Mountain Valley says natural gas pipeline timing depends on litigation, U.S. approvals

(Reuters) – Equitrans Midstream Corp said on Monday it will evaluate the cost and timing of the completion of the Mountain Valley natural gas pipeline based on ongoing litigation and upcoming federal approvals.

The U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) gave Mountain Valley permission late Friday to resume some construction on its $5.4 billion-$5.7 billion pipeline, which runs from Virginia to West Virginia.

“As the litigation process progresses and as we receive additional information from FERC regarding potentially releasing the remainder of the route for construction, (Mountain Valley) will continue to evaluate its current construction plans, budget, and schedule,” Equitrans said.

Mountain Valley is one of several U.S. oil and gas pipelines delayed by regulatory and legal fights with environmental and local groups that found problems with federal permits issued by the Trump administration.

FERC suspended work on Mountain Valley a year ago due to litigation over the project’s Biological Opinion from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), which allows construction in areas inhabited by endangered and threatened species.

The FWS issued a new Biological Opinion in early September. Environmental and other groups continue to challenge the latest FWS approval and other federal permits in court.

Analysts at Height Capital Markets said they expect the project to enter service in mid 2021 but noted timing could slip to the third quarter of 2021 if legal challenges prevent some stream crossings.

“We acknowledge the legal challenge that is currently before Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals and have agreed to temporarily delay stream and waterbody activities out of respect for that process,” Equitrans said.

Equitrans has said it expects the pipeline, which is about 92% complete, to enter service in early 2021.

In February 2018, when Equitrans started construction, it estimated Mountain Valley would cost about $3.5 billion and be completed by the end of 2018.

(Reporting by Scott DiSavino; Editing by Alexander Smith and Steve Orlofsky)

Nationwide Blackout Possible Using Only Nine Power Substations

A new report from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission shows that as little as nine terrorists could take out the United States’ electrical grid for as much as 18 months.

The report says that on a hot summer day, a coordinated attack on just nine of the nation’s 55,000 electric-transmission substations would cripple the system to the point it would cause a nationwide blackout.

“This would be an event of unprecedented proportions,” Ross Baldick, professor of electrical engineering at the University of Texas told the Wall Street Journal.

The article in the WSJ comes a day after a report from a New Jersey utility oversight committee showed a serious lack of security at key electrical substations.  The report also cited the April 2013 attack on a Pacific Gas & Electric transmission station that knocked out 17 transformers with shots from sniper rifles.

The memo from the FERC says the California attack shows “it does not require sophistication to do significant damage to the U.S. grid.”