Canton Rep. Thomas West responds to DeWine's suit against Rover Pipeline

State Rep. Thomas E. West (D-Canton) today responded to Attorney General Mike DeWine’s lawsuit against Rover Pipeline LLC, months after the Ohio EPA referred some $2.3 million in fines to the attorney general for illegal dumping of toxic chemicals in the Canton area during the construction of the Rover Pipeline.

“It seems that with the outside threat of an Ohio Elections Commission investigation looming, Attorney General DeWine finally decided to take action to protect taxpayers from an out-of-state corporation’s reckless disregard for our safety,” said West. “This is welcomed news, but the timing of the lawsuit makes people wonder if the state could have done more, sooner. This was referred to Attorney General DeWine at the beginning of July. Meanwhile, local taxpayers have been forced to bear the brunt of toxic spills in our community and close to our drinking water supply.”

DeWine’s action comes one day after complaints were filed with the Ohio Ethics Commission, asking them to investigate DeWine for his potential conflict of interest in owning stock in Rover’s parent company, Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners.