV, while FERC refuses to consider that the pipeline would be far more environmentally damaging, more expensive, and would take much longer.

Nevermind landowners get only a one-time payment from the pipeline company, not rent and FERC has no Continue reading See the FERC rubberstamp machine in action

Brenham, Texas, and the highly dangerous character of gas and its tendency to escape

Imagine the fireball in 1992 in Brenham, Texas on your land or next to your children’s school or in Riviera Beach or Tampa or Jacksonville. The pipeline companies that stored too much “natural” gas in a cavern 2,000 feet below ground that leaked and exploded and killed and injured people, incinerated cattle, and destroyed houses got off on some charges because they believed their own PR that their inherently dangerous product was safe. Will you accept a pipeline company’s bet that a yard-wide pipeline only a few feet below ground won’t leak or that an LNG storage or export facility in a highly populated area won’t leak? Or should we get on with clean, fast, safe, solar power in the Sunshine State and everywhere else?

A retired Air Force Colonel with an advanced degree in nuclear physics, Walter Carss, was an eye witness to the explosion. Carss said the countryside was suddenly illuminated by a brilliant flash of light. Turning in his chair, Carss looked in the direction of the cavern. There, he observed an enormous fireball billowing skyward. As the fireball cooled, it began to turn into a huge pillar of grey smoke. Carss then noticed a visible shock wave racing across the rural landscape. He watched the shock wave rip Continue reading Brenham, Texas, and the highly dangerous character of gas and its tendency to escape