Access

Less than two weeks after a federal appeals court in Manhattan declined to force regulators in New York State to issue a water permit for the Constitution Pipeline, supporters of the Northern Access expansion — another embattled project also denied a water permit — told the same court the two cases are not alike and that a different ruling is warranted.

National Fuel Gas Co. management on Friday struck an aggravated but determined tone about the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s (DEC) decision last month todeny key permits for the Northern Access expansion, saying the company remains committed to the project.

National Fuel Gas Co. (NFG) subsidiaries have have asked a federal court to review the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation’s (DEC) decision to deny the Northern Access expansion project a water quality certification and other permits. NFG filed a petition for review in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit on Friday. DEC rejected the project’s permits earlier this month, saying construction would negatively impact the environment. The 490,000 Dth/d Northern Access project would expand the Empire and National Fuel systems to move natural gas from wells in northwest Pennsylvania to markets in New York, Canada, the Northeast and the Midwest.

A Presidential Natural Gas Access and Expansion Task Force has been created by the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC) to develop best practices and recommendations to help expand natural gas service in neglected areas of the country, including rural communities.

The main protest campsite, Oceti Sakowin, along the route for the final link to be constructed in Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) project in south-central North Dakota was cleared on Wednesday and Thursday following an emergency executive order from North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum setting Wednesday afternoon as the deadline. It was mostly peaceful, although a few protesters were arrested. The head of the Indigenous Environmental Network, Tom Goldtooth, criticized the move as an “unnecessary infringement on the constitutional right of water protectors,” but leaders of the nearby Standing Rock Sioux Tribe had been urging protesters to disperse for weeks. Opponents said three other campsites for protesters remain in the larger area: Sacred Stone, Cheyenne River and Four Bands.

The Standing Rock and Cheyenne River Sioux Tribes on Tuesday filed a motion in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to set aside the Trump administration’s approval to allow the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) to be completed at a Missouri River crossing in south-central North Dakota.

Late Wednesday the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers granted the on-again, off-again easement needed to complete the $3.8 billion, nearly 1,200-mile Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) oil pipeline project. More court challenges and demonstrations against the project are expected.

Late Wednesday the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers granted the on-again, off-again easement needed to complete the $3.8 billion, nearly 1,200-mile Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) oil pipeline project. More court challenges and demonstrations against the project are expected.

National Fuel Gas Co. (NFG) said Wednesday that its Northern Access pipeline expansion project would again be delayed, this time because of a slower than anticipated approval process at FERC.