Bridge over Ohio River @ Moundsville WV leads to PTTG site in Ohio

From a Newsletter of the FreshWater Accountability Project, June 8, 2020

Last month FreshWater Accountability Project put up a Billboard in Moundsville to help protect the Ohio River Valley from petrochemical projects. FWAP hopes the billboard will raise awareness about projects that threaten the area and help people connect to one another to fight back to protect their environment and health.

The billboard will remain up for at least the next three months. In August, FWAP will also be sending a more detailed informational mailing to those living in the areas that will be most profoundly impacted by proposed petrohub projects.

FWAP has been and will continue to be aggressive in combatting all efforts to turn the Ohio River Valley into the next “cancer alley” through petrochemical development.

As background on the issue, in 2015, the governors of Ohio, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania signed the Tri-State Shale Coalition Agreement, a comprehensive plan committing the three states to work together to expand natural gas development in the Appalachian Basin.

As part of carrying out this plan, the three states are determined to build a new petrochemical corridor in the Ohio River Valley, which to date include at least the following projects:

§ — The Mountaineer NGL Storage Facility, a huge ethane storage cavern to be made from a former salt mine in Monroe County that will take enormous quantities of water from the Ohio River to dissolve salt to create storage room, creating huge storage lakes to hold the resultant 3.2 billion barrels of brine that would create a catastrophe if dams were breached during a flood event.

§ — The PTT Global Petrochemical Complex in Belmont County, Ohio (Dilles Bottom across from Moundsville, WV) — a huge multi-national scheme by South Korean and Thai chemical companies to take ethane to make plastics and chemicals and ship product mostly overseas. According to the Environmental Integrity Project, the initial air permit applications for the PTT project requested to emit up to 538 tons of carbon monoxide, 297 tons of Volatile Organic Compounds (some known carcinogens), and 1.6 million tons of CO2 equivalent (greenhouse gases) a year into the air, not to mention tons of other pollutants such as Nitrogen Oxides (a family of highly reactive, poisonous gases) and small particulate matter (which can cause severe health effects when inhaled). Now the project has grown larger, which means even more toxic pollutants will be requested to be permitted.

§ — The Falcon pipeline, a 98-mile pipeline designed to take ethane from our region to feed the Shell Petrochemical Plant in Monaca, PA to make plastics and chemicals. This pipeline passes near schools, day care centers, family homes, and through the watersheds of numerous drinking water sources. FWAP submitted comments with Sierra Club to Ohio EPA opposing the issuance of Falcon’s 401 certification.

§ — The huge Rover pipeline, made of two 42” high-pressure fracked gas pipelines to transport shale gas to overseas markets. Annual GHG emissions from the Rover pipeline alone are equivalent to 42 average U.S coal plants or over 30 million passenger vehicles (145 million metric tons).

These combined projects would support what is often referred to as the Appalachian Storage and Trading Hub, and much of the financing is coming from China Energy with loan guarantees of our tax dollars through the Department of Energy.

These projects stand to impact more than 400 miles of streams and rivers within the Ohio River basin and would encompass more than 50 counties in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia.

Stay in touch for how you can help combat petrochemical projects in your communities, upcoming community meetings, and for updates on what FWAP is doing to defend Ohioans from these dangerous projects. And see above for our recent billboard!

OEM Equipment in the ready near the Wetzel-Tyler County border

NOTE: Article by Ed Parsons, Tyler Star News, December 12, 2018

Tom Cooper, Director of the Tyler County Office of Emergency Management, occupies storage and office space in the Paden City Industrial Park through a lease agreement with the Tyler County Commmission and the Paden City Development Authority.

On a recent visit to the site, Cooper gave a detailed description of the equipment and supplies his office currently manages. Inside the building, located on the South end of the Industrial Park, is approximately 40,000 square feet of space available to the OEM. Cooper, along with county volunteers and LEPC members, have an array of emergency equipment to their disposal.

“Everything here is for the citizens of Tyler County. We have search and rescue equipment, emergency supplies, temporary shelters, communication devices, bottled water, first aid equipment, trailers set up for disasters, and much more. However, everything here is available, not only for the local people, but anyone in the state who may need assistance,” Cooper said.

Tyler County OEM has a treasure trove of equipment at the ready, in case disaster strikes. “We work for you, but we also partner with industry, business and response agencies. We partner with healthcare facilities. We have emergency shelter for 72 people, including special needs and pets.”

To say the amount of equipment, -which also includes at least 15 trailers, all which are full of supplies and materials in case of disasters – is impressive would be an understatement.

Cooper and a handful of volunteers have put together a treasure of life-saving equipment. There is anything from communication devices to generators powerful enough to power the city of Paden City if needed. Two huge generators, portable lighting, and training equipment for search and rescue dogs are located in the warehouse.

One trailer, which is known as the command center, houses several computers and weather forecasting machinces hooked into the National Weather Service. These centers include radios, televisions, and meeting rooms, along with outside electrical outlets for the generators to run the trailer in rural areas.

Also in the storage area is a trailer with several smaller generators for emergency use and two water rescue boats, one which is state-of-the-art and another which has been in use for around 19 years.

“Most everything we have here has been purchased with grant money. We work directly with Homeland Security, and we have strong support from our county commissioners,” added Cooper. “Alot of what we do and what you see is a direct result of our relationship with other counties and respect we have with them and for them. We are partners with many different emergency response agencies, and we try to keep good relationships with them all. Everything that we have here is at the disposal of any agency who needs our help.”

Cooper also gave a brief tour of his office space, which includes phone lines computers, monitors, and way too much to list. Cooper, who formerly worked in local industry, said he recognizes the needs of industry, and he recognizes there are ways they can help the communities in which they are located. He pointed out, as an example, two fork lift trucks which he said were donated by a local plant. According to Cooper, the OEM has had a need for both of them, and currently one is on loan to another facility. He said one was used to lift water and food a couple years ago when power was out in the county due to a major storm.

While speaking about the two boats, Cooper said they are set up for the dogs that are trained to find bodies in water. He showed where the dogs sit and how they can move from the front of the boats, along the side, sniffing the water for scents. He said the small boat was actually used to locate a body in the Ohio River, with the assistance of one of the dogs provided by trainers and owners who partner with Tyler County. He said some are even members of the Tyler County LEPC.

Tom Cooper, director of the Tyler County OEM, can be reached at his office in Paden City via e-mail tjcooper@frontier.com

URL: http://www.tylerstarnews.com/page/content.detail/id/563512/OEM-Headquarters-Is-Prepared-for-Disaster.html?nav=5008

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Rover Pipeline donating $270,000 to emergency responders in 4 states | Michigan Live, February 26, 2018

https://www.mlive.com/business/ann-arbor/index.ssf/2018/02/rover_pipeline_donating_270000.html

Rover Pipeline sediment pollutes adjoining land area

From an Article by Joe Napsha, Pittsburgh Tribune Review, November 13, 2018

A natural gas drilling company was fined $294,000 by the state for polluting the Monongahela River last year with about 4 million gallons of mine water when it punctured an abandoned mine as it was boring underneath Route 136 in Forward Township to install a pipe to carry fresh water for a drilling site.

The Department of Environmental Protection in Pittsburgh said Tuesday EQT Production Co. in Cecil paid the fine as part of a consent order and agreement covering violations of the Clean Streams Law in Allegheny County.

According to the DEP, EQT inadvertently pierced the abandoned Gallatin mine on January 17, 2017 as it was boring a hole underneath Route 136 to install a pipeline from the Monongahela River to its Rostosky drilling site in Forward Township, Allegheny County. It took EQT until Jan. 31 to stop the discharge through the waterline borehole to unnamed tributaries of the Monongahela River and associated wetlands.

EQT was aware when it applied for permits in July 2016 there were several abandoned coal mines in the area, the DEP said. EQT relied on regional mapping that generally described mine pools as “not flooded or unknown” but did not undertake any further investigation. There were seeps of orange water near the area of the waterline borehole.

Since the incident, EQT has constructed a collection and drainage system similar to what was in place when the water was discharged. EQT also agreed to establish a $100,000 fund with the Clean Streams Foundation to provide for the maintenance, operation, and replacement of the system.

In September, Commonweath Court upheld a $1.1 million fine levied against EQT Production’s parent company, EQT Corp. of Pittsburgh, for violating state environmental laws by failing to prevent significant contamination from a fracking water holding pond in Tioga County six years ago.

The state Environmental Hearing Board found that water from the drilling site in Tioga County continued to pollute area groundwater, even after the company emptied the pond.

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ROVER natural gas pipeline agrees to pay $430,000 penalty for water pollution violations

From an Article by Kate Mishkin, Charleston Gazette, June 12, 2018

Rover Pipeline LLC has agreed to pay the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection $430,000 for water pollution violations in the state, according to a consent order made public Tuesday.

The natural gas pipeline project and the WV-DEP made the deal May 15, documents show, but the public comment period for the consent order ends July 13.

The agreement is in response to notices of violation and cease-and-desist orders issued to Rover Pipeline dating back to April 2017, said Jake Glance, spokesman for the DEP. In all, the pipeline has received 18 notices of violation and two cease-and-desist orders, the most recent of which was issued on March 5, when the regulators said crews left trash and construction partially buried on site and failed to clean the roads around the construction site.

The DEP also issued a cease-and-desist order in July 2017 for similar violations.

Rover is just one of the major pipelines being built to tap into the region’s natural gas boom. Last month, the Mountain Valley Pipeline, another pipeline project, also received a violation notice from the DEP for violating water quality standards — problems environmental and citizen groups warned might happen.

“What Rover shows us is that pipelines do have water quality impacts and when you layer the steep terrain and the complex hydrology … you’re getting into uncharted territory and we fear we’re going to see more problems and possibly even worse than we see with Rover,” Rosser said. “We hope it’s not in repeated nature we’ve seen with Rover.”

The $430,000 agreed-upon penalty is substantial, but it’s a small sliver of the project’s $4 billion budget, she said. Plus, the DEP spends money to monitor the pipelines and inspect construction sites.

“So $430,000, I would suppose a great deal of that went to cover DEP’s ability to provide the oversight. And then you’ve got a hundred sites where the streams have been polluted, and how can you put a dollar figure on that?” Rosser said. “The chemistry of the streams has been changed and can’t be reversed to how they were.”

Construction on the pipeline was “essentially complete,” and the company is working with the WV-DEP to finalize the settlement, a spokeswoman for the company said. The consent order references violations dating back to April 2017, including failing to control erosion and keeping sediment water from leaving construction sites.

“The good news that I see is that [the] DEP was on top of it, that they did a good job documenting multiple violations and it shows the importance of oversight of these projects because this company did not appear to be acting in good faith,” said Angie Rosser, executive director of the West Virginia Rivers Coalition.

Energy Transfer Partners, Rover Pipeline’s owner, also owns the Dakota Access Pipeline — the subject of protests and heightened attention over its being built in North Dakota.

The 713-mile-long Rover Pipeline will move natural gas from processing plants in West Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania. Crews are building the pipeline in Doddridge, Tyler and Wetzel counties in West Virginia.

Rover is just one of the major pipelines being built to tap into the region’s natural gas boom. Last month, the Mountain Valley Pipeline, another pipeline project, also received a violation notice from the DEP for violating water quality standards — problems environmental and citizen groups warned might happen.

“What Rover shows us is that pipelines do have water quality impacts and when you layer the steep terrain and the complex hydrology … you’re getting into uncharted territory and we fear we’re going to see more problems and possibly even worse than we see with Rover,” Rosser said. “We hope it’s not in repeated nature we’ve seen with Rover.”

The $430,000 agreed-upon penalty is substantial, but it’s a small sliver of the project’s $4 billion budget, she said. Plus, the DEP spends money to monitor the pipelines and inspect construction sites.

“So $430,000, I would suppose a great deal of that went to cover DEP’s ability to provide the oversight. And then you’ve got a hundred sites where the streams have been polluted, and how can you put a dollar figure on that?” Rosser said. “The chemistry of the streams has been changed and can’t be reversed to how they were.”

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FERC approves service on two (2) Rover Pipeline laterals

Reported from the Kallanish Energy News Service, November 5, 2018

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has granted Rover Pipeline permission to begin additional service moving natural gas across northern Ohio.

The federal agency last week told the company it could begin service on the Sherwood Lateral, Sherwood Compressor Station, Sherwood Delivery Meter Station, CGT Lateral and CGT Delivery Meter Station in the Appalachian Basin (primarily in West Virginia).

They were the last parts of the Rover pipeline project that needed FERC approval.

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Federal agency cites Rover Pipeline for three (3) violations

Reported from the Kallanish Energy News Service, October 31, 2018

Rover Pipeline has been cited for three violations by the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration.

The violations are for improper testing of pipeline welds, failing to comply with specifications or standards on repairing dents to the steel pipe, and failure to build the pipeline to avoid stresses on the pipeline.

The agency said the company committed “probable violations.” The violations could have triggered multi-million-dollar fines, but the federal agency said no fines would be imposed. The company said it is not contesting the violations and has been working with the federal agency to correct the problems. It said it is “in general agreement” with the agency’s proposed compliance order.

The company has spent in excess of $11.5 million in correcting the problems, it reported. Those violations have prevented Rover Pipeline from beginning commercial service on its Sherwood and CGT laterals to move natural gas from the Appalachian Basin, the company acknowledged.

The violations were discovered in PHMSA inspections on January 25, March 19-22, May 8-11 and June 18. The violations were issued by the PHMSA on September 11 and came to light in a recent company filing with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission that oversees interstate pipelines.

Rover Pipeline, an Energy Transfer Partners’ subsidiary, on October 25 filed a request with FERC seeking to begin full operations on the Sherwood and CGT laterals prior to November 1. It said the problems with the PHMSA had been corrected.

It said its shippers “have urgently requested Rover to place these facilities in service to allow their stranded natural gas supplies to be transported to Midwest markets.” A similar request was filed last August.

Those two laterals are mechanically complete and the final grading and seeding have been completed, Rover Pipeline wrote. The company said it has also filed plans for additional ground-movement areas outside the construction right-of-way along the Sherwood and CGT laterals.

The Sherwood Lateral runs about 54 miles from eastern Ohio into West Virginia. The CGT line runs roughly six miles from the Sherwood line to an interconnection with a Columbia Gas Transmission line. They are among the last Rover laterals to be approved for commercial service.

The $4.2 billion twin pipelines had encountered trouble with leaks and spills from horizontal directional drilling in Ohio where drilling had been halted for a time because of concern by state agencies. Construction was also halted for a time in West Virginia because of erosion and sediment control problems along pipeline laterals.

The 713-mile pipeline will move up to 3.25 billion cubic feet per day of Utica and Marcellus natural gas to the Gulf Coast, the Midwest and Ontario. Initial service on the pipeline began August 31, 2017.

Stream contamination entering Meathouse Fork of Middle Island Creek

Update from West Virginia Rivers Coalition, July 12, 2018

RE: Doddridge, Tyler and Wetzel Counties including Under the Ohio River

The Rover Pipeline in northern West Virginia has a long history of negligence – 18 water quality violations and two cease and desist orders since April 2017. You may have read in the news that WVDEP has issued Rover a penalty of $430,000 for 14 of those violations. The proposed agreement to that penalty is now open for public comment.

While WV Rivers commends WVDEP for holding Rover accountable for their water quality violations, we request the penalty be adjusted in a way that fully considers Rover’s repeated negligence and disrespect of environmental law, and strongly deters other pipeline companies from following suit. View our letter to WVDEP here.

Over the last year, Rover’s erosion impacted 35 streams and created unlawful water quality conditions approximately 92 times. $430,000 doesn’t cover the costs to reclaim the damage they’ve inflicted on West Virginia’s streams and the local residents who depend on them. Nor does it match in scale a penalty for a project with a construction budget of $4.2 billion. That’s why we are requesting WVDEP reconsider Rover’s penalties and deny them any future projects.

Add your voice! Share with WVDEP that you want them to hold Rover Pipeline accountable for their water pollution. Send a letter before 5PM, Friday, July 13.

Rover Pipeline near Tyler - Wetzel crossing

From an Article by Jeremiah Shelor, NGI Shale Daily, June 13, 2018

Rover Pipeline LLC has agreed to pay a $430,030 civil penalty for numerous sediment and erosion control violations during construction in West Virginia, according to a consent order released by the state’s Department of Environmental Protection (WVDEP).

The order, dated May 15 and signed by a Rover official on June 1, details a series of water pollution violations found during inspections dating back to April 2017 and as recently as April of this year. The alleged violations generally relate to improper controls to prevent runoff during construction in Doddridge, Tyler and Wetzel counties, where the project’s Sherwood and CGT laterals are routed.

The Rover project’s water pollution violations prompted WVDEP to issue cease and desist orders last July and in March that temporarily halted construction in the state, adding to a list of regulatory run-ins for the massive greenfield Appalachian expansion.

Rover, a 713-mile, 3.25 Bcf/d natural gas pipeline designed to transport supply gathered from West Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania to markets in the Midwest, Gulf Coast and Canada, increased its daily throughput this month after receiving FERC authorization to place into service several remaining sections of its second and final phase of construction.

But FERC has yet to approve four supply laterals, including the completed Burgettstown and Majorsville lines, potentially limiting supply into the now fully operational mainline.

“Construction on the Rover Pipeline is essentially complete, and the line has received approval from FERC to transport the full 3.25 Bcf/d,” Rover spokeswoman Alexis Daniel told Shale Daily via email. “We anticipate bringing on the four remaining lateral pipelines shortly, and we remain focused on restoring the entire right-of-way, which has always been our commitment to the landowners. We continue to work with the WVDEP on the terms of the consent order.”

Genscape Inc. analyst Colette Breshears said in a note to clients last month that construction on Rover’s CGT and Sherwood laterals appeared to be largely complete but that landslides may have caused delays.

“Continued earth movement/slips along” the remaining laterals could impact Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approval of those lines, “which will impact the addition of supply paths to Rover,” Breshears said at the time.

NGI’s daily Rover Tracker on Wednesday showed the pipeline flowing about 2.1 Bcf/d through its Mainline Zone, including about 1.4 Bcf/d delivered into the ANR and Panhandle Eastern pipelines at Defiance, OH, and just under 800 MMcf/d delivered into Michigan to the Vector Pipeline.

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Read the West Virginia DEP report of violations by Rover here.

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PUBLIC NOTICE FROM WV—DEP on Tuesday, June 12, 2018

The WV Department of Environmental Protection (WVDEP) and Rover Pipeline, LLC have proposed a settlement of Administrative Consent Order No. 8795 which resolves violation(s) of the WV Water Pollution Control Act which occurred in Doddridge, Tyler & Wetzel Counties, WV. In accordance with the proposed Consent Order, Rover Pipeline, LLC has agreed to pay administrative penalties and to comply with the Act.

Final settlement is subject to comments received during the thirty (30) day period ending July 13, 2018.

Further information about this Administrative Consent Order is available by contacting the Chief Inspector, WVDEP/Environmental Enforcement, 601 57th Street SE, Charleston, WV 25304, (304) 926-0470 or by accessing WV Department of Environmental Protection’s website at:

http://www.dep.wv.gov/pio/Pages/Settlements,Ordersouttopublicnotice.aspx

Rover Gets Limited FERC OK to Start Up Mainline Compressor 3, Segment

From an Article by Jeremiah Shelor, NGI Shale Daily, April 26, 2018

FERC on Wednesday gave Rover Pipeline LLC the green light to ramp up part of its second and final phase, bringing the 3.25 Bcf/d Appalachian natural gas takeaway project a step closer to full service, although the authorization was not expected to increase throughput capacity on the pipe.

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission staff authorized Rover to begin service on the Mainline Compressor Station 3 and the segment of its Mainline B running between the second and third of Rover’s mainline compressors [CP15-93].

The order partially grants a request submitted April 13, with Rover’s Defiance Compressor Station, Market Segment and Vector Delivery Meter Station still awaiting FERC’s approval. The in-service request for the other facilities is still under evaluation, according to FERC.

In March, FERC staff took issue with delays in the completion of restoration work at Rover’s Mainline 1 and Mainline 2 compressors, warning that future in-service authorizations could be impacted.

Rover’s February request to start up its Burgettstown Lateral to southwestern Pennsylvania has gone more than two months without an affirmative response from the Commission.

“Wednesday’s authorization is not expected to add additional throughput to Rover’s current roughly 2 Bcf/d capacity levels, as the newly authorized section of Mainline B is located in central Ohio, and will be capped at either end by sections of pipe restricted to only one operational mainline,” Genscape Inc. analysts Colette Breshears and Vanessa Witte said in a note to clients.

The 713-mile Rover project is designed to connect additional volumes of Marcellus and Utica shale gas to markets in the Midwest, Gulf Coast and Canada. The project has recently been transporting around 1.6-1.7 Bcf/d east-to-west across Ohio to interconnects with the ANR and Panhandle Eastern pipelines, according to NGI’s Rover Tracker.

In an update to its project website Wednesday, Rover said it has completed 98% of the horizontal direction drills needed for the pipeline, with total project construction now 99% complete.

Five or six workers clean up after Rover pipeline

From an Article by Scott DiSavino, Reuters News Service, January 12, 2018

(Reuters) – Ohio environmental regulators on Friday told federal energy regulators the state has significant concerns about the potential for a spill from Energy Transfer Partners LP’s drilling under a river as the company works on the Rover natural gas pipeline.

The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency said in a filing with the U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) that it learned this week that 148,000 gallons of drilling fluid were “lost down the hole” that ETP is drilling under the Tuscarawas River in Stark County, Ohio.

That is the same site as a spill last April of 2 million gallons of mostly clay and water used to lubricate drilling blades, which led FERC to temporarily ban ETP from new horizontal drilling.

The state has “significant concerns for the potential of similar releases as occurred at this location in April,” it said in the filing. “We are deeply concerned this second drill under the Tuscarawas River is heading towards a similar outcome which resulted in the previous release to the environment.”

The state EPA said in its filing the company has not discovered any new spills in the area. Ohio, which asked FERC to ban all of ETP’s horizontal directional drilling in November, said in its filing on Friday it wants more information on the Tuscarawas drilling.

FERC in December allowed ETP to complete all horizontal drills on the Rover project, including those in Ohio. Pipeline companies use horizontal directional drilling to cross under large obstacles like highways and rivers.

Once finished, the $4.2 billion Rover pipeline will carry up to 3.25 billion cubic feet of gas per day from the Marcellus and Utica shale fields in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia to the U.S. Midwest and Ontario in Canada. One billion cubic feet per day of gas can supply about five million U.S. homes.

ETP said in December it expected to finish Rover by the end of the first quarter. About 0.9 bcfd of gas was already flowing on the completed portions of the pipeline, according to Reuters data.

Major gas producers that have signed up to use Rover include units of privately held Ascent Resources LLC, Antero Resources Corp, Range Resources Corp, Southwestern Energy Co, Eclipse Resources Corp and EQT Corp.

Rover is in WV Counties Doddridge, Tyler, etc.

Rover in WV, OH, & MI

From an Article by Timothy Cama, The Hill Newsletter, July 14, 2017

Federal officials are investigating the developer building a controversial natural gas pipeline over alleged “misstatements” regarding its construction in Ohio.

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) staff said in a Thursday notice that they preliminarily determined that Energy Transfer Partners, developer of the Rover pipeline, “did not fully and forthrightly disclose all relevant information to the commission” in paperwork filed for a federal permit.

The disclosure of the FERC investigation and preliminary finding are the latest problem for Rover, whose developer also built and operates the controversial Dakota Access pipeline.

Ohio officials have accused Energy Transfer of spilling drilling waste that includes diesel fuel at a pipeline construction site, where it allegedly entered wetlands near a river.

That spurred FERC to order Energy Transfer to stop horizontal drilling for the pipeline temporarily.

The Thursday finding regards a historic house that Energy Transfer purchased and demolished in Ohio for the construction. State historic preservation officials say that the house was a protected historic landmark and its demolition was illegal.

“In the application and other docketed filings, Rover falsely promised it would avoid adverse effects to a historic resource that it was simultaneously working to purchase and destroy,” FERC wrote in its notice. “Rover subsequently made several misstatements in its docketed response to the commission’s questions about why it had purchased and demolished the resource.”

Multiple spills should be unacceptable

Large high pressure gas pipeline on farmland

U.S. blocks major pipeline after 18 leaks and a 2 million gallon spill of drilling mud

Video in Article: Cleanup workers wade through the Rover pipeline spill in Ohio wetlands

From an Article by Steven Mufson, The Washington Post, May 10, 2017

A video shows drilling mud discharged into a wetland area along the Tuscarawas River south of the town of Navarre. The affected area is 1,000 feet long and 500 feet wide. (Ohio EPA)

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has curtailed work on a natural-gas pipeline in Ohio after the owner, Energy Transfer Partners, reported 18 leaks and spilled more than 2 million gallons of drilling materials.

The pipeline regulator blocked Energy Transfer Partners, which also built the controversial Dakota Access pipeline, from starting horizontal drilling in eight areas where drilling has not yet begun. In other areas, where the company has already begun horizontal drilling, the FERC said drilling could continue.

The FERC also ordered the company to double the number of environmental inspectors and to preserve documents the commission wants to examine as it investigates the spills.

The biggest spill, in a pristine wetland along the Tuscarawas River about 50 miles south of Akron, covered 6.5 acres, the commission said, “coating wetland soils and vegetation with bentonite clay and bore-hole cuttings.” A video provided by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency showed drilling mud a foot or two deep.

Energy Transfer Partners has asserted that the spills of nontoxic drilling mud, used to cool and lubricate drilling equipment, were inadvertent and had been predicted in its permit application to build the Rover gas pipeline. The horizontal drilling is done to place pipelines well below ground to minimize the chances of contamination of rivers or wetlands.

However, the FERC said that its staff has “serious concerns” regarding the magnitude of the largest spill, “its environmental impacts, the lack of clarity regarding the underlying reasons for its occurrence, and the possibility of future problems.”

It said that the largest spill was “several orders of magnitude greater than other documented inadvertent returns for this project.”

The commission, which regulates all natural gas pipelines, said that “a stoppage of additional drilling is warranted to facilitate a review of Rover’s efforts to search for and locate any potential releases.”

The Ohio EPA has fined Energy Transfer Partners about $400,000 and asked the FERC for support. Craig Butler, the Ohio EPA director, said the company’s response had been “dismissive,” “exceptionally disappointing” and unlike any other response he has seen from a company in his 27 years at the agency.

The Rover pipeline is $4.2 billion project that would link the shale-gas-rich regions of Appalachia to Michigan and Ontario.

It is just one of many pipelines whose fate lies in the hands of the FERC, a technocratic and relatively obscure agency. The five-member commission has lacked a quorum since early February, putting new permits on hold. That has placed an obstacle in the path of the White House.

The Trump administration late Monday nominated two new members for the commission, potentially clearing the way for controversial, multibillion-dollar pipeline and natural-gas export projects like Rover, which was one of the last permits issued in February.

The White House picked Neil Chatterjee, energy policy adviser to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), and Robert F. Powelson, a member of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission since 2008.

President Trump has voiced support for new oil pipeline projects such as the Keystone XL and Dakota Access lines, and Gary Cohn, head of the White House National Economic Council, recently threw the administration’s support behind a liquefied natural gas export terminal in Oregon’s Jordan Cove that had been rejected by the FERC a few months ago.

The nominees, who must be confirmed by the Senate, would probably tilt the balance of the commission toward approving gas projects.

The Jordan Cove project was the only major LNG project the FERC has rejected. And the commission does not have jurisdiction over oil pipelines.

Nonetheless, leading Republicans and oil and gas industry groups have applauded the nominations. Sen. James M. Inhofe (R-Okla.), a senior member of the Senate Environment Committee, said in a statement that he was “thrilled” and that the nominations would “ensure Republican leadership” of the commission and “bring a great, pro-energy perspective.”

Christopher Guith, a senior vice president at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, called the nominations “phenomenal picks” and said, “From strained competitive markets to crucial energy infrastructure, FERC faces many challenges, and these nominees will help move America toward a more secure energy future.”

Height Securities said in a note to investors Tuesday that it would take about six weeks or more for the two nominees to be confirmed. “In the meantime, we believe FERC will continue avoiding controversial issues, even after quorum returns,” the firm said.

That could change once there is a new chairman. Height Securities said that the White House is expected to name Kevin McIntyre, co-head of the energy practice of the Cleveland-based law firm Jones Day, to serve as FERC chairman, further cementing the position of industry supporters.

Height said that the list of pipelines delayed by the lack of a FERC quorum includes the Nexus crossing Ohio, PennEast serving Pennsylvania and New Jersey, and Mountain Valley, serving West Virginia and Virginia. The stalled merger of Westar and Great Plains, two utilities, would need the FERC’s go-ahead once they finish ironing out final terms.

“For too long, FERC has merely served as a pit stop for the fossil fuel industry on its way to constructing dirty energy infrastructure,” Sierra Club global climate policy director John Coequyt said in a statement. “This cannot continue.”

A native of Lexington, Ky., Chatterjee has played a role in the passage of major energy, highway and farm legislation. Before working for McConnell, he worked in government relations for the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association and as an aide to then-House Republican Conference Chairwoman Deborah Pryce of Ohio.

Powelson was first nominated to the Pennsylvania PUC by Gov. Edward G. Rendell (D) and appointed chairman by Gov. Tom Corbett (R) in 2011. Powelson serves as the president of National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners.

Drilling mud spill on Rover Pipeline (See Video)

Ohio EPA orders Rover pipeline builder to pay $431,000 for violations

From an Article by Marion Renault, The Columbus Dispatch, May 8, 2017

The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency has ordered Energy Transfer, the company building the Rover natural gas distribution pipeline, to pay $431,000 for water and air pollution violations at various locations across the state.

In its order issued Friday, OEPA also instructed Energy Transfer to submit plans to address potential future releases and restore impacted wetlands along the $4.2 billion underground pipeline route, which stretches from Washington County in southeastern Ohio to Defiance County in the northwest.

Work on the pipeline began in mid-February, and state officials say a total of 18 incidents involving mud spills from drilling, stormwater pollution and open burning at Rover pipeline construction sites have been reported between late March and Monday to the agency.

That includes a 200-gallon release of mud Monday in Harrison County. Other Rover pipeline incidents include a spill that impacted one village’s public water system and another that smothered a protected wetland with several million gallons of bentonite mud, a natural clay which is used as a drilling lubricant.

“All told, our frustration is really high. We don’t think they’re taking Ohio seriously,” said OEPA Director Craig Butler. “Normally when we have … a series of events like this, companies respond with a whole lot of contrition and whole lot of commitment. We haven’t seen that. It’s pretty shocking.”

Alexis Daniel, an Energy Transfer spokeswoman, said Monday in an email statement that the “small number of inadvertent releases of ‘drilling mud’ during horizontal drilling in Ohio … is not an unusual occurrence when executing directional drilling operations and is all permitted activity by (the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission).

“We do not believe that there will be any impact to the environment,” Daniel said, adding that the company — the same one behind the controversial Dakota Access pipeline — is managing the Rover pipeline situation in accordance with its federal- and state-approved contingency plan.

After a pair of wetlands spills in April, Energy Transfer still planned to finish the Rover project and begin operating the pipeline this year.

“I believe and have told them that they’re rushing and building so quickly that they’re not paying attention to best management practice,” said Butler. “With oil and gas expanding in Ohio, we’ve seen a lot of pipeline activity. We’re not unaccustomed to seeing an occasional release. “This is pretty systemic — that’s when the alarm bells go off in my head.”

Butler said the OEPA has referred the matter to the FERC for analysis and is exploring other legal options.

“It’s very concerning. These violations are a swath across our entire state,” said Cheryl Johncox, a Sierra Club organizer. “We have no faith in their ability to operate a pipeline safely.”

OEPA inspectors across the state will continue to assist with monitoring, response and cleanup, Butler said.

But Sierra Club and other environmental groups are calling for the state to go further and seek an immediate injunction to shut down the project. Either this company is completely irresponsible or they just don’t care,” said Johncox. “We want the construction halted.”

Butler said the state “is limited in that we cannot ask them to shut down their operations. It’s a story left unfinished.