In a strongly worded letter dated Sunday, Rover Pipeline tells the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) they are “frustrated by the inaccurate central premise underlying the letter received from” FERC shutting down drilling at the Tuscarawas River location. On Jan. 24 FERC sent a letter to Rover stopping drilling at Tuscarawas, which had only restarted in December (see FERC Stops Rover Drilling Near River After 200K Gal Mud Disappears). In April 2017, some 2 million gallons of drilling mud went down the hole near the Tuscarawas River and popped back out where it should not have, harming a wetland by smothering aquatic life (see Rover Pipeline Accident Spills ~2M Gal. Drilling Mud in OH Swamp). That 2 million gallon “spill” in April triggered a shutdown of all HDD work in Ohio. It was only last December that Rover was allowed, by FERC, to resume more HDD work at the Tuscarawas site (see FERC Gives Rover OK to Resume All HDD Work, Incl. Tuscarawas River). After “losing” another 200K gallons down the hole, FERC shut it down a second time, on the 24th. So why is Rover frustrated? Because (a) losing some drilling mud was predicted and expected, and (b) NONE of the 200K gallons of mud lost has come back to the surface. There is no “inadvertent return,” as it’s called. Rover says 200K gallons staying down the hole, in the ground and not coming back out, is no big deal. That’s why they’re frustrated…
