Killion to introduce bill for communities impacted by gas pipelines

State Sen. Thomas Killion, R-9 of Middletown, will be introducing legislation in Harrisburg to direct funds through a grant program to communities impacted by active pipeline projects.

His hometown is embroiled in a legal battle between Sunoco Pipeline and a group of residents who are concerned about the safety of the portion of the Marine East 2 pipeline going through their neighborhood. The group of six filed a lawsuit against Sunoco last month in Delaware County Court.

Killion notified his senate colleagues Tuesday that he would be asking them to consider a bill to take a portion of the state’s drilling impact fee and give it to local communities effected by active pipeline projects.

In a memo, he wrote, “To make sure communities impacted by new pipeline projects have the resources necessary to ensure public safety, I will soon introduce legislation that rededicates a portion of the commonwealth’s impact fee to be distributed to local governments dealing with impacts of active pipeline projects and expanded public safety needs.

“This proposal will create a grant program that drives funding out to local governments based on the length of pipelines traveling through a community and the population density of the impacted communities,” he continued.

This funding will derive from the fees collected from the drilling impact fee through Act 13 that was passed in 2012.