PUC should heed school bosses’ pipeline concerns
From its inception, residents and some officials have harbored grave concerns about Sunoco’s massive Mariner East 2 project.
One of the things they have focused on repeatedly was the wisdom of routing such a project through densely populated neighborhoods, in close proximity to schools and senior centers.
In short, Sunoco is planning to ferry hundreds of thousands of barrels a day of volatile liquid natural gases such as ethane, butane and propane 350 miles across nearly the entire width of Pennsylvania, from the Marcellus Shale region to a facility in Marcus Hook, where it will be stored and then shipped out, mostly to foreign markets.
To do so they are building Mariner East 2, a 20inch pipe that roughly follows the route of Sunoco’s old, existing petroleum pipeline that was used by the oil giant for decades. In fact, the very same materials already are flowing through a smaller line.
But the company has fallen behind schedule for a variety of reasons, including work stoppages ordered by the government amid a series of drilling runoffs and spills. In one Chester County neighborhood, problems linked to the company’s Horizontal Directional Drilling Method led to sinkholes in one neighborhood.
All of which has only underscored the concerns of residents and officials.
So you can imagine they are not exactly enthused by the company’s latest plan to get the troubled project up and running.
Sunoco recently announced that while the entire project to install the 20inch line now has been delayed until 2020, they still plan to get Mariner East 2 online “shortly.”
And how might they do that?
Simple. They plan to fill in the gaps where the 20inch pipe has not yet been completed with an old, existing, 12-inch pipe.
If that sounds like a bit of a risk to you, you’re not alone.
Three local school superintendents, who are in charge of schools in close proximity to Mariner East
2, are questioning the plan and raising new safety concerns.
The superintendents, including Eleanor DiMarino-Linnen, interim superintendent at Rose Tree Media, have sent a letter to the state Public Utility Commission asking them to investigate Sunoco’s latest plan.
“All we are asking, is this safe to do?” said West Chester Superintendent Jim Scanlon. The superintendent of the Downingtown School District completed the trifecta looking for state action.
For its part, the company says it has tested the 80-year-old 12-inch pipe and found it safe to use until the 20-inch pipe can be completed.
The school bosses are not convinced.
“We believe it is incumbent upon school districts to keep students, parents and staff safe,” the superintendents wrote to the PUC. “We also believe it is incumbent upon the PUC and the leaders of the state of Pennsylvania to keep its residents safe.”
Five Downingtown schools are located near the old, 12-inch pipeline. Here in Delaware County, Glenwood Elementary in Middletown sits just a few hundred feet from the pipeline. Residents have galvanized behind the issue, organizing protests and urging anyone who will listen to shut the project down. So far their pleas have for the most part fallen on deaf ears.
“We’re in the thick of this pipeline,” Downingtown Superintendent Emilie Lonardi said. “Thousands of students are in harm’s way if something happens to the pipeline. We’re asking the PUC to make sure that Sunoco is doing their job and has every safety mechanism in place before any liquid begins to flow.”
Perhaps with an eye toward the Halloween season, opponents have dubbed Sunoco’s plan “Frankenpipe.”
For its part, Sunoco has consistently downplayed the problems that have plagued construction of Mariner East 2, brushing off most of them as routine side effects from construction. They insist the new line is being constructed, and will be operated, to the highest industry standards.
So far the PUC is saying that they do not necessarily need to take any action for Sunoco to put their patchwork plan into effect.
Andy Dinniman is not so sure.
The state senator from Chester County has been one of Sunoco’s most vehement critics. He also has not been reticent about offering his opinion that state agencies – including the PUC – have dropped the ball on this project from Day One.
“Sunoco is trying to cobble together this problematic pipeline after it was repeatedly delayed due to very real and very valid safety concerns,” Dinniman said. “Meanwhile the PUC continues to refuse to conduct a safety investigation into the project, despite repeated calls from local schools, school districts, teachers, parents, students and superintendents.
“What’s wrong with this picture?”
We have stressed repeatedly the dual nature of this beast. There undoubtedly is an up side, with a potentially huge economic benefit, one that brings with it hundreds of good, family-sustaining jobs.
But none of that should trump the concerns of local residents who now have to live with this thing, sometimes in their backyards.
It does not seem unreasonable for the PUC to answer the superintendents’ concerns.
To say nothing of the continuing fears of residents.