Mariner East 2 pipeline raises concern in Chester County, too
EAST GOSHEN » Delaware County residents aren’t the only people concerned about the Sunoco Mariner East 2 pipeline. Anger with the perceived safety of the Sunoco Mariner East 2 Pipeline percolated a Chester County meeting on Tuesday, but it wasn’t until almost three hours into the session that tempers boiled over.
Many in the audience of more than 350 residents had left the special East Goshen Township Board of Supervisors pipeline safety meeting, at Fugett Middle School, when East Goshen resident Mary McCloskey spoke passionately to fellow residents.
Thirteen officials, including emergency responders, supervisors, the township manager, police and a pair of representatives from pipeline builder Sunoco sat at the podium.
“One East Goshen death is unacceptable,” McCloskey said. “We have not chosen this and we get nothing out of it.
“I don’t feel safe. by Sunoco.”
Ten minutes later, township Supervisor Michael Lynch eloquently addressed the political issues of pipeline construction, with construction of the Sunoco Mariner East 2 pipeline now underway.
“Share the wealth, though wealth-sharing down here is abysmal,” Lynch said about locally taxing pipeline companies proposing to ship ethane, propane and butane 350 miles along the proposed, zig-zagging pipeline path from Marcellus Shale sites in western Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia to the refinery in Marcus Hook.
Those sitting on Marcellus Shale sites are feeling a “jingle in their pocketbooks,” said Lynch.
“There’s a lot of different perspectives between here and Pittsburg,” I’m disappointed Lynch said. “We this here.”
Lynch said that local representatives, including, state Sen. Andy Dinniman, D-19, state Rep. Carolyn Comitta, D-156, and state Sen. Tom Killion, R-9 of Middletown, are all fighting pipeline builders on behalf of southeastern Pennsylvania residents.
The supervisor said that many local pipeline easements were granted more than 75 years ago, but not through review and in context with today’s land use policies and the environment.
“It’s a very tough situation to change,” Lynch said. “It’s going to take continued public input.”
The now-under-construction Sunoco Mariner East 2 pipeline is composed of two separate and new pipelines, a 20-inch and 16inch pipeline.
Construction is ongoing in the same right-of-way as the existing 8-inch Mariner East 1 pipeline, which has carried propane and ethanol since 2014.
Bob Fleming, deputy chief of the Goshen Fire Co., led off the program, and told the audience that all emergency responders “work together” on a regular basis throughout the year.
“With an emergency response, multiple agencies would come together,” Fleming said, “We are prepared to handle these incidents.” didn’t invite
Fleming said that 911 dispatchers are trained to immediately dispatch a Haz-Mat team if a caller describes what “even sounds like” hazardous materials are leaking.
“We have the right apparatus to get the job done,” he said. “We have the equipment to get the job done. And one the most important parts — we have the people.”
Don Herb, acting chief of the Chester County Haz-Mat team, said that responders are trained regularly. He compared training to Monday morning quarterbacking after a football game.
“We never feel that we’re totally prepared for anything,” Herb said. “It’s a constantly evolving, ongoing process. We are changing and adapting.”
Westtown-East Goshen Police Chief Brenda Bernot, told the audience that Chester County emergency responders are the best trained, best equipped and best coordinated she has witnessed during a long law enforcement career.
“We’re all prepared to respond as a single unit,” she said.
One person, an incident commander, would likely lead a full and coordinated response.
“If an event happens, we’re all working out of the same play book,” sadi East Goshen Supervisor Carman Battavio,.
Several residents voiced concern for elementary students at Ss. Peter and Paul School, and residents of Wellington at Hershey’s Mill, a retirement community — both are in the “blast zone.”
They we told that students and seniors would be notified to shelter in place or be evacuated, likely by foot, to a safer site.
A three-hour meeting with the West Chester Area School District is scheduled for next month.
An incident commander would “size up the incident, figure out exactly what is going on and what we need to do,” Fleming said.
Charlie Stewart, director of Sunoco’s Eastern Area Products Pipeline Systems, said the response team would determine the temperature, the composition of the product, and how much product had been released.
The responsible party ask ‘where is it going?’
Is the colorless and odorless gas flowing through sewer drains, inlets or downstream? How far did it get?
Stewart said the company is less concerned with repairing the pipeline than for the safety of residents.
“After the first couple of hours, what’s your plan on excavating the pipe — when the air settles and the area is safe?” Stewart said.
Several member of the asked about the risks.
Joe McGinn, senior director of community affairs for Sunoco, said that during the past 20 years, statewide, pipelines have injured would audience two people and killed no one.
“Leaks tend to be small and there are many layers of safety,” McGinn said.
He said that 70 percent of accidents occur at facilities or terminals and 70 to 90 percent of those are contained to the facility.
“We’re removing the old system of crude lines in Texas and Oklahoma — they’re used sparingly,” he said.
Resident Lex Pavlo asked how the public would be notified if a pipeline leaks or ruptures.
William H. Turner, deputy director of the emergency management division, said that emergency responders would go door to door, use megaphones and alert residents through texting on a resident’s phone or device, along with reverse 911 calling.
Turner urged the public to sign up for alerts at the county site at www.readychesco.org. For more information, go to the township website, www.eastgoshen.org.