Dinniman tries again to stop pipeline project
State Sen. Andy Dinniman files a formal legal complaint and a petition for interim emergency relief.
HARRISBURG » State Sen. Andy Dinniman, D-19th Dist., filed a formal legal complaint and a petition for interim emergency relief with the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission to prohibit construction of the Sunoco Mariner East 2 pipeline in West Whiteland Township.
Since Pennsylvania lacks any regulation on the placement of intrastate pipelines, Dinniman said he was employing a rarely used quasilegal process through the PUC to bring relief to residents in the pipelines’ path and establish a precedent regarding the commission’s jurisdiction over the placement and safety of hazardous materials pipelines.
Dinniman said the action was taken because the geophysical terrain, including limestone, and the pipeline’s pathway in close proximity to homes is a hazard.
“This an innovative way we can utilize the PUC process to protect the public from potentially dangerous pipeline construction projects, like Sunoco’s,” he said. “The complaint centers on West Whiteland because that is where the PUC ordered an emergency stop to Mariner East 2 construction, as well as Mariner East 1 operations, earlier this spring.
“However, if successful, we expect it to have ramifications on the entire pipeline process in the Commonwealth,” Dinniman said.
The action, if successful, might have lasting implications on Chester County and pipelines statewide. The 350-mile-long pipeline crosses the entire state, including Berks, Chester and Delaware counties.
Sunoco spokesperson Lisa Dillinger responded with the following statement on Friday: “We strongly disagree with Senator Dinniman’s claims which are clearly founded on misinformation. ME2 and ME2X are critical public utility infrastructure for NGLs that are badly needed and this effort to stop construction would have a significant adverse impact on thousands of workers all across Pennsylvania including the senator’s district, the energy industry, and the economy of the Commonwealth.”
Due to the appearance of sinkholes on Lisa Drive, all shipments on the Mariner East 1 pipeline were shut down last month and construction was halted in East Whiteland on the Mariner East 2 pipeline. The Mariner East 1 pipeline runs 350 miles from Marcellus shale deposits in West Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania to the former Sunoco Refinery in Marcus Hook, Delaware County. The Mariner East 2 and Mariner East 2X pipelines will share much of the same 1930s right of way with the Mariner East 1 pipeline.
Both Dinniman’s complaint and a petition for interim emergency relief were filed with the PUC Wednesday by Mark Freed of Curtin and Heefner LLP. Freed’s fee will be paid by the Democratic Caucus of the Senate. No staff attorney, with full knowledge of the PUC, was capable of arguing the action.
The four-count complaint, Dinniman v. Sunoco Pipeline, L.P., asserts that:
1. Construction of Mariner East 2 is unreasonable, unsafe, inadequate, and insufficient at that location.
2. Sunoco has failed to take reasonable efforts to warn and protect the public from danger.
3. Sunoco has failed to select a pipeline right-of-way so as to avoid areas containing private dwellings and places of public assembly.
4. Mariner East is located within 50 feet of private dwellings despite being less than 48 inches underground.
The complaint calls on the PUC to prohibit “the construction of Mariner East 2 in areas of West Whiteland Township where Mariner East 1 is located, within 50 feet of a private dwelling, industrial building or place of public assembly, and grant such other relief as the commission finds to be just and appropriate.”
Sunoco has 20 days to respond to the complaint.
Since the complaint will take time to work through the legal process, Dinniman also a filed petition for interim emergency relief calling on the PUC to grant an injunction against the construction of the Mariner East 2 pipeline in West Whiteland. Such a process can typically take a full year.
According to the petition, “The route of Mariner East 2 through the complex, soluble, fractured and potentially unstable geology of West Whiteland Township, and its proximity of Mariner East 1 risks a catastrophe to residents and other individuals, homes, schools, water supplies, Amtrak and SEPTA rail lines and other infrastructure.”