Pipeline Companies “Spooked” by Sierra Club Victory; Could Shut Down Sabal Trail

from WWALS

OilPrice.com calls it “a critical decision yesterday, that could jeopardize the future for pipeline projects across the country”; pipeline companies could be “spooked” and “…the court ruling raises the unsettling possibility that the project may be forced to shut down — after billions were spent putting it in into service.” Other stories say this ‘huge’ win could also affect the Atlantic Sunrise, Penneast, Atlantic Coast, and Rover Pipelines, among others.

Sad for FPL, Duke, Spectra, and all the other pipeline-building purveyors of fracked methane, maybe, but glad for all the landowners whose land was taken, local citizens who don’t want a 500+-mile IED next to their homes, schools, and waterways, and all people who want clean sun and wind energy, not more polluting fossil fuels.

It’s good the industry press agrees with what I told the VDT: “This is wind in our sails and could be the end of Sabal Trail.”

Here’s a news roundup, in addition to the ones I listed yesterday, with a few quotes from each story, organized roughly by themes, and I’m sure I didn’t catch all the stories about this Major Landmark Victory that is spooking the fossil fuel industry.

• Dave Forest, OilPrice.com, 23 August 2017, Landmark Court Ruling Could Jeopardize This Major Pipeline,
  

  But elsewhere the news for natgas developers was less rosy. With U.S. courts handing down a critical decision yesterday, that could jeopardize the future for pipeline projects across the country.

  That came from a Washington D.C. Circuit court. Which ruled that the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) must redo its approval of a major natgas pipeline — to consider what happens after the gas arrives at its destination.

  The story describes the judges’ decision, and continues:
  

   

  If this decision stands on appeal, it’s going to make it notably more difficult to build natgas pipelines in America. Giving challengers a powerful weapon to strike down regulatory approvals — and leaving bodies like FERC in the difficult position of having to quantify downstream emissions impacts.

  Most problematic is the fact the Sabal Trail pipeline is already built and operating — having been commissioned in July after the initial FERC approval.

  Representatives for the pipeline operating company said flows have not yet been disrupted. But the court ruling raises the unsettling possibility that the project may be forced to shut down — after billions were spent putting it in into service.

  Those kind of loses could spook pipeline developers, and impede growth of new lines needed in places like the Permian Basin of Texas to move rapidly-rising natgas production. Watch for similar legal challenges to other pipeline projects, and for signs of a slowdown in project construction.

  Here’s to looking down the line.

  Yes, let’s look down the line a few years to when FERC’s rubberstamp no longer works to socialize pipeline costs by ignoring externalities like greenhouse gases. To when Sabal Trail is pulled back out of the ground. To when Florida and all other states are powered by sun, wind, and water power and no more pipeline boondoggles.

• Susan Salisbury, Palm Beach Post, 22 August 2017, Court orders new environmental review of FPL gas pipeline. Apparently FPL didn’t like this story, because the next day….
• FPL is making desperate excuses. Susan Salisbury, Palm Beach Post, 23 August 2017, FPL: Less natural gas would hurt consumers, increase coal use,
  

  “If the Sierra Club succeeds in curtailing access to natural gas, Florida consumers would experience increased fuel costs due to more limited availability of natural gas and increased air emissions due to the continued use of older coal-fired power plants,” [FPL spokesman Dave] McDermitt said.

  So get on with deploying solar power, which costs less than any other power source.

  “FPL has been working to phase out three coal-burning plants in Florida, but the Sierra Club’s actions would jeopardize these plans,” McDermitt said.

  Oh, come on, FPL, you’re not even trying! We established a year ago that you already “modernized” those three coal plants without Sabal Trail.

  Unlike most states, Florida has access to only two other major natural gas pipeline systems, McDermitt said.

  And SeekingAlpha determined shortly after Sabal Trail started shipping gas that what goes into Sabal Trail is being taken away from FGT and Gulfstream, so there was never a need for a third pipeline, even to burn fracked methane.

  Here’s more about why there is no need for Sabal Trail.

  You know what Florida has access to more than almost all other states? Sunshine for solar power! Which even you, FPL, admitted a year ago “is now significantly influencing FPL’s resource planning.”

  In 2016 more new U.S. electricity came from solar power than any other source; more than wind; more than natural gas. The solar industry already employs more people in electricity generation than coal, oil, and gas combined, and is creating new jobs a dozen times faster than the economy on average. Here’s more about how solar has already won the economic race.

• Rich Heidorn Jr., RTO Insider, 23 August 2017, FERC Must Consider GHG Impact of Pipelines, DC Circuit Rules,
  

  With both of its two major natural gas pipelines near capacity, Florida is at risk of having demand outstrip supply, according to Florida Power & Light and Duke Energy Florida, which have committed to buying nearly all the gas the project can transport.

  FPL admitted in its 2016 Ten Year Plan that there is no demand for new electricty in Florida until 2024 at the earliest.

  The project’s developers — Duke Energy, FP&L parent NextEra Energy, Spectra Energy Partners and the Williams Companies — said increased gas supplies will allow utilities to retire old coal-fired power plants, thus providing a net reduction in GHG emissions.

  See comments on previous story above about how FPL already did that before Sabal Trail. Want to shut down more coal plants, and start shutting down natural gas power plants? Get on with deploying solar power, FPL.

  The American Petroleum Institute, which absorbed America’s Natural Gas Alliance in 2015, said it believes FERC acted properly and is evaluating the ruling. “Regulatory certainty is critical to ensuring that infrastructure is constructed efficiently. Further delays due to needless regulatory hurdles will slow consumer access to reliable, affordable natural gas and opportunities for job creation,” it said.

  Read more at WWALS

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