Sinkholes spark new concerns about pipeline

The discovery of sinkholes along the route of the Mariner East 2 pipeline should bring the project to a halt.

Karst. Remember that word. It might be crucial to the ongoing battle over the Mariner East pipelines.

It refers to a landscape that sits on limestone formations that have been eroded over years by moisture. The result is shifting grounds marked by ridges, fissures – and sinkholes.

It’s fairly common in this region, in particular across a broad swath of central Chester County.

In the same general area where Sunoco Pipeline has been digging and drilling for installation of its controversial Mariner East 2 pipeline.

In the last few weeks, three sinkholes – one approximately the size of a swimming pool – have cropped up in the same block on Lisa Drive out in West Whiteland.

Residents believe the know the culprit. They think it’s a result of pipeline construction.

Earlier this week state Sen. Andy Dinniman, D-19 of West Whiteland, visited the site with officials and inspectors from the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration. The officials wanted to see the site first-hand, then develop a plan of action.

That could include once again shutting down the $2.5 billion project that is meant to ferry hundreds of thousands of barrels of gases such as ethane, butane and propane from the Marcellus Shale regions across the full width of Pennsylvania to Sunoco’s former refinery site in Delaware County. This week the state Public Utility Commission went into court seeking an injunction to shut down operation of Mariner East 1, the old Sunoco pipeline that was retrofitted to transport Marcellus Shale gases. It is already operational, delivering gases to Marcus Hook. It also runs through the neighborhood that is having sinkhole problems.

Mariner East 2 is under construction, and will run basically adjacent to the much smaller Mariner East 1. The two lines will traverse about 25 miles through the heart of Chester County and another 11 miles of western Delaware County.

The sinkhole problem is just the latest in a series of mishaps that have plagued pipeline construction and fed the opposition among many residents.

For its part, Sunoco said they had teams respond to the site immediately last weekend to “successfully stabilize and mitigate three areas along our right-of-way,” noting there was a total of two properties actually involved. Sunoco filled in the holes with what they referred to as “approved liquid concrete mix or sometimes referred to as “flowable fill,” adding that all areas have been secured.

Filling in the holes in the public’s confidence in this project is likely going to be another matter.

Dinniman held a community meeting in West Whiteland earlier in the week where he was joined by nearly 200 residents concerned about the pipeline’s impact on their neighborhoods, safety, property values and other environmental concerns.

Dinniman, who serves on the Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee, has been sounding the alarm for months about the dangers of drilling in these areas that are pockmarked with karst geologic formations.

Creating even more concern is the fact that these recent sinkholes are in close vicinity to Amtrak’s Keystone rail line.

“The Mariner East 2 project has been riddled with problems from the beginning,” Dinniman said. “I’d call it a comedy of errors, but there’s nothing funny about it. In fact, it is deadly serious – the very health, safety, and well-being of our communities are at stake.”

The senator, one of the area’s most vocal critics of both Gov. Tom Wolf and the state’s oversight on the pipeline project, said he hopes the arrival of federal inspectors will add the kind of scrutiny the project deserves.

All construction on the project across the state was shut down last month by DEP, which cited “egregious” and persistent violations connected to pipeline construction. But that order was lifted a little more than a month later under an agreement that will see Sunoco Pipeline pay a $12 million fine.

Dinniman this week was hinting that construction could be halted again in light of the most recent problems. Now the PUC is looking to shut down Mariner East 1.

Sunoco has insisted that Mariner East 2 is being constructed and will be operated to the highest industry standards for safety and security. But their track record and the persistent problems undermine any shred of public confidence in their ability to do that.

Kind of the same way sinkholes do.