What follows is the first of a couple of comments we’ll be submitting to FERC expressing our concerns about and opposition to the ET Rover pipeline. \u00a0In addition to all of the other serious and compelling issues raised by Michiganders, we think it’s important that FERC recognize the failures of its own processes.<\/p>\n
—<\/p>\n
October 28, 2014<\/p>\n
Ms. Kimberly D. Bose, Secretary
\nFederal Energy Regulatory Commission
\n888 First Street, N.E.
\nWashington, D.C. 20426<\/p>\n
Re: Docket PF14-14-000<\/p>\n
Dear Ms. Bose<\/p>\n
I am writing with regard to the Rover Pipeline project (Docket #PF14-14), which is currently at the pre-filing stage. While I share many of the concerns expressed by\u00a0my fellow southeast Michigan citizens (a very large number of whom have submitted their own comments to this docket) about the lack of necessity of this project, its limited benefits to our state, the disruptions it will cause to private property, and the threats the proposed route poses to sensitive environmental areas, here I will limit my comments to a very important procedural matter: public engagement.<\/p>\n
Rover Pipeline, LLC has failed to comply adequately with basic conditions of the FERC pre-filing process and for that reason\u00a0its application for a Certificate of Public Necessity and Convenience ought not to be accepted by FERC, much less approved.<\/p>\n
In its\u00a0order no. 665 (issued Oct. 7, 2005) mandating participation in the pre-filing process, FERC stressed that “it is desirable to maximize early public involvement to promote the wide-spread dissemination of information about proposed projects”and encouraged applicants “to cooperate with state and local officials, as required by EPAct 2005.” While Rover Pipelines, LLC has held a series of Open Houses along its pipeline route, those meetings, as clearly illustrated by the numerous and uniform comments of local officials listed below (it would be easy to produce dozens more similar comments from landowners), have in no way fulfilled Rover’s obligations as described by FERC. To wit:<\/p>\n
Mundy Township Supervisor Dave Guigear said<\/a> during the meeting he believes more people are concerned about the lack of transparency from Energy Transfer, parent company of ET Rover, rather than [sic<\/em>] pipeline.<\/p>\n “Nobody I’ve encountered seems to be in favor of this project,” [Mundy Township attorney F. Jack] Belzer said<\/a>. “There’s not a lot of information forthcoming from them that’s consistent.”<\/p>\n “I think it was an orchestrated disaster in terms of a meeting,” [Atlas Township Supervisor Shirley] Kautman-Jones said<\/a>. “There was limited parking, the facility was way too small and they only had one set of maps for each county.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Grand Blanc Township Supervisor Marilyn “Micki” Hoffman said<\/a> ET Rover’s lack of transparency has raised questions among community leaders and residents. Grand Blanc Township has postponed voting on the issue in hopes of getting more clarity on the project “This hit us so fast and we had so many bad relationships established with ET Rover for how arrogant they were when surveying properties,” she said. “And the lack of transparency has also been an issue. We don’t want to rule it out, but at the same time we have a lot of unanswered questions.”<\/p>\n Instead of a podium with a few speakers, [attendees]\u00a0walked into a packed hub of information boards and scattered Energy Transfer representatives. While there was a \u201cWelcome\u201d board, there was no rhyme or reason to the open house that Linden Mayor David Lossing referred to<\/a> as a \u201cdebacle.\u201d<\/p>\n Genesee County Commissioner Tony Brown (District 6) said,<\/a> \u201cWhen they don\u2019t include local government in the discussion, my knee jerk reaction is to say it\u2019s shady.\u201d He pointed out that he had no side, for or against it, yet, but that at face value the secretiveness says something underhanded is going on.<\/p>\n “It was a well-orchestrated disaster,” said Kautman-Jones of the Rover meeting<\/a>. “It was overcrowded and another thing I found really ridiculous is they had one table with a set of maps for each county. Of course, everyone wants to look at the Genesee County map, and you had to stand in line… They met the pre-filing application requirement of having a public meeting, but it definitely was not for the benefit of the public. They were just doing what was required.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>“It’s hard to trust a company that is not being as forthcoming with information as you wish they would be,” [Kautman-Jones]\u00a0said.<\/p>\n “I’m really frustrated because if this is how they treat elected officials, how are they treating property owners?” [Kautman-Jones]\u00a0asked.<\/a> “They aren’t even telling us what they are proposing to do. I feel (Rover) not giving information is a way to get to the filing process with as little opposition as possible. It takes people awhile to think about things and if your window of time keeps getting smaller and smaller, your response time is, too.”<\/p>\n [Ernest] Monroe agrees. The Hadley supervisor said<\/a> he began receiving calls from concerned residents at the end of August. Rover never contacted the township, nor Lapeer County officials, he said, they just started showing up and surveying property.<\/p>\n \u201cI can\u2019t get good answers from Rover, they\u2019ve just done a deplorable job,\u201d said [Groveland Township Supervisor Robert] DePalma.<\/a> \u201cNow they\u2019ve hired PR people that are going to come out. I\u2019ve been in marketing for more than 30 years and this is the worst managed project I\u2019ve ever seen\u2026 Facts have been extremely difficult to get from Rover.\u201d<\/p>\n ET Rover has not endeared itself to [Oxford Township Supervisor Bill Dunn]. “To be quite frank, they jerked me around,” Dunn told the audience<\/a>. “I’m not real happy with them.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>“I don’t like being jerked around,” Dunn said. “They did lie to me . . . They were not forthright.”<\/p>\n [Fenton] Township Clerk Robert Krug said<\/a> that when he attended the recent ET open house hosted at Spring Meadows in Linden, ET\u2019s public relations representatives continually said they would find someone to answer questions they couldn\u2019t, and never did. \u201cEverybody had smiles, but nobody had answers,\u201d said Krug.<\/p>\n [Fenton] Township Supervisor Bonnie Mathis said<\/a>, \u201cET Rover says that they notified township supervisors, but they didn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n