The U.S. Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) on Dec. 16 ordered Energy Transfer Partners LP and its Rover Pipeline LLC unit to explain why the company should not pay a $40 million civil penalty for alleged violations during construction of a 711 mile-long interstate natural gas pipeline in Ohio.
An investigation by FERC’s Office of Enforcement concluded that Rover Pipeline included diesel fuel and other toxic substances and unapproved additives in the drilling mud during its horizontal directional drilling (HDD) operation under the Tuscarawas River in Stark County, Ohio.
In April 2017, shortly after Rover began its HDD operation, a large inadvertent release of 2 million gallons of drilling mud reached the ground surface and flowed into a nearby protected wetland, FERC said.
Testing conducted by the Ohio EPA found petroleum hydrocarbons consistent with diesel fuel, it said.
Energy Transfer Partners and Rover have 30 days to respond to the Commission’s show cause order.
The companies were not immediately available for comment.
Recommended Reading
Costly Consequences as E&Ps Navigate Methane Mitigation
2024-06-19 - Oil and gas companies are adjusting to an evolving emissions reduction landscape as state and federal regulators target methane emissions.
Supreme Court’s Uinta Basin Rail Case Raises Stakes for LNG, Pipelines
2024-07-10 - The lawsuit, involving crude transport via railway in the Uinta Basin, is part of a larger intragovernmental fight that could have implications for how FERC decides pipeline and LNG plant permitting.
FTC Requests More Info on $17.1B ConocoPhillips, Marathon Oil Deal
2024-07-12 - The U.S. Federal Trade Commission’s request for additional information regarding ConocoPhillips’ $17.1 billion acquisition of rival Marathon Oil is likely to delay the transaction. Other recent energy M&A deals have faced similar “second requests” from the FTC.
US Court Overturns Alaska Oil Lease Sale in a Win for Environmentalists
2024-07-17 - The ruling affects a lease sale held in December 2022 of offshore tracts for oil and gas development in the Cook Inlet in the northern Gulf of Alaska.