Pipeline risk assessment study faces legal limbo
Delaware County Council has a legal problem.
As do the opponents of the Mariner East 2 pipeline project. Sort of. Here’s why. For months now opponents of Sunoco’s plan to ship hundreds of thousands of barrels of volatile gases such as ethane, butane and propane every day across the full width of Pennsylvania have been pressing the county for just such a study.
They are outraged that such a project was given the green light and allowed to traverse densely populated neighborhoods, including in close proximity to schools and senior centers. The pipeline will travel 350 miles across the Keystone State, including the final 11-mile stretch in western Delaware County. They don’t believe the state gave the plans nearly as critical a look as warranted. Their fears have only been fortified by a series of mishaps involving construction of the pipeline, everything from persistent runoff to sinkholes popping up in a Chester County neighborhood.
The state actually shut down construction on the pipeline at one point, and demanded that Sunoco halt the flow of materials in the existing, much smaller Mariner East 1 pipeline, after construction of Mariner East 2 exposed the pipeline, leading the PUC to take action to avert a possible “catastrophe.”
Sunoco paid a $12 million fine and got the green light to restart construction. Same for Mariner East 1; gases were once again flowing through the old original Sunoco oil pipeline that has been retrofitted to move the gas products from the state’s Marcellus Shale regions.
Right up until yesterday. That’s when the Public Utility Commission granted a request from state Sen. Andy Dinniman, D-19, to halt all pipeline construction in West Whiteland amid new safety concerns. The ruling also means Mariner East 1 also is again shut down.
Delaware County opponents of the pipeline plan turned to County Council in hopes of getting an independent risk assessment study done on the project by an unbiased, outside agency, despite the belief from several experts that it would be a colossal waste of time and money.
From its inception the pipeline has pitted the concerns of residents, including safety, property values and other quality of life issues, against the economic benefits constantly touted by pipeline supporters, Sunoco, labor unions and some elected officials.
For its part, Sunoco continues to stick to its main talking point. They look forward to completing the project, which they maintain is being constructed to the highest safety standards in the industry, and vow to operate it in similar fashion. They still hope to wrap up construction, most of which has already been finished, bring the pipeline online this summer. That likely will be delayed even further by yesterday’s court ruling.
It appeared as if pipeline opponents had gained a sympathetic ear when they first took their request for a risk assessment study to County Council. A move to seek bids to perform the study gained preliminary approval.
But this week the plan hit a pothole, one that threatens to knock the study out of the “pipeline,” in a manner of speaking.
The two Republicans on council, Colleen Morrone and Michael Culp, did not like the final version of the proposal submitted by Quest Consultants. Morrone noted that she represents all residents of the county and her understanding was that the study would focus on pipelines across the county. What she was seeing in this proposal was a study that seems to focus on Mariner East 2.
She also pointed out that Quest might have a conflict of its own, since it has already done a study for the Middletown Coalition for Community Safety, one of the fiercest anti-pipeline groups in the region.
The Republicans voted against. The two new Democrats on council, Brian Zidek and Kevin Madden, voted in favor.
That dumped the matter squarely in the lap of Council Chairman John McBlain.
Which brings us to the legal problem. McBlain abstained, saying he did not want to give any appearance of a conflict of interest. McBlain is an attorney. Although he has not personally represented Sunoco in any matters, his firm, Swartz Campbell, has.
The 2-2 deadlock means the push for a risk assessment study is dead for now.
In a way, Democrats and pipeline foes probably should be happy that McBlain abstained. If not he almost certainly would have voted along with this Republican colleagues in rejecting the request.
Democrats vowed to keep pushing. Madden said he will work the next few weeks to come up with a proposal that might gain favor with his two Republican colleagues, although he noted that they could have backed this plan and then added in a look at other pipeline issues later.
The question now is Mariner East 2.
And the clock is ticking. Yesterday’s court ruling not withstanding, Sunoco is nearing completion on the project and is preparing to bring it online. And the move by the court would seem to reinforce arguments about the safety of the project.
We understand the large economic upside of this project, this despite the persistent voices who question just how much benefit local residents stand to see. We also do not discount the deep concerns of residents who fear for their safety, let alone their property values and quality of life.
Residents have put up with this unwanted new neighbor, which in some cases literally has been plopped into their back yards. They’ve seen some beautiful, rolling landscapes converted to an ugly, muddy mess. Building a pipeline is not a pretty business. And that’s nothing compared to their very real fears about safety.
Council needs to put those fears to rest. They need to approve the risk assessment study.
And no legal conflicts of interest should stand in their way.