A judge in July closed a court case over a $20 million federal fine levied against pipeline giant Energy Transfer for allegations it misled regulators about the demolition of a 173-year-old farmhouse in Ohio.
The federal judge in Texas ruled that settlement negotiations had gone on too long for the case stemming from the 2021 Federal Energy Regulatory Commission enforcement action.
FERC investigated and fined Energy Transfer after it demolished the Stoneman House in Dennison, Ohio, in 2016, as it sought permits to build the $4.3 billion, 700-mile Rover natural gas pipeline, after telling FERC it wouldn’t destroy the historic house.
Dallas-based Energy Transfer asserted the house was not historic. It has also argued that FERC should not be able to bring the case before an in-house administrative law judge. That tracks with a national legal push by conservatives to diminish the regulatory powers of federal agencies by cutting their ability to use in-house judges for enforcement. That is a primary reason the case has dragged on for years.
