Daily Local News (West Chester, PA)
More pipeline related sinkholes found
WEST WHITELAND » The carnival is back in town.
Like a game of whack-a-mole, as soon as Sunoco/Energy Transfer fills in sinkholes with truckloads of grout near pipelines, more subsidences occur.
Sleighton Park in Middletown Township and in Lisa Drive backyards, where Sunoco purchased impacted houses, are notable sites where sinkholes appeared near Sunoco Mariner East Pipeline construction.
About 10 sinkholes have developed at a drilling site just east of Exton Mall, with “growing cracks” on July 10 in the pavement on Business Route 30, which impacted traffic, according to a July 17 Pennsylvania Utility Commission press release.
PUC launched an investigation involving engineers and experts from the Safety Division of the Bureau of Investigation and Enforcement.
“I & E has been, and continues to, closely monitor a string of events …” reads the release. “No active pipelines were exposed as a result of the subsidences and engineers for the Safety Division continue to closely monitor the situation.”
The PUC also reported that the locations have been stabilized
with grout and Sunoco is performing ground-penetrating radar analysis three times per day on the roadway and the Chester Valley Trail, which was partially closed. Also, the company is committed to 24/7 monitoring of the right-of way and road crossing area, Nils Hagen-Frederiksen, PUC press secretary, wrote.
The under construction pipeline would carry highly volatile fluids 350 miles from Marcellus shale sites in West Virginia, Ohio and western Pennsylvania to the refinery in Marcus Hook, Delaware County for overseas production of plastics.
“If the earth movements associated with one of these sinkholes were to cause one of these pipelines shift or sag, it could cause a break and a release of the contents, resulting in a flammable cloud that could envelop the Chester County
Library, Exton Mall, and hundreds of residential and commercial properties in the area,” Eric Friedman of grassroots organization Del Chesco United for Pipeline Safety said. “If the cloud were ignited, hundreds of casualties would result.”
The Mariner East Pipeline runs through West Goshen resident Tom Casey’s property.
“The sinkholes that are happening in the area around the Chester Valley Trail and Rt. 30 in Exton were predicted to be a potential issue,” Casey said. “Senator Dinniman was distinctly concerned over the region and filed against Sunoco on behalf of the citizens.
“And many of citizens, myself included, have filed suit against this company for their lack of judgment and planning over the project. This project is causing so much harm with little benefit to the community on the back end. My fear is that the section of roadway along Rt. 30 would collapse due to Sunoco’s disturbance of the naturally occurring voids underneath.”
Virginia Kerslake has fought pipeline construction near her West Whiteland home.
“The sinkholes at Lincoln Highway, forming for over a month now along Mariner East and close to the active highly volatile liquids pipelines and valve station, increase the potential for a catastrophic event in Exton,” Kerslake said. “The PA PUC needs to put public safety first and halt operation of Mariner East. In the meantime, Chester County and West Whiteland Township continue to hope for the best while failing to plan for the worst.”
Lora Snyder has studied the sinkholes.
“It is so sad that it has been the community members who have had to document these sinkholes since the first one occurred on July 10 on a rainy Friday afternoon,” Snyder wrote in an email. “We are the only ones trying to protect each other from a catastrophe by documenting what we see daily.