Horizontal-drilling pause sought
ENVIRONMENT /
The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency this week requested that Rover Pipeline pause horizontal boring work after yet another spill of clay-based drilling slurry.
The latest incident happened Nov. 16, when 200 gallons of drilling slurry spilled into the Black Fork Mohican River in Ashland County. It was the largest of three spills near the river this month, and near the site of a 50,000-gallon spill in April.
In a letter Wednesday, Ohio EPA Director Craig Butler asked Rover to pause its boring and review plans to prevent and clean up spills.
Butler also said he would ask the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to intervene.
“I cannot explain how disappointed I am with the continued trend of Rover causing environmental damage in Ohio by continuing operations causing unauthorized discharges to Ohio waterways,” Butler wrote. “I understand the significance of this project, and while Ohio remains supportive of oil and gas infrastructure development, it cannot come at a cost of jeopardizing public health or the environment.”
A Rover spokeswoman didn’t immediately respond to a message seeking comment on Ohio EPA’s letter.
Texas-based Energy Transfer is building the $4.2 billion Rover project across 18 northern Ohio counties. When completed, the pipeline system will carry 3.25 billion cubic feet of natural gas a day from Utica and Marcellus shales.
In northeastern Ohio, Rover's twin 42-inch diameter mainlines cross Carroll, Tuscarawas, Stark and Wayne counties. Where Rover's route crosses highways and rivers, construction teams bore a path horizontally underground so as not to disturb the surface.
FERC halted some of Rover’s boring work in May after a series of spills, including an April incident in which 2 million gallons of diesel-tainted drilling slurry entered a wetland next to the Tuscarawas River in Stark County's Bethlehem Township.
In September, FERC allowed Rover to resume some of its Ohio boring projects, and there have been five spills since then. The largest was a 1,200-gallon spill in Belmont County in October. The spill last week into the Black Fork Mohican River marked Rover’s 19th environmental violation this year, according to Ohio EPA.
FERC has yet to allow boring at the Tuscarawas River crossing.
The Ohio attorney general’s office sued Rover earlier this month in Stark County Common Pleas Court over alleged violations in more than a dozen counties. Before the lawsuit, the Ohio EPA demanded Rover pay $2.3 million in civil penalties and restitution.