Letter from the Editor: The most important story in the county
Forget Donald and Hillary for a moment. I know, it’s not easy, especially since Mr. Trump apparently is intent on getting his mail delivered here in Delaware County these days. (Just remember that while the post office might be Aston, the Sun Center actually is located in Chester Township.) McGinty vs. Toomey? Let’s revisit that in a couple of weeks. Trust me, they’re not going away.
And put aside for a second the frenzy that is Wentzylvania. Regardless of who won yesterday’s titanic struggle of the Pennsylvania unbeatens, pitting Doug Pederson’s Birds vs. their cross-state rivals, the Steelers, Carson Wentz and his buddies still have 13 more games to play this season. Besides, this is now their bye week, so cool off, Carson City.
Instead, I suggest you focus on something else that is going to happen today. Actually, tonight. Municipal meetings are not always riveting affairs. Usually the work of borough council, township supervisors, councils and commissioners is something akin to mushroom. Both thrive in the dark.
That will not be the case tonight in Middletown.
The township council tonight will weigh in again on what very well may be the most important – and controversial - issue in the county. Unlike so much of routine township business, they will not be doing their work tonight in anonymity.
Far from it. Just as they did a couple of weeks ago, residents will likely pack the meeting and once again give the council an earful before any vote is taken.
That’s what happens when you’re voting on whether to allow a pipeline to traverse your humble abode.
It is called Mariner East 2. If you have not heard of it yet, you should acquaint yourself. It might be the most important economic story in the county.
Sunoco Logistics, one of the remnants of an icon of Delco’s industrial past, the Pew family’s Sun Co. refinery in Marcus Hook, wants to build pipelines to ferry natural gas products from the state’s Marcellus Shale region to its former plant on the Delaware River.
From there butane, ethane and propane will be loaded onto ships and delivered to both U.S. and international markets.
Sunoco Logistics is in the process of gaining easements from both private property owners and municipalities to run two new pipelines, which would run roughly parallel to the decades-old Sunoco pipeline that once pushed oil to Marcus Hook.
The project has the potential to be an economic bonanza for Delaware County and the region. The chamber of commerce types and labor unions speak glowingly of Marcus Hook - which was left reeling when Sunoco decided to shutter its plant and get out of the refining business becoming an energy hub for the entire northeast U.S.
Residents are less enamored, especially those directly in the path of the pipeline. That would include parents with children in Glenwood Elementary School. Yes, one of the easements would be for a parcel that would take the pipeline within 800 feet of the school.
Pipelines are not exactly new in Middletown and the western portion of the county. What will flow through Mariner East 2 will be, however. You are talking about butane, propane, and ethane, volatile products that will by pushed through the township under high pressure in those pipelines.
Sunoco Logistics officials are aware of the public concern, and have stressed the safety, both during construction and once the pipeline goes online.
Residents remain unconvinced. They have united in their own grassroots group, Middletown Coalition for Community Safety. They had their own expert do a study of the potential risks. That report, by hydrogeologist Paul Rubin, suggested that putting pipelines carrying these types of explosive gases through densely populated areas was not the best idea they’ve ever heard.
The community group wants Middletown to hold off on giving a final OK until more studies are done.
They also have approached Media Borough Council, which approved easements last spring, asking them to reconsider and wondering if the council was fully aware of the potential risk and dangers before taking that vote.
It is the quintessential good news-bad news, NIMBY saga.
Everyone loves the jobs and economic benefits of a rejuvenated industrial base in Marcus Hook.
But not necessarily if it means a pipeline ferrying dangerous gases cutting across the front lawn, as well as the region’s precious wetlands, streams and ponds.
A couple of things should be spelled out here. All of these chemicals are already flowing through Middletown and other burgs in western Delaware County, courtesy of the old network of Sun Co.’s oil pipeline.
But Mariner East 2 would up the ante considerably. When fully operational the new pipelines could carry as much as 450,000 barrels a day through Middletown, Edgmont, Aston and other Delaware County municipalities.
It is not an easy call. And tonight it will fall squarely in the lap of the Middletown council.