OREANDA-NEWS. August 01, 2017. Missteps during the construction of the Rover natural gas pipeline may make it even harder for pipeline projects to win approval, industry officials say.

Energy Transfer Partners has come under intense scrutiny during construction of the $4bn project after spilling an estimated 2mn USG of drilling fluid into an Ohio wetland and allegedly failing to prevent soil erosion from reaching streams in West Virginia. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is also investigating if the company "falsely promised" to protect a historic home near the pipeline it was simultaneously working to buy and demolish.

Energy Transfer's actions have led to construction stoppages that have delayed the in-service date of the its 3.25 Bcf/d (92mn m?/d) Rover pipeline, which will transport Appalachian shale gas into Ohio and Canada. But industry officials worry Rover's troubles could cause lasting harm to a pipeline industry already struggling to improve its public image. And it could strengthen the resolve of states, such as New York, that have used permits to block pipelines because of water quality concerns.

"Building pipelines today is not easy, and the continued high-visibility construction incidents on Rover certainly are not helping matters," says an industry official. "It is making it more difficult for all the other operators to get projects built."

Pipeline construction has grown during the shale drilling boom, but many of those projects have been in states such as Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Ohio and New York not accustomed to the industry. Landowners have become more adept at fighting projects and fault a federal permitting process that allows the seizure of their land for pipelines built for profit.

Environmentalists say the construction incidents with Rover should cause state regulators to take a closer look at the potential water quality impacts of other proposed projects, such as EQT Midstream Partners' 2 Bcf/d Mountain Valley pipeline and Dominion Energy's 1.5 Bcf/d Atlantic Coast pipeline. Those projects would transport gas from West Virginia to Virginia and North Carolina and, similar to Rover, pass through mountainous terrain that environmentalists say is prone to erosion.

"It definitely raises the specter that really bad accidents can happen, especially in wetlands and areas with unconsolidated soil," Sierra Club senior campaign representative Deb Self said.

Natural gas pipeline developers have "work to do" to improve the industry's perception and communication with the public, trade group the Interstate Natural Gas Association of America's (INGAA) chairman Diane Leopold said at an industry event on 27 July. The industry needs to better job at listening to concerns, explaining community impacts and understanding what it would be like to have an interstate pipeline nearby, she said.

"If we are honest, few of us here would be happy to receive that letter in the mail saying a pipeline company wants to cross our land," said Leopold, who is also the chief executive of Dominion Energy. "We as an industry need to do a better job of appreciating the concerns of landholders and other stakeholders."

INGAA's board of directors last week signed a commitment that its 26 member companies would follow "responsible pipeline construction." The commitment includes steps such as avoiding environmental impacts, working collaboratively with landowners and respecting regulatory processes. Leopold said one of the goals of the initiative was to "hold each other as an industry accountable."