Posted on 01/03/2012 2:08:01 PM PST by thackney
A proposed pipeline project that could transport up to 190,000 barrels of ethane from Appalachian shale fields to the Texas Gulf Coast has secured enough customers to move forward, Enterprise Products Partners announced today.
The Houston company, which revealed two months ago that it had lined up its first long-term contract to use the pipeline, now says it has enough in place to make the project financially feasible. The 1,230-mile line is expected to be running in early 2014, taking advantage of the increased production of natural gas liquids and their lower price relative to oil-based liquids.
“The willingness of shippers to commit to a term of at least 15 years reflects the long-term potential of shale development in the Appalachian region and provides us with the assurance necessary to build the midstream infrastructure that will facilitate further development of this important domestic resource,” Enterprise president and CEO Michael A. Creel said in a statement.
A company spokesman declined to identify any of the newly signed customers or detail how much ethane they committed to purchase. In November, Enterprise announced it had signed Oklahoma City-based Chesapeake Energy Corp. to a contract for 75,000 barrels daily.
In recent years, the Marcellus and Utica shale fields of Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia have become a major hub for production of natural gas liquids. One of these, Ethane, a liquid form of natural gas, is feedstock for ethelyne, which in turn is a base material for many plastic products.
To complete the Appalachia-to-Texas project, Enterprise plans to build nearly 600 miles of pipeline from Washington County, Pa., to Cape Girardeau, Mo., then connect to an existing pipeline to Beaumont. The latter is one of two parallel pipelines that move refined products from Beaumont northward, but Enterprise spokesman Rick Rainey said the other, larger line is sufficient to meet demand.
Enterprise would then build a 55-mile connector pipeline to Mont Belvieu, where it has a storage complex, and other lines to petrochemical plants along the Gulf Coast.
Rainey said the project is expected to generate about 4,000 construction jobs and provide broader economic benefits to the petrochemical and pipeline industries and the communities that depend on them.
Creating a "backyard habitat" by replacing part of your lawn with native plants not only benefits wildlife, but it's less expensive and easier to maintain. Less lawn means less mowing. Native plants are hardy and drought-resistant, so they need little or no water or care.Now that's MY kind of yard. Low maintenance!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/North_American_Water_and_Power_Alliance
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Go to Wikipedia for links......
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The North American Water and Power Alliance (NAWPA or NAWAPA, also referred to as NAWAPTA from proposed governing body the North American Water and Power Treaty Authority) was conceived in the 1950s by the US Army Corps of Engineers as a 'Great Project' to develop more water sources for the United States. The planners envisioned diverting water from some rivers in Alaska south through Canada via the Rocky Mountain Trench and other routes to the US and would involve 369 separate construction projects. The water would enter the US in northern Montana. There it would be diverted to the headwaters of rivers like the Colorado River and others. The water would generate hydro-electricity during its trip via dams. The water supply would double the total amount of fresh water available to lower 48 states with its major focus being on the western states. This would solve the water shortage problems of the west for the foreseeable future. The amount of water available would in fact be so great that some water would be left over for use by Mexico via the Colorado River (which now runs dry as it enters Mexico).
The Corps of Engineers has studied this project and in the late 1950s and early 1960s this project was very close to realization. Washington State Senator "Scoop" Jackson was a significant sponsor and believer in this project.
The project was opposed by public sentiment in Canada on the rare occasions it surfaced in print, though Canadian financier Simon Reisman, who negotiated the Free Trade Agreement, the precursor to the North American Free Trade Agreement, was one of its backers and main promoters. Nonetheless, the Canadian position on free trade exempted water exports, in part specifically to pre-empt any attempted completion of Reisman's long-time pet project.
Recently, there has been a resurgence in the effort to implement NAWAPA, headed up by Lyndon LaRouche and his LaRouchePAC.
But once the state department had the right to review it, they were allowed to apply "best interest of the nation" and their definition of "best interest".
When you look at our existing pipeline network and the location of Aquifers, you can quickly see that concern is nonsense anyways.
thanks....
That was the outcome of the report. They delayed it anyways after the pressure from liberals.
A current article:
Obama appeared to have skirted what some dubbed the “Keystone conundrum” in November when the State Department announced it was postponing a decision on the pipeline until after this year’s election. Officials said they needed extra time to study routes that avoid an environmentally sensitive area of Nebraska that supplies water to eight states.
Obama, Congress begin 2012 in oil pipeline dispute
http://fuelfix.com/blog/2012/01/02/obama-congress-begin-2012-in-oil-pipeline-dispute/
January 2, 2012
Canadian Water Exports:Will NAWAPA Return? ( Friday, 25 January 2008) WPA project....why not?
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