Opposition to pipeline plans grows in Chester County
UWCHLAN » The outcry against pipeline construction in both Delaware and Chester counties is getting louder - and expanding.
The newly-formed Uwchlan Safety Coalition, and the Delaware County-based Middletown Coalition for Community Safety, which formed in August of 2016, joined forces this week for an informational meeting Wednesday night at Marsh Creek Church. About three dozen residents attended.
Speakers discussed their options in trying to stop the ongoing construction of the Sunoco Mariner East 2 Pipeline, which is proposed to weave from end to end of Uwchlan Township, 23.6 miles overall in Chester County and 11.4 miles in Delaware County.
When it’s fully up and running, Sunoco Logistics hopes to deliver 350,000 barrels of propane, ethane and butane every day from the state’s Marcellus Shale regions to the former refinery in Marcus Hook. Once there it will stored and then shipped to customers both foreign and domestic.
The group also seeks to halt construction of other planned and now yet conceived pipeline projects.
Goals of the Middletown Coalition include performing research, discussing the subject and community education. The coalition also hopes to educate public officials, highlight safety risks and advocate for public safety and change.
Rebecca Britton is an organizer of the Uwchlan group.
“We’ve come together to form a grassroots movement – bipartisan – for people who really care,” Britton said.
Middletown speaker Allison Chabot noted the proximity of the proposed ME2 pipeline to schools and seniors. Sunoco and local emergency responders have informed residents to evacuate on foot for at least half a mile from any theoretical leaking or ruptured pipeline, while avoiding setting off possible ignition sources such as a cell phone, car engine or doorbell.
At least one local school has already performed student safety and evacuation drills.
“Once you start learning, you get more disturbed,” Chabot said. “It’s tough to imagine your kids being evacuated from an elementary school on foot.”
A Powerpoint presentation shown at the meeting showed that Lionville Middle School is within the “blast zone” (within a 1,100 -foot radius) of ME2. In fact all Downingtown Area Schools are within a three-mile evacuation zone and Sts. Peter and Paul and Sts. Simon and Jude schools are both located within 100 feet of the ME2 pipeline.
There are more than 40 Pennsylvania schools located within the blast zone, according to the group.
Sunoco’s ME2 Pipeline is composed of two pipelines now under construction, a 20- inch and 16-inch pipeline. Up to 700,000 barrels of ethane, butane and propane, called natural gas liquids, or NGLs, might daily flow through the pipeline.
The product would be transported 350 miles from Marcellus Shale sites in Western Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Ohio to the refinery in Marcus Hook, Delaware County.
“Densely populated Chester County is a ‘high consequence area,’ meaning in the event of a leak or explosion, the consequences – injuries and fatalities – would be high,” reads an information packet distributed by the Middletown Coalition.
It’s a stance the company consistently denies, instead stressing that both construction and operation of the pipeline meet the most stringent standards and precautions.
Allyson Galloway, of the Middletown Coalition said that 84,000 residents are located within the evacuation zone in Delaware County.
A leak or rupture is “probably going to set off neighboring pipelines – a small nuclear weapon,” Galloway said.
Education is a major portion of the group’s mission.
And how will residents know if a pipeline, transporting heavier than air, clear and odorless gas is faulty?
“Sunoco is responsible for reasonable safety,” Galloway said. “It’s up to us to tell these people what to look for.”
Current actions for the group include outreach and education through meetings, forums and town halls, like Wednesday’s meeting.
The group supports legal action to enforce municipal ordinances in West Goshen and Middletown and possibly non-violent resistance, including rallies and marches, with a focus on public safety.