Dallas Firm Behind Dakota Access Pipeline Facing EPA Issue in Ohio

The company behind the Dakota Access pipeline is in another controversyThe same company that built the controversial Dakota Access oil pipeline has twice spilled drilling fluids in two pristine Ohio wetlands this month while constructing a $4.2 billion natural gas pipeline that will stretch from Appalachia to Ontario, Canada.The drilling fluid - a mudlike substance used to lubricate and cool equipment - is not toxic. But the Ohio state Environmental Protection Agency and environmental groups were worried that the larger of the two spills, which covered a vast area the size of 8 football fields, could smother aquatic life in the wetlands.Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners notified the Ohio EPA that it spilled as much as 2 million gallons of drilling mud and cuttings from underground on April 13, affecting an area 1,000 feet long and 500 feet wide south of the town of Navarre.And on April 14, it spilled 50,000 gallons of the same fluids, affecting a smaller area of 30,000 square feet near Mifflin Township more than 100 miles away.Both incidents happened during the construction of the Rover pipeline, a 710-mile project that includes 207 sensitive water crossings. Energy Transfer was drilling horizontally under the crossings.The spills aren't the only spots of controversy for the Rover pipeline.   Continue reading...