Uwchlan residents rally against Sunoco pipeline project

UWCHLAN » More than 200 activists held signs high and chanted in unison on Sunday afternoon to support the township’s board of supervisors in a fight to halt construction of the Sunoco Mariner East 2 pipeline at the intersection Crump and Whitford roads.

The three member board voted unanimously last week to enforce a township zoning ordinance forbidding Sunoco Pipeline from constructing the Mariner East 2 pipeline in the in the township.

The current route of the pipeline violates the township’s 2014 zoning ordinance which forbids pipeline construction in high-density areas and near occupied structures such as houses and schools, supervisors said. The issue will likely end up in court.

Pipeline construction was halted for more than a month until recently when Sunoco and the state Department of Environmental Protection agreed to a $12.6 million civil penalty as part of a settlement agreement that lifted a Jan. 3 suspension stopping most work on the 350-mile-long project.

“The people know this is in violation of our local ordinances,” Rebecca Britton, of event organizer Uwchlan Safety Coalition, said.

Britton said that three goals of the coalition were met — to educate, bring people together and have people understand the risks.

State Sen. Andy Dinniman, D-19, and Daylin Leach, D-17, addressed the crowd for what Dinniman said is the “strongest citizen-backed movement” he has witnessed during his 30-year career as a public servant.

Dinniman called for “end to the craziness.”

The senator pointed an to the empty swath of vegetation that had been cleared to make way for drilling, at the rally site.

“In Pennsylvania there is no protection that prevents pipelines from going into high-impact areas,” Dinniman said. “When there is no protection from the government, it is up to the citizens to act.

“You’re the citizens’ army — the national guard.”

Leach talked about the 2,700 properties the pipeline will cross on its 350-mile and 17 county trek from Marcellus Shale sites in West Virginia, Western Pennsylvania and Ohio to the refinery in Marcus Hook, Delaware County.

Sunoco Pipeline was granted public utility status giving the utility the right to build where it chooses.

“This is just catastrophic and mind-blowing and a boneheaded decision that this was approved in the first place,” Leach said.

With a bullhorn-led cheer, ralliers were asked, “What do you do when Sunoco forces you to live in a blast zone?”

“Stand up, fight back,” roared the protestors.

Sharon Soper lives next to pipeline construction.

“Speak up before our children and citizens are injured,” Soper told the crowd. “This is human life.”

Ten-year-old Lucille Obenski and her brother, Miles Obenski, 6, held homemade signs that their mother Laura said they had spent the morning making.

Lucille’s sign showed down trees.

“If too many trees are cut down then there is not enough air to breath,” Lucille said. “If people do not speak up against this project, the people who build pipelines will never stop.”

Danielle Friel Otten and her young children live 40 feet from the pipeline easement. cut “The most important thing you can teach is that there is not a certain age to advocate for the community,” Laura Obenski said about her kids who attend Lionville Elementary School.

Signs were held high and several alluded to the butane, ethane and propane to be shipped overseas to make plastic bottles.

“Nobody can stop it. I’m nobody,” reads a sign, “Enforce local safety ordinances, SuNOco,” and “Stop this unsafe pipeline, people not plastics.”

Newly appointed Supervisor Kim Doan serves with newly elected supervisors Mayme Baumann and Bill Miller. Members of grassroots organizations knocked on more than 10,000 doors running up to the election in support of anti-pipeline candidates. This is the first time ever that the township’s board of supervisors is controlled by Democrats.

“We are here to represent your interests,” Doan said, “and what is right for the residents of the township.”

“When the people stand — even though we’re the underdog — we have to refuse to sit down,” Otten said.

Eve Miari, Middletown Coalition for Community Safety, handed out “Notice of Violation” issued to Sunoco by order of the citizens of Pennsylvania.

The bright orange placards are issued, not by a governed entity, but instead by the citizens of Chester and Delaware counties.

“Therefore notice is served that the operator Sunoco/ETP is in violation of the Constitutional rights of the citizens of the commonwealth, including the right to private property, the right to public safety, and the right to clean water.”

Melissa DiBernardino has fought pipeline construction running within a 100 feet of her children’s school.

“The citizens of Pennsylvania who are being forced to live with the Mariner East pipelines are practically being experimented on,” she said. “The content, pressure and method of installation are unheard of in an area like this for a reason.

“How can we be ensured safety while pipes are being blindly forced through bore holes in geology that Sunoco clearly has not researched appropriately? It’s up to us and if we don’t take our safety into our own hands. Nobody else will.”