Otten pitches pipeline early warning board

EXTON >> State Rep. Danielle Friel Otten, D-Chester, on Monday announced the introduction of H.B. 1735, which would establish a Pipeline Early Detection and Warning Board. The proposed bill would empower the board to collect fees from pipeline operators, and distribute those fees in the form of grants for the development of early detection and warning systems to alert communities in the event of a pipeline incident.

“My legislation would properly place the costs associated with early detection and warning systems on pipeline operators rather

than on our communities, taxpayers, or first responders,” Otten said.

Otten worked with Uwchlan Safety Coalition founder and organizer Rebecca Britton to draft the legislation. Britton is a Uwchlan Township resident who lives near the Mariner East pipeline and is a school board director for the Downingtown Area School District. As a school board director, Britton shares responsibility for six schools in the path or potential impact radius of the pipeline.

“This bill is an extension of the work that we began long before either one of us thought about running for office,” Otten said regarding her collaboration with Britton. “When we have refineries exploding at one end of the state and pipelines exploding at the other after just one week in service, it is incumbent upon us as elected officials to codify how we will protect public safety and hold pipeline operators responsible for the costs associated with early detection, warning and response to pipeline leaks.”

In describing the need for this legislation, Otten cited the testimony of Timothy Boyce, director of the Delaware County Department of Emergency Services, who spoke before the House Veterans Affairs and Emergency Preparedness Committee at a public hearing on May 30.

In his remarks, Boyce noted the lack of state funding for emergency preparedness around potential pipeline

incidents and the lack of plans in place for a community-wide evacuation.

“You know, we have firefighting plans, we have hazard control plans, we have air monitoring plans, but we don’t have a commonality people plan,” Boyce said. “Not everybody has a smart phone. Not everyone can self-evacuate.”

Otten also referred to the testimony given by Sunoco engineer John Zurcher at a hearing with the state Public Utility Commission last week. According to The Sentinel, when he was questioned on the implementation of an alarm system in the event of a leak, Zurcher responded by saying, “We do know it’s feasible but just not practical.”

Zurcher also noted that the best leak detection system that pipeline operators currently have is “the public and first responders.”

Otten said her legislation corrects this misplaced burden, shifting costs and responsibility to pipeline operators instead of the public.

“Responsible infrastructure means protecting vulnerable populations and the first responders who run toward danger to help others get out of harm’s way,” Britton said. “In an emergency, time, preparation, and accurate information can mean the difference between saving lives and risking a catastrophe. Emergency services personnel need to be properly funded and prepared if we are to ensure that our already taxed resources, often manned by volunteers, can deal with potentially high-consequence situations. This bill is the essence of a true commitment to public safety.”

Earlier this spring, Friel Otten compared those working on the pipeline to Nazis, through a tweet. Later, she apologized and said that the language of the tweet was “insensitive” and she apologized to “all who were hurt by her words.”

West Goshen Township Republican candidate for supervisor, David Sommers, said billing Sunoco/ET was “a good idea, a good start.

“It’s a good first step – Sunoco should be responsible to the citizens for safety,” Sommers said.

Statement on behalf of Del-Chesco United for Pipeline Safety: “Chester and Delaware counties have experienced many recent Sunoco hazardous liquids pipeline accidents. These accidents have shown that Sunoco’s leak detection system simply does not work most of the time. Because of that, a standalone leak detection system will provide the earliest possible warning of the need to, as Sunoco instructs, “leave the area immediately on foot” while heeding the federal government’s warning: “DO NOT! Use a telephone or cellphone (these can ignite airborne gases).” DCU recognizes the absurdity of

Sunoco’s mass self-evacuation suggestion, especially at night or during inclement weather, given that a vapor cloud can ignite or explode at any time. But, because of Sunoco’s demonstrated inability to detect leaks, DCU supports HB1735, which will require Sunoco to pay for a standalone leak detection and public warning system.”

West Whiteland Township resident David Mano’s water was fouled through pipeline drilling. Unlike the rest of his impacted neighbors, he did not accept a payout or public water connection from Sunoco.

“All I imagine is the Limerick Nuclear Power Plant’s siren that goes off every first Monday of the month for a test,” Mano wrote in an email. “Now we are going to have another early warning system put into place, for a pipeline disaster, thanks to Sunoco.

“If I live next to the pipeline explosion or even in the area it, will be too late to help my family and pets. Where do we evacuate to??? Do we run, drive, bike, ride a horse the half-mile that we are told to. But what direction do we go ????

“Can we start a car? NO, call on the cell phone? NO, ring a door bell of an elderly neighbor to help them evacuate? NO. What do we do ???? What good will a loud speaker do, nothing but let you know the impending doom or should I say BOOM there goes the neighborhood. NO SunNOco we don’t want any of it along with the pipeline.”

A Sunoco/ET representative did not respond and make a comment by press time.

Rep. Danielle Friel Otten