Energy Transfer Partners

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    Energy Transfer Sells 32% Ownership in Rover Pipe to Blackstone

    In a surprise move, Energy Transfer Partners has sold what amounts to be 32.44% of the ownership of the still uncompleted Rover Pipeline to Blackstone, a private equity and so-called alternative equity firm based in New York City. In fact, Blackstone is the largest alternative equity firm (investing in things other than stocks/bonds/cash) in the world. Blackstone is paying ET $1.57 billion in a somewhat complicated transaction. There are multiple companies, on paper, involved. ET has a subsidiary (on paper) called HoldCo which owns 65% of the Rover project. Blackstone (and its subsidiary Blackstone Energy Partners) is buying 49.9% of HoldCo. When you do the math, it works out to be a 32.44% stake in the Rover Pipeline venture. Rover, as we have covered, is the $3.7 billion, 711-mile pipeline project that will run from PA, WV and eastern OH through OH into Michigan and eventually into Canada. The project is facing setbacks and delays in both Ohio and West Virginia due to various accidents and spills. Phase 1 of the project–from Cadiz, OH to Defiance, OH–was supposed to be online by yesterday. That has now slipped to “late summer” (see Rover Pipeline’s Phase 1 In-Service Date Slips to “Late Summer”). The ET/Blackstone deal will close by the end of this year, presumably when the pipeline is up and running…
    Read More “Energy Transfer Sells 32% Ownership in Rover Pipe to Blackstone”

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    Two Democrat Backbenchers Try to Interfere in Rover Pipe, FERC

    Sen. Maria Cantwell and Rep. Frank Pallone

    A United State Senator from Washington State (left coast) and a Congressman from New Jersey, both of them liberal Democrats, have sent a letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) over “troubling reports” regarding Energy Transfer Partners and the Rover Pipeline project. Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) is a ranking member of Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. She looks like a kindergarten teacher. Rep. Frank Pallone (D-NJ) is the ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. He looks like an extra on The Sopranos. In their roles on their respective committees they are asking FERC to conduct a wide-ranging investigation of ET and Rover–even though the pipeline doesn’t traverse a square inch of either Washington State or New Jersey. They begin by regurgitating old news about ET knocking down a dilapidated “historic” house, and move on to leaks of drilling mud. All of it old news. All of it currently being handled/reviewed/remedied. They go on from there to ask FERC to investigate *all* ET projects. While one could say this dynamic duo have an “interest” in the Rover project because of their role on the energy committees to which they belong, it’s a stretch. This is more swamp politics–a couple of obscure backbenchers trying to raise their profile with their own constituents. They don’t care a scintilla about the people in Ohio (or West Virginia) that may or may not have been impacted by the Rover project. The real purpose of the letter is to cast doubt on FERC itself. Near the end of the letter, they ask a series of questions, including a question for how many applications has FERC received over the past 17 years, and how many they have denied. It’s a setup by two backbenchers to try and question the authority (and competency) of FERC. We say let them eat white noise. Refuse to even acknowledge the letter…
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    Sunoco LP’s Generous Deal to Chester Co. Residents with Water Issues

    MDN previously reported about problems experienced in Chester County, PA (suburb of Philadelphia) with underground horizontal directional drilling (HDD) by Sunoco Logistics Partners for its Mariner East 2 Pipeline project (see ME2 Pipe Work in Chester County Creates Water Well Issue for Some). Sunoco accepted the blame for fouling a dozen private water wells in West Whiteland Township with drilling mud. The short-term fix was to provide hotel rooms from some of the families most affected–and to provide bottled water for all of them. Sunoco didn’t waste any time with a long-term fix. Sunoco worked on a deal to extend a municipal water pipeline to some 30 homes in the area (see Sunoco Extending Public Water to Homes Affected by ME2 Drilling). The long-term fix is going to cost plenty. How much? Sunoco proposes to pay to connect each homeowner, plus $60,000 to cover the cost of water bills over the next 20 years. If homeowners want to stay on their private water wells instead of hooking up to municipal water, Sunoco will pay them $11,000. Some of the homeowners are pleased with the offer, others are greedy and want more…
    Read More “Sunoco LP’s Generous Deal to Chester Co. Residents with Water Issues”

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    PA Enviro Judge Puts 2-Week Pause on ME2 Pipeline Drilling

    Anti-fossil fuelers who irrationally hate anything to do with natural gas, including the super-safe pipelines that flow it, have found a sympathetic judge inside the Dept. of Environmental Protection’s Environmental Hearing Board to side with them in a campaign to stop the Mariner East 2 pipeline project. At least temporarily. Yesterday Environmental Hearing Board Judge Bernard Labuskes, Jr. issued an order stopping all underground horizontal directional drilling (HDD) across PA related to the ME2 project. The order affects some 55 different locations where HDD is being used. Headlines in left-leaning anti pubs like StateImpact Pennsylvania and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette mislead people into thinking ALL construction of ME2 has stopped. That is manifestly untrue. The only thing stopped, for the next two weeks, is HDD. The other 90% (or more) of the project, which is digging trenches for the twin pipelines, continues. Only in locations where ME2 must drill underground–say under a stream or roadway–are affected by the judge’s order. The order is in response to an appeal by radical Big Green groups, including the anti-fossil fuel Clean Air Council (of Philly), THE Delaware Riverkeeper (Maya van Rossum), and Mountain Watershed Association (see Antis’ Fake Outrage at ME2 Construction “Spills,” Demand Stop Work). Although temporary, this two-week pause is troublesome and problematic because Big Green groups have convinced a DEP judge to hear a case that ultimately aims to stop the ME2 project…
    Read More “PA Enviro Judge Puts 2-Week Pause on ME2 Pipeline Drilling”

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    WV DEP Orders Rover to Stop Pipe Construction in 2 of 4 Counties

    Rover Pipeline has had trouble with the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (OEPA). The OEPA has jumped on Rover’s back and hasn’t gotten off–over spills of drilling mud and mishandling (according to OEPA) torrential rainwater that ended up in Rover trenches, which Rover pumped out, flooding local farmers’ fields (see OEPA & Rover at Odds Over Storm Water Runoff, “Fine” Now $714K). The OEPA also claims diesel fuel was found in some of the spilled drilling mud (see OH EPA Says Diesel Fuel Found in Rover 2M Gal Drilling Mud Spill). OEPA got the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) involved, asking FERC (the agency in charge of oversight) for help in reigning in Rover. FERC did just that, shutting down some of Rover’s activities while it (FERC) investigates. Now Rover is getting grief from the West Virginia Dept. of Environmental Protection (WVDEP). The WVDEP issued water pollution control permits for the project, and now says Rover has violated the conditions of the permits and must cease and desist “land development activity until such time when compliance with the terms and conditions of its permit and all pertinent laws and rules is achieved.” The issue appears to revolve around handling of storm water runoff (one of the issues in Ohio). Construction of Rover in Doddridge and Tyler counties has stopped, but construction continues in Hancock and Marshall counties…
    Read More “WV DEP Orders Rover to Stop Pipe Construction in 2 of 4 Counties”

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    Rover, OH Landowners Head to Court re Pumping Water from Trenches

    In May MDN brought you the news that the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (OEPA) was going after Rover Pipeline for failing to properly plan storm water management which resulted in heavy storm water runoff into farmers’ fields where Rover is digging trenches (see OEPA & Rover at Odds Over Storm Water Runoff, “Fine” Now $714K). OEPA was already sore with Rover over drilling mud spills, and this just added to the strained relationship. OEPA assessed a fine of $283,000. Some 246 landowners, many of them farmers, want compensation for Rover causing “long-term” damage to their fields when the company pumped out the trenches, onto their fields. So the landowners banded together and sued Rover in U.S. District Court. Everyone was in court last week…
    Read More “Rover, OH Landowners Head to Court re Pumping Water from Trenches”

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    Rover Pipeline’s Phase 1 In-Service Date Slips to “Late Summer”

    As recently as July 7th, Energy Transfer Partners, builders of the mighty 711-mile Rover Pipeline project that will run from PA, WV and eastern OH through OH into Michigan and eventually into Canada, said that a portion of Phase 1–from Cadiz, OH to Defiance, OH–will be completed and go online this month, in July (see ETP Says Much (Not All) of Rover Phase I Will Go Online in July). But then the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) sent ET a pretty hefty todo list on July 12th (see Frustrated FERC Gives Rover Todo List, HDD Drilling Still Blocked). ET has finally changed its tune–and target date. The company now says Phase 1 will not be completed and online until “late summer”…
    Read More “Rover Pipeline’s Phase 1 In-Service Date Slips to “Late Summer””

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    Rover Still in Hot Water w/FERC Over Demolishing This Old House

    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. The house was not yet on the list of Historic Places, but was on a list of properties under consideration. Their action in demolishing the house landed Rover in hot water with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (see Rover Pipeline in Hot Water Over Demolishing Historic House in OH). FERC said Rover should have reported their decision to demolish the house. Rover had to pay a “fine” of $2.3 million “to a fund administered by the Ohio History Connection Foundation and the State Historic Preservation Office” (see Rover Pipeline Paying $2.3M for Knocking Down Historic OH House). The thing that rankles is that the Ohio History Connection Foundation and its Ohio State Historic Preservation Office is a PRIVATE nonprofit organization–it’s not even a true state agency! At any rate, Rover paid their hush money, so that’s the end of it, right? Wrong. Last week FERC issued a “Staff Notice of Alleged Violations” related to this old house. The notice says Rover “did not fully and forthrightly disclose all relevant information.” FERC also said, “Rover falsely promised it would avoid adverse effects to a historic resource that it was simultaneously working to purchase and destroy.” In other words, we’re not done with you yet…
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    Frustrated FERC Gives Rover Todo List, HDD Drilling Still Blocked

    Yesterday the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) sent a letter to Energy Transfer regarding the Rover Pipeline project. You may recall that Rover hit some bumps along the way in its aggressive schedule to get part of the pipeline up and running by the end of this month, and the rest operational by the end of November. In Ohio, Rover experienced a series of mishaps, the most serious of which spilled 2 million gallons of non-toxic drilling mud in a swamp near the Tuscarawas River back in April (see Rover Pipeline Accident Spills ~2M Gal. Drilling Mud in OH Swamp). An investigation by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (OEPA) found the presence of diesel fuel in the drilling mud, which means the mud wasn’t so non-toxic after all (see OH EPA Says Diesel Fuel Found in Rover 2M Gal Drilling Mud Spill). Since that time, FERC has stopped all new underground horizontal directional drilling (HDD) for the Rover project. Rover has asked FERC, several times, for permission to restart the HDD work–at least in a few select locations. In this latest letter from FERC, the agency slaps Rover around and says, (1) you still can’t start HDD, (2) we (FERC) are still investigating the 2 million gallon spill, and you (Rover) are not helping–because Rover hasn’t provided key personnel for interviews by FERC, and (3) you (Rover) need to dispose of the diesel-tainted drilling mud in an approved landfill before we’ll even consider restarting your HDD activities. The letter closes with a paragraph that says, essentially, “We’re watching you.” We have the FERC letter below, with its 4-point todo list for Rover, along with analysis of the letter and the current status of Rover…
    Read More “Frustrated FERC Gives Rover Todo List, HDD Drilling Still Blocked”

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    Mich. DEQ Rejects Stop Rover Request, Senators Appeal to FERC

    Isn’t it interesting how a small-but-mouthy group of anti-fossil fuelers can drive a media narrative? Just two days ago MDN told you about a meeting of 100 (likely far less) anti-fossil fuel protesters in Dexter Township, Michigan, who rallied to protest the impending construction of the Rover Pipeline in that area (see Mich. Rover Protesters Illustrate Irrational Anti-Fossil Fuel Psychosis). Our point in that post was to highlight the sad lack of brainpower in the anti movement. One young speaker said they were there to protest “all extraction industries”–including oil and gas. She is woefully ignorant of just how much her life is tied to extraction industries. At any rate, the small group, and the Big Green groups (with deep pockets) using them as puppets, have had an impact. Earlier this week, an attorney supposedly representing residents from the Silver Lake area (Dexter Township) filed an “URGENT Request for Stop Work Order on wetlands trenching, ET Rover Pipeline” with the Michigan Dept. of Environmental Quality (DEQ). The DEQ politely told him, “No.” And so the small group of antis using Big Green money appealed to their two Democrat U.S. Senators, Gary Peters and Debbie Stabenow, for help. The two Dem Sens promptly sent a bloviating letter to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), asking for a temporary stop work order in the Silver Lake area…
    Read More “Mich. DEQ Rejects Stop Rover Request, Senators Appeal to FERC”

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    Ohio EPA Asks Ohio AG to Force Rover to “Comply” and Pay $914,000

    Sounding eerily like a Borg drone from Star Trek (“YOU WILL COMPLY, RESISTANCE IS FUTILE”), the Ohio EPA (OEPA) has asked Ohio’s Attorney General, Mike DeWine, to force Rover to pay the Ohio EPA $914,000 in so-called fines it has unilaterally levied (with no apparent authority to do so) to punish Rover for a series of accidents while constructing the pipeline. Rover has not agreed to the fines and is challenging the OEPA’s authority to levy them. So the OEPA is asking DeWine to use the full weight and force of his office to force Rover to comply. Rover has had the pedal to the metal since receiving a go-ahead from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in March to begin construction to build a 711-mile natural gas pipeline from PA, WV and eastern OH through OH into Michigan and eventually into Canada (see FERC Green Lights Rover Pipeline Construction). Perhaps by going a little too fast, Rover experienced some problems along the way, the biggest being a 2 million gallon leak of drilling mud into a swamp (i.e. “wetland”) near the Tuscarawas River in April (see Rover Pipeline Accident Spills ~2M Gal. Drilling Mud in OH Swamp). Since that time, the OEPA and Rover have been on the outs, with the OEPA attempting to assert itself in a role that frankly, it doesn’t legally possess. The Rover project has federal, not state, oversight. This latest move by OEPA is an escalation in the ongoing disagreement over OEPA’s role, and their demands for money from Rover. It almost seems as if Craig Butler, head of the OEPA, is on a personal mission to stop this pipeline from getting built…
    Read More “Ohio EPA Asks Ohio AG to Force Rover to “Comply” and Pay $914,000″

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    Mich. Rover Protesters Illustrate Irrational Anti-Fossil Fuel Psychosis

    A young, brainwashed 17-year old woman was one of the headline speakers at a recent anti-Rover Pipeline rally in Michigan–apparently because she’s an Indian (i.e. Native American). However, her heritage really has nothing to do with her opposition to the Rover Pipeline. Her opposition is rooted in what we would call a break with reality–a psychosis. At a rally held in Dexter Township, MI near where Rover is scheduled to be built, the teenager said this to the “about 100” assembled: “‘We’re fighting extraction industries all across the country. It’s not just here. It’s not just Standing Rock,’ said…an Ypsilanti resident, urging other protesters to divest from fossil fuel companies and take their money out of big banks and put it in local banks and credit unions so they’re not supporting the extraction industry.” We hate to burst the young protester’s bubble, but “extraction industries” are the reason she even exists. “Extraction industries” not only provide energy (oil, gas coal), but “extraction industries” mine the metals that make up the innards of her expensive cell phone. “Extraction industries” provide the raw materials to produce plastics, which is in just about everything everyone touches these days–including the clothes on her back and the sneakers on her feet. To call for divestment, and to oppose “extraction industries” is a call to crawl back into a cave and die a very young death. It is, in a word, insane…
    Read More “Mich. Rover Protesters Illustrate Irrational Anti-Fossil Fuel Psychosis”

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    ETP Says Much (Not All) of Rover Phase I Will Go Online in July

    Rover route through Ohio – click for larger version

    Last Friday MDN brought you the news that Energy Transfer is changing some of its previously planned underground horizontal directional drilling (HDD) to trenching in order to keep the 711-mile Rover Pipeline project that will run from PA, WV and eastern OH through OH into Michigan and eventually into Canada, on schedule (see Rover Pipeline Converts Some Horizontal Drilling to Trenches Instead). Phase I of the project is the section from eastern Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia to the Midwest Hub in Defiance, OH, via what is called Rover’s “Mainline A” segment. That entire segment was supposed to be completed this month–July 2017. Ain’t gonna happen. However, Energy Transfer says a significant portion of Phase I–from Cadiz, OH to Defiance, OH–will be completed this month. That’s a pretty big portion of the Phase I project–essentially spanning the state from eastern OH to northwestern OH. If ET can pull it off, it will be an impressive feat, given delays imposed by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission…
    Read More “ETP Says Much (Not All) of Rover Phase I Will Go Online in July”

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    Rover Pipeline Converts Some Horizontal Drilling to Trenches Instead

    Phase I of the 711-mile Rover Pipeline project that will run from PA, WV and eastern OH through OH into Michigan and eventually into Canada is supposed to be completed by July 2017, while Phase II is supposed to be done by November 2017. Will Phase I be done by the end of this month? We sure wouldn’t want to take that bet, but we suppose there’s still a slim chance. While building the $3.7 billion pipeline project, Energy Transfer (or more correctly its contractors) hit some snags, including spilling 2 million gallons of non-toxic drilling mud near the Tuscarawas River (see Rover Pipeline Accident Spills ~2M Gal. Drilling Mud in OH Swamp). The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) slapped a stop work order on any horizontal directional drilling (HDD, or underground drilling) projects for Rover not already underway. A tipster later claimed diesel fuel was being added to the drilling mud and after testing a sample from the spill near the Tuscarawas, the Ohio EPA claimed to have found diesel in the mud (see OH EPA Says Diesel Fuel Found in Rover 2M Gal Drilling Mud Spill). That made FERC really upset and touched off a full investigation. Meanwhile, Rover hired a new firm to oversee HDD activity and pledged with a cross-your-heart-pinky-swear to FERC that those kinds of accidents would not happen again. FERC recently allowed Rover to restart some of the work halted, which has radicals at the Sierra Club fit to be tied. However, in the “you can start again” order, we noticed that Rover has changed some (much?) of the remaining HDD projects into digging trenches instead. Obviously you can’t dig a trench across the Tuscarawas River–or a highway–or other such structures. But you can dig a trench right up to the edge of those structures. It’s our observation that a change from HDD to trenching has allowed Rover to restart stopped work in a number of locations…
    Read More “Rover Pipeline Converts Some Horizontal Drilling to Trenches Instead”

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    Mich. Official Says She’ll Stand in Front of Dozer to Stop Rover

    A liberal Democrat County from the Washtenaw County, Mich. Board of Commissioners, someone who obviously ignores the rule of law, has pledged to break the law in her misguided attempt to stop Energy Transfer’s Rover Pipeline project from coming through her county. Lib Dems often like to pick and choose which laws they will obey and which they’ll ignore, so we’re not surprised by the mouthy reaction from Commissioner Michelle Deatrick, D-Superior Township. She’s like many other radical anti-fossil fuelers. Michelle is an Al Gore fan and has apparently overdosed on trailers for Gore’s forthcoming Inconvenient Truth Part Deux fictional flick, called “Truth to Power,” because that’s the exact phase she used at a recent board meeting. Here’s what mouthy Michelle had to say…
    Read More “Mich. Official Says She’ll Stand in Front of Dozer to Stop Rover”

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    Rover (Again) Asks FERC for Permission to Finish Horizontal Drilling

    Yesterday Energy Transfer Partners, the builder of the Rover Pipeline, once again asked the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) if they could pretty-please-with-a-cherry-on-top resume horizontal directional drilling (HDD) in a couple of key locations in Ohio, so they can finish phase one of the pipeline somewhere close to on-time. Rover is a $3.7 billion, 711-mile Marcellus/Utica natural gas pipeline that will run from PA, WV and eastern OH through OH into Michigan and eventually into Canada. It is a critical piece of sorely needed infrastructure for the Marcellus/Utica industry. As soon as ET received approval for the project in February, they began building it. But they hit a few snags along the way, including an “inadvertent return” (i.e. leak) of 2 million gallons of drilling mud in a swamp next to the Tuscarawas River (Stark County, OH). Following that leak and other leaks, FERC told Rover to stop any new underground drilling not already under way (see FERC Slaps Rover Pipeline with Stop Drilling Order). A few weeks later ET asked FERC if they could begin drilling again in a few key locations (see Rover Gets Serious About Mud Spills, Asks FERC for OK to Drill). But so far, nyet. Yesterday ET asked again, “respectfully,” to restart HDD drilling…
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