Reposted with permission from EcoWatch.
Energy Transfer Partners‘ controversial $4.3 billion Rover pipelineย has more negative inspection reports than any other major interstate natural gasย pipelineย built in the last two years, according to a new Bloombergย analysis.
The 713-mile pipeline, which will carryย frackedย gas across Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio, and Michigan and Canada, has been stalled from numerous environmental violations, including aย 2 million gallonย drilling fluid spill into an Ohio wetland inย April.
Rover has accrued 104 violations since construction of the $4.2 billion projectย started inย March.
That’s more negative reports than the next four pipeline projects combined, including Williams’ Virginia Southside Expansion (26 reports), Enbridge’s Algonquin Incremental Market (24), Williams’ Dalton Expansion (23), and Enbridge’s Sabal Trailย (18).
LATEST: Rover pipeline has more env. violations than any other nat gas line built since 2015, w/ @naurtorioushttps://t.co/TmRpBsVufc pic.twitter.com/Ub3anjV9xm
โ Catherine Traywick (@ctraywick) August 17, 2017
In May, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission rejected Energy Transfer’s request to resume horizontal directional drilling at two sites for the Rover pipeline afterย numerous leaksย into Ohio’s wetlands as well asย variousย Clean Air and Clean Water Act violations across theย state.
Blackstone announced last month it was spending $1.57 billion for a 32 percent stake in the troubledย project.
โRover will be built in compliance with all safety and environmental regulations and in some instances we will exceed those requirements,โ Energy Transfer spokeswoman Alexis Daniel told Bloomberg in response to the violationย tally.
Energy Transferย ownsย about 71,000 miles of natural gas, natural gas liquids, refined products, and crude oil pipelines across the country and is the same company behind theย Dakota Access pipeline. Citing numbers from the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration,ย TheStreetย reported in June that the Dallas-based firm spilled hazardous liquids near water crossings more than twice the frequency of any other U.S. pipeline company thisย decade.
But spills are not the only problem. A Juneย studyย by Oil Change International highlighted how the Rover pipeline will fuel a massive increase inย climateย pollution, causing as much greenhouse gas pollution as 42ย coal-fired power plants โ some 145 million metric tons perย year.
Main image: Richland County Wetland destroyed by spilled drilling fluids during construction of Rover Pipeline, April 14. Credit: Sierraย Club
