Pipeline spills by Dakota Access company 'could have deadly effect'

Washington

THE director of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency on Monday blasted the pipeline company Energy Transfer Partners for a "pattern" of 18 spills of drilling materials and said that the size of the biggest spill could reach 19 million litres, more than double original estimates.

Craig Butler, the Ohio EPA director, said that his agency has imposed about US$400,000 in fines on Energy Transfer Partners, the same company that was recently embroiled in controversy over its Dakota Access crude oil pipeline.

But Mr Butler s…