Tag Archives: Spectra Energy Partners

Spectra responds in pipeline certificate rulemaking 2018-08-24

As we’ve seen so often in the Sabal Trail docket, Spectra seems to be acting in place of FERC, responding yesterday to thousands of comments on FERC’s certificate rulemaking.

Spectra’s bottom line: a pipeline company’s bottom line matters more than the Fifth Amendment due process, or water, air, or safety. See page 25:

Contrary to some commenters’ arguments, the Commission’s public interest determinations are not rendered insufficient under the Fifth Amendment public use requirement because the Commission considers precedent agreements among applicants and affiliates to be evidence of public benefits.

Spectra repeatedly argues that FERC does not have authority to consider hardly anything other than whether the pipeline company has customers, yet FERC has authority to give eminent domain to private corporations and to let them gouge through our lands and under our rivers without local agreement or payment first.

Page 9: Tolling Orders, Pages

In this election year, you can ask every candidate for statehouse or Congress whether they support Continue reading

Sabal Trail offers barely-investment-grade bonds

I’ve wondered whatever happened to Andrea Grover since she no longer has landowner “stakeholders” to try to sell on her pipeline. Diagram, Moodys Bond Ratings Turns out she’s selling debt bonds for Sabal Trail now, according to a press release of Monday.

The notes were issued in three tranches as follows (collectively, the “Notes”): $500 million principal amount of 4.246% senior notes due 2028, $600 million principal amount of 4.682% senior notes due 2038, and $400 million principal amount of 4.832% senior notes due 2048.

Those sound like good interest rates, especially that 4.832%. But why is it listed on the Berlin Stock Exchange, and what about that Baa1 Moody’s bond rating? That is eight steps from the top and three steps above “Non-Investment Grade” aka junk bonds.

I wonder what happens if Sabal Trail doesn’t make its FERC-extended construction deadlines? Somebody remind me, what assets does Sabal Trail Transmission, LLC have, as in what recourse would a bond-holder have if the issuer decided to cancel them?

Two months (2018-04-01 -- 2018-05-03), STT Graphs
Graph: by WWALS, from Sabal Trail’s FERC-required Informational Postings.

Or maybe, unlike the amount of gas Sabal Trail is pumping (see above graph), SEP’s stock price will stop dropping and Continue reading

Sabal Trail starts stagecoach line in an electric car world 2017-07-05

Let me fix some typos in Sabal Trail’s PR of yesterday, Sabal Trail Transmission Project Placed In-Service: New Pipeline System Increases the Reliability and Diversity of the Southeast U.S. Natural Gas Infrastructure.

Corrected headline: Sabal Trail starts stagecoach line in an electric car world.


Apologies to the 1877 Omaha Herald and True West.

Adding a third natural gas pipeline merely makes Florida even more than 60% dependant on natural gas, as Sierra Club Alabama, Georgia, and Florida pointed out three years ago. The people of Florida voted for solar power twice last year. Yet Sabal Trail is wasting $3 or $4 billion on Continue reading