Residents’ pipeline complaints finally heard in Harrisburg
Maybe Tom Wolf is finally getting the message.
For months the governor has been besieged by citizens of both Delaware and Chester counties who are upset with their new neighbor.
That’s what happens when hundreds of thousands of barrels of highly volatile liquid gases start moving through your backyard.
Residents are not the least bit happy about the Mariner East pipeline project. Through three separate pipelines, Texas-based Energy Transfer Partners and their local affiliate Sunoco Pipeline, are transporting the liquid gases the entire width of Pennsylvania, starting in the Marcellus Shale regions and ending at a facility in Marcus Hook. Once there they are stored and eventually shipped out to both foreign and domestic customers.
Residents who saw their neighborhoods bisected by this behemoth have complained long and hard to anyone who would listen. The problem is they often have been left wondering if state officials were simply turning a deaf ear to their complaints. They criticized putting such a project into densely populated neighborhoods, literally a stone’s throw from elementary schools and senior centers.
They have seen their landscapes fouled by construction. And they have dealt with any number of spills, runoffs and – in one Chester County neighborhood – sinkholes. The state actually halted work on the project last winter after Mariner East 1, an older, smaller pipe, was exposed by a sinkhole believed connected to drilling for Mariner East 2. It only reaffirmed the belief of many residents and officials that the region’s karst topography made it especially susceptible to just such sinkhole problems.
It happened again a month ago, with sinkholes developing in the same West Whiteland neighborhood, and again Mariner East 1 has been shut down.
Then last week, finally, the state dropped the hammer. The state Department of Environmental Protection halted all construction permits for the entire Mariner East project. State officials took the action because they said Energy Transfer remained in noncompliance after an explosion in the Revolution pipeline in western Pennsylvania back in October. DEP said Energy Transfer had failed to take adequate actions to stabilize the area and prevent further erosion, which is believed to have led to the landslide and explosion.
Perhaps most telling was the suddenly strident tone adopted by Wolf.
“The Department of Environmental Protection has acted swiftly and decisively to hold this operator accountable to the conditions of its permits,” Wolf said. “The permit bar by the Department of Environmental Protection is the latest step my administration has taken to ensure pipeline operators and builders are accountable for the work they do in Pennsylvania. There has been a failure by Energy Transfer and its subsidiaries to respect our laws and our communities. This is not how we strive to do business in Pennsylvania, and it will not be tolerated.”
The governor was not done. He also called for something local residents have been clamoring for when it comes to the Mariner East project.
“I am also calling upon the PUC to require that a remaining life study of Mariner East 1 be completed and reviewed by independent experts,” Wolf said. “Such a study should thoroughly evaluate the safety of the existing pipeline and prepare a plan to implement the findings of that study as soon as possible.”
Wolf also took notice of another citizen complaint, one that was again exacerbated last week when a butane leak was discovered at the Marcus Hook Industrial complex. No one, even Delaware County emergency services personnel, seemed to be aware of the issue or have much in the way of communication with Energy Transfer officials or local first responders.
“I am calling upon the Public Utility Commission to compel ET to address lapses in communication by immediately providing county and municipal agencies responsible for public safety along the Mariner East Project route any and all information required under state and federal law to enable the preparation of robust emergency preparedness and communication plans,” Wolf said. “I have directed the Pennsylvania’s Emergency Management Agency (PEMA) to coordinate with county and local leadership to assist with review of emergency management plans, and this engagement has already begun.”
Welcome to the neighborhood, governor.
West Goshen resident Tom Casey, a longtime critic of the pipeline, liked what he was hearing.
“Everything we’ve been screaming about for the last five years is now being realized,” Casey said. He’s not the only one.
For their part, Energy Transfer Partners said they have every intention of working with DEP to bring the project into compliance and cooperating with other aspects as well.
The order will not halt the transmission of liquid gases through Mariner East 2, which the company brought online in the last week of December, albeit using smaller, older pipes to fill in gaps in the proposed 20-inch line because of various work stoppages and other delays. But the 2020 start date for the entire Mariner East 20-inch line could be delayed again. Mariner East 2 currently has 27 permit applications pending. Mariner East 2x, which is under construction, also could be delayed.
So long as these highly volatile materials are moving through their backyards, residents will continue to have real concerns.
But they should sleep at least a little easier knowing their feelings have finally been heard in Harrisburg.
At this point, you have to wonder what took them so long?