Pennsylvania agency holds up construction on Sunoco gas pipeline

Pennsylvania environmental officials ordered Sunoco on Wednesday to halt construction of a natural gas pipeline across the southern part of the state, citing a series of spills and leaks of drilling fluid and other “egregious and willful violations” of state law that have plagued the $2.5 billion project.

The Department of Environmental Protection said it ordered work on the Mariner East 2 pipeline to stop until Sunoco complies with the terms of its permit. The department has issued dozens of environmental violations to Sunoco since May, contending the company has demonstrated a “lack of ability or intention” to comply with the state’s clean streams law and other environmental regulations.

“Until Sunoco can demonstrate that the permit conditions can and will be followed, DEP has no alternative but to suspend the permits,” DEP Secretary Patrick McDonnell said. “We are living up to our promise to hold this project accountable to the strong protections in the permits.”

Sunoco did not respond to a request for comment.

The 350-mile-long pipeline will carry propane, butane and ethane from the Marcellus Shale natural gas formation in western Pennsylvania to an export terminal near Philadelphia. Sunoco has said construction on the 20inch pipeline is scheduled to be complete in the second quarter of 2018, with a companion 16-inch pipeline to be placed into service later this year.

Pipeline supporters say it is desperately needed to help gas producers get their product to market. Drillers in the Marcellus Shale, the nation’s largest natural gas reservoir, have been battered by several years of rock-bottom prices caused by oversupply and inadequate pipeline capacity.

Environmental advocacy groups tried to stop Mariner East 2 from getting off the ground, asserting that construction would deforest 1,500 acres, cross hundreds of streams and wetlands, and damage farmland and aquifers that provide drinking water.

Sunoco is a subsidiary of Energy Transfer Partners, based in Dallas.

Jeremy Long / Lebanon Daily News Pipes for the Sunoco Mariner East 2 pipeline are placed in South Lebanon Township, Pa., in July. Pennsylvania regulators announced Wednesday they have ordered Sunoco to halt construction.