The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency’s (OEPA) director asked Atty. Gen. Michael DeWine (R) on July 7 to seek civil penalties against Rover Pipeline LLC for bentonite slurry and other discharges along the project’s route.
OEPA also ordered Rover Pipeline to implement a release prevention and emergency response plan that day and submit a revised contingency plan within 7 days that addresses findings and orders the agency issued at that time.
“Further, if I determine that Rover Pipeline has failed to comply…, I would further request that you initiate civil proceedings to compel compliance with these orders and any other environmental law that has been violated,” OEPA Director Craig W. Butler said in his letter to DeWine.
The findings and orders deal with unauthorized discharges and water-quality violations, industrial waste disposal, and open burning. They were issued after OEPA began enforcement actions on May 5.
The US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission told Rover Pipeline not to begin horizontal directional drilling in Ohio after OEPA notified the federal regulator that it began enforcement actions (OGJ Online, May 12, 2017).
Contact Nick Snow at [email protected].
