Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Residents pack meeting to discuss pipeline
Part of 350-mile-long Mariner East 2 to run through the township
EAST GOSHEN >> Although construction is already underway, more than 100 residents packed a meeting Thursday night at the East Goshen Township Building to voice their opposition to Sunoco Logistics and their Mariner East 2 Pipeline.
Almost every seat was taken. The township fire marshal warned the audience that the meeting room was near capacity and any latecomers would be required to stand outside and listen from the hallway.
Sunoco Logistics wants to ship hundreds of thousands barrels of Marcellus Shale byproducts such as butane, ethane and propane every day along a 350-mile-long pipeline that will crisscross the state. Plans call for pushing these gases to the company’s former refinery in Marcus Hook, mostly for export overseas.
Jeff Shields said that Sunoco is building both of the pipelines as part of the same project, but one after the other.
“The first, 20-inch pipeline is scheduled to be completed by the end of the third quarter 2017, and the second, 16inch pipeline, in 2018,” Shields wrote in an email. “We don’t have any other new pipelines projects in Chester and Delaware county.”
The Mariner East 2 Pipeline would run alongside the Mariner 1 pipeline, which is already in operation. At an overall cost of $2.5 billion, the pipeline would stretch 23.6 miles through
Chester County and 11.4 miles through Delaware County as it winds its way to the Delaware riverfront in Marcus Hook.
Trees have been cut in many areas, including at the Giant Market on Boot Road and Matlack Florist on Route 352, both in East Goshen, and SS. Simon and Jude Church in Westtown. A large area has been cleared and heavy machinery is already in place near the intersection of Boot and Ship roads in West Whiteland.
Many of the speakers at the event, co-sponsored by the Chester County Sierra Club, Safety First for East Goshen, Middletown Coalition for Community Safety, and Mobilization for Animals were concerned with the proximity of pipelines
to homes, businesses, churches, nursing homes and schools.
Eve Shapiro Miari, with the Middletown Coalition, was shocked by the proximity of pipelines to highdensity areas.
“It’s insane,” she said. “We’re in the Twilight Zone. It’s really nuts. It’s not too late to speak up and let your voices be heard.”
“These pipelines are dangerous,” Tom Casey, who is running for supervisor in West Goshen, told the audience. “These pipelines sometimes leak. These pipelines sometimes explode.”
The company has consistently rejected such claims, saying the pipeline is being constructed to the highest standards and has already passed rigorous reviews and inspection by outside authorities.
Miari already is pushing a course of action.
She advocates for outreach
Many of the speakers at the event were concerned with the proximity of pipelines to homes, businesses, churches, nursing homes and schools.
and education, support for legal action, voting for candidates fighting the pipeline and non-violent resistance through protests, rallies and marches.
Seth Kovnat is a structural aerospace engineer and also a member of the Middletown Coalition. He claimed pipeline accidents are common.
He talked about a September 2010 methane pipeline
explosion near San Francisco that killed eight, injured 66 and destroyed 38 homes. He also said Sunoco pipelines have leaked 284 times in a recent 10year time period.
Kovnat said the product is shipped as a liquid but when released turns to a dangerous gas, which is odorless, colorless, invisible, heavier than air and asphyxiating. Released gas can travel 1,800 feet in three minutes and the blast radius of pressurized gas when ignited is 1,100 feet.
A car engine, cell phone or even a doorbell could spark an explosion, Kovnat alleged.
“You can imagine how many people that would include in an area like this,” Kovnat said. “It can last for hours or it can last for days.”
Bernard Greenberg, of the Sierra Club, said that “it doesn’t take a rocket scientist” to see that something is wrong.
“Is that smart planning?” he asked. “Common sense would say why would you put a pipeline in a place like this?”
Speakers talked about a safe evacuation.
Evacuees are told to move on foot a half mile from a leak, while heading upwind.
Eric Friedman, of the Middletown Coalition, said that property values might take a major hit.
“I don’t know if people will be able to obtain insurance or a mortgage,” he said.
Miari Mairi discussed the distance for pipeline rightof-ways in densely populated areas.
“With any pipeline you want to have a proper setback,” she said. “So if there’s a problem nobody gets hurt. This has no legitimate setback. It’s absolutely ludicrous that we’re in this position.”
Greenberg addressed the risks versus the benefits.
Local residents are assuming the risk, and with 90 percent of the product being shipped overseas, are not benefitting, he said.
Greenberg updated the audience on the status of the project. The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection has approved the Sunoco application, the Army Corps of Engineers has not appealed and the Environmental Hearing Board has not granted a temporary halt.
While East Goshen Township did not oppose the project, West Goshen hired a special counsel and is currently claiming Sunoco is in violation of the 2015 settlement agreement.
Other battles across the state include fighting Sunoco’s right to eminent domain.
Michelle Truit, former state Rep. Daniel Truit’s wife, noted that the fight against construction of the Mariner East 2 pipeline might have already been lost.
“It’s likely going to happen,” she said. “Now we have to look at the safety factors.”
Miari said she won’t stop fighting until the product flows.
“We have not given up,” Greenberg said. “At least we can make this pipeline as safe as we can for our residents.”
Miari also suggested other pipelines might be in the works. Chester County hosts the third most pipeline miles in the state.
“We need to learn lessons from this so we can be prepared for the future,” she said. “There are a lot of lessons to be learned and we’re learning them.” Casey would agree. “We have to be engaged in our communities,” Casey said. “We cannot assume that somebody’s looking out for us. These pipelines are coming. This is not a game. This is not a joke.”