Middletown waits for sinkhole answers
To the Times:
An open letter to Pennsylvania Public Utilities Commission Chairman Gladys Brown Dutrieuille:
On April 24 a sinkhole occurred on a construction easement adjacent to an operational line of the Mariner East
2 (ME2) pipeline in our township. The area is underpinned by granite, not the karst that has led to the numerous sink holes impacting communities in Chester County. The location of the sinkhole was in the right of way of the most heavily traveled road in Middletown, across the street from a retirement community and a half mile from Glenwood elementary school.
You’ll remember we wrote you on April
29 to help our township understand the cause of a sinkhole in an area never known to have one, over/under/next to (we still don’t know) an aged, repurposed 12inch pipe carrying highly volatile liquids in a highly traveled, vulnerably populated area. Having no information as to cause we asked you to shut down the ME2 pipe until you could provide the details and subsequently ensure safe operations.
Your commission acknowledged receipt of our letter, our “grave concerns” and restated the PUC’s commitment to safe operation. A following email from Secretary Chiavetta effectively punted our inquiry to local investigators. On May 28 and again on June 12 we wrote these investigators, also copying Secretary Chiavetta, asking for help. Nothing. We are now 10 weeks from the event.
The PUC, in granting Sunoco’s ME2 project public utility status, is immediately the go-to agency for Pennsylvania municipalities like Middletown when our community of 16,000 and the many more working here and traveling through encounter these incidents. We rely on you for safety information regarding potentially hazardous and dangerous material like this. Unfortunately, we can’t rely upon you for so much as a response.
We respectfully reiterate our request and grave concerns; time has not abated them. We are approaching three months, more than enough time for your Commission to have addressed them, let alone the courtesy of an emailed response.