Middletown picks new firm to study pipeline risks
MIDDLETOWN >> After voting in February to select one company, council voted to award the contract to complete a quantitative risk assessment regarding the proposed Sunoco Logistics Mariner East 2 pipeline to a different firm.
The study, originally planned with Quest Consultants of Norman, Okla., will instead be completed by the international firm DNV. The cost will be $43,000.
Quest was concurrently hired by the Middletown Coalition for Community Safety to complete an independent hazards study focusing on the potential consequences and probability of a pipeline breach. The simulation centered on 450-student Glenwood Elementary School, where the pipeline and a valve station are proposed for installation 650 feet from the playground.
“Quest agreed to do the township assessment, but then neither the company nor the coalition told us about the other study,” said council Chairman Mark Kirchgasser. “We felt we should have been made aware and because it could have been a potential conflict of justified in we did.”
Council also questioned the baseline used for the Quest study, as he noted the company apparently determined its findings using a “worse-case scenario.”
“Quest was contacted and told the pump station location they were using was not accurate,” said Kirchgasser. “Ours is a interest, we felt taking the actin township-wide study and we want to make sure it is based on hard facts.”
The goal of the review will be to determine specific emergencies that could occur as a result of a leak, such as potential impact areas, and establish evacuation zones and event timing. The results will be used to develop a credible emergency plan to prepare first responders and the general public for evacuation and fund the necessary infrastructure and equipment.
The assessment and resulting emergency response plans will be funded by $100,000 allocated from the $1.8 million the township received for the necessary easements and rights-of-way on municipal-owned property. The report is expected in eight weeks.