Delco joins case against Mariner East 2 pipeline
MEDIA >> Delaware County may soon be joining the ranks of other parties in entering as an interested party against the owners of the Mariner East pipeline.
On Wednesday, Delaware County Council voted 4-0 to authorize county Solicitor Michael Maddren to draft a petition to intervene in the suit filed by seven residents of Delaware and Chester counties. County council Chairman John McBlain abstained since the law firm where he works has done work for Sunoco, although he himself has not.
In November, the residents filed a complaint with the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission against Sunoco/Energy Transfer Partners, citing the risk associated with the Mariner East pipeline.
“It’s incumbent upon us to at least have a seat at the table in a proceeding that has clear impact on the safety of our residents,” county Councilman Kevin Madden said. “That’s what filing a motion to intervene would allow us to do.”
Sunoco/Energy Transfer Partners officials did not respond to a request for comment.
When Delaware County Council intervenes, it will be joining the Rose Tree Media, Downingtown Area and Twin Valley school districts; East Goshen and West Whiteland townships and the Andover Homeowners Association in doing so.
This comes after a leak was reported in Marcus Hook Monday. Borough police responded and temporarily closed Post Road as a precaution.
Delaware County Emergency Services Director Timothy Boyce said he was not notified in a timely manner of these incidents and learned of them only after a call by a reporter.
“All the chemical manufacturers are required to make timely reports of releases based on the product and the amount and over a 24-hour period,” he said. “These last events did not hit that threshold.”
Madden said that troubled him.
“I think that’s a problem,” he said, then he added, “It’s our responsibility to make sure that the public and our first responders are sufficiently prepared and that we have credible – and I emphasize credible – response plan.”
He said part of the issue was the volatility of these gases.
“If we’re told that the public is told they must evacuate on foot, that they can’t use cell phones, how exactly are folks (to) know that there’s been a leak if our emergency services isn’t even aware and then, we’re talking about a colorless, odorless gas and they’re supposed to go uphill and up wind,” Madden said. “I don’t really understand how that works.
“What does those who are unable to walk or run, what are they supposed to do?” he asked. “And given the recent leaks, what assurances do we have about Sunoco’s detection systems?”
County Council Vice Chairman Colleen Morrone agreed, comparing the move to when council intervened in the Adelphia pipeline matter Feb. 14, 2018.
“It allowed us to have a seat at the table if we wanted to participate and understand and gather the information that was occurring in those proceedings,” she said. “This seems like an approach to me that continues our focus on the public safety of the residents of Delaware County.”
The 350-mile Mariner East 2 pipeline has been active since December and moves ethane, propane and butane from western Pennsylvania and Ohio to the Marcus Hook Industrial Complex where the natural gas liquids are stored for distribution to local, domestic and international customers.
The Mariner East 1 pipeline was shutdown last month after an 8-inch portion of the line was exposed and a sinkhole was discovered in the Lisa Drive area in Chester County.
One of the seven resident complainants in the Mariner East matter commended county council for taking this step. Rosemarie Fuller of Middletown explained what living near the two Mariner East lines has been like.
“If the leak is too small, it won’t be detected so we have to be the ears and the eyes of the pipeline,” she said. “It’s odorless, it’s colorless. So, I often find myself getting up at night and opening up the curtains and peering out to see if there’s a little vapor cloud out there anywhere. And, if there was, I really wouldn’t have any idea what to do.”
She pointed to Middletown Township’s 82-page emergency services plan.
“It still gives me no answers,” Fuller said. “There’s no early warning system. There’s no adequate emergency plan and there’s no evacuation plan in here at all.”
Again, she was thankful for the county officials’ move to join the complaint.
“I’m really concerned so this means the world to me,” she said. “I need to fee safe. I think the residents of Delaware County need to feel safe. I don’t feel safe.”
After council made their motion Wednesday, DelChesco United for Pipeline Safety issued a statement.
It read, “Del-Chesco
“It’s incumbent upon us to at least have a seat at the table in a proceeding that has clear impact on the safety of our residents. That’s what filing a motion to intervene would allow us to do.”
— Delaware County Councilman Kevin Madden
United for Pipeline Safety thanks Delaware County Council for its decision to join the Mariner East safety complaint currently before the PUC. The assessment recently prepared for council shows enormous risk. We thank council for taking this important step in the interest of public safety and call on the Chester County Commissioners to do likewise.”
Last year, Delaware County Council had commissioned Houston, Texasbased G-2 Integrated Solutions to conduct a risk assessment of the Mariner East and Adelphia pipelines.
And while it found the risk to be low of an incident, the study indicated that should an incident occur, it would be catastrophic.
The Mariner East lines have been the subject of
80 violations from spills of drilling fluids to sinkholes in backyards to improper disposal of hazardous waste over a 2-year period. Sunoco/ETP officials have said 86 percent of the spills between 2010 and
2018 were under 50 barrels and that 95 percent of the incidents in 2017 were on company property.