LIFE ON THE PIPELINE
WEARY RESIDENTS TALK ABOUT LIFE, AGGRAVATION WITH NEW NEIGHBOR
Bright yellow markers are a reminder of the new neighbor in this Middletown community, which is right in the path of the Mariner East 2 pipeline.
MIDDLETOWN » The pennant flags are strung on poles along Pennell Road, but it’s no carnival they’re announcing.
Right within the orange netting fence adjacent to Wildwood Avenue, a few blocks down from Glenwood Elementary School, construction machinery the size of a tank drills into the ground as part of the Mariner East 2 project planned to move 700,000 barrels of propane, ethane and methane from the Marcellus and Utica shales to Marcus Hook for distribution domestically and throughout the world.
In the impacted neighborhoods, residents are weary. After what they say has been receiving conflicting information and months and months of loud grinding noise all day and dealing with strangers in their personal space on top of incidents of substances coming out of the ground, their tolerance for the project has worn thin and fear of the future has bred uncertainty and distrust.
Middletown officials are asking Gov. Tom Wolf and the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission to halt the pipeline construction after an Aqua America contractor contacted a nonoperational Mariner East line May 21. Water officials said Sunoco representatives told them the line was 9 feet deep at that location and it was 6 feet.
On Thursday, the PUC halted construction of a stretch of construction in West Whiteland, Chester County, while allowing the transportation of natural gas liquids to resume on the existing Mariner East 1 pipeline.
Delaware County Council is trying to reach agreement to perform a risk assessment of the pipeline after hearing the pleas of residents in the community, including Allyson Galloway, a Wildwood Avenue resident who attended the June 6 council meeting to implore the elected officials to move forward with the study.
“Our children deserve this,” the seven-year Middletown resident said. “I’m begging. I don’t know what else to do. I’ve come multiple times. This is my home.”
A representative from the company, Energy Transfer Partners, said the firm is apologetic for any inconveniences and that any materials being released are water, natural clay or ingredients from the drilling fluid, which must meet safe drinking requirements.
“We understand there are varying opinions to infrastructure projects, but it is also important to note that NGLs have been transported unnoticed through pipelines for decades,” Energy Transfer Partners spokeswoman Lisa Dillinger said. ETP is the parent owner of the Mariner East pipeline. “Sunoco Pipeline believes in treating all people with respect and engaging in open and honest dialogue with all stakeholder groups.”
For residents, trust does not come easy.
Allyson Galloway has lived in her Wildwood Avenue home for seven years. She said about five years ago, she and her neighbors went to work, came home and some trees, including those 20-feet tall, were being cut.
“They started taking the trees,” she said. “They said they needed an aerial view of the pipeline.”
She asked that the entire tree be removed on her property rather than just a portion for fear an imbalance would cause it to fall on her house. The cut up pieces, she said, sat in piles for months, even as she hosted a wedding in her backyard.
Dillinger said the company removes trees within the right-of-way to make aerial safety inspections to provide for safe, long-term operation of the pipeline. She said debris is removed during the early stages of prepping the work site prior to construction.
Neighbors on Wildwood Avenue list other things – damage to homes and property, constant noise and unfamiliar construction employees walking around the area.
“Our house is cracking,” Lisa Scull said. Part of the pipeline was drilled directly underneath her driveway.
Her partner, Michael Moyer, pointed to a section in his yard, “I’ve got crap over there that’s sinking. I’ve got damage in my house.”
Scull added, “I feel paranoid, I’m constantly looking out my window all the time.”
Galloway understood that.
“When I woke up Saturday morning, in my pajamas I went to my front window to say good morning to one of the cats,” she said. “(I) look outside the window, the first thing I see is one of those guys walking up the road — on Saturday!”
Galloway said some have moved out. While there used to be six children at the bus stop, there is now two.
“I’m walking my kids to the bus stop in a hard hat work zone every day,” she said.
Nearby at Tunbridge Apartments, it’s a similar story of loud noises, people walking around properties, along with discharges, bands of trucks and parking spaces being limited.
Rich Beckley is superintendent of the 114-apartment complex off Glen Riddle Road.
“They said we’re going to be drilling underground, you’re not going to see us, you’re going to see a couple of guys walking around, maybe see one or two trucks parked here,” Beckley said. “We weren’t supposed to have convoys of trucks and noise and stuff coming out of the ground.” Dillinger responded, “We apologize for the inconvenience of any additional trucks or equipment that have been needed to conduct our construction safely and within the regulations of our environmental permits.”
Last weekend, some substance was released into the creek at the complex.
“They tell us it’s bentonite and water and bentonite is a natural clay,” Beckley said. “However, now they’re trying to say there is other chemicals in there besides that so we don’t know what’s in there.”
Dillinger explained that the company has been maintaining the emergence of groundwater with the use of their hose and vacuum trucks at the Tunbridge Apartments.
She said late June 9, a pump failed and about a half-gallon of groundwater mixed with natural bentonite clay overflowed the containment structure.
“We discovered it at approximately 4:54 a.m. and immediately contained the area,” she said. “Maintenance has been performed and we continue to maintain groundwater emergence with hose and vacuum trucks.”
She explained that drilling mud is made of drinking water and natural bentonite clay, which is found in many products such as lotions, cosmetics, water purifiers and in the clarifying process in wine making and home brewing.
“Any ingredients in the drilling fluid must be approved by the (state Department of Environmental Protection) and meet safe drinking water standards and that is specifically in case the fluid escapes through a seem in the geology and into the environment,” she said.
Dillinger added, “We are careful to watch for any impacts caused by our construction, and clean them up expeditiously and correctly. Vacuum trucks are used to remove excess groundwater and bentonite clay drilling water whenever needed.”
Beckley said there have been other times where discharges occurred, twice when DEP halted the operations.
“The bentonite and water, it’s coming up from under the buildings,” he said. “It stopped at the one building and it periodically comes up from the other building ... Could you imagine if it was coming up from underneath your house? What’s the difference? Somebody’s living there.”
Dillinger said ETP has conducted geophysical testing of the are around the drill site.
“(O)ur data shows the ground is safe for construction,” she said. “We have been communicating with the Tunbridge Apartments to solve any previous issues and provide more frequent construction updates. We will continue to look for ways to address any additional concerns they may have.”
Dillinger also explained about the workers’ movements.
“Throughout construction, survey crews regularly walk our right-of-way to check for any new or irregular topographic changes,” she said. “If a homeowner has any questions or concerns related to our construction, they can contact their right-of-way agent and we can send someone on-site (to inspect) the area.”
The apartment superintendent spoke of other quality of life issues.
“The township allows them to work from 7 (a.m.) to 9 (p.m.),” Beckley said. “They’re usually here at 5 a.m. They’re starting to make noise, not working but they’re yelling and slamming their car doors and moving equipment ... The tenants have a very small window to get rest without hearing noises.”
He added, “There’s just guys constantly walking around. Twenty, 30 guys constantly walking around the property. People come home, they don’t know who they are. One guy was getting dressed in the parking lot – he was in his underwear.”
Dillinger said the individual changing in the lot was unacceptable and she was looking into it.
Regarding the noise, she said, “We apologize for the inconveniences our construction may cause and appreciate the patience of nearby landowners as we work through the construction timeline that has been communicated. We understand there is sometimes increased noise during our construction and try to mitigate near populated areas by putting up sound curtains or walls.”
No walls or curtains were viewed at Tunbridge during a visit to the complex last week.
“It’s something we’re putting up with,” Beckley said of the construction, “but, unfortunately, they didn’t even get the first line in and they’re going to be putting a second line in. It’s going to take years before we get back to normal.”
James Fishwick doesn’t know what he’s going to do.
Two years ago, he and his wife were downsizing and at Tunbridge, they found exactly what they wanted.
The Fishwicks live in Building C on the second floor, right next to the Mariner East construction site.
With a loud humming going on all day for months and months at a time, he’s given up painting anymore.
“I look outside and it’s just an ugly, ugly mess,” Fishwick said. “The worse thing for us is the mess and there’s obviously the dangers that this stuff can seep into the aquifer ... It gets worse very day.
“I don’t know how much longer I can do this,” he said.
Tunbridge property manager Martha Schaum said she gets complaints every day from the tenants about the construction activity.
The Middletown residents shared what their hopes are in the midst of this.
“In my dreams, a complete and total shutdown,” Galloway’s wish was. “I know that’s not the most likely thing that’s going to happen but I think they’ve more than proved themselves incapable or unwilling to do it right. Beyond that, I’d like to see it restructured. What can they do to make it safer? Because they can.”
Dillinger said that was fundamentally untrue.
“It is a core value and belief in our company to do the right thing and hold our employees to the highest standards of conduct,” she said. “We have been doing the right thing for years, exemplified by our operation of over 83,000 miles of pipeline and accompanying terminals throughout the United States.”
Fishwick had a similar sentiment as Galloway.
“I’d like to see it stopped completely and extract whatever they’ve done and clean it up,” he said.
Other than that, Fishwick said he wants the construction finished and have the environs returned to what they were prior to the crews’ arrival.
Besides having his driveway replaced, Moyer had other ideas.
“I actually hope they get it done soon, somewhere in the middle of nowhere it blows up and they have to shut it down,” Moyer said. “It should’ve never come through residential like this ... It totally (messes) up everybody’s lifestyle.”