FERC Establishes Hearing in Proceeding on Proposed Rover Pipeline Penalty

Docket No. IN19-4-000
Item C-1

FERC today established a hearing before an Administrative Law Judge to address whether Rover Pipeline, LLC and parent company Energy Transfer Partners, L.P. violated the Commission's regulations and to make factual findings on certain issues relevant to a civil penalty assessment.

Today's order responds to briefs filed by Rover and FERC's Office of Enforcement (OE) staff, as required by the Commission's March 18, 2021, Order to Show Cause and Notice of Proposed Penalty, which concerned Rover's purchase and destruction of a historic property in Dennison, Ohio, known as the Stoneman House.

OE staff alleges that Rover failed to provide full and forthright information in its pipeline certificate application under the Natural Gas Act, as required by the Commission's regulations. Specifically, OE staff alleges that during the application process for its certificate to build the $4.2 billion, 711-mile-long pipeline, Rover made misrepresentations and omitted material information concerning the status and intended treatment of the Stoneman House.

In today's order, the Commission finds no basis for terminating the proceeding and rejects Rover's procedural arguments seeking termination.

R22-17