Rover Pipeline Facing Wrath of Farmers After Pumping Water Out of Trenches & Into Fields
From The State:
Dozens of Ohio farmers have complained that their fields have been flooded after heavy rains by crews pumping storm water out of open trenches. Some have asked a federal judge to tell the company to stop doing it, arguing it violates their land agreements.
Those agreements compensate the owners for putting the pipeline on their land, but farmers say it doesn't give the company the right to flood their adjacent land. Energy Transfer Partners said it has been dealing with unprecedented rainfall and is trying to avoid and minimize impact on crops.
Doug Phenicie, whose family farms about 1,800 acres (728 hectares) near New Washington in northern Ohio, said he watched this spring as a bulldozer pushed standing water onto a neighbor's field. "It looked like waves at the ocean," he said.
A muddy, brown stream rippled across his soybean field last week following another big storm as crews pumped out more water. It's become a common sight, he said.
The concern for farmers is that not only will some of this year's crop be ruined, but that it will be hurt for years to come in areas where the floodwaters have coated the ground with heavy clay and the heavy equipment has packed down the soil.Read more of this article by clicking here.
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