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'DRILL, BUDDY, DRILL!!!!' INSIDE FERC'S $40M ROVER FINE

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is seeking a large fine years after a
massive spill tainted with diesel fuel. Critics say the pipeline builder still
comes out ahead.
By: 
Mike Soraghan

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Mike Soraghan

REPORTER

msoraghan@eenews.net Copy to clipboard
@MikeSoraghan

| 03/24/2022 07:13 AM EDT

Crews work in 2017 to remove diesel-laced pipeline drilling fluid, often
referred to as "drilling mud," from a forested floodplain described as having
previously been a "pristine" wetland near Canton, Ohio. Ohio EPA photo obtained
by Ohio Sierra Club through open records request.

ENERGYWIRE | Tunneling under the Tuscarawas River was not going well.

It was early April 2017, and construction on the Rover pipeline across Ohio had
just begun. At a worksite near Canton, Ohio, a drilling device was stuck,
probably caked with mud. And drilling fluid that should circulate back to the
surface was instead disappearing underground.



So the night foreman of a contractor crew started adding diesel fuel to the mix
to lubricate the drill and get it unstuck, according to an enforcement
report from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Other workers followed his
lead.

It's an old trick. It was also against the law.

The drilling fluid — about 2 million gallons of it — later surfaced in a
pristine wetland across the river. The mud was at least a foot and laced with
the toxic fuel.

Now, FERC is seeking a $40 million fine from Rover's developer, Energy Transfer
LP (Energywire, Dec. 17, 2021). In its report issued late last year, agency
enforcement staff said the company fostered a speed-justifies-the-means attitude
and passed it on to its roughly 12,000 contract employees, all the way to the
laborers in the mud pits.

...


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