We’re not sure we have the full, 100% story, but we have enough of it to have some righteous anger. In May 2015, Rover purchased a house in Carroll County, OH, located near where the pipeline, and a compressor station for that pipeline, is due to run. Rover bought the house to use for offices for several Rover affiliate companies. After buying it, Rover determined the house was “ill-suited for its intended purpose” and decided to demolish it. Problem was/is, that house was under consideration to be added to the National Register of Historic Places (see Rover Pipeline in Hot Water Over Demolishing Historic House in OH). The house was not yet on the list of Historic Places, but was on a list of properties under consideration. FERC says Rover should have reported their decision to demolish the house, which landed Rover in hot water with FERC and the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation. How do you fix problems like this one? You pay–of course. Rover agreed to pay out $2.3 million “to a fund administered by the Ohio History Connection Foundation and the State Historic Preservation Office. A total of $1 million is for preservation work in the 18 counties crossed by the pipeline. The rest of the money will be used for projects across the state” (see Rover Pipeline Paying $2.3M for Knocking Down Historic OH House). So Rover didn’t pay a fine. Instead, they paid hush money. A shakedown, with the money going to a PRIVATE nonprofit organization. Yes, the Ohio History Connection Foundation is a private non-profit organization. And they got $2.3 million at the direction of the federal government. Now the history buffs want more. To be precise, they say Rover owes them $1.5 million per year for the next five years. Why? Apparently it’s not related to knocking down the “historic” house, but is some sort of agreement that Rover made with them to cover whatever other damage is done to historic locations during construction of the pipeline. We call it an elaborate shakedown. “Those pipeline companies have more money than God. Let’s grab some of it.” Ohio History Connection says Rover has missed its first payment, so they went whining to FERC. Rover is disputing Ohio History Connection’s claim that it owes them one red cent more…
