Pipeline Company Files Formal Proposal For Lancaster County Route

As expected, the Oklahoma-based firm that wants to build a controversial natural gas pipeline through western Lancaster County has submitted its formal application to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

The Transcontinental Gas Pipeline Company, owned by Williams Partners, submitted its application for a certificate of “public convenience and necessity” early Tuesday. The company hopes to get FERC approval and begin pipeline construction in Lancaster County in July 2016.

“This process will continue and it’s far from over. But it’s a significant  milestone though,” Williams spokesman Chris Stockton said.

FERC has never rejected a Williams application for a pipeline, although the agency has required changes in pipeline routes. Williams is the nation’s largest pipeline owner.

Read more:

http://lancasteronline.com/news/pipeline-company-files-formal-proposal/article_7e90e0fa-d7b6-11e4-bae4-637ca9069e3e.html

Maryland Says It Intends To Deny Permit To Continue Operating Conowingo Dam

Map of Maryland highlighting Cecil County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A week after a report found that dams in Lancaster County and Maryland are no longer trapping polluting farm and urban stormwater runoff, the Maryland Department of the Environment says it plans to deny a water-quality permit renewal to the Conowingo Dam.

Exelon, the owner of the hydroelectric dam on the Susquehanna River in Cecil County, Maryland, has been seeking relicensing renewal from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

The dam also needs a water-quality permit from Maryland to operate.

The state’s Department of the Environment says Exelon hasn’t fully supported its contention that the dam’s reduced ability to trap sediment is not harming the Chesapeake Bay, about 10 miles downriver, the Associated Press reported.

Read more: http://lancasteronline.com/news/local/maryland-says-it-intends-to-deny-permit-to-continue-operating/article_c91f5770-7198-11e4-bd9a-071fc8f2b5d3.html

Marcus Hook Refinery Gets Makeover As Natural Gas Hub

English: Sunoco Logo (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

It is out with the old and in with the new at the 500-acre waterfront facility formerly known as the Sunoco Marcus Hook Refinery, now the Marcus Hook Industrial Complex.

Workers last week ripped down aging petroleum-processing equipment, part of a labyrinth of machinery that has produced gasoline, diesel, and kerosene for more than a century. Other crews built cryogenic storage tanks more than 130 feet tall with three-foot-thick walls that will hold the future: new fuels from the prolific Marcellus Shale region.

Sunoco Logistics Partners L.P., a pipeline company that bought the property for $60 million last year from its sister company, Sunoco Inc., is converting the site into a major center for processing and shipping natural gas liquids.

“We very much hope this is only the first step in this property,” said Jonathan Hunt, director of the complex. “We’re working on a lot of possible businesses. There’s a lot of opportunities here.”

Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/business/20140420_Marcus_Hook_refinery_gets_makeover_as_natural_gas_hub.html#uviXa1C6vRQ7JrMk.99

Proposed Power Plant On Lancaster County-Maryland Line Would Mean New Gas Pipeline And Water Line In Solanco

Map of Pennsylvania highlighting Lancaster County (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

A proposed $675 million natural gas power plant on the Lancaster County-Maryland line would mean a new 9-mile gas pipeline and a 7-mile water line through southern Lancaster County.

Williams, the Tulsa-based company that would build the $80 million 20-inch Rock Springs gas line in Drumore and Fulton townships,  is holding a public workshop to explain the project and receive feedback from 6-8 p.m. Wednesday at Solanco High School in Quarryville.

There will be detailed aerial maps of the proposed pipeline’s route.

There should be plenty of interest.

Read more:  http://lancasteronline.com/article/local/926945_Proposed-power-plant-on-Lancaster-County-Maryland-line-would-mean-new-gas-pipeline-and-water-line-in-Solanco.html#ixzz2mS0QQABj

Gas Industry In Berks: What’s In The Pipeline

Counties constituting the Endless Mountains Region of Pennsylvania (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

DUSHORE – Now that the major surgery that took place last year in the beautiful northern tier of Pennsylvania is complete, Frank Carr Jr. can tell Berks Countians what it is like to have an interstate natural gas pipeline implanted in your land.

You get paid. You see your land temporarily torn up.  You have the right to object.

Ultimately, though, you may have no choice.

“To me, it just doesn’t seem right that they can come in and tell you where they are going,” said Carr, who co-owns a 500-acre dairy farm in Bradford County.  “But I also know they have got to get the gas to market, and it is all a part of that.”

Read more:  http://readingeagle.com/article.aspx?id=467029