Contrary to the hysteria being pushed by pipeline opponents, horizontal directional drilling (HDD) is used to install a variety of infrastructure like energy pipelines, water lines, and telecommunications cables because it is environmentally sensitive.
It is difficult to read a newspaper these days without seeing another opinion piece pushing misinformed messaging that adheres more to ideological perspective than scientific or engineering expertise. The alternative to utilizing horizontal directional drilling is installation by digging trenches across the entire spread of the pipeline. This is much more efficient from a timing perspective, but less sensitive to landowners property.
Check out the video below to learn more about what horizontal directional drilling.