Environmental

Eight months after President Trump called for the federal government to expedite its review and permitting of major infrastructure projects, 12 agencies agreed Monday to follow permitting timetables designed to complete the reviews within two years.

In a sign of the battle that could be ahead for the PennEast Pipeline under a Democratic governor, the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) on Friday asked FERC to throw out the certificate for the project.

President Trump called on Congress Monday to pass an infrastructure bill that would generate at least $1.5 trillion in new investment over the next decade, with the federal government contributing $200 billion and a goal set to shorten the permitting process for infrastructure projects to two years or less.

Plans to “embrace energy dominance,” are included in President Trump’sNational Security Strategy, a 55-page list of high level goals released by the White House Monday afternoon.

The American Petroleum Institute (API) and 26 natural gas and oil producers on Tuesday announced a partnership to accelerate improvements to environmental performance in their U.S. onshore operations, focusing initially on reducing methane and volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions.

The Delaware Riverkeeper Network (DRN) is wasting no time challenging Millennium Pipeline Co. LLC’s Eastern System Upgrade (ESU) project, filing both at FERC for a rehearing authorizing the project and in federal court to appeal New York state permits.

Preferred Proppants LLC, whose fracture sand operations are becoming concentrated in the Permian Basin and Eagle Ford Shale in Texas, has sold its Bloomer facility in Wisconsin to Frontier Sand LLC. Financial details were not disclosed. The sale, along with a previously announced transaction for the Blair, WI, facility, “is part of our strategy that was put in place during the previous market downturn to be the regional and in-basin leader within the space,” said CEO Michael O’Neill. Preferred plans to build three Texas in-basin plants in the Permian and Eagle Ford to complement an existing portfolio of sand-related assets in Genoa, NE, and Sanders, AZ. To pursue the “localized” strategy, Preferred has switched to more trucking and reduced its train car fleet by almost 20% since the end of September.

In a pair of orders handed down late Friday, FERC approved the Appalachian-to-Southeast Atlantic Coast (ACP) and Mountain Valley pipelines (MVP) in a rare split decision.

The Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) may continue operating during a federal review of the project’s environmental impact, a judge overseeing the case ruled on Wednesday.