On July 13, 2017, FERC Office of Enforcement Staff issued a Notice of Alleged Violation against Rover Pipeline, LLC and Energy Transfer Partners, L.P. (collectively, “Rover”) alleging that Rover, in its application for a certificate of public convenience and necessity (“Application”) and subsequent filings, did not disclose all relevant information regarding the avoidance of adverse effects to a certain historic resource. In addition, on July 12, 2017, FERC Office of Energy Projects (“OEP”) Staff issued a letter listing the activities Rover must complete prior to receiving authorization to place its proposed pipeline into service.
In the Notice of Alleged Violation, Enforcement Staff states that Rover violated section 7 of the Natural Gas Act between February 2015 and September 2016. More specifically, Enforcement Staff alleges that while Rover stated it would avoid adverse effects to a certain historic resource, it was “simultaneously working to purchase and destroy” the resource. Enforcement Staff further alleges that Rover made several misstatements in response to FERC’s questions about why it had “purchased and demolished the resource.”
In a separate letter unrelated to the alleged violation, OEP Staff stated that, in order for Rover to receive authorization to place into service its proposed pipeline, Rover must:
1. remove and dispose all drilling mud and drill cuttings containing petroleum hydrocarbons from the Oster Sand and Gravel Disposal Pit and the Beach City Quarry;
2. remove and dispose of all drilling mud and drill cuttings from the Tuscarawas Horizontal Directional Drill (“HDD”) site;
3. develop a remediation and restoration plan for the Tuscarawas River wetland; and
4. develop a water-quality monitoring program for water wells in the vicinity of the Tuscarawas River HDD site.
A copy of the Notice of Alleged Violation is available here. A copy of OEP Staff’s letter is available here.