PUC lifts more limits on Mariner East 2 pipelines

Harrisburg Bureau

Construction can resume on the Mariner East 2 pipelines at eight of 12 sites in Chester County where safety concerns led a public utility judge to shut down parts of the project in May.

The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission voted 3-2 Thursday to allow Sunoco Pipeline L.P. to restart work at sites where environmental regulators have approved updated permits after construction caused spills, sinkholes and drinking water disruptions in West Whiteland.

Construction is still on hold at four sites in the township.

The cross-state natural gas liquids pipeline project has been delayed by a series of shutdown orders by regulators and judges concerned about the project’s environmental impact and its public safety risks.

The expansion project will ferry natural gas liquids from southwestern Pennsylvania shale wells to the Philadelphia region, mostly for export.

A majority of the commissioners said Sunoco had met their demands for more information about inspection protocols, emergency response plans and safety training guides. The company also provided a list of sites where the state Department of Environmental Protection authorized it to resume work.

Commissioners Gladys Brown and Andrew Place dissented, arguing that Sunoco has not fully complied with the conditions they set in June.

Both said construction should restart only once DEP has issued permits for all of the sites under review in the township, not just eight of them.

“It was not our intent to allow the resumption of construction in a piecemeal fashion,” Ms. Brown said.

Mr. Place said the status updates the company submitted are scarce on details the PUC needs to determine whether their concerns have been addressed.

“The public safety issues alleged in this proceeding do not call for the submission of minimal information,” he said.

The commissioners also recorded a vote they held last week to allow Sunoco to immediately appeal the PUC’s conclusion that state Sen. Andrew Dinniman, a Chester County Democrat who filed the complaint, has standing to bring the case.

Other obstacles to the $2.5 billion project have fallen away recently.

Last week, three environmental groups settled a separate challenge to 20 Mariner East 2 construction permits in exchange for improvements to DEP policies for permitting and overseeing pipelines.

Sunoco, a subsidiary of Energy Transfer Partners, plans to begin service on the pipelines this fall.