Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
Pipeline foes urge towns to install warning systems
With natural gas liquids running through parts of their boundaries, some townships in Delaware and Chester counties are doing some exploration into a detection system for their residents.
“In my neighborhood,” Thornbury resident Eric Friedman said, “the main thing we want is an air raid system and some strobe lights. We’re not sure we want
something that’s going to dial 1,000 phone numbers. If this siren goes off at 3 in the morning, we have to get our shoes on and run out.”
In December, the Mainer East 2 pipeline began transporting these liquids such as ethane, butane and propane from the Marcellus Shale region to the Marcus Hook Industrial Complex, where they will be stored and then distributed to domestic and international customers.
When these are leaked into the environment, these materials are colorless and odorless and heavier than air. In the past, residents have said they’ve been instructed to run uphill away from the release and some voice concerns about how to do that.
Thornbury Township Manager Jeff Seagraves added, “Obviously, there have been concerns raised by our residents and others.”
So, he began to do initial searches in what other sorts of detection systems are out there.
He said he and Friedman met with Texas-based Global Detection Services Corp. in November to see what types of gas and flame detection systems they have.
“It’s nothing more at this point in time than a research project,” Seagraves said. “It’s incumbent upon us to find out what’s out there.”
Concerns have arisen over the Mariner East lines, after they have been the subject of 80 violations from spills of drilling fluids to sinkholes in backyards to improper disposal of hazardous waste. Most recently, Mariner East 1 was shutdown after a sinkhole exposed the pipeline in a West Whiteland, Chester County home. Mariner East 2 remains active and 2x is under construction.
This month, Delaware County Council moved to join parties such as the Rose Tree Media, Downingtown Area and Twin Valley school districts, as well as East Goshen and West Whiteland and the Andover Homeowners Association in their support of a PUC complaint filed by seven residents.
Some offiicials in towns such as Thornbury and East Goshen in Chester County are mulling over the idea of a leak detection for their residents.
“We created a pipeline task force last year,” East Goshen Township Manager Louis “Rick” Smith said, adding that they had a presentation by an engineer who explained two types of tracking devices. One would monitor a 30feet area from the pipeline and another uses infrared laser beams then sends a signal to a notification system.
Seagraves said some characteristics have to be weighed, such as how many linear feet would be covered.
“It’s basically a unit that sends out a beam and it has a receiver at the end,” he explained. “When the beam is interrupted by something, ... it would trigger an alert.
“One of the issues we have to address,” Seagraves said, “we live in the Northeast, it snows ... Those monitors would have to be placed close to the ground. What happens when you get a foot of snow?”
Then, he said different utility professionals in the field said they prefer to carry their own personal monitors rather than rely on remote systems so they can measure and evaluate their immediate environment.
Like Thornbury, East Goshen officials said they are continuing to gather information.
“That’s about as far as we’ve gotten,” Smith said. “Right now, we’re still doing research on it and we’ll see where it goes from there.”
Westtown township manager Robert Pingar said township supervisor Mike DiDomenico attended one of these task force meetings on his own accord, separate from his township role.
“He went on his own as a concerned citizen,” the township manager explained. “We are not actively pursing something like that.”
Thornbury, in Delaware County, on the other hand, is.
“One of the points that has been raised consistently by ... our residents was a concern for some sort of early detection notification,” Seagraves said. “On several occasions, I’ve asked Sunoco about it. Their stock answer is, ‘We’ve got a detection system.’”
Previously, Energy Transfer Partner officials have highlighted the safety measures required by federal regulations as well as safety analyses they are required to perform and share with regulators and emergency services officials. In addition, they’ve said that in populated areas, the pipeline operators must install additional safety measures such as enhanced leak detection systems, more frequent external and internal inspections, improved corrosion control programs, additional emergency preparedness efforts and the installation of automatic valves.
Seagraves said his concern is that the major component is a remote monitoring system.
The manager explained it’s a sensitive situation with a variety of factors that need to be taken into consideration, such as typography and who would purchase, install and maintain such a system on property that the township does not own.
“I really am waiting for references,” Seagraves said. “I don’t want to go down a road only to find out this isn’t the product ... One of the questions I have asked is, ‘Has it worked?’ We obviously have a vested interested in making sure our residents are safe.”
Then, there’s the whole public utility issue.
“Since the (Public Utility Commission) determined that Sunoco is a public utility, it grants them eminent domain,” Seagraves said. “It still puts us on the outside. What puts us closer to the game is the residents – we want to protect their safety and welfare.”
Seagraves compared it to smoke detectors.
“The township doesn’t purchase the smoke detectors or maintain them,” he said. “We just make sure people have them.”
In the meantime, residents contain their concerns.
“It’s a dilemma because as much as you want the warning system, it doesn’t solve the problem,” Friedman said. “It gives people a few minutes to start running for their lives but it doesn’t solve the problem.”