Delco, Chesco question ‘life-sustaining’ status of Mariner East construction
Delaware County Council and the Chester County commissioners sent a letter to state officials Monday asking that Energy Transfer Partners not be given special treatment by being allowed to continue construction on the natural gas liquids pipeline despite Gov. Tom Wolf’s emergency order for non-life-sustaining businesses to stop operations during the coronavirus pandemic.
Delaware County Council Chairman Brian Zidek and Chester County Commissioner Chair Marian Moskowitz addressed the April 13 letter to state Community and Economic Development Secretary Dennis M. Davin and state Health Secretary Dr. Rachel Levine with copies sent to Nels Taber of the state Department of Environmental Protection, Rosemary Chiavetta of the Public Utility Commission, Sam Robinson of the governor’s office and Clean
Air Council Executive Director Joseph Oris Minott.
“Our request is simple,” Zidek and Moskowitz wrote. “During the current public health crisis, when our residents are staying home to achieve the common good, no special exemption should be provided to Energy Transfer in its construction of the pipeline. This project, and its owners and investors, should share in the general sacrifice, and receive no special treatment.”
The day after the governor issued an emergency order March
19 to close all non-life-sustaining businesses to mitigate the spread of coronavirus, Energy Transfer Partners wrote directly to Wolf requesting six waivers.
Waiver Request No. 1 asked that ETP be allowed to “inspect and maintain” construction work spaces and to maintain security at them. The second asked for an additional 10 days to stabilize the sites.
Waiver Request Nos. 3 through
6 asked for permission to complete construction on certain segments of the pipeline - with the fourth and fifth waivers involving sites in Delaware and Chester counties.
“Energy Transfer applied to the governor directly for a waiver, notwithstanding very clear instructions that waivers should be sought via application to the Department of Community and Economic Development,” the Zidek and Moskowitz letter read.
ETP was granted all six waivers, allowing work to continue at 17 locations throughout the state.
The company assured the governor that its employees and contractors would follow guidelines set forth through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, including practicing social distancing, hygiene and infection control practices and use of personal protective equipment.
Officials from both counties said citizens have alerted them that’s not happening.
“We have received multiple complaints from our citizens who have observed Pipeline workers not obeying the social-distancing rules, not just in performance of their work, but also in the informal activities on and around the work site,” the Zidek/Moskowitz letter read. “Individuals are closely congregating, traveling in common vehicles, not wearing masks, etc.”
The county officials spoke of the impact such behaviors could have on the general population in the time of a rapidly spreading pandemic.
“We are concerned that, if the non-compliant behavior of Energy Transfer workers triggers a COVID ‘hot spot,’ the burden on our health care system would impose a risk to our entire community,” they wrote. “Our hospitals are already overburdened and essential materials are in short supply. The failure of the Energy Transfer workers to conform to the governor’s mandates regarding social distancing, mask wearing, hand washing and other critical behaviors, could add more patients to our hospitals’ case loads.”
Zidek and Moskowitz urged the state to adopt the recommendations as offered by the Clean Air Council in “some extremely limited circumstances” one or two of the ETP waivers are “in fact reasonable.”
The county officials wrote, “We respectfully request that the state adopt the well-reasoned approach of the Clean Air Council and revise the exemptions granted to Energy Transfer to only those aspects of the Pipeline work that are absolutely necessary for public safety, and halt all other work as a threat to public health given the present pandemic.”